El Pibe

Hence why Morph was so called, because he wasn't really human. Now, about Santa Claus....

I have to suppress a weird urge to jump whenever I'm up a tall building or crossing a gorge on a rope bridge, that sort of thing. Does that count?

Is that a guilty pleasure or an imp of the peverse?

True. The Phoenix and the Plough are better than their previous incarnations too.

Inspired by snorks via quids. Wembley Stadium, ok far from perfect but that old stadium, iconic it may have been but it was just awful in every possible way. The Roundhouse, from down at heel theatre to London's best music venue. errrmmmm The Black Cherry -> Draught House?

Not that I was ever the terror of the chicken run or anything, but so true of Upon Park, pin drop sometimes.

'Imp of the Peverse' Love it. I do get 'the printer scene in Office space' urges whenever I'm having to be super careful around fragile expensive stuff. I also blow stuff up in my head as an antidote to queue boredome. If you see me in the post office queue that has snaked out the front door you can rest assured that the Lordship Lane I'm inhabiting is a post apocalyptic wasteland within two or three minutes.

Errr.... "Hoy Europa es el problema y Espa?a (puede ser) la soluci?n." I read that to mean that without a clear strategy from Europe, the constant firefighting serves nobody. But real,deep structural and political reform can shock Spain out of its torpor and could serve as a model to revitalise the European economy.

> Although you would end up living in something Tony > Soprano would be proud of! ;-) Ha so true, i've ranted about the terrible legacy of the celtic tiger more times than I care to mention!!! The stunning countryside dotted with an aesthetic that appeals to premiership footballers. You'll be glad to know we're restoring(ish) a one hundred year old farmhouse and outhouses a good two centuries old! Hopefully it'll be a little more in-keeping with the architectural vernacular.

Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes - Tamin Ansary Only a couple of chapters in. He does a good narrative and keeps an eye on the sweep of history, but is a little light on detail and somewhat eclectic on his foci. Also his tone can occasionally sound a little patronising, but a backkground in writing high-school curricula may be the cause of that. It is a great starting point for anyone who wants to cure themselves of our own western myopia when it comes to the 'world' history, especially given Bush's clash of civilisations nonsense and the turbulent new era in in the continuing sweep of history. Fukuyama really couldn't have got it more wrong id he'd tried.

*ahem* yes, we'll cross that bridge........ although to be fair, IT is pretty bouyant there at the mo as everyone with the right skills have buggered off in the other direction, so my fingers are crossed. Barring that we have a couple of acres so vegetables, chickens and flax should keep us all clothed and fed :-/

If you're willing to go sliiiightly further afield..... We're heading off to SE Ireland and building our own, but this gives you an idea of what you can get if you love your property porn. This house costs less than our 3 bed flat in camberwell!! http://www.daft.ie/searchsale.daft?id=615188

Quite an interesting article. In short, Europe is the problem, Spain is the solution. http://elpais.com/elpais/2012/07/11/opinion/1342027086_633066.html

I dunno rosie, I'm pretty sure for xfactor there is.

Best video ever! Sort of Son of Rambow meets The Killer via Spaced and Akira! http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DjMGb0iP_wpI&v=jMGb0iP_wpI&gl=GB

Well, it's an Olympic year and I'm willing to bet a black man wins the hundred metres. An army just marched on Madrid, but it's hardly the Spanish Civil War redux. Beyond that I'm afraid you've completely lost me. Are you suggesting the queen will die?

The other sites probably compress your photos so it matters less, though I imagine the upload time on a 4mb photo is slow. Just save it to a presentable size 500x300px ish and it'll be fine.

http://onswipe.com/thedailygalaxy/#!/entry/will-muslim-martyrs-get-72-raisins-instead-of-virgins-other,4fd1ac404b672622b8280a71 Raisins apparently

Henceforth I will put three times by Google Translate all

Which is suitable to make me Friday afternoon that it has

"Surely vegetarianism does this? - 'meat is murder' 'eat less meat and save the planet" Well, yes, that's right. Interestingly there's tons of scientific evidence supporting vegeterianism as extremely beneficial for long-term health, and if a parent made that decision than I'd find it understandable. To inflict that diet because of their opinion 'meat is murder etc' i would most definitely consider indoctrination. As a Castillian I'm afraid I would find it difficult to deny them the delights of a good meat stew and cured pork in all it's forms (not to mention blood sausage...mmmmmmm).

I love that it's either one extreme or the other, either we indoctrinate or they exist in some sort of moral vaccuum unitl the magical day when they turn 14 and go, 'do unto others....' or 'i shall henceforth worship satan'. Of course I provide them with a moral framework and guidance, the point is i present it as what I think best, but if I get it wrong, and god knows I'm only human, I'm willing to roll with it. In fact I'll be delighted if they can argue me into changing, it's called interaction and personal growth. Absolutes dictated from a bunch of men locking themselves in draughty buildings for two thousand years atempting to make sense of a bunch of twenty-ninth hand anecdotes don't really appeal to me as a design for life.

"It's unavoidable that all parents indoctrinate their children, whatever the value system." Actually that's utter bollox. Indoctrianation is instilling unquestioning acceptance of beliefs. I encourage that 'why' is always asked and never to accept 'because it is' as an answer. That's not indoctrination that's encouraging the development of critical faculties and a distrust of doctrine and dogma in whatever form, hence the term 'indoctrin[e]ation'.

Goodbye To All That autobiography/war memoirs of Robert Graves. Very candid, witty and touching, highly recommend. Will definitely pile into his I Claudius gubbins after this.

the alt text is "the most comforting side in most conspiracy theories is the one claiming that anyone in power has any plan at all"