London-based writer. Often climbing.

  • 99 Posts
  • 769 Comments
Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 29th, 2023

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  • Whether or not George Mallory summitted Everest.

    Mallory was a great climber. People who knew him think he had the ability. Another member of his expedition saw Mallory and his partner, Andrew Irvine, close to the summit, but not close enough to be certain whether or not they made it.

    Neither man returned from the mountain. Mallory’s body was later found, many decades after he died. but Irvine was never seen again, dead or alive.

    There are various other bits of circumstantial evidence, but the fact is we’ll simply never know for sure. I like to think they made it.





  • So, you’re saying there was a slight miscarriage of justice which, on appeal, was rectified? I’m sorry there was a problem but, by your own account, it was fixed.

    The UK cannot be both Marxist and living under Sharia law; they’re diamatrically opposed. In fact, no where is Sharia law legally imposed, whatever you may have heard.

    It is not true that you can’t be ‘proud’ of being ‘English’. There is a St. George’s Day parade in many towns and cities, including London, where it is led by Sadiq Khan, the mayor, who is both proudly Muslim and proudly English. Like most people, he sees no contradiction.

    It is not true that talking about Anglo-Saxon culture is considered white supremacy. Schools and universities talk a great deal about figures from Shakespeare to Alan Turing to Millicent Fawcett (I’m picking three examples at random) all of whom were Anglo-Saxon. No one feels the need to point this out, because it would be fucking weird, but like all cultures everywhere, we mostly talk about people from our own culture. The idea this is banned or frowned upon is imaginary.





  • Several people here have mentioned the genocide in Palestine, which I accept is a major issue and one no one should be dismissive of. Biden himself acknowledged the validity of the issue in his speech to the DNC.

    I honestly find Biden’s decision to keep spending so much money arming Israel baffling, but there is at least some chance Harris will change that policy.

    But if Harris doesn’t win the White House, Trump’s policies will intensify the perescution of the Palestinians and also lead to pogroms, if not actual genocide, in the US and elsewhere.

    I agree this is not a happy choice to have to make. But it’s also quite clear which is the right choice.





  • Little bit shocked that Bernie Sanders was responsible for two of the misleading claims. Fully half of the, uh, four headings in the article: a ‘day of lies’, producing four (4) lies? Guess they weren’t working too fast.

    The Project 2025 stuff IMO is fair game till Trump explains what he’d do differently. As far as I can see, it’s at least consistent with his plans. If he wants Dems to shut up about it, he should say which parts and which authors he rejects. He can’t just vaguely say, ‘That document that says I should be a dictator? Nothing to do with my plans to be a dictator’ and expect people to go: okay, cool.