Whatever you think about the war, that’s a shocking stat. To give you an idea, that’s over half the number of people in the British armed forces (current numbers roughly 200,000) and 4% of the US armed forces (roughly 2.5 million).
Do socialists ride buses?
It’s always the poshest people who become the most vehement Marxists. Think of Anthony Wedgewood Benn – Tony to his friends; think of Kitten off Big Brother 5, who despite claiming an impoverished background and a life of enforced prostitution, turned out to have had quite a nice Berkshire upbringing and a stint in boarding school; then, of course, there’s Timandra Harkness, whom I’ve already mentioned once today.
Fair dos and more power to them.
However, there is a certain irony and Islington-ness about it all that makes my blood boil. It just feels oh so patronising.
Take this Spiked article, all about how the demise of the Routemaster bus is an indication of the new nanny state we’re all living in and the death of democracy. Now, I don’t think anyone’s going to argue too much that either of those is an incorrect summation of modern life in the UK. But choosing the Routemaster bus as a symbol of it all? What’s up there?
When was the last time you were on a Routemaster? I’m guessing, if you’re a writer or editor for Spiked, approximately ten to 15 years ago. Here’s why I’ve come to this conclusion:
Spiked!
If you haven’t heard that Living Marxism (I know, I know…) has transformed itself into Spiked, now’s a good time to have a gander. There’s very little hint of Marxism and there’s some good writing there. In common with New Statesman, there’s also some appalling writing there, but that can’t be helped. As an example, there’s a vaguely interesting but badly written article on mental illness in children there.
Christopher Hitchens sites
If you happen to like Christopher Hitchens, here are some excellent sites:
- Outside the Whale: Understanding Christopher Hitchens, which pretty much sums up my thoughts on the reasons for Hitchens’ defence of the Iraq war
- Hitchens web, which lists all of Hitch’s recent writings and appearances
- When Christopher met Peter, a transcript of the last time Hitch met his weirdo Mail-columnist brother Peter, following a four year silence over a joke about Stalin
They’re all worth having a read of and I urge you in their direction immediately.
Science, fundamentalism and climate change
Scientists need to stop ignoring fundamentalists and start explaining themselves, according to the president of the Royal Society. Otherwise, climate change is going to be downplayed and we’re all doomed.
Seems an odd argument, given there are environmentally friendly fundamentalist Christians out there campaigning for CO2 reductions and more. The trouble is he uses the word “fundamentalist” to mean all kinds of fundamentalists, not just religious fundamentalists. His definition is so loose, it applies to anyone with a firm belief. As a result, his argument is woolly and obvious: we need to stand up for what we believe or else people who believe different things will get the upper hand.
Thanks, Lord May, for clearing that one up.
Nevertheless, he has a point. In 20 years’ time, when we’re all melting in heat waves, freezing in Winter and the sea level is slowly rising, what will you say to your kids if they ask you what you did to stop it happening? Do something now and don’t let people who simply know how to shout loudly win the argument. If you’re a CIO or IT manager, incidentally, you might like to read my article on how to make your computing facilities more environmentally friendly: save power, stop using so many resources and you’ll save money as well as the planet.
That Blair-Bush-Al Jazeera memo finally getting some notice in the US
Salon’s among the first of the US’s online left-wing magazines to pick up on the now-infamous UK memo that hinted that President Bush wanted to bomb Al Jazeera. It’s a run-through of events at the time of the memo, so you get to see everything in context. Whether the memo is being correctly reported or not, it’s clear Rummy and co have gone through the looking glass on a couple of issues.
Salon’s usual take – why has the mainstream media not picked up on this until now? – is starting to annoy though: you are the mainstream media; stop acting like you’re outsiders still. Why didn’t you pick this up until now? It’s not like you wouldn’t have known within minutes via a Google News subscription, and your content deals with The Guardian and Der Spiegel surely would have helped if you had missed it.
Perhaps if Salon could refrain from the kind of preaching that gives liberals a bad name in the US and put its efforts into making its voice heard, maybe other media outlets would join in instead of ignoring otherwise important events.
Pilger on Internet news
The ever-excellent John Pilger is bigging up Internet news organisations in his latest New Statesman feature. If you ever thought the BBC was either neutral or left-wing, you really should read some Pilger, just to learn how much it’s backed the governments of the day over the years.
A defence of Bob Woodward
Finally, someone’s leaped to the defence of Bob Woodward. As far as I can see, all Woodward did was not volunteer information. Maybe his colleagues didn’t like that, but then that’s not his job. He was protecting his source. End of story.
There’s no free speech in Britain
Just in case you thought we lived in a free society, here’s a little something to put a damper on that thought. The government is threatening to sue newspapers under the Official Secrets Act if they reveal the contents of a memo that reveal a disagreement between Tony Blair and George Bush over the way the Iraq war is being conducted. That seems a worthwhile use of the Act, doesn’t it? That’s the kind of thing we need to clamp down on or else our enemies will destroy us. So much for our so-called Freedom of Information Act, which seems to be more or less voluntary at times (Give us the information. No. Okay).
In case you’re interested about some of our other free speech limitations, there are also D-Notices, our blasphemy laws and our libel laws.
Well done John McCain
Congratulations to John McCain and the US Senate on finally bringing some sense back to the US legal system.