Merry Christmas!
Rehna Azim writes in the Guardian about the tabloid furore over ‘banning Christmas’. Summary: just say Merry Christmas and get over it.
More issues
Rex tremendae majestatis
Fred Clark, the slacktivist, has an excellent post on the monarchical tendencies of the Bush administration.
A poster in the comments, called Scott, remarks:
If enough of your “fellow citizens” are OK with King George the Fourth (The Third being the one we originally rebelled against), then hasn’t society
Repugnant to reason, justice, and humanity
A torture-related link I posted atMetaFilter.
Travel notes: London pubs
On a short pub crawl with some friends the other night, I came across a lovely quiet pub down a side street near Victoria station (about 5 minutes’ walk from the station). Good beer and comfortable seats. Food at lunchtime. The Grouse and Claret.
A missing iPod, and missing music memories
A slightly random link to a poignant tale of a stolen iPod and non-missing croissants. (If the anchor on the page doesn’t work, it’s the December 2nd story right at the bottom of the page)
True Brits
The Fabian Society has published a new pamphlet about Britishness. A couple of articles from it are online at the link above.
One interesting view is that the history of the Empire should be taught more in schools, as an aid to understanding Britain’s multicultural heritage. The BBC reports.
Engagement efforts still not good enough
The Electoral Commission has published a report analysing (pdf) the election campaign of 2005. Discussed on ePolitix.
David Cameron = George Bush?
Salon (subscription or click-through advert required, sorry) has an interesting article by former Clinton aide Sidney Blumenthal. In the first discussion of David Cameron I’ve seen in the US press, he compares the messages that Cameron is giving out to the compassionate conservatism upbeat of one Gov. George W
Configure that router
Hardware Pornography – girls with network equipment. Not safe for work (though not actually pornographic). Also bizarre. Via the Register.
Well, duh
Incompetent design – why God is not as clever as you think he is.