Back during the Katrina Disaster, we learned that whereas black people _loot_ things _from_ grocery stores, white people find things _in_ grocery stores. Now that a container ship has “foundered off the English coast”:http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/world/europe/23britaincnd.html?hp&ex=1169528400&en=080d398c6b8cfbb0&ei=5094&partner=homepage we can see what it is the English do under similar circumstances. Not looting, obviously (perish the thought). But not passive “finding,” either. Truer to the Spirit of the Blitz, the Brits make the best of it and _forage_.
A colleague has just forwarded to me a report from Secrecy News about the latest policy of the Congressional Research Service towards the media:
The Director of the Congressional Research Service last week issued a revised agency policy on “Interacting with the Media” that warns CRS analysts about the “very real risks” associated with news media contacts and imposes new restrictions on speaking to the press.
Among other things, they must file “detailed notes on the matters discussed or to be discussed.” The new rules of engagement are spelled out here.
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I was going to do a review of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road last year, but then got stuck into an email dialogue with China Mieville about it. I then started to write a revised review, but abandoned it; my views on the book had changed as a result of what China said, and it didn’t feel honest to write without some reference to the conversation. So here, in lieu of a review, is a lightly edited version of the conversation (I’ve lost the first email in which I said, as best as I remember, that I thought The Road was great, but since that was the only critical judgement that the email had on the book, I don’t think that posterity is missing out on much). CM denotes China’s bits, and HF mine. NB that this is a personal email conversation (albeit one that’s posted with China’s permission) so the tone is more conversational than it would be in a book review. NB also that spoilers abound. The rest below the fold. [click to continue…]