May 2010
67 posts
Watch
“Sarkozy reportedly once told Gordon Brown: ‘I shouldn’t like you....”
– The BBC’s Nick Robinson, reporting a slightly alarming conversation in his blog.
New Social Networking Site Changing The Way Oh,... →
“The process of writing has something infinite about it. Even though it is...”
– Elias Canetti [Though I would also add: if only it were just interrupted by night. The interruption of a day is far more tedious and annoying.]
A gift for the one you love / hate [delete as... →
Words fail me. They really do fail me.
K-Mart Realism: my part in its downfall →
Over on ‘other’ magazine (which you have been reading, haven’t you?), I am querying the popular trend of K-Mart Realism. I am old, and I don’t understand these youngsters’ fads.
Clustershag to 10 Downing
Considering all that happened in the UK during the election and its long aftermath, satire about the events was noticeably thin on the ground - probably something to do with the annoying and extremely tedious rules about remaining politically neutral during the campaign. So thank heavens for Jon Stewart and The Daily Show:
• The Tameness of British Political Scandals
• The Hung Parliament
•...
“We are all supposed to now laze back and watch the latest Richard Curtis film:...”
– Johann Hari: This is not what the people voted for
Say No to 55% →
This is one of the biggest scandals of the Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition, yet it’s been buried deep in the documentation of their agreement.
How to avoid another hung parliament: ban all... →
Yes, yes and yes again.
“… legislation will be brought forward to make provision for fixed-term...”
– Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition deal: full text
Oh, very sneaky. So basically there’s a cat in hell’s chance of getting rid of them via a no confidence vote in the next five years. Damn.
David Cameron already tired of being followed... →
Nick Clegg's negotiating list →
It’s amazing that this was caught via a few photojournalist’s pictures.
“Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg are now all in the House of Commons....”
– The BBC News Election Blog clears up the current confusing political situation.
“There are a group of people who have access to the internet and use it to...”
– ‘OTHER’ magazine
It’s new. I’m part of it, as are other people. It looks like it is going to be good in the sense of better than good in the sense of excellent.
“If the National are important, rather than merely good, it’s for writing...”
– Pitchfork review of The National’s High Violet
Democracy
Here’s a boat that cannot float.
Here’s a queue that cannot vote.
Here’s a line you cannot quote.
Here’s a deal you cannot note …
and here’s a sacrificial goat,
here’s a cut, here’s a throat,
here’s a drawbridge, here’s a moat …
What’s your hurry? Here’s your coat.
by Carol Ann Duffy
WatchGrammar Nazis
Forty million (or so) to one →
And I think I probably ought to make that my last word on the election until the results start coming in, frankly.
WatchAnother of the beautifully-filmed Pitchfork videos of songs from the new album by The National. This track, Little Faith, features a stunning performance from their consistently amazing drummer, Bryan Devendorf, who produces the most intricate rhythms while looking like he’s actually fallen asleep behind the kit.
Welcome to Cameron-Land →
Johann Hari’s excellent and thought-provoking article uses Tory-run Hammersmith & Fulham Council in west London as an example of how Cameron’s Conservative Party would behave in government. It makes for unsettling reading. (Not that I’m suggesting to you how you should vote tomorrow, or anything.)
That last post was my 1,500th on Tumblr. I feel an immense sense of achievement, laced with a lingering sense that I should really Step Away From The Internet. I also feel like I tumble too much. (And is ‘tumble’ really a verb, in this case? I tumble, you tumble, he tumbles, she tumbles, we all tumble - this is getting silly, isn’t it?)
