The links and other matters.

The more observant of you will have no doubt noticed the addition of a labels list to this blog. Those of you that know me will also wonder how on earth someone with my neanderthal IT skill managed to install it. I hope that the site does what it says on the tin. It really is intended to be no more than a light hearted political blog and a vehicle for my thoughts on this and that. I hope that the labels gadget makes it easier to find the stuff that interests you.
The links are a reflection of some of my own interests. There must be thousands of political blogs out there and the few selected here are among the many that I read. Ian Bone is always amusing and also provides an on line meeting place for anarchists. Paul Stott's I intend to escape.... remains an inspiration with just the right balance of politics and all his other interests. Paul is a boxing fan as well; top man. In the near future I will be adding more links and perhaps deleting some that are no longer being updated. One site that will remain even though it has not been updated for some time is Classic Cafes. There simply is nothing to replace it. The Wrestling Heritage site is in my view a really fine piece of social history. But they republish a lot of my stuff so I would say that. If this is your first visit to Bad Old Days, welcome, and if you are one of the loyal followers who read this stuff on a regular basis, thanks.

CO2 and Mark Thatcher - the ultimate toxic assets.

Media pundits are fond of the old saying that a week is along time in politics,so last March must be the equivalent of the age of the dinosaurs. Remember back then? All kinds of people, and not just those of my political persuasion, were talking about the whole economic system being called into question. Yes, eight months is a very long time and now we hear that carbon trading is going the same way as mortgages did and there is already talk of "sub-prime" carbon credits.
Meanwhile over on the other side of town news of the return to UK of Old Etonian merc Simon Mann has sent paymaster "Scratcher" Thatcher into a bout of nervous twitching extreme even by his standards. CO2 and Mark Thatcher - the ultimate toxic assets.

Education. Education..........

Those pushy middle-class parents are at it again. Driving their kids around in vehicles big enough to house most families. Constantly whinging about the cost of private school fees. Always on the lookout for ways to advance the prospects of their own little brood and thus proving Thatcher's dictum about society being a sad figment of leftie imagination. When forced to use the state system they lie and cheat to get places at what they consider to be the "best" schools. God knows what kind of pompous twats their kids will grow up to be.  In view of all this it made a refreshing change  to hear a voice of reason in amongst the braying demands of yummy mummy world. 

On last night's Channel 4 News John O' Farrell made a sensible, reasoned case for sending your kids to the comp down the road; regardless of how much dough you have in the bank. The only thing that he failed to mention was that the majority of parents don't have to face any such dilemma. They simply don't have a choice. There is nothing wrong with privilege - it just needs sharing around a bit more!

Johnson shoots the (expert) messenger.

Home secretary Alan Johnson's decision to sack the government's senior drug advisor David Nutt has stirred up a hornets nest of controversy, and not just about the effects of this or that recreational drug. Already questions are being asked regarding governments likely response to scientific advice on perhaps more pressing matters. What happens if advice on, for example, nuclear waste or climate change fails to fit in with policy? Johnson is defending his actions by claiming that advisers must stick to giving advice and leave the decision making to government. This all sounds sensible enough democratic even. After all scientific advisers are not elected are they? But the implication of this argument is that whereas people like David Nutt might be experts in the field of science, the likes of Alan Johnson are expert in government; in making decisions on behalf of the rest of us. The signs are that we will end up arguing about the relative merits of unelected (and perhaps arrogant) scientists and elected representatives with their finger on society's pulse. The debate that we should be having of course, is about the role of experts in society. And I'm referring here not just to scientific experts, but to self proclaimed political experts as well. 

Ripping Yarns of the Fawcett Family.

 Having procured a copy from Wing Commander Bone at the bookfair I have been reading Hartmann The Anarchist a Victorian ripping yarn available again after being out of print for the past  hundred years (not in itself a great recommendation it must be said).  I was interested to learn that the author was the brother of Colonel Percy Fawcett the famous explorer who disappeared in the Amazon Basin in 1925. In the 50s Fawcett's son published his father's papers as Exploration Fawcett. Now that really was a ripping yarn and is also well overdue for a reprint.

Islam4uk. It's a cracker.

As if last Saturday's Anarchist Bookfair was not enough excitement for one month this Saturday London plays host to a mass rally calling for the establishment of sharia law in UK. Islam4uk are the bunch of space cadets behind this latest addition to the capital's live entertainment scene and their website is well worth a visit. Here they reveal their plans for pubs and football grounds as well as for Trafalgar Square (not a lot of people getting their kit off on the fourth plinth I imagine). There is a very helpful section called "ask the Iman" and a whole heap of information on how to spot the early indications of , and it's always a worry, "becoming kafaar without realising it". I hate to say it, but Islam4uk make the EDL look quite rational.

Race and Intelligence

Last nights Channel4 offering, Race and Intelligence... Sciences Last Taboo, was certainly interesting and in it's way a challenging piece but I felt that it stopped short of dealing fully with the issue not just of race and intelligence but of privilege and attainment. Coming as he does from a family of wealthy Somali traders, educated at Cheltenham College and Oxford and having married into the Baronetcy of Corsehill, privilege is something that Rageh Omaar is singularly well equipped to deal with, and he did try, but the programme seemed unable to get seriously to grips with the issue of class. It also failed to address what to my mind is a pretty important issue and that is the reality that given enough privilege it doesn't matter how intelligent you are.