Anthony

Percy Andreae takes on Prohibition

In this article, from a Prohibition-era history archive, Percy Andreae takes on the arguments of Prohibitionists. It was about alcohol, but its principles have wider application:

Somewhere in the Bible it is said: “If thy right hand offend
thee, cut it off.” I used to think the remedy somewhat radical.
But to-day, being imbued with the wisdom of the prohibitionist,
I have to acknowledge that, if the Bible in general, and that
passage in it in particular, has a fault, it lies in its ultra-conservativeness.
What? Merely cut off my own right hand if it offend me? What business
have my neighbors to keep their right hands if I am not able to
make mine behave itself ? Off with the lot of them! Let there
be no right hands; then I am certain that mine won’t land me in
trouble.

Talking turkey

Le Figaro reports that Valéry Giscard-d’Estaing, the visionary statesman whose leadership of the constitution drafting process worked out so well for the EU last year, has plunged back into European debate. Showing himself to be every inch the washed-up former French President, VGE has been lambasting the Turks and calling for an immediate end to accession negotiations with them, on the grounds, essentially, that it’s better to tell them to get lost now in case France loses the argument on their entry in ten years time.

Oh, and he says that the Austrians agree with him – that’ll be the famous Franco-Austrian motor of the Union then.

Why was it called Hurricane Katrina?

Canada’s National Post explains how hurricanes are named, how they used to be named, why they’re running out of names this year, and the importance of Hurricane Bob.

Sussex food and drink

Found buried in the county council’s website, a bit of food news from Sussex:

This weekend sees the start of British Food Fortnight;
There is a whole directory (web) (pdf) of local Sussex food suppliers;
Harveys Best has won Best Beer of the Year at the CAMRA Beer Festival.

The Graun does Tunbridge Wells

Not quite Sussex, perhaps, but the Guardian has a short profile of Tunbridge Wells.

Take the red communion wafer

Catholic Online (via MeFi) reports on a recruiting poster for the Catholic priesthood based on … the Matrix movies.

People power

Demos Greenhouse links to the New Economics Foundation’s new Index of Democratic Power, showing how influential your vote is in deciding the government of the country.

Crunchy and Soggy

Nico Colchester’s old article is just as valid today.

Flying: still bad

A new environmental report bashes air travel as a huge greenhouse gas generator. That’s why I take the train.

Holy fools

The BBC is reporting that a group of CofE bishops are suggesting a meeting of Christian and Muslim religious leaders to apologise for the Iraq war.

Whatever your view of the rights and wrongs of the war, this is surely really stupid. I’m never convinced by the ‘Bishops shouldn’t involve themselves in politics’ line that the Tories trotted out from time to time, but on this particular issue, they’re miles off.

First, the war was not – to my knowledge – started by the Church of England, so it’s not for them to apologise, except in a rather pathetic hand-wringing ‘It’s not my fault, honest’ sort of way.

More importantly, though, the war was not about Christians vs. Muslims. It was a war of nominally Christian western states against a secular state inhabited mainly by Muslims. To start going on about apologies from one faith to another plays right into the terrorists’ claims that this is a ‘Crusade’ against Muslims which – for all its faults – it most certainly is not.