Blog posts

“The president wants the Security Council to act quickly and there is no need for a lengthy debate,” spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters. For more details of the rise of The Authority, this story isn’t too bad a starting point. It does feel rather as though Ari Fleischer and the Iraqi Information Minister should be going into business together. Between “there is no need for a lengthy debate” and “there are no US troops north of Basra” very little ground lies. I think the business potential would be enormous, and surely the next step on the neo-liberal road is an entire privatisation of government propaganda? ...

So here I am in Nashville after a crazy weekend. Arriving in at 7pm local time on Thursday. Jumping in the car and arriving in Grand Rapids at 6am their local time. Fabulous conversation, music to soothe, move and enrage the soul. It needs more words and maybe they’ll come soon. For now, here’s the website. A new computer to type this on is nice.

reuters.com makes interesting reading at times… “Three missiles fired by U.S. jets taking part in attacks in Iraq landed over the border in southwestern Iran, Iran’s official IRNA news agency said on Saturday. Quoting an unnamed military commander, IRNA also said that U.S. and British military jets violated the Islamic Republic’s airspace several times on Friday and Saturday during operations against targets in southern Iraq.” And here is the US reply. ...

I really dislike this appropriation of the phrase “the coalition”. I first saw it’s use as a term for the US and UK on some propaganda images the guardian printed a few weeks back. It sends chills down my spine, coming across as some sort of Orwellian double-speak for “last time’s allies minus quite a few”. Protests continue apace. I got my first proper taste of direct action yesterday. Apparently the other party involved has been reporting to local press that someone was taken away in an ambulance. Funny then that the ambulance drivers had time to stop and chat with me before they left. Perhaps it was because the back of their ambulance was empty? (which it was). ...

Jesus, Jesus help me I’m alone in this world And a fucked-up world it is too. Tell me, tell me the story The one about eternity And the way it’s all gonna be. Wake up, wake up dead man Wake up, wake up dead man. Jesus, I’m waiting here, boss I know you’re looking out for us But maybe your hands aren’t free. Your Father, He made the world in seven He’s in charge of heaven. Will you put a word in for me? ...

Anyone other than the BBC reporting this?

To break the blogging silence I wanted to post something profound about the current world situation. But instead I found: How evil are you? (I’m not convinced of the accuracy of this poll. Evil Harv came out as neutral. So what is considered pure evil must be too scary for words) In other news, I got the job. The dissertation is in the final typesetting stage. Delicatessen was great. Things are good. ...

The week so far has been rather dominated by canvassing for votes. I’m not sure if I’ve yet recorded the fact here, but I’m intending to be the next VP Education and Representation of the Reading University Students Union. Thankfully, I’m uncontested in that. But if my job is going to consist in large part of encouraging students to encouraging students to make use of their rights to representation, I think it worthwhile to run a campaign. Albeit a fairly relaxed one which takes one day off during the voting. It’s been a good experience though, stopping and talking to a lot of students and hearing a wider range of opinions about these elections than is normally voiced. Next year, I hope not to find that anyone I talk to is oblivious of the elections. ...

I forgot that I’d blogged within the last fortnight. I intended to post a link here to my photos of the march but I see there was already one on show. In our quest to see all of the Best Picture nominees before Oscars Night, Andy and I headed out to the nearby multiplex (with Ben and Anneleen) to see The Hours. After considerable disappointment from Gangs of New York and Chicago, here is a film which I could see being a worthy victor. Sensitively and inventively told, well shot and well acted. ...

Was Saturday that many days ago already? Catching up from late nights at the Greenbelt Wing and a Prayer weekend (I’m told I’m a bad influence) and a rush of work seem to have warped time. For those who want to check out such things I have some photos from the march. Nice to see so many people out to join me on a Saturday afternoon stroll round London.