INDEPENDENT

J’accuse: Doves in hawk’s clothing

19.09.2011

During the Vietnam War, public opinion in the United States of America was virtually split in half between two factions that came to be known as “the hawks” and “the doves”. The monikers speak for themselves − hawks were the advocates of war while the doves were those who plugged more peaceful solutions. Such a [...]


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J’accuse : Civil society and its enemies

11.09.2011

I remember perfectly where I was 10 years ago today. I was at home, sick with a heavy dose of “man-flu” (a newly added term to the Oxford dictionary) zapping through tv channels rather disinterestedly when the news broke and the crawl at the foot of most channels led me directly to the live coverage [...]


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J’accuse : Apocalyptic

04.09.2011

It’s the end of the world as we know it. Not really it isn’t. In relative terms it could be though. For the time being it’s probably best if we concentrate on the fact that the end of summer is nigh, though blessed as you are to be living on an island with a lovely [...]


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J’accuse : The Hack

28.08.2011

Today’s J’accuse on the Malta Independent on Sunday (28.08.11) It’s hard to concentrate when you’ve been hacked. Not physically I mean. It’s just that J’accuse, the blog − the depository of my almost daily thoughts for almost seven years − was hacked by some git supposedly based in Ukraine. Notwithstanding the valorous efforts of a [...]


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J’accuse : Papillon

21.08.2011

Papillon is the name of a 1969 novel written by Frenchman Henri Charrière. The (allegedly) autobiographical novel tells of Charrière’s extraordinary saga at the hands of the French criminal justice system between 1931 and 1945 after he had been condemned to a period of hard labour on Devil’s Island as a punishment for murder. Charrière’s [...]


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J’accuse: Plebiscites in the age of clicktivism

07.08.2011

The mass is a weird being. I am not referring to the Eucharistic celebration in Catholic rites but to the “mass” as a collective of human beings that can be formed either randomly or purposely within a particular context or aim. At worst a “mass” is a loose connection of humans, each going about their [...]


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J'accuse : You can't always get what you want

01.08.2011

This is the J’accuse column from yesterday’s The Malta Independent on Sunday (July 31st). I cannot stand conspiracy theories. Worse still, I cannot stand most conspiracy theorists for their willingness to accept half-truths and bent facts much more readily than keeping their feet firmly on the ground. The stubborn manner with which a conspiracy theorist [...]


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J'accuse : The Meaning of Life

01.08.2011

This is the J’accuse column that appeared on the Malta Independent on Sunday on the 24th of July. Speaking to the press after the bombing and shooting that rocked the world, Oslo Mayor Fabian Stang could hardly control his emotions. In a phone interview with the BBC, Stang spoke of how he wished he could [...]


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J'accuse: Drawing conclusions

17.07.2011

Some time before “The Divorce Debate” went into overdrive, I had pointed out that this would be a good litmus test for the way our society sees itself and its politicians. That big mirror has been held up against our faces for some time now and I find myself in an unenviable situation of still [...]


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J'accuse : Teeth

11.07.2011

Although a baby’s first teeth usually develop while still in the womb, they actually start to emerge through the gums when the baby is around six months old. We call this process teething. According to the NHS online guide, early teething should not cause a baby any problems – unless it affects feeding, in which [...]


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