http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com "Diving for dear life, when we should be diving for pearls" - Elvis Costello Thu, 19 Feb 2009 00:59:37 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Well, that took a while! It's been a hectic, as well as a slothful, few weeks. There's lots of stuff to get out my system now. I've been busy these past few days helping to organise a Convention for Modern Liberty event in Birmingham. And, finally, we have something on! http://www.modernliberty.net/satellite-conventions/birmingham Speakers are yet ... http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/2009/02/19/im-back/ There has been much talk in the media about how George Bush will be judged by "history". Andrew Roberts, for instance, has a piece in the Telegraph about how history will show that George Bush was right, and a piece in Commentary Magazine says something similar. The latter piece is ... http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/2009/01/28/historians-god/ In November I interviewed Norman Finkelstein, the infamous academic and writer. This is the interview I sent to Redbrick. It got slightly tweaked there, but here it is in full, unedited glory: Norman Finkelstein was at the University of Birmingham giving a talk called “Israel and Palestine: Roots of Conflict, Prospects ... http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/2009/01/27/my-interview-with-norman-finkelstein/ I don't normally watch Question Time, but I caught the last few minutes before This Week today. In it a member of the audience said that the Tories would cut public spending, and how was this going to make him (an employee of the Ministry of Justice) do his job ... http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/2009/01/23/when-is-a-cut-not-a-cut/ I know, another post about Labour list. Please humour me, but this is truly wonderful. It's the same cotent, but no moderated comments and a much better design. There is hope after all for Labour blogging! Cory Update: This may be even more hilarious. http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/2009/01/17/this-is-fantastic/ I'm too preoccupied with essays at the moment to do any lengthy blogging, I'm afraid. But here are a couple of things you should read. One is essential, the other is so you can have a giggle. First up, read Lasantha Wickrematunga's piece on CiF now. Don't do anything else. Just read ... http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/2009/01/13/things-to-read/ You remember Labour List, of which I blogged yesterday? I logged on today just to see how it was going, and the front story on what calls itself "Labour's biggest independent grassroots e-network" is an uncritical cut-and-paste job of an article written by..............Gordon Brown. Yup. That's right. Maybe I missed something, and Brown ... http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/2009/01/13/spot-the-contradictions/ In the UK, the Conservative Party is winning the battle of the blogs, at least in terms of readership. On Wikio's list Iain Dale, Guido Faukes and Conservative Home are the top three ranked sites. Liberal Conspiracy was formed in 2007 and has been a success, as a forum for those on the ... http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/2009/01/12/listless-labour/ I blogged earlier about having to choose between Neil Clark and Melanie Phillips. Thankfully there is a choice - Created In Birmingham. It looks like a very interesting site about culture from my adopted city. But more importantly - it isn't a blog run by a raving lunatic. So vote ... http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/2009/01/12/make-a-decision/ It's nearly midnight, and I ought to be concentrating on essays (or sleeping to give me energy to concentrate on essays tomorrow). But I feel restless, and there are a few things I need to get out of my system. This is a rather personal post. I don't usually blog about ... http://thegoldenstrawberry.blog.com/2009/01/11/into-the-great-wide-open/