The View from the Spaghetti Factory (proper redesign coming soon!)

Muslim anger grows at Pope speech

Are people’s (supposedly) passionately held religious beliefs so fragile that they can’t cope with a bit of dreary waffle from the other camp? I guess we’re back to the Danish cartoon thing again, aren’t we? I wonder how much of the Muslim anger has been cynically whipped up by travelling clerics this time.

I mean, come on, it’s the Pope. Why get so worked up about something he says? Us non-Muslims don’t take a blind bit of notice of anything he says. Just remember the maxim…

“sticks and stones may break my bones, but racist, sexist, homophobic anachronisms cannot hurt me” :-)

UK tourists stage mutiny over Asian passengers

Even after all the talk of ID cards, CIA “rendition” flights, Guantánamo and the like, this is one of the most frightening domestic news stories I’ve heard in a long time. When even the Daily Mail reports the story without a hint of anti-Muslim spin, you know something is very wrong. It’s one thing for a government to create policies that marginalise and oppress minority groups, but when members of the general public conspire, of their own volition, to act upon this ridiculous paranoia… well, we’re one step closer to Kristallnacht.

From the Independent’s report…

*Thought* to be Arabic. It might have been Turkish. It might have been Maltese. It might have been Farsi, Urdu or Sylheti. To particularly untrained ears (which seems likely in this case, given the brains involved) even Hebrew could potentially be mistaken for Arabic. Mr British Bulldog Bigot is not a discerning customer, as Jyoti Mishra points out…

Or, for that matter, any number of peoples who might have dark skin and black beards… Brazilian, perhaps?

[EDIT: Another good response from Chris at qwghlm]

I don’t know whether it’s a sign of new-found confidence after discovering his inner cowboy, but John Prescott seems to be talking a lot of sense today.

Or is it the monkey/typewriter thing? Record his random burblings for long enough and there’s a statistical certainty that he’ll eventually say “Look Tony, everyone in the cabinet thinks your special friend George is a complete moron”.

I’d always seen Prescott as northern club comedian, trapped in the body of a fake politician. I was convinced that it was only a matter of time before we’d see him at a press conference, looking oddly confused before blurting out: “Now, my mother-in-law… she’s SO FAT”. But with lines like this, maybe he’s actually a mid-80s alternative comedian trapped in the body of a fake politician. “I tell you, my live-in partner’s mother is SO THIN, because she’s a cruelly exploited member of Thatcher’s disenfranchised working class”…

More sensible stuff from Henry Porter in yesterday’s Observer…

The land of the free - but free speech is still a rare commodity

“… we should think of free speech as an article of faith, as one of the ways that we define our civilisation against the forces that were to be unleashed on us this week, as well as the influences that stifle criticism of Israel and so enable the disgraceful actions in south Lebanon.”

For George Bush, there are two types of murder.

The first type is very very bad indeed. George is so sure of this, he uses his ultimate legislative power as president to stamp it out. Dirty, nasty murder. Gone. Sure, there are some liberals who would justify this terrible crime as vital, life-saving medical research, but they’re crazy.

The second type isn’t so bad at all, really. It’s a bit messy, especially as it involves people throwing vast quantities of explosives at civilians, something that those liberals would describe as war crimes, but never mind. George isn’t going to get involved and stop the whole thing because he thinks he’s backed the winner. Besides, a ceasefire wouldn’t sit too well with his big plans for the world.

[Edit, 21 June: A blog post from Jyoti Mishra brought my attention to the excellent graphic on the front of Independent]

From yesterday’s Guardian, one of the best summaries I’ve seen explaining why the government’s proposed ID card system is wrong…

Henry Porter: Beware of Card Tricks

Whatever did we do in the days before Youtube? Here’s an excerpt from the US current affairs debate show “Crossfire”, featuring Frank Zappa and Washington Time writer John Lofton slugging it out over rock music censorship…

Frank Zappa on Crossfire 1986

Twenty years on, the hysteria over sexually explicit lyrics and videos has now largely died down, with only occasional outbreaks of angst over rap and, of course, the Jerry Springer Opera here in the UK. However, some things haven’t changed, as this quote from Frank illustrates…

“The biggest threat to America today is not communism, it’s moving America towards a fascist theocracy, and everything that’s happened during the Reagan administration is steering us right down that pipe.”

The shaved monkey has changed, but the message is the same! By the way, if John Lofton’s contributions to the debate irritate you as much as they did me, you’ll just love his blog, full of right-wing fundamentalist drivel.

Zappa made another appearance on Crossfire the following year, which you can watch via iFilm. Faced with the icky self-righteousness of the PMRC’s Rev. Jeff Ling, you can hardly blame him.

If the BBC interrupted Newsnight with toothpaste adverts, I’d be annoyed. Similarly, if the Houses of Parliament were renamed the Vodafone GovMax! Centre, I’d have a right old rant. Well, you would, wouldn’t you?

So when, having bought some Royal Mail stamps today, I was made to wait for my change while the Post Office assistant tried her utmost to sell me a BLOODY CREDIT CARD, I was not amused. I know Post Office Counters plc is now distinct from the Royal Mail, but still… I’d rather like to deal directly with the people who are delivering my mail, rather than through an advert-funded intermediary! I’d buy all of my stamps from the newsagents if I could, thus avoiding the endless Post Office queues, but that’s not an option when something has to be weighed.

This isn’t the first time something like this has happened; I’ve turned down offers of credit cards and car insurance on four or five occasions. I don’t know whether the assistants have any choice in this (i.e. whether they’re doing it for commission) so I’ve been polite every time, but I’m now itching to give someone a piece of my mind. Let’s see how effective their complaints system is, shall we?

For everyone in the South-East, wondering whether or not to start filling saucepans (or for people not in the SE, wondering what the fuss is about) here’s a good BBC article about the figures behind the drought orders…

Spin between the raindrops

I don’t usually find myself agreeing with cosy middle class bluster and outrage (”I pay my bleedin’ taxes, and for this!”) but this whole thing is quite ridiculous. I’m paying £200 a year for the local water company to lose a couple of Lake Windermeres every week. There’ll be civil disobedience once the lupins start to flower, mark my words!

On a serious note, the fault doesn’t lie entirely with the water companies. Wandering the suburban avenues here in Sutton, I’ve noticed that the trend for totally paved driveways and front gardens is increasing rapidly, to the point where houses with traditional front gardens are almost in the minority. A decent shower of rain results in most of the water rushing straight into the storm drains, rather than seeping into the soil. However, if the water suppliers continue to display this bullish and uncompromising attitude, they can’t expect much give and take from the consumers.

Our back garden, by the way, is looking pretty lush. Drought, eh?

In yesterday’s Comedy Revue Double Bill at the White House, George Bush demonstrated rare insight, claiming to have “learned some lessons about expressing myself maybe in a little more sophisticated manner”.

That’s all very well, but in light entertainment, consistency is vital. The success of a double act depends on the audience instantly being able to recognise the straight man, the funny man, the buffoonish village (world) policeman, etc. So what’s happening here? Are they swapping roles?

It certainly looks that way. Tony Blair summoned the full and bountiful fruits of the post-war British public education system, and squeaked forth…

Crikey! Those beastly foreign types never play by the rules, do they?