The trouble with “political theatre” is that life imitates art
“This Milkshake Spring isn’t political violence – it’s political theatre”, wrote Aditya Chakrabortty in the Guardian the day before yesterday. From Nigel Farage to Tommy Robinson and Carl Benjamin,...
View ArticleDiscussion point: should you negotiate with crazies?
The Times reports, North Korea’s senior negotiator with the United States has been executed by firing squad because of the failure of Kim Jong-un’s last summit with President Trump, according to a...
View ArticleAn intersection
When I watched the by now viral video of a mob jeering at and throwing a milkshake over an elderly British Trump supporter, led by a screaming feminist called Siobhan Prigent, a number of lines of...
View ArticleYes. But?
In the Spectator, Brendan O’Neill writes In defence of Jo Brand: Brand’s comedy-crime was to say the following about the recent spate of milkshake attacks on politicians: ‘Why bother with a milkshake...
View ArticleKatie Jones is the face of the future
“That LinkedIn connection could be a spy using a fake, AI-generated face”, warns Raphael Satter of the Associated Press in the Tampa Bay Times. LONDON — Katie Jones sure seemed plugged into the...
View ArticleWhat comes next after two?
Iran claims to have seized British oil tanker in strait of Hormuz Second ‘British’ tanker ‘Mesdar’ seized near Iran after veering off course
View ArticleHow to hand in your resignation
I thought about putting this in The Great Realignment, but the link to politics is slight. This is more about fantasy fulfilment. Have you ever dreamed of telling a bad boss what you think of him? Have...
View ArticleDon’t think of it as a “power cut”, think of it as an “electricity holiday”
The BBC reports that the National Grid will “learn the lessons” after nearly one million people across England and Wales lost power on Friday. But what lessons will those be? The power outage happened...
View ArticlePerils of alternate history wargaming
A father and son duo run a YouTube channel about historical tabletop wargaming called “Imperator Vespasian”. They run through demo games, talk about making and painting models and so on. Recently they...
View ArticleYou’ve heard of precrime. Meet preantipathy.
The concept of “Precrime” was introduced to the world by the science fiction author Philip K Dick, whose dystopian 1956 short story Minority Report became a film in 2002 and reality in 2020 according...
View ArticleDiscussion point: compulsory vaccination
Stop return of measles by making MMR jab compulsory, say GPs. The Guardian headline makes it sound as if all GPs (General Practitioners) have said this. In fact only four named doctors are quoted, and...
View ArticleLet us pray for our bishop, Mug
ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, who alone workest great marvels: Send down upon our Bishops, and Curates, and all Congregations committed to their charge, the healthful Spirit of thy grace; and that they...
View ArticlePeople power!
“Commuters now physically dragging [Extinction Rebellion] protestors from the roof of the train”, reports ITV’s Holly Collins. If it will not cause a problem where you are for you to cheer out loud,...
View ArticleUniversal healthcare vs the rights of doctors and nurses
So it wasn’t George Bernard Shaw after all. It wasn’t him in the funny story about the dinner party, I mean, the one where a man teasingly asks the woman seated next to him, “Would you sleep with me...
View ArticleGuards, guards!
“Passengers locked on train with violent thugs”, reports the Times: Two “psychotic” thugs spent 30 minutes assaulting and abusing commuters after rail staff locked them in a carriage and refused to...
View ArticleWe owe the relatives of murder victims our compassion but not our belief
Saturday’s Daily Mail carries this headline: ‘He’s a fraud’: Father of London Bridge terror victim Jack Merritt blasts Boris Johnson for making ‘political capital’ out of son’s death – and backs Jeremy...
View ArticleIf you want to be welcome, do not demand entry
The ceremonial of the State Opening of Parliament includes a moment when Black Rod, the Queen’s representative, approaches the door of the Commons to summon MPs for the Queen’s Speech. Tradition...
View ArticleLet’s just accept that we live in a low-probability timeline
Continuing my series of “Newspaper headlines mentioning vaguely newsworthy persons that I thought at first sight were jokes but turned out to be literally true”, Prominent lawyer Jolyon Maugham clubs...
View ArticleFive, six, seven, eight, who do we assassinate?
Please try not to get arrested, but in the shadow of the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, might it not be interesting to have a discussion about the rights and wrongs of assassination? Most states,...
View ArticleBringing a criminal to justice at the cost of telling their victims what they...
A horrible thought occurred to me while reading press accounts of the recent trial and conviction of Reynhard Sinaga, who may have been Britain’s most prolific rapist. Sinaga’s modus operandi was as...
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