Friday Spiked picks

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Still busy, but here is my selection from this week's Sp!ked:

10 reasons why Gordon Brown is not fit to be prime minister
He’s yesterday’s man; And he espouses yesterday’s politics; He sees security as the highest aim of politics; He’s an enemy of liberty; He wants to change our ‘bad behaviour’; He’s a political coward; He’s a New Colonialist; He’s a politician of low expectations; He’s a miserabilist; He has a weird effect on commentators’ critical faculties


Despite the evidence that he is illiberal, interventionist and curmudgeonly – and despite the leading part he played in developing New Labour’s narrow and increasingly behaviour-based political agenda – some in the commentariat still believe that Brown will breathe life back into the British political scene. Others claim that he just has a personality problem, and if only he had a fashion, hair and conversational makeover then everything would be okay. This is wishful thinking in the extreme. This isn’t about personality; Brown’s problem is that his politics are dour and dull. He is now the face and voice of New Labour, representing its inherent values of austerity, interventionism and security-over-freedom better than anybody else. And yet, Brown is best known for what he is not: he became Labour leader on the basis that he is not Blair (despite sharing all of Blair’s political prejudices) and he will stand in the next General Election, possibly next year, on the basis that he is not David Cameron.
The global crusade against the ‘evil weed’
As of 1 July, it will be illegal to light up a cigarette in designated places of work in England. Across the world - from the pub-culture of Ireland to the formerly smoky cafés of Italy to the lager-swilling bars of Australia - smoking bans are being enforced with alarming uniformity. What’s behind this global crusade against the evil weed? spiked writers report from London, Paris, Galway, Rome, Stockholm, Glasgow, Brisbane and New York on the impact of enforced stubbing-out

Seeing through the smoking ban
The passive smoking issue has become a symbol of this disconnected state of affairs, a sort of metaphor for a mindset that always sees somebody else and their behaviour as the problem in your life. It is not just other people’s smoke that is now seen as toxic - it is other people themselves. And perhaps we can no longer even trust ourselves not to harm us without the professional help of the therapeutic state.



I need a drink!

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Tennessee poised to become first state to require universal carding on beer sales


Beginning July 1, Tennessee will be the first state in the U.S. to require universal carding for purchases of beer for off-premises consumption.The Tennessee Responsible Vendor Act is hailed by proponents as an innovative and strong step in the fight against underage drinking.

Jarron Springer, president of the Tennessee Grocers and Convenience Store Association, concedes older customers, who are obviously of legal age to buy beer, may not be too thrilled with the mandatory carding. However, he says the cooperation of those customers will help busy clerks establish requesting an ID as part of their working routine, helping fight underage purchases.



Glastonbury 2007

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The only way you'd get me to Glastonbury nowadays is if you promised I'd be transported around the site in a litter and was able to retire to a decent hotel every night. The TV coverage was excellent, as always, but I didn't get organised enough to record much. I did snag the end of this performance by Arcade Fire though. Ah, Regine.....mmmmmmm!


And this bit of fun, 'Bottle Rocket' from the inaptly named The Go! Team.


Take a letter, Maria

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Crooked Timber - The myth of “The Myth of the Paperless Office”

John Quiggin ponders his (almost) paperless working life. I used to not like reading online and tended to print out articles that interested me but I now actually prefer an online source and I don't even buy a newspaper anymore. However good your indexing methods there is no contest when compared to a good digital search system. PDFs and EBooks have improved enormously over the last few years and sophisticated database systems, such as the one I use - DevonThink Pro Office - provide management tools that no paper based system can begin to match.

The “paperless office” is one of those catchphrases that gets bandied about for a while, only to disappoint and eventually be used in a purely derisive way...The death of the phrase was cemented by a 2001 book, by Sellen and Harper “The Myth of the Paperless Office”.

This book wasn’t a snarky debunking but a fairly sophisticated analysis, pointing out that a sensible analysis of task requirements could allow a significant reduction in paper use. But it was the title that stuck. No one would ever again refer to the paperless office with a straight face.

Six years later, though, looking at my own work habits, I find that I have virtually ceased to use paper, in all but a couple of marginal applications.

There are some interesting comments. For some people paper scores on juxtaposibility, and longevity. And some think the reduction in paper usage has more to do with print duplexing than with paperless systems.

Of course there are some things that only paper does properly: love letters, suicide notes, birthday cards and leaked memos to name a few.


Put this woman on the ticket

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Mrs. Edwards Comfortable With Gay Unions
Elizabeth Edwards, wife of Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, kicked off San Francisco's annual gay pride parade Sunday by splitting with her husband over support for legalized gay marriage. 

"I don't know why someone else's marriage has anything to do with me," Mrs. Edwards said at a news conference before the parade started. "I'm completely comfortable with gay marriage." She made the remark almost offhandedly in answering a question from reporters after she delivered a standard campaign stump speech during a breakfast hosted by the Alice B. Toklas Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Democratic Club.



Keep talking

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BBC captive in 'bomb vest' video
The kidnappers of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston have released a new video of him in which he is wearing what he says is an explosives vest.In the tape, Mr Johnston says his captors have said they will detonate the vest if force is used to try to free him.
As distressing as these images of Alan Johnston are I can't help feeling that this video might just end up saving his life. It shows in graphic detail what is obvious to most of us anyway - an assault on the kidnappers would almost certainly result in Alan Johnston being killed. Whether it's by a bomb-belt or a bullet to the head seems hardly relevant.

The kidnappers are clearly jittery and suspect an attempt at a 'military' solution, that is, a group of hyped-up Hamas fighters storming their hideout. The Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, has already said that Mr Johnston's captivity could not carry on. 'We will not allow the continuation of the abduction of the British journalist. The issue of Alan Johnston must end'.

You can read that statement in many ways but I can't help feeling that Haniya want's an end to this affront to Hamas's authority, even if it's at the expense of Alan Johnston's life. If Hamas decides to use force to free him the consequences are now clear for all to see.

Distasteful though the video is it does at least show that Johnston is alive and in good health and if it dissuades reckless action on the part of Hamas or anyone else it might just prove to be his lifesaver.


HH wins

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Harman wins deputy leader contest
Harriet Harman is the new deputy leader of the Labour Party, after a seven-week contest to replace John Prescott.

The 56-year-old justice minister pipped favourite Alan Johnson and four other MPs to win the ballot of party and union members, Labour MPs and MEPs.

She got 50.4% of votes to Mr Johnson's 49.6% after all the other contestants' second preferences were reallocated.


UPDATE: She doesn't appear to be from the right stock for some people.
As Tim Worstall reminds us, the niece of the late Countess of Longford has just been elected to the deputy leadership of the Labour Party. She defeated a former postman who was orphaned at 12 and left school at 15. Up the workers!
For fuck's sake, we had that great example from the working class, John Prescott, for ten years. Not, I believe, even remotely connected to the aristocracy, just a complete bloody twat.