I am becoming quite fond of my little corner of Schiphol airport. I have put up my Christmas cards and a few bits of tinsel. I now have a boarding card for the 0800 to Manchester. This is the sixth boarding card I have had. It is very hard to understand why, time after time, they don’t know a flight is cancelled until some time after it was due to leave and all the passengers have queued at the gate for hours.
Of course, Manchester is a lot further from Ramsgate than Schiphol is, so even if the flight atually goes, this represents rather dubious progress.
Happy New Year everybody.
Remarkably, KLM delivered my lost luggage, including my laptop, at 9.30 pm on New Year’s Eve. At that time a pretty lively party was already in full swing,much improved by the presence of a great many beautiful young women, mostly from Latvia. I am not sure why; my life as ever consists of a bewildering succession of chance encounters with really nice people. I am in the fortunate position of being able to say that Nadira was the most lovely of all, without indulging in dutiful hyperbole.
It was an extremely happy Christmas. Having my mum, both my brothers and all my three chidren together was as great as it was rare.
We have been through the laptop in lost luggage discussion before. The problem is that my shoulders dislocate at the drop of a hat, and I travel without hand luggage to avoid an accident.
2011 is going to be a very important year for me. particularly the first quarter. A number of crucial events are going either to set me up financially for the rest of my life, or result in real distress and failure. At present I have reason to be very optimistic. I am also very absorbed in my life of Alexander Burnes, which I hope will help establish a serious academic reputation.
The Portuguese edition of Murder in Samarkand has sold unexpectedly well in Brazil. The translation of the Turkish edition has just been finished.
I hope to do a Wikileaks retrospective in the next couple of days. Just a quick thought on the case of the poor young gardener in Bristol. Of the Jill Dando case, long before Barry Bulsara’s succesful appeal I blogged that this appeared to be a miscarriage of justice in which the police had fitted up the local weirdo.
Despite not being enamoured of landlords in general, I fear the same dynamic is at work in Bristol, albeit Chris Jefferies is much more intellectually capable than Bulsara. My instinct is that the police have picked up on Jefferies for being camper than a boy scout jamboree and archer than Trajan.
Jefferies’ release on bail has me worried that there was nothing against him other than the “He’s a weird one, guv” instinct of some not very bright cop. The case needs to be closely watched as history shows that the powers of the police to make the evidence fit the suspect are considerable.
anno, bro, think before you write,, the girl was carved up under the puppet Karzias rule,, not under taliban rule. What ever is wrong with the taliban,, this wasnt part of it. Instead this is part of America’s puppet government.
The Time title for the photo was disgusting, they wrote “what happens if we leave afghanistan” when it should have been “What has happened since we have gone in”.
It happened during American rule, not after American rule ended.
they gave what happened the opposite meaning. which is disgusting Zionist propagander of the worst kind
Go on, Jon, you have a go. Suhayl, Richard Robinson, Angrysoba, dreoilin: they’ve all manned the defences.”
Yeah, but I gave up.
Leaping to the defences is a losing game if the attacks go on for ever. It’s not enough, you just spend all your time addressing the troll’s agenda, talk about the fucking BNP all the time. For, against, it’s still all about them. Alfred’s doing a good job of making this blog be all about his obsessions. It’s just not stuff I want to be spending my time talking about.
Whatever. A Happy New Year to all people of goodwill, anyway.
arsalan: I agree with you there. There was some hideous fat white middle-aged American woman from the mid-west on American news a few years back, who looked like she had just broken off from eating a lemon. Might have been Larry’s wife, actually. Her explanation for the outrages taking place in the (then) recently invaded Iraq was, “We’ve lanced the boil… there was… all this terrorism under the surface. Now it’s all * coming out.” Her expression at ‘*’ became even more severe, something akin to a bulldog licking piss off a nettle, and suddenly getting stung in the back of the neck by a bee.
The impression given by conservatives to teabaggers, simple-minded racists and the like is that this is the way these A-rab types want to behave, and they’d be doing even more of it if we allowed them to. They are fiendish, violent children, you see, and we have to keep them under control. The best way of doing this is to bomb them into submission from a safe distance, or treat them with great disrespect on the ground while enriching contractors.
Only thing I disagree with you about is you should give western filthy imperialists more credit – it’s our own propaganda, not Zionist material.
Clowns (freeborn etc.) : I don’t understand why you put down the occasion well written piece, which would otherwise deserve dialogue, having totally sullied your name with the racist BS you put up the rest of the time. If you want to talk, fine – we’ll talk! If you want to spit and froth your nazi idiocies, shame on you. But it’s kind of hard to take you seriously when you try to combine the two as you (and of course, I mean the individual you) has been doing recently.
Make up your mind.
I do recommend a viewing of “Osama” – an AFGHAN film made about treatmet of women under the Taliban. Fully accept that its not much better now. But that’s religion for you.
Alan ‘C’: so now I’m middle-class too? A toff who went to rough comprehensives? Heh, you’re a laugh a minute. So you don’t like sticks? I thought utilising a bit of 2 by 4 was thoroughly working class. And silly costumes? Hell, a track-suit, shell-suit or anything that doesn’t restrict limb movement works for me! Martial arts being middle class indeed… by god. Don’t you know that fine, exclusive upper-class pursuit called “boxing” is itself a martial art?
http://www.martial-arts-info.com/159/boxing
I’m sure none of your completely working class mates would have any respect for that.
Alan: I saw that film! Very powerful, and it made me feel despairing and angry at the sheer injustice of it all. Totally agreed, everyone should watch that film before getting too misty-eyed about the benevolent time-honoured ways of the Taliban. But it should be remembered that the Taliban gets thrown out of areas where we’ve actually managed to establish something useful:
http://www.threecupsoftea.com/
I view things very differently.
Because I remember what the Taliban replaced, and i know what has replaced the taliban.
What was there before them was worse, and what is there after them is worse.
And most of all it is up to the Afghans to decide who rules them, and not invaders. And the Taliban are Afghans and not invaders.
Good points, Arsalan.
Special thanks to Teabagger from St. Loony – for pointing out that racist laws against the indigenous population of “American Indians” persisted until 1978, not 1976 as I had erroneously stated. The Amerikans were institutionally racist for an enitre two years longer than they were given credit for, even in the 20th century. I stand corrected.
Just looking through the New Year’s honours list and see that you’ve been excluded again this year, Craig.
These war criminals sure do hold their grudges a long time.
Unless of course you’ve just upset the feminist lobby once too often by pointing up the vacuity of their argument.
Ah well. There’s always next year I suppose.
In all of that obscurantist and totally fallacious tirade of insults from Dr Alfred Burdett of Victoria, British Columbia, the fact remains that although I have answered every single question he has put to me, he still has not answered my single, simple, original question.
As I said earlier (and I ought to have stuck to that promise), let people draw their own conclusions.
Richard (at 2:11am), in the absence of any kind of registration or moderation, either we give us posting altogether and allow the board to be taken over by war imperialists and/or those who promote xenophobic and racialist ideas (and sometimes the two coincide). Wit respect, it’s all very well being aloof and purist. I introduced the subject of Alfred’ and the BNP after one of his posts containing his usual pseudo-science. There are trolls who ought to be ignored and there are trolls who require exposure for what they are. The ‘Barker team’ would have destroyed the site if I had not pursued them the deep web and exposed them. Given that this particular thread really had no ‘topic’ other than airport delays, it’s not as though something important was hijacked by this ‘discourse’. I will not allow Alfred to continue to behave as though nothing had happened, so without derailing another thread, nonetheless he will find himself confronted by this question whenever he deigns to reappear and pretend to be affable and (to quote technicolour) “Edwardian”.
Arsalan, if you get time for that story, write it, man! Welcome back, btw.
dreoilin (at 12:04 am), I use lots of accents myself in my work. ‘Juniper’ was not using a Deep South accent in a creative way, he was using it in a 1930s Hollywood black servant way. Whether or not he was using it to make fun of another troll is beside the point. there is a profound historical difference b/w the mockery and enforced, internalised self-mockery of African-Americans and that of white groupings, whether Scottish, Irish, etc. Taken in combination with apostate’s anti-Semitic views and their repeated linking to anti-Semitic and white supremacist websites, one can only express warines in relation to their use of the demotic of this particular group. ‘Laughing at the black man’ was one mode of oppression in the south states of the USA.
Zora Neale Hurston using demotic and a troll who connects to white supremacist websites using a caricatured form of it are two very distinct things.
Furthermore, historically, many imperialists studied their subject populations in great depth; doing so simply reiforced their preconceptions and they used their knwoledge to exert even more effective control. The Southern white slave-owner knew the culture of his slaves better than the Northern black factory-worker. It cuts no ice with me that this troll says he’s studied Toni Morrison and African-American literature. if that’s the best demotic he can muster, he may be some kind of academic, but he’s not a very good creative writer.
With all due respect Suhayl, your tactic wasn’t big or clever. It seemed that you didn’t like what Alfred was saying so you resorted to continued baiting, like you did with Larry and the bus, continually drawing every conversation into a monotone. It’s the equivalent of a kid sticking his fingers in his ears and chanting “Na, na, na, na …” everytime someone opens his mouth. Tedious.
Alfred was occasionally making some highly cogent points, and you chased him away with continued badgering. It’s not your duty to sabotage debates, mate, even if you think you are battling trolls. You became what you were fighting against.
It’s no substitute for proper moderation. Abusive or inflammatory posts should be removed, and the author prompted to repost them in more temperate tones.
With respect, CD, I have not posted “abusive of inflammatory posts”. Apostate, Alferd and ‘Larry’ all occassionally make good points. So what? I felt Alfred was not being entirely opne with us about his views; I simply asked him to be more frank and think about the logical conclusion of those views in a democracy. I answered every questuion he put to me in a measured and temperate manner. Whether what i did was “big” or “clever” is beside the point.
I agree it’s no subsitute for proper moderation – that was my point and has been for quite some time.
Btw, I have been gratuitously attacked repeatedly on these boards by every single one of the trolls from all kinds of angles. I really appreciate the support which many genuine posters have given me in these situations. If you think I have “become” a troll, you’ve not been reading what I’ve been writing here.
“there is a profound historical difference b/w the mockery and enforced, internalised self-mockery of African-Americans and that of white groupings, whether Scottish, Irish, etc.”
Could you expand on that, Suhayl?
With specific reference to these:
http://www.education.ne.gov/SS/irish/unit_2.html
(I haven’t visited a single link provided by Apostate/Steelback, because of his blatant anti-semitism. Looks like I “missed out”.)
Craig,
Happy New Year!
You might want to have a look at the European Arrest Warrant in relation to Assange and Wikileaks. It should be right up your street.
Arsalan
I heard the story as it was presented on Kurdsat TV, via translation.
Craig
I don’t know what you were doing at the time of the last Conservative government but they seem to me to have picked up exactly where they left off. You can’t call it spin, it’s more like spit. Every day Camelon squirts another gob in the eye at ordinary working people.
It’s very uninteresting to learn that you are about to make your billion, after helping Clegg to shoe-horn Cameron ‘s penis into place. What you do with your own is of no interest, but pimping for these bastards is very hard to stomach. They would never in a million years have come back to power if people like you had not put them there. Not happy and not impressed.
Well yes, dreolin, you’re right, so two wrongs don’t make a right. It is wrong to use pejorative langauge and imagery about any group of people, of course. That was really my point. Certain groups have been subjected to such persistenly oppressive imagery more than others, and the Irish are certainly one of those groups. It’s not about arguing who has the bigger victimhood, Blacks, Jews or Irish or whoever. It’s about the use of language for politcial reaosns. Apostate-Juniper uses it for pejorative reasons and in this he draws on centrueis of Jim Crow. Because lagnuage was used in similar ways against the Irish does not chnage this, rather, it reinforces it. Do you think in the context I have drawn, that juniper’s use of langauge in this manner is justified? I don’t.
Of course two wrongs don’t make a right, Suhayl. I was simply pointing out where the stereotype of the drunken lazy Irish came from (a stereotype that follows us to this day) and why we still see drunken lazy idiots in green jackets cavorting with tankards on e-cards on St Patrick’s Day (largely emanating from the US). Had I gone to any of Steelback’s white supremacist links, I would have reacted differently to his juniper writings. I saw him primarily as anti-semitic.
The link I provided there also makes a mockery of Alfred’s arguments about a British national identity, IMO. Not that folks hadn’t already realised that and said so, of course.
I think, in general, that there is, or can be, some PC quickness to jump on anthing that appears to be white on black racism, and less to recognise white on white racism when it happens. In general, I mean, not in relation to juniper and Steelback.
Craig
The damage has been done and we have to live with it, but you gloating about making your fortune under a Tory government is like you pumping Cameron’s backside like an accordian. Have some sympathy for those who don’t have work, who don’t have benefits, but do have the foresight not to pick a bum.
You said the good people of Norfolk like a self-made man, they were conservatives. Rebels do not ever get rich, except when they have persuaded the powers that be that run this world that they have stopped rebelling. The fact that this has been called a gate-keeper site, and you have declined to respond to the accusation, looks to me as though you don’t have an answer or don’t want to give one.
Do you think I am jealous of success? I wouldn’t wish the company and values of the stuffed British wealthy on anyone. The rich are described in the Gospels and the Qur’an. The wealthy of the societies of prophets Noah, Lot, Salih and Moses, etc peace be upon them all, were the first to reject the truth of the message to worship God as One. Unless your wealth enables you to survive the persecution which is directed at rebels, I would plough it back into Africa. Unless you enjoy the position of post-neo-colonialist, which is not much different from being a post-feminist when all is said and done.
Anno,
I haven’t made my fortune yet, and even if things do go well I wouldn’t describe it as a fortune. It most certainly has involved zero help from the British government and indeed all the groundwork was done under the previous government.
It does however revolve around the export of British manufactured engineering and help keep a good few people in employment here.
I would still maintain that this government is marginally better than the last lot. But that is because I do not regard public spending as a good thing per se. I cannot understand why the left has failed to notice that high public spending has in recent years done nothing to reduce wealth inequality in society and arguably under New Labour made it worse, with a new super rich class of public sector executives.
I have made some enterpreneurial money by a model in which I gave away 72% of the ownership of my companies to my local colleagues doing the work. I have no m oral qualms about it at all.
Anyone know what’s happened to the Wikileaks flow? They seem not have released cables since 28th Dec.
Regarding public spending, Craig, I think you answer your own question. New Labour may have spent a lot of money on the public sector, but it was on wealthy NHS and council managers, not services. And PFI, of course.
Higher than average public spending *on actual public services* nets genuine results, to my mind. But of course the provision of public services cannot alleviate the inequality gap itself – that requires legislation and decent intent. New Labour were too busy wooing big business.
New Labour burdened this country with legislation which only helped those with a cavalier attitude to legislation. Not much point regulating when you do not prosecute violators of the regulations. It’s what is in the heart that matters. Mrs T put a stop to ideals, doing things the proper way.
That’s why I see no hope for the present system. If the only value placed on something is economic, cutting the cost of labour will always be seen as a virtue. There is no left any more to challenge greed. That’s why I’m a Muslim, because it fosters the Gospels concept of charity, against the so-called selfish gene.
If you remove the concept of charity from human existence,and you follow the logic of Thatcherism, you get to where Gordon Brown got to, bailing out banks which had stolen all the money, because he didn’t dare to demand out of fairness that they pay.
The developments in Africa in mining and agriculture will end up in the same way.
Guaranteed. No need to discuss it further. It’s just curious how much bull-shit human beings will put up with against their own reservations. Re-financing western debt and financing African trade will not succeed if the mind-set is exploitative. It will simply fail in another way.
??? ???? ?????? ??????
107:1
Have you seen the one who denies the Recompense?
107:2
For that is the one who drives away the orphan
107:3
And does not encourage the feeding of the poor.
107:4
So woe to those who pray
107:5
[But] who are heedless of their prayer –
107:6
Those who make show [of their deeds]
107:7
And withhold [simple] assistance.
Arsalan,
Of course. But not particularly profound – and better put in Holy Wullie’s Prayer by Robert Burns.
“It’s not about arguing who has the bigger victimhood, Blacks, Jews or Irish or whoever.”
Good heavens, did I say that it was?
I’m pointing out that there is more to racism than colour. As the link I gave amply demonstrates. Your statement above
“there is a profound historical difference b/w the mockery and enforced, internalised self-mockery of African-Americans and that of white groupings, whether Scottish, Irish, etc.”
was, with respect, blind. And “who has the bigger victimhood” had nothing whatever to do with what I was saying. Nor did I imply that it had.