Fetid fields

I don’t know if you have noticed, but I seem to be getting up people’s noses a bit. I sometimes think that my contributions are not welcome. I cannot imagine why. Today, two of my comments attached to a post that seemed to be advocating freedom of expression, were deleted by the author without explanation. It is of course the right of authors on this site to edit their posts as they see fit.  In this instance, though, I thought it delightfully ironic and a little curious. But you know me; I am not one to get into slanging matches. Play the ball, not the man is my motto. Now where else have I heard that expression? Continue reading “Fetid fields”

Let me explain

I have now been asked by two people, one of whom questioned my manners, to choose between posting here, or on MyT. Allow me to explain my position. To begin with, my manners are sufficiently well developed to prevent me from intruding where I am not welcome. I came onto this site relatively recently because I was advised by Rick that I would find on here some people with whom I had enjoyed communicating on a site now defunct. So, coming here allowed me to re-establish contact with some old friends, as well as making new ones.

As for MyT, I have been on that site for some years now. There are many faults with it, and many people on it that I choose to ignore. However, there are many sincere people on MyT who respond to my postings, some agreeing with my views, some not.

When I offer a view, I wish to contact as broad a population as I can against which to measure my opinion. Sometimes the response is strong on both sites, but a low response from one site or the other is common. Therefore, though I regret any offence or inconvenience caused, I intend to continue posting on both sites. I shall reconsider my position only if asked to do so by Boadicea, or by a significant number of other people using this site.

Mother’s ruins

There’s something about abandoned buildings and dereliction. These old dusty places just ooze allure.

This outstanding blog with images, of an abandoned and ruined isolation Riverside hospital on North Brother Island, New York City, once home of Typhoid Mary, made me feel like I was taking a nose around with the writer – and it reminded me how much I love exploring old ruins. Continue reading “Mother’s ruins”

They’re trying it on in Australia, now

Glass sculptor and artist Sergio Redegalli with his anti-burka mural.

Deaths threats and all the usual hysterical Islamic screams of “racism” have been hurled at an Aussie artist for his mural, above.   Police have arrested seven “activists” who defaced the artwork.

The picture here appears in “news/com.au” in an article which provides links to the parent article in The Australian newspaper.   It is an interesting comment on the differing political biases within the Aussie news media that the article in The Australian shows a different version of the mural, where the image has been photoshopped, presumably to reduce the impact.

A Free Country?

Freedom in any civilised society is often a matter of compromise between conflicting interests. There may be cases where someone’s freedom can be enhanced without loss of it by another, and in such cases the enhancement is not contentious. However, I am greatly concerned by a case in which two homosexual men have been awarded damages against the owners of a private hotel who refused to allow them to share a room. The hotel owners claim to be devout Christians, and say that they would refuse a double room to any unmarried couple. The plaintiffs were supported in their claim by the Equality Commission, a quango resting on the public purse.

In my view, this case is another indication that the freedoms of ordinary, law abiding citizens have been eroded to an unreasonable level. The Equality Act appears to provide a big stick with which discontented minorities can intimidate the rest of us. Can we be sure that scrapping that act, and the Commission, would, on balance, diminish freedom in Britain? I am convinced that it would not.

Hindsight & Muddled Thinking

Two or more years ago I coined the term ‘Assured Corporatism’ to describe the system that had replaced capitalism as we knew it. Under AC organisations are considered too big to be allowed to fail and are bailed out with public funds when they begin to sink. This has been most noticeable in, though not confined to, the banking system. I argued that Northern Rock et al should have been allowed to go down the pan, with the State guaranteeing depositors’ money, but not that of shareholders.

The fundamental error made by politicians and their advisors was to confuse banking as a function, with the organisations performing it. The function is critically important to economic wellbeing. That is not true of any organisation performing the function. When an organisation fails an opportunity is presented to other organisations ready to step in and fill the gap, having learned from the other’s failure. That is capitalism.

Now, at last, a deputy governor of the Bank of England has come round to that view. Hindsight, as they say, is a wonderful thing. What a pity that it was preceded by such muddled thinking.