More Windows on Your World have been posted on the right
and I have an update on the WELL KNOWN RADIO FOUR VOICE who stole chocolate coins from our Christmas display. This email arrived in my inbox today, from the VERY guilty party...
"Hardly slept a wink last night as I felt so bad about stealing your choccies. So I've brought you and the team a box of Chocolate Buttons. You were not at your desk this morning as apparently you are being a TV star on the Politics show so I gave them to Peter Rippon. He's probably eaten them by now but at least I have assauaged my guilt and will hopefully get a full nights rest."
Isn't that nice? The WELL KNOWN RADIO FOUR VOICE is forgiven.
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But not identified...
When it comes to chocolate, the law of the land says 'guilty until proven innocent', so I am still going with John Humphrys. On the other hand, I doubt that JH would have either a conscience or actually go out and buy something himself, so I don't think it is him.
I'm confused. However it is nice that the chocolate has been replaced.
Please can our collection be preserved with the comments, even if it is a long term project? Could we make a 大象传媒 book and sell it in 2007 to raise money for the R4 appeal? I think you would sell at least a 100 copies to froggers & their families!
There is something quite profound about the mundane in our collective participation. Thanks for all the hard work (Lissa et al.) and I haven't spotted any duplications!
Hmm, I smell blood money, and not even Euros, I note. Buttons! HUH!
And, is this the price for not naming and shaming?
Eddie, I never thought of you as cheap ....
Eddie,
Speaking of the guilty. Are those demanding the West intervenes to save Saddam鈥檚 miserable skin the same people who for the past three years have shrilly argued that interference in another nation鈥檚 affairs can never be justified?
Yes, indeed! But if the Iraqis want the old bastard to swing I can鈥檛 really see it is any business of ours.
The trial may have been flawed, but Iraq鈥檚 justice system is by far the most fair and transparent in the entire Arab world.
And I don鈥檛 recall the 鈥渁nti-war鈥 lobby demanding Western interference when rape victims in Muslim countries are stoned to death under Sharia law.
As far as Saddam is concerned what right do we have to tell the Iraqis what to do? Isn鈥檛 that what the Left calls 鈥淲estern Imperialism鈥?
Buttons, eh? Well -
"
Buy some buttons, jolly, jolly buttons.
Buy some buttons, they'll last you all the day.
When you've sixpence to spend
You'll have buttons to lend,
And buttons to last you while you play!
Cadbury's Chocolate Buttons - 6d."
What a relief - euros exchanged for pennies.
Capt. Square -
what right do we have to tell the Iraqis what to do? Isn鈥檛 that what the Left calls 鈥淲estern Imperialism鈥?
Indeed, and what right have we to tell the Iranians what to do vis-a-vis nucular (sic) power?
Eddie,
East is east and west is west
And the wrong one I have chose
Let's go where I'll keep on wearin'
Those frills and flowers and buttons and bows
Rings and things and buttons and bows
Don't bury me in this prairie
Take me where the cement grows
Let's move down to some big town
Where they love a gal by the cut o' her clothes
And I'll stand out
In buttons and bows
I'll love you in buckskin
Or skirts that I've homespun
But I'll love ya' longer, stronger where
Yer friends don't tote a gun
My bones denounce the buckboard bounce
And the cactus hurts my toes
Let's vamoose where gals keep usin'
Those silks and satins and linen that shows
And I'm all yours in buttons and bows
Gimme eastern trimmin' where women are women
In high silk hose and peek-a-boo clothes
And French perfume that rocks the room
And I'm all yours in buttons and bows
At 02:33 PM on 08 Dec 2006, Ulrika Garlic wrote:
Don't bury me in this prairie
Take me where the cement grows
Let's move down to some big town
Which reminded me
.
They roll the concrete over it to try and keep it back.
The concrete gets tired of what it has to do,
It breaks and it buckles and the grass grows thru,
And God bless the grass.
God bless the truth that fights toward the sun,
They roll the lies over it and think that it is done.
It moves through the ground and reaches for the air,
And after a while it is growing everywhere,
And God bless the grass.
God bless the grass that grows through cement.
It's green and it's tender and it's easily bent.
But after a while it lifts up its head,
For the grass is living and the stone is dead,
And God bless the grass.
God bless the grass that's gentle and low,
Its roots they are deep and its will is to grow.
And God bless the truth, the friend of the poor,
And the wild grass growing at the poor man's door,
And God bless the grass.
So Eddie, you want to play Buttons in the Panto?
Well done for volunteering.
But, Eddie, did Peter Rippon leave you a share?
I think we should be told!
Actually Vyle Hernia (7), I don't think we should be telling the Iranians what to do about nuclear weapons, they're not telling us what they think about the Trident shopping spree we are about to embark on, as far as I know.
It is far to easy for us to think we know best, even in terms of political systems; benign dictatorships can work much better for some countries than democracy, yet we continue to make it a condition of so many interventions.
It is all imperialism, and we have absolutely no right to say we know best; the west knowing best in Rwanda, or the Israeli & Palestine conflict, really doesn't seem to have worked out very well to mention just a couple of instances. Iraq remains to be seen, but doesn't look good to me & I agree with Captain Square, being on the left as I am.
I know it won't be a popular view, but our environmental concerns can't be visited on the rest of the world. It is expensive to clean up our act, as we have recently heard, and not for us to handicap the developing world by our own agenda unless we intend to subsidise it, which is something we may have to consider if we want to continue to exploit the rest of the world as if it is our back garden.
Had no idea I was going to be so rabid & liberal today!
If that note was genuine, then I retract the accusation I made earlier re John H. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have been happy with the use of 'hopefully' in the last sentence. Also, unless it's a typo, he'd have spelt 'assuaged' accurately.
So, was it Rory Morrison?
Hello Eddie/Lissa/Whoever .....
The balls are great, but nobody can stroke them .............
Technical assistance needed, please!
"PM: where balls are played but never talked"
Think I should suggest it?
;o)
Two observations about the excellent Window on your World thingy...
1) Swedish flat pack kitchens seem very popular.
2) The poor soul you've talked into uploading the pictures to the website must surely be getting repetitive strain injury by now.
I cant see the photo and text that i sent for the window on your world moment it was of a minotaur...where is it???
Dear Helen Sparkles,
i do understand where you are coming from (as they say nowadays), but if anyone in the world, whatever their sad history, is going to doom everybody including themselves, in terms of the environment, i don't think now is the time to let them!! As I understand it, in any case, they are on the case as well. As far as I can tell, there is a lot of help and talk, but no coercion.
I have to say though, I am frightened. I really don't think we are going to survive as a species for that much longer. My friends say, why worry, it will happen when we are dead. That's fine, but we are in our sixties!! I used to think it would happen after I was dead, and I still worried (I have children and grandchildren), but a lot is happening now.
Oh dear, I have let my (short) hair down!
Rosalind, try not to worry, climate change has long been a feature of our planet. I'm afraid I am a bit of doubting Thomas all round though, because there is as much evidence to suggest that global warming is just that; climate change, as there is to support the environment factors oft sited. That is not to say it isn't real, just that the jury is still out, despite the current public policy agenda.
I have no idea if the developing world has experienced coercion or not, I just object wholesale to the do-as-we-say-not-as-we- did premise. Trade is a vital resource for the many countries from whom we import goods, but many I know are making efforts not to buy products with a high carbon footprint; mostly those flown in to these shores. Globalisation, and permeable trading borders, are not going to disappear; looking for another way for us all to thrive is going to involve a little more than recycling or banning SUV鈥檚.
I may be a bit of a fatalist though, not quite living each day as if it were my last, but certainly with the knowledge that life is ephemeral. Anything could happen to your children or your grandchildren; we didn鈥檛 know anything about CJD 20 years ago, or Sars, but the positive news is that we now know far more about cancers. It will be good as well as bad, just as the 21st century is.
P.S I didn't mean to sound patronising when I said try not to worry Rosalind! Hard to perfect tone of voice when writing sometimes.
I didn't think you were a bit patronising, Helen, and I wish you were right.
Rosalind,
Have you been following the Radio 4 Planet under Threat programmes?
We live in times. Climate change isn't the problem; it's
Another day, another pachyderm in the pond?
xx
ed
Rosalind, and all,
Provender for pachyderms? A ?
ed
Pachyderm? Just read Pete Doherty's Q&A in The Grauniad Weekend magazine & didn't understand half the words in that either. I thought I had a decent vocabulary, but perhaps I am a Sun reader after all, tis time for a little reflection on self...
Helen, my sister,
It has to do with thick, tough skins and creatures inhabiting such being obvious but
xx
ed
Juswt a note to unstick a bloggage?
xx
ed
Having read through this thread I gather there has been some flaming/trolling on the Iraq thread. I have to confess that I have, for the first time ever, completely ignored a whole thread and not read any of it. I just couldn't face it, knowing it would raise passions and strong opinions but that none of those will change anything. This has been a depressing enough week without that.
What I want to say here is that any nastiness that has gone on there doesn't seem to have really spilled over and that some people will only contirbute to that kind of issue and then go away, so Belinda - and anyone else who may be tempted - please don't leave: Just take a deep breath and wait for the flamers to move on.
A, x.
Aperitif (and all our siblings)
I fear we may have driven Belinda off. It's quite possible that my strong feelings about Zionism are sometimes mistaken for anti-semitism - a mistake often deliberately encouraged by Zionists, and, in my case a mistake of great magnitude.
For whatever part I may have played in any unpleasantness, I apologise. I do, however reserve the right to speak plainly on matters which I have studied intensely and upon which I have strong opinions. I strive to keep an open mind, but also an informed one.
Salaam/Shalom/Shanthi/Dorood/Peace
ed
Belinda, If you are still out there, please come back.
Ed, I don't think your comments can have been percieved as anti-Semitism & driven Belinda off, after all, I think i would have noticed! Funnily enough I used picture in one of my rants about The Middle East. I think the turbulence has now passed, so I shall restrain myself from pointing any fingers!
Helen,
I got the picture from Banksy after you pointed me there. I had seen it, but it was your blog reminded me of it.
Credit where due!
xx
ed
Vyle (7);
Absolutely none. But they are prohibited from even developing the technology necessary for nuclear weapons by their signature on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty. The IAEA discovered Uranium far more highly enriched than is used for civilian power applications and were promptly barred by the Iranians.
So the conclusion is that they are either developing a military reactor or weapons. Do you really want Ahmadinajad to have his finger on that button? The man who thinks that being a staesman means calling for Israel to be wiped form the face of the earth...
HelenSparkles (12);
I'm with Churchill on this one "Democracy is the worst form of government which there has ever been. Except for all the other kinds...". There's no such thing as a benign dictator.
No, now I think about it, there is. Saddam was seen that way by many when he came to power. Look which direction he headed! Acton's dictum " Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely". No dictator has ever remained benign for long.
I refer you to my comments above rearding Iran and nuclear weapons. Iran signed the NNPT and thereby prohibited ITSELF (sorry can't do the italics thingy!) from ever owning nukes. All we and the Yanks are doing is trying to get them to honour their own agreement.
For all those who are concerned about climate change (and I believe in it, for one), methane is six time more potent as a greenhouse gas than CO2. Most methane comes from the rear-ends of the worlds cattle. So take beef off the menu, slaughter the lot (India may require a national/religious caveat here!?) and hey presto, problem solved.
I've just visited the Iraq thread and had to go elsewhere to calm down. Flamers there certainly are, the odd troll or two also. Bags and bags of one-sided and narrow viewpoints. Im going to go back when I can make a considered response with a cool head.
Si.