Ephemera in Stone

Politics of boasting about sex

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:18:04 GMT

Guido Fawkes slags off John Bercow for writing a nasty-sounding sex tip guide in the 80s. Which, fine, no problem. (Edit: Ugh, was that ambiguous? I mean that I'm fine with Fawkes slagging off Bercow, not that I'm fine with what Bercow wrote in the 80s.)

Then he implies that he once slept with Bercow’s wife. Which seems a nasty thing to say on the country’s most widely read political blog. (If he was just saying it to his mates, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.)

I’m not sure it should seem a nasty thing to say. Views?

Omission

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:08:28 GMT

Andrew Marr’s Making of Modern Britain — did I miss the bit where he mentioned women getting the vote, or did he leave that out?

He mentioned the suffragettes in a couple of the early episodes, but didn’t seem to mention any tangible results.

I also found it odd that he didn’t shy away from describing the concentration camps in South Africa, or the effects of bombing Dresden, but glossed over dubious British action in Ireland in the early 20s (no direct mention of the Black and Tans?).

Underground

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:46:52 GMT

The London Assembly have done a report on overcrowding and disruption on the tube (pdf).

Page 12 has a map showing how overcrowded different bits of the tube get during the worst bits of rush hour.

Zunk

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:46:15 GMT

It turns out that staying up late doing emergency sysadmin, after playing in a chess match, leads to me being zonked the next afternoon+evening. Who’d have guessed?

My first chess league match

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:29:29 GMT

Away -v- Crystal Palace

board 1 — draw
board 2 — lose
board 3 — win
board 4 — win

Crystal Palace 1½-2½ Streatham & Brixton

I was on board 4.

Saturday

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:15:26 GMT

Did the Lib Dem leafleting thing this morning. Warmed up, lovely sunshine, friendly letterboxes, casually introduced to Floella Benjamin as I was heading away afterwards.

Did the Saturday afternoon following football on radio+web thing. Palace 3-0 Watford, marvellous. That’s not happened in a while.

Would like to go clubbing tonight in theory, but in practice I’m tired, have sniffles, and wasn’t quite taken with the music when I went to Vagabonds. So I shall stay in and sleep.

East London pressies

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:36:22 GMT

The Tories left Labour the dome. Labour are leaving the Tories the olympics.

The great EU stitch-up

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:53:38 GMT

I agree with the Single European Newspaper Headline.

Next time can we have these posts elected by the people? Either directly or via the EU parliament, I’m not fussed. And elect the commision too. Kthxbye.

Coincidence

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:51:21 GMT

Sometimes time twists and turns, sometimes it meanders to and fro, sometimes it crosses back on itself, sometimes it coils like a rope or a roll of thread. I wonder which of the last two it is this time?

Five years, to the week.

Life

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:13:50 GMT

Not really in the mood to write lots of text, so I’ll just say — :-)

Long campaign

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:07:34 GMT

Oh god I hope not:

The current working planning assumption is that the poll will be held on 6 May — the same date as the local elections — with a long campaign designed to expose the policy frailties of the Conservatives in the way that John Major tried and failed to unnerve Tony Blair in 1997.

If this happens I may go insane. 6 weeks is too long.

Reptile

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:31:59 GMT

Who’s going to Reptile (FB, MyS) on Saturday?

I've thought this for so long, I might as well say it

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:47:17 GMT

Charlie Brooker is the modern Victor Lewis Smith.

Spelling request

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:36:42 GMT

One ex. Two exes? Two exs? Two ex’s (surely wrong, but the other spellings look wrong too)? Two exen (implausible, and even if correct would leave the problem of “three —”)?

Attention span

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:49:03 GMT

I pay far too much attention to American politics. For example, I have no idea whether gay Austrians can get married.

Crackle crackle crackle

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:17:56 GMT

Fireworks, at two in the afternoon?!

Ripped off

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:49:40 GMT

Ripped CDs shouldn’t skip.

Context is all

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:54:35 GMT

Listening to a cd that I’ve probably not listened to yet this decade. Ahem.

I still know which song comes next when the track before is ending.

Processed food and depression

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:07:25 GMT

Processed food and low mood

The researchers conclude that processed foods are a ‘risk factor’ for depression rather than specifically labelling them a ‘cause’. This is a balanced conclusion, considering that unmeasured factors may be contributing to this association. A healthy diet has a range of proven benefits and the suggestion from this study that there is a link with improved mental health seems plausible. Randomised controlled trials would provide more conclusive evidence for this.

I was already thinking I needed to eat less chocolate and more fruit. And if I eat less cheese and more eggs, that works too.

This is your government on drugs...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 23:56:29 GMT

5,416 members of the Facebook group “Support and Reinstate Professor David Nutt: We want an evidence based drugs policy”, but no petition yet on Number10. (I can’t believe no-one’s thought to submit one — does Number10 not put up petitions at the weekend?)

Odd thoughts:

Nutt is not the issue: Nutt is a symbol; the issue is having an evidence-based drugs policy
it doesn’t matter what Labour’s policy on drug classification is: in half a year’s time Labour will not be setting government policy on drug classification or anything else
do we need to persuade the government (of whatever party) or the tabloids? (or their readers?)

How should we word the petition?

I never could get the hang of Novembers

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 16:56:37 GMT

It’s November, and I feel like the world’s died. The weather’s in mourning.

November and December sometimes seem like bonus months, included in our calendar to make us think we were getting a good deal, when really they just weren’t good enough to be included in the shorter calendars other planets got.

It’s a strange time. Two months left until the numbers flip us over into a new decade. Six months left until we get a new government. The promise of change, but change on its own is not hope.

Queen Victoria

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 01:00:10 GMT

Buckingham Palace, from the outside, is plain and rather dull.

Near it stands the Queen Victoria memorial, which is less plain and rather less dull. It features what you might expect of an ostentatious Victorian sculpture (which it wasn’t; it was completed during her grandson’s reign): bare breasted ladies, bollocked naked small boys (wot no paedophilia panic?), latin inscription — REGINA IMPERATRIX — which even I could understand. But also gold leaf for its highest figures, and what looked like primitive WWI helmets on some of the characters.

The giant statue of Victoria sits facing away from Buckingham Palace, a good choice given the views on offer.

Her death starts the first episode of Andrew Marr’s The Making of Modern Britain. I saw bits of his earlier History of Modern Britain, and remember thinking that it wasn’t bad. But this new series, it seems to flit around too much. I kept feeling that it was being superficial, and wanted it to go into more depth. Maybe that was because more of the material was unfamiliar to me this time. Or maybe the times did flit around a bit, and it wasn’t until war broke out on the continent that history became more focussed.

He came across as quite patronising when talking about the music halls, very much the middle class presenter being oh so terribly impressed by working class culture. Perhaps because his day job is interviewing politicians. Or because he doesn’t quite have an authoritative voice.

Public transport

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:05:59 GMT

Today I have had above average luck with buses, and almost perfect luck with trains. WIN.

Google Mail Time

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:34:08 GMT

Argh, Gmail is still on summer time. How do I tell it about winter time?

It’s odd receiving e-mails notionally from the future.

Uninteresting interests

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 16:16:56 GMT

“everyone i’ve ever loved” is in my interests list as a link, but apparently I’m the only person who has that interest.

I thought if you were the only person to list an interest, LJ didn’t turn it into a link. What’s different about this interest from all the ones I’ve got that aren’t links?