Mild Subversion

In the tradition satirical writers through the ages

Current articles........
A Concert at the Wagmore Hall, London	Irena Klamberova plays the ukelele
On-line Poetry Tutorial No.37	A critic comments on one of the seminal poets of our time.
And in previous months........

McCain - - the Manchurian Candidate?	What could really happen on Day One if John McCain is elected President of the United States
Obama - - his Four Years	True patriotism, or how to get the United States back on track in double quick time
What heaven is like	For those who await the Rapture and are anxious to know what to expect
Bob for Prez!	An American election
Is Iraq America's Boer War?	Empires always expand to a point where they are unsustainable. The loss of a single war can start the rot.
Class warfare against the educated!	Fine, Mr. Obama, Ms. Clinton, Mr. McCain, but where will you find good, educated administrators who understand the world and are trained to think?
Intellectuals	Where have they all gone?
Hope	A reaction to Senator Obama
Impressions of Syria	A straight report on a visit to Syria in December 2007. Non-satirical, for a change
Musings of the Current God	Proponents of so-called intelligent design are answered from on high
Post-ironicism	Hot topic! Robert Hanrott talks to Patrick Macrory about Post-Ironicism.
Where are they now?	Transcript of a video interview conducted by Robert Hanrott with Malakbel, the ancient Palmyran Sun God, and Aglibol, brother of Malakbel and God of the Moon.
The lease	The onerous obligations of a lease on a London flat.
Welsh land grab!	Welsh group lays claim to the whole of London!
Knowing the right questions to ask	Two innocents go to a British cricket match.
Knowing the bad people.	Do the Neocons have American interests at heart? Top Neocon think tanks and their publications.
The partition of Iraq.	We need an international settlement in the Middle East.
Arabs and Israelis out! Real owners in!	How one family can lay claim to all the territory around Jerusalem.
The Ethiopian taxi driver	The thoughts of a migrant from the third world.
Got a problem?	How it takes half an hour to fill in an email form to get some help from a computer software company that communicates in Dutch.
Independence for England!	May 2007 marked the 300th Anniversary of the Union of England and Scotland. It’s time for independence for both countries!
Reduce those mail deliveries!	In the spirit of subversion, we encourage everyone to reduce the amount of unwanted mail and fight the advertisers.
Warning: Gravity is Only a Theory!	by Ellery Schempp, a member of the American Humanist Association and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
What political cataclysm?	The outcome of the mid-term elections was tame in comparison to what it ought to have been.
A Wolfowitz in Sheep’s Clothing?	A cautionary tale about the on-going efforts to downsize, "reform", and even eliminate all United Nations agencies.
Hubris	* FREE! Win a free, heavily edited copy of the latest US national intelligence estimate if you can identify which country this fairy tale refers to.
Fighting the War on Error	Make the "service" economy work!
The Book of Provocations	A startling discovery has recently been made in an undisclosed location on the Dead Sea. A set of ancient scrolls has been unearthed, so sensitive that the Israeli Government has tried to suppress it. A careless rabbi fortunately left copies on a bus to Haifa.
The Nanny State	A genuine and hilarious leaflet from Help the Aged, in conjunction with Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London. In the spirit of what we thought at first was a joke, we offer a further collection of tips for the over 70s.
An email exchange between Rush Limbaugh and Elmer G. Ganz of Ohio, June 11th, 2006	And they vote for these clowns!
What is the point of democracy?	Government for all the people!
Endtime: a Tale of Nuts	A fairy tale for our time. The hazel nut in Celtic lore was equated with wisdom and poetic inspiration. A legend tells the tale of a nut tree that grew by a sacred pool. The tree shed its nuts into the pool. They were eaten by a family of salmon. The number of bright spots on the salmon, it is said, indicated the number of nuts it had eaten and the depth of the wisdom it had thereby absorbed.
Productivity: Are American Economists Deluding Themselves?	What many corporations have quietly effected is a massive transfer of time, effort, stress and frustration onto the final customer. Intentional or not, this transfer is not captured in the persistent drumbeat about the productivity of the American economy.
Email intercepted from Saddam Hussein before his death	Shock Top Secret letter rocks US Intelligence. Iranians involvement suspected.
Saddam Hussein's November 2004 email to his followers.	Released under the Freedom of Information Act.
In praise of the Dilettante.	Why we need more inspired generalists.
Sound Science	Science used to be seen as a rational and definitive activity, the great outcome of the Enlightenment, a passport to a better life for all the world's inhabitants. More recently it has been used as a malleable weapon in the war to protect commercial interests and to buttress the claims of the religious right.
What is the Point?	Long hours. Few benefits. Inadequate holidays. Small pensions. Little worker protection. A degrading environment. A widening gap between rich and poor. Declining health care. Increasing self-absorption and less community spirit. Is this what we want from globalization, free trade, privatization and the untrammeled power of the corporation?
Apparatchika	A fairy tale about the return to a barely noticed medievalism.
Corruption	If President Clinton is caught with his trousers down it triggers impeachment. However, if Vice-President Cheney arranges for his old company to get the best contracts in Iraq that's just fine. Or is it?
Dry Cleaning in the 21st Century	A story about retail technology run mad.
Mrs. Meanwell	A fairy tale about naivete and religious violence.
Margaret Thatcher for Americans	An appraisal of Margaret Thatcher, and what it was like living under her rule.
Lord Adonis	The British Minister for Schools is busy dreaming up fancy titles for himself, but is doing the country's education little good.
Blair Acrostic	A clever acrostic by Thomas Braun, an Oxford don. He wrote it in December 2001 before war against Iraq.
Mr. Greenspan	Mr. Greenspan, Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, is supposed to be independent of party politics, holding the ring for the nation. He has betrayed our trust.
It Comes at a Price	We are paying a high price for so-called "liberal" economics, privatization and barely restrained capitalism.
I Did it All Myself	We all depend on each other. But tell that to the government-haters.
Moral Values	A religious conservative discusses his moral philosophy.
NineteenEightyFour	George Owell was right after all. It just happened twenty years later than he predicted.
The Arabian Nights, with Dubya Baba and the Forty Thieves: A Musical in 4 Acts	The true, never-previously-revealed story of Bush's War Against Iraq, and how The-Greatest-Country-Ever-in-the-History-of-the- Universe fought back against the imperialist neo-cons and their deeply ignorant hangers-on.
Email Correspondence from Saddam Hussein	Unknown to the general public, Saddam Hussein has had access to a computer and email and likes to send occasional messages to some of the people who have done so much to support him over the years. Here are some samples, sent to Donald Rumsfeld and others, with copies to me.
Alas! Poor Britain	The number of times people have asked "What was Tony Blair thinking about when he supported Bush?" has now risen to 58,781,000.
The Outing of Jack Kelley	Did you know that American journalists brag about the thoroughness of their training and their research? Apparently, it is so much better than in other countries.
The Poisoner	Heard of hexavalent chromium? It was dumped by manufacturers in New Jersey, poisoning the environment. No one was brought to task. A small illustration of the effects of unrestrained, unaccountable capitalism.
Getting back to good old Medieval Values.	Congress is rapidly coming under the influence of Bible literalists and believers in The Rapture. As never before we are in desperate need of a rational, intelligent God.7
Cinderella	Americans like to think of themselves as individualists, plowing their own furrows, seldom following the herd. But this doesn't appear to be the case in the theatre. Another illusion demolished.

Mild Subversion

In the tradition satirical writers through the ages

Current articles........

And in previous months........