Sarah Jane

Oh this is so unfair. First the Brig, now Sarah Jane. It is terribly sad news for Doctor Who fans.

I first saw the show as a child. Tom and Liz were a part of my Saturdays.

Goodbye Sarah Jane, my favourite companion.

Elisabeth Sladen, 1946-2011.

Middle Eastern Musings

The events in Tunisia, Bahrain, Egypt and Libya have thrilled this old Red.

Workers, ignoring the huge dangers they face from the armed forces and the machinery of the state (e.g police) have taken to the streets to show their opposition to the present regimes there.

I haven't felt this thrilled since 1989-91, when the workers of Eastern Europe and Soviet Russia did something similar and ended the despotic Stalinist regimes. (A cheer after the murder of the workers by the Chinese dictatorship.)

The nicest thing about this is there are bound to be a whole bunch of sheiks and shites, princes and ponces, wondering if they are going to be ousted as well. Let the ruling classes tremble at the prospect of revolution, to ad-lib Marx and Engels!

What is happening now is a lovely reminder that how we live need not be how we live tomorrow. Systems are not set in stone and everlasting. History is the story of change and of people making that change. Just think: a working class which understands socialism, wants it, is organised democratically and politically by and for its interests.... It would be unstoppable.

Doctor Who: The Brigadier Remembers

Nicholas Courtney - "the Brigadier", who passed away yesterday.

the SPGB up to no good again

One of those tails for the weekend.

Just When You Thought Fox Couldn't Get Any Worse

It's hard to credit these people as intelligent and sane....

Bent Larsen (1935-2010)

The Great Dane of chess died after a short illness at the start of September. His importance for popularising chess in Denmark cannot be exaggerated.

Slack Bastard

No, not Anarchist Andy in Aus', but yours truly.

Blogging isn't the fun it used to be. The paucity of posts here for 2010 should reveal that! Mind you, I have spent most of my summer working on and playing chess.

The chess was great, the highlight being the Copenhagen Chess Festival, where there were more GMs than you could wave an inflatable pawn at. I had a few drinks and chats in the Hotel bar with legendary Lajos Portisch; he was in the world elite for donkeys years and is very kind towards the average chess fan. Peter Svidler, one of the present top 10, stopped by for an exhibition match against Denmark's nr. 1 Peter Heine Nielsen. It was really inspirational to see all these great players in action.