Media critics write as if the brain takes on the qualities of whatever it consumes.… Read the rest
Ben Goldacre on the superstition effect 
Jun 13th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Confidence tends to improve performance.… Read the rest
Falling at the first post
Jun 12th, 2010 4:18 pm | By Ophelia BensonMary Midgley begins badly.
Science really isn’t connected to the rest of life half as straightforwardly as one might wish. For instance, Isaac Newton noted gladly that his theory of gravitation gave a scientific proof of God’s existence. Today’s anti-god warriors, by contrast, declare that Darwin’s evolutionary theory gives a scientific disproof of that existence and use this reasoning, quite as confidently as Newton used his, to convert the public.
No they don’t. So why should we pay any attention to the rest of what she says? If she can’t even get the first paragraph right, why trust her?
No reason, so I won’t bother discussing the rest of what she says, which is just sentimental gesturing. But it’s … Read the rest
Bangladesh: paper allowed to resume publishing
Jun 12th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
But the editor of the opposition daily is still in jail, charged with sedition.… Read the rest
A colour never before seen?
Jun 12th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What would it be like to see a really new colour?… Read the rest
Mary Midgley on evolution and “anti-god warriors”
Jun 12th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A philosopher should not start with a strawman.… Read the rest
If the BP disaster had happened in the Channel
Jun 12th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We would not be hearing about “anti-British rhetoric.”… Read the rest
You call that a response?
Jun 11th, 2010 4:32 pm | By Ophelia BensonSholto Byrnes has heeded all the comments on his sharia post and has posted a thoughtful well-reasoned explanation of his meaning.
No he hasn’t, of course he hasn’t, I’m making it up. I’m saying what he should have done instead of what he did do. What he did do is complain about comments at Harry’s Place – comments, not the post – and then offer more useless generalities and then accuse the people who disagree with him, which is almost everyone who has said anything about him, of wanting a “bloody and cataclysmic clash of civilisations.” That’s it. No particulars of where there actually is the good benign justice-seeking kind of sharia, or of how that differs from secular … Read the rest
Press conference on the kidnapping and assassination of journalist Sardasht Osman
Jun 11th, 2010 | By Houzan MahmoudPress conference on the kidnapping and assassination of journalist Sardasht Osman in Iraqi Kurdistan
6.00-6.40pm, Tuesday 15 June
Abrar Foundation, 45 Crawford Place, W1H 4LP
(Nearest Tube: Edgware Road)
Political activists, academics and writers from Iraqi Kurdistan are holding a press conference to expose the kidnapping and murder of Sardasht Osman and demand justice.
Sardasht Osman, 23, was a journalist and final year university student when he was abducted on 4 May in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Erbil. His body was found on 6 May in the city of Mosul. Sardasht had written articles criticising the Kurdish government, particularly the Barzani family.
This press conference will address violations against freedom of expression and political activism, and attacks on journalists … Read the rest
Press conditions deteriorate in Iraqi Kurdistan
Jun 11th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Sardasht Osman, 23, a reporter for the opposition semi-monthly Ashtiname, was found shot to death in the city of Mosul on May 6.… Read the rest
Sholto Byrnes replies to critics
Jun 11th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
By ignoring everything they said.… Read the rest
Right-wing loonies fume at “Britain-bashing”
Jun 11th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They’ll be demanding Obama’s birth certificate next.… Read the rest
“Has US bloodlust for BP gone too far?”
Jun 11th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If a US corporation destroyed all of Sussex, the British would not say a word. Right?… Read the rest
“Is Obama being anti-British?”
Jun 11th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Is that a stupid question?… Read the rest
What would Jehovah do about Gaza?
Jun 11th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Paula Kirby notes, the Bible is full of helpful examples to follow.… Read the rest
Syrian women ponder rare political victory
Jun 10th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Women’s rights groups successfully resisted a proposed new personal status law.… Read the rest
Submission, abject
Jun 10th, 2010 5:44 pm | By Ophelia BensonJust a little more about Sholto. It doesn’t seem to have gone very well for him – the comments at the New Statesman are scathing, and Google blogsearch turns up only more scathe, no pleased cries of “At last somebody talking sense about sharia.” He must be feeling sadly disappointed in the multicultural broadmindedness and flexibility of – of – well of everybody but himself, I guess. There’s one comment at the NS that looks favorable at first blush, but when you read on it becomes obvious that it’s a parody. So Sholto is 0 for 0 with the “let’s look at the good side of sharia” enterprise.
Back to the article for a moment.
… Read the restThe example of Saudi
Johann Hari on human rights as universal
Jun 10th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It is never the “culture” of a torture victim to want the torture to continue.… Read the rest
Faisal on The New Statesman and sharia
Jun 10th, 2010 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A treat when middle-class blokes champion religious laws that they will never be affected by.… Read the rest
