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All hail the scapegoats!
In ancient Jewish society, the scapegoat was a normal goat that was ceremonially loaded with all the sins of the community, and then driven from town in to the wilderness, as part of the ceremonies around the Day or Atonement. The goat would almost certainly die in the desert, and with it would die the
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‘A butterfly on a wheel’
The phrase ‘A butterfly upon a wheel’ was used in originated in piece of writing by Alexander Pope in the Eighteenth Century, but was popularised by Sir William Rees-Mogg in a Times editorial in July 1967 in which he railed against the jailing of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on a drugs charge. His piece
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When Ministers are right to fire advisors
I think it’s safe to say that these days I rarely agree with the behaviour of Government Ministers. Part of it is a knee jerk reaction (:) ) and part of it is that Government Ministers rarely seem to exhibit a capability in their jobs above that of Jim Hacker – without the aid of
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I was a twit not to Tweet!
Many moons ago I posted a piece on here – ‘Am I a twit not to twitter’. Well, I’ll admit it. Yes, I was a twit not to Tweet, and I’m happy to say that. I can’t argue with objective facts, so here’s my brief thoughts on what converted me. Just in case anyone wishes
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Luvviedom rules – time for a dose of reality for some?
I rarely post twice in succession on the same item. But hey, it’s a very wet November 1st, it’s Sunday, we’re still in recession and I’ve let my tea go cold. Oh, and the issue concerned is one of those things that annoys me at so many levels – including making me wonder “Why am
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Luvvie Strop Throwing 2.0
There are days when we all feel like chucking it in. There have been a couple of occasions when I’ve basically thought that using a certain web site, dealing with a particular individual or organisation or even working for a specific client. But recently the media luvvies have been having a bad attack of stroppiness.
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Get a life!
Being a discussion on the Etiquette of the Insult for the 21st century… I was recently fortunate enough to have this old chestnut of an insult thrown at me online in a discussion about some news item. It’s a strange thing to say to anyone; the fact that I’m typing indicates I do indeed have
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A bundle of needs…
I appreciate that this is likely to be read as a massive attack on the Welfare State by some, and that I’ll be suspected of channeling the political spirits of Norman Tebbit, Margaret Thatcher and Atilla the Hun by others. However, that’s not the intention. As some of you will know, I hold Libertarian views
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Screwtape casts the Net
The following email arrived in my Inbox this morning. I’m not sure what to make of it, but I thought I’d share it hear as it has some rather intriguing ideas in it. Dear Wormwood, You must think we senior tempters spend our heads in the burning sand. Of course we’re aware of the Internet
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The Brass Neck of Ordnance Survey
One of my interests is in GIS systems – Geographical Information Systems – and other aspects of computerised and online mapping. Thanks to Googlemaps, it’s been possible for developers to create map-driven applications for nothing – Google allows access to their mapping infrastructure free for many applications, and it’s brilliant. To anyone who hasn’t taken