Tony Judt 1947-2010 *

Aug 8th, 2010 | Filed by

A universalist social democrat with a deep suspicion of left-wing ideologues, identity politics, and the US role as solitary global superpower.… Read the rest



Iran: 18-year-old to be executed for “sodomy” *

Aug 8th, 2010 | Filed by

He retracted his forced confession, but never mind that, the judge has a hunch.… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on why inequality matters *

Aug 8th, 2010 | Filed by

People who feel too keenly the humiliations their superiors inflict on them become anxious, mistrustful,  and stressed.… Read the rest



Kiran Mehdee on the burqa ban *

Aug 8th, 2010 | Filed by

There’s a lot more to say than a simple yes or no.… Read the rest



Pakistan: British couple murdered in “honor” killing *

Aug 8th, 2010 | Filed by

Their daughter decided not to marry a local man, so he murdered her parents.… Read the rest



Pearls before swine

Aug 7th, 2010 5:02 pm | By

Russell Blackford posted a comment he made at the Intersection on July 30th, that never got posted, in reply to Mooney’s “final word” on Tom Johnson. It’s a good comment – thoughtful, and civil. But it’s not uncritical – and it’s not posted there.

It may have been penny wise and pound foolish to censor it though, since it’s more conspicuous as a post than it would have been as a comment. Russell suggests (this alone will have been enough to explain the non-posting) that Mooney should lift the ban on me, and adds that if he did I would probably ask the old question again about why he thinks Jerry Coyne was wrong to review books by Miller … Read the rest



When Betty met Joe

Aug 7th, 2010 3:59 pm | By

The Telegraph is also worked up about the pope and his impending visit and the rudeness and badness of people who think he’s a bad man. That’s not as surprising from the Telegraph as it is from the New Statesman though. But it’s still sick-making.

…the Queen will be playing the formal role of host to a fellow head of state, who is also the spiritual leader of a billion people.

Yes, yes, it’s all very glam. Some people get a sexual thrill from that phrase, “spiritual leader” – and when it’s of a billion people, oh well then – the pope must be very important and thrilling indeed. Never mind that the whole thing is a vast fraud and … Read the rest



Bend the knee, sinners

Aug 7th, 2010 12:27 pm | By

So now we have the New Statesman rhapsodizing about Newt Gingrich converting to Catholicism and presenting a film that rhapsodizes about the previous pope. Yes really. Then it (in the person of Carla Powell) rhapsodizes about the current pope’s upcoming visit, and his meeting with the queen. Gingrich, two reactionary popes, a monarch…The people’s flag is deepest red, all right.

 And yet, on recent visits to London, I have been shocked by the negative criticism of the Pope and the Catholic Church. Why are so many of the capital’s liberal elite upset? Why is Pope Benedict, an 83-year-old retired university professor, causing such anxiety?

What a fucking stupid question. Because he is the reactionary head of a reactionary institution … Read the rest



Telegraph to everyone: be polite to the pope *

Aug 7th, 2010 | Filed by

Benedict XVI’s arrival is an opportunity to celebrate a culture that planted our Christian roots.… Read the rest



New Statesman to liberals: quit being mean to the pope! *

Aug 7th, 2010 | Filed by

“I have been shocked by the negative criticism of the Pope and the Catholic Church. Why are so many of the capital’s liberal elite upset?”… Read the rest



Shirin Ebadi on Iran and stoning *

Aug 7th, 2010 | Filed by

The practice of stoning is so abhorrent that even political allies like Brazil have been roused into action.… Read the rest



Ashtiani tells the Guardian: “It’s because I’m a woman” *

Aug 6th, 2010 | Filed by

“They think they can do anything to women in this country. For them adultery is worse than murder – an adulterous women is the end of the world.”… Read the rest



In which I do the expected

Aug 6th, 2010 12:12 pm | By

Harriet Baber likes to put things in a provocative way (as do I), and she does so in answering the Comment is Free belief question of the week. Lots of provoking, and I will oblige by being provoked into commenting.

I see no reason why I should believe that life is, as Tony Soprano’s perfectly awful mother Livia put it, “a great big nothing” after which we are annihilated. That may very well be the way things are. But I see no benefit to believing it is so.

Yes but that’s a false choice, because it’s an incomplete description of the alternative to believing that life is made into Something by the existence of god. The choice is not: … Read the rest



Coyne replies to Pigliucci…again *

Aug 6th, 2010 | Filed by

One can falsify the idea that there is a transcendent being who, it is claimed, does specific things.… Read the rest



HHI-Oxfam Report on rape in DR Congo [pdf] *

Aug 6th, 2010 | Filed by

The sexual assaults are ruthless, with horrific reports of gang rape, sexual slavery, genital trauma, forced rape between victims and rape in the presence of family members.… Read the rest



DR Congo: haunted by rape *

Aug 6th, 2010 | Filed by

“After they raped me, my husband hated me. He said I was dirty. I gave up my dignity for him, how come he can abandon me this way?”… Read the rest



My take on what we choose to believe *

Aug 6th, 2010 | Filed by

Belief isn’t spooky or magical, and it isn’t a wormhole to knowledge about God; it’s just a cognitive faculty we have.… Read the rest



Harriet Baber on what we choose to believe *

Aug 6th, 2010 | Filed by

“Truth is overrated.”… Read the rest



It’s like encouraging a mosquito

Aug 5th, 2010 6:28 pm | By

Paul Sims watched Stephen Green on Channel 4’s 4Thought.tv the other day, so you won’t have to. 4Thought.tv is Channel 4’s version of the ever-laughable Deepity for the Day on BBC Radio 4. Stephen Green was srsly good, apparently. His Thought was about that there HoMoSeckShuality and why he thinks it should be put a stop to. Paul Sims collected some extracts, which is way helpful of him.

Homosexuals can never be one flesh, so they have to press into, like, sexual duty parts of the body that aren’t designed for that.

I think Stephen Green has been overthinking this. I think he has been having smutty thoughts.

In 30 years our dying civilisation is going to be taken over

Read the rest


Prosecutor demands Ashtiani’s execution *

Aug 5th, 2010 | Filed by

The High Court will confirm whether the execution of Ms Ashtiani can go ahead next week.… Read the rest