Orac points out how much attitudes have changed to cigarette smoking. I find it interesting to watch old films and see how taken for granted smoking was. The contrast with today’s attitudes is very striking. The zeitgeist moves on…
Category: Society
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UDA Drag
Once again, the Telegraph‘s Obituary column delivers it in spades. This time it’s for Sammy Duddy, aka Samantha. I swear, you couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried. -
The Power of Advertising
I don’t know whether to be appalled or fascinated by this image of Mikhail Gorbachev being used to advertise Louis Vuitton luggage. Well, OK, I’m appalled. It would be rather like seeing Nelson Mandela advertising smack and crack. Ah, alright, that’s been done, but then that was a joke. This Gorbachev image is not – and it stinks. The one saving grace might be the book, but even here the effect is of a post-ironic comment that robs the image of any real power. Ah, Gorby, that you have fallen so low! -
Government and the Hominid Troop
George Monbiot has an interesting column in today’s Guardian, pointing out that while he and the former chairman of the Northern Rock bank both trained as zoologists, they draw very different conclusions from their examinations of the same evidence. Worth reading. -
Life Imitates Art Again
Simon Sellars, over at Ballardian, reports on his growing feeling that Melbourne (his home city) is taking on the feeling of Ballard’s Kingdom Come. Disturbing. -
50 Key Dates
Richard Overy makes his choice of the 50 key dates in human history. Looking at those associated with the sciences, then I would broadly agree. However, I really do question his choice of 1959: Invention of the Silicon Chip. That, to me, is mere packaging; the real key date was 1947 when Bardeen, Brittain and Shockley invented the transistor – a totally new technology that replaced thermionic valves. -
The Poison of Prejudice
Over at a Fistful of Euros, Douglas Muir writes a commentary on a rather depressing piece by Serbian writer Vladimir Arsenijevic. It’s worth reading. -
Another Debate
David Thompson draws our attention to a terrific debate on the motion: We Should Not Be Reluctant to Assert the Superiority of Western Values. Do go and listen. Ibn Warraq and Douglas Murray are spectacular, while Tariq Ramadan strikes me as disingenuous, shifty and rather scary.The free-for-all of the Q&A session is wonderful. -
Vernon’s Tosh
Dear lord, I’ve often thought that Mark Vernon writes some utter tosh at times, but I have seldom come across a bigger pile of codswallop than this. Ophelia gets stuck in to show it up for the rotting pile of fish ordure that it is. -
Hitchens vs McGrath
Here’s a video of the recent debate between Christopher Hitchens and Alister McGrath on the topic of religious belief in the modern world. I’m sorry, but it seems to me that Hitch simply wipes the floor with McGrath, who waffles as much as ever. Surely there must be better proponents of the religious position than this…McGrath seems to be a perfect illustration of what Dennett calls a Murky (see the previous entry). -
Ayaan Hirshi Ali
If you haven’t read Hirshi Ali’s autobiography Infidel, then here’s a chance to see her telling part of her life’s story. Well worth watching. I never thought that something so mundane as the Nancy Drew stories could have such a far-reaching effect… -
We Band of Brothers
James Anderson (Andy) Thomson gives a most thought-provoking talk on the motivations of suicide terrorists. Well worth watching. -
Life’s Too Short
Geoff Arnold reminds me why I’ve stopped reading Andrew Sullivan’s blog. Life’s too short to waste on reading tosh like this. Geoff shows up the emptiness of it by quoting wise words from Frederick Crews. -
Poster Propaganda
Via J. Carter Wood, over at Obscene Desserts, I simply must draw your attention to this online exhibition of Chinese propaganda posters. They’re a communist version of Norman Rockwell turned up to 11… Thoroughly unsettling. -
Fame and Dan Whatsit
Stephen Fry continues his blog with a terrific musing on fame. I’m pleased to see that he and I are in total agreement over the literary talents of Dan Whatsit. -
British Values
Prospect magazine asked "50 writers and intellectuals" (erm, so they are distinct groups, are they?) to define what they meant by the phrase "British Values". It provides an entertaining read, showing that the meaning is very difficult to pin down.However, I was rather taken by Brian Eno’s restatement of Gandhi’s aphorism:The values we usually claim as ours: democracy, peaceableness, equality of opportunity, pluralism, social responsibility, diplomacy, fair play, the rule of law —are all fine by me. Now let’s try them. -
An Interview With Oliver Sacks
This is an interview with Olver Sacks. It’s worth reading. He sums up my feelings almost exactly:I intensely dislike any reference to supernaturalism, but I think there can be profound mystical feelings which do not have to call on fictitious agencies like angels and demons and deities. The whole natural world is bathed in wonder and beauty and mystery. The feeling of the holy, the sacred, the wonderful, the mystical, can be divorced from anything theological, and is conveyed very powerfully in music.Absolutely. But, I would add, the powerful conveyance of those feelings is not simply constrained to music alone.
Geoff Coupe's Blog 