Erratum – I have been correctly told – “correctly”, because that’s the way it is (is it the way it should be?) – that the word “transgender” without the term “person”, should not be used. It is deemed to be insulting, in the eyes of transgender persons. If you think about it, my unintentional misuse of […]
Society
David Cameron Has Disrespected The Young
David Cameron’s latest inept remarks about the seriousness of Brexit, remind me of a schoolboy’s minimization of the importance of the bad mark he just obtained in history, thinking that the subject is not important. A former UK prime minister, and founder of the “Brexit generation”, Cameron described the Brexit vote as, “a mistake”, and not, […]
Charlie Hebdo And The True Value Of Freedom Of Expression
How much would you be willing to pay for the privilege to be able to open your mouth, and air your opinions? One Euro a day, or ten? Do you have a price limit, beyond which, it’s not worth the expense, and you will just shut up? Is being “priced out” of freedom of expression, […]
Feminism Never Killed Anybody
I recently wrote a post on “The Neon Demon”, a 2016 horror film that I watched on my movie pay-channel. My main thought was that Nicolas Refn, who directed the film, had cast the female characters with such masculine bias, that they were literally transgendered into men. I got the following Facebook response that really intrigued […]
For Dutch Children, Zwarte Piet Is No Golliwog
Photo: Wikipedia Commoms As always, around this time of year, the arrival on our shores, of Saint-Nicholas, with his band of merry Zwarte Piet’s (Black Peter’s), causes a few people to question the appropriateness of it all. They’re not concerned that he may be burning fossil fuels, in order to propel his steamboat all […]
Brexit Musings (8): Ain’t Britain Got Culture, No More?
Riches And Stitches in the EU It’s quite interesting to see how different European countries tackle the outcome of a general election that didn’t quite go to plan. It seems that, nowadays, the electorate want a little bit of this, and a little bit of that, and end up getting nothing. Dutch politicians rhymed their way […]
Replacing The Dumbo At The Jumbo
If life has tought me one thing, it’s appreciating that my wife is the one going to the supermarket on a weekly basis. It’s not that I am unwilling to help her, it’s the fact that she has become so good at spotting the difference between Dutch peas and French petits pois, that I feel […]
Brexit Musings (7) : Sparks and Larks in the City of Westminster
When I was a child, I used to cry my eyes out on Bonfire night. I was terrified of fireworks and had to stay inside and watch behind the safety of a closed window. For those of you who may not be familiar with this, Bonfire night or Guy Fawkes night, is celebrated in the […]
“Adios…Catalonia?”
(image: barcelonaconnect.com) It seems like a rotten sequel to an already very bad film. If you thought “Brexitmania” was bad, now we have the very latest cheap remake on a theme that is well past its “sell by” date. In deciding to go it alone, Catalonia has done exactly what the UK did, on 23rd […]
Facebook Is No Longer Michel Foucault’s “Heterotopia”
The Missing Comma It started with the sharing of a tweet in a Facebook group. There followed a heated discussion between those, like myself, who thought that the tweet had more than an undertone of racial prejudice and white supremacy, and those who didn’t. I don’t recall that the person who posted the tweet […]