Daphne Oram in pictures

What’s wrong with pop culture, and why this city is partly to blame

50 best arts videos on YouTube

The Daily Show is easily the best American political satire. Possibly the best in the world. But this really stands out as unusually brilliant …

Sarah Palin’s daughter has decided not to have an abortion. Samantha Bee sets out to discover if there’s a simple word to describe that right to make your own decision.

Graffiti on newspaper around Manchester’s Northern Quarter. Now, this is the first time I’ve ever heard of Bortusk Leer, but I like these very much. They’ve been there a few weeks now in a typical rainy Mancunian August, so the newspaper is obviously covered in some kind of fixer. I particularly like the cop on the Police Museum.

Faraday Street, Mcr

Paton Street, Mcr

Paton Street, Mcr

Back China Lane, Mcr

Tariff Street, Mcr

This is part of an ongoing court case, so I shan’t ramble on too much. There’s a bloke in court at the moment on child cruelty charges for “allegedly allowing” two children, both boys, both under 16, to flog themselves with a ‘bladed whip’ during some religious ceremony or other. I don’t care which religious sect it is, what the whip is really called or what the ‘ceremony’ supposedly marks, cos none of that is relevant.

BUT. Defending, Richard Marks QC, comes up with this gem.

“There have been some terrible atrocities perpetrated by Muslims. This has caused in some quarters a huge animosity towards Muslims as a whole. That is tremendously unfair, because those fanatics responsible represent a very tiny fraction of the whole; and the vast majority of Muslims are peace-loving, family-orientated, hard-working and just want to get on with their lives as you do. It’s important if you are to do justice in this case to put immediately to one side any bias any prejudice that you may feel.

What the fuck??!! What has this case got to do with terrorism? I assume that’s what he means by ‘terrible atrocities’. This is muddying the water of the worst kind. Nobody sane read anything about this case and thought ‘Oh, typical Muslims. What with their bombs etc. Just the kind of thing I’d expect’.

But loads of people, including me, would have thought ‘if you DID do this, you are a cruel, thoughtless, pathetic useless role model of a man [allegedly] …. I really do not give a shit one way or another about your religious beliefs, you sky-fairy worshipper, but DON’T go letting CHILDREN WHIP THEMSELVES WITH BLADES.’

Anyway, according to the defence, says the Manchester Evening News

The case had `massive implications’ for the freedoms and human rights enjoyed in Britain, where there is an `an entitlement enshrined in our law that people of all minorities, be it religious, sexual, political or otherwise, to live according to their beliefs’.

Oh, do fuck off. Just fuck off.

UPDATE: Jolly good. It’s no longer an active court case

This is coming out on Warp soon.

‘Mrs Blair’ is spot on.

Governments must be prepared as well to stand up to cultural pressures, however strong, to enforce existing legislation. Many of the countries where widows are treated worst have good laws in place to protect them. The problem is that they are routinely ignored by local communities and seldom enforced.

Oh, ho ho ho ho ho! This is soooooo funny. You know what they need to sort out their mess? Indians. They’re good at everything!

Now, call me shallow, but my first thought on seeing the Guardian story is ‘isn’t Nick Griffin SPECTACULARLY ugly??!!’ I mean, not just unattractive, but EXTRAORDINARILY gob-smackingly repulsive. Imagine waking up in the morning and seeing THAT in the mirror.

[We liberal, progressive, left-leaning English nationalists on the other hand .... oh, we're all gorrrrrgeous! xx]