Blog posts

I’ve been trying to find a link for this, and not succeeding. So much as it irks me it will have to be without reference that I refer to Paul Wolfowitz’s comments that the recent spate of bombings in Iraq could be directly attributed to Saddam Hussein and his cohort. That those comments were made publicly is intriguing. The party line has been that these attacks are being not only carried out, but also co-ordinated by ‘foreign fighters’, extra-nationals who are taking advantage of the situation to work out their aggressive feelings towards the western world. If that is the case, it is entirely possible to pass the bombings off as acts of terrorism. ...

So I’ve been thinking a little bit about this leadership race in the Tory party. When they started talking about it, the language all seemed very familiar. Uniting behind one [white, male, middle/upper-class] figure (whether they like him or not), talking about the need for unity and thereby sidestepping an open election. And then I realised what it reminded me of. University Christian Unions. Or at least those affiliated to UCCF. Perhaps the Tories have been reading this article? Or perhaps it happened the other way around, some years ago? ...

What’s the worst way to bluff, and pretend you have something? Could it be insisting you don’t? That appears to be what Saddam Hussein is being accused of, at least according to this BBC report: “Saddam Hussein may have been pretending to possess weapons of mass destruction, the US Congress is expected to be told by the man in charge of the US-led hunt for Iraqi weapons.” Please remind me, how exactly is that meant to work? Surely we’re not meant to believe he’s quite that stupid. Just because one head of state is, doesn’t mean they all are, surely? ...

Arriving in Copenhagen, on my way between visiting Kari {we had a great time, thanks for asking} and arriving back in the UK, I was surprised by the news that the airport had been closed due to a power failure. Sitting in the darkened departure lounge, surrounded by others whose flights had also been cancelled, I gathered that half of Denmark and Sweden had been affected. My mind of course turned to the recent outages in London and further back to the rolling blackouts in California which we all laughed so much at. ...

It’s amazing what you can learn from “the nation”’s favourite drug. After watching some of the Today Show and then a little news from the WTO ministerial on a mexican news network, I switched to an unnamed network to see the familiar sight of a preacher in full flow. It’s amazing what you can learn. Today I discovered that I am, in fact, a worshipper of Ba’al. You see, from time to time I’ve been known to slip the odd feminine pronoun into discussions of God. But now I have been convicted. I have discovered that that is a sure sign of just one thing: Ba’al worship. ...

Having allowed Monday’s adventures to slip my mind momentarily, I worried about myself when I heard scratching from the corner of my office. I didn’t check it out. But when it recurred I thought I’d better look into it. Moving the sofa, I spotted one of our small, furry, rodent friends. The sofa movement naturally scared said rodent away. The posse was called in and we chased it around the office, eventually ending with it running into the skirting board. This animal knows how to outsmart us. ...

It all began when i went to look for a hole punch. I wanted to file some notes from exec training. my hole punch has disappeared, and I thought Colin might have one. He didn’t. So we went to sophie’s office to search for one. She normally has two, and Colin needed to get in there to feed the gerbils since Sophie is away till Thursday. Not only did we not find a hole punch, but…. the gerbils had chewed their way through their platic enclosure and were running free in the office. ...

This play looks like quite the must-see production. And when I started reading I’d dared to hope that Iranian director Kiarostami’s (Ten, A Taste Of Cherry) might just be being staged in London. Sadly not. Not yet, at least. But regardless of that his comments are worth a look, if all too brief here. The use of the story of Hussein (Mohammed’s grandson, revered by the Shi’ite faithful) to explore the gulf between the prevailing culture in the west and Islam sounds to me like an experiment that has to be witnessed, and he appears to articulate the political feelings we heard from so many. ...

When a country tries this hard to avoid even the possibility of prosecution in the International Criminal Court, it’s easy to be left wondering what it is they have to hide. Surely if we are to believe the standard image of our glorious defenders here and in our closest ally, the people of Britain wouldn’t expect any of our allies’ troops to ever commit acts which would land them in the ICC. So what’s the problem? ...

So to concede to those who have been clamouring for photos of my trip last week, Chicago images can be found here [credit goes to Aaron for those] and Grand Rapids/Holland photos can be found here. Happy viewing.