notes.smuvelious.org

The roots of “post-truth”

Roger Whittaker — Sun, 06 Oct 2019 18:15:00 +0100

I suppose as technology moves on, Satanists must change their methods of tormenting good people and doing the bidding of the evil one.

That, at least, is all I can surmise from the fact that these days, I very rarely see strings of audio or video tape blowing in the …

Giles Fraser’s Golden Age

Roger Whittaker — Mon, 25 Feb 2019 11:30:00 +0000

Giles Fraser’s recent article “Why won’t Remainers talk about family?” on unherd.com caused quite a stir on Twitter and elsewhere. There was quite a lot of anger and something of a “pile-on” regarding alleged casual sexism among other things.

Giles Fraser is an intelligent, decent and thoughtful …

British GPS

Roger Whittaker — Mon, 28 May 2018 22:00:00 +0100

We understand that the Chancellor has announced that following Brexit, the UK will no longer be part of the Galileo GPS system but will be going it alone. Here is my report from the future on how that went.

London: 9th May 2025

I was lucky enough to obtain a …

The cancelled Trump visit

Roger Whittaker — Fri, 12 Jan 2018 09:00:00 +0000

There are times when one has the strange feeling of being able to tell what many other people will do simply by examining one’s own intentions.

I rarely attend demonstrations: it’s been more than ten years (I think) since I have done so. But I knew very clearly …

Term time holidays

Roger Whittaker — Thu, 06 Apr 2017 15:05:00 +0100

The discussion about today’s Supreme Court ruling on unauthorised term time holidays has mostly focused on what children might miss, or fail to learn, by being taken out of school for a holiday during term time.

What is much more important, it seems to me is what many children …

Disaster day

Roger Whittaker — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 14:00:00 +0100

Disaster day has arrived. I suppose, following the Sun and the Daily Mail I could use a stupid WW2 nostalgic metaphor and call it “D-day”. But D-day was a triumph and this is a disaster.

But - as I wrote at the time of the last “Royal Wedding”, in this country …

Types of dishonesty

Roger Whittaker — Mon, 06 Mar 2017 15:30:00 +0000

Politicians have always tended to be dishonest. It goes with the territory.

Whether the system they operate in is democratic or not, the short term payoff from saying one thing and doing another, or denying one’s real intentions, motivations or personal history will often seem to outweigh the cost …

Checkmated by evil

Roger Whittaker — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

Trump tweeted yesterday:

Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!

Some people have implied that the “travel ban” was executed chaotically and that this is evidence of poor organisation in the new administration …

More facts

Roger Whittaker — Fri, 03 Feb 2017 13:00:00 +0000

It was widely reported on January 30th that a Saudi naval ship had been attacked by “three suicide boats belonging to the Houthi militias”. An attack on a Saudi ship certainly happened, although the video on the BBC the following day looks more as if it confirms the Houthis’ claim …

Flynn

Roger Whittaker — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 09:00:00 +0000

The new US National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, has made vague but menacing threats against Iran in a statement that is inaccurate about the past and unspecific about the future - a dangerous and worrying move, but not (in the context of this new Administration) a surprising one.

The following quote …

Facts

Roger Whittaker — Tue, 24 Jan 2017 16:00:00 +0000

“I think sometimes we can disagree with the facts” — Sean Spicer 22nd January 2017.

“… Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that” — Kellyanne Conway 22nd January 2017.

These quotes from Trump’s White House Press Secretary and “Counselor to the President” have attracted a lot of comment and …

Let’s Encrypt

Roger Whittaker — Sat, 21 Jan 2017 16:45:00 +0000

I managed to get certificates from Let’s Encrypt working here.

I’ve done a write-up.

Inauguration

Roger Whittaker — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 09:45:00 +0000

Today’s disgusting and frightening events in Washington and everything that has led up to them are evidence of a cultural collapse that has crept up on us over the years but only recently hit us forcefully and painfully.

Recently, as partial explanations for the current state of affairs, we …