Cheap Papers Give Rise To Cheap Opinions

It appears I am far from alone (I didn't suspect I was) in the one or two posts I had written viewing England and the English in not always glowing terms. It's nearly five years since I voted with my feet in leaving and it appears little changes.

A Canadian travel writer, Rory MacLean, based in Berlin looked at this in the light of the recent world cup, in this post . He does so with reference to some of the heinous tabloid headlines (these are the ones he could show you) that accompanied the team's glorious draws with a country for which 'soccer' is a kid's game, another country racked by long term internecine strife and a cruel colonial legacy, unconvincing defeat versus another country with a somewhat chequered past, with a population as he puts it of less than Greater Manchester (although since there are 11 a side in a team regardless of the pool of potentials to choose from I often find this particular argument a bit moribund) before finally crumpling as soon as they had to play against anybody any good.

So much for the problem, but what does MacLean think is a possible solution to this malaise (apart from curbing press freedoms after all, which, something tells me, he won't go for)? It's hard to say. However, I will be able to at least try to get some ideas from the source itself in a week or so - I am going on a creative writing course at Tallinn University taken by...Rory MacLean! Will post any relevant feedback...

Where Does America Fit Into All O' This? - Walt Gleeson

Canfield, Proctor, Nightingale, Zagler, Hill, Robbins, Tracy, Winfrey... step aside please..there's a new success guru in town! Walt Gleeson is a highly successful, internationally renowned author of motivational books and CDs and other products. With a career spanning over half a decade, he has enthralled readers all over the world, from Alaska to Florida and from Hawaii to Rhode Island, with such titles as You Can Do It!, You Can Do It! Too, Literally Make Your House Work For You and Become a Billionaire Whilst On The Toilet, Walt is the Puumaja Crew's personal realization and fulfilment coach, whatever that is.   Today, Walt helps us truly understand the truth behind time management and spreads a little of his South Dakota charm along the way.

Hi all - Walt here again, and it was interesting, but I was reading a very informative article the other day about the Emperor Constantine - you know, the fellow who got an arrow in his eye or something, and founded the city of St Petersburg. Then it struck me - this is all very fine, but where does America fit into all of this? Sure, Constantine lived some twelve centuries before the early settlers, but didn't they have soothsayers in those days?

Now I hear that a 12 part historical drama covering the fortunes of the Medici family in renaissance Italy is being covered, and the only part America plays in it is a brief reference to Columbuses discovery. I mean, talk about disrespect.

I was chatting with Dennis L. Johnson the other day- he's the guy that edited the black edition of my book, You Can Do It - A Black Approach (by the way there are African-American versions of all of my books available, something that the Emperor Constantine evidently overlooked when overseeing the first Council of Nicea - the racialist) and he reminded me of how great our country is - can you imagine a person of colour making it had the United States not provided them with a home and employment in the South, and later the North?

It's important to remember that the whole world is so greatly indebted to us; just take a look around you, it's almost impossible to buy American any more, since all those other folks learned from us how to make things and then started doing it themselves.

So remember, whenever somebody from outside of America is talking, just stop and ask them that one same question: "Where does American fit into all of this?" - and if the answer is, it doesn't, you can be sure that this is all evil lies which will prevent you from being successful and cause you to die on the welfare without electricity or water.

Auntie Bashing

This good article on the Economist website discusses the BBC and how the new Government in the UK seems to be putting pressure on it to change - whereas I had previously thought that was the preserve of the Blair/Brown administration.

The BBC does annoy me it has to be said: it seems to think it's the senior broadcasting service in the world (probably because it is) and has a habit I've never been able to get my head round of seemingly suddenly and unilaterally aribrtating on how, for example, place names should be rendered (yes, I remember when Beijing was Peking) which people assume must be correct 'cos, well, hey it's the BBC. Not that this really matters of course, but they could at least explain these things.

But this article puts forward the fairly convincing case that, insofar as it goes, the BBC is a good thing, its journalism is largely honest and comparatively balanced (Fox News anyone?!) and it doesn't need much in the way of tinkering with, particularly by governments.

I'd still pay a licence fee if I lived in the UK...

Thought For The Day No. 25 - With The Rabbi Anders Weiss

...psychologist, spiritual guru and arbiter of good taste..

You can have no greater sign of confirmed pride than when you think you are humble enough.

William Law

Heatwave Dancing in the Streets..

Here at the PMC we've broken a fire hydrant, stripped off almost completely and are now rioting, since the temperature has risen above the critical level of 24C.

Noone is taking the slightest bit of notice, however..A

Thought For The Day No. 24 - With The Rabbi Anders Weiss

..psychologist, spiritual guru and arbiter of good taste.

It is true that Muhammad started from the east and came to the west, as the sun travels from east to west. Nevertheless he came with war, knives, pillaging, forced enslavement, murders, and acts that are not from the good God but instigated by the chief manslayer, the devil

Gregory Palamas

I think they need a Gregory Palamas in England right now!...

60 Years Of The PMC - Finger On The Pulse Of Culture

2010 marks the 60th anniversary of the launch of the PMC. Yes, it's impossible to believe, but that's because it is impossible.

To mark this auspicious occasion the PMC will be taking a retrospective of some of the outstanding posts of the past six decades. From Cold War to Coldplay and from Ban the Bomb to Ban the Burka, every decade will be represented, and includes highlights from some of the most talked about of contributors...Bertrand Russell, Hunter S. Thompson, Roman Polanski, Roald Dahl and Limahl from Kajagoogoo,  to name but a few - none of them contributed to the PMC's pages (oh, hold on a second, Limahl had a regular section in the early 80s).

It's 1972 and a new, young film reviewer joined the PMC. Not long out of journalist school, and having been a contributor to the infamous 'Piss Off' comic, he was raring to go with some serious journalism and getting to see various films for free. Oh, his name was Wayne Shooter, for goodness sake.

First posted  30th January 1972

Went to see a great movie last night at Theatre One. It's called 'Cannibalised Day of Blood Reckoning' -  you HAVE to go and see it.

Filmed on 8mm cinemascope gives it a graniness which I can only forsee will, on its own, give it the very meaningful title of 'cult' in about 20 or 30 years time.


The maker, still in film school, assembled an excellent cast of his girlfriend, her friend, and some other friends plus one of their dad's to play the policeman, who gets massacred.

One by one, the cast members get massacred, having run out of gas in the middle of the Louisian Bayous. The bit where the guy gets his head completely smashed in is excellent - you can see his brains! Then a cannibal eats it!!

It's not at all depressing and shows just how far we've come in the field of filmmaking since such soft soapy rubbish of 'Wonderful Life', or such unrealistic, bloodless tripe such as Hitchcock's 'Rope' or bourgeoisie-pleasing offerings like 'the Godfather'  (the Studen's Union Class War rep told me to say that, just before he popped up to his parents' house near Henley on Thames).

Indeed, I feel that this new found ability accurately to present blood on-screen will lead to some vastly superior movies than what has been churned out recently, changing the face of the film industry forever.

Thought For The Day No. 23 - With The Rabbi Anders Weiss

...spiritual guru, psychologist and arbiter of good taste...

...suspicion often creates what it suspects.

CS Lewis