Lord Patel has been off-line for a couple of weeks now and hasn't replied to my last couple of emails
Lord P's blog was, is something special and during the unfortunately limited number of times when I've met or conversed with the Lord P in person the sheer decency of the man shone through.
His blog is one of the handful of regularly updated sites that I have been able to recommended to people without any reservations whatsoever
And the fact that his blog is never included on any dross-filled list of 'Top 100 UK blogs' pushed by the corporate mainstream; even though I know full well that plenty of the bloggers on those lists read his blog, speaks volumes.
Airing the possibility of false flag terror attacks can really limit the social acceptability of your blog.
If mainstream recognition as a True Citizen Journalist is what you crave it's always best to stick to endless, pointless, ding-dong political tribalism and pronouncements about economic matters which are subsequently proven to be flat wrong.
Just like proper journalists in fact
A selection of the Guardian-annointed 'New Commentariat' - aka not one but seven spare pricks at a wedding
Fortunately for his readership, any cravings for mainstream recognition on Lord Patel's part have been more than outweighed by his intellect and conscience
Unfortunately, Lord Patel hasn't been at all well recently
I fear Bad Things
and I'm currently not best-placed/ set up to do the legwork necessary to allay my fears
If any passers-by know otherwise please, please drop me a line or leave a comment here, thanks
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edit:
whoopsies, looks like someone's forgot to, er, 'correct' the file history...
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Normal service on this blog continues to be hampered by the fact that I've moved halfway around the world, am still looking for a home and a job and can only access the internet whilst peering at a poxy little netbook hooked up to a modem/ internet connection that would have been laughably inadequate ten years ago...
but
there's no way I'm going to pass by on the opportunity to link to this little gem which will delight George Monbiot fans worldwide (and cheers to Parabellum, yet again, for the heads up)...
How to disprove Christopher Booker in 26 seconds
Arctic ice levels above average? Perhaps the Telegraph's columnist should take just half a minute to check the facts
A more accurate title for Monbiot's article would be something along the lines of 'How to make yourself look like a Complete Dick in 26 seconds', or as George himself admitted in more round about terms...
Now, much as I hate myself for saying so, we all make mistakes and George did fess up pretty quickly
Mind you, the red, trident wielding, pixie standing on my right shoulder is whispering in my ear to remind me that George's article was presented as a personal attack on Christopher Booker, so it's actually perfectly fair game to point out that Monbiot is an utter, utter tosser
and a wrong tosser at that
but that's all by the by
The really disturbing thing, and this has been a constant theme of this blog, is the uncritical, faith-based, adulation poured on Monbiot by his genuinley adoring commentators underneath
There's also the usual tediously involved debate, along the lines of how many angels can you fit on a pin head, about completely irrelevant, inconclusive trivia which virtually all on-line 'discussions' about Man Made (?) Climate Change inevitably degrade into
The interesting, and disturbing, thing is, of course, is that the fact that even though Monbiot is actually demonstrably and self-admittedly wrong in this case, that news will make absolutely no difference to people who commented positively about his article before George admitted to his error
as Parabellum said when pointing me towards Monbiot's article...
"Why do people don't see that they *themselves* can fall prey to heuristics and biases? Why do many many people think that only *other* people make mistakes? On the other hand, I try to stay critical of my own judgement but this is not very healthy if overdone. Sometimes I envy people that are so sure of themselves that they can ignore all the mistakes they make..."
If there's one common denominator connecting themes and ideas discussed on this blog it's the mischievous thought that, actually, if you look closely, and objectively enough at most things that 'every rational personal knows to be True', be they 'shit just happens' based explanations of human events or sacred scientific theories which are venerated as religious dogma, they all pretty much turn out to be bollocks
Which is only fair enough
Every generation that's ever lived before Us based their lives on belief in an awful lot of bollocks which was subsequently proven to be bollocks
So why should We be any different?
Well, except for George Monbiot followers, they're obviously different, and a little bit special
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A selection of the Guardian-annointed 'New Commentariat' - aka not one but seven spare pricks at a wedding
