I am becoming quite fond of my little corner of Schiphol airport. I have put up my Christmas cards and a few bits of tinsel. I now have a boarding card for the 0800 to Manchester. This is the sixth boarding card I have had. It is very hard to understand why, time after time, they don’t know a flight is cancelled until some time after it was due to leave and all the passengers have queued at the gate for hours.
Of course, Manchester is a lot further from Ramsgate than Schiphol is, so even if the flight atually goes, this represents rather dubious progress.
Happy New Year everybody.
Remarkably, KLM delivered my lost luggage, including my laptop, at 9.30 pm on New Year’s Eve. At that time a pretty lively party was already in full swing,much improved by the presence of a great many beautiful young women, mostly from Latvia. I am not sure why; my life as ever consists of a bewildering succession of chance encounters with really nice people. I am in the fortunate position of being able to say that Nadira was the most lovely of all, without indulging in dutiful hyperbole.
It was an extremely happy Christmas. Having my mum, both my brothers and all my three chidren together was as great as it was rare.
We have been through the laptop in lost luggage discussion before. The problem is that my shoulders dislocate at the drop of a hat, and I travel without hand luggage to avoid an accident.
2011 is going to be a very important year for me. particularly the first quarter. A number of crucial events are going either to set me up financially for the rest of my life, or result in real distress and failure. At present I have reason to be very optimistic. I am also very absorbed in my life of Alexander Burnes, which I hope will help establish a serious academic reputation.
The Portuguese edition of Murder in Samarkand has sold unexpectedly well in Brazil. The translation of the Turkish edition has just been finished.
I hope to do a Wikileaks retrospective in the next couple of days. Just a quick thought on the case of the poor young gardener in Bristol. Of the Jill Dando case, long before Barry Bulsara’s succesful appeal I blogged that this appeared to be a miscarriage of justice in which the police had fitted up the local weirdo.
Despite not being enamoured of landlords in general, I fear the same dynamic is at work in Bristol, albeit Chris Jefferies is much more intellectually capable than Bulsara. My instinct is that the police have picked up on Jefferies for being camper than a boy scout jamboree and archer than Trajan.
Jefferies’ release on bail has me worried that there was nothing against him other than the “He’s a weird one, guv” instinct of some not very bright cop. The case needs to be closely watched as history shows that the powers of the police to make the evidence fit the suspect are considerable.
What can we do but weep as we read this latest threat from the murderers? The TV news channels have nothing to say. It’s just endless comment on how many £billions will be spent in the shops today and some growing friction within the coalition of the fascists.
NOTE THE INCLUSION OF ISRAELI PROPAGANDA WITHIN THIS REPORT CARRIED BY THE BBC’s ISRAELI SHILL JON DONNISON
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12064775
23 December 2010 Last updated at 11:08
NEW GAZA WAR ‘ONLY A QUESTION OF TIME’
The UN says at least 62 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli action in Gaza so far this year
Continue reading the main story
Israel and the Palestinians
Going nowhere fast?
‘Off the record’ views from officials
Q&A: Resuming direct talks
Mid-East talks: Where they stand
A senior Israeli army officer has told the BBC that as long as Hamas remains in control of the Gaza Strip, another war is “only a question of time”.
He said the Palestinian Islamist group had re-armed so much since the Israeli offensive two years ago that it was now in a stronger position militarily.
There has been an increase in rocket fire coming from Gaza in the past week.
Earlier, Israeli defence officials said tanks fitted with a new missile defence system would be deployed near Gaza.
The announcement came after Palestinian militants for the first time used a Kornet tank-piercing missile.
On 6 December the Russian-made laser-guided missile ?” which carries 10kg (22lb) of high explosive ?” penetrated the tank’s armour, but did not injure its crew.
The UN has condemned the firing of “indiscriminate” rocket and mortar attacks by militants in Gaza in recent weeks.
Talk of war
Israeli Chief-of-Staff Lt-Gen Gabi Ashkenazi said the Kornet missile was “among the most dangerous that we have seen on this front and was not used even during the Lebanon war”.
“The situation in the south is very fragile and explosive,” he warned.
Speaking to the BBC’s Jon Donnison on Wednesday, another senior Israeli army officer from the Gaza division said: “As long as Hamas remains in power, it is only a question of time before there is another conflict.”
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat** also warned that tensions were escalating in the region, and that any Israeli attack on Gaza would only lead to further bloodshed.
“Military solutions such as these won’t achieve anything and will only complicate the situation,” Mr Erekat said.
Missile-defence tanks
The Israeli-developed active protection system (APS) ?” known as Trophy ?” is designed to destroy missiles like the Kornet.
The system, which has so far been fitted to a battalion of Merkava Mk4 tanks, uses radars and sensors to identify threats, then releases special explosives to neutralise them.
No Palestinian militant groups has claimed the attack.
Hamas is not thought to have been behind the increased rocket fire from Gaza this week, to which Israel retaliated with air strikes.
However, Israel has said it will increase attacks on Hamas facilities even if the movement is not directly responsible.
The Islamist group has controlled Gaza since June 2007, after winning elections in 2006 and then forcing its secular rivals Fatah, the party of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, out of the territory.
The UN has said at least 62 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli action in Gaza so far this year. Over the same period, one Thai farm worker has been killed by rockets fired from the coastal territory into Israel.
Two years ago, a 22-day clash between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in Gaza left an estimated 1,300 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead.
** a quisling
aa~
I am in despair as the second anniversary of Cast Lead approaches.
Jon, seasons greetings to you too and to all genuine bloggers hereabouts.
Some mulled wine, with or without alcohol, depending on your preference…?
Angrysoba, Mark, the Tudeh Party was the Communist Party of Iran, no? Thousands of whom were executed by the theocrats in the late 1980s.
I think in the early 1940s, when they were set up, they tried to appeal to traditional elements by banning women from membership, but very soon afterwards they seem to have moved to the Left and allowed women in and in fact thereafter strove for women’s rights.
I’m not an expert on this area, though.
That’s not Angry surely? There has been a lot of impersonation going on here recently.
Yep, “ChebaCow” just posted on the previous thread. Juvenile creep.
You’re right, dreoilin, it’s not angrysoba’s usual style. But sake is rather potent… as is the Chinese spirit, moutai. I once had dinner with the Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan at his Residence and of course we had moutai; it was very pleasant. You’re meant to drink it rather like many other spirits by tilting back your head and swigging the whole glass at once. Glug-glug-glug.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maotai
Well then, it’s a bit odd that “ChebaCow” posted immediately after “angry” on the previous thread. That’s the Apostate/Freeborn idiot.
well, at least they’re inside, where it’s warm – what am I saying, I’m freezing!
agree that sounded more like angrynotsoba 😉
I’d fire off a volley at that obnoxious idiot, all 23 stone of him stuck in a chair, the cold pizza underneath attracting cockroaches … But I’ll be sedate and go tend to the holly and ivy. Jingle Bells!
Actually Dreoilin – I was really just being ironic, my point being that JA (now) has a very odd reputation as a lustful ‘womaniser,’ and being a ‘threat’ when his general appearance and demanour would seem very at odds with those types of tabloid media labels.
It was perhaps my point or my dark antipodean sense of humour which may have been a bit unclear rather than yours.
That was me about the threat to Gaza.
@ 2:41 PM
For some reason my name didn’t get copied on.
?”?????? ? ????????.
looks like Sheridan fits the odious Gerry Healy mould. Slimy sex abuser. What is it with these commies?
.
oh alfred – sorry, alan – you’re back again, how nice.
Yeah, it is me hurling abuse at people like Mark Golding and also at people like Alfred but that is because I think they deserve it.
By the way, have a listen to this which I recently heard again and think is a beautiful song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smPKQSHnaXk
Technicolor, Alan is not Alfred.
Cheer up Alan, no need to be depressed! No need to be upset at commies, there’s a few of them in your Party, isn’t there? A few of your previous Cabinet members have at one time been members previously of the Communist Party, I believe. Red’s a nice colour, anyway. Anyway… seasons greetings to you and yours!
Merry Christmas Suhayl, I’m not sure about the sake, but definitely some mulled wine. With alcohol!
Just saying. These politically correct types. Can’t be healthy bottling it all up. Before you know it, you’re attending swingers’ clubs and raping your acolytes.
One of the reasons I rather like this website, is that anyone can post under any handle they want to, but so far as I am aware, no one amongst the regular contributors actually abuses this priviledge.
To do so would not only be completely pathetic, but despite the fact that individual’s moods may change quite drastically for various different reasons including intoxication, they still post in a very similar style which is roughly equivalent to the integrity of a hand written signature. There is also the fact that most people most of the time will post from the same or similar IP address range which only the system administrator of the website would be likely to know.
So Merry Christmas again to angrysoba for making me laugh.
Tony
One of the reasons I rather like this website, is that anyone can post under any handle they want to, but so far as I am aware, no one amongst the regular contributors actually abuses this priviledge.
To do so would not only be completely pathetic, but despite the fact that individual’s moods may change quite drastically for various different reasons including intoxication, they still post in a very similar style which is roughly equivalent to the integrity of a hand written signature. There is also the fact that most people most of the time will post from the same or similar IP address range which only the system administrator of the website would be likely to know.
So Merry Christmas again to angrysoba for making me laugh.
Tony
And I stand by what I said regarding the Tudeh Party.
If it is true, and Suhayl might know more about this than me, that the Tudeh Party originally discriminated against women then this was certainly not true later in its political life when women became one of the most influential forces in the fight against the Shah’s regime.
I have books on my shelf by Shirin Ebadi, Marjane Satrapi and Azar Nafisi. I want to see, more and more, this kind of political consciousness growing in Iran but unfortunately the legacy of people such as Khalkali still holds sway.
Please Google “Khalkali” and “Tudeh” before you ever listen to people like Mark Golding. To my mind he is no different to people such as the BNP scum like Alfred.
I say, “A pox on both your houses!”
Fuck you and good night!
Who is Alfred? Is he me? This is like the Edward Thomas poem: The Other. Am I Meredith de Varg?
“And now I dare not follow after
Too close. I try to keep in sight,
Dreading his frown and worse his laughter….
He goes: I follow: no release
Until he ceases. Then I also shall cease”
“So Merry Christmas again to angrysoba for making me laugh.”
Tony, I am sure that you’re a really amiable drunkard.
Merry Christmas to you too.
Robert Burns and Lord Byron were both brought up as Calvinists and it is said that both remained virgins until the age of 24.
Then (!!)…
If Sheridan – already a political sex symbol – hadn’t allegedly tried to cover it up and if he hadn’t sued the News of the World but had exploited rumours of his sexual activities, etc., he and the SSP would have got a lot of votes. There is, in ‘Public Scotland’ esp., the remnants of a lumpen puritanism (with a small ‘p’) which (sometimes self-)equates the Left with asexuality.
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2010/12/23/the-fall-of-tommy-sheridan/
“..Sheridan’s conviction today flows entirely from his insane determination to lie about his inability to keep it in his trousers. As a result, he has destroyed everything he spent the first half of his life building up, just at a time when a party premised on militant opposition to coalition austerity could truly have hit the big time. However sorry one has to feel for the family, the biggest tragedy about what has happened is the setback this represents for the far left as a whole.”
whoever you are alan, fine poem, thanks. Did he do ‘Sunlight in the Garden’? Will go and look.
angrysober: BNP scum is hardly an original, or even fair, phrase; so surprised at you. As for their ‘intellectual hydra’; weren’t you there for previous alfred ‘debates’ eg ‘genocide in leicester’? Point is, if you keep carrying on, the artificial edifice of pseudo-wisdom collapses beneath the weight of reality and research – but I agree, not a fun thing to do before Christmas.
A happy one to all. Still don’t mind being brought up C of E – ‘Hark the Herald’ is a beautiful tune, even if you accept the lyrics as mythology.
That was MacNeice, I think.
That was MacNeice, I think.
@techie – recovering C of E here too. And mythology indeed: I am devouring “The Templar Revelation” at present, and it’s an eye-opener. A peculiar coincidence: its thoroughly detailed history of the belief systems through the post-Christ ages includes the Minnesingers, whom Suhayl referred to on a previous and recent thread.
@angry – so you disagree with Mark, and the discussion has got a bit out of hand. OK, these things happen, but he’s quite far from BNP material – and I am sure he would cheerfully denounce the BNP if asked.
+1 for Persepolis, btw – for the originality of the idea, as well as having a welcome Iranian voice injected into Western thinking.
Calvinism!
I tell ye! If I ever decided to make up a conspiracy theory just to take the heat off the Jews I would make one up about the Scots.
If ye look at it almost all the pieces are right there right now.
For example, you have – if you’re that way inclined – a really interesting attempt to takeover Panama which ends with Scotland going “bankrupt” and yet taking over the whole of the UK. Similar things could no doubt be said about say the Bank of England (bunch o’ Scots involved there, Shirley!) then you’ve also got James Hamilton who was the first recognized “lone gunman” who was a Scot and shot some Scotch (oops! going all Alfred, there!) knob.
Then if ye look further afield ye see the Scotch have been involved in all kindsa colonial endeavour. For example, while some little ankle-biter called, appropriately enough, nobody, worries very much about the fabulous wealth made by “the Jew David Sassoon” it is also true that Scots companies such as Jardine Mattison were making a great trade off the delights of opium.
Now there were also other Scots merchants such as Thomas Glover whom without which there may never have been the “Meiji Restoration”. Who in Britain knows who Thomas Glover is?
Now, I say I would be slightly tempted to fabricate a whole conspiracy out of this type of thing but I would fear going through with it too much in the case that any weirdo idiot out there would take it seriously. My point about bringing this up would be to show how certain ideas that nobody believes in have as much evidence as ideas that seem to be so much believed in.
By the way Orwell had a good essay on anti-semitism in Britain which also drew parallels between the way Jews and Scots are seen by English people.
He said they were often seen in the same way (penny-pinchers etc…) but he pointed out that in one joke about Jews and Scots the Jew and the Scot go to a political meeting only because it is free. They feel happy about getting into this meeting without being charged until someone suddenly starts passing around a collection plate. In this joke, the Jew affects to faint and the Scotsman carries him out. Orwell points out that this is what makes it a joke. If the Scotsman fainted and the Jew carried him out the joke wouldn’t have worked.
Anyway, the stereotype is that Jews and Scottish people are penny-pinchers (and that is merely mild racism) from that it goes to the idea that one of the two
are the puppet masters of the world. (If you believe such shit!)