Things!

Had the day off to rest and drink fluids and be told by the doctor: 'It's viral or bacterial.' There's a medical degree wasted. My brain is febrile and out in sympathy with my throat, so instead, I will link you to people who are thinking far more clearly than I.

* On the London Riots
Courtesy of #stephenfry, Peter Oborne's brilliant Telegraph Blog, entitled The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom. To quote: 

But there was also something very phony and hypocritical about all the shock and outrage expressed in parliament. MPs spoke about the week’s dreadful events as if they were nothing to do with them.

I cannot accept that this is the case. Indeed, I believe that the criminality in our streets cannot be dissociated from the moral disintegration in the highest ranks of modern British society. The last two decades have seen a terrifying decline in standards among the British governing elite. It has become acceptable for our politicians to lie and to cheat. An almost universal culture of selfishness and greed has grown up.

I am old enough to remember when people like Peter Oborne were what one meant by 'Conservative' rather than today's venal attack dogs who reduce everything to fallacious notions of Left and Right. I very much miss those days.

melusinahp  linked to a really interesting article from The Guardian: On the Psychology of Looting. It takes a broad look at motivating forces for the people who were involved in the actual riots, rather than the original Duggan protest. A sample: 

The type of goods being looted seems peculiarly relevant: if they were going for bare necessities, I think one might incline towards sympathy. I could be wrong, but I don't get the impression that we're looking at people who are hungry. If they were going for more outlandish luxury, hitting Tiffany's and Gucci, they might seem more political, and thereby more respectable. Their achilles heel was in going for things they demonstrably want ...

Late on Monday night, news went round Twitter that Turkish shopkeepers on Stoke Newington Road in Dalston were fighting off the marauders with baseball bats, and someone tweeted: "Bloody immigrants. Coming over here, defending our boroughs & communities." And it struck me that it hadn't occurred to me to walk on to my high street and see what was going on, let alone defend anything. I was watching events on a live feed, switching between Sky and the BBC, thinking how interesting it was, even though it was audible from my front door and at one point, when I couldn't tell whether the helicopter noise was coming from the telly or from real life, it was because it was both.

Meanwhile, I am left wishing I could turn back time so there would be no need for Tariq Jahan to be the voice of moral authority that he has become. And I wish that our news services had given a name to his black woman neighbour, who was so visibly distraught at the murder of Haroon Jahan and his two friends. She was not the least bit concerned with questions of immigrants, Islamophobia or race, only that a really good boy had been pointlessly and vilely mowed down.

* Fandom things
raitala 's beautiful and moving Now the War is Over has Part 2 up. Stunning images and incisive text – which would totally make me hate her for being so unfairly talented if she wasn't so much fun to hang out with and so very good to read. (I'll forgive an awful lot of unfair talent for audience satisfaction.)
And if you're an Inception person, I had a great time beta-ing her Arthur/Eames story Learning to Lose (the sequel to Merely Players) though hardly anyone seems to have read it, which suggests to me that either people are silly, or that all the Inception lot have finally seen the error of their ways and come back to HP (you're all just waiting for Merlin S4, aren't you?)

Another of my favourite fanartists is leochi , who has the loveliest style, and yet I always find myself reccing her animals rather than her people. But seriously, go and take a look at these owls and see if you can resist their charms. Fabulous stuff!

* Other things
_inbetween_  is simply a wonderful human being.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY eeyore9990 , emmagrant01  and barlidoc ! I hope you are all having a fabbo day, with the present fairy working her bloody wings off. I realise that I am miles behind on HB notes, but this is as nothing compared to the housework ...

Right, more fluids, more rest, I think. Spot of ukulele. I wish I had a voice, I've finally got to a point where Little Lion Man is really coming together.

Things!

Had the day off to rest and drink fluids and be told by the doctor: 'It's viral or bacterial.' There's a medical degree wasted. My brain is febrile and out in sympathy with my throat, so instead, I will link you to people who are thinking far more clearly than I.

* On the London Riots
Courtesy of #stephenfry, Peter Oborne's brilliant Telegraph Blog, entitled The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom. To quote: 

But there was also something very phony and hypocritical about all the shock and outrage expressed in parliament. MPs spoke about the week’s dreadful events as if they were nothing to do with them.

I cannot accept that this is the case. Indeed, I believe that the criminality in our streets cannot be dissociated from the moral disintegration in the highest ranks of modern British society. The last two decades have seen a terrifying decline in standards among the British governing elite. It has become acceptable for our politicians to lie and to cheat. An almost universal culture of selfishness and greed has grown up.

I am old enough to remember when people like Peter Oborne were what one meant by 'Conservative' rather than today's venal attack dogs who reduce everything to fallacious notions of Left and Right. I very much miss those days.

melusinahp  linked to a really interesting article from The Guardian: On the Psychology of Looting. It takes a broad look at motivating forces for the people who were involved in the actual riots, rather than the original Duggan protest. A sample: 

The type of goods being looted seems peculiarly relevant: if they were going for bare necessities, I think one might incline towards sympathy. I could be wrong, but I don't get the impression that we're looking at people who are hungry. If they were going for more outlandish luxury, hitting Tiffany's and Gucci, they might seem more political, and thereby more respectable. Their achilles heel was in going for things they demonstrably want ...

Late on Monday night, news went round Twitter that Turkish shopkeepers on Stoke Newington Road in Dalston were fighting off the marauders with baseball bats, and someone tweeted: "Bloody immigrants. Coming over here, defending our boroughs & communities." And it struck me that it hadn't occurred to me to walk on to my high street and see what was going on, let alone defend anything. I was watching events on a live feed, switching between Sky and the BBC, thinking how interesting it was, even though it was audible from my front door and at one point, when I couldn't tell whether the helicopter noise was coming from the telly or from real life, it was because it was both.

Meanwhile, I am left wishing I could turn back time so there would be no need for Tariq Jahan to be the voice of moral authority that he has become. And I wish that our news services had given a name to his black woman neighbour, who was so visibly distraught at the murder of Haroon Jahan and his two friends. She was not the least bit concerned with questions of immigrants, Islamophobia or race, only that a really good boy had been pointlessly and vilely mowed down.

* Fandom things
raitala 's beautiful and moving Now the War is Over has Part 2 up. Stunning images and incisive text – which would totally make me hate her for being so unfairly talented if she wasn't so much fun to hang out with and so very good to read. (I'll forgive an awful lot of unfair talent for audience satisfaction.)
And if you're an Inception person, I had a great time beta-ing her Arthur/Eames story Learning to Lose (the sequel to Merely Players) though hardly anyone seems to have read it, which suggests to me that either people are silly, or that all the Inception lot have finally seen the error of their ways and come back to HP (you're all just waiting for Merlin S4, aren't you?)

Another of my favourite fanartists is leochi , who has the loveliest style, and yet I always find myself reccing her animals rather than her people. But seriously, go and take a look at these owls and see if you can resist their charms. Fabulous stuff!

* Other things
_inbetween_  is simply a wonderful human being.

And HAPPY BIRTHDAY eeyore9990 , emmagrant01  and barlidoc ! I hope you are all having a fabbo day, with the present fairy working her bloody wings off. I realise that I am miles behind on HB notes, but this is as nothing compared to the housework ...

Right, more fluids, more rest, I think. Spot of ukulele. I wish I had a voice, I've finally got to a point where Little Lion Man is really coming together.

Worst patient in the world

Day five of having minimal voice -- people keep whispering TO me now, including the local shopkeepers. Which is doubly ridiculous, because I have earsful of snot, while they have perfectly good voices. (Sorry about the visual there.)[Poll #1769336]
In other fandom news, the fabbo fire_juggler  is running the Harry Potter Winter Podfic Fest. What are they looking for? This:
Fic Requirements (there aren't very many): It must be either winter holiday-themed (pick a winter holiday, any winter holiday) or winter-themed (meaning it needs to feature the things we associate with winter, stuff like skiing, or drinking mulled wine, or walking in the snow). Other than that, anything goes. Any length, any genre, any pairing or gen.
BRILLIANT!

I am sure there was something else, but I am sick, and forget.

Mr B threw out all the dairy on bin night, despite some of it being fine. Which meant that we had to go for a walk at 1 this morning so I could have cocoa. I coughed feebly as we made it to the top of the hill that separates Erko from Newtown. 'If we'd been going to the gym for two more months before you gave me this plague,' I said to Mr B, 'then I would look as Pre-Raphaelite as I sound.'

'You? You're the anti-Pre-Raphaelite!' he declared. 'Even when you used to dress like a Victorian, you were all athletic and full of energy. They didn't have jock Pre-Raphaelites! There was no captain of the Pre-Raphaelite hockey team!'

In memory of Lizzie Siddal, I kicked him in the ankle.

Worst patient in the world

Day five of having minimal voice -- people keep whispering TO me now, including the local shopkeepers. Which is doubly ridiculous, because I have earsful of snot, while they have perfectly good voices. (Sorry about the visual there.)[Poll #1769336]
In other fandom news, the fabbo fire_juggler  is running the Harry Potter Winter Podfic Fest. What are they looking for? This:
Fic Requirements (there aren't very many): It must be either winter holiday-themed (pick a winter holiday, any winter holiday) or winter-themed (meaning it needs to feature the things we associate with winter, stuff like skiing, or drinking mulled wine, or walking in the snow). Other than that, anything goes. Any length, any genre, any pairing or gen.
BRILLIANT!

I am sure there was something else, but I am sick, and forget.

Mr B threw out all the dairy on bin night, despite some of it being fine. Which meant that we had to go for a walk at 1 this morning so I could have cocoa. I coughed feebly as we made it to the top of the hill that separates Erko from Newtown. 'If we'd been going to the gym for two more months before you gave me this plague,' I said to Mr B, 'then I would look as Pre-Raphaelite as I sound.'

'You? You're the anti-Pre-Raphaelite!' he declared. 'Even when you used to dress like a Victorian, you were all athletic and full of energy. They didn't have jock Pre-Raphaelites! There was no captain of the Pre-Raphaelite hockey team!'

In memory of Lizzie Siddal, I kicked him in the ankle.