Feb
29
U And Non-U
February 29, 2004 | Comments Off
Just one of those little moments that raise a smile:
I found myself listening to the Women’s Hour omnibus on Radio Four yesterday, and in particular an item about use of language that stemed from a complaint by a parent that their child’s teacher had used the work ‘toilet’ when they preferred the child to use […]
Feb
28
The War That Wouldn’t Go Away
February 28, 2004 | Comments Off
Tony Blair must surely never have had a worse run of weeks than those he’s had recently.
Tomorrow’s Observer front page runs yet more coverage of the perceived problems with the legality of the war in Iraq, and the apparent U-Turn of the Attorney General on that status. You all know how I felt about […]
Feb
28
Time To Take A Break?
February 28, 2004 | 8 Comments
I’m sort of thinking of putting things on hold here for a while. I haven’t entirely decided to do so, but I’m seriously thinking about it.
I have a couple of reasons which are somewhat linked. The first is time - I don’t feel that I have enough of it to do enough around […]
Feb
26
Culture
February 26, 2004 | 4 Comments
“I’ve been to the Royal Opera House this evening, darlings! No, not the main auditorium, it’s getting far too commercial. We were in the Linbury Studio. Much more intimate, more of a space if you know what I mean.
What were we seeing? Well sweetie, it was this terribly daring, outré little […]
Feb
26
What’s Happened To The Old Neighbourhood?
February 26, 2004 | 4 Comments
I suddenly feel like I’m living in the middle of a gritty drama series on BBC FOUR. On Sunday evening, some kids kicked in the main door of my block, and this evening I’ve come home to find that a scooter has been torched at the bottom of the steps leading up to that […]
Feb
25
The Difference Between Me And Dave
February 25, 2004 | 3 Comments
This is it in a nutshell:
Dave spots a new mobile phone: This one, in fact; decides it’s pretty*, and makes a call to buy it. It will arrive tomorrow.
Dave shows me the same phone, I agree that it’s pretty* and decide that I’d like one too. Then I decide that I ought […]
Feb
24
Grrrrrrrr (Again)
February 24, 2004 | 1 Comment
Honestly, I really am turning into Angry of Tunbridge Wells.
On the bus this morning was a man reading The Sun, and I just couldn’t believe the headline story they were running. (And no I’m not linking it - they don’t deserve it.) ‘Sick Britain!’ was the banner, above a story about how all […]
Feb
21
Gay Marriage Too
February 21, 2004 | 7 Comments
The subject that I wrote about last weekend has continued to be an active one throughout the week, with many more people heading to San Francisco, two (failed) legal challenges to the mayor there’s action, and now Governor Schwarznegger himself stepping in to put a stop to it.
I’m more exercised about this situation in the […]
Feb
21
Brrrrrrrr
February 21, 2004 | Comments Off
Good lord but it suddenly got cold last night. 1.30 this morning I woke up shivering and I of all people, who’ve been known to walk around without a jacket in sub-zero temperatures, actually had to go and get an extra cover for the bed. Admittedly the stuff I usually use is the […]
Feb
20
Villains And Heroes
February 20, 2004 | Comments Off
So to the shock of, well, probably no one, Verisign have been named the internet villains of the year.
Sounds reasonable to me, not just because of “the domain name system hijacking scandal”, but because of the utterly diabolical service they’ve always acted like it was beneath them to provide to this business we make our […]