Monthly Archives: April 2005

Paedophilia and Lit Crit

I don’t know whether Rowan Williams got into any trouble for praising the works of William Mayne, a children’s author convicted last year of sexual offences against young female fans. I hope not. Since it was the Sunday Times that … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Literature | 4 Comments

An unusual software plug

I’ve said this before, but Abby FineReader is the best 70 Euros I have ever spent on software and proof that the stuff built in Russia is much better than its American rivals. I am using it this afternoon to … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Software | 2 Comments

What’s wrong with this country?

How did I find myself here? I think of myself, if I have any political home, as a sort of realistic leftish conservative. All my serious arguments for voting agaist T Blair are conservative ones, about the preservation and maintenance … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in British politics | 4 Comments

What’s wrong with Kansas? (lobster edition)

PZ Myers has the most astonishing film sequence up at Pharyngula, showing a lobster being bamboozled by a sea hare, a creature that might be regarded as God’s first shot at an image consultant: a spineless, brainless, bottom-feeder that looks … Continue reading Continue reading

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The Conclave vs the Grand National

My expertise on the papacy is great enough that I won’t bet at all here. It’s just too much lke the Grand National: long and gruelling course, women riders discouraged, form very hard to read — but the real difference … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in God | 1 Comment

heroic defeat

If I’m unusually stupid tomorrow, it’s because I finally cracked this afternoon and drove up to Grafham to try and catch some trout. No one knew where they were, since there had been winds of 50mph over the weekend (it … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Trouty things | Comments Off on heroic defeat

Monday morning tasteless blogging

Andrea Dworkin has died. Roz Kaveney has taken the occasion to republish a wonderfully cruel and perceptive review, topped and tailed with expressions of decent regret. I can only offer a clerihew, which was written either by me, or Francis … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Journalism | Comments Off on Monday morning tasteless blogging

happened to be

“Happen to be” is the Anglican for “is”, just as “I happen to believe” means “I would go to the stake for”. It’s a tactful way of glossing over really important things. There was a gorgeous specimen of this in … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in British politics | Comments Off on happened to be

How the establishment works

A story from Private Eye: some weeks ago,. Christopher Booker was in town to write jokes. Not the Sunday Telegraph column: the deliberately funny ones — in this case a Sylvie Krin story about the Royal Nuptials. At lunchtime, he … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Journalism | Comments Off on How the establishment works

too clever by half

I wasted five minutes this morning trying to get the RSS feed from the Guardian’s election blog working in Opera. The icon was there, but nothing I tried seemed to subscribe me. I dragged, I dropped, I clicked and control-keyed. … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Software | Comments Off on too clever by half