The only way to help addicts is to treat them as sick, not bad » Spectator Blogs

Russell Brand:​

Peter Hitchens is a vocal adversary of mine on this matter. He sees this condition as a matter of choice and the culprits as criminals who should go to prison. I know how he feels. I bet I have to deal with a lot more drug addicts than he does, let’s face it, I share my brain with one, and I can tell you first-hand they are total nightmares. Where I differ from Peter is in my belief that if we regard alcoholics and drug addicts not as bad people but as sick people, then we can help them to get better. By we, I mean other people who have the same problem but have found a way to live drug- and alcohol-free lives. Guided by principles and traditions, a programme has been founded that has worked miracles in millions of lives. Not just the alcoholics and addicts themselves, but their families, their friends and of course society as a whole.

Inside the Battle of Hoth: The Empire Strikes Out | Danger Room | Wired.com

Only Vader can’t bombard the base: He’s in it. For reasons that never get explained — and can’t be justified militarily — Vader joins the Stormtrooper assault on the base. So much for his major weapon against the Rebels, and the primary reason for ordering the Walkers to invade and destroy the generator. Once Vader opts to bring down the shield and lead the invasion, he’s lost the battle.

Don't miss the comments.

fleet street fox: Done.

But they are, at the root, just words. When they are written by a troll from whom you are divided by keyboards, screens and servers they can have a powerful effect but they can also be avoided.

Then there are words you cannot escape, because they come from the mouth of a person you share your life with. The person who knows your flaws, your secrets, and the inside of your heart.

When a partner uses the same words as a faceless no-mark on the internet, they have a more devastating impact for the simple reason that you see the anger in their eyes, the spittle flying from their mouth, and know these things are coming from a person you love and trust more than anyone else.

Excellent article by Fleet Street Fox.

See also a legal analysis of this lenient sentence

Also, offensive words on a t-shirt? 8 months in prison. Update: this is the shirt.

One and a half rhinoceroses: A defence of John Peel against the Daily Mail (and others)

This was, lest we forget, a young man from Liverpool who had been cloistered in an all-male English public school, done his National Service, and then been sent by his father to a USA in the throes of Beatlemania. This was not a cigar-chomping predatory rapist.

No man has had an influence on my life more than John Peel.

This doesn't make him a god. As desperately sad as I would be if it became clear he was guilty of something hideous I'd accept it.

However, his marriage seems to be the only 'evidence' to 'wrongdoing'. As Colin B Morton writes today, the only noise on this has come from Julie Burchill - who has spent decades writing anti-Peel articles - she has always 'loathed' him, and has never missed an opportunity to infer something that no-one else has.

UPDATE OCT 12
Someone else has now. Not good, but consensual rather than predatory. Don't want to give him a pass just because of who he was, but this isn't comparable to Savile at all.

Photo by mutyakeishasiobhan • Instagram

Ahem.

Mad Men - The 8-bit YouTube Game

Love this, especially the music. My favourite couple of quotes:

I'm going to keep sleeping with lots of women, get drunk, and be a bad father and friend…yet somehow, I'll still be one of the most beloved characters on television.

Now I gotta go and sleep with Joan and Jane. I'm old and gray but I get the hottest tail on the show.

Season 5 starts this week. Can't wait.