Hi,

Nothing up here for a while, because not much of interest has happened. I think of things occassionally (too many double letters there, I'm sure), but they never make it this far. Anyway, tomorrow I disapear (not enough double letters) to Edinburgh (Edin-Berg), for 17 days (and 9 nights). I am excited. So much so, I give you a joke now.

So, right, I was walking by the Great Barrier Reef, and a small grubby child came up to me and begged for some money.

It was a sea urchin.

Speak to you all soon,

Love and concrete paving slabs,

Craig

So, I got my breakdown of marks today. All my papers were above 63 (rock), one was at 71 (Public rock), I came 12th in the year (position rock), and my average was 68.3 (percentage rock). Basically, my entire first comes down to the fact that I got 83.5 on my Labour paper (dependency rock). I worked it out: 10 marks less on that paper, giving a perfectly reasonble 73.5, would have given me an average of 67.4, just missing my first. So I owe exactly one sexual favour to whoever marked that paper, meaning I have three left for whoever want them.

83.5%. Fuck me.

Incidentally, if you have a question you would like answering, text it to Any Question Answered on 63336. It my current job. And I mean seriously, any question. Only one quid a pop.

Craig

Hi,

In keeping with the serious agenda...

For those who like to think about people they don't know, may I recommend sparing a thought for the families of the four men who are alleged to have carried out last Thursday bomb attack. For them, this will be even harder. Those who lost a love one in the exlosions will at some point be able to come to terms with the loss. For the families, how can they ever come to terms with the fact they'll never know why?

For those who don't see a copy of the Sun lying around at work, yesterday they ran an article about an Islamic group who was bringing Tariq Ramadan, a Islamic militant who has been banned from the US and France for his justification of suicide bombing, to speak at a conference, which is being paid for by taxpayers, and how it should be stopped. And I thought to myself, "what a disgusting, arrogant, fear-mongering group of people...the journalists at the Sun really are." Firstly, the story is run at a time when many people are thinking with emotions and not with sense. It's designed to provoke a very negative sort of anger, one that reinforces stereotypes. Secondly, the very freedom of speech that allows the Sun to continue to publish every day is the exact same one argued against here. Freedom of speech does not have limitations. From my point of view, Ramadan is wrong, but he was not involved in the bombing last week, and he should not be prevented from speaking because we don't like the message. They are just words. I am proud of my country for few things, but that I have the right to say whatever I want whenever I want here is one of them. Dear tabloids, don't you fucking dare try to question this right to pursue your own "Isn't Britain a terrible place, but we have the answers" agenda and stop selling your newspapers on stories that foster hatred and play on emotions.

Oh, and for those who like to hate others, I can't recommend reading this too much.

Enough.

Craig.

Quick one.

I'm sure Dave has been putting this people's way, but let me add my support as well. I'm not specifically telling you to sign up. I will just suggest that if you do not then you are a used hatstand.

Ta.

Craig.

Ta.

So it was interesting watching George Galloway last night. It occured to me that the governments here and in the USA have spent so long reaffirming the connection between the war on terror and the war on Iraq, even though there is precisely NOTHING to connect the two, that it was brilliant to watch a Blairite clone retard fuck MP get backed up against a wall because of it. I'm aware it's fairly deplorable for Galloway to turn this immediately into political point scoring, but still. His point was that this was the price Britain paid for the war in Iraq, and how the Labour government clearly valued the lives of Londoners much higher than the massive death toll of Iraqis at Fallujah, because one set of deaths was OK while the other was despicable. At that point, the Labour MP would have loved to be able to say, actually, an Al Qaeda related attack would have nothing to do with Iraq because they aren't connected, so going to war in Iraq hasn't caused this tragedy. But he couldn't.

In other news, I got a first.

Speak soon,

Craig.

Hi,

It's an interesting idea that as impressive as Live 8 was, the actual purpose might not have happened. I'm pretty sure there is a load of people that don't even know what Make Poverty History is trying to do, except for the ultimate aim found convieniently in its name. And the question that needs addressing is why this is. A lot, I'm guessing, is because people haven't taken to time to ask, or check out a website, or do anything useful like that. But if the aim of the concerts was to raise awareness, then maybe the things that we actually want the G8 to do should be rammed down everyones throat a lot more than it is. And when was the last time a tabloid newspaper wrote anything on conditional aid, or the hypocrisy of trading practices or gave actual figures on the debt? In the meantime, most of the newspapers give a run down about which musicians actually performed, with a rating of there performance, which I can't help feeling completely misses the point.

The lack of understanding is completely apparent on our local news feedback section, where people were asked for their opinion. "Live 8 was a complete waste of money". Well, you're a cretin. Money spent by people looking to go. Money covers cost of concert. Where is the waste? "Aid will never work in Africa unless they get rid of corruption". The whole point is that this time, there is no aid. The slates are to be wiped clean, because the only people that suffer from debt, even in corrupt countries, are the ones who are at the bottom. In future, aid and loans should be conditional on this corruption, because money or its absence is the only thing a corrupt government understand. And thats the only condition for money. These are the things the campaign is all about, so how they come up as a criticism of it is beyond me.

And then, my personal favourite. "Giving unconditional aid to Africa won't give the leaders any incentive to spend it properly". Because all African government are corrupt, right? No-one wants to help their own people. It strikes me that if a government was allowed to do what it wanted, then for the most part, that would probably benefit the people of the country first. And wouldn't that be a novel thing, rather than benefiting ourselves.

Speak soon,

Craig (probably preaching to the choir, but feeling better for it)