I oppose the death penalty, but if countries are going to impose it, then the firing squad is a pretty decent method. It's rapid and painless enough not to be sick torture, but it's also brutal enough to remind everyone concerned that they are, actually, violently and prematurely ending a life. Which is good, because … Continue reading In praise of firing squads
Category: Bit of politics
There are two possible meanings that the phrase 'anti-Europe' can carry. One is the Fox News interpretation, under which Europe is full of gay, garlic-eating communists, and therefore should be bombed, or at least avoided. The other is the opposition to European political integration, or to the view of Europe as a political rather than … Continue reading ‘Anti-Europe’ is an accurate term for UKIPpers
So, I come up with a contrarian view on the BP issue that I don't 100% hold, but which is a genuine aspect of the story and which has been completely neglected in any of the coverage I've seen. I mention it on Twitter, I spend a couple of days thinking about it, and then … Continue reading When Good Contrarianism Goes Bad
Let's assume that, like most UK workers, you have a pension fund with a substantial part of its investment in FTSE companies, usually weighted by value. What should you care more about: 1) the fact that the US government is attempting to steal a sizeable proportion of your money? 2) some fucking cormorants? Clue: if … Continue reading On helping Americans to steal your pension
There seems to be a fair amount of grumpiness and sarcasm going on around the Labour party leadership election. Much of this is for sensible reasons (broadly "the only one of the candidates who isn't a dull clone has no experience of managing anything ever, and David Miliband is a war criminal"). However, there's also … Continue reading Jealous petulant snipery and the Labour leadership
There are mild signs of upset at the Coalition opting to cut the number of new speed cameras. There shouldn't be. For one: speed cameras are, entirely, a voluntary tax on idiots. Most non-urban speed limits are far lower than the safe speed for the average vehicle on the road in question driven by the … Continue reading Tories, speed cameras, and Voluntary Idiot Tax
From a media expert: The future of national newspapers is in doubt [...]: the purveying of 'news' (which is only one of a newspaper's functions) is in several respects more interesting, more immediate and more dramatic on-screen. The greater part of all newspapers is given over to advertising [...] which keeps them alive, and to … Continue reading ‘Newspapers are doomed’ forecast of the day
Sunny at LC reckons he has a copy of the Libservative agreement. Libertarians, of both left-and right- varieties, have been getting super-excited on Twitter about section 10, which is dedicated to reversing ZaNuLieBore's Evil Police State, freeing the dissidents from the gulags, etc: A Freedom or Great Repeal Bill. The scrapping of ID card scheme, … Continue reading Tories stitch up Lib Dems on civil liberties
I've got my reaction up on LC. In short, Nick Clegg has destroyed the Liberal Democrat party because he wants to be a minister. The country benefits in the short term, very very slightly - the Libservative government will be slightly less socially nasty than a Tory plus Ulsterite minority government - but it's still … Continue reading Well, I called that one wrong
Nominal Liberal Democrat Charlotte Gore, who oddly seems to spend more time hating the Labour Party than actually supporting the Liberal Democrats, has a very odd post-election post. She thinks that if the LDs were to prop up a Labour administration in exchange for the introduction of proportional representation (which is required - if you … Continue reading Charlotte Gore is absolutely wrong