A daft review

Thanks to John Band, who pointed me in the direction of this review of last night’s Stuart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle.

The reviewer, one Sally McIlhone, contends that Lee’s “intellectual elitism” is pompous, and goes on to make the astonishing claim that Chris Moyles (and Jeremy Clarkson) are “immeasurably funnier than Lee”.

Seriously? People who make claims like that shouldn’t be allowed opinions. It’s beyond ignorant. Next she’ll be telling us that David Beckham’s smarter than Gail Trimble, and that Brooke Burke is nowhere near as hot as Jo Brand.

It’s about time, considering the absolute dog-spunk we’re usually fed on our TV screens, that somebody actually commissioned a programme that picks holes in the fabulously ridiculous circle-jerk that is our contemporary media. Lee’s right, most of the celeb books are complete tat, and the people who buy them are morons. And it’s about time someone said it.

Craig Murray’s new book

A few sites are hosting Craig Murray’s latest book The Catholic Orangemen of Togo and Other Conflicts I Have Known, and tygerland is one of them (we’re published in Utah, doncha know?).

Anyway… the controversial back-story, as to why the book was pulled by Craig’s publishers, can be found here. It’s seems those pesky buggers at Schillings are at it again. Craig is keen for his story to be told, and is releasing the book FOC.

The book is in three parts.

*** Front_Cover *** Intro_pages *** main_body ***

Craig has self-published a few copies, and if you want a hard copy, go here.

Update: John Hirst has posted the document using iPaper (good idea). I have reproduced it after the break.

Best of 2008

Lists, lists, lists. Everyone doing ’em, so why not me? The 2007 list is here.

Best Record
Kings of Leon – Only by the Night
Well I can’t say I’ve been blown away by any one record this year, but Kings of Leon are making very good music. I actually think – shock, horror! – that there are some good pop records in the charts at the moment, too.

Best Film
The Dark Knight
Well it was the year of the comic book movie. We had Iron Man, Hulk, Hell Boy II and Wanted (and those are just the ones off the top of my head). I’d say that Dark Knight wins out with Iron Man a close second. I also enjoyed Burn After Reading.

Best TV Show
The Wire – Series 5
The Wire is simply the best television programme ever made. Period.

Best Book
N/A
I’ve read no new fiction this year. I spent most of my time reading old John le Carré books and Graham Greene. I’ll have to remedy this in ’09.

Best Podcast
This American Life
This is probably the choice that has caused me to ponder most, as I listen to oodles of podcasts. But This American Life has provided the most memorable and beautiful moments. Subscribe, if you haven’t already. Worthy mentions to The Collings and Herrin Podcast [sic], Sarcastic Gamer and Football Weekly.

Best Radio Show
Adam & Joe
Funny and creative. Brilliant, basically.

Best Video Game
Gears of War 2
It’s been another cracking year for gaming. GTA4 was outstanding, Far Cry 2 was a surprisingly deep game, and Left 4 Dead (which I get for XMAS) looks great. Nothing quite topped GOW2 though. It’s awesome. The art style is incredible. The level design spectacular. And the weapons rock. Epic.

Best Gadget
iPhone
I haven’t got one. I can’t quite give up my BlackBerry (or switch to O2). However the app-store has made the iPhone a serious proposition. The utility of the device – theoretical and realised – is astonishing. I will get one, eventually.

Best App
Fluid
I have adored this app all year. I have run GMail and Google Reader constantly using Fluid and it has made life much easier. I’ve also been mega-impressed with Skitch.

Best Political Blog
Chicken Yoghurt
Justin has simply rocked this year. One of the best writers in the medium. Sadie’s Tavern would be a worthy mention too.

Best Non-political Blog
Limmy
This blog has made me – figuratively – piss myself all year.

Best Politician
Barack Obama
Obviously.

Best Newspaper
The Guardian
It better watch its back. The Guardian has lost its way a little this year. It’s still the best paper, though.

Best sportsperson
MS Dhoni
Finally, someone’s made a team out of the Indians. They’ve always had the talent (although the current team is pretty darn hot).

best of the year

Best of lists are part of Christmas. Well, seeing as I have the power to publish my own opinions, here are my topper picks for the year…

Best Record
The Killers – Sawdust
Ok, it’s a B-sides n rarities comp. But The Killers are simply so far ahead of anything else out there right now.

Best Film
The Bourne Ultimatum
A fantastic, pant-wetting finale to a brilliant trilogy. Paul Greengrass is the best director in the world right now. Period.

Best TV Show
South Park
Nothing is quite as smart or as funny (worthy mentions: QI and Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe were brilliant again this year).

Best Book
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Incomparable thrilling last book to a quite stunning series. Easly as good as the hype suggested.

Best Podcast
Guardian Unlimited’s Football Weekly.
This is exactly why MoTD is a waste of everyone’s time. Intelligent, witty, and much, much better than The Times’ Liverpool-obsessed effort. James Richardson is twice the presenter Lineker is (worthy mention: No Agenda with John C. Dvorak and Adam Curry).

Best Radio Show
Start the Week
Basically the Review section from the weekend’s broadsheets. With added Andrew Marr (worthy mention: Russell Brand).

Best Video Game
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Just, and I mean just ahead of Halo 3. The graphics and combat in COD4 are unmatched (worthy mention: other than Halo 3, I’d say Bioshock).

Best Gadget
XBOX 360
XBOX leads the way online. XBOX Live is unmatched, and the 360 offers far more quality games than either the Wii or PS3 (worthy mention: New iPod Nano – new form factor and new features. Now the true iPod classic).

Best App
Twitteriffic
Twitter is by-far the most enjoyable social networking site. It’s simple and genuinely co-operative. And I don’t agree with Dave Winer, simplicity is intrinsic to twitter’s appeal. Leave it alone.

Best Political Blog
Obsolete
A tricky one this, but septicisle’s analysis of the media – not to mention the abundant bile – is a joy to read (worthy mentions: Reading Mike Power is much better than scouring the net yourself. Mr. Eugenides still compels. And Ministry of Truth is still capable of brilliance).

Best Non-political Blog
scaryduck
Should be read everyday.

Best Politician
Alex Salmond
It’s hard not to admire the way the SNP leader has captured Holyrood. Even if he is an opportunist and a seditious git (worthy mentions: Vladimir Putin and David Cameron) (Note. this is not an endorsement).

Best Newspaper & Website
The Guardian
No other paper is quite as creative with formats and online offerings.

Best Magazine
Private Eye
Still completely essential (worthy mentions: The Week and Monocle).

Best sportsperson
Lewis Hamilton
I’m not into F1 at all. But you can’t argue – it was a phenomenal first year for the McClaren rookie (worthy mentions: Kaká, Kumar Sangakkara, and Christino Ronaldo were brilliant in 2007).

I may add to this list.

hari on cohen

Tom Miller’s NewerLabour blog is one of my favourite leftie blogs. Today he has posted Johan Hari’s criticism of Nick Cohen and his What’s Left? polemic (my thoughts: here and here).

Money shot:

Just as Cohen blames Keynes for the problems stemming from Versailles, when all he did was accurately predict its effects, so he blames liberals and left-wingers for accurately predicting how the war would pan out. They did not hate Bush because he was for democracy; they hated Bush because they knew that it would not be the outcome of this war. Cohen presents the Iraq war repeatedly as a choice between democracy and tyranny, and damns the left for picking the wrong side. But the liberal-left opponents of the war said this was, in reality, a choice between tyranny and more-bloodshed-then-another-tyranny. Those of us who made a mistake in supporting the war should be honest enough to admit they were right. Real democracy in Iraq – and elsewhere – would require us to build a world where the choices are far better than that between George Bush and Saddam Hussein.

As I said back in May: I’m sorry, but even if I was opposed to the invasion of Iraq, it doesn’t then connote that I wanted to see the enterprise fail, and watch the country descend into the chaos that now engulfs it. Fuck you Nick; you lazy bastard. That’s not good enough. You sound like someone defending the indefensible to me (i.e. falling back on every fallacy in the book).

It tears me apart to see charred dead babies on the streets of Baghdad. I have real difficulty knowing that we are – through our democratic political system – collectively responsible for unleashing this plague of violence on Iraq. And all the anti-neocon Schadenfreude in the world won’t make that guilt go away.

Nick, if you’re forsaking the Left en route to your evitable middle-aged migration to the right, then do it quietly and fuck off. The last thing the ‘new left’ needs is a resentful, self-hating old bastard, who can’t quite get to grips with his own Damascene conversion, having a dig week-after-week.