Thomas Paine claims: A huge house of an argument built on slender stilts
This is a fascinating and interesting discovery but I think it a misleading take on what is happening.
This is a fascinating and interesting discovery but I think it a misleading take on what is happening.
If you want to know why so many Syrians are seeking a new life in Europe, just come to Aleppo. Large parts of our city have been laid to waste. Bombs and rockets fall every day, and we never know when or where they will hit. We do not feel safe in our homes, in our schools, in the streets, in our churches or in our mosques. It is exhausting to live with this fear hour after hour, day after day.
That it’s fashionable to say that David Cameron is a lucky politician doesn’t make it any less true. He’s a Prime Minister who very nearly made his unenviable mark by presiding over the break-up of the United Kingdom, but didn’t, and then went on to win an overall majority in an election that he was doubtful would even leave him at the head of the biggest single party.
Why on Earth would Jeremy Corbyn need a spin doctor (“Is there a spin doctor in the house?”, 16 September)? It is the very fact he doesn’t have one which endears him to us. We’ve had enough of them. Let’s have politicians who say what they mean.
Optimism was invented by Palaeolithic Man, who allowed himself to dream. Maybe his own life was a little monotonous, but who’s to say that one day someone won’t invent fire, finally enabling him to inject some variety into his mealtimes? (Palaeolithic waiter: “How’d you like your steak today, sir?” Palaeolithic diner: “Has anyone invented fire yet?” Waiter: “Not yet.” Diner: “Then I guess I’ll just have it very rare. Again.” Waiter: “How about I cut the steak into tiny portions for you to share... Читать дальше...
I was quite surprised the other day to read in the paper that a fellow journalist described me as a “good friend”. I have yet to have a conversation with this person. So I emailed him – in a friendly way, of course – keen to catch up. He has yet to reply to my message.
Poor old Jeremy Corbyn. Damned if he does, for being a hypocrite. Damned if he doesn’t, for being true to his convictions.
Gayle Newland, 25, has been convicted of three counts of sexual assault against a woman who had believed she was in a sexual relationship with a man. Newland’s case has thrown up some very thorny questions about gender and sexual consent – and about what, exactly, we are required by law to reveal to our sexual partners.
Ever since Facebook introduced its iconic “like” button in 2009, users have been clamouring for a matching “dislike” button. The wait is finally over. On Tuesday the social media network’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that Facebook is working on a “dislike” option to reflect the fact that, in his words, “not every moment is a good moment”.
I doubt many people woke up this morning envious of Jeremy Corbyn. After promising to change the ‘theatrical’ nature of Prime Minister’s Questions and faced with the initial task of reducing 40,000 submitted questions to six, the new Labour leader had his work cut out for him. All eyes were on him - and not many of them friendly.
A make-up artist who takes before-and-after photos of porn stars has spoken of the heartbreak she felt when she was shunned by the industry.
The defensive tactic of turning PMQs into a radio phone-in got Jeremy Corbyn through his six, long, questions. The benches and galleries, packed with people who had come to watch either a farce or an execution, were disappointed, and even a little bored. But the session was only disastrous for the Labour leader rather than terminal.
“Oh sorry, I didn’t realise you were deaf." As a deaf person, this is a common utterance I come across.
First impressions count. They are particularly important if you’ve made an active decision not to speak to the mainstream media. With no prior explanation, the new Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, decided not to sing the national anthem at a commemorative ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. This is his first official ceremonial engagement since becoming Labour leader.
Good sex for women is all down to having an emotional connection, a recent survey has found.
“I tell my partners I’m HIV-negative, but I don’t actually know if I am.”
Everyone is concerned today that those who have been sent to actual wars, engaged in combat and watched their friends die might be caused serious psychological damage by the Labour leader failing to sing along to the national anthem. A slight fly in the ointment was war veteran Harry Leslie Smith clarifying that “as a RAF veteran of WW2 I’m not offended by Corbyn not singing [the] national anthem but I am offended by politicians who sell guns to tyrants.” But we’re not talking about the huge London... Читать дальше...
Paris and Los Angeles are among five cities bidding for the right to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games after the International Olympic Committee announced the shortlist on Wednesday.
Surprisingly little attention has been paid to the selection as Labour candidate last week of Sadiq Khan, who could be the next mayor of London, the greatest world city.
After the day he had, it would be easy to ignore the substance of Jeremy Corbyn’s first major speech as Labour leader, to the Trades Union Congress. It was a guide to all that is good – and not quite so good – about what we might see during his tenure. For he showed himself a more pragmatic and, indeed, smarter politician than is sometimes made out.
Woeful to begin with, the EU’s efforts to manage the refugee crisis sweeping through the continent plumbed new depths this week. There had been hope that an emergency meeting in Brussels would secure agreement on a quota system to share out 120,000 asylum-seekers across the bloc – by far the best option within reach. Nothing came of it. Instead, borders are closing and walls going up, as “fortress Europe” retreats to the same strategy that brought such chaos to its door in the first place.
There are significant developments in two proxy wars in which the West is involved. The ceasefire in eastern Ukraine now appears to be holding, with flickering hopes of a future peace. New efforts are meanwhile under way to reach a settlement in Syria’s savage strife, but that is unlikely to be for some considerable time.
It is a sprawling 122-room Victorian mansion nicknamed the “Welsh Versailles” .
Footwear-fetishists must have have felt a tad short-changed by Here Lies Love, the Imelda Marcos disco-musical staged at the National last year. It was a great piece but it mysteriously left out any mention of the epic collection of shoes amassed by the Steel Butterfly of the Philippines. Kinky Boots – the Cyndi Lauper/Harvey Fierstein show which won 6 Tony Awards and pipped Matilda to the post as Best Musical of 2013 – compensates for that oversight, big-time.