[blogfocus wednesday] grouped by theme
Other posts under National politics
James Cleverly speaks devolution: I'm on interwebtelly with Iain Dale this evening … discussing an English parliament, English votes for English issues, English flags, England expects etc. etc. This is already a big issue and will only grow if Gordon Brown becomes PM.
Iain Dale’s comment on this is: As regular readers know, I favour an English Parliament to solve the democratic deficit now being experienced by the people of England. I don't want anything like the white elephant of the Scottish Parliament, but it's clear that the status quo is not enough.
Black Quill addresses what I see as far more serious – the erosion of the Lords: But senior Tory MP Sir Patrick Cormack said: “I sincerely hope these leaks are incorrect. If they are correct it indicates that Jack Straw has totally taken leave of his constitutional senses.”
Paul Linford raises the question of retiring PMs: The practice of former Prime Ministers standing down at the election immediately following their departure from No 10 is a relatively recent constitutional development. Margaret Thatcher started it, leaving the Commons in 1992, two years after her defenestration as Premier.
Guido Fawkes is on another tack, the journo/lobbyist war: The solution to the alcoholic regional hack problem is, according to PA, Lobby Extra, their service which supplies regular stories tailor-made for individual publications.
Islam & al Beeb
Monty gets straight down to it with a stark warning: The news that the Somali government troops and Islamist fighters are converging on the Somali town of Burhakaba for another showdown, is the worst to come from that country for some time.
Dymphna shows the veil issue to be cross-pond: The Washington Times reports today that women in Europe who show up for job interviews decked out in Muslim head veils are being asked to remove them or leave. Interesting post.
Cleanthes, in a long, detailed, referenced post, tears into the Imran Khan show: This is precisely what happened in the case of the motoons: these cartoons were only commissioned BECAUSE of the fear that some Danish Muslims were quite prepared to use violence.
Melanie Phillips doesn’t let the Beeb slip out the back door unnoticed: Even though people like me have been banging on for aeons about the deeply rooted world-view of the left at the BBC which so distorts its journalism and has caused so much harm to our society, it was still shocking to see the evidence laid out so graphically in this report of the Beeb’s ‘impartiality seminar’ last month.
Oliver Kamm simply states fundamentals yet again: The most immediate threat to free expression in Western societies does not come from Christian fundamentalists protesting at the teaching of Darwinism or 'blasphemous' works of art, or from the unjust incarceration of the antisemitic pseudo-historian David Irving. It comes from the increasing self-censorship in the communications media and the performing arts for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities.
Cabalwatch, global nwo, whatever you’d like to name it
Ranting Guttersnipe alerts us to the issue: Tony Blair called yesterday for the national DNA database to be expanded to include every citizen. He said there should be no limit on the development of the database because it was vital for catching serious criminals.
Mr Eugenides states, for those still unsure: But if you can already keep the DNA of someone who has been arrested but never charged - or acquitted of committing a crime - then it's hardly a big jump to taking it from all of us - perhaps when we are born, to minimise the disruption.
And Vox Day gets stuck into the Club: Bush and the national Republican leadership are far worse than even the most cynical Republican loyalist imagines; they are traitors who are actively working to subvert the very concept of the United States as a nation in favor of a pan-American supernational government.
Reactionary Snob also has his say on the US: Any CIA official who acts in good faith will probably conclude that waterboarding, hypothermia, stress positions, and related techniques violate one or more of these features of American law. But … and the but is what needs to be read.
Neocon is already into the apolcalyptic scenario: Within a week of the invasion, people will have trouble buying food and medical supplies. The cemeteries will overfill and local meatpackers will store the dead in refrigerated trucks.
The arts, culture, entertainment, nightlife, whimsy
Dave Hill cranks down the pace a little: You know the way a song you love but had forgotten all about can re-appear, unannounced, inside your head? He shows us the one he had in mind.
I had the temerity to disagree with Stephen Pollard about subsidized concerts and he replied: I agree with thesquid. As I have written here before, I have a fundamental problem with the idea of subsidised culture. My point is, though, that even if one accepts the argument for it, there is no sensible case for subsidising musicals which have existed perfectly easily in the commercial theatre.
Johnathan Pearce, meanwhile, is nightclubbing: See if you tell the difference.
On a loosely similar theme, Clive Davis has an eye-opening pic: It wasn't the name that caught my eye, just the glimpse of another age. Yes, Clive, it wasn’t the name.
Libertarianism
Back in the thick of things, David Farrer has a three-way debate on libertarianism: What most libertarians believe in is similar to what used to be known simply as liberalism before that word got stolen by its opponents. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the members of the liberal Austrian School were advocating a very purist form of laissez faire economics.
The debate’s too complex to cover here but DK comments: … if businesses are hiring someone from overseas to work for them in this country (and I'm pretty certain that they do this in the US too), then that business has to "sponsor" that employee in order for that migrant to be able to work… referring to freedom to come and go, I presume.
Doctor Vee concludes from all this: This ‘libertarian’ world is not a world where you can be free to walk the streets without being asked your identity. But that shouldn’t be a surprise since it isn’t even a world where you are free to walk the streets.
Social conscience, spirituality
Ellee Seymour draws our attention to a miscarriage: Lowering university entry requirements by up to two A-level grades would be a travesty of justice to those who have proved their academic abilities, but are rejected to make way for a student with inferior grades simply because he or she is from a deprived background.
Chis Dillow, meanwhile, looks at the other end of the age range: We need a quite profound cultural change in the way we think about older people. And a revolution in social responsibility in how we behave towards older people. But how exactly can government change culture? What policy levers does it have? A point I too made today.
Now the one I became personally involved in – the C.S.Lewis take on the Holy Spirit: Phil Edwards claims: Lewis 'allowed' Edmund but not Susan to repent. The same contrast could just as well have been worked in reverse, with the committed opponent of Aslan turned away from salvation and the worldly backslider seeing the error of her ways. This, again, was too complex to cover here. Do have a look at it.
General rants by somewhat angry bloggers
Serf is a consistent thorn in the EU side: Its not really news, but it is important: European Union auditors are expected to highlight irregularities in EU spending for the 12th year running as they make their annual report. Thieving bastards, since 1957.
Deogulwulf hits a raw nerve with one of my pet hates: If she [Greer] really finds herself intellectually stimulated by a light going on and off, one might suggest she take up a vocation more suited to her level of intellect, though, considering that she now frequently writes opinion-pieces for The Guardian, one might suggest she has already found it. Two birds with one stone.
Norman – yes, Norman Geras, true - has a rant this time: The blogosphere is a segment of the world, and that means there are people in it with the time, the motive and the petty-minded stupidity (to be found, this, even in otherwise intelligent people, but people possibly pressed for what to blog about) to go in for games ... You handle it practically by remembering that you have a life, and you step around stuff of this kind. [A]s a general principle, I don't blog to anyone else's agenda. So there!
The NHS
Pays to know what you’re talking about anywhere around Tim Worstall: Excuse me, but what is actually wrong with [Sikora’s] vision? Why should people be barred from topping up with their own money their health care? Why shouldn't people 'clutching at the last straw' be able to pay £30,000 for an extra year of life? Purely because this would lead to inequality in health care treatment? Really?
James Cleverly speaks devolution: I'm on interwebtelly with Iain Dale this evening … discussing an English parliament, English votes for English issues, English flags, England expects etc. etc. This is already a big issue and will only grow if Gordon Brown becomes PM.
Iain Dale’s comment on this is: As regular readers know, I favour an English Parliament to solve the democratic deficit now being experienced by the people of England. I don't want anything like the white elephant of the Scottish Parliament, but it's clear that the status quo is not enough.
Black Quill addresses what I see as far more serious – the erosion of the Lords: But senior Tory MP Sir Patrick Cormack said: “I sincerely hope these leaks are incorrect. If they are correct it indicates that Jack Straw has totally taken leave of his constitutional senses.”
Paul Linford raises the question of retiring PMs: The practice of former Prime Ministers standing down at the election immediately following their departure from No 10 is a relatively recent constitutional development. Margaret Thatcher started it, leaving the Commons in 1992, two years after her defenestration as Premier.
Guido Fawkes is on another tack, the journo/lobbyist war: The solution to the alcoholic regional hack problem is, according to PA, Lobby Extra, their service which supplies regular stories tailor-made for individual publications.
Islam & al Beeb
Monty gets straight down to it with a stark warning: The news that the Somali government troops and Islamist fighters are converging on the Somali town of Burhakaba for another showdown, is the worst to come from that country for some time.
Dymphna shows the veil issue to be cross-pond: The Washington Times reports today that women in Europe who show up for job interviews decked out in Muslim head veils are being asked to remove them or leave. Interesting post.
Cleanthes, in a long, detailed, referenced post, tears into the Imran Khan show: This is precisely what happened in the case of the motoons: these cartoons were only commissioned BECAUSE of the fear that some Danish Muslims were quite prepared to use violence.
Melanie Phillips doesn’t let the Beeb slip out the back door unnoticed: Even though people like me have been banging on for aeons about the deeply rooted world-view of the left at the BBC which so distorts its journalism and has caused so much harm to our society, it was still shocking to see the evidence laid out so graphically in this report of the Beeb’s ‘impartiality seminar’ last month.
Oliver Kamm simply states fundamentals yet again: The most immediate threat to free expression in Western societies does not come from Christian fundamentalists protesting at the teaching of Darwinism or 'blasphemous' works of art, or from the unjust incarceration of the antisemitic pseudo-historian David Irving. It comes from the increasing self-censorship in the communications media and the performing arts for fear of offending Muslim sensibilities.
Cabalwatch, global nwo, whatever you’d like to name it
Ranting Guttersnipe alerts us to the issue: Tony Blair called yesterday for the national DNA database to be expanded to include every citizen. He said there should be no limit on the development of the database because it was vital for catching serious criminals.
Mr Eugenides states, for those still unsure: But if you can already keep the DNA of someone who has been arrested but never charged - or acquitted of committing a crime - then it's hardly a big jump to taking it from all of us - perhaps when we are born, to minimise the disruption.
And Vox Day gets stuck into the Club: Bush and the national Republican leadership are far worse than even the most cynical Republican loyalist imagines; they are traitors who are actively working to subvert the very concept of the United States as a nation in favor of a pan-American supernational government.
Reactionary Snob also has his say on the US: Any CIA official who acts in good faith will probably conclude that waterboarding, hypothermia, stress positions, and related techniques violate one or more of these features of American law. But … and the but is what needs to be read.
Neocon is already into the apolcalyptic scenario: Within a week of the invasion, people will have trouble buying food and medical supplies. The cemeteries will overfill and local meatpackers will store the dead in refrigerated trucks.
The arts, culture, entertainment, nightlife, whimsy
Dave Hill cranks down the pace a little: You know the way a song you love but had forgotten all about can re-appear, unannounced, inside your head? He shows us the one he had in mind.
I had the temerity to disagree with Stephen Pollard about subsidized concerts and he replied: I agree with thesquid. As I have written here before, I have a fundamental problem with the idea of subsidised culture. My point is, though, that even if one accepts the argument for it, there is no sensible case for subsidising musicals which have existed perfectly easily in the commercial theatre.
Johnathan Pearce, meanwhile, is nightclubbing: See if you tell the difference.
On a loosely similar theme, Clive Davis has an eye-opening pic: It wasn't the name that caught my eye, just the glimpse of another age. Yes, Clive, it wasn’t the name.
Libertarianism
Back in the thick of things, David Farrer has a three-way debate on libertarianism: What most libertarians believe in is similar to what used to be known simply as liberalism before that word got stolen by its opponents. Towards the end of the nineteenth century the members of the liberal Austrian School were advocating a very purist form of laissez faire economics.
The debate’s too complex to cover here but DK comments: … if businesses are hiring someone from overseas to work for them in this country (and I'm pretty certain that they do this in the US too), then that business has to "sponsor" that employee in order for that migrant to be able to work… referring to freedom to come and go, I presume.
Doctor Vee concludes from all this: This ‘libertarian’ world is not a world where you can be free to walk the streets without being asked your identity. But that shouldn’t be a surprise since it isn’t even a world where you are free to walk the streets.
Social conscience, spirituality
Ellee Seymour draws our attention to a miscarriage: Lowering university entry requirements by up to two A-level grades would be a travesty of justice to those who have proved their academic abilities, but are rejected to make way for a student with inferior grades simply because he or she is from a deprived background.
Chis Dillow, meanwhile, looks at the other end of the age range: We need a quite profound cultural change in the way we think about older people. And a revolution in social responsibility in how we behave towards older people. But how exactly can government change culture? What policy levers does it have? A point I too made today.
Now the one I became personally involved in – the C.S.Lewis take on the Holy Spirit: Phil Edwards claims: Lewis 'allowed' Edmund but not Susan to repent. The same contrast could just as well have been worked in reverse, with the committed opponent of Aslan turned away from salvation and the worldly backslider seeing the error of her ways. This, again, was too complex to cover here. Do have a look at it.
General rants by somewhat angry bloggers
Serf is a consistent thorn in the EU side: Its not really news, but it is important: European Union auditors are expected to highlight irregularities in EU spending for the 12th year running as they make their annual report. Thieving bastards, since 1957.
Deogulwulf hits a raw nerve with one of my pet hates: If she [Greer] really finds herself intellectually stimulated by a light going on and off, one might suggest she take up a vocation more suited to her level of intellect, though, considering that she now frequently writes opinion-pieces for The Guardian, one might suggest she has already found it. Two birds with one stone.
Norman – yes, Norman Geras, true - has a rant this time: The blogosphere is a segment of the world, and that means there are people in it with the time, the motive and the petty-minded stupidity (to be found, this, even in otherwise intelligent people, but people possibly pressed for what to blog about) to go in for games ... You handle it practically by remembering that you have a life, and you step around stuff of this kind. [A]s a general principle, I don't blog to anyone else's agenda. So there!
The NHS
Pays to know what you’re talking about anywhere around Tim Worstall: Excuse me, but what is actually wrong with [Sikora’s] vision? Why should people be barred from topping up with their own money their health care? Why shouldn't people 'clutching at the last straw' be able to pay £30,000 for an extra year of life? Purely because this would lead to inequality in health care treatment? Really?
Wat Tyler focussed on an interesting anomaly here: A man from Mars might well wonder how a government department that had made such an absolute horlicks of spending a doubled budget could possibly know the potential savings from reducing "unnecessary" surgical procedures are £73m, rather than £74m, or £75m, or £5.137bn, or - as is much more likely in the real world - nil?
Blogproblems
Cursed, cursed blogproblems – may you never see any of them ever again. Two bloggers who suffered this week:
For reasons currently beyond me my WordPress blog self-destructed along with all the posts on it. And what a week for that to happen in! I have managed to miss discussions on veils, Cameron's tax policy and so much more that my brain is melting. Yes, of course it was Gavin Ayling, back form the proverbial.
Seems I wasn’t the only one having problems getting through to Bryan Appleyard: I am aware that there have been problems with my site for the past few days. Cyber-wonks are working on this as we speak and all should be well soon.
Inactive and inaccessible blogs
Could someone tell me who wrote this classic this week? "Paul Linford reminds me of The Aberfan Disaster, which took place 40 years ago today."
Next blogfocus Saturday evening at 22:00, London time.
Next blogfocus Saturday evening at 22:00, London time.
posted by James Higham @ 15:15
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Re final word, was it Man in a Shed?
This is another exhilerating and methodical round up of blogs, makes me really pleased to be out there amongst them all.
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