Blog posts

The irony of the headline US accuses Iran of ‘bullying’ UN will hopefully be immediately apparent. Outside of its own borders, the US government hasn’t retained much credibility to make accusations of that sort, whether true or not. Iran has recently— notoriously—elected a new majlis (parliament), one much more dominated by conservative groupings than its predecessor. This majlis has been elected in a time when Iran sees US troop presence in countries on its Eastern (Afghanistan) and Western (Iraq) borders, increasing disturbances in Saudi Arabia, and a heavy-handed clampdown by Israel on Palestine. ...

We’ve been sorry to miss Sam Phillips’ pair of relatively local concerts over the past couple of weeks. The new album is sounding rather good, and all reports are positive. At least in the absence of a live experience there’s this KCRW session. Worth a listen just for the string section’s rendition of Radiohead’s “Just” alone.

It’s unclear that an Ofcom report will have much impact on Fox News, but it’s good to see them trying. For those who don’t remember, I blogged about the incident in question here.

Back in 1999 when the G8 (the leaders of the Group of Seven “leading industrialised nations”, plus Russia) met in Cologne, Germany, they won headlines with their apparent new commitment to debt relief for some of the world’s poorest nations. They revamped the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) process, promising another $100 million to fund the cancellation of some debts owed by the 42 countries deemed eligible for that system to multi-lateral lending bodies such as the IMF and the World Bank. ...

“Where’s the nearest letter box?” read the text I sent to Kari as she approached her lunch destination just outside Cleveland. In my hand was a DVD from netflix ( La Femme Nikita) that needed returning, and I didn’t want to expend extraneous effort working out where to post it. A minute later the phone started ringing. “What’s a letter box?” came the (not entirely unexpected) response. “Where do I post a letter?” I attempted to clarify, and received directions into Eastown to the nearest Post Office. ...

One of the key criticisms of negotiations at the World Trade Organisation headquarters in Geneva is the significant disparity in negotiating capacity between different countries. According to a WDM report in September 2001 some 30 WTO members countries cannot afford an office in Geneva, and few developing countries are able to attend the 40 to 50 important trade meetings held in an average week. Just as most democratic countries have over the centuries moved to paying their elected representatives in order to reduce corruption and provide equivalence of representation, it would seem sensible for the WTO to devise some method of pooling resources so as to level that particular playing field. ...

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has, over the past decade, been the subject of intense debate. It was the spark that lit up the zapatista uprising in Mexico, and in the years that followed—particularly this past one—has fired debates about the state of the US and other economies. No-one, it seems, can agree on whether NAFTA has been good for the US economy. The signs from some of the other economies involved are more stark. ...

One of these days I’ll find some client-side photo gallery creating software that works exactly as I’d like. Until I do, the lack of such software is always my excuse for not getting photos up faster. Excuses aside, a small selection of wedding photos is now online. It comprises some photos from the ‘wedding shower’ and the honeymoon as well as the ceremony itself. We’re still awaiting the return of print photos and may (or may not) supplement this collection upon their arrival.

Despite their having recently moved to New York City, and so no longer being represented in the apartment downstairs from us, I’ve been rather enjoying the preview of the new Astaire EP don’t whisper lies. Martin can’t seem to make up his mind whether they remind him more of Kylie Minogue or the Cardigans. On the strength of this I’d rather draw the link with the latter and suspect I’ll like them more than I do either of those.

The latest among the multitude of tasks immigration has required was to find a doctor. Reminding myself daily that this is a country where medical insurance is required—and perpetually relieved that Kari’s health package extends to me—I found this a search that took a rather different form from that which I expected. Having been used to simply seeking out the nearest GP’s surgery I rapidly discovered that my first mistake was to use the word ‘surgery’. A word I’d always taken to mean the place where a General Practitioner practices has no such connotation for most of those I meet here! So that usage had to go. ...