Darn it, by the time I got back Clemmie had gone. Shame, she seemed pretty cool in every way.
I ended up playing a game with other journos in which you chose the best way to spend 6 billion dollars from:
1. Rebuild Gaza, spending $5b on housing and use the rest for infrastructure, schools, hospitals, power plants, sewage works and a working sea port
2. Nearly a year's worth of Israeli support for its settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT), every one of which is illegal under international law and an obstacle to a just peace
3. Two years worth of the $3b / year US's military support for to Israel to assist it in demolishing Gaza and committing war crimes
4. Sixty America's Cup campaigns at $ 100m a pop
Ok, that last one was my idea, and it didn't get many votes.
Maybe I should have said 30 campaigns at $ 200m a pop to have a chance to win.
Time for Buff to check out that port....
To be continued...
Sorry I think I came to the wrong place. I thought this was a blog about life by and on the Thames and boating and sailing and interesting stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteCan we get back to that kind of stuff soon please?
Trouble is I'm still off sick - been a pain of a summer - so haven't been near a boat for a long time.
ReplyDeleteBut you have a point.
I could leave Buff for a while and go back to posts on books I've read about the Blue Funnel Line.
Thanks. I know it's tough to stay on a blog's main topic when you are out of action. But there's something jarring to me when a watery blog veers off into comments on war and politics and world affairs.
ReplyDeleteWhile I see your point, there's also a case that you should be prepared when necessary to stand up against injustice and in speak up in support of equality - even if it costs you. I just have to re-read the lies and blatant double standards, hypocrisy and BS of Hillary Clinton in the Atlantic to feel justified in trying to balance the one sided misinformation from the MSM.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of injustices and hypocrisy that I could speak out about on my blog too, but I try to resist the temptation because I guess at least half my readers would disagree with my views and they don't come to Proper Course to read what I think about income inequality, single payer health care, the evils of religion, the sins of the British ruling class, the utter rottenness of the British Royal Family, the fundamental cause of all the conflicts in the Middle East, why all 70s music is crap, the flaws in the American Constitution, the real cause of the second world war, why homo sapiens' biggest mistake was allowing ourselves to be domesticated by cats and dogs, the genetic flaw that makes people like broccoli, why the Red Sox will never win another Word Series, why New England should secede from the USA, or why I hate having to re-read the lies and blatant double standards, hypocrisy and BS of Mother Teresa.
ReplyDeleteFair enough, its your blog.
ReplyDelete'Jarring' was the first word that came to mind when I finally (2 minutes ago) decided to follow up on Tillerman's initial shot across your bow. While I read your posts on Gaza with empathy, I wondered where JP went, and where this new Buff came from.
ReplyDelete70s music is NOT crap, and broccoli is a wonderful vegetable. I, too, hate politics and discussing it as well. And if I used too many or not enough commas, tough.
Oh no! Baydog has raised the "broccoli" question: this could get heated.
ReplyDeleteAs a matter of principle this blog does not take a pro or anti position with respect to broccoli. Buff and Sassi have firm instructions not to use the B word (which in two occasions had to be backed up by editorial intervention when one of them "forgot").