Some thoughts

Also seen at Transterrestrial Musings , this timeline of sci-fi movies: Passing Back to the Future part 2 6 years ago made me feel old, being 5 years away from Children of Men makes me feel even older!  

 In the comments of this post at  Transterrestrial Musings : Progressive Leftist cause for “[x]”– First we overlook [x]. Then we tolerate [x]. Then we legalize [x]. Then we promote [x]. Then we celebrate [x]. Then we require [x]. Then we persecute those who still object to [x]. Very accurate.

 This article struc k a chord:  How many male friends do you really have? I'll admit I'm not the most sociable person, maybe I've been unlucky but I've never had a large number of male friends. I'm not close with anyone from my (all boy) school, and the only people I'm still in touch with from university are female (and their husbands are the only guys I occasionally go for drinks with). I found this part especially true: what happens when they enter the mid-life happiness U-curve around their mid-30s, when a lot of friends drift away and people get married and have kids? I've definitely gotten lonelier as my friends have stopped going out due to family commitments, and one reason why I went to live in Asia was to meet new people (though that didn't work out too well either). I'd agree there is definitely a need for clubs and societies for men (not necessarily single-sex), as  James Bartholomew  pointed out in one side effect of the rise of the Welfa...

 On Friday I got up early to drive to Essex for a job interview, repeating the event of the previous week when I had a similar trip to East London. Each trip ending in disappointment, with nothing to show for my time and effort apart from a toll receipt for the Dartford Crossing and a higher petrol bill on my credit card.  It has been roughly a year since I began applying for non-teaching roles in the UK. In that time I've had numerous interviews but never any joy, always getting the 'you were good but we picked someone with more relevant experience' answer. I'm reaching the point now where I'm thinking it is pointless to keep applying for these roles. With that in mind, I've done a few applications for ESL roles, and have another interview on Tuesday for a job in Budapest. I'm still not sure if I want to keep teaching but a year in Europe does seem tempting right now...

I managed to delete the draft of this post by accident so lost a number of links and comments made earlier in the week, plus we had my niece staying over Friday night and most of yesterday, plus I had 16 online lessons so this weekend. Therefore this weeks roundup is a slightly truncated affair.   UK politics: Here's hoping:  Why Labour won’t win back Britain Asia:  https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/beijing-s-battle-to-crush-hong-kong-s-final-freedoms . On a lighter note:  Even a robot assistant can’t help you make sense of Japan  made me nostalgic for the time I lived there. Wokeness/Cancel culture:  Blacklisted Americans: Attendees at conservative event attacked by Antifa thugs . An antidote:  Growing up American Not a fan of their music, but this is ridiculous:  Mumford and Sons versus the mob . Should never apologise to the mob, they take it as a sign of weakness, so am glad he stood up to them.  Video: Woke Watch: 'Anti-racist' Br...

 I happened to watch a top 30 hits of 1995 program last night on Channel 5 that made me quite nostalgic. It was quite surprising that in the year of the Blur v Oasis head to head, the top slot was held by Robson and Jerome! What did strike me was how many songs were from TV shows, movies, and adverts. with that in mind, here are three of my favorite adverts from back then that launched nit singles. First up: Mr. Boombastic by Shaggy (Levi) Second. Spaceman by Babylon Zoo (also Levi) And finally, Guaglione by Pérez Prado (Guinness) (Yes, I forgot to do one of these last week before I went out!)

Yesterday was the signing of a Memorandum of Implementation (MoI) between the UK and Ukraine to upgrade their Navy, more details here: Babcock to enhance Ukrainian naval capabilities . As part of this arrangement, the UK is going to build them 2 missile boats, with 6 more to be built locally. These will be based on the Vita/SuperVita class ships built for the Qatari and Greek navies. ( image source, and more info on these ships ) Given how these ships were built in the 90s it's interesting how this design is still useable (albeit we don't know much updating is needed), it makes me wonder about the need for new designs of destroyers and frigates, when historically most ships were incremental improvements on the proceeding class and clean sheet designs were comparatively rare. I wonder how an updated T23 would stack up cost and performance-wise compared to the Tw26 and T31, and whether the T45 could be used as the basis for the next-gen T83 destroyer. I also wonder if a derivativ...

An interesting read on Con Home by James Frayne:   Why businesses act woke and what to do about it   I def agree with the analysis that the marketing/social media teams often act quickly and unthinkingly to avoid bad publicity and that they haven't realized that social media is not representative of the general population. I also like how he notes they’re just dysfunctional like everyone else.'- this is an issue the right tends to overlook, assuming businesses are all ruthlessly trimming the fat wherever they can but in reality (esp. in the biggest firms) can be just as bloated and bureaucratic as the public sector) Finally, I don't think expecting Tory MP's to lead the fightback is a good plan, too many are uninterested in cultural matters (or wish to avoid getting involved), they will only do so if pressured into action by public opinion.  

Today marks 5 years since the EU referendum. I didn't take part in campaigning  beyond the odd Facebook post, and didn't think leave would win. I was therefore pleasantly   surprised  with the result, but shocked by the reaction by the remain voters.  Since then I'd gotten more and more angry but the increasing levels of derangement by the losers  and their  efforts to overturn the result. If anything it made more more convinced my vote to leave was the correct choice, and I am glad we're finally out, despite the delays and problems with the withdrawal act (esp. the NI protocol.) So,  5 years later still  no regrets,  and a message to the rejoiners:  17 Million Fuck-Offs (2020 update) Update:  Steerpike at the Spectator lists  Five of the worst Remain predictions five years on , while CAPX reflects on how  Five years from the Brexit vote, ‘Global Britain’ is now much more than a slogan . Alternatively, if you want a laugh ...

 Today I received feedback on my 5000 word essay which I submitted 3 weeks ago: I got a merit, and a very similar score to the previous cone. This means I got an overall merit grade for the core module, just need to do the exam next week for my option module (and I should get the grade for that course's module this week too).

Looking at the stats on blogger, I've noticed every week or so I get a massive spike of pageviews from Sweden. There's no referring URL (just says 'other'), so where is this traffic coming from? Just curious.

This weeks list of articles that caught my eye: Scots are slowly realising you can't be independent and in the EU Delaying Liberation Day sets a dangerous precedent Net-Zero: the West's Suicide Note The curious appeal of old Land Rovers The new leviathan the big state is back The problem with male feminists scrapping-english-votes-for-english-laws-could-spell-trouble Team America may save us yet 'Vegan Spider Silk' Could Replace Most Single-Use Plastics North Korean Defector After Attending Ivy League School: Even North Korea Was ‘Not This Nuts’ The Invisible Sculpture Sale is Symbolic of the Systematic Shams Elites Expect Us to Swallow Anatomy of the Woke Madness Why Does Every New Car Look Like Every Other New Car? It Belongs in a Museum! The People’s Republic of Campus YOU ARE NOT A RACIST TO CRITICIZE CRITICAL RACE THEORY. The self-loathing of Britain’s elites CRT Can KMA And finally,  People Who Ruined World's Economies Gather To Discuss How To Fix World's ...

A nice summary of Why Singapore Has the World's Best Healthcare I'd love to see a similar system introduced in the UK  

From this Telegraph story:  Fear over freedom: Here's what the doom-laden government graphs didn't show us The doom-mongering and public hysteria would be a lot lower if data were presented honestly. 

Fahrenheit211 asks  Is there still any need for Pride celebrations in the West and especially in the UK? Short answer: no. Even the Simpsons made this joke in 2002 : (I could only find a low-quality clip) Male Marchers: We're here, we're queer, get used to it! Lisa: You do this every year! We are used to it. Longer answer: (as the above post, and Douglas Murry have pointed out)- if they were marching for gay rights in countries like Saudi Arabia or Uganda there would be a point, but that would probably be thought a bit too imperialistic, so instead we get the BDSM show and Trans madness

Dom pulls no punches (again:)  The PM on Hancock: 'totally fucking hopeless' . Foe me though this was the ket paragraph: 'The Cabinet Office built by Heywood was totally unable to cope with this crisis because it did not have the right sort of people with the right skills in key jobs and could not rapidly fire/promote/move people and act with determined authority — it could undermine departments and No10 and slow things down, and sometimes improve things, but it could not itself act as a proper executive authority but neither could No10' Sounds like thing were unchanged from his previous experience working at the Department of Education from 2010-14. Despite the reforms Gove has planned, I doubt things will improve without a concerted effort from the top. 

It's never going to end is it? Was too annoyed yesterday, this article sums up my thoughts pretty well:  Petrified government is wasting the vaccine dividend . Madness Updated 17/06: A good piece on Unherd-   We are hostages to Government fear The trouble is, we haven’t done nearly enough rational assessment of the harms and benefits of anti-Covid strategies. Invoking the idea of existential risk to push us all into complying with behavioural rules got the Government a free pass for policies that, in normal times, would have been unthinkable. Critics of specific measures were easily lumped in with conspiracy theorists who said the whole thing was a hoax, or “just the flu”. Suggesting that baton-charging sunbathers in parks was counter-productive provoked cries of “How many people do you want to die!?”

Sockpuppets being the term used by Chris Snowden (IIRC) to describe the situation where one government-funded body lobbies the government to take a course of action, as can be seen to have been happening here:  Stonewall and the problem with taxpayer-funded campaigning   'the government practice of publicly funding campaigning organisations is deeply damaging to democracy. It distorts decision-making in favour of the interests and ideological preoccupations of a narrow political elite. It slows adjustments in the direction of policy in reaction to new evidence or circumstances. It increases political apathy among the public. And perhaps most unethically of all, taxpayers are forced to help groups with which they may seriously disagree.' Really any org that derives most of its income from the state isn't a charity. But hen getting grants is easier thn fundraising from the public. We really need to hack back this incestous relationship

An interesting column:  David Hockney: An oyster without grit . I went to the 2012 exhibition mentioned in this with my former housemate, we had great fun making up our own commentaries. 

 A cool comparison I stumbled across today: ISLANDS in Perspective: 3D Comparison   I particularly found the relative sizes of Ireland and Hokkaido, and GB and Honshu, interesting.  

I watched the launch program last night, despite the tiny, cheap-looking studio and a few technical issues I thought it was overall a solid launch and seems worth watching in the future. If they continue to put out material like this-  Dan Wootton: Boris Johnson has bottled it. Freedom Day won't take place-  it will stir up a few pigeons. Would be great if they were to hire or just broadcast the Lotus Eaters, they seem to have a similar take on these issues.

This week's roundup, I've had time to add more commentary again. Garbage message, looks like a garbage movie too:  Disney’s ‘Cruella’ Tells Girls To Prioritize Vengeance Over Love CRT:  No, Critical Race Theory Isn’t a New Civil Rights Movement. (Just the Opposite)  Its core aim is division and strife. Scottish independence:  Give the people what they think they want  As long as we keep Falsane and any parts of Jockland that wish to remain (Shetland, Orkney, etc) They won't because they agree with it:  The BBC should be ashamed of its whimsical portrayal of British communism ‘Taking a knee’ is imported from America, tied to an American movement, arising from an American social context and tied to a set of demands alien to this country and its history :  What the England team doesn’t get about ‘taking the knee’  I'd refuse to if an employer asked me to do it The EU, mainly:  Whose bright idea was banning halogen light bulbs? Looking forward to...

'We will not eradicate COVID-19 from the UK. There will not be a time when we can say that there will never be another case of COVID-19 in this country.  Secondly, variants will keep on coming. There will be new variants every year. If the Government’s position is that we cannot open up until there are no new variants elsewhere in the world, we will never be able to travel abroad ever again. The third: sadly people will die from COVID here in the UK in the future, as 10,000 to 20,000 people do every year from flu.' ( source ) I'm shocked, shocked, to find myself agreeing with Mrs. May, makes me wonder how she'd have dealt with the pandemic

 This week's track, a classical performance from the anime hibike! euphonium I partly chose this as I was watching Trooping the Colour earlier and it reminded me of this performance. One of the things I liked about Japan is how teenagers are encouraged (forced in some schools) to take part in afterschool clubs like this orchestra, which keeps them occupied and from getting into trouble, as well as transmitting cultural skills. I would like schools in the UK to be able to offer similar programs (beyond sports teams). I also chose this as it is nearly two years now since the Kyoto Animation arson attack, in which many of these talented animators were killed. I have long been a fan of the studio for the effort it puts into its tv shows and films, especially their attention to detail, such as the fingerwork as the performers play, lighting and colouration. To me, this scene is one of the best they ever produced.

 I'm long been of the opinion that Western (particularly European) Civilisation was destroyed by WW1. Driving to and from East London this afternoon reminded me of a particularly vivid visual example. In the first case, we have the Northbound gatehouse of the Blackwall tunnel, opened in 1897: ( image source ) And in contrast, the Southbound entrance to the second tunnel which was built less than a century later and opened in 1967: ( image source ) To me the contrast is clear, we had a culture that valued beauty in public works that were replaced by pure functionality with no regard for aesthetics. The original is ornate with decorative features such as torrents, carvings, and patterned brickwork. The second is just bare concreate with an engraved dedication. It is also telling that the original tunnel was built in 5 years and the second took 7, despite all the progress in technology construction projects take longer and cost far, far more. While things aren't quite as bad now a...

An interesting read on the UK's new Tempest jet: Radical Digital Approach To Cut Cost From Tempest Development What I found most interesting in the planned use of digital design and additive manufacturing (and similar tech) to reduce costs.  Related, this article on the progress on the USAF's B-21 bomber.

 I can't find anything to disagree with in this article:  The Prime Minister must not abandon Freedom Day!   The Lotus Eaters made a similar point in this video the other day-   Looking at the (updated) data they linked to, we can see in the last 7 days the following: People tested positive- 45, 895 Virus tests conducted- 6,088,413. That works out as only 0.75% of those tested were positive! Furthermore: Patients admitted to hospital- 975. That's only 2.12% of positive cases, and 0.016% of those tested. Finally, we see that there were only 61 deaths. (within 28 days of a test, so the previous concerns for how many died from/died with apply). It's clear to me that we need to open up fully and get on with our lives, from this data there is no justification for further delay.

One of the books that most influenced my views was James Bartholomew's The Welfare State We're In . I especially found the sections on pre-1945 voluntary welfare provision by Friendly societies interesting. I was reminded of this by this column on Unherd today:   The Tories created their own worst enemy Prior to World War II, the relation of civic institutions to government was far less symbiotic — and far less elite. For example, some 27,000-odd pre-war “friendly societies” supported families at times of crisis in return for small regular contributions, and at their peak boasted a working-class membership numbering some 14 million. But the mass, state-managed war effort made mass solidarity seem imaginable in Britain — and in turn drove the foundation of the welfare state. Civil society bodies and Labour leaders alike worried after Labour’s shock 1945 election victory that rolling out mass welfare would precipitate a decline in voluntarism and civil society institutions. Four ...

From the Evening Standard's  Andrew Neil interview: GB News chairman on launch and taking on woke culture “It is no longer enough that I should disagree with you or get to say the opposite, that’s been the traditional way since the enlightenment. Now it is the norm that if I disagree with you, you should be stigmatised, brought before the court of woke opinion, you should lose your job, you should certainly wear sackcloth and ashes and your name should be dragged through the social media sphere. You should be forced to apologise but we may not accept your apology.”   True. This is the biggest problem with all this- the lack of any possibility of redemption or forgiveness (see also the furore over that Cricketer's teenage tweets) Ironically this is coming from the same people who argue against imprisonment as punishment for crimes and that rehabilitation should be the focus. I'm looking forward to the launch of GB News and checking out its programming.

Mary Dejevsky in The Spectator writes  In defence of the foreign aid cut . This is a particularly good point: The aid organisations have grow dependent – and fat – on taxpayers’ largesse, with fieldwork with, and for, 'the most vulnerable' having to take its place alongside political lobbying and the bureaucracy to support successful grant applications.Stop and think for a moment. What have the charities been saying in recent weeks? Where have they turned to in their hour of need?  Their complaints and their pleas have all been addressed to government. Why have they not instead been making their case to the public and asking us to help make up their cash shortfall?  I have long been of the view that aid should entirely be voluntarily funded, and given that the UK has a massive deficit it is mad for us to be borrowing money to give away.  As Guido pointed out the other day: 'The same people that claim millions of British children are living in absolute poverty, want ...

A good article by the author of Submission at Unherd:  The narcissistic fall of France  He talks a lot of demographics and notes it is just not the West that is in trouble: No, we are not really dealing with a “French suicide” — to evoke the title of Eric Zemmour’s book — but a Western suicide or rather a suicide of modernity, since Asian countries are not spared. What is specifically, authentically French is the awareness of this suicide. But if we consent to set aside for a moment the particular case of France (and really it would be wise to do so), the conclusion becomes crystal clear: the inevitable consequence of what we call progress (at all levels, economic, political, scientific, technological) is self-destruction. I have long thought that the root cause of the West's problems was WW1, I think it was Andrew Roberts who claimed that France's national psyche was shattered by Verdun in particular. After both wars, the intellectuals turned to Marxism for guidance but their...

 As previously mentioned, most of last week was spent working on my final essay. Despite this, I still managed to do a fair bit of other stuff. To start with I had my usual online lessons on Saturday and Sunday. then went and met some friends down the pub Sunday evening. On Monday I took my Mum to the Kent Garden Show at Detling, and on Tuesday I had a skype interview for a job in Budapest. My brother and his family came round for dinner in the evening. Wednesday I caught up with another friend down in Rye, East Sussex which was very pretty to wander round. Thursday I took Mum to the Ashford Designer Outlet to look for outfits for the upcoming wedding, and we went out for dinner on the way home. Finally, on Friday I had another Skype interview, this time for a summer school in the UK. Hopefully, I'll hear back about those interviews soon.

I submitted my final, 5000-word essay this evening. That's all the coursework done, just the take-home exam to do at the end of the month. This will give me more time to post next week in the meantime here's this week's link roundup.    Covid: Sweden’s Export-Driven Economy Reaches Pre-Pandemic Level Culture wars/US politics: A Portland Antifa Death Squad Goes Head Hunting for Andy Ngo and Somebody Gets a Beatdown. Boris is getting off the BLM train Fighting back against the censors Should conservatives offer sanctuary to dissidents of the Left? Guilt for January 6 Belongs With Those Most Eager to Condemn It Civic Education, Rightly Understood Why the Hammer and Sickle Should Be Treated Like the Swastika Where we are now The New Clerisy Fighting back against Critical Race Theory UK and Brexit The historical myths about Britain that actually need correcting The DUP has been broken by Brexit Brexit Britain can capitalise on the breakdown in EU-Swiss talks Brexit Britain can c...

 This week's track: Remember me by British Sea Power. I first saw this band at Reading in 2003, where they put on a most memorable show- their live performances always end with an extended version of their song 'lately', that usually devolves into an extended jam session with various members of the band climbing the rigging, wandering off into the crowd or boxing a giant animatronic bear!