I just signed the Euston Manifesto

Its here. You lovely peeps out there may be interested in reading it and signing it too.

I find it fascinating that my country has no simple constitution or statement of values or a manifesto such as this (the mere idea of Blair accepting its tenets is laughable). The only thing that worries me is that it lacks a profound endorsement of secularity. . . . Hmmmmmmmmm, methinks I will email them to suggest such a 'ting.

:)

Bligh & Dyer

I spent 2 hours tonight putting my lipid quantification data into excel and the result? -BULLPOOP!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Bollocks to this assay.

The Palestinian apartheid degenerates into a simple slaughter

GGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

This shit makes me ANGRY!

What can I do? I might as well rub my own shit on my face as write to my MP about this.

I fucking hate the UK's political system.

machismo and peace keeping

Interesting article from openDemocracy regarding the prevalence of machismo in international diplomatic forums.

I can't help but think that testosterone incites the majority of diplomatic breakdowns. I remember a conversation I had with my MRes supervisor about endocrine disruption and whether or not the prevalence of xenoestrogens in the environment could benefit society by changing patterns of male behaviour. Certainly in societies with a patriarchal culture the unassailability of the male ego can simply halt the application of common sense to many of the challenges of peace-keeping.

Another interesting anecdote came from a family friend who was posted to Bosnia with the RAF. As an air-traffic director she had to liaise between the different local and international forces to manage access to the contested airspace, not to mention tiptoe around the variety of inflated male egos that inevitably dominate such conflicts with their petty territorial squabblings. I remember her recounting how she was deployed in many deadlocked situations as a conflict breaker as in the Balkan culture it is inconceivable that a women is superior in any way to a man. In such situations she was introduced to negotiations and then authorised to offer minor concessions to the opposing delegation- whose egos would not let them be outdone by a mere woman- and who would promptly attempt to outdo these concessions and subsequently engage in an escalation to the point where she could get them to dance naked on a table if she was so inclined!

Another example comes from my own country where it appears that the job of bailiff is being taken by more and more women (I think it was a BBC article but I can't find it, grrrr). It appears that many tense situations are dealt with in a far more diplomatic and less aggressive manner by the fairer sex, possibly because they come across as less threatening (?).

Politics

I am continually enraged by some people's ability to condemn my entire progressive philosophy with a single syllable. "Left" or "Right". Such absurd polarisations do nothing for any debate on politics as I am convinced that such generalisations lost any real meaning at the end of the Cold War. Is it not clear that modern policy requires elements of both these political paradigms? Does not the European social democracy model occupy the high moral ground that should be the goal of every progressive civilisation that does not aspire to mediaeval moral standards or environmental holocaust? On the other hand I believe that our democracy, in the UK at least, is fatally flawed. President Blair was elected by less than a fifth of the population! How this degenerate little toerag can drag our nation's credibility through the pile of excrement that is Iraq and still retain his position of leader of our nation eludes me. Substantial reform along the lines of compulsory voting policy is essential if the substantial socially and culturally deprived section of the white lower classes are to be made to participate in the democracy in which they live. I believe that everyone has a responsibility to engage with their society. What, if not that, does the word society mean?

3 posts in a day You lucky, lucky peeps, you!

I just wanted to get my hattrick in by linking to Johann Hari's most recent article. Its a nice piece of insight into the subtleties of American politics. I like Johann's writing- he's good at picking out important detail such as this.

This week I have been mostly discovering . . . Sam Harris!

He's a fascinating chap if ever I've heard of one, and a good, upstanding antitheist. Apparently-

"At age 19, he and a college friend tried MDMA, better known as ecstasy, and the experience altered his view of the role that love could play in the world. ("I realized that it was possible to be a human being who wished others well all the time, reflexively.")"

Well, that just goes to show the power of ecstasy really. If anyone is under any misapprehensions regarding my stance on the issue I have consumed ecstasy recreationally for many years and can enthusisatically corroborate Sam's experience. There is little less harmful than consuming ecstasy recreationally (a respected neurologist once commented that it was "safer than aspirin"- much to the fury of the conservative press). Anyway, with MDMA you don't have to inhale smoke, you don't have to burn anything, you don't get angry, woozey, trippy, anxious, depressed or nervous- you just feel amazing and wonderfully empathic. Its like having a mental link with all of your friends. The come down is a little low but compared to a hangover its nothing! Rather like being a little forgetful and a littl etimid. There's little to criticise about the experience.

Well, I've just got Sam's 1st book and I'm going to have a little read and let you know what its like. I just finished Dawkins' "The God Delusion" and it was marvellous so although this may be a bit like reading the same material again I'm attracted to the subtleties that might differentiate the 2 works.