Where's Pauline?

Pauline Hanson is moving to Britain? Why? Has anyone mentioned to her that the UK is technically one of the most super-diverse countries in the world. But then again, the way the British National Party are gaining ground, and with the Conservatives on the way in, she may feel right at home. And she'll get good fish and chips.

I'm getting a bit annoyed though that I packed my bags and moved over here to get away from John Howard (who's now gone and reincarnated into the shape of David Cameron who's about to run this country with his faithful Ken Clark promising deeper cuts to public services than even Margaret Thatcher could manage ... oh joy that will be to behold) and Pauline Hanson (who's now coming over here). I'm running out of places to run away to.

Liquid Modernity

This is where Bauman's fluidity ends ... crashing against the concrete, the painter in Connaught Place hits the pavement as the tired, coir rope, balancing his swing two stories high, snaps. The blood from his head runs out.

Pacts with the Devil

So the Reverend Pat Robertson, in case you've not heard, has decided that Haiti is cursed because the Haitian people made a 'pact with the devil' in return for their freedom from French rule. True, those pacts with the Devil can be tricky things to get out of. US foreign policy, for example, is still trying to find a way to buy its soul back after it was offered up to Lucifer in return for the horned one's assistance in various coups and the installing and/or support of/or turning a blind eye to such luminaries as Papa and Baby Doc Duvalier, Pinochet, Noriega, the Contras, Marcos, the Shah of Iran (okay that was with the help of the British government which has also misplaced its soul somewhere), Saddam, Israel's occupation of Palestine and it goes on. It's a long list that continues but then loss of soul possibly became irretrievable anyway after supporting the Pol Pot regime rather than the communist Hun Sen in Cambodia in the 1970s. I'm not quite sure how much you have to sell to Satan to get away with that one. While you're working that out, Mr Robertson, I suggest removing the forest from your eye.