All 6 entries tagged News

I want to live in a world without planes…

Writing about web page http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8626000/8626927.stm

Alain de Botton’s piece is evocative and subtle.

As with Ursula le Guin’s website and the way it forces you to contemplate the image of a barn owl before you dive into what you were looking for, anything that forces us to slow down for a minute – or consider what the benefits of slowing down could be – is something I welcome.

There is no real need for everyone to fly all over the world in the next week or during the past two days; life will go on. People think that when they have ‘important’ jobs, like managing money, leading a country or similar, no moment should be wasted. But ‘time wasters’ make better managers and leaders.

I like what Lin Yutang has to say on the matter:

“the true enjoyment of an idle life doesn’t cost money. The capacity for true enjoyment of idleness is lost in the moneyed class and can be found only among people who have a supreme contempt for wealth.”

and that,

“There is always plenty of life to enjoy for a man who is determined to enjoy it. If men fail to enjoy this earthly existence we have, it is because they do not love life sufficiently and allow it to be turned into a humdrum routine existence.”

Now the sun is finally out, the trees bedecked and unfurling, it is plain idiocy not to enjoy a little idleness – even in the form of a long cup of tea.

Madeleine Beresford : 17 Apr 2010 16:34 |  Tags: Alain Botton De News Slow Writing |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

More exciting Eng Lit Soc things

Writing about web page http://www.warwickenglitsoc.tk/

More exciting English Society events are happening all the time! More specifically, tomorrow at 8pm in Kelsey's Bar, Leamington.

We will be drinking (or not, if you don't want to - we are equal opps) and playing weird and wonderful games involving beverages. From Kelsey's we will move on to Evolve and dance the night away.

(N.B. As you may have guessed, I am not using this primarily as a creative writing blog).

Madeleine Beresford : 15 Oct 2008 22:43 |  Tags: Drinking English Literature News Party Poetry Social |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Finally, a real reason to dislike those smug green types

Writing about web page http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/sep/24/ethicalliving.recycling

I hate those people who sit around telling you that you are an evil human being because you don't like to wear hemp clothes.

Madeleine Beresford : 26 Sep 2008 14:18 |  Tags: Green Idealist Living News Pragmatist |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

There is no internet

There is no internet in my house until October 2nd. I cannot obsessively read the news; this traumatises me.

Madeleine Beresford : 26 Sep 2008 13:49 |  Tags: Distressing Internet News No Trauma |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

McCain says nothing on the economy, hopes no one will notice

Writing about web page http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/mccains_economic_speech_in_tam.html

Go McCain! I can tell you're completely on top of your economic policy. That speech you did told me exactly what your policies are and now I can fully support them...NOT.

His words "This foundation of our economy, the American worker, is strong but it has been put at risk by the greed and mismanagement of Wall Street and Washington" mean something completely different from "the foundations of the American economy are strong". The American economy is not strong. The world economy is not strong. We're all sitting on a bubble and it's just burst.

On the bright side, I personally have nothing to lose. This is because I have nothing. Damn, those Buddhists were way ahead on this one.

Buddhism draws me closer every day. Until I'm rich, that is, when I'll abandon it for debauched agnosticism and charity donations.

Madeleine Beresford : 19 Sep 2008 09:08 |  Tags: American Crash Economy Election Mccain News Palin Street Wall |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Left wing press outrage won't stop Sarah Palin – it'll help her

Writing about web page http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/palin_and_the_partisan_press.html

I'm bored of people telling me that Sarah Palin is a terrible, rape-encouraging, crazy religious nut-job with no experience, a terrible family life and more. Objective reportage isn't something you expect, but the way the press (especially in Europe) have reacted to Palin is beginning to make her more, not less likely, to win.

Sure, she's an out-of-the-box contender who has pulled the Republicans back into the race. But that doesn't mean the left-wing shouldn't try and report (fairly) objectively. She's put a lot of people's noses out of joint - those trying to endow Obama with sainthood, faux-liberal feminists who pretend to stand for "the women of America", and most Guardian readers.

All this doesn't mean that bashing her will help Obama win. Supporters of Obama should do so with eyes open. He isn't a saint, he isn't Jesus. He's an ambitious, intelligent man with little high-level government experience. He came out of one of the most corrupt electoral areas in America. That doesn't mean he isn't the answer for America, but it means people must know what they are choosing.

Obama does offer change, new hope and a refreshing stance on foreign affairs. It is inspiring to see a black man (although his mother is, of course, white) running for one of the most powerful positions in the world. The advantage of an Obama presidency on the international stage is that he can be seen to negotiate with the Middle East with greater validity, having a Muslim background and mixed-race parentage.

But that doesn't mean he shouldn't be considered objectively as a candidate. His record should be interrogated as thoroughly as Palin's and McCain's. So should the record of Joe Biden, the largely untalked about, unseen Democrat VP.

Luckily for me, I'm not an American. I don't have a vote. I live in a much more left-wing country. But it's fun - and important - to watch how this campaign plays out.

These are my best of the press on Palin, for a slightly less partisan argument:

On the media:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/palin_and_the_partisan_press.html

For feminists, Camille Paglia's piece, which I notice the Sunday Times bought in this week:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/paglia/2008/09/10/palin/index.html

To calm down those afraid of her "religious fundamentalism":

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/09/17/do1705.xml

Madeleine Beresford : 17 Sep 2008 10:58 |  Tags: American Articles Best Campaign Election Liberal News Outrage Palin Sarah |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem