I was invited to be on the Murnaghan programme on Sky News this morning – which I always find a great deal more intelligent than the Andrew Marr alternative on the BBC. I declined because I did not want to get up and get a 7.30am train from Ramsgate on a Sunday morning. I had a meeting until 11.30pm last night planning a conference on human rights in Balochistan [I still tend to say Baluchistan], and I have a newly crowned tooth that seems not to want to settle down. But I am still worried by my own lack of energy, which is uncharacteristic. Is this old age?
I also have some serious work to do on my Burnes book, and next week I shall be staying in London to be in the British Library reading room for every second of its opening hours. So there may be a bit of a posting hiatus. I have in mind a short post on an important subject on which I suspect that 99% of my readership – including the regular dissident commenters – will strongly disagree with me.
This is a peculiarly introspective post, perhaps because my tooth is hurting, but I seem to have this curmudgeonly spirit which wishes to react to the huge popularity of this blog by posting something genuinely held but unpopular; a genuine view but one I don’t normally trumpet. The base thought seems to be “You wouldn’t like me if you really knew me”.
Similarly when I wrote Murder in Samarkand I was being hailed as a hero by quite a lot of people for my refusal to go along with the whole neo-con disaster of illegal wars, extraordinary rendition and severe attacks on civil liberties, sacrificing my fast track diplomatic career as a result. My reaction to putative hero worship was to publish in Murder in Samarkand not just the political facts, but an exposure of my own worst and most unpleasant behaviour in my private life.
I am in a very poor position to judge, but I believe the result rather by accident turned out artistically compelling, if you don’t want to read the book you can get a good idea of that by clicking on David Tennant in the top right of this blog and listening to him playing me in David Hare’s radio adaptation.
Anyway, that’s enough musing. You won’t like my next post, whenever it comes. Promise.
Clark,
It is not Islam, or for that matter Christianity or Judaism that are at fault. It is the practitioners whom try and superimpose their own extra dogmatic interpretations.
In fact it was Ben’s reference site solved the mystery for me;
thetruth March 7, 2012 at 6:54 am
As muslim. There aint no way im believing any of this shit is ok. Doctor or not. If u think its ok. Take a knife and cut ur own balls of as you watch. Tell me if u can do that and then get back to me. After all… the scrotum is excess skin that is terrible to deal with as it rubs against our pants… (sarcasm) stop fgm. Ur embarassing the Allah i believe in.
No one is at fault, maroon. Take the sagastic japanese response, ‘Better to find solution, than fix blame.’ Oriental wisdom of today, that.
Craig:
Well, it’s artistically compelling because it’s refreshingly honest. It’s part of the way towards Gonzo commentary. From the Wikipedia article I linked above:
Murder in Samarkand is compelling because Craig has included his own personality, warts and all.
Continuation of traditions are not a fault, however propagation of criminal intent, through superimposition of these on traditions is a crime, and ought to be punished.
Night all.
““Gonzo journalism tends to utilize personal experiences and emotions to achieve an accurate representation of a phenomenon, as compared to traditional journalism that favors using a detached writing style and relies on facts or quotations that can be verified by third parties. Gonzo journalism disregards the strictly edited product favored by newspaper media and strives for a more gritty, personable approach””
That’s it, precisely Clark.
Shorter….HEURISTICS
Ben, I’ve never used an ‘e’, but people sometimes (mis)spell my name that way, not that it matters. Clark is an unusual name in the UK, and I often get called “Clive” or “Craig” by mistake. Five letters beginning with ‘c’ – good enough for jazz.
I cordially invite Clark and any others who meditate in this Cloister, to meet me in Woody Creek, Colorado. Join me at the town saloon, Hunter S. Thompson put on the map, for a toast to the Legend of HST, a Giant amongst men. Seriously. I would love to share a pint with y’all.
Fedup:
But these are all dogmas taught by practitioners. Look at Jesus. He caused a huge fuss by travelling around teaching that no one needs any intermediary between themselves and God; got crucified for weakening the religious power structure. So what did the sheeple do? They started another damn religion, of course. Duh.
Ben, I’m very tempted to accept your invitation immediately, but it’s a long way and a fair bit of money, so I’d best decide when I’m more sober. But I may as well ask now…
Who else is up for a trip to the ‘states?
……..
From Ben: “Better to find solution, than fix blame.” – Spot on!
To Fedup: “If it (FGM) is not in Quran then it is not in Islam” – Unfortunately, it’s not quite as clear-cut as that; see Wikipedia. It’s mentioned, though the “authenticity” is questionable. At least it’s not a commandment.
I must get off to bed. Goodnight all.
I, too, am in my cups but that, in no way mitigates the sincerity.
I want to show y’all what it means to be a ‘Merican.
Oh, I just remembered…
Did anyone else experience this site not working between about 22:20 and 23:00? I couldn’t access any page. I e-mailed Jon, and he encountered the same problem. Jon contacted the hosts. They said there was a network problem at their end, and fixed it within minutes.
But the funny thing was that once the site was running again, I looked at the Statcounter records, and it seemed to show that other people had been visiting the site throughout the incident. Weird.
I’ll check for your answers in the morning.
Fedup http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2203546/Tony-Blair–1m-hour-mediator-lives-opulent-country-estate.html#ixzz26gENRylo Absolute emetic.
Hopefully he will come to a sticky end and the house with its tasteless interiors will burn down to a pile of ashes. Even those crawlers who visit the place must find it all grotesque.
Also emetic and blood boiling, this came in last night via Vacy Vlazna
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JwqEKAJgDA&feature=youtu.be
A scourge upon this still beautiful earth. Another of those most frequent and often suddenly declared military zones. How bloody evil to do this to children. Note how the little girl’s arms are being gripped and held back. Where are Williams and Sacks? The damned pope has been weeping crocodile tears in Lebanon and mouthing platitudes about strife. But no – he did not spit it out even though it was the 30th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacre. This ‘cuckoo’ has caused almost all the pain in the ‘Middle East’.
Note the number of views.
What has happened to Aung San Suu Kyi? After all she witnessed Sabra and Shatila and founded MAP because of what she saw there. Does everyone sell out in the end?
From Medialens
Aung San Suu Kyi, Pro-democracy campaigner traveling to the USA to receive Congressional Gold Medal
Posted by Ed on September 17, 2012, 5:05 am
“Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese opposition leader, embarks on historic US trip
Pro-democracy campaigner will be awarded Congressional Gold Medal during 18-day trip that includes Washington and New York”
Pro-democracy campaigner to receive the US Congressional Gold Medal…square those two propositions if you can!
Maybe she can a get a picture with war criminal/pro-democracy campaigner Tony Blair showing his Congressional Gold Medal off too.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/16/aung-san-suu-kyi-us-trip
Posted by Plus Ultra on September 17, 2012, 5:57 am, in reply to “Aung San Suu Kyi, Pro-democracy campaigner traveling to the USA to receive Congressional Gold Medal”
If she has any sense, and if she truly cares about the cause of human rights, she will tell them where they can shove their Congressional Gold medal. Let’s hope she doesn’t end up doing a Mandela.
~~~
The word Mandela is linked to this piece by John Pilger
{http://johnpilger.com/articles/south-africa-the-liberations-betrayal}
Mary 17 Sep, 2012 – 7:03 am
“Does everyone sell out in the end?”
Yes. Given the opportunity.
We should question all authority. Which, if you’ll accept the compliment, you seem very adept at.
Jives 17 Sep, 2012 – 12:48 am
“It’s sooo obvious what Craig’s gonna spill. If you cant figure it you dont deserve to.”
Come on Jives. Your impressive insight might not receive the recognition it deserves if revealed post post.
OK, my undeserving morning guesses at Craig’s intent:
“Theresa May Is Hot”
“My Comment Responders Are All Narcissist Who Can Feck Off”
Clark 17 Sep, 2012 – 2:08 am
“I looked at the Statcounter records, and it seemed to show that other people had been visiting the site throughout the incident.”
Could those counts have been the hosts themselves as they were fixing?
There is no mention of the defective post mortem carried out on Ian Tomlinson by Dr Patel in this report about Harwood facing a disciplinary enquiry. Patel has since been struck off for a multitude of inadequacies and shortcomings. How many other bereaved families have not received justice where Patel carried out the post mortems? What happens to Harwood if he is cleared through this inquiry as seems probable since he has been cleared of manslaughter?
G20 Tomlinson death: PC Simon Harwood at disciplinary hearing
Related Stories
Why PC Harwood was put on trial
Met to review Harwood misconduct case
PC in G20 case found not guilty
A police officer cleared of killing Ian Tomlinson at London’s G20 protests three years ago is due to face a disciplinary hearing.
PC Simon Harwood, 45, of south London, is accused of gross misconduct after he struck the newspaper seller Ian Tomlinson shortly before he died.
An inquest in July said Mr Tomlinson had been unlawfully killed, but PC Harwood was acquitted of manslaughter.
/..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19620627
You won’t like my next post, whenever it comes. Promise.
You’re not going to tell us you’ve been a Michael White groupie all these years?
Craig,
Transvestism is nothing to be ashamed of.
Craig – when I start feeling lethargic I get out on my pushbike, the exercise works wonders!
Looking forward to being shocked.
Phil: “Could those counts have been the hosts themselves as they were fixing?”
No. Statcounter is quite detailed, even down to individual visits. While I was unable to connect, this site had visitors from the UK, France, Ireland, Belgium, Sweden, USA, and more. There wasn’t a single minute without visitors. 22:19 was quietest with just one UK visit, followed by 22:26, with one from the UK, and one from Germany.
I suppose visitors must have been seeing cached versions, either from their own browser’s cache, or cached by their ISP. The cached pages would still make requests to Statcounter’s server.
Wondered if anyone here was interested in a little background on the Daily Mail story about the condom submitted by Anne Ardin as evidence of mid-coital deliberate tearing by the fiend Assange having no DNA on it:
More detail about how that condom came to be ‘evidence’ worthy of having a man extradited without charge for questioning (Note: the law governing European Arrest Warrants forbids them being used simply for questioning or to further an investigation)
http://rixstep.com/1/20120629,00.shtml – Policeman disobeys orders to work on a case that’s already been closed
and
http://rixstep.com/1/20111126,01.shtml – detailed discussion of the full implications of that ‘no DNA’ finding
As you can see from the dates of that second article, all of this information has been known for a very long time but the mainstream media seems to have been asleep on this one. Well, that’s the kindest interpretation of their behaviour – most UK newspapers have gone silent on the ‘news’ delivered by the Daily Mail. And that’s not like them, they’re usually all over Assange news – as long as it’s negative, that is.
Most of the press has been working hard all along to push this blatantly illegal extradition through. That revolts me. They have all known about the fake evidence and that Assange was very likely innocent of these allegations, but they don’t care. They’re quite happy to be culpable in helping push someone who’s a thorn in their side along to lifetime imprisonment, or worse.
Important to know: the Swedish prosecutor had this forensic report in her possession by 25 October 2010. She applied to the Swedish courts for an arrest warrant on 18 November. She issued an Interpol Red Alert on 20 November (and gave her permission for them to go fully public with it, not something they do every time). She issued (and lied on) the international EAW European Arrest Warrant on 29 November.
When is this Swedish prosecutor going to be investigated for misleading the UK courts? When are British taxpayers going to be reimbursed by the Swedish government for the cost of dragging this farce through the courts for two years? When is Julian Assange going to be compensated for the enormous damage done to his reputation and life’s work?
@Arbed – I’ve approved the item above, as it was caught in the spam filter, but would you kindly repost it on one of the earlier relevant threads? It would be better to keep them together, in my view.
So sweet Aung Chai is Aung Sang Suu Kyi, something not made clear on MAP’s site.
I’m concerned that the worldwide unpleasantness begin to look like a big washing up bowl, already somewhat full with terrine and saucers and cutlery, all and sundry are adding cups, oily tins and encrusted pots. hardly any water is left to do the action and the man standing in front of it is simultaneously scratching his head and his balls, who said men can’t multi task, what is he going to do with this lot?
scratching sounds…..http://soundbible.com/2029-Scratching.html……
Hopefully soon two men will appear and talk about it a bit more, whilst the water is cooling down. Finally a woman appears, uses her charm and powers of persuasion to nudge men aside, and gets on with it, full stop.
Now who will write the next chapter…
UNIVERSAL TAX CREDITS – SINK or SWIM?
http://www.smf.co.uk/files/1913/4779/2202/20120916_Sink_or_Swim_web_ready2.pdf
Jezz what massive change. This will cost us, with extra work for social workers, housing associations, the police will have more domestics, women refugees will burst with demand and courts will get lots more work. It will cause violence and will be cited in court.
The biggest change is that it will make the wholesale means testing of benefits normal, as if it always existed.
That would be ‘Swink’ then MarkG.
So, Craig intends to drop some sort of blockbuster. He’s really a transvestite tory voter run by MI6 and Mossad with a holiday home in Dubai? It’d better be that good Craig 🙂
I had a really good laugh at some of the posts, and I’m sure I’ll use the Alcohol Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, that’s too good a joke not to recycle. And we have various health suggestions….on top of the usual politics…
Thanks for making my day a little brighter, posters!
Arbed, did you see my take on the condom affair. Would you please circulate this everybody? Thanks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nIrLS3gI8A&feature=g-upl