For those of you who are interested, here are
some pics from the wedding:
Conor's baby nephew in his wedding attire...
some pics from the wedding:Conor's baby nephew in his wedding attire...
Des, right before the wedding....
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Baggini Correspondence
"Cheers. Someone from Rapid Vienna Circle mentioned you lot as opposition!
jb
T Roberts wrote:
Dear Dr Baggini,
re: your Philos-L post on philosophers' football teams - we at Edinburgh have a postgrad five-a-side team called 'Sartre of Midlothian' (cf. SPL side 'Heart of Midlothian', of course), would that be of any interest? I imagine you've been inundated with awfully-punning team-names.
regards,
Tom Roberts. "
jb
T Roberts wrote:
Dear Dr Baggini,
re: your Philos-L post on philosophers' football teams - we at Edinburgh have a postgrad five-a-side team called 'Sartre of Midlothian' (cf. SPL side 'Heart of Midlothian', of course), would that be of any interest? I imagine you've been inundated with awfully-punning team-names.
regards,
Tom Roberts. "
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
The great staff-student football face-off
For those of you who have not already seen it, I thought I would post this match report from the staff-student football match on Friday. Supposedly writen by an "impartial" observer, but I have my suspicions...MATCH REPORT: STAFF vs GRAD STUDENT FOOTBALL 4th MAY 2007 Experience Triumphs Over Youthful Good-Looks and Natural Talent. Staff 4 - Postgrads 1
. The sporting event of the season ended on Friday in an emphatic victory for the Staff of Edinburgh University’s department of philosophy over their Postgrad counterparts, in an error-strewn match in front of a capacity crowd at Edinburgh’s Meadows Stadium.
. The sporting event of the season ended on Friday in an emphatic victory for the Staff of Edinburgh University’s department of philosophy over their Postgrad counterparts, in an error-strewn match in front of a capacity crowd at Edinburgh’s Meadows Stadium. The students started well, with footballing-whirlwind Diego linking effectively w
ith top strikers Ana and Lise, but the tide was soon to turn. Diego, perhaps unnerved by pitchside rumours of a nefarious Staff plan to rid him of his trousers, found scoring opportunities elusive, and it was left to Staff captain Chrisman to settle his team’s nerves with the first goal of the match. The euphoria was shared by onlookers and city bookmakers alike.
ith top strikers Ana and Lise, but the tide was soon to turn. Diego, perhaps unnerved by pitchside rumours of a nefarious Staff plan to rid him of his trousers, found scoring opportunities elusive, and it was left to Staff captain Chrisman to settle his team’s nerves with the first goal of the match. The euphoria was shared by onlookers and city bookmakers alike.Staff momentum was maintained as the Postgra
ds, vocally marshalled by midfield-general Tom, failed to penetrate solid defensive work by the intimidating Nudds-Mason axis. A series of acrobatic saves by keeper Ketland kept the Postgrads at bay before Staff secret-weapon Davis was unleashed to score their second goal on the stroke of half-time.
ds, vocally marshalled by midfield-general Tom, failed to penetrate solid defensive work by the intimidating Nudds-Mason axis. A series of acrobatic saves by keeper Ketland kept the Postgrads at bay before Staff secret-weapon Davis was unleashed to score their second goal on the stroke of half-time.A second-half fightback appeared on the cards as Postgrad pressure yielded a well-executed and strategic own-goal attributed amid confusion to both Ketland and Kallestrup. With Staff’s corner-kicks being taken from a point increasingly close to the Postgrad goal-mouth, however, and with sporting giant Brown guilty of repeated standing-still-with-malevolent-intent offences out of sight of the referee, there was no way back for a violent spirited Postgrad team. A lack of discipline, with
Staff veteran Scaltsas the victim of several particularly harsh challenges, led to the loss of third goal of the evening.
Staff veteran Scaltsas the victim of several particularly harsh challenges, led to the loss of third goal of the evening. The last laugh was had by Staff’s Jesper Kallestrup, whose fine solo effort rubbed salt into Postgrad wounds following concerted pressure, with Mog’s rabbit-in-the-headlights approach to goalkeeping proving no match for the Danish Dynamo.
“That should be worth at least a Pass on my degree” commented one satisfied Postgrad playmaker.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Hi folks. I actually composed a new update for the blog about a week ago, but then was deprived of email access and was unable to post it. I'm not complaining though, as the main reason for that deprivation was that we were sitting by the side of a lake in beautiful sunshine, a long way from any internet connection, celebrating my brother's marriage by the ingestion of alcohol in various forms. It was wonderful.
I'm back to New York this afternoon; Lisa went ahead of me yesterday (total travel time from Lough Derg to W157 St: 16 hours).
Anyway, here's some of the rubbish that I wrote last week:
How goes? I'm sure there can't be as little happening in Edinburgh as the low level of activity on the blog would suggest. I want to see some posts, goddammit. (I except from this remark those of you who have recently sent emails.)
It was *just* turning nice when we left NY last weekend. Apparently it's usual to have about a week of nice weather before it turns unbearably humid.
More things that have happened in NY:
- I was in our local corner shop recently picking up some painkillers. As I carried out my transaction, a woman jumped in behind me, ignoring the queue, paid for whatever she was getting, and left. The man who had been behind me in the queue approached the counter in turn. Paying for his chocolate bar, he calmly said to the owner: "If you ever let anyone cut in front of me again, I'll come back in here with my 357 and stick it up your nose." At that point I left.
- There is a very greasy fried chicken joint just beside our local subway stop. At night, its powerful stench attracts citizens from miles around. It's mouth-watering. Me and Lisa were coming home from a night's drinking recently and found ourselves in need of fried chicken. Inside the place there was a queue of mostly Dominican people. Just ahead of us there were two guys, our age, one black and one Dominican. The black guy was lamenting his ineligibility for the 'Spanish discount' - the extra chicken you get in such places if you order in Spanish. "I have to improve my Spanish!" he complained. "But I do speak *some* Spanish! Yo hablo Espanol! Yo quiero Taco Bell!" Then he looked around for some objects to name. "Pollo! ... Comida!" Now looking in our direction: "Rojo! ... Rojo flaco!" At which point Lisa burst out laughing. The Dominican guy said: "Very good. And I'll tell you what's funnier, is that she understands you." The black guy now looked a bit embarrassed. I stood there grinning, not sure what was happening. The Dominican guy prompted Lisa: "What does it mean?" "Skinny redhead," she said. "Aha!" I said, spoiling for a fight. Well, everyone seemed to find it very funny, so I decided not to beat anyone up. In fact, we made friends with the two guys. Maybe we'll meet them in there again.
- The world's biggest rainstorm. Holy hell.
Dave I hope you are looking after the snooker for me. I have been able to watch a bit of it here at home. The Matrix-style rotating-table graphic that they do is definitely the best thing that has ever been on tv.
Ciao for now.
I'm back to New York this afternoon; Lisa went ahead of me yesterday (total travel time from Lough Derg to W157 St: 16 hours).
Anyway, here's some of the rubbish that I wrote last week:
How goes? I'm sure there can't be as little happening in Edinburgh as the low level of activity on the blog would suggest. I want to see some posts, goddammit. (I except from this remark those of you who have recently sent emails.)
It was *just* turning nice when we left NY last weekend. Apparently it's usual to have about a week of nice weather before it turns unbearably humid.
More things that have happened in NY:
- I was in our local corner shop recently picking up some painkillers. As I carried out my transaction, a woman jumped in behind me, ignoring the queue, paid for whatever she was getting, and left. The man who had been behind me in the queue approached the counter in turn. Paying for his chocolate bar, he calmly said to the owner: "If you ever let anyone cut in front of me again, I'll come back in here with my 357 and stick it up your nose." At that point I left.
- There is a very greasy fried chicken joint just beside our local subway stop. At night, its powerful stench attracts citizens from miles around. It's mouth-watering. Me and Lisa were coming home from a night's drinking recently and found ourselves in need of fried chicken. Inside the place there was a queue of mostly Dominican people. Just ahead of us there were two guys, our age, one black and one Dominican. The black guy was lamenting his ineligibility for the 'Spanish discount' - the extra chicken you get in such places if you order in Spanish. "I have to improve my Spanish!" he complained. "But I do speak *some* Spanish! Yo hablo Espanol! Yo quiero Taco Bell!" Then he looked around for some objects to name. "Pollo! ... Comida!" Now looking in our direction: "Rojo! ... Rojo flaco!" At which point Lisa burst out laughing. The Dominican guy said: "Very good. And I'll tell you what's funnier, is that she understands you." The black guy now looked a bit embarrassed. I stood there grinning, not sure what was happening. The Dominican guy prompted Lisa: "What does it mean?" "Skinny redhead," she said. "Aha!" I said, spoiling for a fight. Well, everyone seemed to find it very funny, so I decided not to beat anyone up. In fact, we made friends with the two guys. Maybe we'll meet them in there again.
- The world's biggest rainstorm. Holy hell.
Dave I hope you are looking after the snooker for me. I have been able to watch a bit of it here at home. The Matrix-style rotating-table graphic that they do is definitely the best thing that has ever been on tv.
Ciao for now.
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
fuhgedabadit
This is now officially the Lisa&Conor in NY blog, for a while anyway.
Thanks for the posts, those of you who have put stuff up. Sorry it's taken so long for us to do so.
So how is everyone? I keep imagining that there are all sorts of shenanigans going on in Edinburgh that I'm missing out on. Well? I hear you've had your summer already; hope you enjoyed it. I was jealous to hear that people had been out on the meadows kicking a football and each other. It's been wintry here ever since the second day after I arrived, so there hasn't been much in the way of outdoor activity. It even snowed a couple of times over the weekend. Not very heavily, and it didn't stick, but still. It's April. Come on.
What have we been up to? Hmm.
We've been to a couple of really good pubs - or 'bars', if you will. We were in one on Monday, with Lisa's ex-flatmate, which is on the premises of an old hairdresser's. It's called 'The
Beauty Bar'. The gimmick is that they didn't actually renovate or redecorate the place. They stuck some beer taps in; otherwise it's just a dimly lit, abandoned hairdresser's. You
can sit along the wall under those ridiculous big hairdryers that look like helmets. There was also a cool place called McSorley's. It's an Irish bar, as you might have guessed, but
retains the nice elements of being an Irish bar - i.e. sawdust on a bare wooden floor, surly barmen, decor and fittings that might have been arranged by a blind person - and little of the cheesy stuff. They serve only two types of beer - dark and light. They're brewed by the pub. For some reason a pint comes divided between two half-pint glasses.
Of course, pints here are smaller than at home. Annoying.
Also, the decent bars are concentrated in a few small areas, well downtown from us - the two I mentioned are down on the lower east side. There's not such a thing as a local pub here. The closest we have is a Dominican-run diner that happens to be open late and serve beer.
We had our friends Clare and Simon, and their (now our) friend Sherlyn over for dinner on Sunday. (I went to college with Clare, back in my undergrad days. She's now working here, doing fMRI studies; Simon does similar stuff.) It being Easter Sunday, we thought we would serve part of a dead lamb - part of its leg, to be precise. So we stuck that in the oven and roasted it. It was great. Much wine was also consumed. Clare and Simon are well into their wine, so had
brought some really nice stuff. Clare also had made a chocolate and Guinness cake. It was a beautiful thing. An enjoyable night was had.
Things I have seen
- Morris dancers in Central Park. Why? They weren't English, either, they were locals, so it can't be dismissed as some homesick expats engaging in their bizarre national sport.
- A car chase. Seriously. One block from our flat. It wasn't a very exciting car chase, to be fair. There were two unmarked police cars trying to get another car to stop by flashing their
lights (they had one of those flashy-police-lights placed in the front window). He wasn't stopping, so one of the police cars accelerated in front of him and then braked, forcing him
to stop. At this point, anticipating an exchange of gunfire, I fled in the direction of the flat. I can only assume that the cops just shot the bloke.
- Mad people on the subway. Lots of them.
Things that haven't happened
- Being mugged. Actually, everyone is so friendly it's ridiculous. The area we're in is very working class and mostly Dominican and black, but I feel less nervous walking around than I have sometimes felt in Edinburgh or in Dublin when there were drunk/dodgy people around.
The other day I was in our local 'laundromat'. Apart from being conspicuous by the shade of my skin, which was considerably fairer than that of anyone else within ten miles, I also
clearly had no idea how to use the machines, or how laundromats work anyway. Everyone was falling over themselves to help me. A nice lady, whose expression suggested that she had me pegged for a harmless retard, pretty much did the whole thing for me.
Having said all that, I was taking a walk on my own one evening last week, and decided to head east, towards the Bronx. It was kind of nice for a while, but then I got onto this run-down
side-street - and here 'run-down' means seriously run-down - vacant lots, dingy buildings, bars on windows. There weren't very many people around, but those who were there didn't seem like they had much to do. I turned around and walked back.
- Doing touristy stuff. We do intend to. But it's also kind of nice to just live in a place, rather than feel like you're visiting it.
We'll be back in Ireland as of Saturday week, for my (remaining unmarried) brother's wedding. His friends are not renowned for their restraint, so it should be interesting. We'll be back
here on 30 April, I believe.
That's about all I can remember for now. Keep us updated about how you're all doing.
We'll lash some photos up v soon.
Oh and by the way, have I mentioned that our apartment building is a former residence of Duke Ellington? Cop that.
Thanks for the posts, those of you who have put stuff up. Sorry it's taken so long for us to do so.
So how is everyone? I keep imagining that there are all sorts of shenanigans going on in Edinburgh that I'm missing out on. Well? I hear you've had your summer already; hope you enjoyed it. I was jealous to hear that people had been out on the meadows kicking a football and each other. It's been wintry here ever since the second day after I arrived, so there hasn't been much in the way of outdoor activity. It even snowed a couple of times over the weekend. Not very heavily, and it didn't stick, but still. It's April. Come on.
What have we been up to? Hmm.
We've been to a couple of really good pubs - or 'bars', if you will. We were in one on Monday, with Lisa's ex-flatmate, which is on the premises of an old hairdresser's. It's called 'The
Beauty Bar'. The gimmick is that they didn't actually renovate or redecorate the place. They stuck some beer taps in; otherwise it's just a dimly lit, abandoned hairdresser's. You
can sit along the wall under those ridiculous big hairdryers that look like helmets. There was also a cool place called McSorley's. It's an Irish bar, as you might have guessed, but
retains the nice elements of being an Irish bar - i.e. sawdust on a bare wooden floor, surly barmen, decor and fittings that might have been arranged by a blind person - and little of the cheesy stuff. They serve only two types of beer - dark and light. They're brewed by the pub. For some reason a pint comes divided between two half-pint glasses.
Of course, pints here are smaller than at home. Annoying.
Also, the decent bars are concentrated in a few small areas, well downtown from us - the two I mentioned are down on the lower east side. There's not such a thing as a local pub here. The closest we have is a Dominican-run diner that happens to be open late and serve beer.
We had our friends Clare and Simon, and their (now our) friend Sherlyn over for dinner on Sunday. (I went to college with Clare, back in my undergrad days. She's now working here, doing fMRI studies; Simon does similar stuff.) It being Easter Sunday, we thought we would serve part of a dead lamb - part of its leg, to be precise. So we stuck that in the oven and roasted it. It was great. Much wine was also consumed. Clare and Simon are well into their wine, so had
brought some really nice stuff. Clare also had made a chocolate and Guinness cake. It was a beautiful thing. An enjoyable night was had.
Things I have seen
- Morris dancers in Central Park. Why? They weren't English, either, they were locals, so it can't be dismissed as some homesick expats engaging in their bizarre national sport.
- A car chase. Seriously. One block from our flat. It wasn't a very exciting car chase, to be fair. There were two unmarked police cars trying to get another car to stop by flashing their
lights (they had one of those flashy-police-lights placed in the front window). He wasn't stopping, so one of the police cars accelerated in front of him and then braked, forcing him
to stop. At this point, anticipating an exchange of gunfire, I fled in the direction of the flat. I can only assume that the cops just shot the bloke.
- Mad people on the subway. Lots of them.
Things that haven't happened
- Being mugged. Actually, everyone is so friendly it's ridiculous. The area we're in is very working class and mostly Dominican and black, but I feel less nervous walking around than I have sometimes felt in Edinburgh or in Dublin when there were drunk/dodgy people around.
The other day I was in our local 'laundromat'. Apart from being conspicuous by the shade of my skin, which was considerably fairer than that of anyone else within ten miles, I also
clearly had no idea how to use the machines, or how laundromats work anyway. Everyone was falling over themselves to help me. A nice lady, whose expression suggested that she had me pegged for a harmless retard, pretty much did the whole thing for me.
Having said all that, I was taking a walk on my own one evening last week, and decided to head east, towards the Bronx. It was kind of nice for a while, but then I got onto this run-down
side-street - and here 'run-down' means seriously run-down - vacant lots, dingy buildings, bars on windows. There weren't very many people around, but those who were there didn't seem like they had much to do. I turned around and walked back.
- Doing touristy stuff. We do intend to. But it's also kind of nice to just live in a place, rather than feel like you're visiting it.
We'll be back in Ireland as of Saturday week, for my (remaining unmarried) brother's wedding. His friends are not renowned for their restraint, so it should be interesting. We'll be back
here on 30 April, I believe.
That's about all I can remember for now. Keep us updated about how you're all doing.
We'll lash some photos up v soon.
Oh and by the way, have I mentioned that our apartment building is a former residence of Duke Ellington? Cop that.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Drink, drugs, philosophy and knitting
Hi all,
Hope things are going well for "the McHughs" in New York. Things seem to be going well here, we came second in the quiz despite being a pretty depleted team. More impressively, we won the jackpot, which was a whole £13! It's always nice to win something but £3.25 each is quite hard to get excited about.
The Stirling weekend away was good fun, but pretty uneventful. We were in a beautiful place and Chris K., Tom C. and I had a nice walk on Saturday. Otherwise there was much drinking, eating (including some of Chris' special brownies), a little philosophy and lots of good banter. The staff were pretty restrained on Friday but let rip more on Saturday night. Unsurprisingly, Kent was still going strong at 5am... I am now officially the most boring person I know having spent more time knitting than drinking, going to bed early on Friday night and not indulging in Chris' cakes at any point over the weekend. I did go for a quick skinny dip on Sunday though, so I guess I'm not completely done for...
Anyway, there are photos of the weekend available on my flickr page (in which everyone is fully clothed, I'm afraid).
Ciao,
Lottie x
Hope things are going well for "the McHughs" in New York. Things seem to be going well here, we came second in the quiz despite being a pretty depleted team. More impressively, we won the jackpot, which was a whole £13! It's always nice to win something but £3.25 each is quite hard to get excited about.
The Stirling weekend away was good fun, but pretty uneventful. We were in a beautiful place and Chris K., Tom C. and I had a nice walk on Saturday. Otherwise there was much drinking, eating (including some of Chris' special brownies), a little philosophy and lots of good banter. The staff were pretty restrained on Friday but let rip more on Saturday night. Unsurprisingly, Kent was still going strong at 5am... I am now officially the most boring person I know having spent more time knitting than drinking, going to bed early on Friday night and not indulging in Chris' cakes at any point over the weekend. I did go for a quick skinny dip on Sunday though, so I guess I'm not completely done for...
Anyway, there are photos of the weekend available on my flickr page (in which everyone is fully clothed, I'm afraid).
Ciao,
Lottie x
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Ciao fools!
I've noticed that in recent times there has been a bit of a lack of activity on this here blog. Is this because nothing of interest has been happening? With Mr McHugh's impending departure to Noo Yawk I thought someone should try and revive it... I am expecting regular updates from you, McHugh (and it'd be nice to hear from Lisa too). In return I shall make sure that there are regular updates from this side of the pond.
At the moment there's not really that much to say. Things are continuing as normal over here. I'm gradually regaining an interest in philosophy but am still dedicating far more time to knitting than anything else; professors Roberts and Ward are finally getting a chance to destroy Noe in person on Monday; renegade scientist MacMorris appears to be working himself into an early grave and has recently recruited a suspected facist to his cause; the Italians have been celebrating the recent improvement in their rugby team's fortunes and everyone is preparing to celebrate the aforementioned departure of McHugh (I jest, of course, he shall be greatly missed during his operations abroad).
Anyway, it has been pointed out to me that I've been rather lax myself in updating both my flickr page and my photo wall. I can reassure you all that this is now in the process of being remedied. I've added several new sets on flickr and the physical prints should be winging their way to me in the next couple of days. You can all find pictures from the mexican party and our trip up Ben Lomond (amongst others) in the usual place.
At the moment there's not really that much to say. Things are continuing as normal over here. I'm gradually regaining an interest in philosophy but am still dedicating far more time to knitting than anything else; professors Roberts and Ward are finally getting a chance to destroy Noe in person on Monday; renegade scientist MacMorris appears to be working himself into an early grave and has recently recruited a suspected facist to his cause; the Italians have been celebrating the recent improvement in their rugby team's fortunes and everyone is preparing to celebrate the aforementioned departure of McHugh (I jest, of course, he shall be greatly missed during his operations abroad).
Anyway, it has been pointed out to me that I've been rather lax myself in updating both my flickr page and my photo wall. I can reassure you all that this is now in the process of being remedied. I've added several new sets on flickr and the physical prints should be winging their way to me in the next couple of days. You can all find pictures from the mexican party and our trip up Ben Lomond (amongst others) in the usual place.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Thursday, February 08, 2007
jesus camp
guys, here's Jesus Camp, the Oscar nominated documentary about Evangelical Christians in America. Watch it!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Monday, January 01, 2007
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Happy Boxing Day!
Hope you're all having a great festive season.
So far in my house we've had one big argument, two people crying, lots of tension over Scrabble (why did I think it would be a good idea to play it with my sister?), an excess of food and booze and plenty of dispute over what to watch on telly. So, a pretty standard Christmas :).
Hope you're all having a great time.
Merry Christmas!
Lottie x
So far in my house we've had one big argument, two people crying, lots of tension over Scrabble (why did I think it would be a good idea to play it with my sister?), an excess of food and booze and plenty of dispute over what to watch on telly. So, a pretty standard Christmas :).
Hope you're all having a great time.
Merry Christmas!
Lottie x
Monday, December 25, 2006
Season's greetings!
For anyone who received an email from a Mr Chris Brand recently, which I think is probably anyone on the Edinburgh Philosophy postgrad page, here is a link to some background:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/search/results.cgi?search=dan+dennis
Here is the text of the reply I sent to him; please feel free to copy:
Dear Chris Brand,
Please do not spam me with any such email again. I have no wish to learn about your campaign to oblige universities to support homophobia and superstition.
Sincerely,
Conor McHugh
And, for those of you who did not get the email (which was sent to Dan Dennis and CCed to a bunch of other people), here it is:
Dear Dan Dennis, I was glad to learn via the Glasgow Herald (22 xii) of your support for academic free speech. Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help. NB matters are perhaps a bit more tricky than you might think, as I outlined for UK Christian Unions in a recent letter, pasted below. Yours sincerely, -- Chris Brand (MA Oxon [Psychology and Philosophy]).
------------------------------------------------------------To: The President, Exeter University Christian Union Re: 'Students Consult Lawyers After Refusal to Reinstate Exeter Christian Union'(http://www.christiantoday.com/article/students.consult.lawyers.after.refusal.to.reinstate.exeter.christian.union/8627.htm.
The saga started in May this year when one student felt the CU's requirement that CU members attest biblical principles was too "exclusive" for him -- probably in its not condoning homosexual behaviour. Full account: http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=99353 and http://www.lawcf.org/lawreformdetail.php?ID=232.)
Edinburgh, 6th December 2006.
Dear James Harding,
It's great to gather from the media that UCCF and Exeter University Christian Union have the will to fight for freedom of belief, speech, expression and association in Britain's universities. Freedom is a most important cause, as is support for traditional family values; and both causes have been abandoned by many British academics over the past twenty years. Times Higher recently reported that 80% of British academics said universities had sacrificed the principle of academic freedom (26th October).
But I write principally to urge a little clever caution in view of press reports of your planned legal action. In particular, I suggest your legal team should not put much reliance on the 1986 Education (No. 2) Act, for this statute only *appears* to oblige universities to support free speech.
In 1998, Edinburgh University successfully argued (against me and my counsel) before a Scottish High Court judge that any duty that it had to support free speech took second place to its need to support its own reputation and income. In a particularly astonishing passage among complex legal proceedings, it was argued by the University that it had no more duty to support free speech than did *a biscuit factory* -- and this argument was essentially accepted. I honestly advise that UCCF lawyers look carefully at http://www.crispian.demon.co.uk/McDNLArch3b.htm for more (FIND 'Decision of Mr T. Gordon Coutts QC') to see what they would be up against.
Of course, Edinburgh University's attitude to free speech was and is disgraceful; but I imagine, in view of all the trouble that Exeter University has given your Christian Union so far, that Exeter will follow suit. One way forward could be to publicize the inadequacies of the 1986 statute via the media, for I'm sure there would be wide public sympathy once it was realized that British universities had spinelessly accepted legislation actually undermining their historic duty to defend free speech. Alternatively, it would be important, apparently, to gather evidence that allowing expression of 'homophobic' views would not diminish, and might actually enhance the reputation and income of a university.
Sorry if this is initially dispiriting; but I want you to win, not lose! You're welcome to let me know if there is anything else you feel I can do to help. I am yours sincerely,
-- Chris Brand (psychologist, author of 'The g Factor').
PS The latest from Edinburgh University is a compromise offer of accommodation for the Christian Union's (allegedly homophobic) PURE course so long as information (which the University would itself supply) is prominently displayed to the effect that some groups (telephone helplines supplied) think homosexuality is just fine. However, no such 'health warnings' were planned to oblige the Islamic Society to explain that its Hamas speakers were anti-Semitic, or to point biology students to creationist points of view about the origins of life. Rather than litter its clubs and courses with health warnings, the University would surely do better to put up a sign at its Old College HQ declaring 'Anything said in this university may be rubbish -- especially the University's own unprincipled and fast-changing views on freedom of speech.' The University's Student newspaper carried a fine letter (from Scott George McCombe, 5th December) pointing out the classic error of calling for 'free speech so long as it is responsible/sensitive/inoffensive/balanced etc.': for there is simply *no need* to provide 'freedom' for speech that wouldn't upset anyone -- a point that was made unavailingly to Edinburgh University as it aimed to placate its 'anti-racists' and feminazies back in 1996/7/8.
For anyone who received an email from a Mr Chris Brand recently, which I think is probably anyone on the Edinburgh Philosophy postgrad page, here is a link to some background:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/search/results.cgi?search=dan+dennis
Here is the text of the reply I sent to him; please feel free to copy:
Dear Chris Brand,
Please do not spam me with any such email again. I have no wish to learn about your campaign to oblige universities to support homophobia and superstition.
Sincerely,
Conor McHugh
And, for those of you who did not get the email (which was sent to Dan Dennis and CCed to a bunch of other people), here it is:
Dear Dan Dennis, I was glad to learn via the Glasgow Herald (22 xii) of your support for academic free speech. Just let me know if there's anything I can do to help. NB matters are perhaps a bit more tricky than you might think, as I outlined for UK Christian Unions in a recent letter, pasted below. Yours sincerely, -- Chris Brand (MA Oxon [Psychology and Philosophy]).
------------------------------------------------------------To: The President, Exeter University Christian Union Re: 'Students Consult Lawyers After Refusal to Reinstate Exeter Christian Union'(http://www.christiantoday.com/article/students.consult.lawyers.after.refusal.to.reinstate.exeter.christian.union/8627.htm.
The saga started in May this year when one student felt the CU's requirement that CU members attest biblical principles was too "exclusive" for him -- probably in its not condoning homosexual behaviour. Full account: http://www.zenit.org/english/visualizza.phtml?sid=99353 and http://www.lawcf.org/lawreformdetail.php?ID=232.)
Edinburgh, 6th December 2006.
Dear James Harding,
It's great to gather from the media that UCCF and Exeter University Christian Union have the will to fight for freedom of belief, speech, expression and association in Britain's universities. Freedom is a most important cause, as is support for traditional family values; and both causes have been abandoned by many British academics over the past twenty years. Times Higher recently reported that 80% of British academics said universities had sacrificed the principle of academic freedom (26th October).
But I write principally to urge a little clever caution in view of press reports of your planned legal action. In particular, I suggest your legal team should not put much reliance on the 1986 Education (No. 2) Act, for this statute only *appears* to oblige universities to support free speech.
In 1998, Edinburgh University successfully argued (against me and my counsel) before a Scottish High Court judge that any duty that it had to support free speech took second place to its need to support its own reputation and income. In a particularly astonishing passage among complex legal proceedings, it was argued by the University that it had no more duty to support free speech than did *a biscuit factory* -- and this argument was essentially accepted. I honestly advise that UCCF lawyers look carefully at http://www.crispian.demon.co.uk/McDNLArch3b.htm for more (FIND 'Decision of Mr T. Gordon Coutts QC') to see what they would be up against.
Of course, Edinburgh University's attitude to free speech was and is disgraceful; but I imagine, in view of all the trouble that Exeter University has given your Christian Union so far, that Exeter will follow suit. One way forward could be to publicize the inadequacies of the 1986 statute via the media, for I'm sure there would be wide public sympathy once it was realized that British universities had spinelessly accepted legislation actually undermining their historic duty to defend free speech. Alternatively, it would be important, apparently, to gather evidence that allowing expression of 'homophobic' views would not diminish, and might actually enhance the reputation and income of a university.
Sorry if this is initially dispiriting; but I want you to win, not lose! You're welcome to let me know if there is anything else you feel I can do to help. I am yours sincerely,
-- Chris Brand (psychologist, author of 'The g Factor').
PS The latest from Edinburgh University is a compromise offer of accommodation for the Christian Union's (allegedly homophobic) PURE course so long as information (which the University would itself supply) is prominently displayed to the effect that some groups (telephone helplines supplied) think homosexuality is just fine. However, no such 'health warnings' were planned to oblige the Islamic Society to explain that its Hamas speakers were anti-Semitic, or to point biology students to creationist points of view about the origins of life. Rather than litter its clubs and courses with health warnings, the University would surely do better to put up a sign at its Old College HQ declaring 'Anything said in this university may be rubbish -- especially the University's own unprincipled and fast-changing views on freedom of speech.' The University's Student newspaper carried a fine letter (from Scott George McCombe, 5th December) pointing out the classic error of calling for 'free speech so long as it is responsible/sensitive/inoffensive/balanced etc.': for there is simply *no need* to provide 'freedom' for speech that wouldn't upset anyone -- a point that was made unavailingly to Edinburgh University as it aimed to placate its 'anti-racists' and feminazies back in 1996/7/8.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Mental Parental DIY
I returned home to discover that the toilet had been redecorated...
Yes, my mother has covered the walls entirely with Guardian wall charts. Now your trip to the loo can be educational: you can spend your time learning about types of goat or try to identify the type of spider that is sitting watching you pee.
P.S. I've finally got around to uploading pictures from the Chris/ Nicky bialthlon and from Zoe's birthday. You'll find them in the usual place.
Yes, my mother has covered the walls entirely with Guardian wall charts. Now your trip to the loo can be educational: you can spend your time learning about types of goat or try to identify the type of spider that is sitting watching you pee.P.S. I've finally got around to uploading pictures from the Chris/ Nicky bialthlon and from Zoe's birthday. You'll find them in the usual place.
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