‘Super Size Me’ flawed because nobody eats every meal at McDonald’s.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Judging the Booker Prize Longlist
Aug 20th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
So many novels are competent but pointless. And all those underdogs with hearts of gold…… Read the rest
Besides, She Gets It All Wrong
Aug 19th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A menace to the public understanding of science; channel 4 should not give her a platform.… Read the rest
Eccentric but Brilliant Doctor – Says Her PR Firm
Aug 19th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Nutrition expert got her PhD from non-accredited correspondence course.… Read the rest
Butterflies
Aug 19th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Farmers in Tanzania are raising butterflies for export.… Read the rest
A-Levels in the Wrong Subjects?
Aug 19th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Physics, German and French are down, psychology and media studies up.… Read the rest
Protests Over BBC Documentary on Black Men
Aug 19th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Is it all stereotypes or a response to compelling statistics?… Read the rest
No Exemptions
Aug 18th, 2004 6:14 pm | By Ophelia BensonPolly Toynbee has a very good column in the Guardian today (thus incidentally showing that that newspaper is not always the evil spawn of Satan despite what my colleague may say). She says what I’ve been saying for months: that criticism of Islam (or any other religion) is not racism, and should not be called such or talked about as if it were such. She also says that worry about just exactly this equation has caused a lot of people to go all woolly about Islam. Ain’t it the truth.
… Read the restFear of offending the religious is gathering ground on all sides. It is getting harder to argue against the hijab and the Koran’s edict that a woman’s place is one
Julian Baggini on Ethical Consumerism
Aug 18th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It’s about doing some good, not about feeling pure and pious.… Read the rest
Polly Toynbee: We Must be Free to Criticise
Aug 18th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Criticism of religion is not racism.… Read the rest
Hari Asks Negri Questions, Gets Gnomic Replies
Aug 18th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
‘a truth is a collective action on the part of persons who campaign together’… Read the rest
Johann Hari Reviews Occidentalism
Aug 18th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Woolly types who think victims are always morally pristine will be irritated.… Read the rest
News From ‘No to Sharia in Ontario’
Aug 18th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Demonstration Sept. 18, news articles, press releases, open letters and more.… Read the rest
Pure But Not Yet!
Aug 18th, 2004 | By Thomas R. DeGregoriThe opposition to transgenic crops by environmental organizations is beyond rational explanation, since the introduction of transgenic crops has led to significant reductions in pesticide use in the U.S., as well as in other countries such as China in which transgenic crops are grown. Herbicide tolerant crops have allowed for the expansion of conservation tillage, which conserves soil, water, and biodiversity, and saves fuel along with reducing pesticide use (Fernandez-Cornejo and McBride, 2004, 27). In addition to the absolute reduction, the “substitution caused by the use of herbicide-tolerant soybeans results in glyphosate replacing other synthetic herbicides that are at least three times as toxic and that persist in the environment nearly twice as long” (Fernandez- Cornejo and McBride, 2004, 28, … Read the rest
It’s August – Here’s One for a Laugh
Aug 17th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Jetlag Guide to Molvania, where the waiters can’t be faulted, as they’re armed.… Read the rest
Johann Hari on Catholofascism
Aug 17th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Influence of Opus Dei will mean difference between life and death for thousands of poor people.… Read the rest
Sharia in Ontario
Aug 17th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Homa Arjomand points out girls are segregated then forced to marry men twice their age. … Read the rest
Pacifists Praising Fascists Killing Democrats
Aug 17th, 2004 | By Phil DoréAs someone who felt sufficiently opposed to the 2003 invasion of Iraq to join the protest marches and to attend Stop the War Coalition meetings, it is a source of great sadness to me what a shrivelled, irrelevant self-parody the British anti-war movement has become. It seems hard to believe it now, but for a couple of months in early 2003, the Stop the War Coalition seemed to be the vehicle for something huge. Schoolchildren were walking out of their classes in protest; between 750,000 and 2 million people (depending on whose estimates you believe) swarmed through the streets of London on February 15th; ordinary, middle-of the-road people – the kind you don’t normally see on a protest march – … Read the rest
Nice Underdoggy
Aug 16th, 2004 11:00 pm | By Ophelia BensonWe were talking about distorted thinking and the way ideological (including utopian) commitments can cause it. There is some fresh material on the subject today. This review-article of Edward Said by his friend Christopher Hitchens, for example.
… Read the restAs someone who is Said’s distinct inferior as a litterateur, and who knows nothing of music, and could not share in his experience of being an exiled internationalist, I try not to suspect myself of envy when I say that he was at his very weakest when he embarked on the polemical…Said was extremely emotional and very acutely conscious of unfairness and injustice. No shame in that, I hardly need add. But he felt himself obliged to be the unappointed spokesman and interpreter
Tom DeGregori onJulia Child’s Democratic Elitism
Aug 16th, 2004 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Child helped make abundance, variety and luxury available for everyone.… Read the rest