gdp's Comments

Heresy Corner : What David Cameron can learn from schoolgirls and soccer moms

Mon, 18 Nov 2013 20:50:24 +0000

"Vaginal intercourse and fellatio were the most frequently depicted sexual acts. The use of sex toys, paraphilias, cuddling, and condom use were rare, as were depictions of coercion. Control of the pace and direction of sexual activity was typically shared by the male and female actors. Moreover, there were no gender differences in initiation of sexual activity, use of persuasion, portrayals of sexual experience, or in professional status. However, female actors in MILF videos were portrayed as more agentic and were more likely to initiate sexual activity, control the pace of sexual activity, and have a higher professional status." Crikey, is my home life marketable?

Heresy Corner : Selling Downton to the Chinese

Mon, 14 Oct 2013 19:21:25 +0000

Do they still like opium? I heard that the mark-up on that stuff is very handsome indeed. And while we are still helping the Afghans, we might like to establish a few decent suppliers...

Heresy Corner : Why a decline in smoking led to the smoking ban

Thu, 26 Sep 2013 18:51:43 +0000

The 1998 blip is puzzling. How would a change in the way smoking rates are calculated affect only men? I prefer to think it was caused by anxiety over something Harriet Harman said...

Heresy Corner : Yes but... the Niqab debate

Mon, 16 Sep 2013 19:39:14 +0000

It's obviously a very complex debate, with a lot of reasons both for and against a ban. So let's just ban it for the heck of it.

Heresy Corner : Coming out in Barnsley

Fri, 6 Sep 2013 20:10:02 +0000

I work in Further Education, and I'm afraid this seems relatively innocuous and everyday stuff. Under (I think) the 2010 Act, colleges have some sort of duty to publish figures on protected characteristics, and plans as to how to address any issues, and stats to measure whether the plans are working. In addition, Ofsted inspectors are very keen on this type of thing. Most teaching staff (i.e. the ones who actually care about young people as individuals) treat it with contempt, adding it to the huge pile of admin that never ceases growing. Far more time-consuming is anything to do with the latest fetish, which is "safeguarding". Those charged with this sacred duty are inviolable. Claims of "bullying" or "harassment" can turn a whole department upside down, with staff being interviewed over punch-ups between students, or investigations into whether a member of staff complimenting a student on her clothing actually did it with evil intent.

Heresy Corner : Armchair generals underestimate Britain\'s international role

Mon, 2 Sep 2013 19:30:05 +0000

Superb post. All the better for not indulging in the fantasy that Miliband's political acumen has averted World War III. The happy outcome was the unintended consequence of our constitution meshing with Cameron's foolishness.

Heresy Corner : Peter Capaldi and Doctor Who\'s diversity problem

Mon, 5 Aug 2013 15:51:49 +0000

It is worth noting that the BC have no scruples about departing from the white heterosexual norm when it comes to those personifications of evil, the Daleks. The original 1964 "Supreme Dalek" was, of course, black. http://www.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/dalek/types/4-o... In the same year, Peter Griffiths scandalously exploited this fact with his disgusting election slogan: "If you want a Dalek for a neighbour, vote Labour".

Heresy Corner : The pitfalls of a pixie dream girl

Mon, 1 Jul 2013 18:10:22 +0000

"The hero is the one who comes to know." Sometimes he's the one who knows to come.

Heresy Corner : Why isn\'t everyone talking about Shirley Williams?

Tue, 4 Jun 2013 20:30:04 +0000

In addition to Skimmer's excellent point, there is also the fact that this is essentially about someone being the victim of sexual assault. To get really worked up, we need a perpetrator. If we knew that a household name from Old Labour was a dirty old man, or worse, then doubtless we would queue up to throw stones at his effigy. We would all have suspected that he was like that, given his policies and manner.... Conversely, if we had heard recently that a woman, now in her fifties, had in her youth been passed around a group of dodgy 1970s entertainers, we would have shrugged ruefully and then moved on. It takes skill and training to be a sympathetic counsellor, but anyone can join a gleeful lynch-mob.

Heresy Corner : My application for Eton

Fri, 24 May 2013 21:38:50 +0000

"Several policemen have died" Apparently the exams for Roedean and Benenden have a few policewomen being killed as well.

Heresy Corner : Dawkins and the Flying Horse

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 17:57:48 +0000

"There are intelligent religious types? Where? I know its a big world and with 7 billion of us almost anything is possible but this is news to me." Well, I know many of them personally, but some famous ones who have published things that can be checked out are Francis Spufford, Bill Vallicella (the "Maverick Philosopher" blog), Ajahn Sucitto (Abbot of Cittaviveka Theravadan monastery) and Alvin Plantinga. They might of course be dismissed as deluded, or even mad, but to claim they are unintelligent is to somewhat reduce the sense of what we mean by an intelligent person. I can't see that there is any a priori or otherwise necessary connection between intelligence or its absence, and religious belief and its absence. " the only 'tactic' ever needed to make holders of religious beliefs look silly is simply to get them to say what their religious beliefs are." Absolutely correct. If a person has a religious experience that you or I have not had, and reasons cogently upon it, then s/he is perhaps entitled to be called an intelligent religious person. But if we were to ask them to explain the original experience, and it makes no sense to us, then of course they will "look silly". It would be a bit like a child hearing about sexual love, or a deaf person trying to understand someone's love of music. It would all sound a bit "silly" - which comes from an old Germanic word meaning "happy" or "blessed"

Heresy Corner : Dawkins and the Flying Horse

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:24:39 +0000

There is a minor typo in your last sentence which is quite telling. There is a difference in "believing something", and "believing in something". The first is about the literal truth of a description or set of propositions. The second is more about having faith that there might be something of value in an account which is not necessarily literally true; that one has a world-view which ascribes a positive value to discourse which may be taken metaphorically, or symbolically, or which has some other utility. Your post makes this distinction very clearly. Dawkins, however, often seems to go astray when he tries to take the second type of belief and treat it as if it were the first. It is obviously a tactic designed to make the holders of religious beliefs look silly, but it is why many intelligent religious types don't bother with him - he simply doesn't get what they are talking about. Dawkins and his followers talking about "sky fairies", "invisible friends", and the like, and talking about prayer as if it were exclusively intercessory or petitionary, is simply irrelevant for them.

Heresy Corner : Maggie the moderate

Mon, 8 Apr 2013 21:55:14 +0000

Very fine post indeed. The best thing I have read about her today - intelligent and measured. Many thanks.

Heresy Corner : A genuine chance of a job

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 18:57:31 +0000

"He doesn't mention the other criteria that will be applied, but it's not hard to think of ones that apply equally to native jobseekers. Such as: low educational attainment, age, a drink problem, a patchy employment record, or (most of all, perhaps) lack of available jobs." One important criterion that does not apply to both types of jobseekers is whether they have only recently arrived in the country. The distinction would be between native-born unemployed who cannot find a job and must therefore remain on benefits, and recently immigrated unemployed who would be expected to go elsewhere. Cameron might be banking on the fact that sufficient numbers of the electorate would find this distinction unobjectionable.

Heresy Corner : Hubris and a Woman Scorn\'d: Narrative cliché in the sentencing remarks of Mr Justice Sweeney

Tue, 12 Mar 2013 20:23:32 +0000

All trials are narrative events. It's just that some people pride themselves on having rarefied tastes to do with the public interest, etc. and try to invalidate the more visceral emotions of the less refined.

Heresy Corner : Rennard the Fox?

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:07:57 +0000

Nothing homophobic about my comment, WML. Just reminding people of an Equality & Diversity angle to a story about mendacious politicians in positions of power.

Heresy Corner : Rennard the Fox?

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:16:38 +0000

I think we should question all the male MPs as well. Just because none of them have so far complained, doesn't mean, etc. This is the party of Thorpe, Cyril Smith and Oaten after all.

Heresy Corner : Alain de Botton\'s guide to porn

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:47:04 +0000

Just emerged from the dungeon unscathed, but much better informed. I was however disappointed to see that there was no account of the influence of pornography upon the classification of fallacious reasoning. As Anthony Flew once said, you can shit on us, but no true scatsman would deign to do so.

Heresy Corner : Review: The Sex Myth by Brooke Magnanti

Sun, 13 May 2012 08:34:14 +0000

"But what is *the* sex myth?" "As far as sex is concerned, I am better informed and sussed and so much more cool than all the other deluded fools." Well, it works for me.

Heresy Corner : Review: The Sex Myth by Brooke Magnanti

Thu, 10 May 2012 22:50:08 +0000

Lots of important myths debunked, then. Are there any truths revealed?