So you think you have problems with bureaucrats. Want to know why the authorities in China are so damned heavy-handed? The draconian clamp-down goes hand-in-hand with a contempt for the law from the powerful and privileged. However, it looks to me like the rule-flouters are losing the battle with the jobsworths. Yep, the peasants are […]
Chinese pranksters and rebels take on rule-flouting officials Read More »
Pic: MICGadget Beware of geeks feeling stiffed. Speaking as a blogger who has fallen foul of the Great Firewall of China, I’m guessing the guy who invented it isn’t so popular among the people he reckons he’s protecting. It’s with a small but delicious sense of schadenfreude that I note computer students threw shoes at
Geeks Throw Shoes at Father of the Great Firewall of China Read More »
A visit to disappeared artist Ai Weiwei‘s 12 Circle of Animals/Zodia Heads at Somerset House off the Strand in London proves well worthwhile. The huge bronze animal heads representing the 12 animals of the Chinese Zodiac have been erected in a suitably impressive setting, standing tall along three sides of the courtyard fountains in this
Ai Weiwei at Somerset House: Jimmy Porter and heads on a stick Read More »
Épater la bourgeoisie. Scare the rich and powerful until their pips squeak. That’s always been a healthy drive for anyone with a democratic bone under their flab, and one that turned me into a London punk back in the day. Another guiding principle is that no-one should be locked up for thought crimes. When you
Ai Weiwei: the Monkey King goes missing Read More »
An illuminating piece from Robert Fisk summing up why Bin Laden was no longer a major influential figure on the world stage and could be dispensed with at last. This paragraph struck me as especially pertinent, raising important questions. But a court would have worried more people than Bin Laden. After all, he might have
Bin Laden already a ghost since the Arab Spring Read More »
So, Obama finishes his hilarious speech at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner by throwing down the head of Osama Bin Laden, saying, ‘Beat that, Donald’. The Mother of All Prizes, Osama Bin Laden, has been killed by Amurkin troops on this royal wedding weekend, ten years after 9/11. Following a massive intelligence effort, he was
