Natalie Solent |
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Politics, news, libertarianism, Science Fiction, religion, sewing.
You got a problem, bud? I like sewing.
E-mail: nataliesolent-at-aol-dot-com (I assume it's OK to quote senders by name.) Back to main blog RSS thingy 
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Links ( 'Nother Solent is this blog's good twin. Same words, searchable archives, RSS feed. Provided by a benefactor, to whom thanks. I also sometimes write for Samizdata and Biased BBC.) The Old Comrades:
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Monday, December 22, 2008
"Britain has lost the stomach for a fight" - I have some comments on Michael Portillo's article in the Times over at Samizdata. Now that's done maybe I'll be able to sleep. In case you're worrying, my insomnia isn't as bad as all that. This post and the last one published in the ASBO* hours may be on the same page but they are actually a month apart. *wee, small, but still anti-social Monday, December 15, 2008
"I'm looking for something" - I have a post with that title over at Biased BBC. It looks at the results of a search of the BBC website for the search term "Gavriel Holtzberg". Saturday, December 06, 2008
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Thursday, October 23, 2008
What about people who bomb abortion clinics in America? When reading on the internet about Islamic terrorism, commenters often mention that there is also terrorism by Christian fundamentalists in America, where there have been bombings of abortion clinics and shootings of abortion providers. How prevalent is this form of American domestic terrorism? In recent years there have been round about 15,000 - 20,000 murders in total per year in the US. How many of these were of abortion providers? Guess now. Scribble your answer down. If you had asked me a few months ago I would have said three or four murders per year. Considered over the last fifteen years I was overestimating somewhat. According to the best-known pro-abortion organisation in the US, NARAL Pro-Choice America, Since 1993, seven clinic workers – including three doctors, two clinic employees, a clinic escort, and a security guard – have been murdered in the United States. Seventeen attempted murders have also occurred since 1991That figure comes from a document published in December 2007. So far as I know the figures have not changed since then. However the phrasing "Since 1993 seven abortion clinic workers have been murdered in the United States" could be re-arranged, with equal truth, to say that "since 1998 no abortion clinic workers have been murdered in the United States." The last such murder was ten years ago today. When I first found out this fact I was surprised. Again and again I have read comments that assumed that this type of terrorism was less deadly than Islamic terrorism but was nonetheless a steadily lethal undercurrent of American life - a death here, a death there. In the fight against any type of crime, no victory can ever be anything but temporary. The most you can ever say is that the trend is down. There have been several attempted murders of abortion providers during the last ten years and the fact that none of them have succeeded must owe something to mere chance. As has often been observed, the terrorist only has to get lucky once. However it does now seem probable there will be zero murders of abortion providers during the presidency of George W Bush. I doubt that he will be given much credit for this, though if the trend had been otherwise he would certainly have been given the discredit. (Cross posted to Samizdata.) Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Hooray, McCain is going to win after all! From today's Times: In the five days since an Irish bookmaker declared the US presidential race “well and truly over” – paying out more than $1 million to those who had bet on Barack Obama – there has been little to suggest that Paddy Power was taking a gamble.From the Irish Times of June 13th: Bookmaker Paddypower has admitted it made a mistake, after paying out more than €80,000 in bets on a Yes vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum. As polls closed at last night, the bookmaker made a decision to pay out punters who had backed a Yes vote after unofficial exit polls indicated a late surge in support for the treaty. Friday, October 17, 2008
President Sarkozy orders soccer match ban if fans jeer Marseillaise - from yesterday's Times. "French football matches will be cancelled if fans jeer the pre-kickoff national anthem, President Sarkozy has decreed, after the Marseillaise was drowned out by mocking whistles at the start of a France-Tunisia friendly at the Stade de France on Tuesday night.Imagine how this would have been reported if the booing of the National Anthem, and the President's threat to suppress it, had occured in America. Saturday, October 11, 2008
"Specific learning differences." An excellent letter to the Times: Sir, Sue Whiting, a “retired special educational needs co-ordinator”, asserts in her letter (Oct 10) that “there are likely to be 20 per cent of children in any classroom with specific learning differences”. My initial reaction on reading this was that, surely, all the children would have learning differences: that is the human condition. However, on closer analysis I deduced that what was stated was not what was actually meant. Surely Ms Whiting’s unadorned meaning was that 20 per cent of the children would, for one reason or another, have learning difficulties.Sue Whiting's original letter is the second one here. It is quite clear that by "differences" she means "difficulties" or "disabilities". This usage, along with "differently-abled", is quite common now. It always makes me think, well you won't be wanting any money then. This and That. I have a T and T post up at Biased BBC. Links to Blognor Regis, David Friedman, and a thought of my own about the BBC's new Get Out of Impartiality Free card. Monday, September 29, 2008
Cherchez le mème. A post for Samizdata about the surprising popularity (even among usually pro-liberty people) of the idea that religious parents should be banned from passing on their religion to their children. Tuesday, September 16, 2008
"A disgrace to the honest profession of whore." I have written a post, really two posts in one, bearing that title over at Samizdata. Thursday, September 11, 2008
Anniversary. I have a post up at Biased BBC about the BBC suggesting that it is only the US that believes that Osama Bin Laden masterminded the 9/11 attacks. Again. I would have preferred some other form of commemoration. Jim Miller's post is well worth your time, and thought. This man jumped from one of the World Trade Center towers, rather than burn to death. From the picture we can see that he was a young black man, probably American though he might have been an immigrant, and that he worked in a kitchen. Saturday, July 05, 2008
"Is gun control about to be rolled back in Britain?" asks Brian Micklethwait. He argues that amid the outcry over recent murders, such as the savage double killing of two French students within the last few days, the public attitude to gun control is changing. It is, but gun control is not about to be rolled back. The political bar to that happening is high, higher than for many other issues. My comment: Politicians fear that if they do re-legalise then within the next year there will be a Dunblane or Hungerford-style spree killing using guns and they will be blamed.Brian Micklethwait's post was partly inspired by one from Bishop Hill: Is gun control behind our loss of civil liberties? Thursday, June 26, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
We must create the pedagogy of the The Wall! Over at Biased BBC I have a post that discusses a BBC History profile of Che Guevara: "Alas, the author seems to have neglected to mention another aspect of Comrade Guevara's revolutionary service during this period, namely his stint in 1959 as "Supreme Prosecutor" and commander of La Cabana prison. During this time he enthusiastically fulfilled his proletarian responsibility by disposing of several hundred reactionary elements by means of the traditional bullet in the head. For the BBC to present a historical view of Guevara that blandly says, 'From 1959-1961, Guevara was president of the National Bank of Cuba, and then minister of industry' is actively dishonest." Thursday, June 19, 2008
Shami Chakrabarti: an apology. In view of recent legal developments this humble blogger would like to state that her comment over breakfast last Thursday consisting of the words "That Shami Chakrabarti is never off the telly" was mere banter and persiflage and in no way, shape or form meant to suggest that contact between Ms Chakrabarti's anatomy and said machinery was of a rumptitious or tumptitious nature. (Cross-posted to Samizdata.) UPDATE: Oh dear, judging from the comments there, that was another of my jokes that sailed straight off the edge of the world. I commented later: "The point was, and I do apologize - though not in a way that admits liability! - if my attempt at making it in a funny way was not clear to all readers, was that while I'm all for the stand David Davis is making, Shami Chakrabarti threatening to sue someone over an "innuendo" so mild that it wouldn't have looked out of place in the mouth of Bertie Wooster, is petty and trivialises the issue." Tuesday, June 17, 2008
By the miracle of the computer tubes, I saw this report relating to a proposed new slum just a few miles away from Solent Mansions (Gordon Brown's futuristic eco-towns to fine residents for driving out of city limits) over at Tim Blair's blog in the Australian Daily Telegraph hours before my copy of the Times hit the mat. One commenter, a Mr Alexander, pointed out that Ford in Sussex already has an open prison. My comment to the Times "Oh, let joy be unconfined. Gordon Brown is going to eco-bulldoze nasty, unregulated countryside in order to build a bantustan for greenies. Fair enough, one wouldn't want to let these people roam freely, but will the rest of us be allowed in to laugh at their antics? Worked for Bedlam." Saturday, June 14, 2008
Sunday, June 08, 2008
Saturday, May 03, 2008
My felicitations to Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson. Despite my preference for isonomy over democracy, I must say the golden boy done good. My scepticism over democracy is as nothing to that of fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. She was one of the luvvies whose views the Guardian's Zoe Williams naively appended to an article telling people to Fear the Hair, apparently under the impression that these endorsements would gain Ken Livingstone votes. Ms Westwood's contribution: Boris as mayor? Unthinkable. It just exposes democracy as a sham, especially if people don't vote for Ken - he's the best thing in politics. Unthinkable." Now that the voters of London have chosen Fear the Hair and Do It Anyway, I fear we must bid farewell to "Arabella Weir, actor and writer", "Blake Morrison, writer" and "Diana Melly, writer." Adieu. Monday, April 28, 2008
In the future, everyone will be respected for fifteen minutes. The trouble with Simon Blackburn's quips is they are each around a hundred words too long to be funny: "The belief that everyone deserves equal respect and that anything else is discriminatory and elitist. The truth is the exact opposite: discrimination is a virtuous activity and elites are to be admired. The very few human beings who are good at anything, whether football or playing the violin or writing or painting, form an elite and deserve respect for their excellence. Other people either deserve sympathy for trying and failing, or should be ignored if they have not even tried." Chris Bertram, linking to Norman Geras, thinks Blackburn shouldn't get all bent out of shape just because he's not David Hume. And for those of us who should be ignored, here's Wikipedia on "15 minutes of fame." Sunday, April 20, 2008
One of the things that holds me back from waking up this blog is the feeling that any post that comes after a long silence ought to be important. No, there is no good reason for this feeling. Here is a trivial and oddly-edited paragraph from the end of an education story in the Times a few days ago: How to soothe students? Tht reports that the University Mental Health Advisers Network wants students to get exam questions in advance as it would “significantly reduce the fear factor associated with the unknown”.Thanks for that report, Tht. Now it is true that for some subjects proficiency can be meaningfully tested by an open-book exam. Outside school, when you program computers or balance the books or fit an engine part you are allowed to have the manual in front of you, so long as you know your way round it. For other subjects this wimpy proposal would simply move the fear later in time and deny the students practice in overcoming it. If you present yourself to a potential employer as a French interpreter she does rather expect you to understand and say lots of French words, you know, even ones you did not know were coming. If you wish to drive a lorry on the public roads it is considered best for you to how to emerge from a junction without having to consult page 141 of the driving test manual. Continuing the education theme, I commented on this post of Brian Micklethwait's on the subject of whether parenting and teaching conflict. And not continuing the education theme, there are a couple of posts by me over at Biased BBC. Saturday, February 23, 2008
Update. I still haven't quite got used to the way that old blog posts are not thrown away. The story can be picked up again by anyone who shares your interest. Back in 2002 I wrote a post called The Gift of Life about a girl conceived in order to give a life-saving transplant to her older sister. I defended the practice, and mentioned some pictures I found when googling the girl's name. I had forgotten all this. Now (er, not exactly now, see below) Andy Behrens writes: The Marissa Ayala who drew the pictures that you refer to in your posting The gift of life is not the one who donated bone marrow to her sister.There is a second timeslip to this story. Mr Behrens' email was written on the 11th February. Sorreee! "Superficially, the stance is wryly apologetic, but the substance is a non-apology: sorry for being so clever, I should have realized that I needed to say it in words of one syllable for the benefit of those dreadful oiks in the media." Another one likely to send me to the Yellow Pages to look up an affordable contract assassin is "I'm sorry you were upset." It glides past the questions of whether "I'm sorry" means "I am saddened by" or "I apologise for", and whether your upset was reasonable or hysterical. Go to this Cuban government site. Click "Estructura del estado Cubano". Click "La Asamblea Nacional del Poder Popular". Click "VI Legislatura". It says, COMPOSICIÓN DE LA ASAMBLEA NACIONAL VI LEGISLATURA Half a century of socialism and yet whites are still overrepresented in the corridors del poder popular? Clearly, the involuntary option has failed. Wednesday, February 20, 2008
When the history of Fidel Castro's rule in Cuba comes to be written all that stuff about the excellence of the healthcare system will turn out to be lies but the claim of high literacy rates will be more or less true. Communist education gets results because force is near to the surface. I acknowledge but do not approve. See previous post here (scroll down to "Two education stories from Poland"), quoting Brian Micklethwait, or you can get more recent Micklethwait here. A further advantage of communist education is that the wishes of the teachers are given almost as short a shrift as those of the pupils. Force works well in education because the forcers can look at the forcees all the time they are doing the forcing. It works less well in healthcare and very badly indeed in agriculture. Wednesday, February 06, 2008
The view from my office looks just like this. As I was saying to Linda from Accounts, the existence of a volcanic peak arising from an inland sea used to be described, along with the Two Brewers Hotel, as "the best kept secret in Hertfordshire," but they stopped doing that in order to keep the secret better. Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Nostrils remain unfanned! Anthony Cox has a very proper job yet still manages to blog and worry about Rob Hinkley to whom absolutely nothing has happened. |