mitigate

the bbc newsnight newsletter just informs me that the indefatigable world saviour, no, not bono - the other one; sting, has just returned from, you guessed it, the amazonian rainforest where he was, according to the bbc “highlighting the importance of the rainforests in mitigating against the effects of climate change.”

this is nonsense.

LOOK. you don’t mitigate AGAINST something. ‘mitigate’ is a verb meaning something like relieve, lessen, offset, alleviate. you don’t mitigate ‘against’ things. it’s a transitive verb. it takes a direct object.

you may ‘militate’ against things - but that means ‘to grow militant towards something’. you probaby think i’m a pedantic old grammar nazi. but i think it’s pretentious, and bbc journalists shouldn’t try to use big words to impress people unless they know what they mean.







The Joy of Tech comic… What’s happening, and what’s marketing?

The Joy of Tech comic… What’s happening, and what’s marketing?




in search of the perfect cocktail (a lifelong quest in which the journey is definitely more enjoyable than the arrival) the mandarin oriental bar, tokyo

in search of the perfect cocktail (a lifelong quest in which the journey is definitely more enjoyable than the arrival)

the mandarin oriental bar, tokyo




j-p-g: Expecting of evening (via Onihide)

j-p-g:

Expecting of evening (via Onihide)



Palestine Solidarity Campaign - Campaigning to build a mass anti-aparteid movement for Palestine

Palestine Solidarity Campaign - Campaigning to build a mass anti-aparteid movement for Palestine




things artists are unlikely to have said

no. 8 in an occasional series

“think i’ll do something nice in yellow”

yves klein



a moment from a godard movie i love. (perhaps it’s the mozart) i love the audio jump cut to roadworks and drilling



in japan, listening to UA

UA is a japanese singer i absolutely adore - in japanese - but there are some people who should never try to make a compilation of english songs - i was checking out the japanese iTunes store, wondering if i can claim VAT refund as a tourist. just as i was thinking ‘what language is she singing in’? it came to me. she was rendering the patti smith classic (ah. my youth) as … because the night belongs to rubbers, because the night belongs to rub…

which, if you think about it, may very well be true.




» BNP could be on Question Time 'once a year', says BBC's Mark Thompson | Media | guardian.co.uk

there’s a telling correspondence in the way that the bbc, hiding behind entirely spurious claims of legal obligation, and democratically promoting free speech - gives a platform to fascists, and mark thompson gleefully announces that the bnp will be invited back every year - if they have seats in parliament. (i don’t remember similar claims of statutory obligation being made in the case of ira members of parliament, back in the eighties and nineties) -  a telling correspondence between this, and MPs rebelling against expenses reform - a more grubby, and mendacious spectacle is difficult to imagine, although it’s no worse than the city carrying on with its bonus award schemes, with threats that if it’s ended, then ‘the talented will leave the country’ (let the c***s go, i say, the mess we’re in now was made by these ‘talented’ thieves)

all of this has a correspondence - the unprincipled void at the heart of british public life.




y i like camden







… it was then that the whole meaning of my life became clear to me.



really? no! REALLY?? no. really.

bob dylan. christmas in the heart. i’m still recovering.




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