Yearly Archives: 2008

Joseph Conrad on CiF

Posted on December 24, 2008 by acb

that glance of insufferable, hopelessly dense sufficiency which nothing but the frequentation of science can give to the dullness of common mortals.

Posted in Blather | Tagged blather literature | Comments Off

I have been frustrated for months by the inability of my nice new Nokia phone to synch usefully with any of the three places where I keep contacts. None of them, you understand, are perfect, but I dont need a … Continue reading →

Posted in nördig, Software | 2 Comments

The giddy social whirl

Posted on December 12, 2008 by acb

Three parties last night: a steady descent from candle-lit carols in a Nash interior at the Swedish residence, to a white-painted subterranean nightclub with great slab-sided pillars and artificial snow on the floor of the entrance tunnel—the cocaine slaughterhouse aesthetic. … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 6 Comments

An excellent discovery

Posted on December 3, 2008 by acb

Chris Hedges’ book I don’t believe in atheists. My copy has been pre-owned, as they say (I ordered from Powells, since it isn’t published in this country) by a believer in scientism, whose pencil annotations are most illuminating. The book … Continue reading →

Posted in God, Literature, USA | 27 Comments

On the loss of history

Posted on November 16, 2008 by acb

Thinking about the ignorant, angry atheists who infest the Guardian’s comment pages I realised one thing they have in common with scriptural fundamentalists: they have no idea of history. They live in an eternally dazzling present and they can’t imagine … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 14 Comments

The worst redesign in newspaper history

Posted on November 14, 2008 by acb

is, I think what the FT has done to its site this week. What used to be a compact, elegant and clear display of a great deal of information for grownups is now like a mobile phone designed for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Journalism | 3 Comments

Who “we”, white man?

Posted on November 10, 2008 by acb

I noticed over the weekend a gloomy post I had made back in August saying that Obama would certainly lose because of racism. I hoped no one else would notice. But then, this morning, I spotted the voting figures referenced … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather | 7 Comments

Yes we fucking could!

Posted on November 5, 2008 by acb

I suppose I would have been less shocked and disappointed if Obama had lost than when Kerry did because I could not, still cannot, imagine how anyone could have regarded Bush as even minimally competent by November 2004. But still … Continue reading →

Posted in USA, War | 5 Comments

apologies for absence

Posted on October 28, 2008 by acb

I have been starting a site at the Guardian, and just too busy to post here, or even to think. I have never in my life had anything like the quantity and virulence of hatemail that I’m getting there. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Blather, Housekeeping, Journalism | 5 Comments

Make this man a bishop!

Posted on October 19, 2008 by acb

From the comments received at Third Way magazine on their interview with Peter Akinola. Archdeacon Dennis Onyekuru Owerri: In all times God provides for Himself a representative, a mouth piece. This is to show the world His sovereignty, that He … Continue reading →

Posted in God, Journalism | 4 Comments