A torture-related link I posted atMetaFilter.
Travel notes: London pubs
On a short pub crawl with some friends the other night, I came across a lovely quiet pub down a side street near Victoria station (about 5 minutes’ walk from the station). Good beer and comfortable seats. Food at lunchtime. The Grouse and Claret.
A missing iPod, and missing music memories
A slightly random link to a poignant tale of a stolen iPod and non-missing croissants. (If the anchor on the page doesn’t work, it’s the December 2nd story right at the bottom of the page)
True Brits
The Fabian Society has published a new pamphlet about Britishness. A couple of articles from it are online at the link above.
One interesting view is that the history of the Empire should be taught more in schools, as an aid to understanding Britain’s multicultural heritage. The BBC reports.
Engagement efforts still not good enough
David Cameron = George Bush?
Salon (subscription or click-through advert required, sorry) has an interesting article by former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal. In the first discussion of David Cameron I’ve seen in the US press, he compares the messages that Cameron is giving out to the compassionate conservatism upbeat of one Gov. George W Bush in 2000. Cameron is saying, says Blumenthal, “I’m not New Labour, I’m just New”.
The hinted-at question in Blumenthal’s piece is whether Cameron will, as Bush did once in office, revert to party-faithful type. It’s obviously too early to tell, but one straw in the wind is the crazy decision by Cameron to pull the Tories out of the EPP – the fuzzily centre-right grouping in the European Parliament. Continuing membership of the EPP has no political price (in the country at least), and membership brings benefits, including committee chairmanships. Does this move show an ideology-driven Euroscepticism under the friendly surface? If so, are we to expect more of the same?
Configure that router
Hardware Pornography – girls with network equipment. Not safe for work (though not actually pornographic). Also bizarre. Via the Register.
Well, duh
Incompetent design – why God is not as clever as you think he is.
Big Brother is watching himself
Two council workers use CCTV to spy on a naked woman, but are caught by a CCTV camera in their CCTV control room. The BBC reports.
Rice’s message: Stop whining, or else
Condi Rice, America’s Secretary of State, delivered a stern dressing down to us pansy Europeans today, and we feel much bucked up for it. Stern words from Nanny never go amiss, particularly here in Britain.
If you missed it, here are the key points (in track changes):
- Our
nationally shaming and probably illegaltreatment of prisoners has saved European lives.Probably. - The US doesn’t
officiallytortureand when it does, it’s just over-eager lieutenants - They are
almostall guilty, anyway Obey.
The New York Times has the full details of the spanking.
Update: While the Administration has been trashing the US’s reputation around the world, it turns out they’ve also been falling down on prevention measures at home. A proud record, indeed.