Sinister: #absolutely nothin', say it again. HUH.# (get off yer arses sinister)..

[jim taylor]

or is that a bit harsh?
good to hear stefano has had plenty of emails back off list :)

lazily stolen form the latest schnewsletter http://www.schnews.org.uk/ :

"Why of course the people don't want war...But after all it is the leaders
of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to
drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship
...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the
leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is  tell them they're being
attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the
country to danger."
-Hermann Goering, Nuremberg, 1946*


* not that i'd dispute there is terrorist risk here in the UK, but it
doesn't mean you have take the exact opposite position in how to
successfully deal with it (such as challenging longstanding global
inequalities, trading more fairly etc etc) and  declaring war on an arab
state. Ah, the wonders of logic. Especially other peoples'. Saddam might
have some nasty weapons. IDEA: let's make him use them!



                        CONTENT :
                        sinipolitix
                        last demo (sept)
                        bapps-fruitloops matrimony
                        sinsiterfitba + sinister football results

SINIPOLITIX  (a potential yahoo subgoup???)

http://www.missprint.org/sinister/mhonarc/latest/msg00041.html
says more than enough. stefano pulls no punches, and neither should he.
Good on you Stefano.
I started this email back at the start of the year. I've been busy, promise.
At least somebody got round to mentioning it.


it is strange. i could just send a blank email to the list, quoting my post
back hmmmm when was it Sinister List Archive? :september
http://www.missprint.org/sinister/mhonarc/200209/msg00076.html
and ditto marks. + just put the new london demo meet up details. please view
this as an unfortunate part two to that message.


So has anything changed?

well yes actually the world has changed in many ways. and i'm not sure i can
think of a more tangible time to make a difference. To have seen the German
foreign minister emotionally telling Rumsfeld he didn't feel able to deceive
people in the same way as him was amazing. and very important. Daily
developments are fascinating. Seems like *certain* european states have
actually got the bottle to face up to the US and check out on or two more
options before we, ahem,  bomb the iraqi people to freedom...

and hey i'm not being london, not even UK centric. London could allegedly be
bigger than VE day.
"Globally, February 15 will likely be the single largest day of protest in
world history."
see any of the 316 other cities (and that'll be way off by now, there's
bound to be hundreds more @
http://unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=725 which has many links)
otherwise stretch your legs @ http://www.stopwar.org.uk/ for UK demo details
or follow the
links for wherever you need to go.
There's even a demo @ McMurdo Station, Antarctica, so don't tell me you're
anywhere harder to get to one or organise one.

This really is so pivotal, you can almost hear the political machines of
europe crunching as they shift gears,  and desperately try and slap on the
handbrake on the international juggernaught that people are gradually
realising they have the power to stop.

I had an argument (well not quite that, but) in the pub after football on
friday with an ex-albanian hunger striker who'd apparently helped bring down
their government. He felt that demonstrating in the UK or US would be
pointless, which i found as much surprising as disappointing.
Surely the last 3 days news is evidence of public opinion shifting european
policy, which will in turn, make it harder + harder for the UK&US, maybe
even just US to go it alone. Actions have consequences don't you know. For
us, and our 'leaders'.
I'm not sure people are making enough of this, but the possibility of things
getting blocked at the UN security council are looking stronger to me. see
http://www.un.org/Docs/scinfo.htm (ISN'T THE MODERN INTERWEB THINGY GREAT,
SORRY, GRATE why that spelling please?) to understand how the vote works (or
trust
my understanding that you need 9 of 15 including all 5 permanent members
(US,UK, Russ, Ch, Fr).  Blair has said he still might play with his tanks if
one of those 5 permanent vetoes, but has implied he wouldn't if more than
one vetoed.
Sini-folk in China, France, Russia... ? there must be some.

Blair convinced me last week he believes he is doing the right thing, and is
prepared to 'stick to his guns' (ahem), even if everyone else disagrees and
he risks everything in terms of his power (and his party?).
 I believe however big things are on saturday, it *may* not shift him
(though i think it still could), but crucially can influence other
international leaders. It's easier for the French & Russians (as unlikely as
some may argue that is, given their oil hungry nature + their pre-war iraqi
contracts would become worthless with the 'new regime') to oppose Bush &
Blair if they can say that the B's own people are against what they are
doing.


On not a lighter, but certainly very entertaining note, if you have a PC
that can do sound, all you need is a 56Kmodem and the free Real player to
watch if you missed it/again the Bremner Bird & Fortune special "Between
Iraq and a Hard Place "
http://www.channel4.com/news/home/z/special_reports/iraq_hard_place/index.ht
ml
It really is rather rather good. You can even download the programme's
script




LAST DEMO.

Hmmm. well i got many mails of people, many of whom i'm confident will be
out on saturday. Won't you? There was a lot of talk of how representative
the ? 300,000 was in London in September...
The sini-posse was only 3: myself, Stefano & Rachel, along with some other
friends of mine. Was on one level disappointing. Apart from that it was a
truly wonderful day and demonstration of what we felt.


BAPPS-FRUITLOOP MATRIMONY


i'm pasting this from the sinisterfitba list (apologies to them)

"All should check out the Rapps/Bapps wedding site for the photos, the link
was in ben's sinister post.
the 1958 fa cup final man u shirt is evident in a kind of waistcoat stylee.
My lady persuaded me not to turn up in my '82 European Cup villa shirt (so
as not to take away from the groom). this also meant i didn't look very
silly, in a ridiculously underdressed way, just relatively scruffy. i didn't
know he was wearing a spiffing suit too! when asked if i minded if she added
some colour to her hair m'lady got the same 'best not to detract form the
bride' (joke) answer. i think if you've seen the snaps you'll know this
wasn't possible :) Rach looked amazing, and ben too actually, very smart.
how many hearts broke across the sinister world that day...?

i also have a photo of ben drinking out of the bubble bath trophy that i
showed you ken, and off course the Sinister card (aaaaaaah) pictures - nice!

Delighted to say proceedings were halted again shortly after the best man's
speech, for bappsy boy to explain about the card including 'the singer and
chief songwriter of belle and sebastian's' message (and many our ours :)
bless!"

It really was  a most marvellous day, and i was honoured to get the chance
to go, and deliver the card so many had signed in London. What a couple of
really excellent people. I'm spending lots of my life trying to organise an
OT placement out there (LA) for a couple of months in April. Aside from the
fact of being somewhere sunny, beautiful, seeing my lovely relatives and the
lovely Bapps & Rapps, there is a small matter of the lovely lady i fell for
last year. It would be nice to be on the same continent for a wee while. It
would be nice to see how that worked. just to know. you know? Should have
got her to enter the Reporter comp. would have got her over here at least.
Congrats to big Stu, i'm sure it'll be a great experience for him.

I should write a whole load more about the wedding. go see
http://www.members.aol.com/benandrachelapps/weddinghome.html if you didn't
before. I think there was a suggestion the card (or at least Struan's bit)
should be scanned in for the archives?)



FOOTBALL + FOOTBALL (PLAYING + PRETENDING NOT TO WATCH)

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sinisterfitba

is the home of london-ish sinister football playing, the season (good
weather) is nigh :)

please join us for fun & frolics, and yes you've guessed it, jumpers for
goalposts.


>"Kewell as a Cucumber"
>It was nice to see Australia finally beat England at something other than
>cricket, tennis...

hmmmmmmmmm. well i suppose it must be harder following Bertie's boys for you
lot form North of the border...

>[Is it true that the Sun's headline was "Kanga Poo"?]

my recent tube journey home did entail someone falling asleep with what i
think was said evil rag on them, and it did indeed have that headline on the
back.

which reminds me of an incident at Uni yesterday. (i'm doing the
Occupational Therapy training part time). In discussing disabilities (and
whether it is the impairment or society that does that dis-abling), the
lecturer asked something like 'how do we stop prejudice?'. Without thinking
i chipped rather loudly 'Burn the Daily Mail'. (I'm sure i heard about a
demo outside the newspaper very recently).
Today I noted fellow studes reading + passing round said pinnacle of liberal
grounded journalism. ho hum.



i think this is far more than enough.

if you made it this far, i thank you most kindly. If you happen to be in a
position to dole out US visas, let me know.


SO.
SAT 15th FEBRUARY 2003.
ARE YOU PART OF HISTORY?

love
jim

PS isn't Ken a talented song swindler. First Ian's last year, now Ken's.
Maybe i've missed other politco-corruptions too.

PPS Happy belated honeybirthday

PPPS oh yeah. (literal (quite literally) CONTENT!!!!!!!!)
I'm told B&S are mentioned in a feature in the current London Time Out (Make
Love not War 'loveheart' on the front).
Not a lot, just Mick saying the usual about the Brits Award re B&S
unknown/tabloids/etc. (article about the Awards). Will get a copy + post it
if anybody wants?
(apologies to any (like me) digestees, if this hits yr mailbox after
saturday/too late. i will hand my work in on time in future.)
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