tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62185082011-04-21T19:46:18.753+01:00<p id="description">Fresh from bicycling home from Communion, having straightened out his waistcoat and settled down to a briarful of his favourite mix, the young fogey gives you his views on a few of his favourite places and things.</P> <p id="description">I have a particular interest in the Anglican Church, cycling in London, classical music, elections worldwide, but particularly in Northern Ireland and Turkey. I am also interested in languages. And in waistcoats and briar pipes!Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comBlogger2151100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1138629609549538472006-01-30T13:59:00.000Z2006-01-30T14:00:41.483Z

You are a Social Liberal (88% permissive)and an... Economic Conservative (71% permissive)You are best described as a: Libertarian <!--this width sets social axis, center is 169--> <!--this height number economic axis, center is 206--> <!--this cellholds the image--> <!--this width sets social axis, center is 169--> <!--this height number economic axis, center

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1121635612800101822005-07-17T22:24:00.000+01:002005-07-17T22:26:52.806+01:00

Other filthy Guardian readers will have noticed a 'sassy' article by trainee journalist Dilapzier Aslam in last Wendesday's Grauniad. Well, it turns out that young Dilpazier is a member of fascist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir, which believes in the formation of a global caliphate state and at least two of the 7th July suicide bombers had associations with it. HuT are banned in Germany, Holland,

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1121480732898343572005-07-16T03:23:00.000+01:002005-07-16T03:25:32.906+01:00

People with long memories will recall the decision of Lord Denning in deciding to ignore evidence that the Birmingham Six had been both beaten up and stitched up by the West Midlands police, when he famously said were the police to be found guilty of beating up the Birmingham Six in custody, it would open up an 'appalling vista'. An appalling vista where people might realise that sometimes that

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1121475267821021832005-07-16T01:46:00.000+01:002005-07-16T02:01:07.286+01:00

When somebody suggests that a debate ona given issue isn't needed because the 'experts' are all agreed, I suggest you refer them to this 1999 BBC News story on Professor Sir Roy Meadow's 'discovery' that cot death was a big scam to cover up widespread child abuse. Utterly fawning coverage by the BBC, which was to be fair only reflective of the general tenor of coverage at the time, both in the

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1103114384278254032004-12-15T13:36:00.000Z2004-12-15T12:39:54.286Z

Good for Jacques Chirac - he is appearing on French TV this evening to make the case for Turkey joining the EU. With the abysmal state of inter-communal relations in France, and the vitriolic opposition to Turkish accession from many 'mainstream' French politicians - to say nothing of the de Villepins or the Le Pens of this world - this is a gutsy move. It reconfirms my view that Chirac may be

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1101306417130355372004-11-24T14:21:00.000Z2004-11-24T14:27:12.756Z

Slugger O'Toole reports on a piece in today's Society Guardian on on how terrible it is that poverty in Northern Ireland didn't suddenly end with the troubles. Personally, I can't stand the sort of angry middle-class poverty pests who make a career out of moaning at conferences organised by the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action. And the Society Guardian piece is full of angry moans

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1101306038629077002004-11-24T14:11:00.000Z2004-11-24T14:20:38.630Z

Labour are running a campaign asking people why they're Proud of Britain (complete with lots of Union Jacks). Unfortunately they forgot to register www.proudofbritain.net and some nasty cybersquatter (chuckle) has gotten hold of it. When right wing governments fall back on the old patriotism and crime chestnuts you know they're in trouble. But when (supposedly) left wing governments do the

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1101174329905192822004-11-23T01:35:00.000Z2004-11-23T01:45:29.906Z

Is Ukraine in line for a velvet revolution, similar to Georgia's, as protestors take to the streets over a manifestly stolen election? Or could civil war be on the cards. I've always taken the view that Mikheil Saakashvili might be an arrogant, obnoxious, CIA controlled little git but he was a damn sight better for Georgia that any of the alternatives, and he pulled off a stunning bloodless

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1101172576774130082004-11-23T01:15:00.000Z2004-11-23T01:16:16.773Z

Welcome to Buff and Blue, a regular poster here for some time, and an Englishman living in Cork. Welcome also to the newly discovered and brilliant Nanny Knows Best, to Daily Kos, not that with its multi million hits and Guardian column that it needs it. Liberal Street Fight is another left wing American blog from the same stable. Jesus' General is not new. But it is the funniest thing on the

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1101168556350699712004-11-23T01:07:00.000Z2004-11-23T00:09:16.350Z

A few years ago, I was a keen supporter of the fox hunting ban. It had nothing to do with animal rights - I've always subscribed to Bertrand Russel's view that the logical extension of animal rights is votes for oysters. But I hated the old establishment, and I wanted to see them get a good kicking. Over the past few years, I've come to realise that the old establishment are broken and

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1100824775130645632004-11-19T01:30:00.000Z2004-11-19T00:39:57.293Z

The abandonment of the Enlightenment by elements of the Right, particularly in the United States is fairly well documented, but it seems increasingly clear that elements of the Left are ditching their intellectual heritage just as quickly. For example, when Labour MP Tony Banks lays down an Early Day Motion in Parliament stating that " that humans represent the most obscene, perverted, cruel,

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1100824046528745672004-11-19T00:25:00.000Z2004-11-19T00:29:33.836Z

They came for the bogus asylum seekers, and I did nothing because I was not an asylum seeker (except for nod sagely at a few Polly Toynbee and Jackie Ashley columns in The Guardian). Then they came for the teenage chavs, and I did nothing because I was not a teenager, and chavs were a walking rebuttal to my bourgeois social democracy anyway. They came for the junk-food lovers, and I did nothing

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1100266004125302152004-11-12T13:25:00.000Z2004-11-12T13:27:53.916Z

Bow Quarter, the trendy new ‘artists' district’ in London’s East End, has banned its residents from putting up window boxes for fear of insurance claims. Norwich Union, the insurer of the exclusive ‘gated community’, identified the window boxes as an “avoidable event”. And, of course, they’re right. Window boxes are entirely avoidable - we don’t need them. We can just look at grey concrete

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1098128621020374972004-10-18T20:31:00.000+01:002004-10-18T20:47:20.660+01:00

My initial reading of the Windsor Report into the nature of authority in the Anglican Communion has, being a political scientist, focused more on the changes to structures of governance proposed in the report arather than the theological background behind them. The proposals on the future of Anglican "structures of unity" and consequences for the nature and placement of authority within the

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1097249975249380292004-10-08T16:19:00.000+01:002004-10-08T17:09:59.200+01:00

The North Sea Diaries report on the Turkish Grand National Assembly giving the go ahead for the European Union to join Turkey. (For the humourless: a spoof.) More seriously, EUPolitix names and shames the bad boys in the Commission's internal debate on Turkey. Unsurpising names - Franz Fischler who has expressed his views before, Frits Bolkestein, I used to think was a good Internal Market

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1097168981692608042004-10-07T17:47:00.000+01:002004-10-07T18:09:41.693+01:00

Former leader of the Swedish Left Party, Gudrun Schyman has proposed that men pay a "man tax" simply for being male, to make us all aware of our supposed collective responsibility for domestic violence. I must say that I have some positive views about Schyman. Anyone who annoys the holier-than-thou Swedish political and media establishment enough to be forced out as party leader must have a

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1097163254619370272004-10-07T16:32:00.000+01:002004-10-07T17:46:18.796+01:00

What is more frightening? The fact that a rather stupid headmaster in Cumbria has banned children from playing conkers without wearing industrial goggles? The fact that children like Danielle Armstrong are being brainwashed into thinking that zero risk activities are dangerous? (Danielle says that, "It doesn't stop you from having fun because you still play the game. It's just protecting your

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1086696871294292072004-06-08T13:10:00.000+01:002004-06-08T13:14:31.296+01:00

Mick Hume compares in today's Times the relative rebelliousness of middle-aged middle-class nice guy football commentator Gary Lineker and recent Big Brother evictee, the lesbian anarchist Kitten Pinder. He concludes that Gary Lineker is much moreso, for daring to continue to advertise Walkers crisps in the face of hysteria and societal opprobrium, whereas Kitten just thinks what all the '60s

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085846385755204302004-05-29T16:54:00.000+01:002004-05-29T16:59:45.756+01:00

Georg from Ostracised from Österreich asked me to put together my own case for Turkish accession to the EU in response to my link to Mehmet Ali Birand's Hürriyet article. I couldn't fit my response in the comments field in less than 5 posts (!) so here is my, at this stage quite untidy, response: Georg: will try and put something together - obviously I know a lot more about Turkey than Ukraine

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085844187664603442004-05-29T16:17:00.000+01:002004-05-29T16:25:03.586+01:00

Well, not exactly as far as most of the public are concerned, but Simon Hughes and a big crowd of LibDems were leafleting Queensway at lunchtime today, while the Respect Coalition were driving round Maida Vale in a big van playing, oddly enough, Aretha Franklin's Respect when I went to the dry cleaners this afternoon. Right, I'm off to review some pubs for Fancy A Pint?

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085843789299391502004-05-29T16:13:00.000+01:002004-05-29T16:16:29.300+01:00

Found via The 6th International, via Nicholas Whyte - a very hard but rather fun vocab quiz. Nicholas scored 189, Mrs. Tilton scored 190, whereas I managed a paltry 165 out of 200. Diddums!

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085742746246993862004-05-28T12:11:00.000+01:002004-05-28T12:12:26.246+01:00

Via Workers' Republic - an interesting history of Communism in Ireland.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085584863692608182004-05-26T16:14:00.000+01:002004-05-26T16:21:03.696+01:00

From an otherwise interesting article on neglected English, and working-class, composer Havergal Brian, whose Gothic Symphony I am enjoying as I write.All music which speaks in the 'vernacular' (to use Deryck Cooke's expression), and not in a private language, belongs surely to all the progressive elements which cut across all social classes though most work for social progress is undoubtedly to

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085489006875942142004-05-25T13:42:00.000+01:002004-05-25T13:43:26.876+01:00

Brief but amusing alternate history of an Ireland not partitioned by the treaty.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085357608730620092004-05-24T01:10:00.000+01:002004-05-24T01:13:28.730+01:00

I've been trying for a while to compose a sensible and deatiled post on why Turkey should be given a firm date for EU membership this December. Luckily (thanks to Turkish Torque for the link, veteran Turkish journalist Mehmet Ali Birand has done it for me. Yes, it's a bit over optimistic in places. But it has the right ideas.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085355722652397942004-05-24T00:41:00.000+01:002004-05-24T00:44:35.226+01:00

There has been much agonising about the recent Fathers 4 Justice stunt where Messrs Blair, Brown and Prescott were pelted with purple flour. I have a certain regard for Fathers 4 Justice - their stunts are usually quite funny and the have highlighted a serious issue about inherent sexism in the family court system. I must add, of course, as everyone else does that it's a tragedy that family

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085351982663760322004-05-23T23:39:00.000+01:002004-05-23T23:41:07.240+01:00

I was in Paris Charles de Gaulle on the Friday before last, and was in crummy old Terminal 3 rather than one of the flashy new terminals. Quite fortunately as it turned out. God help the poor people who got caught in it.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085351886653029542004-05-23T23:37:00.000+01:002004-05-23T23:46:51.676+01:00

The first of two posts on tonight's Westminster Hour on Radio 4... The United Kingdom Independence Party's Roger Knapman was on the Westminster Hour talking about why they think we should leave the EU. I occasionally slag off lefties and deep Greens for being economically illiterate, but this little performance from the ultra-right was on a plane of its own. Mr. Knapman, inbetween being

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085154171405228382004-05-21T16:42:00.000+01:002004-05-21T16:42:51.406+01:00

The Mail on Sunday is to journalism what the alimentary canal is to the human body. But even by their standards, Mark Almond's recent article on “Why America is fighting the German way” trawls new depths. Staring with a ritual denunciation of American torture, Almond comes up with a novel reason for why US troops violated the rules of war – Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz are of German

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085142234736085222004-05-21T13:22:00.000+01:002004-05-21T13:24:24.916+01:00

It took the BBC until the early hours of Friday morning to work out that the American raid on Ahmed Chalabi’s house was big news, worth more than a two line bullet point. Remember, you heard it first from the fogey!Chalabi – you read it here first

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1085069950509164882004-05-20T17:11:00.000+01:002004-05-20T17:19:10.510+01:00

Buried in this pretty much standard BBC News report of death and destruction in Iraq (dead American soldiers barely even rate a mention these days), is news that the US Army has raided the offices of former American Nabob-in-Chief, Ahmed Chalabi. Al-Jazeera has a more detailed story on the raid, interspersed with their usual salty and partial comments. On one level, and despite myself, I almost

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1084833567573884462004-05-17T23:35:00.000+01:002004-05-17T23:39:27.573+01:00

A good non-blog friend of mine has just started a new blog: Hackney Lookout. Also, welcome to the blogroll The Joy of Raki, an ex-expat teacher of English in Turkey. The first blog of interest I've found from the 'most recently updated blogs' popup on the blogger homepage.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1084814498538728822004-05-17T18:19:00.000+01:002004-05-17T18:21:38.536+01:00

Virgin Atlantic have delayed their order for Airbus' new superjumbo, the A380 (see previous Fogey comments), for a number of reasons including Los Angeles airport's inability to make necessary upgrades. California! However, Virgin claim they are still committed to the A380, and Singapore Airlines will take delivery of the first model in 2006.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1084814293473916872004-05-17T18:16:00.000+01:002004-05-17T18:18:13.473+01:00

Christopher Fildes asks in today's Telegraph whether inflation is really dead or just sleeping? He laso makes an important point about the validity of price indices which ignore housing costs.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1084805714951681012004-05-17T15:39:00.000+01:002004-05-17T15:55:14.950+01:00

Since time immemorial, the consumption of opium has been a part of life for the hill tribes of Laos. In recent times, the demand for opium-based drugs in rich countries has provided the people of Northern Laos with a ready cash crop. Drug prohibition in rich countries has meant that the prices the Hmong, Akha and neighbouring peoples receive for their opium vastly exceed that of any potential

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1084804614148813982004-05-17T15:32:00.000+01:002004-05-17T15:36:54.146+01:00

The Economist looks at political prospects in India, where Congress' shock election victory is already tarnishing, and in South Korea, where President Roh Moo-hyn has survived a speculative attempt at impeachment, and will now lead South Korea's first left-wing government with a working parliamentary majority.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1084182139057743462004-05-10T10:33:00.000+01:002004-05-10T10:42:19.056+01:00

Nicholas Whyte directed me to this wonderful Flags of the World website with a difference. Countries' flags are given marks like undergraduate essays, from The Gambia's A+ (90%) to the Northern Mariana Islands' F (2%). Also has wonderfully salty examiners' comments interspersed. A few examples without giving too many spoilers away: Guam: I have given it this high a grade because it would

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1084149062636970402004-05-10T01:29:00.000+01:002004-05-10T01:31:02.636+01:00

Don't blame me. It was a real headline in today's Observer.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083941710497711472004-05-07T15:55:00.000+01:002004-05-07T15:59:37.983+01:00

Conventional wisdom is that sclerotic old Europe can't compete with the hi-tech innovation factories of the USA or the Far East. Conventional wisdom is that European integration can't work, doomed to end in a Tower of Babel of recriminations. However, the launch of Airbus' new A380 super passenger plane, produced across Britain, France, Germany and Spain shows this up for the fallacy it is.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083940463328046652004-05-07T15:34:00.000+01:002004-05-07T15:38:51.233+01:00

Wednesday evening: train from London to Brussels. Thursday evening: train from Brussels to Paris. Friday evening: flight from Paris Charles de Gaulle to London Luton, connecting with another one to Belfast Int'l (i.e. the wrong airport in Belfast). Sunday morning: back from Belfast International to London Luton. Hhhhhhhmpfffff. Typically, Easyjet start flying direct from Paris CDG to Belfast

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083850304731138032004-05-06T14:31:00.000+01:002004-05-06T15:25:43.746+01:00

Nothing to do with Mr. Scarlett's appointment. Sometimes when you do a silly little Quizilla quiz, you spot the answers rolling towards an outcome miles off, and then just pick the one you want... Careful, patient, cuckolded: You are George Smiley! Was it really worth all that just to get yourlighter back? Which ambiguous secret agent are you? brought to you by Quizilla I want to be George

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083847505858404932004-05-06T13:45:00.000+01:002004-05-06T13:49:32.013+01:00

The new head of MI6 is to be John Scarlett. Wonder will he find any Mysterons in Iraq?

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083808947385832652004-05-06T03:02:00.000+01:002004-05-06T03:10:22.043+01:00

According to the BBC, the apparent rise in peanut allergy is causing schools to become nut-free zones! If this were a case of schools changing their meals policy I could understand it, but apparently it has spread as far as banning nuts even in packed lunches. Given the difficulties schools have in keeping contraband like cigarettes, booze, knives and drugs from the premises, I'm all eyes as to

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083770882863639632004-05-05T16:28:00.000+01:002004-05-06T02:49:51.920+01:00

According to my friend Nicholas Whyte, who has deals with Georgia professionally:It's all over in Ajara. Abashidze has lost control of the police and the Russians are sending a senior minister to tell him to leave quietly. No shooting, thank heavens.So good news for once from Georgia, I hope. Update 16:47 According to the BBC, while police have joined the demonstrators, Abashidze still has the

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083690751817077092004-05-04T18:12:00.000+01:002004-05-04T18:16:25.263+01:00

So, Georgia threatens to slide towards its thrid civil war since independence as the mafioso leader of breakaway Adjara, Aslan Abashidze, brutally cracks down on demonstrations against him. I'm rather sad about this as I spent a wonderful sunny August night in the Adjaran capital Batumi in 2000. Inside the usual ring of Soviet concrete tower blocks is a very pleasant city of wide boulevards and

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083320808017786852004-04-30T11:26:00.000+01:002004-04-30T11:35:17.326+01:00

According to the US State Department global terrorism is at a thirty year low. So why, please, is the US engaged in a paranoid war on terror which is extremely costly in both lives and money? And why does it do things like invade Iraq which have turned a stable and toothless if brutal state into a nursery for terrorism? America is getting criticised, and rightly so, for its brutal treatment of

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083320163919684072004-04-30T11:16:00.000+01:002004-04-30T11:20:22.106+01:00

...singing Viva Espana! I'm paying my first ever visit to Spain in my life this weekend, visiting an old friend in Valencia. So light blogging I'm afraid, but I will try and post my first impressions of the country.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083241883480535572004-04-29T13:31:00.000+01:002004-04-29T13:36:51.496+01:00

While playing with Google, I found two interesting articles on the Free Republic website (of all things), on the conservative revival within Catholicism. The first looks at the new generation split within the US Catholic clergy, with the older Vatican II generation being considerably more liberal than the theologically neo-Con younger generation. The second looks at the revival of the

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083241854177577302004-04-29T13:30:00.000+01:002004-04-29T13:36:36.013+01:00

John Kerry is a Douche Bag but I'm Voting for him Anyway - URL is http://www.johnkerryisadouchebagbutimvotingforhimanyway.com. No further comment given, or possible!

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083237956521795182004-04-29T12:25:00.000+01:002004-04-29T12:30:13.373+01:00

Only 5 months late, the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland have produced their provisional recommendations for Parliamentary/Assembly Constituencies in NI. The Commission have gone for a minimum change option, with the biggest problem, that of undersized constituencies in Belfast, being dealth with by another round of expansion into the suburbs. Strangford is the one constituency which

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083167383722584892004-04-28T16:49:00.000+01:002004-04-29T13:37:53.716+01:00

According to the BBC, Jeffrey John is 'under pressure to quit' his post as Dean of St. Alban's. This because the St Albans Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship feels that Jeffrey's appointment was "serious error" of judgement. Now, given that large sections of the Evangelical movement want to run gays out of the Church of England if they get the chance, this is a bit of a non-story. "Gay person in

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083160320369254432004-04-28T14:52:00.001+01:002004-04-29T13:39:03.733+01:00

I know better than to take Bruce Anderson too seriously. It's an axiom of British political life that one only has too hear a prediction from Bruce Anderson to know that the exact opposite will come to pass. But his article in the Spectator on education vouchers (free registration required) deserves some comment. The Tories, as Bruce acknowledges, have never been quite trusted on education.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083160367611052192004-04-28T14:52:00.000+01:002004-04-28T14:57:03.530+01:00

The Religious Policeman is an interesting and very funny blog from a liberal Saudi perspective. Alhamedi, if you're ever in London, I live in Bayswater (aka Little Arabia) and would love to meet up. Please note the other additions to the blogroll and enjoy!

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083146553638161802004-04-28T11:02:00.000+01:002004-04-28T11:07:39.936+01:00

I suppose somebody forgot to tell Al-Qa'eda and its franchises that Syria is actually part of the axis of evil! Although last night's attacks seemed to be aimed primarily at foreigners, and the UK, Canada or Iran could all have been credible targets, upscale Mazze is a favourite haunt of senior Ba'ath Party officials. And Bashar al-Assad's régime (led by a 'heretical' Alawite, staunchly

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083087325604918002004-04-27T18:35:00.000+01:002004-04-27T18:39:39.966+01:00

We've had a thunderstorm over Central London for the past hour and a half with a pitch black sky (2 hours before sunset!) and torrential rain. I'm trapped in work! Very unusual for these temperate latitudes in April.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083084477352624122004-04-27T17:47:00.000+01:002004-04-27T17:52:11.356+01:00

If you read one analysis piece from the mainstream press on Cyprus, the Economist (no subs required for this one) is as so often the most incisive and in depth. I am, needless to say, extremely disappointed that the Greek-Cypriots have rejected the Annan Plan, and it has taken me a few days to give some sort of rational response. Essentially, the Turkish-Cypriots were over a barrel and had no

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1083082480408268062004-04-27T17:14:00.000+01:002004-04-27T17:18:54.840+01:00

52 retired British diplomats have attacked the UK government's Middle East policy, and in particular the fact that Tony Blair rewrote nearly 60 years of British policy in the Middle East last week because his boss, George Bush, asked him to. Of course, Mike O'Brien denies that there has been a radical change in government policy in another example of the amazing doublethink that progressives in

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1082995467283536972004-04-26T17:04:00.000+01:002004-04-26T17:08:40.483+01:00

I've finally given up on enetation (very annoying as I actually paid them some money - OK, only a tenner, but still) and installed haloscan as my comment server. All feedback appreciated. Expect minor changes to the appearance of the comment links and boxes over the next week or so.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1082734235528198102004-04-23T16:30:00.000+01:002004-04-23T16:42:38.326+01:00

Tonight, I'm going to the English National Opera to see Gilbert and Sullivan's Mikado. I was therefore shocked to see that the ENO have banned their staff from calling each other 'darling' as the term could be construed as sexist. Of course one could counter that forbidding people from calling each other darling is homophobic. Although the document setting out the ENO's harrassment policy is

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1082639842499920952004-04-22T14:17:00.000+01:002004-04-22T14:22:00.186+01:00

Have you ever had the misfortune to run across People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals? If not have a look at their insane website - these people are seriously self-hating humans! I mean, if you're convinced the human race has such a negative impact on the rest of the biosphere, why don't you just, like, kill yourself? The other hilarious thing is the way they impute all sorts of

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1082635854349027672004-04-22T13:10:00.000+01:002004-04-22T13:15:01.716+01:00

Please take some time to learn about dihydrogen monoxide - which despite being potentially lethal, is probably the most widely used industrial solvent in the world today. I'm a bit torn on this issue – there are real commercial benefits from the current laissez faire approach to DHMO regulation, and I'm a firm believer in the health benefits of moderate DHMO use. However, inappropriate use of

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1082560372958410902004-04-21T16:12:00.000+01:002004-04-21T16:16:59.153+01:00

Just when you thought David Blunkett, our horrible toad of a Home Secretary and relentless assailant of civil liberties, couldn't sink any lower, comes the news that he now charges wrongfully convicted prisoners for their food and board while they were in prison.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1082477224983189132004-04-20T17:07:00.000+01:002004-04-20T17:13:42.700+01:00

You are a GRAMMAR GOD! If your mission in life is not already topreserve the English tongue, it should be.Congratulations and thank you! How grammatically sound are you? brought to you by Quizilla Thanks to Jade Farrington for the link. ...apparently, I am a grammar god, despite the evidence you see on this page! And, yes, in that context god should be spelt with a small 'g'.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1082469865200976462004-04-20T15:04:00.000+01:002004-04-21T10:58:44.013+01:00

Students for Orwell are working to ensure that the principles of IngSoc are maintained here in Oceania. Not quite so funny when you realise that the Junior Anti-Sex League is alive and kicking in the USA. Of course, the Onion takes a lighter view of the abstinence movement.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1082469788076401882004-04-20T15:03:00.000+01:002004-04-21T11:00:01.966+01:00

As Tony Blair announces that Britain is to hold a referendum on the proposed EU Constitution, A Fistful of Euros looks at the possibility of France also joining in the referendum fun. If Blair has any wit he'll delay any poll in the UK until after France votes. Why? I'll explain... The problem for pro-Europeans is that while there's no doubt that the EU needs a proper constitution, and needs

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1078667435517031742004-03-07T13:50:00.000Z2004-03-07T13:53:39.340Z

We stuffed the world champions. Yes, I know it's bad form to gloat, but as the Sunday times says:To paraphrase one Norwegian football commentator’s paean of victory over a bedraggled English side: “Lord Nelson, Lord Beaverbrook, Sir Winston Churchill, Sir Anthony Eden, Clement Attlee, Henry Cooper, Lady Diana, Maggie Thatcher, can you hear us? Your boys took one hell of a beating.”

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1078420737753534182004-03-04T17:18:00.000Z2004-03-04T17:22:53.373Z

Most people get here from links on other sites - especially Affirming Catholicism and Slugger O'Toole, but also a large range of other blogs which link here. A lot of people also come here by searching, especially Googling, for fogey or young fogey. But sometimes people get here by all sorts of strange byways. Several people have come here because of my stories on Coke's Dasani mineral water

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1078238925529657572004-03-02T14:48:00.000Z2004-03-02T14:56:42.543Z

Is not what I think, but it oozes out of every line of the coverage of yesterday's Experian report on the geography of obesity in Britain. Actually the report didn't measure obesity, but looked at Type II Diabetes which certainly has links to obesity, although not not absolute ones, as I'll come to in a moment. Anyway, Experian's Dr. Marc Farr (ah, Marc with a 'c', he didn't grow up on the Old

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1078236645928717802004-03-02T14:10:00.000Z2004-03-02T14:13:43.436Z

I do not usually swear on this blog. But today’s bomings in Baghdad and Kerbala are, in qute apart from the apalling shedding of innocent blood, absolutely terrifying. Planting a bomb in Kerbala on the day of Hussein's death is to a Shi'ite like planting a bomb on the Via Dolorosa on Good Friday for a Christian. The only motive I can conceive of for this is to start a civil war. Iraq is

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1078167111938603842004-03-01T18:51:00.000Z2004-03-01T18:54:47.733Z

As someone who quite enjoys trend-watching, it's been fascinating watching the sales of bottled water explode over the past few years - especially among, well, 'healthy' twenty-something women. You know, the type who eat organic food, drive to the gym and smoke Silk Cut because it isn't as bad for them. I'll confess to drinking bottled mineral water myself - although generally only the fizzy

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1078086543355208462004-02-29T20:29:00.000Z2004-02-29T20:57:56.450Z

Check out my Morality! 74% liberal, 26% conservative Only 74% liberal! Pah! A very American test, which in a very American way conflates 'liberal' with 'socialist'. Also note how the graphs at the top don't quite add up. The personality test has me summed up pretty well though. And as for music: My Music Personality And best of all - I'm 91% freak!! - although I prefer to say unique!

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1078083483777453112004-02-29T19:38:00.000Z2004-02-29T19:40:58.560Z

Both Potestas and Hossein Derakhshan report stepped up net censorship in Iran since last weekend's elections.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077901266533983502004-02-27T17:01:00.000Z2004-02-28T03:06:40.873Z

For all of you who are interested in elections as a purely spectator sport, this Sunday’s State Elections in Hamburg promise to be a classic. Today’s opinion poll from Forsa in Stern magazine showing 44% for the Christian Democrats, 30% for the Socialists and 14% for the Greens – in other words neck and neck with two days to go! Hamburg is traditionally strong for the Left. Apart from its

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077817398386551352004-02-26T17:43:00.000Z2004-02-26T17:46:28.936Z

The Economist has an article on what the spontaneous development of a sign language among deaf people in Nicaragua can tell us about the nature of language. (subs not required for this article) The language began to develop among pupils at a school for deaf children in the late 1970s. Older speakers, who learned an older form of the language, cannot learn to communicate with the same subtlety

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077815466062133482004-02-26T17:11:00.000Z2004-02-26T17:14:06.920Z

The Affirming Catholicism website has just been updated, and included a link to this blog! Thank you!

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077812037632861782004-02-26T16:13:00.000Z2004-02-26T16:16:48.280Z

Finally, Macedonian President Boris Trajikovsky has died in a plane crash over Bosnia, ironically on the day Macedonia was to submit its application for EU membership. This is a tragedy for one of Europe's poorest countries - Trajkovski was a stabilising force through some very difficult times in the South-West Balkans. Trajkovski was a Methodist Lay Reader - in a country with only a few

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077811939555282352004-02-26T16:12:00.000Z2004-02-26T16:17:01.293Z

EU Observer carries reports from the Turkish press that EU Expansion Commissioner, Güntter Verheugen, believes that Ankara can meet the Copenahgen Criteria , although the commission is backpedalling on this. An opinion poll in Germany showed 38% in favour of Turkish membership with 57% against. According to yesterday's Frankfurt Allegemeine Edmund Stoiber, CSU leader and defeated candidate for

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077805648665550402004-02-26T14:27:00.000Z2004-02-26T14:30:33.950Z

It's the done thing - and has been for a long time - for Anglo-Catholics to rave about the wonders of the Orthodox Church. I've never been quite so convinced. While there is undoubtedly a wonderful reservoir of prayer and spirituality in the Orthodox Churches, there's also an undercurrent, and sometimes a surface current, of ugly racist, woman hating ultra-nationalism there. Of course you

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077797595774612162004-02-26T12:13:00.000Z2004-02-26T12:16:06.216Z

The Eyeranian has a hilariously selective series of quotes from US government officials on the 'success' of the war on terror. Example:Q - Are you saying that Al-Qaeda has in fact weakened or is even wiped out? A - "Al-Qaida has spread its radical agenda to other groups that now pose the leading threat to the United States"..."dozens of smaller Islamic extremist organizations with ties to

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077797424987463972004-02-26T12:10:00.000Z2004-02-26T12:50:49.030Z

Mick Hume writes in The Times on the absurdities and dangers of a society which drafts authoritarian laws but is too afraid to enforce them. Some bedtime reading for Mr. Blunkett, perhaps?

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077741908229230052004-02-25T20:45:00.000Z2004-02-25T20:47:57.326Z

It's always been a nasty Anglo-Catholic in joke to refer to particularly camp clergy as 'Chaplain to the Closet'. So imagine my amazement, when browsing the Diocese of Derby website (of all things), to find that an official post of 'Clerk to the Closet of Her Majesty the Queen' actually exists. (If you click the link - it's the 11th question down the list) The current holder of the post is the

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077725540243415812004-02-25T16:12:00.000Z2004-02-25T16:15:09.593Z

At last an online quiz which gives me an answer that's appropriate: You're I, Robot! by Isaac Asimov While you have established a code of conduct for many generations to follow, your demeanor is rather cold and calculating. Brought up to serve humans, you have promised never to harm them, to follow orders, and to protect yourself. Living up to this code has proved challenging and sometimes

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077716523615724952004-02-25T13:42:00.000Z2004-02-25T13:44:52.530Z

I've just come back from Mass and Imposition of Ashes at Westminster Abbey - yes, you atheists, it's Ash Wednesday today! I'm relieved that the Dean makes a relievingly large and recognisable cross on your forehead - rather than the embarassed little scratching one is so accustomed to in the South East of England.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077716345817850372004-02-25T13:39:00.000Z2004-02-25T13:42:19.090Z

The proportion of those in the existing 15 member states believing their country's membership of the EU is a good thing has fallen below 50% according to a Eurobarometer poll. One would think that the Commission and those pushing for a two-speed Europe might take stock of results like this and ask themselves how they can start reconnecting with ordinary Europeans. But that would mean coming out

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077716110141241572004-02-25T13:35:00.000Z2004-02-25T13:37:59.123Z

UK Minister for Europe, Dennis McShane, writes in the Spectator on why Turkish accession would be good for the EU. Those friendly to Turkish accession must take the battle to where it is most difficult, he says - the geographical and intellectual heartlands of the German and French right. Particularly perceptive was the comment that:To be in Istanbul or Izmir today is to be in no doubt that one

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077715862821071522004-02-25T13:31:00.000Z2004-02-25T13:33:51.840Z

The UNHCR reports a dramatic fall in the number of people seeking asylum in EU countries in 2003, although a significant rise in the 10 acceeding states. There has been a particularly dramatic fall in the number of citizens of raq, Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia seeking asylum. Is the great migratory wave which resulted from the collapse of Communism - both the former Soviet bloc and the

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077625611152215732004-02-24T12:26:00.002Z2004-02-24T12:30:31.186Z

The Guardian reprints David Goodhart’s article on the tensions between maintaining a welfare-state and diversity. Overall a powerful and stimulating piece, but I would take issue with it on a number of points:He asks whether there is a ‘tipping point’ where the size of ethnic minority populations makes a strong welfare state impossible. Perhaps there is, but if so, the exact level of that

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077625587469859172004-02-24T12:26:00.001Z2004-02-24T12:29:15.013Z

Researchers in Leeds have found, yet again, that children are fatter than a generation ago. This has been clearly established time after time, so why is public money being wasted in confirming what we already know? Also what validity does a survey with a paltry sample size of 315 have? More to the point, we also have spiralling rates of anorexia and bulimia in teenage girls, so is fat hysteria

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077625568522435662004-02-24T12:26:00.000Z2004-02-24T12:28:56.060Z

Iranian vice-president, Mohammad Ali Abtabi, has a blog in English (and Farsi and Arabic as well). I wonder if he writes the English bit himself or gets it translated from Farsi for him.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077625531958309182004-02-24T12:25:00.000Z2004-02-24T13:03:42.873Z

Australian researchers have found that the level of environmental smoke in non-smoking areas of pubs and restaurants was 50% lower than elsewhere, but not eliminated entirely. This is, they claim, because ‘smoke drifts’ something humans have known since the dawn of time and scientifically able to explain since the 17th Century. Of course, as the health effects of second-hand smoke are far from

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077557234245831852004-02-23T17:27:00.000Z2004-02-23T17:31:13.310Z

I have always had an animus against The Lancet since they proposed making all tobacco products illegal. This struck me, apart from being personally inconvenient, as a classic demonstration of how medics have become so obsessed by extending ‘years of life’, that they become completely blind to the quality of that life, or the social and cultural implications of what they propose. I’ve therefore

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077549786829751872004-02-23T15:23:00.000Z2004-02-23T15:28:05.750Z

Potestas is one of many young Iranians who began blogging during the recent election campaign. Unusually, (s)he blogs in English. He reports Iranian web-surfers experiencing widespread interference since the election: more and more websites are blocked.even those ISP's who were free of filters are now filtering.every website of hossein derakhshan are filtered.even proxies are filtered and one

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077544351087212782004-02-23T13:52:00.000Z2004-02-23T13:56:02.890Z

A dispute has broken out over the turnout in last weekend’s Iranian parliamentary election, with the Reformist led Ministry of the Interior claiming a turnout of 51%, and the Conservative Council of Guardians saying the turnout is in the high fifties. In some ways it’s fairly irrelevant – either result is a big slap in the face for liberals encouraging a mass boycott after the religious

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077544279117876892004-02-23T13:51:00.000Z2004-02-23T13:55:04.110Z

Much press on Gerhard Schöder’s visit to Turkey, the first by a German Chancellor since 1993. Of particular interest is a piece from the English-language edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Weekly on the two century old ties between Germany and Turkey. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German) and Hürriyet (in Turkish) both note Schröder’s warm words on Turkish accession. Turkish Press (in English)

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077544230260356602004-02-23T13:50:00.000Z2004-02-23T13:53:16.950Z

There is much talk on Slugger O’Toole at present on the possibility of a South African style Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Northern Ireland. At one time I was quite keen on the idea of a Northern Ireland TRC, but like I suspect a lot of other people, the Bloody Sunday enquiry has rather put me off the idea. None of our belligerents are willing to commit themselves to anything like

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077493694782405872004-02-22T23:48:00.000Z2004-02-22T23:50:59.920Z

Ah, the wonders of internet. Firstly, I am not half as geeky as I though I was: You are 43% geekYou are a geek liaison, which means you go both ways. You can hang out with normal people or you can hang out with geeks which means you often have geeks as friends and/or have a job where you have to mediate between geeks and normal people. This is an important role and one of which you should be

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077491970053934772004-02-22T23:19:00.000Z2004-02-22T23:22:15.560Z

Latest from the Westminster Cycling Campaign. The proposals around Green Park/St. James's Park, which I use every day on the way to work, are the most interesting. I fail to see why the Hyde Park to Lambeth Bridge route has to take such a long detour - right along The Mall, then down Horseguards Road, especially whn both roads are perfectly pleasant and safe to cycle on anyway. I can

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077490399766381372004-02-22T22:53:00.000Z2004-02-22T23:00:48.780Z

The Observer runs a story on a leaked Pentagon paper suggesting that climate change is a bigger threat to US national security than terrorism. Now, don't get me wrong, I agree that climate change is a serious issue. I agree the world, especially rich countries, and even more especially the USA has a responsibility to reduce the production of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. I agree the ripping

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077373873726658182004-02-21T14:31:00.000Z2004-02-21T14:33:57.310Z

22 year-old Sharon Haughey is undobutedly a bright young thing of the SDLP. But her article in yesterday's Irish News (thanks to the NewsHound) demonstrates why the SDLP are finished. There's not a single concrete policy proposal in it, not a single good reason to vote for the SDLP. Just a lot of rhetoric about being strong and rejuvinating tired minds and bodies, and building a New Ireland

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6218508.post-1077329528921278622004-02-21T02:12:00.000Z2004-02-21T02:14:51.983Z

Martians respond to the landing of American Spirit.

Young Fogeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07202713274386031106noreply@blogger.com