Thursday 18 August 2011
Wednesday 10 August 2011
Tier 1, or why immigration is so fucked
I love how the UK has managed to slip this one under the radar by bringing out the news in the middle of nationwide riots in England.
Tier 1 is a new law that is named all fancy so we're distracted by its Star Trek implications. It has been implemented to allow 'exceptional talent' to hold UK residency.
For the first year of operation there is a limit of 1,000 places. Between the 9 August and 30 November there will be 500 places available and a further 500 places available from the 1 December to 31 March 2012. This limit will be reviewed at the end of March 2012.
But what is exceptional talent? You can be considered if you have won an Academy Award, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe or an Emmy Award or have been nominated in the five years before applying.
This means that a refugee fleeing from a war-torn country may (will) find it impossibly hard to get on the road to citizenship, but James Franco can shimmy up in here. James fucking Franco.
Immigration is fucked.
Tier 1 is a new law that is named all fancy so we're distracted by its Star Trek implications. It has been implemented to allow 'exceptional talent' to hold UK residency.
For the first year of operation there is a limit of 1,000 places. Between the 9 August and 30 November there will be 500 places available and a further 500 places available from the 1 December to 31 March 2012. This limit will be reviewed at the end of March 2012.
But what is exceptional talent? You can be considered if you have won an Academy Award, a BAFTA, a Golden Globe or an Emmy Award or have been nominated in the five years before applying.
This means that a refugee fleeing from a war-torn country may (will) find it impossibly hard to get on the road to citizenship, but James Franco can shimmy up in here. James fucking Franco.
Immigration is fucked.
Tuesday 9 August 2011
Time slips
They're an interesting thing, time slips. While I don't think of myself as Christian, or attuned to any particular religion - obviously due to an atheist upbringing and a healthy sense of snark - if I had to choose some line of religious upbringing, I would choose paganism. Nature has always seemed to inspire the most adoring and suspicious of reactions. You've got views that make you cry, you've got wind blowing unexpectedly on a flat plain with no clouds. I just think something is up with nature.
Time slips are basically when people experience a place, but not in its real time: the most famous incident being in 1901, when two lady scholars experienced Versailles as it had been in the plague. There's a fascinating story here, about three cadets that felt as though they had been taken back in time when they passed through the village of Kersey in 1957
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/2011/07/21/when-three-british-boys-traveled-to-medieval-england/
The author makes a convincing argument for the boys basically just over-reacting, but there seems to be something in the mythology of experiencing a place as it has been, not as it is. I think I have experienced it, although not in as concrete a way as has been recorded: more of a feeling, a sens that you are not seeing things as they should be. Could one feasibly prove timeslips?
Time slips are basically when people experience a place, but not in its real time: the most famous incident being in 1901, when two lady scholars experienced Versailles as it had been in the plague. There's a fascinating story here, about three cadets that felt as though they had been taken back in time when they passed through the village of Kersey in 1957
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/2011/07/21/when-three-british-boys-traveled-to-medieval-england/
The author makes a convincing argument for the boys basically just over-reacting, but there seems to be something in the mythology of experiencing a place as it has been, not as it is. I think I have experienced it, although not in as concrete a way as has been recorded: more of a feeling, a sens that you are not seeing things as they should be. Could one feasibly prove timeslips?
Friday 5 August 2011
The guilty pleasure
Simon Doonan (arch-voiced window stylist and frequent guest on ANTM) had this to say on the guilty pleasure:
"The notion of the guilty pleasure allows tacky celebs to phone in a little token regret about rabid materialism while simultaneously wallowing in it. You can castigate your cupcake and eat it too."
Quite lovely. I am inspired to no longer feeling guilty about viewing sessions of 'The Real Housewives of Orange County', although I am pretty much resigned to quickly changing the channel if anyone vaguely snarky walks into the room.
"The notion of the guilty pleasure allows tacky celebs to phone in a little token regret about rabid materialism while simultaneously wallowing in it. You can castigate your cupcake and eat it too."
Quite lovely. I am inspired to no longer feeling guilty about viewing sessions of 'The Real Housewives of Orange County', although I am pretty much resigned to quickly changing the channel if anyone vaguely snarky walks into the room.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)