As usual, alarm at goings on in America is accompanied by irritation at the people I agree with. ‘Coup’ is a grandiose term for a ramshackle mob, but such is the self-aggrandisement that everyone seems to be using that word. Then there are at least a couple dozen examples of my old favourite, the point […]
Coups past
It’s hard in the moment to make sense of the significance. I see online the shock and horror people are feeling, and some of the images are as memorable as the grainy ones seared into my memory of soldiers climbing like rats over the walls of the PTV building, the state broadcaster in Pakistan. After […]
Beastman
Startled to glance at the news to see a photo of a bare chested beastman brandishing a spear storming the US Capitol. Moved over to the CNN website to see what was going on, and saw the headline: ‘House members in chamber told they may need to duck under their chairs’. Remarkable times we live […]
Pardon power
One of the most intractable problems in Pakistani law is that the heirs the murdered can forgive murderers, and there is little the state can do about it. I know someone whose brother killed her father, but the son went unpunished not because the father was a terrible man (which he was) but because the […]
Year of sadness
I listened to a podcast on the coronavirus response in the UK. It went through aspects of the pandemic response over the last nearly-year, and asked if it was inevitable that things would be this bad. The answer, inevitably, was no. They summed it at the end: an unserious prime minister, a weak centre, good […]
Morning in America
The GF said today that the Trump’s tenure has been rather like having a car alarm go off outside one’s window – the especially vile sort of alarm which changes tone and type so you can’t ignore it. Now, the alarm’s been turned off, and it really feels like that blessed first few minutes of […]
Indeed
From Metafilter, on the American Dream.
This is America
I have just watched Trump’s speech. Even if, at this point, Biden wins the presidency, this was another moment that marked the end of America. Maybe the moment. This election has also made it quite clear that when my American friends said that Trump’s is not the real America, that was nonsense. This is the […]
Dare not speak its name
It is looking more and more possible (likely?) that Trump will lose. We are all very cautious about saying it aloud, though. A hope that dare not speak its name.
Off his head
This is a rather late reaction to the news of the moment, but Trump getting COVID is really quite something. I watched two videos following his release from hospital. One, when he went onto the balcony and took his mask off, and looked like he was struggling for every breath and might come falling off […]