Richard Dawkins...

...shows the nobility of his character and the excellence of his mind. And people are surprised.

As I said in a number of places: a man whom you have idolized for his insulting, arrogant, insensitive, ignorant, threatening behaviour to those who disagreed with him — turned out to be insulting, arrogant, insensitive, ignorant and threatening towards someone who disagreed with him. And you are surprised.

Gee whiz. The logic of science.

Rupert's orphans

Before anyone has so much as began to see the end-game of the Murdoch scandals - which, let us remember, arise entirely from the criminal behaviour of Murdoch and his employees, behaviour which was known to be criminal and has been so for decades - a number of conservatives are yelping about left-wing conspiracies and assaults upon freedom of the press. Well, apart that the most monstrous assault upon the freedom of the press ever mounted was Rupert Murdoch's, don't you think, my dear people, that you should wait for any actual evidence of any such plot to arise, before you dedicate pages upon pages of yelping conspiracy theories to it? All you are showing right now is that you fear that without the mafia protection of this criminal, your views might not get a hearing. Well, perhaps I am in a privileged position: as a social conservative, whose views would never have got a hearing in Page Three land, I definitely have nothing to lose by the collapse of this champion of wickedness. But I would say that this instinctive display of fear suggests a lack of confidence in one's own beliefs and a psychological dependence on criminality and subversion that certainly does not speak well for anyone who holds it. If your views are correct, they shall be proven so. Meanwhile, be grateful that your side, whatever it is, has been cleared from a destructive and corrupting influence.

Edited InDaniel Hannan talking sense. The mind reels. But perhaps his fellow Thatcherits will pay attention. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/danielhannan/100096817/the-phone-hacking-scandal-is-not-a-leftist-conspiracy-for-heavens-sake/

The city of Pulcinella

One of the most beautiful protest songs I have heard in a long time, and evidence that whatever else may be wrong and even in ruin in Naples, the power of song is still alive and undeniable.

(Text and translation behind the cut)
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