Unite, but follow me
Yesterday I decided to install the new version of the Ubuntu Linux distribution on my main computer, after a disaster with another distro (or rather, with some new software they had tagged as "stable"...
Author: Matthew Smith
No, ME is not polio
Yesterday I was having a discussion on Facebook with an anti-vaccinationist who referred me to various websites which outlined the various supposed conspiracies that have gone on to keep parents in the dark about...
Devastation in Colombia
There is an article in today’s Guardian about the ongoing civil war in Colombia, in which government-sponsored paramilitaries kidnap and murder ordinary people in the countryside and dress them up like FARC guerrillas, so...
Watch who you call a ho
For the second time in about a month, I’ve come across the same person I know on Facebook throwing the word “ho” (whore) around at women who are not, in fact, prostitutes. Last time,...
Now everyone’s a structural engineer
Most people in and around London know that the M1 — a major road out of London to the north-west, has been closed for several days because a bridge was damaged by a fire...
Guest Post: my review of One Last Goodbye
Same Difference: review of One Last Goodbye by Kay Gilderdale I wrote a review of Kay Gilderdale’s memoir of living with and caring for her daughter Lynn (also Jessie), who suffered from ME very...
Hargey attacks Islam along with the “burqa”
I don't watch al-Jazeera English (although I can get it, part-time, on Freeview) but saw this clip of David Frost interviewing Taj Hargey and Salma Yaqoob over the recently-introduced ban on the niqaab in...
Waterloo Road: how much protection does a 17-year-old need?
Yesterday, the last in the present series of Waterloo Road, the BBC school soap, aired, and it featured the climax of two separate stories, that of Denzil and his death-defying stunts which nearly killed...
Review: My Brother, the Islamist
My Brother, the Islamist is a documentary in which a film-maker I had never heard of, named Robb Leach (his home page, incidentally, has no biography or reference to any other work by him),...
Why I’ll probably vote No on AV
Next month we will be having a referendum in this country on whether to change our method of electing MPs from the traditional “first past the post”, in which the candidate with the single...
Care Home Kid: letting them off lightly?
I watched the first part of Neil Morrissey’s Care Home Kid series yesterday (on iPlayer, where viewers in the UK can see it until next Monday) with much interest. Although I never was in...
The problems with paring down the Royal Mail
Earlier this week I heard on the news that the Royal Mail were closing down two of their big London sorting depots, namely Bow and Nine Elms. I’ve worked at Nine Elms and it...
Demo report
So, I made it to the demonstration yesterday, as I had arranged to meet Riven Vincent who wanted someone to walk with her. I got there late because I was delayed leaving home and...
Trafalgar into Tahrir?
Anti-cuts campaigners plan to turn Trafalgar Square into Tahrir Square | World news | guardian.co.uk I am planning to attend the march organised by the Trades Union Congress this coming Saturday (26th March), but...
Attacks on disabled people are not “just nastiness”
BBC iPlayer – Dave Monk: Essex disability hate crime and Pebmarsh needs a donkey This was broadcast last Wednesday (so you will be able to listen to it until early next Wednesday). The focus...
Minorities may die in Midsomer Massacres
The BBC doesn’t have a monopoly on ridiculous plotlines in its drama, despite the recent trends of Casualty, Holby City and EastEnders (not to mention the sappy ridiculousness of the school drama series, Waterloo...
Casualty plots getting ridiculous
Recently I stopped watching EastEnders regularly, as I found the plotlines were getting frustrating and repetitive and were going nowhere. Some would say that Casualty (and its week-night sister programme, Holby City) went the...
Review: 23 Week Babies – the Price of Life
BBC2 – 23 Week Babies: The Price of Life This was on last Wednesday on BBC2, and is available on iPlayer until next Wednesday. It examines whether it is worthwhile to resuscitate babies born...
Further clarification: Usama Hasan
After I posted my article on Usama Hasan the other day, I found that my blog had been linked to by the secularist Spittoon blog, which had been copied by Harry’s Place. The author...
Deen Intensive programme for 2011 announced
I've been asked to publicise the upcoming Deen Intensive programme, which is to be held at Uludag near Bursa, Turkey, for three weeks starting 30th June. The focus will be on Imam Ghazaali, and...