No Refunds, Credit Note Only

Patrons are reminded that this rickety barge is kept afloat by the kindness of strangers. If you’d like to help it remain buoyant for a while longer, there’s an orange button below with which to monetise any love for this low establishment. Debit and credit cards are of course accepted. For those wishing to express their love regularly, there’s a monthly subscription option top left. Additionally, any Amazon shopping done via the search widget top right, or for Amazon US via this link, results in a small fee for your host at no extra cost to you.

For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last eight years, the reheated series and greatest hits are good places to start. And do take a moment to poke through the discussion threads. The posts are intended as starting points, not full stops, and the comments are where much of the good stuff is waiting to be found.

Again, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company. 

Comments

[sH2]

For buoyancy. :-)

[Jacob]

This blog's part of my routine now. Tip jar hit.

[J]

The money *will* go to evil causes, won't it?

[Ben David]

Artist Statements of the Old Masters:
http://hyperallergic.com/227007/the-artist-statements-of-the-old-masters/

[[+]]

Love monetized.

[Mike]

Tipped. Keep up the good work, Mr T.

[David]

Thanks to all who’ve chipped in so far. It makes a big difference to how much time I can spend posting and gassing with you lot.

In other news, former Trotskyite and current Channel 4 News economics editor Paul Mason tries to define “neoliberalism,” his catch-all word for things he doesn’t like. He then gets quite peeved when people point out his error. Those beastly “right-wingers” who prefer things to make sense. And Tim Worstall sends a probe into Mr Mason’s alternate reality.

[Cathal]

Love the blog David, there is some very funny material in your archives, hours of fun to be had just trawling with a large glass of red for company.
But listen, many moons ago you mentioned that you were working on a book, and that you had shelved it. I am still curious, was it in the same vein as your blog, or entirely unrelated?

Oh, I have given you a little tickle, to help loosen your tongue.

ps. I am so glad that Laurie Penny is now back in the country, I was missing her something dreadful.

[David]

hours of fun to be had just trawling with a large glass of red for company

I wholeheartedly endorse the drunken perusal of the archives. It’s the only way, really.

was it in the same vein as your blog, or entirely unrelated?

Much the same, just tidied up and expanded slightly. But there’s very little money in writing books, of that kind at least, and quite a bit of risk if one of the things you do throughout said book is point out, repeatedly and with specifics, that some statusful commentators and academics have been known to lie.

[Daniel Ream]

I'm going to be an inveterate greedy capitalist here.

I would subscribe in a heartbeat, but with the Canadian dollar being what it is 5 pounds sterling equates to almost $15 a month. $5/month would be a no-brainer for me as it slides under my "pocket change" threshold. I toss a fiver (one of our attractive blue ones with the stern gentleman on it, not your pale imitation) in every time one of these posts come up, but if there were a reasonably-close-to-$5-monthly option I'd be on that in a heartbeat.

I would certainly pay $15/month for a site that aggregated and encouraged more frequent posting from Small Dead Animals, yourself, Captain Capitalism and Gods of the Copybook Headings, though.

[Sam]

Tim Worstall sends a probe into Mr Mason’s alternate reality.

That's some powerful woo.

[Sam]

Tipped, btw.

[David]

That’s some powerful woo.

It does make me wonder how exactly he got a job as economics editor, first at the BBC and then at Channel 4. This is a man who champions the “occupation” and vandalism of other people’s property, who says he wants to “overthrow capitalism,” and whose ideal city would have “self-policing and non-chaotic” slums, and be enlivened by riots and “political unrest.”

A couple of years ago, Mr Mason wanted us to believe that the Occupy fad-cum-wanker’s-gap-year was part of a “new global revolution,” a “wave of revolt… sweeping the planet.” He also described the 2011 London rioters – mostly career criminals with records as long as your arm – as indulging in some “political trailblazing.” In his mind, the looting, arson and beatings of the elderly were a “massive political demonstration against the capitalist state.” The “so-called ‘rioters’” – his words - weren’t just predators, thieves and opportunist thugs; they too were part of this “global revolution,” giving it to The Man.

His kind of people.

[Mike in Texas]

Sent you 20 quid.

Keep up the good work.

Mike

[R. Sherman]

Bought a bunch of college engineering texts for my son via the US Amazon link. I hope you get your cut.

[David]

I hope you get your cut.

Always have done. Thanks.

[sk60]

Have a bottle on me.

[G]

I'm working my way through the 'reheated' series. :)

*Chucks coins in bucket*

[RY]

Keep up the good work.

Tip jar hit.

[Richard Powell]

I've been freeloading for too long. I have now tried to make amends. Because you're worth it.

[David]

Because you’re worth it.

[ Runs fingers through hair, does selfie face. ]

[Richard Powell]

I see you as a social entrepreneur, and for all I know you share the extravagant dress sense of others in that sector. Have you considered turning yourself into a charitable foundation?

[David]

Have you considered turning yourself into a charitable foundation?

No, just a giant robot that shoots lava from its eyes.

[Amy]

Amazon shopping done via the search widget top right,

Er... can't see the Amazon widget thing.

[David]

Er... can’t see the Amazon widget thing.

If you’re using an ad blocker in your browser it may hide the Amazon widget. If you click on the ad blocker button, there should be a setting to disable it for specific pages and domains. Then refresh the page and the widget should appear.

[Amy]

Thank you!

[mojo]

From McClatchyDC, my nomination for sentence of the week re: Hillary Clinton

"The expanding inquiry threatens to further erode Clinton’s standing as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination."

ANYONE else would be awaiting trial on multiple felonies, sans bail as a flight risk.

[WTP]

25 pounds on its way. If I have this right, that's 11.34 of what I believe y'all commonly refer to as kilograms.

[Connor]

If you look closely at the screengrab from this episode (where Maggie is sent to a nursery for neoliberals

Fails at the first sentence. The man's a joke.

[Connor]

Tip jar hit.

[David]

Fails at the first sentence. The man’s a joke.

Yes, it’s laughably confused, a logical train wreck. He can’t even get his pop-cultural references right. But again, this is a man who conflates the events of Tiananmen Square with a few bandana-wearing wankers acting out their power fantasies, and whose acts of spite and vandalism he breathlessly describes as “a new political consciousness… global revolt.”

That’s who he is, a Marxoid fantasist. He’s the embarrassing dad of leftist politics, a man desperate to relive his teenage years in the student union bar. The political equivalent of Les from Crème Brûlée.

[001]

< delurks >
*hits tip jar*
< lurks >

[Captain Nemo]

It's amazing how quickly this site has become part of my daily reading. I can't even remember how I discovered this blog, I'm just thankful that I did. My PayPal account is currently broken, but when I've had the problem, you can have a double Talisker on me.

[Captain Nemo]

"When I've had the problem fixed", edit.

[John D]

Mr Mason wanted us to believe that the Occupy fad-cum-wanker’s-gap-year was part of a “new global revolution,” a “wave of revolt… sweeping the planet.”

Hehe. Button pushed.

[David]

I can’t even remember how I discovered this blog,

I have often wondered how people first found themselves here. Did they get lost, or were they led astray?

[David]

Hehe.

But it’s dismal stuff. He bundles together wildly disparate social and economic phenomena in an ahistorical haphazard mess, blames all of it on “neoliberalism” (his definition of which remains nebulous and ever-shifting, such that it includes massive, unsustainable state spending), and then says “we” need to “delink work from wages” and embrace “co-ops” and “sharing.” The particulars of his fluffy “post-capitalist” utopia – in which “work becomes voluntary” and “services are free” - are laughably vague, almost entirely unexplained. It isn’t so much an argument as a pile of fashionable sounds.

[RY]

Jeremy Corbyn signed this:

http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2003-04/1255

Via Ed West's Twitter.

[Hal]

Oh, Dear . . . Noting recent cultural topics, the attempt at Fantastic Four has some company . . .

Not so good ‘U.N.C.L.E’ is Ritchie’s ‘Citizen Kane’

Then there’s the camera work, which is strenuous without being vigorous or inspired, . . . this is a Guy Ritchie movie, . . . There are two torture sequences in the film, involving electrodes and an individual strapped to a chair and screaming. Yet it never once seems like a metaphor for what the audience is going through. For Ritchie, that’s progress.

Oops.

[Anna]

The particulars of his fluffy “post-capitalist” utopia – in which “work becomes voluntary” and “services are free” - are laughably vague, almost entirely unexplained.

"Capitalism is bad. No one should pay for anything. Buy my book! Only £16.99!"

[mojo]

"Did they get lost, or were they led astray?"

Fell in with the wrong crowd, most likely. I's an old story.

[Joan]

The political equivalent of Les from Crème Brûlée.

That. :-)

Mason says capitalism is failing. Journalism certainly is.

[dicentra]

Reprieve!

They sent us to Mission Impossible instead, having read the reviews for Fantastic Four.

Which, M:I was good only if you like opera and Casablanca. The city, not the movie.

[champ]

"Did they get lost, or were they led astray?"

I first came here via a link from ProteinWisdom.com (Jeff Goldstein's blog) and I'm happy I found this place.

[David]

Reprieve! They sent us to Mission Impossible instead, having read the reviews for Fantastic Four.

Perhaps someone will make a film about someone who’s obliged to sit through Fantastic Four and escapes at the very last minute.

[Patrick Brown]

RY:

Jeremy Corbyn signed this:

http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2003-04/1255

I have to admit I find Peter Bottomley's amendments kind of charming, like a grown-up trying to reign in the kids' enthusiasm and direct it a bit more constructively.

Turns out Corbyn also supported an early day motion declaring Arsenal to be the "best club football team in the world" in 2004.

[RY]

@ Patrick Brown

I like what you say about Peter Bottomley's amendments, that's a really good way of putting it.

Re Arsenal edm: Have to disagree but definitely one of Corbyn's more palatable opinions.

[Jonathan]

I have often wondered how people first found themselves here.

Through a secret door in the back of a wardrobe.

*Tosses coins at old hat on floor*

[David]

*Tosses coins at old hat on floor*

Why, thankee kindly, sir. Do help yourself to some performance art.

[Jonathan]

Do help yourself to some performance art.

Thanks for that David. I see that Milan Kohout, the performance artist in that piece, studied Electrical Engineering at University and was exiled from Czechoslovakia in 1986 for his anti-government activities. I wonder what happened to bring him to this?

[David]

I wonder what happened to bring him to this?

Solvent abuse? The terrible crushing pressures of life under capitalism? Relentless probing by alien abductors?

We could be here all day.

[Jonathan]

We could be here all day.

Let's just go with the probing then.

[@]

“neoliberalism” (his definition of which remains nebulous and ever-shifting, such that it includes massive, unsustainable state spending)

Mason lives in the same fantasy world as Owen Jones.

http://www.breitbart.com/london/2015/06/18/the-dominance-of-the-neo-liberalism-myth/

[Steve]

This wouldn't have anything to do with the tip jar, would it?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-12/19-year-old-sets-own-ferrari-fire-because-he-wanted-new-one

[David]

Mason lives in the same fantasy world as Owen Jones.

Well, if you start with a laughably counterfactual premise, much of what follows will be laughable too.

[David]

This wouldn’t have anything to do with the tip jar, would it?

Blimey. He makes me look low-maintenance.

[dicentra]

I have often wondered how people first found themselves here. Did they get lost, or were they led astray?

I suspect I got here via proteinwisdom.com as well.

Nice to see that Ace picks you up from time to time, as does Insty.

[David]

Nice to see that Ace picks you up from time to time, as does Insty.

[ Runs fingers through hair, does selfie face. ]

[David]

I suspect I got here via proteinwisdom.com as well.

See, now I’m trying to remember how I first found Protein Wisdom. Eight years feels like forever.

[wtp]

I came here for the waters. It appears I was misinformed.

https://youtu.be/0gC29ArkGG0

[David]

I came here for the waters.

It’s after eight. The ephemera’s compiled. I’m upgrading to a glass of red.

[mojo]

Man, the French had some snazzy uniforms. Or maybe it's just Claude Raines, being debonair.

[C]

Great blog, David. Consider yourself tipped.

[Big O]

The tip jar has been hit. Yours is one of my favorite blogs, David. I appreciate the time you spend in the comments. Always interesting.

[David]

I appreciate the time you spend in the comments.

Well, for me, it’s sort of the point of this place. My posts aren’t The Final Word™ on whatever the subject is, quite the opposite. The posts are intended to spur discussion. That way, I get something out of it.

And thanks again to all who’ve chipped in or subscribed or done shopping via the Amazon widget. It’s what keeps this place here.

[pst314]

"I came here for the waters. It appears I was misinformed."

No waters. But lots of earnestly mouthed bollocks.

But never mind the bollocks; there are no Sex Pistols either.

[lurks but enjoys]

*Drops cash in bucket*

Keep up the sterling work, Mr Thompson.

[David]

Keep up the sterling work, Mr Thompson.

My ego has been buttered. I like that.

[nainoxo]

Off-topic, but I have a feeling the readers of this blog will be appreciative of this scathing essay about the "trigger warning"/"microaggression" nonsense that is infantilising American academia and is now making inroads on this side of the pond too:

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/#disqus_thread

[?]

The political equivalent of Les from Crème Brûlée.

Lol. Tipped.

[Hedgehog]

Tip jar hit.

As to the question how I got here, led astray. Definitely led astray.

Nel mezzo del cammin' di nostra vita
Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
Che la diritta via era smarrita.

[Hal]

Nel mezzo del cammin' di nostra vita
Mi ritrovai per una selva oscura
Che la diritta via era smarrita.

. . . . . Trying to visualize David with an infinitely long tail . . . .

[W]

Tipped.

[David]

Fails at the first sentence. The man’s a joke.

By the way, just for icing, deep thinker Laurie Penny rates Mr Mason as “one of the finest minds on the British left.”