Monthly Archives: April 2004

Devaluation

Posted on April 30, 2004 by acb

In the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Cleanthes remarks on “the adorably mysterious and incomprehensible nature of the Supreme Being.” How long has it been since “Adorable” meant “worthy of adoration”? If anything nowadays is described as “adorable and utterly divine” … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Everything turns away

Posted on April 30, 2004 by acb

About suffering they were never wrong, the Old Masters. Yesterday, walking down to the river on a delicious afternoon with FWB, we met Betty , a friend of both my mother and my mother-in-law, who had both known her separately … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Compassionate conservatism

Posted on April 30, 2004 by acb

Old-fashioned imperialism (I’m thinking of The Battle of Algiers ) is when our own troops beat up the wogs. Compassionate conservatism means that we outsource torture. I haven’t written about the war for months because I have nothing to say … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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commuting joys

Posted on April 29, 2004 by acb

I was trying to discover whether I had ever written about ID cards for the Guardian and this fell out of the filing system. Notes made on a train out of Liverpool Street, some night last year. Across the aisle … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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censorship

Posted on April 28, 2004 by acb

The Future Wolf Biologist is fixing a birthday lunch with her best friend, on Neopets. She sends a message saying that lunch has been fixed at her favourite London restaurant, the Gay Hussar. Neopets bounces it, though it allows the … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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Acid, quenelles, teleology

Posted on April 28, 2004 by acb

In comments a couple of days ago. Rupert Goodwins wrote “before that first religion what did people believe? Does that question even make sense? Was Homo Habilis instinctively atheist? “The explanation of religion that makes most sense to me is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 2 Comments

a thought, reading Régis Debray

Posted on April 24, 2004 by acb

Atheists and secularists will always misunderstand religions, because they assume its purpose is to generate truth. When it fails to do so, or when it generate erronneous beliefs, the suppose that it has failed. But in fact, religions exist to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 4 Comments

I can’t stand it

Posted on April 23, 2004 by acb

The sun is bright and my book is dull. It’s much too bright for fish, in fact, but I don’t care. If you want me for the rest of the afternoon, I won’t be hard to find. Just walk down … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Trouty things | 4 Comments

The British Press (2)

Posted on April 23, 2004 by acb

Just for the record … I mean, the Richard Desmond story is so wonderful that Felix rang me up to say he wet himself with laughter reading it in the Guardian on the tube, so I assume any English readers … Continue reading → Continue reading →

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The British press (1)

Posted on April 23, 2004 by acb

There are, apparently, papers in the USA which refuse to run the Doonesbury strip this week because BD, when he finds his lower left leg blown off, cries ‘ Son of a bitch’. Compare and contrast the Guardian’s op-ed cartoon … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment