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Author: allen.pizzey

GUN VIOLENCE: CONSIDER A LOUSE

GUN VIOLENCE: CONSIDER A LOUSE

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Amer­i­cans try­ing to make sense, or oth­er­wise, of their lat­est mass shoot­ing tragedy, might find it instruc­tive to con­sid­er the best-known line from renowned 18th cen­tu­ry Scot­tish poet Robert Burns’ “To a Louse”: ‘O wad some Pow­er the giftie gie us / To see oursels as ithers see us!’

Politi­cians like Texas gov­er­nor Greg Abbott and sen­a­tor Ted Cruz who insist the prob­lem isn’t guns, it’s a “men­tal health issue”, could stand back and take stock of their own men­tal state.… Read the rest

The Once Great, Replaced

The Once Great, Replaced

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Some years ago, a cam­era­man gave me one of the tee shirts he’d sold as a side­line at a Repub­li­can con­ven­tion. The front read “Life in News”. On the back, in large type, was print­ed “BLAME IT ON THE MEDIA.” Del­e­gates, he told me, didn’t get the joke. Today, it’s in dan­ger of becom­ing less a joke than a jus­ti­fi­able truism.… Read the rest

MISOGYNISTS AND GLASS HOUSES

MISOGYNISTS AND GLASS HOUSES

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Much as it is jus­ti­fied, the oppro­bri­um heaped on the Tal­iban for decree­ing women must shroud them­selves in all-encom­pass­ing burqas in pub­lic, would car­ry more weight if it includ­ed an uncom­fort­able acknowl­edge­ment: insti­tu­tion­alised misog­y­ny doesn’t make them unique.… Read the rest

The Curse of Times That Are A’Changin’

The Curse of Times That Are A’Changin’

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When Bob Dylan sang ‘the times they are a changin’, nei­ther he nor those of us who sang along with him had regres­sion in mind. Not even the oft-pre­scient Dylan could have guessed the verse that begins ‘the line it is drawn/the curse it is cast’ would sum up what the times have changed into.… Read the rest

WHEN IT COMES TO PRINCIPLE, HYPOCRISY RULES

WHEN IT COMES TO PRINCIPLE, HYPOCRISY RULES

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“A hyp­ocrite is the kind of politi­cian who would cut down a red­wood tree, then mount the stump and make a speech for con­ser­va­tion.” Attrib­uted to U.S. Vice-pres­i­dent (1893–1897) Adlai Steven­son I, the quote is an apt warn­ing that stri­dent avowals of West­ern lead­ers to go all out to help Ukraine are as much a thin veneer cov­er­ing self-inter­est and hypocrisy, as they are firm and unshake­able policy.… Read the rest

A Billion Here, A Billion There

A Billion Here, A Billion There

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It must be real­ly annoy­ing to be so rich that bleed­ing hearts are always bang­ing on about how you could sin­gle-hand­ed­ly solve world pover­ty or what­ev­er. So, here’s a sug­ges­tion to ease the pain for the world’s lead­ing mul­ti-bil­lion­aires: try cash­ing in on the wis­dom of Ben­jamin Franklin: “It is prodi­gious the quan­ti­ty of good that may be done by one man, if he will make a busi­ness of it.”… Read the rest

A God for All Reasons

A God for All Reasons

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The Peanuts char­ac­ter Linus once said: “There are three things I have learned nev­er to dis­cuss with people…religion, pol­i­tics, and the Great Pump­kin.” Pump­kins aside, the rare con­ver­gence of Passover, East­er and Ramadan prompts me to ignore his wis­dom and pon­der why faith is so often used as an excuse for venal behaviour.… Read the rest

The Punishment Putin Can’t Escape

The Punishment Putin Can’t Escape

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The chances of self-imaged macho man Vladimir Putin end­ing up in court for war crimes in Ukraine are slim to nil. He has, how­ev­er, already been judged impo­tent by the one thing his mas­sive fire­pow­er could not overcome…the per­verse tru­ism that the worst of human beings invari­ably bring out the best of them.… Read the rest

Sanctions aren’t a ‘smart bomb’ for all targets

Sanctions aren’t a ‘smart bomb’ for all targets

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West­ern gov­ern­ments are all but crow­ing over the effi­ca­cy of sanc­tions as a weapon in the war in Ukraine. For­got­ten in the rush is that what­ev­er their con­tri­bu­tion towards vic­to­ry over Vladimir Putin, sanc­tions are on the point of destroy­ing the peo­ple of Afghanistan, but have lit­tle chance of chang­ing let alone oust­ing the Taliban.… Read the rest

If you find war coverage ‘disturbing’…

If you find war coverage ‘disturbing’…

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“Warn­ing: view­ers may find some of the images in this report dis­turb­ing.” Can there be a more point­less and insen­si­tive caveat to a sto­ry about the civil­ian vic­tims of war? You are sup­posed to be dis­turbed by war and suf­fer­ing. The jour­nal­ists who cap­ture those images often take hor­ren­dous phys­i­cal and psy­cho­log­i­cal risks.… Read the rest