SUGGESTATION

(via Justin on Twitter)

http://ukpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hOkWFWPTl44cNOY1xZ1-ibfdQCEA

And so the Olympic torch has arrived here in sunny England. As anyone who hasn’t been hiding on the moon will know, this year’s olympics have been particularly controversial given that it is being hosted by China, who, let’s face it, don’t have the best human rights record, particularly with regards Tibet.

Gordon Brown is going to plough ahead in welcoming the Olympic torch, stating “The Dalai Lama himself has said that he does not want to see a boycott of the Olympics”. Oh good. Excuse me for not giving a shit. I’m sorry, but the tired old line I’ve been hearing recently that sports and politics shouldn’t mix is a load of crap.

Politics is everyones responsibility.

Yeah, so ok. One more thing before I disappear for the weekend. Something for the odd stray to stumble upon in this dark corner of the internet.

Will someone please enlighten me on what the heck the fascination is with leftism and rightism? I mean seriously. I’m supposedly a left-wing liberal (watches the stumbler run screaming back into the woods), but I find myself having SO much more in common politically with the righty libertarians (waves to Mr E) than with the lefty authoritarians. Yeah sure, I know, wellfare state, taxes, etc etc. But the one thing guaranteed to piss me off is when I hear I’m going to be banned from doing X, Y or Z. Whether I’d actually do it or not.

/Rant off. I’m really going now. Maybe.

Well, here goes.

I’ve been putting this off for a long time. I registered this domain back in January 2006, installed Wordpress and had the clear intention of maintaining a political comment blog. I’d been inspired by the blogs of some very talented writers (see the blogroll), and goshdarnit, I had things to say.

So why the wait?

Well, I ain’t a good writer. My better half seems to think I’m intelligent, but we both know I’m of the ’stream-of-consciousness’ variety. I’ve been somewhat content thus far to let the good bloggers I’ve read put forward opinions that I largely agree with, in a much more coherent and thorough manner than I could hope to achieve. However, a few issues.

On the odd occasion when I’ve felt I’ve absolutely positively had to write something about an issue, I’ve done it on someone else’s blog. Comments are great, but it can go too far. Secondly, I’ve learned a whole heap about British politics in the last four or five years (from a scarily unknowledgeable start), but I have a long way to go. Many aspects still elude me - it appears I’m going to have to swallow the philosophy section of my nearest library, and many things, particularly about the political blogosphere, enrage me.

So without further ado, I give you a brand new, shiny blog. In the spirit of recent developments, here’s my statporn. Woot. I should leave a few browser windows autorefreshing over the weekend to spank up my ‘visits’.

And with that, I’m off for the weekend. Alas, no internet access from there. Still, I’ve a tenner on the horses for tomorrow - who knows, I may get lucky!