Ignatieff loves Ukraine As Prospect predicted back in July, Michael Ignatieff is finding his entry into Canadian politics less than smooth. Ignatieff's attempt to win the Liberal party's nomination for a safe Toronto seat in January's general election went askew when parts of the large local Ukrainian community discovered a passage in Ignatieff's 1993 book Blood and Belonging that appeared to pour scorn on their national aspirations. Ignatieff won the nomination, but was forced to issue a statement that made clear his "deep, personal affinity with the suffering of the Ukrainian people." Note to academics with political aspirations: watch your words carefully.
The return of the lido No pain, no gain. If you want to slough off the excesses of Christmas this year, writes Ken Worpole, there's still time to enter Britain's first ever Cold Water Swimming Championships at Tooting Bec Lido on the weekend of 21st-22nd January 2006. You'll need to get medical advice before filling in the entry form, and on the day swimming caps are compulsory, but no wetsuits.
The idea for the championships came after 20 members of the South London swimming club took part in the ice-swimming championships in Oulu, Finland, in February. The air temperature in Oulu was -10 degrees Celsius, and the water—in a swimming hole cut out of the ice on the river—just above freezing point. An anticipated 0-5 degrees in London this January makes our attempts seem positively decadent.
Jumping into cold water is not everyone's idea of fun, but some Tooting Bec Lido club members do it all year. So do channel swimmers and triathletes in training. In 2006, the pool celebrates its centenary, and following a £500,000 facelift in 2002, members have spearheaded a renewal in the fortunes of open-air swimming in Britain (part of this story is told in an English Heritage publication, Liquid Assets, by Janet Smith).
Simon Murie, who is organising the Cold Water Championships, says, "There is no reason why more people can't enjoy swimming outdoors—it is far healthier than swimming in overheated indoor pools."
Finkielkraut and free speech Alain Finkielkraut, the ex-leftist French philosopher, has stirred things up with some bracing comments to the Israeli paper Haaretz about the French riots. Sensitive readers should look away now. "I have been horrified by these acts… and by the understanding with which they were received in France. These people were treated like revolutionaries. This is the worst thing that could happen to my country. Why? Because the only way to overcome it is to make them feel ashamed. Shame is the starting point of ethics. But instead… we give them legitimacy. They're 'interesting,' they're 'the wretched of the earth.' Imagine that they were whites, like in Rostock in Germany. Everyone would say, 'fascism won't be tolerated.' When an Arab torches a school, it's rebellion. When a white guy does it, it's fascism. I'm colour-blind. Evil is evil, no matter what colour it is. This evil, for the Jew that I am, is intolerable."
This, and other comments about anti-colonial rhetoric and anti-French feeling, was too much for the French anti-racist group MRAP, which threatened to take Finkielkraut to court for incitement to racial hatred—but then thought better of it. Shame, would have been an interesting case.
Cyber-coolies The thriving world of online multiplayer games has taken a globalised turn. Rich young gamers in America and elsewhere who cannot be bothered to spend hours going through the early, dreary levels of new games—acquiring experience points, wealth, weapons and other goodies—are paying people in China to do it for them. Once the outsourced gamer has taken the character to a certain level in the game, it is handed back to the American owner, who takes it on from there.
African rage There was much rage about the fate of Africa after the Hong Kong WTO talks. But the truth is that most of sub-Saharan Africa can trade anything (bar arms) any-where in the developed world. The problem is that it does not produce enough things of the right quality and quantity to get into the rich world's markets. An end to US cotton subsidies would make life better for a few farmers in the Sahel. For the rest, it is lack of African production that is the problem and, say the experts, oddly high wages.
Christmas competition The government's education bill has grand ambitions, but the only people who think it will make much difference are the Labour rebels planning to vote against it. Complicating the maths, the Tories might back it. The bill will be published in late February; if you can guess the number of votes by which the government will win (or lose) the second reading, you can win a DVD collection of the sixth season of The West Wing. Email your guess to info@prospect-magazine.co.uk by 6th February.
The return of the lido No pain, no gain. If you want to slough off the excesses of Christmas this year, writes Ken Worpole, there's still time to enter Britain's first ever Cold Water Swimming Championships at Tooting Bec Lido on the weekend of 21st-22nd January 2006. You'll need to get medical advice before filling in the entry form, and on the day swimming caps are compulsory, but no wetsuits.
The idea for the championships came after 20 members of the South London swimming club took part in the ice-swimming championships in Oulu, Finland, in February. The air temperature in Oulu was -10 degrees Celsius, and the water—in a swimming hole cut out of the ice on the river—just above freezing point. An anticipated 0-5 degrees in London this January makes our attempts seem positively decadent.
Jumping into cold water is not everyone's idea of fun, but some Tooting Bec Lido club members do it all year. So do channel swimmers and triathletes in training. In 2006, the pool celebrates its centenary, and following a £500,000 facelift in 2002, members have spearheaded a renewal in the fortunes of open-air swimming in Britain (part of this story is told in an English Heritage publication, Liquid Assets, by Janet Smith).
Simon Murie, who is organising the Cold Water Championships, says, "There is no reason why more people can't enjoy swimming outdoors—it is far healthier than swimming in overheated indoor pools."
Finkielkraut and free speech Alain Finkielkraut, the ex-leftist French philosopher, has stirred things up with some bracing comments to the Israeli paper Haaretz about the French riots. Sensitive readers should look away now. "I have been horrified by these acts… and by the understanding with which they were received in France. These people were treated like revolutionaries. This is the worst thing that could happen to my country. Why? Because the only way to overcome it is to make them feel ashamed. Shame is the starting point of ethics. But instead… we give them legitimacy. They're 'interesting,' they're 'the wretched of the earth.' Imagine that they were whites, like in Rostock in Germany. Everyone would say, 'fascism won't be tolerated.' When an Arab torches a school, it's rebellion. When a white guy does it, it's fascism. I'm colour-blind. Evil is evil, no matter what colour it is. This evil, for the Jew that I am, is intolerable."
This, and other comments about anti-colonial rhetoric and anti-French feeling, was too much for the French anti-racist group MRAP, which threatened to take Finkielkraut to court for incitement to racial hatred—but then thought better of it. Shame, would have been an interesting case.
Cyber-coolies The thriving world of online multiplayer games has taken a globalised turn. Rich young gamers in America and elsewhere who cannot be bothered to spend hours going through the early, dreary levels of new games—acquiring experience points, wealth, weapons and other goodies—are paying people in China to do it for them. Once the outsourced gamer has taken the character to a certain level in the game, it is handed back to the American owner, who takes it on from there.
African rage There was much rage about the fate of Africa after the Hong Kong WTO talks. But the truth is that most of sub-Saharan Africa can trade anything (bar arms) any-where in the developed world. The problem is that it does not produce enough things of the right quality and quantity to get into the rich world's markets. An end to US cotton subsidies would make life better for a few farmers in the Sahel. For the rest, it is lack of African production that is the problem and, say the experts, oddly high wages.
Christmas competition The government's education bill has grand ambitions, but the only people who think it will make much difference are the Labour rebels planning to vote against it. Complicating the maths, the Tories might back it. The bill will be published in late February; if you can guess the number of votes by which the government will win (or lose) the second reading, you can win a DVD collection of the sixth season of The West Wing. Email your guess to info@prospect-magazine.co.uk by 6th February.
