Category: The Dark Side

Græcia delenda est

I’m borrowing a thought from the insightful Ambrose Evans-Pritchard (to name but a few!) in today’s DT, where he describes the German proposals for Greece as ‘Carthaginian’. (Google, if you will.) The point is that when Carthage lost to Rome in 146 BC (3 – 0) the ensuing ‘peace’ settlement was unforgiving and ruinous. (Not unlike Man Utd’s moral defeat of Liverpool after Suarez-gate.)

The facts indicate that since Greece has never been able to implement any plan involving the collection of taxes and control of its civil service, yesterday’s ‘approval’ by the Parliament is worth less than the paper the local Hansard will waste on recording it. If the Troika of money-lenders (sinners that they are) decides to drop further trillions down the Hellenic drain, it will precipitate revolution in Greece: a phenomenon which has relatively frequently been the result of any attempt at government there.

Better by far, if like a parent out of patience with a profligate teenager, the Troika says no. Then the Greeks can find out what their economy is worth, as opposed to what it costs the rest of Europe.

A Michael Caine moment

As a mere Sassenach I’m hardly qualified to draw conclusions but I wonder if Alex the Braveheart realises how much business his Nova Caledonia stands to lose by cutting itself adrift?

The other day a Tory minister let slip that scotch would no longer be promoted by British embassies worldwide. No doubt Irish whiskeys and bourbon would do instead. And an even deeper cut was revealed today: English people consume more haggis than Scots! Which would certainly cease to be the case if Alex prevailed. We’d resort to tripe and onions, Cornish pasties and Eccles cakes.

So be careful, once more, for what you wish for, you apostates.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodanddrinknews/9038376/English-eat-more-haggis-than-Scots.html

The rest is easy

Woman wearing pyjamas outdoors

My cherished contemporaries will recall a satirical ‘sixties show called TWTWTW with David Frost, Willie Rushton, Millicent Martin and Roy Kinnear – plus a few other ‘names’ – who came up with the classic one-liner: ‘The rest is easy with Bonsoir pyjamas.’ Very naughty in those innocent days.

Fifty years on, it seems that pyjamas are making an unwelcome appearance outside the confines of the family bedrooms. No, not the garb traditionally worn by middle-eastern folk, but real pyjamas. Understandably perhaps – given the modern malaise of retiring too late and over-sleeeping – which allows little time for washing and dressing in street attire.

But enough is enough for a Dublin welfare office and a Belfast school. Apparently they refuse to accept that their pyjama-ed visitors prefer to conduct their morning business and return to their duvets in short order.

By and large I see their point but it sets a dangerous precedent. Soon they’ll demand that council workers and teachers themselves dress respectably!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16740199

 

Mystified Marxist Mouse

I have recently been involved in an interesting discussion Elsewhere on the subject of Cultural Marxism and the Frankfurt School. Simplistically, Political Marxism morphed into Cultural Marxism from there to Political Correctness and Multiculturalism. Thus Marxism is responsible for all the ills of the Western World today.

But that is just the background. I have made mention on this site that I studied history, and I was intrigued by the views of Marxist Historians. Very simply, it was a way of looking at historical events which gave more importance to underlying socio-economic factors.

Continue reading “Mystified Marxist Mouse”

Beyond the gravy train

I like Cracked. Beyond funny as hell, they can be amazingly insightful. Sometimes the insights are obscured by the lulz, but sometimes they’re so clear that the only reaction can be ‘yeah, what s/he said’.

This is the latest, brand-spanking-new specimen of the latter category:

http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-4-biggest-missed-opportunities-in-fiction/?wa_user1=3&wa_user2=Movies+%26+TV&wa_user3=blog&wa_user4=feature_module

I don’t watch The Walking Dead, comics leave me indifferent, and I’ve always found Superman overrated and irritating. I’m a Star Wars fan, though, and that part says everything I could never have found the words to express myself.

What a load of bollocks!

I have just watched the film, ‘Black Swan’. What a completely crap, pretentious load of bollocks it was. That it won an Oscar for Natalie Portman baffles me. Except it didn’t, once I saw the names of the people involved in its making, at which point, I am afraid my worst tendencies came to the forefront. I am not a particular fan of Mel Gibson, especially following such films as Brave Heart and Patriot, but I think he and Charlie Sheen have a point.

Zut alors!

The ever-unctuous Jacques Chirac has finally been convicted of corruption. Luckily for him, it is so long since he committed his crimes that he can no longer remember them, allegedly.

But, the French Court, doing little to boost confidence in its reliability for justice, has sentenced 79-year-old Jack to two years in prison – suspended!! Which usually means that the culprit should take care not to repeat his transgressions. As if! Under what conceivable circumstances could he now commit corruption?

Maybe a cherished colleague could unravel this piece of French logic?