Economics and similar, for the sleep-deprived

A subtle change has been made to the comments links, so they no longer pop up. Does this in any way help with the problem about comments not appearing on permalinked posts, readers?

Update: seemingly not

Update: Oh yeah!


Monday, August 31, 2009

 
Poetry Corner

Coincidence? I suspect otherwise:

We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass
Or rats' feet over broken glass

We are the Diddymen
Doddy's dotty diddy men
We are the Diddymen
So let the cymbal crash
With diddy hats and diddy smocks
Money in our diddy box
We are the Diddymen
And we come from Knotty Ash


Update! Nick S, in comments, points out that it didn't stop there:

We are the cheeky girls
You are the cheeky boys
You are the cheeky boys
I never ever ask where do you go
I never ever ask what do you do
I never ever ask whats in your mind
I never ever ask if you’ll be mine
Come and smile don’t be shy
Touch my bum this is life.

12 comments this item posted by the management 8/31/2009 10:58:00 AM

Friday, August 21, 2009

 
The Ballad of Frederick Chiluba

This week in Zambian politics:

Monday, 9am: Former Prime Minister Chiluba facing prison, for embezzlement. Hurray for the new Africa, etc, fighting back against all that corruption that concern trolls like William Easterly tell us is their real problem, not starvation or cholera. Hear the mighty voice of neoliberal Decency:

"Today's dictator [sic - it is perhaps a little alarming that Sullivan remains unaware that Chiluba was actually Zambia's first elected Prime Minister] could be tomorrow's defendant," said Michael Sullivan QC, who led the successful civil action against Chiluba at the high court in London two years ago. "Politicians of all sorts are forever talking about the need to fight corruption; here is an historic example of the fight in action. It is widely believed that this trial will have great repercussions for the rest of Africa.

Chiluba, president between 1991 and 2001, was effectively the author of his own downfall when he anointed his successor, Levy Mwanawasa.

Mwanawasa smashed any sense of cosy patronage by launching an anti-corruption drive that investigated Chiluba's time in office. The outspoken Mwanawasa also strongly criticised Robert Mugabe, the president of neighbouring Zimbabwe.

Sullivan said: "He [Mwanawasa] was no puppet. He pursued the case as a lawyer, not for political reasons. He had a genuine feeling for the plight of his people."


Ahh, the legacy of Levy Mwanawasa. Perhaps the man nicknamed "The Cabbage", who achieved so heartbreakingly little in life, may find some vindication in death, as his crusade against Chiluba is proved to be the one thing he initiated that didn't end up going nowhere.

Monday, 4pm: Zambia clears ex-leader Chiluba. Ah well Levy, better luck next time round, eh?


Thursday: Chiluba asks Zambian parliament to restore his immunity from prosecution.

The point here is that convictions in complicated fraud trials are difficult to get, no less so in Africa than over here. This is another aspect of the neoliberal fantasies about "governance", a magic pony-driven system that roots out corrupt individuals and convicts them. The whole point being that if you've got a stable government and legal system that could deliver this sort of result, then you'd have a stable political economy in which far fewer people would bother to be corrupt because the rewards would be greater from legitimate business.

By the way, no, I have no idea why he's sitting in front of an Israeli flag at that press conference either; Chiluba did restore relations with Israel after Kaunda broke them in the 1970s, and he does appear to believe that Israel is a Christian country (and that Zambia was cursed by God for voting against it at the UN in the Kaunda era).
1 comments this item posted by the management 8/21/2009 07:10:00 AM

Saturday, August 08, 2009

 
But hey, what if we held a panel discussion on the future of paid content on the Web and everybody came?!?!

I see Matthew is considering "going paywall". Rest assured, readers, that D-Squared Digest still Gets It, is still Web 2.0 (perhaps even 2.1alpha), and will continue to participate in the linkospheric blogversation ecosphere of memefluence, thus continuing with the practices that made this blog so influential back in the days when I used to post regularly and there were only about six weblogs in the world anyway.

Instead, I will be leveraging my franchise by offering my corporate readers the opportunity to sponsor "salons" with D-Squared Digest contributors, thought leaders and assorted hangers-on and local tramps, to be held at the Constitution pub on Georgianna Street. These will offer an opportunity to gain from our insights and form relationships with key players in the blog, in an informal and non-confrontational setting. Yes, basically, what I am offering is the opportunity to pay £50 for the privilege of buying me drinks.

I obviously cannot promise that "sponsorship" of a "salon" will result in more favourable coverage for sponsors or their companies/political parties/institutes for the study of contemporary antisemitism, but well (tongue-click, wink, inclines head) we're all grown-ups here aren't we? A nod's as good as a wink, eh, eh? Come on Denis, you've got my phone number.
7 comments this item posted by the management 8/08/2009 05:55:00 AM

Friday, August 07, 2009

 
Secret Society Blogging - E Clampus Vitus

One of the more colourful of the drinking societies which were a key part of the secret society craze. Note the parodies of Freemasonry, initial base in the mining industry, etc.

What's interesting about the Argus writeup of the Clampers is that it demonstrates a tension that was always there in the "burlesque fraternities"; the tension between the members for whom it was always just a raucous gang getting drunk and wearing silly hats, and the ones who wanted to make it something more serious. Clampus Vitus came down squarely on the drinking-club side of things, but quite a few societies started out in the same way but tilted in the opposite direction into mysticism or politics. Motorcycle clubs often also show some of the same dynamics; there was a tipping point when the Booze Fighters (basically a bunch of ex-servicemen who liked getting drunk and riding motorbikes) turned into the Hell's Angels (which provided its members with an entire lifestyle). I'd be in the market for a good introductory textbook on anthropology which discussed the extent to which these male-only secret societies are a cultural universal. Robert Anton Wilson fans will also note the clear historical antecendents of Discordianism.

As Ponzi schemes go, the E Clampus Vitus program of forcing new members to buy a round of drinks, on the understanding that they could then profit from drinks bought by future recruits, has a certain charm to it. I rate them a 6/10 on the secret society scale - basically harmless, but they keep showing tendencies toward turning into a historical re-enactment society, which I regard as evidence of fundamental unsoundness (plus you have to watch it with these Californian fraternal orders; a lot of them have quite nasty streaks of nativism, presumably dating back to the days of the Gold Rush, when it really did matter who was here first).

Bonus secrettyblogging: Probably stretching a definition to call the Objectivists a secret society, but Murray Rothbard's essay on "The Sociology Of The Ayn Rand Cult" and short play Mozart Was A Red are always worth a chuckle over.
4 comments this item posted by the management 8/07/2009 02:42:00 AM


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?




Links:

Bitch : Lab
Aaronovitch Watch
Balkanalysis
Perfect.co.uk
Maxspeak
Brad Delong
The Robert Vienneau blog

Political and philosophical heroes

Subcomandante Marcos
Will Rogers
Boris Vian
The English Svejk

RSS Feed:
This seems to matter to a lot of people

If you liked this "Daniel Davies" website, you might be interested in

"Danux", the web developer
The martial artist (and fan of extremely annoying Flash intros) from Blackburn
The Welsh political journalist
A Scouse computer programmer who collects Soviet cameras
"Danimal", the heavy metal drummer
Canada's finest recorder of radio jingles
More of the same, at the Guardian
A tailor's in Lampeter where Jimmy Carter once bought a hat
An advertising man who has written a novel about dogging (I think we sometimes get each other's email)
An award-winning facilities manager in Dubai
The son of the guitarist from the Kinks Update: he is apparently "balls-out motherfucking shit-dicked exxxstatic" to be included on a Kerrang magazine giveaway CD of Iron Maiden covers, which is nice.
"Fritz Gretel" from the Ramones film "Rock 'n' Roll High School"
The former presenter of the leading politics talk radio show on the Isle of Man, now a business change manager in the Manx government secretary's office
An aquarium curator in Sussex who keeps on scoring home runs like this (this is the first stable link I've found, but he is constantly kicking ass in acquarial terms)

If you didn't like this "Daniel Davies" website, then don't give up on the Daniel Davies industry completely!

An American "Christian Political Analyst" who has the same name as me
A student at Patrick Henry College
these two might be the same guy ...
"Scatter", the deceased Liberian gangster
A naked man stuck in a chimney in Wigan
A thug in Barrow



This blog has been going downhill since ...

August 2002
September 2002
October 2002
November 2002
December 2002
January 2003
February 2003
March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
November 2003
December 2003
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
May 2010
June 2010
July 2010
August 2010
September 2010
October 2010
November 2010
December 2010
January 2011
February 2011
March 2011
April 2011
May 2011
June 2011
July 2011
August 2011
September 2011
October 2011
November 2011
December 2011
January 2012
February 2012
March 2012
April 2012
May 2012
June 2012
July 2012
August 2012
September 2012
October 2012
December 2012
February 2013
April 2013
June 2013
July 2013
August 2013
March 2014
April 2014
August 2014
October 2015
March 2023