The Furrowed Brow.
The place for serious talk about whatever you want.
Jump to more content from this blog
About this blog
The blog for the afternoon news and current affairs programme presented by Eddie Mair.
Subscribe to PM
You can stay up to date with PM via these feeds.
PM Feed(RSS)
PM Feed(ATOM)
If you aren't sure what RSS is you'll find our beginner's guide to RSS useful.
Listen to PM
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~21~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
(on the immediately previous Furrowed Brow, about his post 9, on that thread)::-
At 5:46pm on 29 Jun 2008, pmLeader wrote:
9. Why isn't this post (and a clutch from me around the same dates) saved at my pmLeader site (arrived at by clicking on my name in blue on intro to this post)?
Anyone else having this prob?
(The original is just before Fifi's report that she has saved the planet and a pollinating bumblebee, at the end of the thread)
Complain about this comment
Yes, I've got the same prob - when I click on my name, I don't get a batch of your posts either. Though I have to say, I hadn't really thought of it as a problem before now.
(But I do get a batch of mine ...)
Complain about this comment
Okay, here's a poser for Monday.
Iraq, it is reported today, is seeking help to develop oil production through a series of contracts with companies like Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP who, from the report on Today, were the main players prior to the oilfields being taken into state ownership (in Saddam's time, I think).
Now, I'm no supporter of the Iraqi war, but I must say that the following question is crossing my mind: Do the partners in Iraq's 'liberation' get first call on any exported oil? And are some partners more equal than others?
Given the current energy crisis, I'd like to know how this is going to play. And this isn't primarily a discussion about the rights and wrongs of the invasion of Iraq (though that still remains a very legitimate matter for debate).
What do others think?
Complain about this comment
I don’t think anything changes post-war.
Iraq has a natural resource that’s in huge demand.
Foreign companies have the technology and experience in processing it.
Oil companies are in the business of buying rights to extract oil and selling it at the highest margin. Highest bidder gets the bigger slice.
Thanks to their geology they have a real chance of rebuilding their society quickly, if only they’d stop killing each other.
Complain about this comment
Big Sis, very interesting that you bring oil into the Iraq war debate.
You don't think that influenced the decision of the US and therefore us to get involved?
Shock, horror !!!!!!
I think Morgan Tsvangirai and the MDC missed a trick by not pretending that Zimbabwe was awash with the stuff.
Complain about this comment
T-bird: I've repeatedly expressed my cynicism before about the role of oil in the Iraq war, so you can take that as read as far as I'm concerned. But what interests me now is, with oil and energy prices in the UK being at a historic high (and higher than in many other Western countries), will the development of the oilfields help us through the crisis? Or will it be another instance of others reaping the benefit (thinking here of North Sea oil/gas)?
After all, one way or another, the UK taxpayer has contributed towards the 'liberation' of Iraq. How ironic would it be if we were not to see any benefit from the increase in oil production!
Complain about this comment
Big Sister - I doubt very much that we will get any benifit whtasoever from Iraq's oil, that will all go to the americans.
Complain about this comment
3 and 6 (one shilling and fivepence ha'p'nny of anyone's m'zoomer)
3. suggests we'll get unfair advantage from the war, 6, that we'll get unfair disadvantage from the war.
But you haven't argued for the Goldylocks position (not too little, not too much).
Is that what you think should happen?
If so how SHOULD we be punished for the war?
I'm sure you think we shouldn't benefit at all from this international war crime.
Are you sure we shouldn't suffer a little?
Complain about this comment
2.
Well, your Comments are recorded at 'Click on Sid in blue' one week on, one week off, if you care to back-track.
Hugh-Z-H is ignored altogether before 24th. June or so.
I hope that's comme ils faux 'cos otherwise a large number of highly witty comments will have been lost to all but the most diligent blog explorers.
Anyway this squirrel knows where he hid his own nuts and is repeating here immediately below everything he ever said that was worth saying but that the pmLeader (in blue) pmBlog post collection has lost:-
Oh, yeah, and
Etc, etc.
PS
Also...
No more now, I am too close to saying something everyone agrees with.
Complain about this comment
Boy, is there a lot to have a furrowed brow about at the moment.
Mine's rendered particularly wrinkly this week by two things: the media's reporting of science and the silly nuclear (or non-nuclear) situation in Iran.
One, the media seem to be making a right hash of science coverage. The only reliable way to get up to the minute accurate, non-hysterical news about emotive subjects like global warming, so called 'Fankenstein' genetics and the march of loony creationism is to get it straight from the scientists' mouth.
To that end, you can't beat New Scientist magazine. Plain language science for interested people, most of which can easily be understood by science numpties like me.
If I didn't read NS for my weekly dose of sanity, but listened the the Radio, watcned TV and read the papers instead, I'd be in a right panic about the human race's prospects right now. And panic really isn't helpful.
Second, Iran. We have nuclear weapons, don't we? The USA has massive, overkilling stockpiles of the buggers. Most European countries have nuclear weapons, as do many second and some third world nations.
So exactly what are our idiot world leaders thinking of when trying to force Iran to give up their nuclear industry?
Even if Iran intends to make bombs, why not? Everyone else has got bombs coming out of their ears.
Even from the lowly standpoint of school playground logic, you can't expect one country to forsake something everyone else has. Ridiculous, and doomed to failure.
I'm with the Iranians. If I was Iranian, I'd be absolutely livid at the sheer bare faced cheek of people like Bush.
That's better. Perhaps I'll be able to go and cook tea without fuming now. Thanks for the opportunity to daft issue raises its head. Sometimes, I wish I just didn't care...!
Kate Naylor, freelance copywriter, Brighton.
Complain about this comment
10.
This is worth looking at.
Complain about this comment
10.
This is worth clicking on
Complain about this comment
Kate (10) What is a freelance copywriter? I guess someone who doesn't read / see the news and most definitely not been to Iran. I do like the playground comparison and that does work as long as everyone in the aforesaid area is playing by the same rules.
If say Jonnie (Iran) claims that Freddie (German WW2 Nazis) didn’t kill 6 million in year 5 (The Jews) Also if Jonnie wishes the sience block (Israel) wiped off the face of the earth.Then I think it would be safe to say that Jonnie is therefore not to be trusted with a pea-shooter
Complain about this comment
"Councils will respond more effectively to the needs of local people as a result of a streamlined target system, Gordon Brown said today."
I saw this in the paper yesterday, and I nearly cried.
I live in SE Essex. The unelected govt quango known as the East of England Regional Assembly has decided that my district should have 4,600 extra houses. No ifs, no buts - we just have to build them. The only choice is where to put them.
Was this in anyone's manifesto? Do local people get to vote on the idea? Absolutely not. We just have to do what central government dictates.
Is anyone providing more infrastructure? Don't be daft.
'Streamlined' targets, set by unelected EERA ... in what sense does this enable our council to "respond more effectively to the needs of local people"?
Complain about this comment
CK (10);
Iran and nukes. A potted education for you about why this is scary.
Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty. It has an international obligation to the UN not to develop, manufacture or deploy atomic weapons. But it's known by the IAEA to be enriching uranium far beyind the concentrations required for civil nuclear power. That means only one thing, weapons research.
They have bought nuclear power stations (plural) from the Russians, including technical support, refueling, the whole nine yards. They have no need to develop their own power industry.
Add the two together and it seems pretty obvious where it leads to.
WR.
Complain about this comment
Shouldn't we all voice our appreciation of the contribution to public life that David Davies has made? I mean, without him and the potential sacrifice of his Parliamentary seat and career, we wouldn't be having the outstanding debate on freedoms that we are now having.
What? You haven't noticed the all-pervading debate? I'm sure you must have. Let me check.
Hmmm. . . . I'm sure it will start next week. . . . Maybe. . .
Complain about this comment
PS. - I'm sure that David Cameron and the Tories will pitch in shortly - won't they?
Bound to - aren't they?
Complain about this comment
Turkey.
My husband is banned from BBC blogs.
What he had to say in the (disallowed) post below, is, it seems to me, well worth saying.
It relates to a Question and Answer BBC news session by Pam O'Toole.
So I say:
Your Question and Answer session, by Pam O'Toole at the BBC News site, seems a one sided account.
You neglect the activities of Ergenekon and the close involvement of the establishment (as you call it) in Turkey with that terroristic, agent provocateur organisation.
You also neglect how impositional Attaturk's Constitution for Turkey actually is.
Any criticism of any belief structure seems to be illegal. (One is not allowed to criticise inductive reasoning as an act of faith, for example)
You neglect to mention the Rich v. Poor conflict between the rich 'establishment' and the PM's supporters. Carpet, Iznic tile, and water sellers voted for him overwhelmingly.
His record as Mayor of Istanbul is exemplary.
His attempt to construct peace with the PKK is Nobel Peace Prize-winning.
Try the Wiki site for Recep Erdogan for a typical view of the man. Even with the Discussion pages, there, taken into account he is very well regarded and respected.
Some of the arguments AKP theorists have used (Ataturk's 'too brutal' secularisation of Turkey, for example) are very convincing.
You neglect that the immediate argument is about head scarfs, which University students (!) are not allowed to wear under the Constitution but which the government wishes to allow. (Ataturk himself thought head scarfs a matter of individual taste and made the wearing of hats by civil servants compulsory!!!!)
You neglect the marvellous atmosphere in alcohol - free streets in Istanbul. (Ataturk died, aged 57, of champagne poisoning (cirrhosis of the liver)!!!)
You neglect the way Islam seems to be a religion of gentle exhilaration and hope there, as the Mosques in Istanbul demonstrate in their very architecture.
Finally you neglect the threat that the Closure motion (banning a properly elected government) poses to us, here.
America and the EU have an ambivalent attitude towards democracy throughout the world. Dictatorships are encouraged (Saudi etc) when they deliver the 'right' policies and majority governments condemned when they carry out the 'wrong' policies (Venezuela etc).
Now a rejection of majority voting by an unrepresentative minority is happening on our European doorstep - in a proto EU member state. It seems to me that the rejection of majority rule is the most dangerous threat that democracy faces in the world today
The EU 'disapproves'! Bush says he wants to know democracy is strong in Turkey! They, and others, particularly the BBC and the British government, should be shouting their protests from the rooftops. Turkey is on our doorstep, geographically and politically.
Good points to raise eh? A pity to miss them just because my husband is banned
Complain about this comment
Now that I have my invalid ampersands under control, I can tell you the Question and Answer session is here
Meanwhile the PM's profile is here
With many thanks.
Complain about this comment
Sid (14) : I want to know why the total standstill in the housing market (due to all the factors we already know about, thanks Invisible Gordy) hasn't brought to a halt the mad talk of ..
.. 'growth agenda' in the South East, up as far as Milton Keynes / South Midlands, despite the fact that Persimmon et al have stopped building (including at the massive new development just north of Corby)
.. 'eco-towns' gobbling up Green Belt, right left and centre, despite tremendous local opposition at all of the proposed sites
.. housebuilding in Aberdeenshire to pay for McDonald McTrump's dream of turning Scotland into the best golf course in the world (all it's good for, obviously)
I think I'll follow PMleader's advice and go back to saving bees. At least bees make sense.
Complain about this comment
fifi (20)
As we are on a 'bee' theme today I feel compelled (... it's the only suitable word) to point out that bees do not make sense ... they make honey.
A quick 'google', 'yahoo' etc will confirm this.
Complain about this comment
This is furrowing my brow today:
Those of you who know me will know that I loathe telephones with every fibre of my being, but the online, non-voice possibilites of the new Telephone-by-a-famous-computer-company (TBAFCC) has me vaguely intrigued, so I've been looking into it.
Knowing nothing about contracts, tariffs or any of the other jargon of the mobile telephone business, I'm confused by quite a few things in relation to this, but most of all by this requirement on the [Telephone Company] TBAFCC page:
"If you do go into an [Telephone Company] store you will need 2 forms of identification, a valid credit or debit card and proof of address. If you are new to [Telephone Company] you will also need to pass a credit check if you sign up for an iPhone 3G contract."
Why on Earth do they have to know who I am, or perform a credit check? Surely if I don't pay a monthly installment they just cut me off. I'm mystified by this.
Anyone got any ideas?
Complain about this comment
On the 18 August 2008 on PM mentioned was made about possible compensations for the jews whose properties were confiscated during the second world in Poland. It is understandable and fair, but what about all the lands the jews have and are still stolen from the Palestinian? They have forced millions of Plestinian people out of their home land into refugee status in Jordan and other surrounding countries. Will they get compensations? Where is the justice? Unfortunately we live in a world where justice sometimes is done with two measures.
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS