My dad's friend Martin is an old-school Labour man. I'm his friend on Facebook. It's nice being in touch with such people. Whilst they're not always right, sometimes they are. [Martin R]: The poor are dangerous. Some people: "this is patronising". Me: The poor *are* dangerous. This is clear from Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Western … Continue reading Facebook discussions with an old socialist
Banditry
Bad puns, old Internet memes, very out-of-date 'cute animal news' stories, and aviation references, all in one photograph. I'm spoiling you all, just like being left in the sun for a week spoils cream. Yes, she really is at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. Incidentally, this post was based on a tweet by @anattendantlord, which was itself … Continue reading Cruel and unusual pun-ishment
Since I've been blethering on about aviation, that's the quiz topic: 1) Which single airport (domestic or international) is the most popular passenger destination for people flying out of Boston Logan Airport? 2) Where was Air Berlin headquartered for the first 12 years of its existence? 3) Out of the top 40 international destination airports … Continue reading Dull Friday quiz
There's been some chat this weekend about a sale of Virgin Atlantic. Very much like the sale of Cadbury, this is a point where my general views about the free market are coloured by views by the awful bastards who might end up owning things that I like to have [*]. Virgin Atlantic are the … Continue reading Airlines and Virginity
Australia's worst book retailing chain, RedGroup (parent of Borders and Angus & Robertson) went into administration yesterday. There are a few reasons for this: 1) RedGroup was a highly indebted private equity portfolio company; 2) Australian retail spending has been weak-ish in general for the last year or so; 3) Books have been particularly hard-hit … Continue reading Friends don’t let friends buy gift cards
I believe it's a popular cliche among serious enthusiasts for Mr Jobs's products to say "once you go Mac, you'll never go back". Here's a datapoint to the contrary. I bought a MacBook Air at the end of 2008. At the time, the GBP was at an entertaining 2:1 exchange rate with the dollar. Naturally, … Continue reading Mac, and back, with knobs on
The BBC has been in the news yet again for perceived offensiveness, with the Mexican ambassador slating Top Gear for calling his countrymen backward and lazy, and the Japanese ambassador slating QI for, erm, let's get back to that one. But although lazy commentators on both sides (especially the 'PC HAS GORN MAD' side) have … Continue reading Two very different sorts of offence
Note: this post was written at 1AM on Australia Day, following an evening in which many traditional Australian beverages were consumed. While I stand by its emotional truth in the cold light of day, I'm not making any claims of accuracy for any of the 'facts' cited below... So, today it's Australia Day. We're celebrating … Continue reading Poms, Paddies, Wogs & Asians All Let Us Rejoyce
Alcohol is famous for its ability to cause stupidity. As with most other drugs, this property doesn't solely apply to chronic abusers - it also applies to policymakers and opinion writers, even the sober ones. Drugs and alcohol are second only to immigration as a leading cause of utterly stupid articles. Now, I've written plenty … Continue reading Alcohol-related stupidity
Good news #1: I'm not dead; good news #2: the blog's not dead. Rather, I've taken a month or so off thanks to a combination of bad things, good things and neutral things. Bad things: major unpleasantness from commenters I respect around some of the things I'd written about Julian Assange; the realisation that some … Continue reading Not dead