Heston Blumenthal
Crab risotto with crab ice cream. Veal sweetbread cooked with hay and pollen and roasted in a salt crust. Foie gras with smoked eel and jasmine and mead jelly. And smoked bacon ice cream with pain perdu, caramelised tomato and puree of cep. For dessert.
"If I called my crab ice cream frozen crab bisque no one would bat an eyelid," he says.
Blumenthal believes that the way the palate interprets flavours is more strongly linked to the brain than people realise. The palate is trained from birth. One in eight people can't taste truffles properly, if at all; a bit like some people can't hear dog-whistles.
"I had an idea," announces Blumenthal grandly. "Savoury candyfloss."
The Fat Duck restaurant
Friday, 7 November 2003
THE HETERODICTATORSHIP
The royal biographer Penny Junor told Sky News she thought it was "quite sensible" that prince charles has attempted to quash the story that he likes to take it up the arse.
she said: "The allegations are so vile ... I find them offensive and extraordinary and I think it was right somebody put something into the public arena saying this is not true."
no ms. junor, whats vile is is your use of extraordinairy negative language to describe same gender sexuality. it isn't slanderous to say someone is gay, in the same way that it isn't slander to say someone is left-handed. whether the story is true or not, and i tend to believe it is true, its not claiming he's a cannabalistic paedophile, (though i'm sure there are a number of those among the ruling classes). it merely claims he may be gay, bisexual or bi-curious, and that when diana said there were 3 people in that marriage she might not have been referring to camilla.
to call it vile is similar in attitude to recent magazine articles about the soap opera 'coronation street' and its new ratings grabbing storylines. such articles always casually clump together in the same sentence a brief boy-on-boy kiss with a seperate serial killer story line, as though they were kindred spirits. the lazy underlying homophobia is plain to see.
and on the subject of fuckwitted tv, there was a recent tv listings magazine article on that tiresome old sitcom 'are you being served'. the writers of the series state that camp mr. humphreys never talked about such things as boyfriends, "audiences in those days didn't want to be confronted with that sort of detail."
no you stupid cunts. apart from the obvious fact that a percentage of that audience were themselves gay (or related to someone gay), it also meant that every gay man or gay teen growing up in the seventies had to put up with wankers shouting mr. humphreys intolerable catchphrase, "i'm free", at them. just before getting a kicking in a vicious attack driven by undiluted hatred and ignorance.
its the continuing perpetuation of murderous hatred which is vile, penny my dear. not the fact that some toff might have been caught with his trousers down (yet again).
the most ludicrous thing in the charles news coverage is the notion that people who know charles believe they are in a position to rubbish the story. almost nobody in anybody's life really knows another persons deepest sexual desires. and certainly there are few people in charles' circle who might really know him. except maybe his boyfriend.
The royal biographer Penny Junor told Sky News she thought it was "quite sensible" that prince charles has attempted to quash the story that he likes to take it up the arse.
she said: "The allegations are so vile ... I find them offensive and extraordinary and I think it was right somebody put something into the public arena saying this is not true."
no ms. junor, whats vile is is your use of extraordinairy negative language to describe same gender sexuality. it isn't slanderous to say someone is gay, in the same way that it isn't slander to say someone is left-handed. whether the story is true or not, and i tend to believe it is true, its not claiming he's a cannabalistic paedophile, (though i'm sure there are a number of those among the ruling classes). it merely claims he may be gay, bisexual or bi-curious, and that when diana said there were 3 people in that marriage she might not have been referring to camilla.
to call it vile is similar in attitude to recent magazine articles about the soap opera 'coronation street' and its new ratings grabbing storylines. such articles always casually clump together in the same sentence a brief boy-on-boy kiss with a seperate serial killer story line, as though they were kindred spirits. the lazy underlying homophobia is plain to see.
and on the subject of fuckwitted tv, there was a recent tv listings magazine article on that tiresome old sitcom 'are you being served'. the writers of the series state that camp mr. humphreys never talked about such things as boyfriends, "audiences in those days didn't want to be confronted with that sort of detail."
no you stupid cunts. apart from the obvious fact that a percentage of that audience were themselves gay (or related to someone gay), it also meant that every gay man or gay teen growing up in the seventies had to put up with wankers shouting mr. humphreys intolerable catchphrase, "i'm free", at them. just before getting a kicking in a vicious attack driven by undiluted hatred and ignorance.
its the continuing perpetuation of murderous hatred which is vile, penny my dear. not the fact that some toff might have been caught with his trousers down (yet again).
the most ludicrous thing in the charles news coverage is the notion that people who know charles believe they are in a position to rubbish the story. almost nobody in anybody's life really knows another persons deepest sexual desires. and certainly there are few people in charles' circle who might really know him. except maybe his boyfriend.
Wednesday, 5 November 2003
"GUY FAWKES and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Why did he do it
and what else was happening at the time."
"England had undergone a Reformation. Under Henry VIII, it had separated the English Church from the Pope and formed the Church of England, under the King. All subjects were obliged to swear oaths affirming the King's Supremacy as head of the Church and those who did not were imprisoned."
"when Elizabeth I came to power in 1558, the following 48 years drove Catholics further and further underground."
"During the period from 1563, successive legislation, starting with the (second) Act of Supremacy, required an oath from all subjects that the monarch was Supreme Governor of the Church and any refusal was punishable by death."
"Between 1587 and 1593 more Acts were passed,
Fines were levied on those who absented themselves from Church services at 20 shillings (a huge sum) a month. Only the rich could possibly afford such fines and it was an effective (and profitable) way to ensure conformity of the vast majority of the people"
"We know no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot."
Why did he do it
and what else was happening at the time."
"England had undergone a Reformation. Under Henry VIII, it had separated the English Church from the Pope and formed the Church of England, under the King. All subjects were obliged to swear oaths affirming the King's Supremacy as head of the Church and those who did not were imprisoned."
"when Elizabeth I came to power in 1558, the following 48 years drove Catholics further and further underground."
"During the period from 1563, successive legislation, starting with the (second) Act of Supremacy, required an oath from all subjects that the monarch was Supreme Governor of the Church and any refusal was punishable by death."
"Between 1587 and 1593 more Acts were passed,
Fines were levied on those who absented themselves from Church services at 20 shillings (a huge sum) a month. Only the rich could possibly afford such fines and it was an effective (and profitable) way to ensure conformity of the vast majority of the people"
"We know no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot."
Tuesday, 4 November 2003
naked protest
Megan Vogt and Connie Durkee don't think Adidas should be making soccer shoes out of kangaroo leather.
So when the women's World Cup soccer matches came to Portland earlier this month, the two middle-aged women decided to draw attention to their animal rights cause by stripping off their clothes and running naked in front of more than 27,000 spectators at PGE Park during the Oct. 5 semifinal between the American and German teams.
Vogt, 40, and Durkee, 48, say they are not exhibitionists. But they agreed that streaking during the soccer match was the best way to get their message across. "It seemed like the only way we could get people to pay any attention to us," Durkee said.
Theresa Reed, who organised an anti-war naked protest in march, said "By using our nude bodies in peaceful protest, we hoped to remind ourselves and others and the world that we are all equal in our fragility, vulnerability, morality and humanity."
NAKED PROTEST links
Megan Vogt and Connie Durkee don't think Adidas should be making soccer shoes out of kangaroo leather.
So when the women's World Cup soccer matches came to Portland earlier this month, the two middle-aged women decided to draw attention to their animal rights cause by stripping off their clothes and running naked in front of more than 27,000 spectators at PGE Park during the Oct. 5 semifinal between the American and German teams.
Vogt, 40, and Durkee, 48, say they are not exhibitionists. But they agreed that streaking during the soccer match was the best way to get their message across. "It seemed like the only way we could get people to pay any attention to us," Durkee said.
Theresa Reed, who organised an anti-war naked protest in march, said "By using our nude bodies in peaceful protest, we hoped to remind ourselves and others and the world that we are all equal in our fragility, vulnerability, morality and humanity."
NAKED PROTEST links
Israel Imposes Security Checks on Media
Israel will force journalists to undergo stringent checks by its Shin Bet security service as a requirement for accreditation, the head of the Government Press Office said Monday.
Israeli and foreign journalists criticized the decision as an attempt to inhibit freedom of the press.
(via news insider)
Israel to deploy robot bulldozers
Israel will force journalists to undergo stringent checks by its Shin Bet security service as a requirement for accreditation, the head of the Government Press Office said Monday.
Israeli and foreign journalists criticized the decision as an attempt to inhibit freedom of the press.
(via news insider)
Israel to deploy robot bulldozers
George Monbiot on The persecution of Gypsies
Between a quarter and half a million Gypsies were killed during the Holocaust: in many parts of Europe, the Nazis almost succeeded in eliminating them.
Throughout eastern Europe, the Roma are still denied employment, herded into ghettoes and beaten to death by skinheads.
In Britain, some 67% of traditional travellers' sites were closed between 1986 and 1993. In 1994, the government released local authorities from the duty to provide sites for travellers and introduced new laws penalising people who stopped without permission.
We fear people whose mobility makes them hard for our settled systems of government to control. But we also appear to hate them for something we perceive them to possess: freedom.
Between a quarter and half a million Gypsies were killed during the Holocaust: in many parts of Europe, the Nazis almost succeeded in eliminating them.
Throughout eastern Europe, the Roma are still denied employment, herded into ghettoes and beaten to death by skinheads.
In Britain, some 67% of traditional travellers' sites were closed between 1986 and 1993. In 1994, the government released local authorities from the duty to provide sites for travellers and introduced new laws penalising people who stopped without permission.
We fear people whose mobility makes them hard for our settled systems of government to control. But we also appear to hate them for something we perceive them to possess: freedom.
Monday, 3 November 2003
us, uk and their pal Uzbekistan
There are over 6,000 political and religious prisoners in Uzbekistan. Every year, some of them are tortured to death. Political dissidents, human rights activists and homosexuals receive the same treatment.
far from seeking to isolate this regime, the US government has tripled its aid to Uzbekistan. Last year, it received $500m (£300m), of which $79m went to the police and intelligence services, who are responsible for most of the torture.
Sometimes the policemen or intelligence agents simply break their fingers, their ribs and then their skulls with hammers, or stab them with screwdrivers, or rip off bits of skin and flesh with pliers, or drive needles under their fingernails, or leave them standing for a fortnight, up to their knees in freezing water. Sometimes they are a little more inventive. The body of one prisoner was delivered to his relatives last year, with a curious red tidemark around the middle of his torso. He had been boiled to death.
All the principal enemies of the US today were fostered by the US or its allies in the past.
and in the uk the British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has repeatedly criticised Karimov's crushing of democracy movements and his use of torture to silence his opponents. Murray has been sending home dossiers which could scarcely fail to move anyone who cares about human rights.
Tony Blair has been moved enough to do everything he could to silence our ambassador. Mr Murray has been threatened with the sack, investigated for a series of plainly trumped-up charges and persecuted so relentlessly by his superiors that he had to spend some time, like many of Karimov's critics, in a psychiatric ward, though in this case for sound clinical reasons. This pressure, according to a senior government source, was partly "exercised on the orders of No 10".
There are over 6,000 political and religious prisoners in Uzbekistan. Every year, some of them are tortured to death. Political dissidents, human rights activists and homosexuals receive the same treatment.
far from seeking to isolate this regime, the US government has tripled its aid to Uzbekistan. Last year, it received $500m (£300m), of which $79m went to the police and intelligence services, who are responsible for most of the torture.
Sometimes the policemen or intelligence agents simply break their fingers, their ribs and then their skulls with hammers, or stab them with screwdrivers, or rip off bits of skin and flesh with pliers, or drive needles under their fingernails, or leave them standing for a fortnight, up to their knees in freezing water. Sometimes they are a little more inventive. The body of one prisoner was delivered to his relatives last year, with a curious red tidemark around the middle of his torso. He had been boiled to death.
All the principal enemies of the US today were fostered by the US or its allies in the past.
and in the uk the British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, has repeatedly criticised Karimov's crushing of democracy movements and his use of torture to silence his opponents. Murray has been sending home dossiers which could scarcely fail to move anyone who cares about human rights.
Tony Blair has been moved enough to do everything he could to silence our ambassador. Mr Murray has been threatened with the sack, investigated for a series of plainly trumped-up charges and persecuted so relentlessly by his superiors that he had to spend some time, like many of Karimov's critics, in a psychiatric ward, though in this case for sound clinical reasons. This pressure, according to a senior government source, was partly "exercised on the orders of No 10".
Sunday, 2 November 2003
hitler's nazi influence in america
"I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator," said Adolf Hitler.
"God told me to strike at Al Qa'ida and I struck them. And then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did. With the might of God on our side we will triumph," said George Bush.
It is no surprise to find Hitler's ghost in the offices of Senator Trent Lott who said of white supremacist Senator Strom Thurmond -an opponent of integration and civil rights in the 1960's- "When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."
And in the Pentagon, Hitler's ideology has a friend in the form of US Marine Corps Lieutenant General William Boykin, who believes that "God supports the US military because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian [...]. Our spiritual enemies will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus."
Nazi minions, Arthur Rudolph and Werner Von Braun, provided the know-how to put American astronauts on the moon and nuclear warheads into space.
from 1939 to 1942, Ford Motor Company produced thousands of combat vehicles for the Nazis at its Cologne, Germany production facility. During the height of WWII, Ford shipped raw materials from America to the Cologne plant to ensure that production would not be interrupted by Allied bombing and that Hitler would remain a happy customer. According to Ken Silverstein, Ford vehicles were crucial to the revolutionary Nazi military strategy of blitzkrieg. Of the 350,000 trucks used by the motorized German Army as of 1942, roughly one-third were Ford products
IBM received lucrative contracts from the Nazis. Profits from those efforts, like Ford's were sent home to America to perform research and development for new profit-making technologies. It's the same story for General Motors, Kodak, Dupont, and General Electric (owner of NBC news).
and not forgetting of course that grandpa Prescott Bush, along with partner E. Ronald Harriman, supplied financial aid and raw materials to Hitler's Third Reich.
flash: "Bush is not a Nazi so stop saying that"
Web Conspiranoids.pdf
the 14 defining characteristics of fascism
archive: AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY AND THE LEGACY OF KISSINGER
plus: French neo-Nazis formed an alliance with extremist Jewish groups on the Internet to publish a torrent of hate messages directed against Arabs and Muslims. 26 websites, traced to right-wing and Jewish extremists groups in France, operated from the same server in the United States between 1999 and March this year. source
"When an opponent declares, 'I will not come over to your side, 'I calmly say, 'Your child belongs to us already...What are you? You will pass on. Your decendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new community." adolf hitler
"I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator," said Adolf Hitler.
"God told me to strike at Al Qa'ida and I struck them. And then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did. With the might of God on our side we will triumph," said George Bush.
It is no surprise to find Hitler's ghost in the offices of Senator Trent Lott who said of white supremacist Senator Strom Thurmond -an opponent of integration and civil rights in the 1960's- "When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We're proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn't have had all these problems over all these years."
And in the Pentagon, Hitler's ideology has a friend in the form of US Marine Corps Lieutenant General William Boykin, who believes that "God supports the US military because we're a Christian nation, because our foundation and our roots are Judeo-Christian [...]. Our spiritual enemies will only be defeated if we come against them in the name of Jesus."
Nazi minions, Arthur Rudolph and Werner Von Braun, provided the know-how to put American astronauts on the moon and nuclear warheads into space.
from 1939 to 1942, Ford Motor Company produced thousands of combat vehicles for the Nazis at its Cologne, Germany production facility. During the height of WWII, Ford shipped raw materials from America to the Cologne plant to ensure that production would not be interrupted by Allied bombing and that Hitler would remain a happy customer. According to Ken Silverstein, Ford vehicles were crucial to the revolutionary Nazi military strategy of blitzkrieg. Of the 350,000 trucks used by the motorized German Army as of 1942, roughly one-third were Ford products
IBM received lucrative contracts from the Nazis. Profits from those efforts, like Ford's were sent home to America to perform research and development for new profit-making technologies. It's the same story for General Motors, Kodak, Dupont, and General Electric (owner of NBC news).
and not forgetting of course that grandpa Prescott Bush, along with partner E. Ronald Harriman, supplied financial aid and raw materials to Hitler's Third Reich.
flash: "Bush is not a Nazi so stop saying that"
Web Conspiranoids.pdf
the 14 defining characteristics of fascism
archive: AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY AND THE LEGACY OF KISSINGER
plus: French neo-Nazis formed an alliance with extremist Jewish groups on the Internet to publish a torrent of hate messages directed against Arabs and Muslims. 26 websites, traced to right-wing and Jewish extremists groups in France, operated from the same server in the United States between 1999 and March this year. source
"When an opponent declares, 'I will not come over to your side, 'I calmly say, 'Your child belongs to us already...What are you? You will pass on. Your decendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing but this new community." adolf hitler
post office strike
Managers have been told to identify ringleaders and eavesdrop on conversations between employees, noting in diaries exact times, dates, names and what is said.
All activists should be under permanent observation and will be challenged at the first rumour of a possible walkout.
if a strike starts, managers have been ordered to film, video and photograph picket lines. They have been urged to buy disposable cameras if necessary and use CCTV cameras to back up witness statements.
Managers have been told to identify ringleaders and eavesdrop on conversations between employees, noting in diaries exact times, dates, names and what is said.
All activists should be under permanent observation and will be challenged at the first rumour of a possible walkout.
if a strike starts, managers have been ordered to film, video and photograph picket lines. They have been urged to buy disposable cameras if necessary and use CCTV cameras to back up witness statements.
tory leader
tom watson reminds us about the foul-smelling, mean-spirited monstrosity that is Michael Howard (though any labour mp criticising the tories is a case of pot, kettle, and black). the reminder includes:
As Home Secretary, howard believed that the answer to crime was simply to lock more people up: "an increase in the number of criminals in prison leads to a large fall in crime" (POLITICS, MORALITY AND THE NATION STATE lecture, ST. MICHAEL CHURCH, CORNHILL, CITY OF LONDON, 10 January 2003)
Howard attacked Labour for defending the rights of trade unionists at GCHQ (in 1979 and 1981)
Howard was the Minister who brought in Clause 28 of the Local Government Act banning the "promotion" of homosexuality (March 1988), and voted against equal rights for homosexuals by opposing lowering the homosexual age of consent to 16
Howard voted in favour of anti-abortion campaigner David Alton's Bill to reduce access to abortion (January 1988)
As Environment Secretary, Howard allowed power generators to keep their pollution levels secret (Nov 1992)
Howard criticised Jack Straw's decision to detain General Pinochet and actively campaigned for his release: "We think this has gone on far too long. We think he should be sent back to Chile." (BBC Interview, 26 November 1998)
Howard opposed the introduction of the Human Rights Act.
tom watson reminds us about the foul-smelling, mean-spirited monstrosity that is Michael Howard (though any labour mp criticising the tories is a case of pot, kettle, and black). the reminder includes:
As Home Secretary, howard believed that the answer to crime was simply to lock more people up: "an increase in the number of criminals in prison leads to a large fall in crime" (POLITICS, MORALITY AND THE NATION STATE lecture, ST. MICHAEL CHURCH, CORNHILL, CITY OF LONDON, 10 January 2003)
Howard attacked Labour for defending the rights of trade unionists at GCHQ (in 1979 and 1981)
Howard was the Minister who brought in Clause 28 of the Local Government Act banning the "promotion" of homosexuality (March 1988), and voted against equal rights for homosexuals by opposing lowering the homosexual age of consent to 16
Howard voted in favour of anti-abortion campaigner David Alton's Bill to reduce access to abortion (January 1988)
As Environment Secretary, Howard allowed power generators to keep their pollution levels secret (Nov 1992)
Howard criticised Jack Straw's decision to detain General Pinochet and actively campaigned for his release: "We think this has gone on far too long. We think he should be sent back to Chile." (BBC Interview, 26 November 1998)
Howard opposed the introduction of the Human Rights Act.
age of consent
Miranda Sawyer says it would be better for everyone if we lowered the age of sexual consent to 12.
Miranda Sawyer says it would be better for everyone if we lowered the age of sexual consent to 12.
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