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320 thoughts on “Question of the Day

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  • Iain Orr

    Clark (passim): Like others, I send good wishes. As an amateur in psychology, I’d say that your readiness to be open about your pain is a sign of fundamental good health. But pain is painful, whether it’s Burns suffering from toothache or the heartache that partly defines the sort of thing in the universe that human beings are*. And pains have their own timetables.

    .
    Some of the remarks on this string (and others) will have been hurtful, without that being the author’s intention. A characteristic of most contributors – and of Craig in blogging mode – is that they are not inhibited by Somerset Maugham’s clinical definition: “The best style is the style you don’t notice.” Many of us are self-preening egoists, which some find entertaining but others understandably find annoying. At least this website largely eschews the head-butting style of punctuating texts with insulting adjectives, many the political equivalents of f*** and c***. Whoever now uses “racist” “zionist” or even “banker” (rhymes with…) as a term of praise?

    .

    *I’m a semi-professional philosopher, though I suspect some French philosophes would regard an Oxford B. Phil in philosophy as a disqualification.

  • Passerby

    Clark
    My sympathies, for the great sadness that has befallen you. However, remember the second law of thermodynamics, and its sixth corollary; energy cannot be destroyed, nor can it be created, it can be transformed from one form to another.
    ,
    Talk to your mother as much as you can, grief is part of life, and growing up, evolving, albeit the least pleasant part of it. Furthermore it is reminder for us all that we all are passersby in this life as we have come to describe it, with little knowledge of what lies beyond our primitive sensors and mode of thought and deductions.
    ,
    However, if the jets fly then the truth of the above law obtains, therefore take the opportunity to talk to your mother, telling her what you never told her before.
    ,
    I wish you patience and fortitude.

  • Ingo

    This whole episode has shown how vulnerable we are if we are honest and it would be better if we do not start throwing connotations as a first response, as hard as it may be sometimes.
    I think Clarks moderation here was perfect, sensitive to others views and decisive when he had to be, qualities you can’t pay for.

    The Forum will be much emptier without him and I very much hope thet he will return refreshed one day, Clark is a friend just as some other people here I met personally, I value his expertise and noncholance.
    This forum, despite its experts and commenters, is stale. We all know that should we decide to pool our energies and start pulling together on one string, that we could move mountains, apply ourselves and offer the public an alternative.
    Far from it we prefer to sit around and mope about the sate of affairs here there and everywhere. Knowledge is great, but without applying it it has no practical use whatsoever.
    I will ber 60 this year and have another 5 to ten years to give, at least, but I want to spent it doing stuff, not talking about it.

    So if its all the same to you, I shall also remove myself for a prolonged break from here, got an arts festival to organise and some sculptures to produce. Take care.

  • Njegos

    Sorry Angrysoba but you’ve got your knickers in a twist. You claimed Iran wanted to wipe Israel off the map. I said that Iran was calling for regime change which is what the US constantly does.

    Now show me where I APPROVED of Iran’s call for for regime change.

    The clock is ticking……

  • Clark

    I’d like to thank various people for their messages of support. Thank you all, I am feeling considerably better today. I am not at present feeling suicidal.
    .
    Above, I am referring to messages by e-mail and telephone. Some may have written to me here. If so, I thank them, too, but I am still too scared to read the comments on this page, as I expect there to be hostile messages as well.

  • bonifacegoncourt

    I’m happy to say that la Kirchner has abandoned her dick-waving contest in favour of a softly-softly approach, and has engaged Saatchi and Saatchi to win hearts and minds. ‘Bennies! Say goodbye to Brit boredom, and move on up to Argentina, South America’s longest-running fuck-up! Enjoy regular bankruptcy, fascist dictatorship, electrodes up your wazoo, and pushing nuns out of helicopters! As an Argie, you too could “disappear”. Argentina – all the fun of the fiasco!’

  • Courtenay Barnett

    @ bonifacegoncourt

    On 3rd January, 1833 the British attacked Las Malvinas/Falklands and forcefully removed the Argentinians living there. The Argentinians since then have never given up their claim that “Las Malivinas” is Argetinian.

  • Courtenay Barnett

    @ Iain Orr,

    I trust that your carefully crafted expression of disapproval of “some” bloggers on this thread – did not include this one ( who thinks that your posts are knowledgeable and oftentimes quite incisive).

  • Fedup

    Clark,
    I am so sorry to hear the sad news about your adoptive mother, please accept my sympathies at this time of heartache, pain, and anguish. I am sure you will cherish her memories, and realise you have been lucky to have come to know her.

  • bonifacegoncourt

    “On 3rd January, 1833 the British attacked Las Malvinas/Falklands and forcefully removed the Argentinians living there.”

    And in 1982 they granted 649 hair-oil jockeys permanent residence!

  • Courtenay Barnett

    @ bonifacegoncourt

    “And in 1982 they granted 649 hair-oil jockeys permanent residence!”

    Guess Iain Orr was correct about some of us who blog here.

    Cheers.

  • bonifacegoncourt

    Tunnel vision blinds regressives and neo-fascists to reality. The Argentine imperialists live in a fantasy world. No matter how often you explain that 2+2 = 4, they will continue to parrot that 2+2=5, because a little voice in their right brain tells them so. Given their inability to convince by reason, they merely desire to annoy. In fact the only real regressive weapon is trollery: stupid remarks which cannot be proven or disproven. Rubbish about the Malouines in 1833 can equally be countered with more trollery, ie “British authorities expelled illegal migrants who had no visas to enter a British territory since 1690, so yah boo”. It is all Tweedledum-and-Tweedledee nonsense. Only the moral dictum ‘Do No Harm’ matters, but morality means nothing to the trolls here, for fascism seeks only harm. In one JL Borges story, a pro-Nazi friend of the author expresses horror at the outbreak of WW2. Surely war is what you want, Borges asks. But his Nazi friend ‘had just realised that you cannot live for fascism, you can only die for it.’ 649 Argies died for Courtenay Barnett’s fantasies. How many more have to take up permanent residence in the peat bog before the armchair Himmlers get the message ‘Live And Let Live’?

  • Njegos

    Courtney:

    It is quite funny yet pathetic to see how some commenters (no names mentioned) have still not waken up to the fact that the kelpers have the British by the balls. Cristina Fernandez sees this and is playing her hand rather deftly. She is going to make the British pay through the nose for their intransigence. I am not convinced it is worth the effort (tonight I was with some Argentine friends who think it is a complete waste of time) but it does highlight the absurdity of the situation, ie. the islands are become a curse for the British without Argentina having to fire a single shot. In the end, however, I tend to agree with Borges’ bald men and comb analogy.

    It will be interesting to see if things settle down after the 30th anniversary of the hostilities.

  • Njegos

    Courtney

    “How many more have to take up permanent residence in the peat bog before the armchair Himmlers get the message ‘Live And Let Live’?”

    I love it. The poor little pelotudo-bocon just can’t grasp that there isn’t going to be another war (much to his dismay of course).

  • Anon

    Good link Njegos. The West constantly courts blowback by supporting thugs whenever convenient.

  • Mary

    Has Jon gone as well as Clark and Ingo? In great need of a moderator on the blog. It is surreal to have the spambots in between the comments.

  • Mary

    Britain will lose Las Malvinas’
    Mon Mar 5, 2012 2:4PM GMT
    .

    “You have got to take your own air support with you and you can’t without a carrier. End of story.” Former commander of the Royal Marines Major General Julian Thompson
    .
    One of Britain’s most senior military chiefs has warned that Britain would have to surrender the sovereignty of Las Malvinas to Argentina in case a military confrontation over the islands takes place.

    .
    Former commander of the Royal Marines Major General Julian Thompson said it would be the “end of story” if Argentina decides to engage in a military confrontation as tensions between London and Buenos Aires grow stronger.
    ,
    Britain has categorically ruled out the possibility of negotiations over the sovereignty of the archipelago while its military might has been questioned from within the British army.
    ,
    “The Argentines have a marine brigade. They’ve got a parachute brigade and some good special forces. All they’ve got to do is get those guys on to the islands for long enough to destroy the (RAF) Typhoon jets and that’s the end of it,” said Thompson in an interview with the Times.

    .
    You have got to take your own air support with you and you can’t without a carrier. End of story,” said Thompson, who was the commander of land forces in the 74-day war between Britain and Argentina in 1982.
    .
    Britain’s Royal Navy will be without an aircraft carrier until HMS Queen Elizabeth, which is supposed to be operative by 2016, enters service.
    .
    Britain’s Royal Navy will be without an aircraft carrier equipped with fighter jets for 10 years because of the rising costs of the Ministry of Defense’s (MoD) projects, reported the Telegraph on 2 March.
    .
    Furthermore, former head of the British army General Sir Michael Jackson said earlier in January that it would be “impossible” for Britain to re-colonize the islands in a worst-case scenario.
    .
    http://www.presstv.ir/detail/230077.html
    ISH/JR/HE

  • Suhayl Saadi

    Hi mary, spambot not you. When I saw you here I knew did I you were not a spambot it is really good to land on mars eat bots this blog is fab! handbags and gladrags.

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