May
30
Here at last - the first of the new Echo Room.
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Plunder & Salvage
Michael Blackburn. Poet. Dark-brained cycloptic.
Did Iranian troops take part in the Houla massacre?
Iran has admitted that it has sent troops to Syria to help Assad. Is it possible that they played some part in the massacre at Houla?
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May
29
Cameron’s dither and swither. U-turn after U-turn.
Political blogger Guido Fawkes lists the current administration’s policy u-turns, including the latest pasty and caravan tax climbdowns.
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May
28
Mugabe to sign the golden book of tourism. Long live the UN for its sterling efforts.
The UN has long been a joke of obese proportions, so it’s no suprise it has appointed Mugabe as one of its tourism ambassadors. Yes, tourism ambassador, from that famous tourist-magnet, Zimbabwe, land of murdered white farmers and brutalised black serfs.
Much like that other delusional institution, the EU, the UN has numerous agencies by which to flatter itself that it plays an important role in the world, telling people how to live their lives. In this case it’s The United Nations World Tourism Organisation.
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The highjacking of human rights by the progressive quislings (especially the LibDems).
Why the UK Commission on a Bill of Rights is a progressive scam to “protect the HRA and the Strasbourg court” and thus reduce further what’s left of our national sovereignty. No suprise, then, that the LibDems are at the forefront of the exercise. Michael Pinto-Duschinksy, formerly a member of the Commission, explains what is going on.
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Greeks devise alternative currency to survive.
The inhabitants of the Greek town of Volos have devised their own currency to get them through the diffucult times. The reporter in the BBC clip talks about “barter” - which it isn’t - this is the use of a medium of exchage, ie money. It’s just that it isn’t “official” money. Good luck to them, I say.
There’s also an article from The New York Times here.
Various schemes, such as LETS, are in use in the UK.
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May
27
Attracting cows with an alphorn.
Don’t ask.
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May
25
Paul Fussell and the use of irony as emotional defence after the Great War.
The Fortnightly Review draw attention to a interesting interview with Paul Fussell, who died the other day. Fussell makes a case for the disillusion of the Great War as a major impulse towards the ironic mode in literature:
It protects one from emotional openness which might destroy or just weaken one, and it turns the experience toward intellect and away from emotion. I learned that by my long immersion in eighteenth-century literature, where the urge is constantly outward from oneself; that is, not to try to undertake deep voyages into the self, but, rather, to escape the self, look out at society, see what’s going on, and then comment on it. Irony is a great help there, to protect oneself from self-regarding emotion, which has always been an enemy of mine from the start.
The article also contains a link to the whole interview.
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Police tell Greeks not to withdraw money from banks. Next step…
Police are urging Greeks to keep their money in bank accounts rather than putting it at risk of theft, the Guardian reports.
Greece’s banks are likely to be shored up on Friday or Monday with €18bn of bailout funds. Almost 25% of deposits have been taken out from Greek banks.via euobserver.com
Next step will be to stop people taking large amounts out of their accounts. The step after that…
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May
24
RIP Paul Fussell. The Great War and Modern Memory.
Paul Fussell, literary critic and author of the influential book The Great War and Modern Memory, has died, aged 88.
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