Posts by Rich Lock
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Hard News: Potency and purity, in reply to James Littlewood*,
Would you care to outline a third option? Given that prohibition has so very, very clearly utterly failed.
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Hard News: Potency and purity, in reply to BenWilson,
For sure. And if you consumed pure alcohol you'd be lucky if you survived a single glass.
"The year before, an Intourist guide had taken a group of Americans into the taiga and laid out an even more splendid lunch but had forgotten to turn the bottle. After many toasts with warm tea to international friendship, mutual respect and closer understanding, the guide poured glasses of nearly frozen, almost congealed vodka and showed his guests how to drink it in one go. “Like this,” he said. He tipped the glass, drank it and fell over dead. What the guide had forgotten was that Siberian vodka was nearly two hundred proof, almost pure alcohol, and would still flow at a temperature that would freeze the gullet and stop the heart like a sword. Just the shock was enough to kill him. It was sad, of course, but it was also hilarious. Imagine the poor Americans sitting around their campfire, looking at their Russian guide and asking, “This is a Siberian picnic?” ".
- from 'Polar Star', by Martin Cruz Smith
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Hard News: Happy Days, in reply to Danielle,
My emotional response to most job ads I consume is "I'm dying a little inside with every bullshit word", so maybe HR departments need to "rebrand" too.
As someone who is currently attempting to learn The Bullshit Language of Professional Networking, in order to market myself and show how 'passionate' I am about my work, I award this comment all the stars.
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There are various solutions, including permitted onsite testing. But that's a politically alarming step.
The Dutch, in their normal pragmatic way, have been providing on-site testing for 20+ years. I remember reading this particular article from 1995 back when it was actually relevant to my then-current-lifestyle.
Bonus amusement to be had with a dadsplain-y reference to 'Gabbers', and a general out-of-touch-with-the-youth tone.
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Hard News: First-person media and the…, in reply to william blake,
I really wish I had a v log and an audience when I was an adolescent but I'm really glad I didn't.
A perennial 'let's all give thanks' amongst my social circle is: 'I'm really glad there wasn't any social media back when we young and (extremely) stupid'. I'm glad I did the shit I did, and I'm even more glad the direct audience was usually limited to a maximum of around seven people I knew.
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Hard News: #GE2015: Proper Mad, in reply to Rich Lock,
...and I repeat:
If, 15 years into the 21st Century (when we are continually told traditional media is in steep near-terminal decline), the Labour Party cannot work out how to at least neutralise bad press, then they're not exactly inspiring confidence that they'll be able to govern, are they?
The SNP victory has effectively made Scotland a single-party state. How did they do thay in the teeth of a hostile press? I suspect that might be a far better question for Labour to be asking, rather than wondering how far right they need to travel before they'll start snapping up that coveted Dail Mail endorsement.
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Hard News: #GE2015: Proper Mad, in reply to Don Christie,
But it is the media that it needs to work out or work around
Riddle me this: If 'The Media' is the problem, how has Labour, or any other left-leaning party, ever managed to win an election, ever?
I'm not an expert on 20th-Century newpapers and other media outlets, but I'm having a bit of difficulty imagining that the mainstream wasn't generally mostly extremely hostile to Ramsay MacDonald, Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, and James Callaghan.
There's been some post-election analysis of the shonky pre-election polls. The smart money seems to be suggesting that the tory footsoldiers on the ground were quietly getting on with what needed to be done, outside the traditional media/polls bubble.
If, 15 years into the 21st Century (when we are continually told traditional media is in steep near-terminal decline), the Labour Party cannot work out how to at least neutralise bad press, then they're not exactly inspiring confidence that they'll be able to govern, are they?
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Hard News: #GE2015: Proper Mad, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Labour just got the basics wrong and have been for a very long time.
...and continue to get the basics wrong in the post-wipeout blame game by immediately shouting that the solution is MOAR BLAIR.
There's some truth in that, but absolutely not for the reasons thay think.
New Labour won comprehensively in 1997 for two reasons, the first of which was Tory sleaze - the reason Martin Bell, running on a single-issue ticket, was able to thrash Neil Hamilton in the 'safe' tory seat of Tatton, and the reason Stephen Twigg was able to thrash Portillo in the 'safe' Tory seat of Enfield Southgate.
The second of which, interwoven with the first, was Blair. But crucially, not his policies. He was young, fresh, energetic and most importantly of all, charismatic. A direct contrast to the tired, venal, exhausted Major government.
I'd be delighted if politics suddenly turned into a cold, sober debate over the merits of various policies, but it ain't gonna happen.
Labour needs a Rock Star, A Personality, A Red Bull who is going to give the electorate wings with their 'wow' factor. Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage have it, more than enough to keep them high in the game despite being vile people. Winston Peters has it. John Key, David Cameron and Tony Abbott (and Helen Clarke) have enough of it (or are able to fake a bare minimum of it) that they can combine with their policies to sell them to the electorate.
Ed Miliband didn't. He's a central-casting politics spod.
Gordon Brown? Yeah, Nah....So, yes, Labour needs another Blair. But not his policies.
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Hard News: #GE2015: Proper Mad, in reply to Andre,
That referendum seems like yesterday
Perhaps a month or two too soon as far as the 'yes' camp is concerned. It seems that the momentum of the pendulum is swinging Scotland towards independence, or a variant thereof. If Scotland wants to stay in the EU, but England wants to leave (now that the tories are back in, there'll be a refurendum in 2017), I can't see the union holding together.
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Hard News: #GE2015: Proper Mad, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Now anyone want to take a guess why Labour isn't having a very good night?
1) A horribly uncharismatic leader;
2) an electorate who don't see sufficient in-house-cleaning taking place after Blair shat on the carpet.Edit: bonus round. Dear Mr Clegg, that's what happens when you break all your election promises and hop into bed with a party the vast majority of the people who voted for you think are evil scum.
Double edit: Dear Labour, if you don't think you need further in-house cleaning, please take a look at Scotland.