Yearly Archives: 2006

No more than a ludicrous filigree

Posted on October 23, 2006 by acb

On the real tragedy, but the retreat of the warhards is now like the retreat of the Iraqi army from Basra in the first gulf war, when tens of thousands were killed by Allied aircraft. This morning’s papers are full … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in War | Comments Off on No more than a ludicrous filigree

Sunday morning cheer

Posted on October 22, 2006 by acb

This has been the week when half of our problem became obvious: the war is lost. What hasn’t yet sunk in is the other half of this catastrophe: we can’t afford to lose it. Continue reading →

Posted in War | 1 Comment

Apologies to commentators

Posted on October 20, 2006 by acb

For some reason, this has been a very bad week for spammery. Bastard the first started to use the domain as the return address on a bunch of stock-pumping spams, so that at one stage I was getting twenty to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Housekeeping | 3 Comments

Rural pursuits

Posted on October 20, 2006 by acb

I had meant to return Cicely Hamilton’s Modern Sweden to the London Library yesterday, but I started to reread it on the train down, and I could not quite bear to return it. It is an account of a journey … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Travel notes | Comments Off on Rural pursuits

Sometimes a caption

Posted on October 18, 2006 by acb

Sometimes a caption is worth a thousand pictures … from the Svenska Dagbladet RSS feed I take this one, to a story about a power cut: “The cat in the picture is not the same cat as entered the electricity … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | Comments Off on Sometimes a caption

The pleasures of argument

Posted on October 16, 2006 by acb

I got back from the PZ Myers tour of the Natural History Museum last night with an evil shit-eating grin, saying “It was so nice to be able to argue with people” … and indeed I had been trying to … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 3 Comments

600,000 and deNazification

Posted on October 13, 2006 by acb

I like Germans; I like Americans. I’m even quite fond of the English. But when I look at the reactions to the Lancet study on Iraqi deaths. I am reminded of a photograph reproduced in Tony Judt’s Postwar. A small … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in War | 3 Comments

In his mighty name

Posted on October 13, 2006 by acb

I know I waste a lot of time with computers; but there are some things they’re better at than humans are. For instance, could you count the number of times that the words “Richard Dawkins” appear on the front page … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 3 Comments

Sock Puppet with crozier

Posted on October 12, 2006 by acb

The front page of the Church of Nigeria’s offical website carries a news article an article (thanks) from a Nigerian Newspaper from which I excerpt the following passage: Outside of the hallowed precincts of the Church and his Bishop’s Court, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 4 Comments

Sock Puppet in a dog collar

Posted on October 9, 2006 by acb

This (via) is a completely wonderful story. In brief, the vicar of a very high Anglo-Catholic Church in Reading has been caught posting flattering anonymous reviews of his own sermons, dress sense, and singing voice on the Ship of Fools … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in God | 2 Comments