tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52378072012-02-02T13:17:35.750Zsomediscoscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comBlogger45241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-85494712523992977162012-02-02T13:16:00.000Z2012-02-02T13:17:16.879Zharsh employer employee relations (coercion, punitive) in the informal economyin the wider setting of racialised structural inequality *(see chapter 4 of Sen's Development as Freedom for discussion of the higher death rates for African-Americans over white Americans, adjusted for income factors, and certainly not just in the category of violent deaths of young males, but all men and women, "more scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-54613076604739254092012-01-31T21:51:00.003Z2012-01-31T22:16:39.859Zone current obsession. (appropriate to pathologise ardent pre-occupations with 'obsessive'? flip side: aged 32, grow up and find that measured middle ground? flip flip side: stop constructing deliberate binaries you cheap cunt, the stock-in-trade of the water cooler pseud. this all in inverted commas, right?)anyway. opening 40 seconds or so of this track from the American band Tennis (in scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-33260444299489193692012-01-30T01:23:00.002Z2012-01-30T01:30:07.426ZWiki: (with bibliography)King Philip's War, sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, or Metacom's Rebellion, was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war is named after the main leader of the Native American side, Metacomet, known to the Englishscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-76946373066782650162012-01-29T10:28:00.001Z2012-01-29T10:28:22.364ZThere was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and besieged it, and built great bulwarks against it;Now there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city; yet no man remembered that same poor man. Then said I, Wisdom is better than strength: nevertheless the poor man's wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.- scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-31790225759086130482012-01-28T09:50:00.001Z2012-01-28T09:50:41.551ZThe settler's town is a strongly-built town, all made of stone and steel. It is a brightly-lit town; the streets are covered with asphalt, and the garbage-cans swallow all the leavings, unseen, unknown and hardly thought about. The settler's feet are never visible, except perhaps in the sea; but there you've never close enough to see them. His feet are protected by strong shoes although the scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-60889343427944799072012-01-27T01:02:00.001Z2012-01-27T01:02:17.638Zwhatever happens, we have gotthe Maxim gun, and they have notscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-31878292186696190902012-01-26T17:40:00.003Z2012-01-26T17:44:33.310ZWe have left undone those things which we ought to have done,And we have done those things which we ought not to have done,And there is no health in us.- The Book of Common Prayerscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-14688233039206434882012-01-24T20:21:00.001Z2012-01-24T20:21:12.803ZFishing Season1st February - 30th SeptemberTemporary start 1st MarchRiver Dee known for its quantity of fish, not necessarily for their sizeThe River Dee rises in the Cairngorms, it has a catchment area of 825 sq miles,is 90 miles in length which makes it the 6th largest river in Scotlandscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-2461019903726038072012-01-23T15:16:00.001Z2012-01-23T15:16:51.717ZWhat the eye does not see, the heart does not grieve aboutscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-90986607480260814002012-01-22T01:41:00.002Z2012-01-22T01:42:26.907ZRiver Tweed is the second largest river in Scotland.It has a drainage area of 1,925 square miles, and a course of nearly 100 miles.Fishing Season1st February - 30th Novemberscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-12895178198410165422012-01-20T00:30:00.001Z2012-01-20T00:30:32.834ZFROM THE MOMENT I HEARD about Bidder #70 raising his paddle inside a BLM auction to outbid oil and gas companies in the leasing of Utah’s public lands, I recognized Tim DeChristopher as a brave, creative citizen-activist. That was on December 19, 2008, in Salt Lake City. Since that moment, Tim has become a thoughtful, dynamic leader of his generation in the climate change movement. While many of scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-74977112150138409632012-01-19T01:18:00.001Z2012-01-19T01:20:00.060ZGeneral Suharto and his successors built fortunes from West Papuan rainforest timber concessions and mineral resource wealth, operating a network of enterprises of no benefit to the local population. The security forces justify their presence, and benefit financially, from a continuation of hostilities.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-9660852179674161622012-01-18T04:43:00.002Z2012-01-18T04:49:24.344Zre-up and a broadcast over a year old now, but the Radio 4 programme Cambodia: Country for Sale is apposite listening set alongside the post here yesterdayscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-75191945308376161172012-01-17T18:19:00.002Z2012-01-17T18:25:32.815ZThe Ethiopian government under its “villagization” program is forcibly relocating approximately 70,000 indigenous people from the western Gambella region to new villages that lack adequate food, farmland, healthcare, and educational facilities...State security forces have repeatedly threatened, assaulted, and arbitrarily arrested villagers who resist the transfers.[...]The villagization program scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-58535212235360869492012-01-15T13:39:00.005Z2012-01-15T13:44:12.268ZStop and search 'racial profiling' by police on the increase, claims studyAnalysis shows that black people are now 30 times more likely to be stopped by the police than white peoplePolice perform a stop and search procedure on a group of youths in London. Photograph: Jason Alden / Rex Featuresscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-71661834790199865162012-01-14T01:57:00.002Z2012-01-14T02:00:21.543Zfucking daysyou know when you realise about something?and someone points that out, and then you realise?yeah, that.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-2678971666664081162012-01-10T22:24:00.002Z2012-01-10T22:38:12.891Zthey stopped itsince he has been in power in Rwanda, Kagame has been responsible for many abuses.that is fact.(Rwanda may actually even be responsible for genocide - or crimes approaching the threshold of genocide - in the neighbouring DRC.)however, none of this changes the central fact of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, and who is to blame for the genocide; granted, you do get fruitloops scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-38784456462289244652012-01-08T00:28:00.000Z2012-01-08T00:29:08.988Zscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-91958330157574189462012-01-07T16:32:00.001Z2012-01-07T16:32:43.713ZA further 800,000 homes will be put out of reach of people on housing benefit because of government welfare cuts – leaving low income families the choice of cutting spending on food to pay the rent or moving out, according to a study by housing experts.[...]It is unlikely that the poor will be able migrate to cheaper parts of the capital: in Newham, east London, there will be twice as many scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-15876037540004551142012-01-06T20:21:00.002Z2012-01-06T20:22:20.828ZThe World Bank's annual development reports are marked with much media hoopla, but have no direct policy implications.- David Moore, 1999scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-20170442002018006502012-01-05T14:11:00.002Z2012-01-05T14:16:37.602Z'Bahrain Special: Identifying The Tear Gas Companies Who Profit While Bahrainis Suffer and Die'(via and.)scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-9639748434505007582012-01-02T09:56:00.001Z2012-01-02T09:56:40.646Zscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-87672688147118190092012-01-01T13:14:00.001Z2012-01-01T13:14:45.123ZThe Elizabethan legislation was intended to help the 'settled' poor who found themselves out of work (for example) because of illness, or during a hard winter or a trade depression. It was assumed that these people would accept whatever work or relief the parish offered, whether that was indoor or outdoor relief. Neither method of assistance was seen as punitive or harsh. It was intended to deterscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-13143271182787733342011-12-31T13:22:00.008Z2012-01-11T08:26:10.289Z2011- I Know Something About Love :group show with Shirin Neshat, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Yinka Shonibare and Yang Fudong, Parasol unit- L and i had problems with how in Neshat's video on forbidden love (snatched glances across Iranian prayer rooms, women firmly in a post-Revolution cage) the woman was fairly heavily made up beneath her cloths, and the bloke was a bit of a conventional oil scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-19257633278784307412011-12-30T00:28:00.002Z2011-12-30T00:46:26.639ZMr Stewart says the project is largely designed to bring scripture alive, but it also has another important function - to rescue patois from its second-class status in Jamaica and to enshrine it as a national language.their verbal communication is demeaned as vernacular chatter on this side but elevated as linguistic discourse on the other- Mamdani, 1996.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-48787361549596197102011-12-29T09:30:00.001Z2011-12-29T09:30:27.090Zwow. that's quite the headline from the London Daily Mail.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-50844036298601283642011-12-28T11:56:00.003Z2011-12-28T12:00:40.263ZCan movement be captured in art?Deborah Bull: For a dancer to look at a picture of a dancer is to experience the sensation of movementWhat can we learn from the changing physique of the dancer since Degas' time?DB: Dancers tend to reflect the ideal of womanhood of the times.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-81679192185225475432011-12-27T15:19:00.003Z2011-12-27T15:21:06.258Zand in some of my other favourites from this year, Mike Skinner's mix for FACT (link) has cracking selections all the way through, but i especially appreciate at the end a jungle do-over of Bjork that finishes beautifully, bringing the melancholic 4am come down to you, switching into the shimmering, gorgeous build-up of corking Canadian prog house, that and perhaps how he goes into Jean Jacques scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-18575291365728483232011-12-26T13:18:00.001Z2011-12-26T13:18:56.239Zhere's Natalie Shaw's tracks of 2011 (Spotify link)scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-55460220484381990742011-12-25T01:16:00.002Z2011-12-25T01:31:52.592ZThe approach of entitlements used in this work is very general and - I would argue - quite inescapable in analysing starvation and poverty. If, nevertheless, it appears odd and unusual, this can be because of the hold of the tradition of thinking in terms of what exists rather than in terms of who can command what. The mesmering simplicity of focusing on the ratio of food to population has scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-40312534889098418282011-12-22T16:47:00.003Z2011-12-22T17:11:02.614ZRoyal Dutch Shell wishes the Niger Delta Merry Christmas in their own inimitable wayscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-204774014570538092011-12-22T01:12:00.003Z2011-12-22T01:17:37.095ZEgyptian women raise their voices(photo: Mohamed Omar for epa)scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-33443965683576553222011-12-21T16:20:00.003Z2011-12-21T16:38:17.110ZHRW: 'This 52-page report documents the effect of the Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer Citizen and Protection Act, commonly known as HB 56, on unauthorized immigrants and their families, as well as the larger Alabama communities in which they live. It is based in part on first-hand accounts by 57 Alabama residents, including citizens and permanent residents, who reported abuse or discrimination scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-48507565929091933482011-12-20T09:25:00.002Z2011-12-20T09:31:38.025Zfrom the courageous and invaluable Bahrain Center for Human RightsPolice in Bahrain on Sunday fired tear gas at thousands of demonstrators chanting anti-government slogans after the funeral of an elderly man who witnesses say died from tear gas inhalation.The unrest Sunday is the fourth straight day of clashes between opposition supporters and security forces along a main highway west of the scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-34237891517949656722011-12-18T14:24:00.004Z2011-12-18T14:51:24.762ZWhere does this road begin? Where does it end? [Dhorai] doesn't know. Perhaps no one knows.Some of the carts are loaded with maize, others bring plaintiffs to the district court, still others carry patients to the hospital.- 'Dhorai charitmanas', Satinath Bhaduriscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-90083540212798348222011-12-16T16:59:00.002Z2011-12-16T17:11:02.022ZLondon schoolchildren among those taking to the streets to protest the likely rigged election in the DRC and general lack of outside interest in Congolese woes (this precisely aligns with the international community's systematic plundering of Congolese treasure, naturally), earlier this month.i hadn't followed what UK press coverage of these hugely under-reported protests there has been, but scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-18075429253924019822011-12-11T12:01:00.001Z2011-12-11T12:01:34.702Znetworksneoliberalismneoliberal networksIntensive globalization has been created largely by law firms and more specialised financial services. As a process it can be interpreted as indicating globalization's origins in mid-twentieth century Americanization. As an outcome it can be interpreted as a continuing core of the globalization process.Extensive globalization has been created largely by scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-58548388104949652862011-12-10T11:25:00.002Z2011-12-10T11:28:28.522ZHitchens concludes the essay with the observation that even as he was writing the article, he noticed a full-page advertisement from CAMERA [Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America], which said:In 1948, on the day of the proclamation of the State of Israel, five Arab armies invaded the new country from all sides. In frightful radio broadcasts, they urged the Arabs living there scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-76478010298258919142011-12-06T21:03:00.002Z2011-12-06T21:06:58.603ZReynolds on the maximal nation - for Pitchfork no lessscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-53334465667175478302011-12-04T23:33:00.002Z2011-12-04T23:36:38.733ZBarbed wire and burnt-out vehicles, trucks laden with logs splayed across the roads, stone-throwing mobs and panicking international peacekeepers cowering behind their riot shields. The Balkan checkpoint, wearily familiar from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s, is back.In an attempt to keep a little swath of Kosovo Serbian, Serbs have cut roads, blocked passages and erected checkpoints at a score ofscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-19175819301720023412011-11-25T01:13:00.000Z2011-11-25T01:14:14.144Zscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-8614653179593002582011-11-24T11:21:00.001Z2011-11-24T11:23:56.933ZAverage pay in the City of London has jumped by 12% to £83,000 in the last year, with managing directors enjoying a 21% increase to £237,000, a new report said today.source: London Evening Standard, Monday 21st November 2011scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-78764566779231300072011-11-19T22:06:00.001Z2011-11-19T22:11:54.052Z‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that's all.’scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-77993353957610452932011-11-14T13:08:00.001Z2011-11-14T13:08:41.568ZWho is going to say anything? The international community? Fuck them!scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-2169692837528497042011-11-09T21:16:00.002Z2011-11-09T21:21:34.570ZUK backs bid to overturn ban on cluster bombsscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-49604601645532406622011-11-07T10:00:00.000Z2011-11-07T10:01:03.494ZSo when US analysts or European journalists or World Bank bureaucrats ruminate about "when will there be a Palestinian spring?", it's generally because they have no historical context, no idea that Palestine's first intifada spring in many ways set the stage for this Arab spring more than two decades later. herescott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-64621855982289894732011-11-05T00:00:00.003Z2011-11-05T00:00:54.324Zscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-56322347526526094182011-11-04T22:19:00.001Z2011-11-04T22:22:05.550Zspeaking of the arts, gutted to miss - in my beloved Birmingham to bootscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-42586829836630630352011-11-03T23:34:00.003Z2011-11-04T00:02:20.181Zsouth London dwelling scouser, charting courses through grime, house, UK funky, keeping it on the floor whilst moving forward (not that the two should ever be regarded as usually mutually exclusive), this, fucking remarkable.love it (dropped a year ago - yes, i live in the back)scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-10199870807528475852011-10-31T17:21:00.000Z2011-10-31T17:22:13.206ZJesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.- Matthew 21:12scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-42984386416564721492011-10-30T19:19:00.001Z2011-10-30T19:19:54.120Z‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.’scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-85258824711708242692011-10-27T23:52:00.001+01:002011-10-27T23:56:21.169+01:00Eustace Clarence liked animals, especially beetles, if they were dead and pinned on a card. He liked books if they were books of information and had pictures of grain elevators or of fat foreign children doing exercises in model schools.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-54999025168860087192011-10-16T21:35:00.001+01:002011-10-16T21:35:51.387+01:00Winnie-the-Pooh sat down at the foot of the tree, put his head between his paws, and began to think. First of all he said to himself: ‘That buzzing noise means something. You don't get a buzzing noise like that, just buzzing and buzzing, without its meaning something.’scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-72066120749985667242011-10-09T15:40:00.001+01:002011-10-09T15:41:34.202+01:00The NHS will not exist within five years of a Conservative victory - Oliver Letwin, MP, 2009scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-16682984761934592632011-10-04T23:29:00.002+01:002011-10-04T23:38:39.935+01:00whether there are tasks the army could undertake that would free up more police for the front line- David Cameron, 2011"It would be a sorry day if we had to have an army on the streets on the mainland of Britain"- Willie Whitelaw, 1981scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-90464173160928331232011-09-28T23:29:00.002+01:002011-09-28T23:33:45.360+01:00one of the great blogs is no more.cheers Graeme.i'm going to re-up a David Harvey quote this blog has borrowed once before, first from Graeme's site; it seems appropriate.My view is that [neoliberalism] refers to a class project that coalesced in the crisis of the 1970s. Masked by a lot of rhetoric about individual freedom, liberty, personal responsibility and the virtues of privatisation, the scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-40065701672229671302011-09-28T00:59:00.002+01:002011-09-28T01:00:25.567+01:00Return of the Rajavi CultOliver Craner on the Mujahedin-e Khalqscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-27421768242214800032011-09-24T00:00:00.004+01:002011-09-24T00:21:18.964+01:00Tom Hardy, i like this boy, i have a man crush on him. i like his line about dreaming a little bigger, darling (or however it goes) in the Nolan film Inception.and i also like how Leonardo DiCaprio is growing into some modern weary/driven Robert Mitchum, looks wise, these days, bulking up after a fresh-faced adolescence courting the likes of Claire Danes. and i particularly like the still, scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-27098348038585606412011-09-12T20:56:00.001+01:002011-09-12T21:01:34.446+01:00George Osborne's austerity programme will cut the living standards of Britain's families by more than 10% over the next three years as those on the lowest incomes suffer most from the tax increases and spending cuts designed to reduce the budget deficit.A study from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the UK's leading experts on the public finances, concludes that the chancellor's strategy will scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-41706041188635418702011-08-19T09:08:00.001+01:002011-08-19T09:10:35.805+01:00I have seen many country of origin information (COI) reports in my time, and I am generally a big fan of them, but the current UK Border Agency one on Sri Lanka is genuinely shocking.
[...]
The UK Border Agency are now relying on war criminals as a source of evidence. It gives a new meaning to the phrase blame the victim.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-82973215701826674912011-08-18T17:44:00.003+01:002011-08-18T17:46:53.109+01:00'Britain's public snubbing of the court emboldens Moscow, Ankara and other governments who would prefer to ignore its rulings'
What Cameron and other government ministers before him who renounce the "perversion" of human rights really seem to object to is judges making decisions that the government dislikes. Witness the attacks on "unelected" British judges and the European court of human rightsscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-21501792934197036192011-08-16T11:33:00.006+01:002011-08-16T11:38:46.850+01:00OPPORTUNISTIC LOOTING
'some were so brazen they made no attempt to disguise their appearance'
scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-38583155596675164182011-08-14T12:38:00.002+01:002011-08-14T12:40:00.475+01:00playing this atm. really like it.
(via Yatesy.)scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-50149975551042584852011-08-13T03:08:00.000+01:002011-08-13T03:09:26.398+01:00cannot articulate what UK garage means to mescott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-73958172512949898372011-08-11T20:58:00.001+01:002011-08-11T21:01:31.253+01:00looting scum, send him down
A college student with no criminal record was jailed for six months on Thursday for stealing a £3.50 case of bottled water during a night of rioting.
Nicolas Robinson, 23, of Borough, south-east London, carried out the “opportunistic” theft at a Lidl supermarket in Brixton as he walked home from his girlfriend’s house.
Robinson threw away the water and ran when he scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-26835315994436024802011-08-10T15:28:00.002+01:002011-08-10T16:19:57.932+01:00above the door of the Walworth clinic on the Walworth Road in southeast London, a stone is inscribed with a Cicero quotation, The health of the people is the highest law.
this lets me inelegantly segue into observing that nurses, physiotherapists and foot doctors are being used by an increasingly cash-strapped NHS to screen general practitioner referrals back to those same GPs who had sent scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-86717133792716225372011-08-09T21:35:00.000+01:002011-08-09T21:36:37.729+01:00very sadly, not really a surprisescott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-9422674644246030572011-08-05T08:09:00.001+01:002011-08-05T08:09:33.854+01:00All of the bells in a city or town rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-52029033293829555072011-08-04T09:07:00.001+01:002011-08-04T09:11:10.009+01:00In a sense, one might define the contemporary poor in the United States as those who, for reasons beyond their control, cannot help themselves. All the most decisive factors making for opportunity and advance are against them. They are born going downward, and most of them stay down. They are victims whose lives are endlessly blown round and round the other America.- Michael Harrington, 1962scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-12460841795332040492011-08-03T00:33:00.001+01:002011-08-03T00:33:59.942+01:00THIS > Gerhard Richter: PanoramaOct 6-Jan 8 2012 Tate Modernscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-41324170724657882662011-08-02T01:11:00.001+01:002011-08-02T01:11:42.376+01:00pierogiscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-48529992041999789622011-08-01T06:53:00.001+01:002011-08-01T06:53:47.340+01:00Charity is no substitute for justice withheld- Augustinescott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-56664716572187073382011-07-31T09:19:00.000+01:002011-07-31T09:20:20.019+01:00just in'AFP: Activist says at least 45 civilians killed by Syrian forces in tank assault on city of Hama'scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-82093463218602880962011-07-29T10:45:00.001+01:002011-07-29T10:45:40.841+01:00not even amongst the greatest set of menscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-85068153576719365552011-07-28T15:28:00.005+01:002011-07-28T20:14:29.333+01:00Yes, we back Sure Start. It's a disgrace that Gordon Brown has been trying to frighten people about this.- David Cameron, 5 May 2010.it turns out funding for Sure Start centres (one of the crowning glories of the New Labour years, a programme of community outreach for childcare, early years learning and such) was not ring fenced - contrary to what Cameron implied would happen, whilst on record scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-48992974728676317602011-07-27T07:25:00.001+01:002011-07-27T07:25:53.731+01:00ford to city: drop deadscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-88510148828414214252011-07-26T08:31:00.001+01:002011-07-26T08:31:33.460+01:00how long? not longscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-49950777111145095932011-07-25T08:45:00.000+01:002011-07-25T08:46:21.845+01:00By one means or another, what is being avoided here is that Anders Breivik's politics were shaped not by the fact of immigration, nor by jihadism, nor by any actually existing Muslims, but by ideas beginning in the mainstream right and radiating out to the far right.correct.here.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-85225362318839116062011-07-23T10:34:00.002+01:002011-07-23T12:47:52.998+01:00earlier this year the always exceptional Graeme made a couple of posts about the ideology of craft beer (part one here, two). you should read both the posts in full, certainly if you've ever drank a beer and enjoyed it, or, if, like me and some of my mates, you know a bit about the stuff. Graeme started to hit on some - you might say - peculiarities in the north American craft brewing scene (whatscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-80103689712450596842011-07-22T09:41:00.001+01:002011-07-22T09:42:34.358+01:00The Southern Poverty Law Center and a coalition of other civil rights groups asked a federal judge to block Alabama’s anti-immigrant law from taking effect Sept. 1.here.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-27989180862473425442011-07-21T13:33:00.003+01:002011-07-21T13:49:29.309+01:00Bruce Wayne: Targeting me won't get their money back. I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight, but this is different. They've crossed a line.Alfred Pennyworth: You crossed the line first, sir. You squeezed them and hammered them to the point of desperation, and in their desperation, they turned to a man they didn't fully understand.Bruce Wayne: Criminals aren't complicated, Alfred. We scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-61323109339817256082011-07-18T20:52:00.002+01:002011-07-18T20:54:51.139+01:00fuck. me.B'Tselem interviewed 50 Palestinian minors for the report. Many described being arrested in the middle of the night, denied access to their families or lawyers and mistreatment. Only two of the children interviewed for the report, No Minor Matter, had an adult present during questioning.here.(via Elizabeth.)scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-79295453341558207452011-07-17T18:40:00.001+01:002011-07-17T18:40:43.299+01:00love this war and i love gunscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-76175575302440001742011-07-11T08:27:00.001+01:002011-07-11T08:27:58.908+01:00scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-78671949787042199702011-07-10T00:07:00.002+01:002011-07-10T00:11:09.032+01:00there was a incisive (indeed snarky, and in some respects rather unfair but hey) Number Crunching in a recent Private Eye that i want to quote but before i do i just want to note it made me flash on a very good point yer man Owen Jones made in his recent book Chavs: The Demonization of the working class (do get hold of a copy of this essential tome about class and how society's imbalances are scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-61290961106109067932011-07-09T14:04:00.000+01:002011-07-09T14:06:32.035+01:00"There was random shooting at people, no distinction between women, children, armed or unarmed men. Many, many were killed, many unarmed civilians.""I left Talkalakh to protect my honour. When we talk to our relatives in Banyas, Homs and Talbiseh they tell us horrifying stories. They told us that so many women were raped. These men don't fear God.""Once they beat me so hard on the back of my headscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-65277225918717075622011-07-08T09:49:00.000+01:002011-07-08T09:50:51.157+01:00In March, the coalition Government ignored the pleas of students and Further Education Colleges alike and announced it would scrap the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) that so many young people rely on to afford education beyond school. A bursary scheme replaced the EMA, albeit proposed with less than one third of the funding.The Government is now using the News of the World phone hacking scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-48110979793346174512011-07-07T17:23:00.002+01:002011-07-07T17:41:58.659+01:00This Fourth of July weekend, one very powerful and wealthy man named Dominique Strauss-Kahn was free to leave house arrest because of so-called problems with the victim's "credibility." I do say so-called, because neither lying on an immigration application, nor having an incarcerated boyfriend, makes it less likely a woman will be one of the 600 women raped on any given day.herescott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-11011197587899056372011-07-05T21:30:00.001+01:002011-07-05T21:37:15.927+01:00Cy Twombly has died.below is his painting Hero and Leandro.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-35624100245978359082011-06-28T20:58:00.002+01:002011-06-28T21:11:04.045+01:00As you approach the studio-home of sculptor Stephen Cox RA, an old farmhouse not far from Ludlow, you make a steady ascent up Clee Hill. This high peak, made famous in A.E. Housman's poem, A Shropshire Lad, in the line 'From Clee to heaven the beacon burns', still shows signs of its Iron Age past. As you climb, depending on the weather, a panorama of the Welsh Marches unfurls: Snowdonia to the scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-21791554719528854892011-06-24T18:03:00.002+01:002011-06-24T18:08:47.376+01:00'The result is a teasingly ambiguous sequence of makeshift workshops and half-lit shelters where weary merchants might have just spent a night, or where itinerant weavers had long before abandoned their tapestry factory. The whole experience is a loop: from beginning to end symbols reiterate and multiply until you are suddenly popped outside into an internal courtyard or Byzantine backstreet. scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-27362762701241522152011-06-19T20:20:00.001+01:002011-06-19T20:22:38.431+01:00If you are Kurdish today, even if you don’t speak the language, you can hear a song in Kurdish, and your soul roars. It makes you feel part of a struggle.herescott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-28320393798642526612011-06-13T15:06:00.002+01:002011-06-13T15:09:47.832+01:00scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-73306303490070721492011-06-12T17:48:00.003+01:002011-06-12T18:32:12.340+01:00The boy amid the ruins could have been no more than 12 years old and he looked at us with genuine disinterest, sitting on a broken office swivel chair in the middle of rue Trablos, scruffy brown hair on top of a tired, old face. He was wearing khaki dungarees about three sizes too big for him and a boy's shirt with pictures of Mickey Mouse printed across the front. In his right hand he held the scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-32276836745769813162011-06-09T22:28:00.002+01:002011-06-09T22:33:12.038+01:00The UN's human rights commissioner has criticised Australia's tight policies on refugees and the treatment of Aboriginal people.Navi Pillay, who grew up in apartheid-era South Africa, said it was part of an undercurrent of racism in the country, which leads to refugees and migrants being subjected to arbitrary detention in Australia, and also in Malaysia.(source: Big Issue, June 6 - 12 2011.)scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-19339922546727224492011-06-02T17:56:00.003+01:002011-06-02T17:59:57.583+01:00Controversial government changes to housing benefit could see 11,000 young disabled people forced out of their flats, putting them at risk of homelessness, according to campaigners.oh goody.scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-44315851746199537762011-05-26T04:19:00.002+01:002011-05-26T04:20:31.663+01:00Graeme (one of the few worthwhile politics blogs out there): The rot at the centre of Canada's political culturescott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-92164723437810414862011-05-21T12:57:00.001+01:002011-05-21T13:04:57.020+01:00A new Council of Europe treaty will make a real difference to abuse sufferers – so why is our government so reluctant to sign?by Gauri van GulikMay 19, 2011Ministers from countries all across Europe gathered in Istanbul today to sign a new Council of Europe convention on domestic violence at the Istanbul summit of the committee of ministers. Incredibly, the UK wasn't one of the signatories. The scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-35840668737755386052011-05-18T09:55:00.001+01:002011-05-18T09:57:17.827+01:00Why Are 25 Hedge Fund Managers Worth 658,000 Teachers?scott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5237807.post-82552666912005497582011-05-17T18:10:00.005+01:002011-05-17T18:29:32.604+01:00I'm so fast that last night I turned off the light switch in my hotel room and got into bed before the room was darkscott neilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12056665116244500993noreply@blogger.com