Labels are informative, posters won’t change that

It’s not possible to have a neutral religious, ethical or political influence on our children, nor should it be. Instructing our children in the traditions, myths and values of our forefathers is a large part of what makes us human. Respect, tolerance and appreciation of other traditions is all we can realistically demand of parents if we are to thrive in a multi-cultural society. I believe that my worldview is as compact and rational and non-delusional as i can get it as of today (as does everyone), so i’ll raise my kids in that spirit. When they are older, then other traditions will have an influence on them and they may reject my world view (though that’s statistically quite unlikely). It’s not like a Muslim parent thinks ‘well i know that most of this stuff i believe is dubious, but I’ll make my child believe it too, to validate it for me’. People are generally sincere, and care about their children.

We can though be honest with ourselves and confess that a great deal of our religious, ethical and political views are in fact learned from parents and respected elders rather than exclusively objective and rationally attained. The committed Christian or Hindu needs to be take a step back and realise that those metaphysical and historical stories he holds true would seem bonkers and naive had he been raised by Mr & Mrs Khan from Number 43 and visa versa. Everyone of course thinks that their personal views on maters of life, ethics and relationships are ‘correct’ or they would change them. So why would they not instruct their loved ones likewise?

The labels are handy, they are informative.

PS: the writing of this brings one thing to the fore in my mind, not that we shouldn’t raise our children in a likeness of us, but that we should be extra concerned about who we are and what we believe, as it reverberates down though the generations. Quite a responsibility.

Brown passes the ball to Miliband, CRUNCH!

I have a bit of a recurring worry, nightmare would be too strong. I have a 7 day old baby girl so having nightmares would involve having sleep, which, i am not.

My worry is that Gordon Brown decides around January time time that he’s going to step aside as PM and Labour leader allowing someone else to fight the general election. The problem is that it’s more than likely a hospital pass, as who ever is leader the Tories are probably still going to win. David Miliband seems the most promising candidate. Smart, principled, eloquent, handsome and dashing (say’s Mrs Clinton), again i say smart, good political brain, young, being lauded by other euro ministers the list goes on. It would be a disaster for the Labour party to have him tarnished with an election defeat. Rejected by the electorate so early in his career.

To know what we don’t know

Is it the 21st century curse to know what we don’t know?

What drives revolt against injustice?

…what drives men and women to revolt against injustice is not dreams of liberated grandchildren, but memories of enslaved ancestors…

Walter Benjamin

Act now to ensure survival?

Just a morning thought.

The problem isn’t really that we need to act now to ensure the survival of our grandchildren. For starters, our grandchildren WILL die, what ever we do, as will our children, as will everyone you have ever known. For seconders, the real problem is that they will more than likely not die soon enough. If life expectancy continues to rise and if we end up in the next generation being able to grow spare body parts in the lab (which seems likely) then we will need to reassess what it is to ‘survive’. Only a generation or two ago living to 55-60 was seen as a long life, now its mid life, it may be early life for our grandchildren.

 

Taliban: the return of the taliban

So it looks like we’ll probably not succeed in Afghanistan. Let’s be honest the Taliban are in for the long haul and we have no stomach for sacrificing our young men and our money in any other cause than self-interest (possibly quite rightly). The goals of the Afghan conflict, in as much as they are clear just don’t chime with public sentiment.

The stated goal is to make Britain safer but that’s a tough sell, the real goal seems to be to help the non-Taliban Afghans stop the Taliban retaining control of the country. Nasty as the Taliban are, is that something the British working man’s taxes should be spent on? Maybe, maybe not.

But we can’t have it both ways; we can’t pull out of Afghanistan then moan to politicians that we should be doing ‘something’ about the oppressive Taliban regime. We have to be honest about what we really want. We want to purge our consciences by moaning to leaders and media that they aren’t doing enough to help the poor people we see on TV. But we don’t want that to actually involve nasty wars, which are bad and we are against. As soon as any of these nasty people around the world take issue with our ‘helping’ thus turning into a ‘war’ which we are of course against, then its white poppy a go-go.

So its welcome back Taliban, here’s reminder of the manifesto

The enviroment is the new kids

Is it just me or … (that’s an ominous way to start a blog post)

…is ‘its good for the climate’ the new ‘do it for the kids’

It used to be if you wanted to convince people do something or stop doing something one would throw in a vague reference to an ill defined benefit or detriment to future generation of tiny cute children. But now all one needs to do is introduce some vague ill defined benefit or detriment to the environment.

Sorry darling, I don’t want to walk to the shops to get some Flash wipes, because that will take energy , and then I will need to eat more food, which contributes to global warming.

I’d love to go to visit your parents tonight instead of watching the football, but think of the carbon footprint in terms of travel and rich teas.

Can I have some money please? it’s for the environment and the kids.

define me… DEFINE ME!!

Too many people will blog about this,  so i won’t

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/nov/03/tim-nicholson-climate-change-belief

…only to say that i still don’t understand how he was discriminated against due to his alleged beliefs

The danger of a weak body of MPs

I started to get a shiver up my spine as I watched Harriet Harman, leader of the house of commons speak to Andrew Marr about the new Independent Expenses Watchdog. She kept saying that this and that would be a matter for the watchdog not the commons, that she hoped they would be fair and balanced but it was a mater for them.

I started to think -  hang on a minute -  take a step back, this is a democracy, and I vote for an MP to represent me, to make the laws of the land. Parliament is supposed to be sovereign, who the **** is this ‘independent watchdog’ accountable to if my MP isn’t even allowed a vote on its proposals? I happen to think that MPs are underpaid and that its a bad thing for our democracy, now who do i vote for to make that happen?  is the watchdog going to canvas my vote?

I’m quite aware that MPs have lost all credibility due to the expenses scandal but that’s no excuse for giving in to every whim and abuse from the public/media. Democracy is too important for that (sidebar: the only way to have purged the problem would have been for The Queen to have immediately dissolved parliament when it became obvious that trust had been lost. But that too would have been undemocratic, because who elected her!).

Politicians are in a difficult position of needing to represent as well as to lead, but I’m starting to see how dangerous it is to have a morally discredited parliament because it means it’s hesitant to tell us what we don’t want to hear, its constantly apologizing and grovelling to us, as opposed to leading us. Which is something along the lines of … if we don’t want it to just be a job for rich people, and we want to encourage more woman and family providers then its perfectly reasonable for them to have a Westminster home paid for by the taxpayer, and to have a salary in line with their responsibilities – perhaps equivalent to senior lawyer or doctor.  Above all, they most decide these things for themselves, not outsource decision making to an unelected body because they think a pay rise will lose them votes!

On easy offense and complaining

via Nick Cohen in the Observer

A mob fighting a good cause is still a mob. To fight back, you need to remember that although the internet age is hugely expanding the number of complaints, the old rules still apply. Whether you are the owner of a tiny blog or the editor of a national newspaper, if someone points out an incorrect fact, you correct it; if someone challenges an argument, you argue back; and if someone says that you must think what they think, you ignore them.

What do we want?

Happiness,

when do we want it?

all the time

 

…but not exactly all the time, other wise we wouldn’t appreciate it. To appreciate happy growth we need to experience a happiness recession once in a while.

How to kill a good idea

 

If you ever wish to discredit or malign a well evidenced and righteous discovery, theory or idea… over sell it

Gore Vidal – what the f**k!?

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200910u/gore-vidal

I can’t decide if this interview is a send up or not.  Maybe he’s going senile.

a taster…

 

on Polanski…

I really don’t give a fuck. Look, am I going to sit and weep every time a young hooker feels as though she’s been taken advantage of?

 

What happens with the online self doesnt die with its real world host?

 

is there such a thing as a will & testament for your online self?

is there a way to leave information about accounts/passwords for all your online real estate and data?

if there’s not, then there should be.

Proof if proof were needed

Quranic Verses ‘Appear’ on Baby’s Body – Russians flock to see ‘miracle’ baby