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The UK’s Supreme Court, sitting in London, has ruled that Scotland may not hold a referendum on Scottish independence. The judgment is un-surprising – but also interesting. First, it reveals that the British Union is emphatically not a union, at least, not in any modern sense. Ask yourself what would happen if England wished toContinue reading “The British Union is not a union”

Has there ever been a dumber business deal than Musk’s botched and over-priced acquisition of Twitter? Musk massively over-paid for Twitter, and his approach to the deal was so amateurish that he locked himself in early. Frankly, had he been a mid-ranking investment manager, you’d have fired him for such a cock-up. Thoughtful analysis ofContinue reading “Musk is an asshole”

Thankfully, in Ireland or Britain, it is difficult to conceive of a reality where senior political figures and / or the son of a previous President or Prime Minister would be gloating, openly and crudely, about a potentially-murderous attack on the elderly husband of a political rival. It reveals how far America has fallen thatContinue reading “America’s descent”

There’s a reason why churches have tall spires.  Spiritually, psychologically, they’re deeply aspirational. The building soars.  Our spirits soar with it.  You never hear of a “low-rise cathedral”.  Back in the last century, when Ireland was poor, I was embarrassed by Ireland’s lack of skyscrapers, and consoled myself with the expectation that, as soon asContinue reading “Ireland’s hatred of tall buildings”

“Even by British traditions of political failure, this prime minister’s brief tenure has been a spectacular disaster.” Article by Tom McTague in The Atlantic, here. True, and one looks underneath the bonnet / hood of cultural life in an attempt to discern the increased tolerance for rank stupidity which facilitates both the rise to powerContinue reading “Truss is the best failure ever”

Here’s a house in Miyazaki, Japan, designed for a family of four. Few Westerners would buy this house. You see lots of houses like this throughout Japan Here’s a picture I took in 2010, somewhere in rural Japan, of a Nissan Cube outside a cuboid house: And here are 2 pics of the wonderful NissanContinue reading “Why the Nissan Cube tanked in the West”

Standard-issue Loyalist (British) community graffiti in Belfast – a “Taig” is a racist term for an Irish nationalist, or Irish Catholic. “RA” is just short for “IRA“.. Obviously, the blokes who spray this stuff on to public property are small fry, not overly-endowed with grey matter. Interestingly though, in Unherd (an English online political journal),Continue reading “A modern attitude to Bloody Sunday”

I’ve always loved trash-punk. (I always resist terms like “grindcore”, given the tendecy too many of that genre have towards bombast.) Very few records or bands measure up to the requisite blend of speed, brevity, chaos and silliness. For much of my life, in that genre, one song reigned supreme, for me; namely 1985’s Wipe-out”Continue reading “Melt-Banana”

As with Trump’s toadies, as with Putin’s advisers, Britain’s Brexiters by and large are appointed on two criteria: 1 Belief in the True Cause of Hard Brexit or that Ukraine Does Not Exist (real or fake belief, either is fine, the important thing is to craw-thump daily about it, and, every time you fuck up,Continue reading “Leaving the solar system”

Curious as to why half of rural Ireland was going to see Garth Brooks (or “Gareth Brooks”, as he tends to be called in Ireland), I listened to 20 of his songs last weekend, for research purposes. He does seem like a very nice, down to earth bloke.  Bizarrely, in today’s judgemental world, this seemsContinue reading “Garth Brooks – why he packs ’em in”