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Interviewer, in 1981, asks bloke with polio what barriers and problems his condition created for him. Were it someone similar being interviewed today, there’d be an avalanche of self-important self-pity, a litany of micro-aggressions and a diatribe about able-bodied privilege. Listen to Ian:

The Sanford Health website <notes that>: Children 5-8 years of age will often push blame to another person in order to avoid negative feelings and conflict. It is important to understand this behavior and what you can do to encourage your child’s self-responsibility. The page contains a few tips for managing such behaviour, but notesContinue reading “Brexiters blame the French for Brexit (again)”

True to form, Russia is busy stealing and destroying Ukrainian grain. No surprises there. And we should all condemn the EU and NATO for forcing Russia to do this lol. This has grim implications for poorer parts of the world which depend heavily on such grain supplies. Yesterday however, after 2 months of negotiations, aContinue reading “Negotiating with Russia is a liberal delusion”

I’ve often noted how, in previous eras, <pop music was tribal>. When you were into a band, the sound was always political. And you could also easily discern the politics in a haircut or a garment. At extreme levels, this is not too difficult, of course: At our local disco when I was a kid,Continue reading “Tribal”

At college, there was the modern library, all tight bookshelves, remorseless strip-lighting and cramped desks. Then there was the old library, in a red brick building with soaring, vaulted ceilings, coloured natural light through the stained glass windows, and vast desks with built-in reading lamps. Whenever I wanted to give my work a boost, IContinue reading “A statement of social arrival”

Aha, long after Britain has left the EU, there’s still British political mileage in attacking the EU. Former Chancellor, and now front-runner for Boris Johnson’s role, Rishi Sunak has <attacked EU red tape>, and promises a big bonfire thereof. Sure, lol. For 5 years, Brexiters like Sunak have been banging on about “cutting EU redContinue reading “This is what Sunak is reduced to:”

Buy a download <here>; 10% goes to Ukrainian armed forces.

He even made <room for the cat>. All ordinary people, ordinary decent lives shot to hell at the whim of a short-assed insecure land-grabbing psycho thief with a string of failed relationships behind him. All people who want to be leaders are a little mad in the head I think, especially nowadays. I mean, leaderContinue reading “A Russian hero”

John Peel once said that the idea of a top 10 of favourite tunes / songs was meaningless. It was always just whetever 10 you liked at any given time. Of course, there will always be songs by The Fall and Joy Division that are engraved in stone for me by this stage, baetyli ifContinue reading “Imperfect 10”