If I were to design a "fantasy pundit" dream team of imbecilic incompetence I couldn't hope to do better than the 3 authors of this piece of work:
Robin Cook, Douglas Hurd and Menzies Campbell. A joke who was pushed off a political cliff by being immediately stuffed into a landrover by the Israeli settlers he came to protest against, a man who's disgusting indifference to genocide resulted in the deaths of thousands and the brains behind Liberal Democrat foreign policy, the primary distinguishing feature of which is its wholesale disassociation with both the principles of Liberalism and Democracy.
Only they could have created such a delightfully morose look at the elections.
Stick Noam Chomsky in there and you'd have a winning poker hand.
Later
John
I was going to blog about the Iraqi elections, but the Times editorial today has done the job better than I could ever hope to. The whole article is superbly succinct and unashamedly congratulates the Iraqi people as it should.
Read it.
My neighbour Jo has just left this evening for her 3rd voluntary tour of Duty in Iraq and she's consented to answer some questions if I email her (obviously nothing which would violate Operational Secrecy). My first bit of Blogojournalism I guess. Let me tell you - everyone there is lucky to have her nearby and not just because she's a medic, Jo's one of the nicest folks you'll ever meet and just one of the reasons I have so much respect for Her Majesty's Armed Forces.
(What with my mate Matt in the RAF and Jo's other half Gary I seem to know a lot of people in the Forces. Every one of them gives me reason to feel intensely grateful for their bravery and dedication. It's hard to support military action when you know people who are on the front lines.)
Later
John
Well I only have another two exams left before I can enjoy a 5 day break and after that, my last semester begins and I'll be able to get back into a steady blogging rhythm.
Simon very kindly linked to the 'buddy system' post below and I've got to say it made me smile. That's mostly due to the fact that the Blogosphere has been my link to Hong Kong for a long time and I'm not far from my return to the Big Lychee.
It's almost been a full 3 years of reading Law at my University in that time I've discovered (rather fortunately) that I really enjoy my subject. I'm a hopeless Law geek, or so I've concluded after having had law-student friends insist on many occasions that I just shut the hell up about some equity case that I happen to find interesting.
In another few months I'll be one step closer to what Hemlock calls "[meeting] HK's insatiable appetite for barristers called John Swaine."
One thing that's really helped me over obstacles has been the knowledge that my career in Hong Kong lies ahead. It's not going to be easy - lord knows there is a glut of junior counsel out there - but I'm certain I can distinguish myself 'in the field' so to speak because I'm not afraid of hard work and dammit I'm good at what I do.
I'm looking forward to hitting the ground running in Hong Kong, getting my PCLL and being called to the bar. If I'm ever lax or goofing off just thinking about something as silly as walking through central can get me motivated.
I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it's that massive neon sign on top of Admiralty Centre. Corny, but that's what gets me up at ridiculous o'clock for my morning exams.
So being linked by Simon's World is just like suddenly thinking of a Dan Ryans breakfast with a copy of HK Magazine or getting onto the MTR - it's a motivating prod in the right direction that makes me smile. It reminds me that I'm almost there.
Just a little way to go.
Later
John
(Oh incidentally, for reasons unbeknownst to me my blogging application can't access a CGI file it needs. I'm getting a 403 error all the time and I've checked all the permissions using my FTP client. This blog is slowly rotting from the bottom up :D Looks like a rebuild is on the way)
According to Simon; both Phil and an amusing HK blogger called SF are being harassed to the point of mental breakdown by the newly enforced ranks of pamphlet distributors in Hong Kong.
As I wrote in a comment on Phil’s blog, in order to get past their veritable phalanx of nuisance you have to learn my favourite trick - the ‘buddy system’. Perfected when I used to have to walk down Nathan Road to get to my Saturday/Sunday job.
Simply speaking you pick out one person from the bundle of people you’re walking with (a given in Central or Kowloon) and stick behind them, using them as ablative armour - a pamphlet human shield.
When they get stuck with a leaflet, drift out from their slipstream and shadow the next person along. Eventually through the hail of promotional material you’ll probably emerge with at least one or two of your pamphlet-fodder buddies intact and you won’t have had to stop walking.
It also makes for a fun diversionary game for those who remain as immature as I.
I am however in good company; my father always enjoyed ‘racing’ a fellow cab-catcher by working out who was in an equivalent position to him in the taxi rank opposite and hoping to get into a cab before them.
Victories won in these tiny games help enliven almost any day and can leave you unashamedly pleased with yourself. Something, as it has long been asserted, which a Swaine male has little problem with.
Later
John
In the words of Granny Weatherwax: "I ain't dead". I'm just a 3rd year law student coming up to his penultimate exams.
My apologies for the lack of posting, blogging will resume when I stop (figuratively) running around with my hair on fire.
Later
John