"The big difference between sex for money and sex for free is that sex for money costs less." - Brendan Francis

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November 15th:

"Your endorsement was the most baffling article I’ve read in the 20 years that I have studied and trusted your publication. Eschewing your impeccable logic, you spent nearly the entire leader correctly, even apologetically, identifying the reasons why Mr Obama is unfit for the presidency, then brushed them aside to say “take a chance” and vote for him anyway.

John Rollins
Tallahassee, Florida"

"Many South Africans say that rich countries’ strictures on democracy and human rights will carry little moral force until poorer countries have a bigger say in running the affairs of the world. Not all agree. Turning a blind eye to oppression abroad is “a betrayal of our own noble past”, argues Desmond Tutu, a Nobel peace-prize winner and a hero of the struggle against white rule. “If others had used the arguments we are using today when we asked them for their support against apartheid we might still have been unfree,” he says."
The oppressed, once free, become the oppressors.

"Mr Voronin called Transdniestria’s leader, Igor Smirnov, “an evil force who has turned his region into a festering wound on the body of Moldova”... Ukrainian and Moldovan businessmen exploit the black hole of Transdniestria to dodge customs duties on cars or chicken. In 2006, EUBAM has found, the poor folk of Transdniestria nominally ate 12 times as much chicken per head as Germans."

"They noticed that when people fast-forward a DVR they actually concentrate intensely on the screen, looking out for the end of the advertising break so that they can get back to their programme. This means they are probably paying more attention than they would if the advertisements were playing normally."

"“As the first global generation ever, the Net Geners are smarter, quicker and more tolerant of diversity than their predecessors,” Mr Tapscott argues. “These empowered young people are beginning to transform every institution of modern life.” They care strongly about justice, and are actively trying to improve society... People who play video games, for example, have been found to process complex visual information more quickly. They may also be better at multi-tasking than earlier generations, which equips them better for the modern world... More optimistically, the Net Geners are much more positive than their predecessors about their family. Half of those interviewed regard at least one parent as their “hero”."


November 22nd:

"The proposal the government unveiled this week—to make those buying sex liable to criminal charges if it subsequently emerges that the prostitute was controlled for another person’s gain... As the law stands, punters who knowingly have sex with an exploited woman can face charges of rape. The new law would criminalise the oblivious as well... A man who has sex with an underage girl, for example, may be acquitted if it emerges that he was fooled... Furthermore, women deemed to be “under the control of another” could include those who support their boyfriends, or work with a mate. The most ethical punter could easily be caught out. Good, says Jacqui Smith, the home secretary: it will make potential clients “think twice”."

[On Polar Bear quotas] "Tribal elders insist that they are seeing far more bears than ever before. Bear experts like Andrew Derocher of the University of Alberta acknowledge this, but explain that the bears are being pushed ashore as the sea ice disappears. With fewer opportunities to hunt seals, they venture closer to towns in search of garbage or unattended dog food—if not the dogs themselves. Treaties between Nunavut and the federal government make clear that science should not influence decision-making more than “traditional knowledge”, known as Inuit Qaujimaningit, or IQ. Scientists offer statistical projections and computer models; native hunters prefer IQ, which tells them that polar bears are everywhere... Mr Qillaq, who chairs the Kanngiqtugaapik Hunters and Trappers Organisation, laughs at the notion that hunting will harm the polar bear population. “Numbers are just numbers,” he says. “We live here, so we know what’s really going on in the north. We can hunt anytime we want, anywhere we want, no matter what anybody says.”"

[On a Turkish politician in Germany] "“Is it so important to have a Turkish chancellor?” he wonders. “The fact that we’re still talking about this shows how far there is to go.”"

"In Armenia, for example, the local branch of Transparency International—a global anti-corruption movement—has to contend with a government that seems humourless and harsh. So campaigners against a proposed mine in northern Armenia, which risks destroying a pristine forest, devised colourful responses which the authorities couldn’t repress without looking foolish. In a recent street protest, they dressed up as animals; in another they staged a “funeral” for a slice of nature that was at risk."

"A study just published in Psychological Science by Simone Schnall of the University of Plymouth and her colleagues shows that washing with soap and water makes people view unethical activities as more acceptable and reasonable than they would if they had not washed themselves... Something to think about for those who feel that purification rituals bring them closer to God."

[On price controls] "One chicken hatchery drowned 43,000 baby chicks on television because, its manager said, “it’s cheaper to drown ’em than…to raise ’em.”"

"France, “a country where ideas have always been more important than facts.”"


November 29th:

"Catalan politics is based on clumsy parochialism, dead-end linguistic nationalism and an astonishing amount of whining about our treatment by the rest of Spain. Our leaders would be well advised to take a shot of the café para todos you mentioned and recognise that while we talk, others do business in whatever language is necessary."

[On Larry Summers (table)] "Weaknesses: ego surplus, sensitivity deficit"

[On Clinton] "Defeat and humiliation only seem to make her stronger—the perfect qualification for dealing with the Middle East."

"Unlike Soviet propagandists, who told people what to think, Russian propagandists tell people what they want to hear, says Georgy Satarov, who used to be an aide to a former president, Boris Yeltsin, and now runs INDEM, a think-tank. What people want to hear, especially as they are getting richer, is that their country is “rising from its knees”, sticking its flag in the Arctic Circle, winning football games and chasing the Americans out of Georgia."

"The paradox of Russia’s nationalism is that its patriotic zeal closely follows the American model. One of the biggest pop hits in Russia a few years ago was a song called “I Was Made in the USSR”, first performed in 2005 in the Kremlin, in front of Mr Putin. “Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova—it is my country…Kazakhstan and the Caucasus as well as the Baltics—it is my country…I was born in the Soviet Union; made in the USSR,” its lyrics go. As the audience rose to applaud, it was perhaps unaware that the tune was the same as Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the USA”."

"Russia wants to be like America and follows in its footsteps. Unfortunately, says one American former official, “they followed our mistakes and not our system of governance.”"

"RUSSIA may not have democratic elections or the rule of law, but it does have one long-standing institution that works: corruption."

"The average Russian gets through 15.2 litres of pure alcohol a year, twice as much as is thought to be compatible with good health. The problem lies not just with how much but also with what is drunk: moonshine and “dual-purpose” liquids, such as perfume and windscreen wash, make up a significant proportion of alcohol consumption, according to Russia’s chief physician, Gennady Onishchenko."

"Vodka is one of a very few Russian products that seem relatively immune to inflation. Between 1990 and 2005, for example, the food-price index increased almost four times faster than the alcohol-price index. A cheap bottle of vodka in Russia costs the same as two cans of beer or two litres of milk... Occasionally the government raises the alarm about alcohol poisoning, but it does little to curb drinking. Instead it has declared war on Georgian wine and mineral water, which it claims is not fit for consumption. But life expectancy in Georgia remains 12 years higher than in Russia."

"A hero of the Napoleonic wars revered by Russian romantics, Yermolov is still universally hated by “the natives” who think of him as brutal, contemptuous and genocidal. In the late Soviet period his statue in Chechnya was regularly blown up until it was eventually thrown into the river."

"Mr Gavrilenkov of Troika Dialog argues that Russia’s attitude to America is closely correlated with its balance of payments. When that is strong, Russia turns anti-American; when it is weak, Russia becomes a friendlier place."

"Ms Royal says she will be “a force of transformation” inside the party, which roughly translates as being an internal troublemaker."

"Mr Lewis also contributes an introduction to each of the sections dealing with the four main panics of the last 21 years; the stock market crash of 1987, the Asian crisis of 1997-98, the bursting of the dotcom bubble after 2000 and the current housing and banking bust. It is worth remembering, as we contemplate the gloomy economic future, how each of the previous three crises was greeted with apocalyptic headlines. “How many times does the end of the world as we know it need to arrive before we realise that it’s not the end of the world as we know it?” Mr Lewis writes, in perhaps the most telling sentence of the book."

"The best term associated with walking is not English at all: the French flâner, he writes, is “a truly wonderful word…it can mean to stroll, but it can also mean the act of simply hanging around.”... Walking, he says, is like sex: “basic, simple, repetitive activities…capable of great sophistication and elaboration. They can be completely banal and meaningless, and yet they can also involve great passions and adventures. Both can lead you into strange and unknown territories: a walk on the wild side.”... The wafflier the piffle, the more sharply Mr Nicholson wields his skewer. His deadpan treatment of “psychogeography” (imagine modern literary criticism applied to the layout of car parks) is howlingly funny. So are his demolitions of the sub-Thoreau ramblings of “New Agers”. Which bit of nature have they been walking in: “Frozen wastes? Disease-ridden jungle? Malarial swamp? Or just the local park?”"


December 6th:

"Many European states have large bureaucracies, reinforced by a network of NGOs, whose job is to protect immigrants from oppression by the majority “white” population. These institutions should be just as concerned when the infringers of human rights are locally dominant religious establishments."

"I too do not believe for a moment that prostitution can be eliminated by legislation. But limiting a ban to those paying for sex with a woman “controlled for another’s gain”, such as a pimp, will doom this new law to failure. Instead of the relatively simple prosecution of a “punter”, police will be faced with a full scale and expensive vice-inquiry to establish “control” and “gain”. Good intentions marred by ineffective legislation are the hallmark of this government.

Martin Jauch
Former chief superintendent, clubs and vice unit
Metropolitan Police
Winchcombe, Gloucestershire"

"Given that some countries have already nationalised the world’s second-oldest profession (banking), why not nationalise the oldest? The industry would become fully regulated; the prostitutes could then work decent hours under close supervision, have regular holidays and be free from abuse by pimps.

Governments could use the huge revenues that prostitution generates to bail out even more banks (the vice industry in Australia alone is growing at a rate of 8% a year: the country spent $11.3 billion on prostitution and strippers in 2007). As well as being the oldest profession perhaps prostitution is also the most honest, given the recent shenanigans by all those involved in the credit crunch. We are all civil servants now.

Mike Gallagher
London"


December 13th:

"Mr Singh's answer, to start by boosting regional trade, is the best there is. His vision is "to have breakfast in Amritsar, lunch in Lahore and dinner in Kabul". (And wake up in hospital, diplomats josh.)"

"The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (otherwise known as the "Ministry of Fun")"

"THE doodlebugs were much less nice than their nickname sounds. They were devastating flying bombs that began to hit London in June 1944. Later that year, the Nazis deployed even more awful supersonic rockets—and a few Londoners referred to the "good old doodlebugs". Which goes to show that memory is unreliable, nostalgia irrational and judgments often relative."

"Psychologists have found that being exposed to numbers, even irrelevant ones, can affect people's decisions. For example, diners tend to spend more in a restaurant named "Café 97" than in one named "Café 17"."