I Say Thee Nay.

Went to the al Quds day counter-demonstration* yesterday; I don't think I've been on a demo since the anti-tuition fees one a decade back, so now part of me's just hoping the state of Israel will last slightly longer than free education did. There wasn't any visible opposition on the fees march, so being scant feet from the enemy was a new experience on me - in a really unsettling way it was an exhilarating experience, a little the same as the way I felt at and after my first gig. I understand now why people get hooked on demonstrating; there's something addictive about being loudly and communally active in defence of the cause of righteousness. Except of course that the other side were visibly getting exactly the same buzz...
Which is not to say that I don't think we did good, or that I don't think we're in the right; see a hundred previous posts as regards rejecting the paralysis of misapplied relativism. I'm proud to have made a stand; I'm glad to have been part of something that made the news on another continent. But I am also reminded of the seductive power of fervent belief in one's cause, and reminded (if only by the pro-Ahmadinejad march's numbers versus ours) that for now the monotheists can still muster a lot more of that than the liberals.
(The pub to which we repaired afterwards had a whiteboard informing prospective punters of the latest birthdate which would make them eligible to buy alcohol. If the youth of today don't even have to memorise false birthdates to get served anymore, no wonder if standards in maths are slipping)

Several TV debuts for which I had high hopes disappointed last week. The Tudors sees Showtime apparently seeking to cement their reputation as the poor man's HBO by making the Lidl Rome. Vivienne Vyle makes those of us who remember Jennifer Saunders being really funny even more doubtful of our memories, following as it does the Office mistake of assuming that accuracy will necessary entail comedy or truth. Peter Serafinowicz's sketch show was considerably patchier than I'd hoped. Even The Sarah Jane Adventures snuck its first episode under my radar, and then amazed me when I caught the second by having somehow made the Slitheen even more rubbish than they were in Doctor Who. Compared to which shower, it's not hard to forgive the continuing imperfections in ( Heroes season 2 episodes 1 & 2 - spoilers )

Had far too many options for Saturday night; at least two of them were guaranteed to play Girls Aloud, but Poptimism also offered Betty Boo, Led Zep's 'Immigrant Song' and PWEI, so I think I made the right call. Among the weekend's main home listening was the debut single from Evelyn Evelyn. I had totally fallen for the advance publicity, in which the great Jason Webley and Dresden Dolls' Amanda Palmer claimed to be co-producing a record by conjoined twins; it helped that I had seen conjoined twin singers on Armand Marie Leroi's Human Mutants, and couldn't remember their name. But here the twins are a ruse and the record simply a collaboration - and a very good one, albeit perhaps a little more slight than one might expect from Webley & Palmer.

A handy reminder of what the so-called 'pro-lifers' actually want - at least 82 women dead in a year, and 11-year old rape victims forced to bear children. The local Catholic church are as happy as, well, as happy as paedos guaranteed a constant supply of fresh meat; Pope Sidious is blithely certain there'll be no real problems. Note also that this measure was implemented by eighties radical icons the Sandinistas. Thank heavens the default Left never supports such monsters these days, eh?

*This is, and is likely to remain, the only time any gathering of which I am part has been described as "a who's who of the sensible Left".