Of Olympian overtures...

---

"[Diogenes] once went to Olympia and on his return was asked if he had seen a great crowd of men. “A great crowd, yes,” he said, “a great crowd of men, no." 

 

Think about that in today's political climate. Or even the last 3 decades. Where are the men, the good men, the great men? ....or women (echoes of Monty Python).

The above line is preceded by the following: "One of Diogenes’s habits was to wander round in full daylight carrying a lighted lamp, claiming to be looking for an honest man. Obviously, what he meant was that such individuals are so rare that artificial light is necessary, even during the daytime, to find one. He took this cynicism about men to greater heights." 

From Guy de la Bèdoyère's excellent article "Diogenes, We Need You More Than Ever" [LINK], posted today at The Daily Skeptic. 

 

The whole point of course is to decry the absolute moronic corrupt pap that 'lead us', at every level of national and local government, in pretty much every county, state and country in the world. Whose only wish is to remain gorging at the trough. 

(Guy's latest book is 'The Confessions of Samuel Pepys. His Private Revelations' [Amazon LINK], Abacus 2025, and in the US Pegasus 2026).

Official oddities...

---

According to Venezuela's 'interim' leader Vice President Maduro, Krusty has appointed Elias Jaua** as Foreign Minister; the gang is forming [ESP] [ENG]. Jaua lost the Miranda State election last month to opposition presidential candidate against Krusty back in October, Henrique Capriles. Amusingly it was Jaua who said that Capriles didn't deserve to be re-elected governor as a consolation prize for his defeat in the presidential election...now who's won consolation prize? What's odd is that Krusty even signed the decree which is dated and signed in Caracas on January 15 (image, left) hmmm. This is odd in that Chavez hasn't been seen for a month and only this past weekend Ollanta Humala and Cristina Fernandez, the leaders of Peru and Argentina respectively, left Cuba without having been able to see him and that the Caracas government has consistently refused to provide detailed information on his health. Quite rightly Capriles has said today that if Chavez can sign decrees [edit - even being of sound enough mind to give the OK for doing it electronically] he can and should talk to the people.



** ex radical and militant leftie with two feet in the Castro camp [Daniel] (Jaua is one of many lefty ideologues and militants close to Chavez over the years: 'químicamente guerrilleros').

Official oddities...

---

According to Venezuela's 'interim' leader Vice President Maduro, Krusty has appointed Elias Jaua** as Foreign Minister; the gang is forming [ESP] [ENG]. Jaua lost the Miranda State election last month to opposition presidential candidate against Krusty back in October, Henrique Capriles. Amusingly it was Jaua who said that Capriles didn't deserve to be re-elected governor as a consolation prize for his defeat in the presidential election...now who's won consolation prize? What's odd is that Krusty even signed the decree which is dated and signed in Caracas on January 15 (image, left) hmmm. This is odd in that Chavez hasn't been seen for a month and only this past weekend Ollanta Humala and Cristina Fernandez, the leaders of Peru and Argentina respectively, left Cuba without having been able to see him and that the Caracas government has consistently refused to provide detailed information on his health. Quite rightly Capriles has said today that if Chavez can sign decrees [edit - even being of sound enough mind to give the OK for doing it electronically] he can and should talk to the people.

** ex radical and militant leftie with two feet in the Castro camp [Daniel] (Jaua is one of many lefty ideologues and militants close to Chavez over the years: 'químicamente guerrilleros').

Overdoing outpourings?...

---

The people's player? Outpourings of grief: the Princess Diana syndrome. Matthew Syed in today's Times (Times Online [£...less than £10/month mind you]) has a great article that hits squarely the head of the nail in as much as it chimes exactly with my own opinion! "Public grief over Fabrice Muamba moves into soap opera territory".

"So vigilantly is this new idea of grief policed that regarding Muamba. Regardless of the facts, [the pillorying of Manchester United on Twitter for not issuing a public statement] this shows just how far we have travelled from the idea of grief as a spontaneous expression of loss. Now, it would seem, we think that it can be manufactured — even enforced — by cultural decree.
And this is deeply dubious. This is not about Muamba; it is about a shift that has taken grief into the territory of soap opera."

I will rein-in my cynicism at the 'influx of Premier League stars, carefully snapped by waiting photographers' (encouraged by their agents?) having reached such an extent that that "Muamba’s family has asked for non-Bolton footballers to refrain from visiting the hospital."!



By the way: a Worcestershire schoolboy died yesterday after collapsing during a rugby match in Kidderminster.



 

Overdoing outpourings?...

---

The people's player? Outpourings of grief: the Princess Diana syndrome. Matthew Syed in today's Times (Times Online [£...less than £10/month mind you]) has a great article that hits squarely the head of the nail in as much as it chimes exactly with my own opinion! "Public grief over Fabrice Muamba moves into soap opera territory".

"So vigilantly is this new idea of grief policed that regarding Muamba. Regardless of the facts, [the pillorying of Manchester United on Twitter for not issuing a public statement] this shows just how far we have travelled from the idea of grief as a spontaneous expression of loss. Now, it would seem, we think that it can be manufactured — even enforced — by cultural decree. And this is deeply dubious. This is not about Muamba; it is about a shift that has taken grief into the territory of soap opera."

I will rein-in my cynicism at the 'influx of Premier League stars, carefully snapped by waiting photographers' (encouraged by their agents?) having reached such an extent that that "Muamba’s family has asked for non-Bolton footballers to refrain from visiting the hospital."!

By the way: a Worcestershire schoolboy died yesterday after collapsing during a rugby match in Kidderminster.