January 20, 2004

Bits and pieces

Posted by Henry

Worth reading:

Michael Froomkin on a story that should be getting a lot more play; how a Florida Judicial Nominating Commission has been asking potential judges whether they’re “God-fearing.”

Brad DeLong on Seabiscuit versus Elmo the Banana Slug.

Mrs. Tilton on long-haired wastrels and the end of conscription in Germany.

Chris Brooke on British Conservative party deviationism.

Ken MacLeod on Marxist sectarianism. Ken namechecks the British and Irish Communist Organization, a defunct grouplet that I’ve always been fond of for their ability to argue themselves from one position to its radical opposite (viz. from a 32 county solution to the Northern Ireland problem, to advocating the region’s full integration into the UK).

Posted on January 20, 2004 01:13 AM UTC
Comments

The BICO position on Ireland is more consistent than it appears. They argue that devolution established an abnormal situation in which the communities were seperated from the ‘real’ party politics characteristic of a sovereign state. Rather than concentrate on national politics, primarily about the economy and welfare and thus tending to create broad left / right alliances cutting across sectarian lines, Northern Ireland politics was left with the divisive small change of identity politics. Stormont cannot impact on the realities of social and economic power, but it does concentrate the mind on zero-sum conflict over the national question. The problem is to absorb both communities into a functional democratic polity. Britain shows no willingness to permit this, so BICO now believes that a sovereign united Ireland is the most likely long-term route out of the impasse.

One might disagree, but I think it is theoretically consistant.

The Guardian carried a good article along these lines by an independent councillor, Mark Langhammer, at the weekend:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/Story/0,2763,1125791,00.html

For the current incarnation of BICO, see:
http://www.atholbooks.org/index.shtml

Posted by Marc Mulholland · January 20, 2004 09:40 AM

Probably didn’t express myself as well as I might have; what I meant to say was that I admired them precisely for their willingness to work from a consistent set of assumptions, and see where it took them, even if the destination wasn’t the one that they might have initially chosen.

Posted by Henry Farrell · January 20, 2004 10:18 PM

Hello

Posted by politics · February 19, 2004 08:00 AM

but although I can hear music to set them airfare to, it’s nothing solid, or it isn’t fully credit card Right. That’s weird for me

Posted by dating · February 20, 2004 10:49 PM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.