Monthly Archives: September 2006

Timeless torture

This is a Worm’s Eye column from November last year: Everyone knows that in Stalin’s Purges between 1935 and 1940 perhaps fifteen million people died after various forms of torture. It is less known that throughout this Terror the Russian … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in War | 1 Comment

An argument for which I will not charge royalties

I thought I could not longer be shocked by the hatred and depravity of the usual crew of dhimmitudinous liberal al-Guardianistas who will see nothing good in any of the actions of this administration. Typically, they are screaming in their … Continue reading Continue reading

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What does this mean?

Tim Garton Ash, in the Guardian today, concludes by saying: At this pivotal moment, we who live in the rest of the world, beyond the Washington beltway, also face a choice. We can watch like spectators in the cinema, as … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in War | 2 Comments

Mike Ford, a review never published

I did actually review his most recent book1 for the Guardian. They never printed the review, because the book,sent me by PNH, was never published here. But I did send it to him, and got a kind note back.2 Below … Continue reading Continue reading

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A friend you should have had (a note to Rupert)

Did you ever come across Mike Ford, memorialised at Making Light these last few days? He wrote the lovely sonnet in our living room. But go and read the linked posts anyway. They make a fence now, between us and … Continue reading Continue reading

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Textile despair

Some of the people who read this — I’m looking at you, Hammersley — know quite a lot about Movable Type. So maybe, somewhere you there on the lazyweb, is the person who can tell me why the individual archive … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Housekeeping | Comments Off on Textile despair

God’s magic telephone

Sam Harris asks1 why we should respect George Bush for saying that he talks with God in the privacy of his bedroom. If he said that he talked to God using a magic telephone, then people would think him mad. … Continue reading Continue reading

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Notes from a scrapbook

Is religiously inspired morality a crane or a skyhook? That is to ask: when a religious person attempts to build their character in a particular direction, are they building on pre-existent morality, or hoiking down something from God or the … Continue reading Continue reading

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Some people only feel like this on Mondays

People keep telling me I’m gloomy these days. Very well; I’m gloomy. Let me share. Here are some fragments from the latest NYRB. Tim Garton Ash In the relationship with Islam as a religion, it makes sense to encourage those … Continue reading Continue reading

Posted in Blather | 8 Comments

Getcha Quechua flashcards here

The FWB is currently doing a Latin A level with an imaginative teacher, who has her pupil1 doing Latin Scrabble. Googling for a tile set led me to the University of Toronto, and from there to Liberation Philology, a small … Continue reading Continue reading

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