This Sceptered Isle

From an article describing Trowbridge, the county town of Wiltshire:

In 2000 a local district councillor, Mr. Osborn, famously claimed that Trowbridge ‘was just like Ibiza’. This comment drew widespread surprise as Mr. Osborn had never visited Ibiza, and caused some residents to suspect he had never visited Trowbridge either.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged with

Respect

Claire just mentioned that she’s conscious of being called ‘Mrs Harris’ over here, rather than Claire. As well as summoning up images of being my mother (which neither of us would want for all sorts of psychologically scarring reasons, as lovely as my mum is), this just seems wrong as a matter of routine. While the familiarity in the US seemed a little odd at first, I’ll take it over this any day.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged with

Journalismesque

Over on the Intersection there’s an article about a journalist who doesn’t seem to understand his role regarding climate change. I posted the following response (the bits in italics are hypothetical questions posted by the ‘journalist’).

Well, as he asked me:

Are these convincing arguments?
To not question what you’ve been told? No, they’re not convincing at all, that’s why you should question them.

And directed at journalists, who are natural questioners and skeptics, of all people?
Well I doubt the assertion, but still no.

What happens when you are told not to eat the apple
You eat the apple, and to extend the analogy you find it was rotten, and you get sick, and you gain a new appreciation for why you were told not to. As a journalist that’s what you do, so that others don’t have to.

not to read that book
You read the book, and to extend the analogy you find it was a Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, and you want those hours of your life back, and you gain a new appreciation for why you were told not to. As a journalist that’s what you do, so that others don’t have to.

not to date that girl?
You date the girl, and to extend the analogy you find she has an interesting collection of social diseases, and you want the itching to stop, and you gain a new appreciation for why you were told not to. As a journalist that’s what you do, so that others don’t have to.

What am I not supposed to know?
That the argument against climate change is based on questionably funded hand-waving, and you’re being played for a chump. And played well, I might add. Go, see what they have to say, but then think. Apply your critical faculties, the ones you alluded to when you claimed that journalists are ‘natural questioners and skeptics’.

Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged with