Marbury

obama the bore

Gail Collins on the disappointed reactions to Obama's oil spill speech:

As a political leader, Barack Obama seems to know what he’s doing. His unsatisfying call for a new energy policy sounded very much like the rhetoric on health care reform that used to drive Democrats nuts: open to all ideas, can’t afford inaction, if we can put a man on the moon. ... But at the end of that health care slog, he wound up with the groundbreaking law that had eluded his predecessors for decades.

The man we elected because we hoped his feel-good campaign speeches might translate into achievement is actually a guy who is going to achieve, even if his presidential speeches leave us feeling blah.

why the leak crisis is even worse than you think

Mother Jones has a summary of the most terrifying comment on a discussion thread you've ever seen (the entire comment can be read here). It's from someone called Doug R, at The Oil Drum, a forum for petroleum geologists and oil professionals (which must be experiencing a surge in popularity these days). Doug R's is not the only view on the thread, but the site editors think he sounds authoritative and that this is unlikely to be irresponsible scaremongering (UPDATE: though see comments below). He argues that  - based on the limited information we have - it's likely that the well pipes below the sea floor are broken and leaking, which means capping the gush is impossible:

"It's a race now...a race to drill the relief wells and take our last chance at killing this monster before the whole weakened, wore out, blown out, leaking and failing system gives up it's last gasp in a horrific crescendo.

"We are not even 2 months into it, barely half way by even optimistic estimates. The damage done by the leaked oil now is virtually immeasurable already and it will not get better, it can only get worse. No matter how much they can collect, there will still be thousands and thousands of gallons leaking out every minute, every hour of every day. We have 2 months left before the relief wells are even near in position and set up to take a kill shot and that is being optimistic as I said.

"Over the next 2 months the mechanical situation also cannot improve, it can only get worse, getting better is an impossibility. While they may make some gains on collecting the leaked oil, the structural situation cannot heal itself. It will continue to erode and flow out more oil and eventually the inevitable collapse which cannot be stopped will happen. It is only a simple matter of who can "get there first"...us or the well."

only the dark lord can clear up this mess

Obama's big speech on the oil spill has won him the worst reviews of his presidency from the pundits. Myself, I don't think it's so bad, although it depends on what criteria you're judging it by.

The critics - including normally sympathetic commentators - complain that he said nothing new or significant, and that there was in particular nothing much about the country's unhappy relationship with fossil fuels. They're clearly right about that, and I can understand their annoyance, because the White House seems to have over-promised on that front in the pre-speech spin.

But I get the impression that most Americans aren't in the mood for a discussion of America's long term energy policy. That can come later. Right now, they want the damn hole plugged. Obama's sober outlining of the actions the government is taking may have sounded dull to the pundits - who already know all this stuff - but to most people, who won't have been paying close attention, it will probably be reassuring.

Having said that, I don't think it was a great speech either. When he did get on to the larger issues, he sounded half-hearted and vague. He also looked uncomfortable, not quite as confident as usual. Watching his fiddling hands, my mind went back to something he said during the battle with Hillary Clinton in 2008:

I'm not a (chief) operating officer. Some in this debate around experience seem to think the job of the president is to go in and run some bureaucracy. Well, that's not my job. My job is to set a vision of 'here's where the bureaucracy needs to go'.

He was right. The problem is, he's come up against a crisis that demands someone with a few COO skills - someone who can jump right into that bureaucracy and crank it into urgent action. That requires somebody with an instinctive understanding and feel for the machinery of state; who knows how to close the gap between directive and action; who has an appetite for the minutiae of power.

That's not Obama's bag. So he needs to put a bureaucratic genius in charge - someone who's also a big name. It's time to call on Dick Cheney to do his patriotic duty.

how to open a news story

A German student created a major traffic jam in Bavaria when he 'mooned' a group of Hell's Angels, hurled a puppy at them and then escaped on a bulldozer.

This is the second in our burgeoning "How to" series.

whoops

Yes it's video day on Marbury today. What I love about this own goal (from yesterday's Holland vs Denmark match) is the way the scorer (Simon Poulsen) grins afterwards, like he's in a five-a-side in the park with his mates. Dude, it's the WORLD CUP!

petraeus conks out

Apparently he hadn't eaten or drunk anything before his appearance, poor chap. And those medals must be heavy.

This can only give succour to America's enemies.

a cat's view of robert greene's blunder

dept of whodathunk

The former First Daughter Barbara Bush comes out as a supporter of Obamacare  - and is, more importantly, doing fine work for a global healthcare charity:

The latter shouldn't be such a surprise, actually; her father's policy on aid to Africa is the finest legacy of his presidency.

diane abbott's manners

I found Iain Dale's story about DA quite funny. But I found this one, from Simon Hoggart, less so:

A waitress, aged 17 or 18 I guess, was doing the rounds with Chinese canapes in a silver dish. She arrived at Abbott's elbow. "What's that?" the MP demanded in peremptory fashion, pointing at something. The young woman told her, very politely. "And that?" She went through the lot — spring rolls, wontons, prawns toast, mini-dumplings, everything. Then without a word of thanks, she put a hand on to the dish, scooped up around a quarter of the nibbles, crammed them into her mouth and turned away.

Abbott's dad was a welder, her mum a nurse, both first-generation immigrants. I wonder what they'd have made of behaviour like that.

Of course, Hoggart may be exaggerating. But from everything I hear about Abbott it rings true. She's a poser and a brittle gossip, the sort of person you'd enjoy meeting at a party (as long you weren't staff) but would never trust with a confidence. Perhaps she's got a thing for the upper classes - judging from these stories she seems to have adopted the worst of their manners. Her choice in friends is interesting: Jonathan Aitken is godfather to her son. It's unfortunate that Abbott - a passionate opponent of sexism, the Iraq war, and the Trident missile programme  - should have chosen as mentor to her child an aristocratic former arms dealer who procured prostitutes as well as weapons for his clients. 

Abbott's campaign for Labour leader is devoid of content, save for a few platitudes designed to pander to the unthinking left. I doubt she'll work hard enough to make even those go far. That's fine with me; I want her back on the This Week sofa, where she's in her mischievous, shallow element.

It must be said, however, that Diane Abbott does bring social diversity to the election. None of the other candidates are nearly as posh.

who takes photographs where

A man called Eric Fischer has used flickr's tag data to create these maps of where locals and tourists take photographs in various cities.

Tourist photos are in red, photos taken by locals are in blue.

(via Neuron Culture)

pithiatism

The Labour leadership candidates have, so far, been telling their party that with a change of tone on immigration and dropping the "New" in "New Labour" the party can look forward to a swift return to power. It's understandable, this desire to reassure in the wake of a defeat, but I'm not sure it's sensible in the long term. Anyway, I have discovered, thanks to Mind Hacks and via the Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary, the word that best describes this approach:

pithiatism (noun): the treatment of certain disorders by persuading the patient that all is well.

the nice guy

Matthew D'Ancona on Miliband vs Miliband:

I see the point of David Miliband. The cult of Ed Miliband, on the other hand, leaves me cold, and always has done. Alastair Campbell is surely spot on when he says that Ed is a "nice guy" who would make "the party feel OK about losing". The younger Miliband tickles Labour's tummy on Iraq, Trident, union legislation and high taxation. He looks like Donnie Osmond, talks like a Sesame Street character, and holds views that, in the words of one Blair ally, are "usefully wrong". The sheer novelty of another Miliband entering the race has given Ed considerable momentum. But, as the great director Robert Bresson wrote, "novelty is not originality nor modernity". It is one huge category mistake. Ed Miliband will never be prime minister. You know it, I know it. So why would Labour choose not to know it?

Because, in this case, ignorance is so much easier than undertaking the sweaty, mostly thankless task of plotting a route back to power. David offers his party years and years of work, painful analysis and equally difficult change. Ed offers a big smile, a hug and the warm feeling that all those deep Labour instincts were right all along.

the halfalogue

A new study examines why overheard cellphone conversations - half a dialogue - are so annoying. From one report:

Whether it is the office, on a train or in a car, only hearing half of a conversation drains more attention and concentration than when overhearing two people talking, according to scientists at Cornell University. "We have less control to move away our attention from half a conversation, or 'halfalogue', than when listening to a dialogue," says Lauren Emberson, a co-author of the study that will be published in the journal Psychological Science. "Since halfalogues really are more distracting and you can't tune them out, this could explain why people are irritated," she says.

For more coverage and discussion see Language Log here and here.

bye bye boom

A suicide bomber strapped with explosives, gives his fellow terrorists a hug before setting off on his "mission" - and blows them all up. This sounds like a scene from the excellent Four Lions but it happens in real life:

In Afghanistan, as in many cultures, a manly embrace is a time-honored tradition for warriors before they go off to face death. Thus, many suicide bombers never even make it out of their training camp or safe house, as the pressure from these group hugs triggers the explosives in suicide vests. According to several sources at the United Nations, as many as six would-be suicide bombers died last July after one such embrace in Paktika.

(Via Daily Dish)

pull yourself together, chaps

Here is Boris Johnson, not a stupid man, saying something very stupid:

“When you consider the huge exposure of British pension funds to BP and its share price, and the vital importance of BP, then I do think it starts to become a matter of national concern if a great UK company is being continually beaten up on the international airwaves. OK, it has presided over a catastrophic accident which it is trying to remedy but ultimately it cannot be faulted because it was an accident that took place.”

Let me distill that: OK, OK so they have just unleashed a catastrophe...but that's not their fault. Why not? Because it happened.

Maybe it sounds more logical in ancient Greek.

Although Johnson didn't quite have the balls to name Obama as the target of his criticism, he got the headlines he wanted, joining that rabid old fox Tebbit and several others in jumping on this "stop bashing Britain" bandwagon.

This really is the silly story of the week.

The fact that BP is being "beaten up" isn't what's causing the share price to crash - it's the bloody catastrophe that's doing that, and it really doesn't need much help. If British pensioners are losing money that's because their fund managers over-invested in BP and didn't properly account for the risk of a disaster like this one.

What does Obama's "anti-British rhetoric" amount to anyway? Unless you've seen something I haven't, it amounts to this: referring to BP as "British Petroleum". The swine. (Apparently they changed their name a few years ago to BP to avoid being seen to have anything to do with Britain or petroleum - exactly the kind of absurd PR fiddling that under other circumstances, these same critics would be fiercely deriding, and not exactly "patriotic").

Here's the thing: if Obama calling it "British" is such a problem, why are we proudly defending this "great UK company"?

It's not the crass opportunism that gets me down about this stuff, or the (faux-)stupidity, it's the chippiness. It makes us seem so insecure, always seeking out "slights" from abroad to get upset about. Whatever happened to those great British traits of effortless confidence and sang-froid (excuse my French)?

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