European police officials meeting to find ways to combat rising incidence.… Read the rest
Pakistan to Treat ‘Honour’ Killings as Murder
Jun 22nd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonGovernment taking practical steps to end custom of murder and other crimes against women.… Read the rest
‘Honour’ Killings to be Reviewed
Jun 22nd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonUK police re-examining more than 100 cases going back ten years.… Read the rest
13 Greenpeacers Arrested in GM Protest
Jun 22nd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonCampaigners held after they prevent GM maize-carrying freighter from docking.… Read the rest
‘Iced’ Tea and Potatoe’s
Jun 22nd, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMisplaced commas, punctuation as technology, the mystery of voice in writing.… Read the rest
Confirmation bias
Jun 22nd, 2004 | By Julian Baggini[Jonathan Cainer] met a psychic poet called Charles John Quatro, who told him he would some day write an astrology column read by millions.
David Smith, the Observer , 20 June 2004
And would you believe it, many years later, Jonathan Cainer does write an astrology column read by millions! Incidentally, Cainer’s predictions grace the pages of “a newspaper dedicated to the subtle propagation of bigotry.” That description of the Daily Mail is by, ahem, Jonathan Cainer.
Are you impressed by the uncanny accuracy of Quatro’s prediction? Let me make my own predictions: if you already believe in astrology, your answer will be yes. If you don’t, your answer will be no. If you’re agnostic, you will probably find it … Read the rest
Kabbalah Madonna
Jun 21st, 2004 11:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonA kind reader, by which I mean Norm Geras, emailed me to point out this absurd piece by Mary Kenny in the Guardian. Norm has already made some pointed comments about it, so I’ll try not to go over the same bit of ground. But there’s really quite a lot to say, because there’s quite a lot wrong with the piece (and the pervasive way of thinking it typifies), so I think I’ll manage to find a few words.
But first I’ll point out one of Norm’s most amusing remarks, in reply to Kenny’s utterly ridiculous ‘Faith is a feminine thing.’
… Read the restI have some questions here. First, how does Kenny know that faith is feminine? She doesn’t say. But
Forget Math or History, Can You Kick a Ball?
Jun 21st, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAthletic programs can subvert the integrity of their universities.… Read the rest
Truth or Being Good?
Jun 21st, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWhich should universities teach?… Read the rest
Happiness Research
Jun 20th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonEconomists need to understand the subject.… Read the rest
Some Thoughts on Crooked Thinking
Jun 20th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia Benson‘the universe revealed by science is indifferent to our desires, aims and purposes.’… Read the rest
Truth-telling has to Wait
Jun 19th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMark Lawson says political pressures can make candour impossible.… Read the rest
Petition Against Shari’a Court in Canada
Jun 19th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonInternational Campaign for the Defense of Women’s Rights in Iran offers a petition.… Read the rest
News from Jordan, Iran, Afghanistan, Kuwait
Jun 19th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBulletin of Committee to Defend
Women’s Rights in the Middle East.… Read the rest
Stuart Hampshire
Jun 19th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonExcerpts from Times obituary.… Read the rest
Stuart Hampshire
Jun 19th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonObituary by Alan Ryan in the Independent.… Read the rest
Damn Elitists!
Jun 18th, 2004 8:57 pm | By Ophelia BensonI watched part of an old ‘Frontline’ on tv the other evening. ‘Frontline’ is one of the few fairly good shows on US public tv – actually one of the two, I would say, ‘Nova’ being the other. US public tv is so mediocre it’s painful. (And public radio is even worse. But that’s a separate subject.) It was about ‘Alternative’ Medicine. One part of it I found particularly extraordinary – an interview with Utah Senator Orrin Hatch. I’ve always disliked Hatch, frankly. He’s very conservative, and he has an irritating voice. He sounds like someone who’s trying to soothe a rowdy room full of six-year-olds – in fact I suppose he sounds a bit like Mr Rogers. Mr … Read the rest
Time and Effort – and Emotional Labour
Jun 18th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonMadeleine Bunting on emotional demands the service economy makes on workers.… Read the rest
Is Smoking a Class Issue?
Jun 18th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonAre instruction and ’empowerment’ opposed? … Read the rest
Guardian’s Joyce Links
Jun 18th, 2004 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBloomsday, the Disneyfication of Ireland, new Mollies, O’Brien, Maddox.… Read the rest