A Simple Question

Why is there so much advertising for car insurance in Britain?

My Letter to My MP on the Purdy Decision

Dear Mr. Lewis,

Although I will vote for you as my Labour candidate, whatever your position on this issue, I want you to know with what joy I heard the decision on the House of Lords on Debbie Purdy's case.

This is a de facto change in the law.

As someone who has lived with knowledge that I am HIV+ since 1990, and a Person with Aids since 2005 (and still healthy) and as someone who has fought and fights to stay alive and healthy, I am delighted with this decision. I will fight for life as long as I can, but now I see that, as a country, we are moving to accept a death with dignity approach.

I don't believe those who are mentally unable, such as those with *advanced* Alzheimers, should be euthanised, but I do believe that those who sign off on taking Nembutal should be able to.

To me this decision means I might avoid supurrating to death like my friend David Bowen, who (to my shame) I avoided helping to die in 1993.

We need a law here, which does not just allow the rich to go to Switzerland, and which protects pressurization of elderly people, but which allows us to know we will not die in distraction.

I respect your views, and that you must vote according to your conscience. I just need to convey that as a person who may face this issue, I feel joy and relief today.

And I still hope to outlive you!

Twenty Five Years of the HIV Test

25 years ago today, on 23rd April 1984, the US Health Secretary, Margaret Heckler, announced the ground breaking discovery that HIV is the virus that causes AIDS.

Ms Heckler also announced on that same day that a blood test had been developed that would prevent infected individuals unwittingly passing on the virus through blood transfusions.

Pink News 30 July 2009

What is wrong in the UK is the amount of stigma directed at HIV+ people by other gay people, and even by other people with HIV.

Well I am HIV+, my family knows, all my friends know, and so do most of my neighbours (and I live on a [very nice] council estate in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester).

I don't think scaring people will work. People just don't died of HIV in a few years. I can tell people, though, that even with a zero viral load, the meds can wear you down, and after many years you just feel so damned tired. (And let's not even mention the bowel problems).

But as long as this stigma remains people will refuse to get tested because they don't want to be a member of a stigmatised group. When such people do get tested, they often seem to hate themselves, and either refuse to tell partners or go into a kind of "shock" and withdraw from the world.

We need a balanced approach. HIV is not the immediate death sentence it once seemed, but it's still something you don't want to have. Until we limit stigma, there is no campaign that will be successful.

I, at least, hope to contribute, by being quite open about it.

David Tennant and John Barrowman Kiss!

Fourth Plinth - Naked for HIV

A Man dresses up as Angel of the North, then gets naked (around 47th minute) on the Fourth Plinth to bring attention to HIV issues. Bravo!

See the whole hour at SkyArts: LilacBonzai

Medieval Exhibitions in London (British Museum and Henry VIII/British Library)

Back from London, where I took things slowly.

While there I look for the first time at the new medieval rooms at
British Museum - and to be frank I was not too impressed. I also saw the British Library Henry VIII exhibition.

The new medieval room has some good items, but considering how many interesting medieval buildings there are in England (and the UK generally) this new room at the British Museum does not measure up.

Certainly compared to say the Cloisters in New York or the Musee de Cluny in Paris it is fairly sparse. More than that, I doubt general visitors to the British Museum, with its stunning ancient Greek, Assyrian, Roman, and Egyptian antiquities will be especially impressed by the medieval exhibits.

But it's also the case that items are not presented very well. The BM cannot compete with the architectural possibilities of the Cloisters or Musee de Cluny, but surely it can do more than shove various collections of treasure trove into one case, with few contextual explanations. [Even the Sutton Hoo trove, which is not part of the new room, just sits there dully in a glass case.]

Apart from individual items, the overall labelling is old fashioned and uninteresting. For a visitor to the BM "Anglo-Saxons" simply replaced "Celts" and no explanation is given that DNA evidence simply does not a) support a connection of Insular "Celts" with the middle European La Tene culture, nor that b) "Anglo-Saxons" simply replaced the post-Roman inhabitants. Even if these issues may not be major issues for the waves of non-UK visitors to the BM, surely subjects such as this ("where the modern English came from") should be capable of forming interesting exhibits for the many UK visitors.

Meanwhile, the labels say that England in the middle ages was "feudal." Oy.

As to Henry VIII - he is of course part of the problem: so much English medieval art was destroyed by the monster and his successors that there is so much less to show than in France or Italy. David Starkey, the curator of the British Library exhibition, is desperate to show that the documents and objects he presents ( which are indeed interesting) show a way "into the mind of the King".

The problem is that one ends up with the same impression as before: Henry was an obsessive maniac, whose efforts to have a male heir did nothing other than destroy damn near the totality (OK, 95%) of medieval art in England, all for nought as his male heir was useless, his doubtfully legitimate daughter turned into a great queen, and it was the heirs of his sister Margaret who came to power in the end in any case.

He is quite the nastiest king in English history.

Sorry for not Blogging - My Computer Died

Sorry for not blogging. My laptop just died last week - complete circuit board failure. I will be back as soon as the next one arrives.

Fortunately, all my files were backed up!

Commie Pope

Pope Benedict puts God at the heart of globalisation - Catholic Herald Online

Yet the Pope absolutely rejects the notion that 'the market' can be relied upon to correct injustice or fulfil human potential. The problem, as he sharply observes (characteristically eschewing 'inclusive language'), is that 'as society becomes ever more globalised, it makes us neighbours but does not make us brothers'. Catholic social teaching has not changed its conviction that mankind must correct the malfunctions of the market.

Quite.

4th July

Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) Embraced by New York Tranny Community

Daniel Radcliffe celebrates Harry Potter graduation by becoming art collector | Film | guardian.co.uk

I've been really good friends with Jim and his best mate, Tim, a photographer. And they are two gay guys, artists, in New York, and they introduced me to these amazing, crazy, mad, weird, extraordinary people. I was immediately embraced by the New York tranny community.'

Ain't that nice!

Something to Make You Happy - Guards Doing Thriller.

Watch royal military band play Thriller to stunned tourists - video exclusive | The Sun |News

MICHAEL Jackson's mega hit Thriller has been given this hilarious revamp by the army's world-famous Band of the Coldstream Guards - just a stones throw from Buckingham Palace.

Hordes of tourists were left open-mouthed as they were treated to the spectacular show on Wednesday by the top military band.

Forty drummers, trumpeters, clarinet and trombone players belted out the song.

I never really liked Michael Jackson's music, and I don't like military band music. Nevertheless, this article in The Sun (with video I cannot embed), is fun.

The Liberation of Indian Gay People

Another Huge Step Toward Liberation: The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

India legalizes gay sex. I think that liberates more gay men and women in one fell swoop than ever before in human history. It's not equality, of course. And homophobia is still rife. But it's a big, big deal if you care about human rights and human dignity.

It's worth reading the online versions of the Times of India, and the Pakistani English daily Dawn, and reading the comments, to realise that this legal change may be challenged by legislators.

Confirmed: God is slightly gay

Confirmed: God is slightly gay / Just ask the animals. As soon as they stop having all that homosexual sex

New research is revealing so many creatures and species that exhibit homosexual/bisexual behavior of some kind, scientists are now saying there are actually very few, if any, species in existence that don't exhibit it in some way. It's everywhere: Bison. Giraffes. Ducks. Hyenas. Lions and lambs, lizards and dragonflies, polecats and elephants. Hetero sex. Anal sex. Partner swapping. The works.

Let's flip that around. Here's the shocking new truism: In the wilds of nature, to not have some level of homosexual/bisexual behavior in a given species is turning out to be the exception, not the rule. Would you like to read that statement again? Aloud? Through a megaphone? To the Mormon and Catholic churches? And the rest of them, as well? Repeatedly?

Mollie Sugden RIP

Mollie Sugden (Mrs. Slocumbe in "Are You Being Served") died today. Over my lifetime she provided a lot more entertainment than MJ ever did. RIP.

In the early 1990s Mollie Sugden found herself acquiring "cult" status across the Atlantic – particularly on the San Francisco gay scene – after American television started running repeats of Are You Being Served?. In 1993 she appeared on the San Francisco operatic stage as the Duchess of Krakenthorp, a speaking role ("I'm no Pavarotti") in Donizetti's La Fille du Regiment.
...
Mollie Sugden and her husband had identical twin sons, born when she was 41.She confessed that when they were very young she had to keep them labelled so that she could tell them apart and that "more than once I bathed the same one twice".

-From The Daily Telegraph's obituary.

The Daily Mail, as usual, has the best pictures.

Guido Fawkes - Homophobe

Brown to do Gay Pride March - Guy Fawkes' blog

Last night Cameron spoke at a Gay Pride fundraiser, though he won’t be on the march itself. Sarah Brown will be marching, though apparently her husband won’t be mincing along.

Forty Years after Stonewall...Pigs still Oink

Forty Years After Stonewall: The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Fort Worth cops raid a gay bar and put one customer in intensive care. Seven men were arrested. The police chief says that the violence of the cops was because - wait for it - the cops were hit on.

Dan Savage has a lot more on this.

One View of America

Building an Asian century | Jamie F Metzl | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

America's legacy of global leadership over the past six decades, warts and all, is unprecedented in its relative benevolence and positive impact. America played the lead in creating the United Nations, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, and international humanitarian and human rights law. It resuscitated its second world war enemies, fostered economic development in countries around the world and established a security umbrella that helped Europe and Asia focus more on diplomacy and economic growth than on military competition. It opened its markets and laid the foundations for globalisation and the information revolution, kept sea lanes open for international trade and catalysed the green revolution. The list goes on.

Free Bernie Madoff

Bernie Madoff goes down in silence - Telegraph

There are at least 13,500 reasons why Bernie Madoff is staring at a 150-year jail sentence when he appears at Manhattan's federal courthouse later today. That is the estimated number of victims (no one knows for sure) of the 71-year-old fraudster who operated the world's biggest ever Ponzi scheme and who came to personify the crooked face of the credit crunch. Many of his victims lost their entire life savings, placed into Madoff's clutches at the promise of 10 to 12 per cent returns.

I have little sympathy for the "victims". They scrambled to get into a special "club" that promised massive returns on their money for doing nothing. Where was that money coming from? Ultimately is was coming from exploiting the labour of people who were actually working.

Something to Make You Happy - Sniff, Swig, Puff

SNIFF SWIG PUFF - BEA ARTHUR & ROCK HUDSON

"GO GIRLZ 4 DECADES! GAY ICONS SINGING AN ODE TO RECREATIONAL AND HABITUAL FOR THAT MATTER DRUG USE. SNIFF SWIG PUFF AND YOUR CARES ARE GONE. TABOO, NEVER. AMERICAN TV IN THE 1970'S. PEACE."

Polly Toynbee and the British Conservative Wingnuts

The bile of anti-politics is corroding the zeal for change | Polly Toynbee | The Guardian

Polly Toynbee has posted a reasonable article about the poll-based observation that the vast majority of the people in the UK are happy with their lives as British citizens. She then notes the equally polled observation that few Britons seem to give any credit to the politicians who have actually brought about fairly effective public services. This would include both the Labour government AND the largely Tory controlled local county councils.

In the first 50 comments online (CIF) almost no-one saw even minimal value in what she had written.

The reason is that the Guardian's CIF (Comment is Free) website is now dominated by Libertarian and Tory wingnuts. The kind of people who would watch FOX news in the US.

We in Briton are in fact living in one of the freest, wealthiest, kindest, most artistically productive, technologically innovative countries and periods in history.

Britain in 2009 is a much better place than it was in 1999, 1989, 1979, 1969, 1959 and 1949.

And before the Labour government of that period working people starved, and had no health-care. Kids died of easily treatable diseases.

I'm no fan of new Labour, but we need to address the prominence of wingnuts in Guardian/CIF. Not by banning them in any way, but by posting and supporting comments that come from the progressive political majority in this country.

The Problem of the Magisterium

Catholic Culture : Commentary : Articles : The One and Only Theological Impasse

This is a typically US-centric article, but none the less interesting.

The problem people like Jeff Mirrus face with the "Magisterium" when you train up intelligent people is the same problem Biblical Literalists face whey they try to train up Biblical scholars. I.e. That a massive, probably, majority part of those so intellectually trained will *to be intellectually consistent in their own minds and consciences* reject the proposed "orthodoxy".

Mirrus himself was notable in the early days of the internet for ludicrous efforts in which he took it on himself to list other Catholic as "orthodox" or "heretics." Doubtless he would have been a witch-hunter in the past.

Conservative notions of the "Magisterium" are to educated Catholics what "Biblical Literalism" is to educated Evangelicals - the place where you have to decide between truth and obscurantism.

Something to Make Your Happy - Bear Pole Dance

The Gay Generation Gap, Forty Years After Stonewall

Summer Guide 2009 - The Gay Generation Gap, Forty Years After Stonewall -- New York Magazine

"There’s nothing duller than a young gay man whose curiosity about the world doesn’t appear to extend past his iPod. "

The HIV services group in Manchester - GHT - tried to propose a pride float in which HIV+ people (only those who wanted to) were to ride on top of an open topped bus. This was to be an open challenge to the massive stigma HIV+ men have among other gay people here in the UK. But the "guys" would not do it!

Be Blatent not Latent

Gay exorcism: 'Loose your grip, Lucifer!'

Ruth Gledhill - Times Online - WBLG: Gay exorcism: 'Loose your grip, Lucifer!'

"Gay exorcism: 'Loose your grip, Lucifer!'"



I know a Roman Catholic priest, Fr. Benedict Groeschal of New York who attempted this on a friend of mine.

Fortunately my friend later met a nice German boy, and has lived with his husband for years.

Tories and Class War

In response to a comment on Iain Dale's blog about my previous post.

I am old enough to have lived through and remember two periods of Tory rule - under Heath and under Thatcher/Major. Although Heath was, in retrospect, more moderate than Thatcher, the whole attitude of Tory governments is to oppose organized power among the working class (i.e Trade Unions) while to support organized power among elites (e.g. Public and Private companies).

While I think some respects Blair and Brown did do some good things - raise NHS spending, actively conciliate in Northern Ireland, enact partial legal equality for gay people (none of which would have been done under the Tories) - I also think New Labour loved business and markets far to much. This has lead to the refusal to renationalize rail, an obsession with false "internal" markets, and a completely catastrophic growth in unjustified administrative bodies devoted to naff business jargon ("stakeholders"/"evidence based"/"branding") and non-transparent "public consultations".

I detest New Labour.

But even New Labour's command and control administrative centralism has had a basically beneficent view of the poor and dispossessed, even if its solutions ("aspiration") are nonsense.

Tories will just attack, because it is they, much more than the modern Labour Party which wages class warfare.

The basic thing about class war is that the working class have never been very good at it. The financial elite have proved repeatedly they are very good at in indeed.

The Coming Tory Cuts Are Not Necessary

Blogger: Iain Dale's Diary - Post a Comment

On last night's Newsnight I was amused to see Jeremy Paxman's fake shock at the Guardian front page lead story about the Conservative plans to hold a two day Cabinet session to decide how best to cut public spending. From Paxman's reaction, you would have thought it was akin to King Herod wanting to cull the first born.

While I abhor the idea of a Tory government, Paxman was off the wall last night. With a substantial poll lead it would be a massive failure if the Tories were not doing advance planning.

Clearly the government deficit needs to be addressed. But ALL Tory governments tend to do this is ways that hurt the already poor and minimally help the upper middle class, and give away wealth to the financial elite.

There is no reason for Labour not to campaign on this issue. And point out that the deficit can be contained by a combination of some cuts (Trident, ID Cards, ending PFI), actively using public ownership of the banks to frustrate the greed of the rich, and, yes, by raising income taxes.

The Tories, as it is, want to punish the poor for the crisis caused by the rich and upper middle class.

Fifty Years After Stonewall - Inside Higher Ed

Views: Fifty Years After Stonewall - Inside Higher Ed

“By the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, what do you think (or hope) might have changed in scholarship on LGBT issues? Please construe this as broadly as you wish. Is there an incipient trend now that will come to fruition over the next few years? Do you see the exhaustion of some topic, or approach, or set of familiar questions? Or is it a matter of a change in the degree of institutional acceptance or normalization of research?”

A really interesting discussion of gay history. I don't agree with all the view expressed, but they are serious positions. Doug Ireland is, as usual, on the money.

Iran

I don't really have a lot to add to the online commentary about Iran. I think the Huffington Post, Andrew Sullivan and The Guardian are excellent sources.

However, I have changed the colour of the blog to Green to support those fighting theocracy in Iran.



Via Andrew Sullivan

Still Supporting Obama

Op-Ed Columnist - Vice and Spice - NYTimes.com

"“I know everybody here is on a 24-hour news cycle. I’m not. O.K.?”"

Some gay and lesbian (and bisexual and TG) Americans are getting annoyed with Obama. I can see why.

But he remains the best political leader in my lifetime. Obviously he is not perfect.

But he's doing better than anyone could have hoped.

Something to Make You Happy - Star Trek Meets Monty Python

Engineering a Snicker's Bar

Well - How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains - NYTimes.com

Dr. Kessler reports that the Snickers bar, for instance, is “extraordinarily well engineered.” As we chew it, the sugar dissolves, the fat melts and the caramel traps the peanuts so the entire combination of flavors is blissfully experienced in the mouth at the same time.

I don't understand why this is a bad thing.

Something to Make You Happy

Last update - 21:07 22/06/2009
Gay-lesbian synagogue turns hate rally into fundraising event
By Haaretz Service

When a predominantly gay synagogue in Manhattan learned that a group of ultra-Evangelical Christians were planning a protest outside their building, the congregation decided to turn the hate rally into a fund-raising event.

Parishoners from the Westboro Baptist Church, a Kansas-based institution, gathered on Sunday outside Congregation Beth Simchat Torah with signs reading "God hates fags" and "Jews stole the land."

The synagogue heard several days in advance of the church's planned demonstration and decided to counter the protesters' publicity drive with one of their own, rather than pursuing legal action. The congregation encouraged its supporters to donate at least $1 for every six minutes that the demonstration lasted.

Following the 51-minute protest, the synagogue was able to raise more than $10,000 in donations. The congregation, which has been renting the West Village space, hopes to eventually buy a building of its own.

Some 150 people - including members other nearby synagogues and churches - held a counter-demonstration during the fundraising event, where they sang Jewish songs and prayers.

The Westboro Baptist Church is run by Fred Phelps, an outspoken evangelist who claims natural disasters and terrorist attacks are the result of America's "tolerance" of homosexuals. Phelps targeted Congregation Beth Simchat Torah because it works primarily with the Jewish gay and lesbian community.

PS: Back from a week long trip to Aberdeen meeting my oldest and dearest friends from Edinburgh University. Let me just say that an eleven hour trip by coach with a hardly operating toilet is a not-to-be-repeated experience.

Report: 90% Of Waking Hours Spent Staring At Glowing Rectangles | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Report: 90% Of Waking Hours Spent Staring At Glowing Rectangles | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

PALO ALTO, CA—A new report published this week by researchers at Stanford University suggests that Americans spend the vast majority of each day staring at, interacting with, and deriving satisfaction from glowing rectangles.

Sorry about slow blogging.

I thought a short go slow period might be worthwhile.

But I'll be back soon.

The Catastrophe of the Yesterday TV Channel in the UK

As a "professional historian" I used to really enjoy many of the programs on a channel called UKTV History. The programming was based on the huge archive of BBC history programs.

Since it "rebranded" to Yesterday, it has become a disaster. All we get is crud, apparently scrapped together, that seems dedicated to time-filling. There is often in fact more history on the various Discovery channels. The schedulers do not seem to be aware that there were other events in history than the Second World War, and non-stop series about Hitler's generals.

Plus, if drama is to be shown, there is much better stuff in the BBC archives than long tedious hours of Catherine Cookson serials. What about Fall of Eagles? What about Jane Lapatoire in the Viper's Brood about the Plantagenets? Or Glenda Jackson in Elizabeth R? Or I, Claudius?

Or what about present the great PBS series on American history, e.g. the series on Baseball or the American Civil War?

What about a serious effort to show historical films with a discussion about what they mean? What about showing old Chronicle programs? Or all those well research Open University programs.

And what about having programs on at a regular time so that weekly watching is OK?

The programmers at Yesterday seem to have no imagination, and not to care.

It is a disgrace.

Something to Make You Happy

"I shall pull out your arm socket and hit you with the soggy end!"

Just great.

Labour Party Pratts on BBC News

Hazel Blears, the former local government minister, of whom I am no fan, apologised for her conduct today. I don't really sympathize with Blears, or any other Blairite, minister, but the harpies (Lorraine Davidson) who agreed to go on the BBC tonight to condemn here just looked worse.

Weed, Booze, Cocaine

Weed, Booze, Cocaine and Other Old School "Medicine" Ads - Pharmacy Technician Schools

Here are some vintage advertisements touting items that we might balk at taking today.

Some over the counter medications available at the moment are just as bad/good as these. In the UK codeine is available OTC with paracetamol and dextromethorphan is widely available as an anti-cough medicine even though taken in sufficiently large doses it is a hallucinogenic.

Via Andrew Sullivan

Something to Make You Happy

Sasquatch music festival 2009 - Guy starts dance party

Via Andrew Sullivan, who even spends time on an analysis.

And They Say Class War is Over

Business groups dare Obama to limit pay for unions bosses - The Back Story - Washington Times

Business groups are daring President Barack Obama to impose pay caps on labor union bosses in light of indications the White House will limit how much corporate executives can be paid.

President Obama has argued “corporate greed” has contributed to the economic crisis and appointed a “compensation czar” to review executive pay for several companies receiving taxpayer bailout money Wednesday. Now White House officials have told the press legislation should be enacted to limit executive pay in private companies through nonbinding shareholders votes.

Some American Trade Union leaders may be paid a lot, but to even suggest that such people have engaged in wholesale theft, in the manner of much of the corporate elite in the banking sector, is hilarious.

Obviously the Chinese Government is Missing out on the Easiest Ways to Deal with the Oversupply of Males

Damming up China's internet | Alice Xin Liu | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

...measure made this week by the Chinese government, who ordered that Green Dam Youth Escort – a government-developed software that filters pornographic and violent content from websites – be installed on every mainland manufactured computer after 1 July. Although the software's designers have attempted to reassure observers that the software will only be used to target five categories of content – 'adult/ pornography, extreme adult/pornography, violent games, homosexuality, and illegal activities/drugs'...

So drugs, porn, homosexuality, and violent games are out.

Apparently the Chinese government thinks computer games like chess and Pong will be enough to still the libidos of 32 million extra youths.

Master of the medieval mystery | Bidisha | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Master of the medieval mystery | Bidisha | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Good sirs! Fetch me my lute, that I may compose a plaint for the hand of – okay, sorry, no more of that. I've been set off by the posters for Revelation, the latest medieval murder mystery paperback by CJ Sansom. The Middle Ages are horribly easy to spoof, as demonstrated by the posters, with their yellowed manuscripts, gleaming jewels and tarnished goblets. Sansom is in good company: fun novels by Bernard Cornwell and Kevin Crossley-Holland, the serious fiction of Sharon Kay Penman, Rosalind Miles, Anya Seton, Hella Haase and Shelley Mydans and the research of historians Alison Weir, Frances Pryor and Dan Jones all counteract the notion that the long centuries between the Norman Conquest and the Reformation are the dull 'Dark Ages', to be lumped together and bundled behind the arras.

In so far as the term "Dark Ages" means anything, it refers to a period from say 700 to 1050. Not the period after the Norman Conquest.

Needless to say even for the limited time I indicate there were very active culturally brilliant civilized lives available in Italy, Spain, and Byzantium.

Tragic Day: Cristiano Ronaldo Leaving Manchester United

Well it was nice while it lasted.

[This at the moment is the most visited page on my blog - I urge people to look at the rest of the blog, which is basically the thoughts of a gay Catholic English Socialist!]

The Joy of Less

The Joy of Less - Happy Days Blog - NYTimes.com

An article by Pico Iyer.

I certainly wouldn’t recommend my life to most people — and my heart goes out to those who have recently been condemned to a simplicity they never needed or wanted. But I’m not sure how much outward details or accomplishments ever really make us happy deep down. The millionaires I know seem desperate to become multimillionaires, and spend more time with their lawyers and their bankers than with their friends (whose motivations they are no longer sure of). And I remember how, in the corporate world, I always knew there was some higher position I could attain, which meant that, like Zeno’s arrow, I was guaranteed never to arrive and always to remain dissatisfied.

I'm glad Gordon Brown is staying | Nigel Willmott

I'm glad Gordon Brown is staying | Nigel Willmott | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

If Brown had been unseated by the actions of these unreconstructed Blairites – many, incidentally, deeply compromised over their expenses – it would have meant that Labour would have been dragged back to the neoliberal agenda that has eviscerated the party and which was firmly rejected along with Blair two years ago. Their triumphalism would have made the crucial repositioning that Labour now needs impossible, leading either to a split or the party imploding.

The democratic issue is perhaps even more serious. What we have seen is a well-planned and executed attempt, using people's quite justifiable anger over MPs' expenses to undermine the government in the lead-up to critical local and national elections. This was not evenhanded, as the Telegraph would like to pretend. It has been carefully packaged and presented to cause maximum damage to Labour – and allow David Cameron (also deeply compromised by his claims, though you wouldn't know it) to get rid of several bits of Tory dead wood.

And who is leading this crusade for transparency and to stop the taxpayer from being ripped off? A newspaper owned by two secretive businessmen; tax exiles who have probably denied the taxpayer 10 times the amount of all the MPs' illegitimate expenses combined.

Some truth here, both on the Blairites and the Daily Telegraph's agenda.

Iran, the US, and Us

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Andrew Sullivan (I am big fans) writes thus:

We all know the imminent Iranian elections are circumscribed and do not mean a real transition of power. But they are an expression of popular sentiment and thereby have some impact on Iran's government, economy and foreign policy.

I am no fan of Islamist states (and I am especially upset by Iran's anti gay measures), but I do think Iran has a real polity, and I cannot really distinguish how politics in the West are different from politics in Iran, given the above description.

Certainly, there is NO rational reason to support bombing Tehran.

We in the UK seem to simply be avoiding that this might become the story of the year if Obama does not manage to restrain Netanyahu.

PS: I was not going to steal Andrew's YouTube link as well, until i realised it was set to "Meadowland", once my favourite tune!

Uncle Tom? This is Hardly Fair to Shelby Steele

TAPPED Archive | The American Prospect

Is there a sadder soul in America than Shelby Steele? Whatever interesting observations the man was once capable of making are now so banal that they're the stuff of freshman seminars, and so every few months he appears, carrying water for the conservative cause.

Something to Make You Happy

I think I will try to do this regularly.

Please send suggestions for "Make you Happy" to drhalsall@gmail.com

Saying No to the BNP

Today BBC News and Sky News have show pictures in which variuos left groups have tried to stop Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, and now one my my local MEPs. I think on the whole, these protests have looked silly.

But the people protesting are not silly. Here [thanks Labour List] is a video of Nick Griffin's views.