Hobbits Are the Least of Our Worries
A strange couple of days in the news – many things have changed suddenly and unexpectedly, and nobody seems to know what any of it means. Some of it -- such as the Red Sox's victory in the world series and Robert Kilroy Silk's monumental UKIP implosion -- is good and feels right…but most of the news this week is steeped in unholy confusion.
Yasser Arafat is seriously ill, and there were pictures this morning of his helicopter being surrounded by a mob of people, which soon moved en mass across the tarmac towards a plane bound for Paris. Arafat was somewhere in that solid mass. Hell, this is how conspiracy theories start – was he in there at all, or had they substituted his frail form for the leering corpse of a clown whilst he himself dashed like mad across the border? Of course not, but there are many people who would benefit from such bug-eyed accusations, especially when there is no obvious successor to Arafat. The whole Mideastern situation has reached a weird time for everyone – even Ariel Sharon has been making moves that have caught everyone by surprise.
The confusion over all this has left people howling at the moon, guessing wildly at a future beyond anyone's control.
'"Whatever will be, we are seeing Arafat being sidelined. A new situation has been created that could be for the better or worse," said Yossi Beilin, an Israeli politician and ex-peace negotiator.' – Detroit Free Press. (full article)
Stranger still, the evolution of the entire human race has been put into a new perspective with the discovery of a new diminutive species of human who lived up to 12,000 years ago, but the newspapers seem more taken by the fact one of the unearthed skeletons was nicknamed Hobbit by the responsible scientists. Some people are already beginning to put two and two together, thinking they have finally discovered the truth behind Anthony Worrall Thompson.
The future of several English football clubs is fluxing like mad – both Leeds and Manchester are wallowing in a fetid swamp of takeover speculation, whilst an increasing handful of lower league clubs are desperately fighting to stay afloat long enough to remember what the hell their division is called nowadays. Most sports stories now are so focused on the boardroom that a simple, honest match report seems like a breath of fresh air.
The Scottish parliament is indulging in playground spats, the EU is in turmoil on the day of the new Constitution signing… Only one song remains the same – the US election is as tight today as one, two and three weeks ago. Which means the eye-gouging and hair-pulling is boiling over whilst the sound of early voters marking a cross on their ballot papers is being increasingly drowned out by the sound of lawyers furiously rubbing their hands together.
October is the foulest month of the year, but this year it is also becoming the strangest. Anyone trying to make sense of the news this week has set themselves a challenge of absurd proportions, but I wish them well. It makes far more interesting reading than the alternative – endless newsprint wasted on bad weather stories that turn up at the slightest hint of falling pressure and then sit there and fester for weeks like a national coldsore. So, by all means, bring on the unholy confusion…there's history to be created.
Yasser Arafat is seriously ill, and there were pictures this morning of his helicopter being surrounded by a mob of people, which soon moved en mass across the tarmac towards a plane bound for Paris. Arafat was somewhere in that solid mass. Hell, this is how conspiracy theories start – was he in there at all, or had they substituted his frail form for the leering corpse of a clown whilst he himself dashed like mad across the border? Of course not, but there are many people who would benefit from such bug-eyed accusations, especially when there is no obvious successor to Arafat. The whole Mideastern situation has reached a weird time for everyone – even Ariel Sharon has been making moves that have caught everyone by surprise.
The confusion over all this has left people howling at the moon, guessing wildly at a future beyond anyone's control.
'"Whatever will be, we are seeing Arafat being sidelined. A new situation has been created that could be for the better or worse," said Yossi Beilin, an Israeli politician and ex-peace negotiator.' – Detroit Free Press. (full article)
Stranger still, the evolution of the entire human race has been put into a new perspective with the discovery of a new diminutive species of human who lived up to 12,000 years ago, but the newspapers seem more taken by the fact one of the unearthed skeletons was nicknamed Hobbit by the responsible scientists. Some people are already beginning to put two and two together, thinking they have finally discovered the truth behind Anthony Worrall Thompson.
The future of several English football clubs is fluxing like mad – both Leeds and Manchester are wallowing in a fetid swamp of takeover speculation, whilst an increasing handful of lower league clubs are desperately fighting to stay afloat long enough to remember what the hell their division is called nowadays. Most sports stories now are so focused on the boardroom that a simple, honest match report seems like a breath of fresh air.
The Scottish parliament is indulging in playground spats, the EU is in turmoil on the day of the new Constitution signing… Only one song remains the same – the US election is as tight today as one, two and three weeks ago. Which means the eye-gouging and hair-pulling is boiling over whilst the sound of early voters marking a cross on their ballot papers is being increasingly drowned out by the sound of lawyers furiously rubbing their hands together.
October is the foulest month of the year, but this year it is also becoming the strangest. Anyone trying to make sense of the news this week has set themselves a challenge of absurd proportions, but I wish them well. It makes far more interesting reading than the alternative – endless newsprint wasted on bad weather stories that turn up at the slightest hint of falling pressure and then sit there and fester for weeks like a national coldsore. So, by all means, bring on the unholy confusion…there's history to be created.
posted by Jamie at 9:19 AM
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