Obama and the inauguration

I like Obama as a symbolic president, I think he's pretty to look at and nice to listen to but I cannot say that I like his policies and I would never claim to be a fan of his - unlike the many other 'Obamaniacs'.

Frankly, had McCain not gone crazy - and boy will I concede that he did, even before Palin - I would have voted for him over Obama (or Clinton).

So perhaps it's my instinctive dislike of over enthusiasm for popular ideas or my already existing apathy towards Obama but I didn't especially rate his speech yesterday. I kept on waiting for the line, you know, the "ask not what your country can do for you" moment - but it failed to materialise.

Abrahamic or Judeo Christian?

I like this piece on why the idea of 'Judeo Christian' culture/heritage/society makes more sense than Judeo-Islamic.

South Africa, Apartheid and Sanctions

This article is interesting in taking down the common claim that popular sanctions ended apartheid in South Africa and arguing, instead, that it was that Apartheid became economically unfeasible.

It's a tempting argument, and I'm happy to believe that the fall of many undesirable social systems was caused by economics rather than any moral imperative (see Anne Applebaum's Gulag - worth a read, by the way).

However, if the principle reason for the fall of apartheid was money, then sanctions surely exacerbated this?

Another one bites the dust

Another pupillage application rejection. Bugger.

Well, I didn't like them anyway.*

And who cares about getting pupillage?**




*Not strictly true

** Erm, so asside from me and 2000 other people every year, no one. In a world population of 6 000 000 000. See, it really isn't that popular!

Prince Harry and wordplay

No, I wouldn't use the word. Yes, the world would be a nicer place if we were all nice to each other. On the other hand, he said it in private, to a person who hasn't publically objected. Frankly, what is the issue?

A word has no inherent value in its own right, it's just a sound. All words are context specific. "You bitch!" said to a woman is very different when the proceeding line is:
1. "Who was that man you were talking to? Were you chatting him up? I saw you flirting with him"
or
2. " OMG, I love your new shoes. I can't believe you managed to get a pair of Jimmy Choos for less than £50".

Yes, some words are more likely to be offensive, on average, than not but ultimately all are situation specific and it is that which must be looked at, not the word itself.

Unsurprisingly, Spiked takes a similar view point but articulates it far better than I can.

Newsflash gripe

Does anyone else get very annoyed that newsflash advertises new pupillages, but then doesn't provide a link to the chamber's page on OLPAS/their own website?

It surely wouldn't be difficult to do and would save crucial minutes of annoyance each time.

There is a hearing tomorrow which I am providing paralegal cover for (as we get days off in lieu and the solicitors don't). As most of it will be waiting around whilst the panel is in camera, I currently have the intention of doing pupillage applications for several hours.

What will actually happen, no doubt, is that I will watch hours of programmes on the i-player, read my book, continue to knit my scarf, finish/get bored with the above, go out and get a paper... And then feel very virtuous asa I would have had a pupillage window open in the background all day meaning I would have worked on applications for a good few hours according to the 'revision' (1) theory of timekeeping.

(1) the revision theory, as practiced by students down the ages states that "1. Work done is equal to amount of time relevant documents are open UNTIL 24 before any given deadline. 2. Where student has fallen asleep on open book, student may count sleeping time as double revision time as the process of osmosis aids learning."

Slumdog Millionaire

Went and saw this the other day.

It manages to be 'feel good' whilst being fairly brutal and decidely non-corny. I definitely recommend seeing it.