| Tuesday 30th March 2004 19:14CST | → 0 Comments |
Email back to normal but no apology or even an explanation of what went wrong. I shall take this into consideration in future.
Bf has finally confirmed the dates for Chicago are fine by him so I’ve booked them. It was done through Expedia rather than through the hotel (chain) directly. Normally I don’t trust these ‘middlemen’ but they were giving a very good rate. Bf suggested I go skinny dipping in Lake Michigan. Not even if the water is lovely.
Zoe Williams article in The Guardian sums up how I feel about the Tories holding a so-called ‘Gay Summit’. An extract from the article highlights “politician’s thinking”:
I guess you could find it rather patronising, as a gay voter, this assumption that your political interest extends no further than the issues supplied by your sexuality.
They are still, in my mind and most likely those of many others, the nasty party.
| Tuesday 30th March 2004 10:12CST | → 0 Comments |
Out of the frying pan, into another frying pan. Just as soon as bf’s email seems to start working again, mine has fallen over. I’ve hassled my provider but no response so far. If I’ve lost any mail, there will be hell to pay. I need to hear from him asap about sorting out this hotel in Chicago.
| Friday 26th March 2004 22:54CST | → 0 Comments |
Virus spammers are getting much cleverer these days. Two examples I’ve received today are a supposed update to my anti-virus software from Symantec, requesting I click on the attachment to ‘install’ it, and one claiming the email content couldn’t be displayed in my mail client and suggesting I click on the link in the email so I can read it. This link looks surprisingly plausible:
www.dreamfish.org.uk/inbox/robert.longstaff/read.php?sessionid-20549
… which, of course, doesn’t exist on my webserver and doesn’t go to any email inbox. It’s actually an obfuscated URL with an inline executable.
Send me some smoke signals. Be nice.
| Friday 26th March 2004 0:13CST | → 0 Comments |
For some reason, every now and then, bf’s email provider goes through phases of throwing away my emails to him. As this is our only practical form of communication it can be distressing for both parties. He even emailed Valentina to ask if something had happened to me. Such situations become ever more absurd when I have to tell him about it by letter.
In the meantime I’ve been watching the first series of the drama A Very Peculiar Practice on DVD. I watched when it was first on in 1986 and have always thought it was just fantastic. Not only that, it was filmed at my university.
| Wednesday 24th March 2004 19:36CST | → 0 Comments |
Flight to Madison booked for end of June (for two weeks). Bf also said he wants to spend a couple of days in Chicago so I’m going to book a hotel. Surprisingly I can get a place right on Michigan Avenue for a reasonable amount. I’m looking forward to it - I thought Chicago was fantastic last time I was there (albeit under slightly more ‘contentious’ circumstances).
Normally I can’t stand Polly Toynbee as her commentaries are usually so nausiatingly ‘Ra Ra New Labour’ but a paragraph from her column in The Guardian today contained such a wonderful synopsis of societal cynicism in Britain today that I have to repeat it here:
There is a greater, more intangible foe - cynicism itself, the MRSA of politics which once caught is not easily cured. Since the war, cynicism has turned to a nihilism that poisons everything. It festers in a defeated Tory press, whose only power in exile is to spread corrosive messages that nothing works, all tax is always wasted, all government is a vain endeavour, and the public sector is a bone-idle wastrel. Once inhaled, the germs of cynicism are breathed out wherever people congregate. It smothers the unprecedented economic well-being. It forgets the past and suggests, against all the evidence, that things always get worse.
Sums up entirely my feelings.
| Monday 22nd March 2004 19:38CST | → 0 Comments |
Another relaxing day off (to a fashion). I met up with Denise but we lunched at a nearby restaurant as it was otherwise busy in the British Museum. Afterwards I popped into one of my favourite shops, Purves & Purves. Then I browsed the bookshops along Charing Cross Road and bought a few goodies for bf at Muji. Now I’m back home and knackered from all the walking.
The webcam is offline at the moment as I’m playing around with my cubit. Also, apologies for those who couldn’t get to the WAP version - I had forgotten about it when I updated the whole site.
When I got back there was a messaging waiting for me from the local Lib Dem party, inviting me to a ‘do’, apparently in advance of the European elections. My local MP, Sue Doughty will be there too. I’m tempted, as I’d like to meet Sue, but on the other hand the whole thing could be awful as I’ve not had anything at all to do with the local party since becoming a member and most likely everyone else there will be ‘networking’. We’ll see.
| Sunday 21st March 2004 12:03CST | → 0 Comments |
Another advantage of having broadband: the BBC Broadband News Service.
I’m planning to meet up with Denise tomorrow, as I’m still taking off the day that was arranged for other reasons. We’re going to have lunch at the British Museum, which is near where she works.
| Thursday 18th March 2004 19:16CST | → 0 Comments |
Apparently bf has the (free) help of a lawyer friend to sue BA because of their accusation of him being drunk. In reality I think BA will probably settle before it even starts, with hopefully a refund, apology and some compensation.
Blunkett arrests someone and holds them for fifteen months with no charge or appeal. When it finally gets to a secret tribunal (where the accused can’t see all the evidence), it’s thrown out. When Blunkett appeals this, he loses.
On evidence that was described as “wholly unreliable and should not have been used”, do we really want to hand over more powers to the Government and sacrifice more basic liberties such as presumption of innocence and right to a fair trial in order to defeat terrorism? Why doesn’t Blunkett start going after real terrorists with real information rather than threatening everyone else. Why doesn’t Blair stop aiding Bush’s empire building with escapades like the Iraq war and concentrate on getting Bin Laden? The latter is all the more significant, given the new Spanish Government’s attitude that the war was a diversion from tackling terrorism and may have even emboldened terrorists.
Some choice comments from Amnesty International:
Under the ATCSA the UK government has effectively created a shadow criminal justice system for non-UK nationals which fails to meet international standards for a fair trial. The system permits potentially indefinite detention on the basis of secret “evidence” and allows the use of “evidence” extracted under torture.
“It effectively allows non-nationals to be treated as if they have been “charged” with a criminal offence, “convicted” without a trial and “sentenced” to an open-ended term of imprisonment. In no respect can this be considered just.
| Tuesday 16th March 2004 21:15CST | → 0 Comments |
Islamic States Challenge U.N. On Partner Benefits For Gay Staff. From the article:
Speaking on behalf of the 56-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Iranian representative Alireza Tootoonchian said there was “no justifiable basis” for awarding benefits to same-sex couples.
However:
… the United Nations recognizes polygamy, a common practice in the Islamic world, as a legitimate form of marriage and permits employees to divide their benefits among more than one wife (Colum Lynch, Washington Post, March 16).
| Monday 15th March 2004 22:34CST | → 0 Comments |
Otherwise I decided to keep my flexi-day as planned. I went into London and saw the Donald Judd retrospective at Tate Modern. Quite instructive. This was followed by a bit of shopping around Piccadilly and Oxford Street.
In the meantime I’ve arranged for some flowers to be delivered to bf as they were the only present I could get to him immediately (i.e. in about a day) seeing as he’s probably feeling pretty miserable what with being ill, no visit and originally accused of being drunk by BA (and me).
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