Monthly Archives: December 2003

The UK is Closed for Xmas (and Boxing Day)

Posted on December 24, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

It used to be that the whole of the United Kingdom more or less shut down from Christmas to New Years. More recently, the shutdown has been limited to just Christmas and Boxing Day (the 26th), but the shutdown remains pretty complete. Newspapers don't publish (before the Internet I used to get a pretty bad case of news deprivation). Trains don't run. At all. All stores are closed (which when you figure that most British fridges are pretty small, means that you actually have to plan your food purchases pretty carefully so you don't run out…).

Nowadays the shutdown is a little less complete. A number of the larger department stores open on Boxing Day for their big annual sales. Walking through Didsbury this morining I noted a small number of resturants that say they will open for dinner on Boxing Day. Some years the Independent has published a vestigal paper on the 26th. Some bus compannies will run a few buses. But it's still a country locked up pretty tight.

So we'll stay home and watch the kids play with their new presents.

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MaxSpeak Moves to MT

Posted on December 23, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

MaxSpeak, an economist worth your time and attention, has NEW DIGS, and he's using Movable Type.

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Joshua Marshall Throws Cold Water on the ‘Saddam Was a Prisoner’ Theory

Posted on December 23, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

I think Marshall is one of the very best political journalists active in the US today, so I give his views a lot of weight. He's very negative about the Saddam-was-a-prisoner theory. Well, ok, it was just a theory. But someone please explain why he was in a hole that he couldn't get out of on his own. And where all the money went….

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How Many Kings Have Their Own Blogs? Cambodia’s Does!

Posted on December 23, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

The Guardian has pretty good web coverage, and they carry a pointer to the web site of King Norodom Sihanouk

Each day, His Royal Highness King Norodom Sihanouk scribbles a few pages of French in his notebook, which is then scanned and posted on the internet (Norodomsihanouk.info) in what is thought to be the first sovereign's weblog.

The royal blog has proved popular in Cambodia – as popular as any website can in a country where more than a third of the 12 million population live on less than a dollar a day. In part, this must be down to the king's decision to handwrite – as opposed to typing – his feelings, which affords a rare opportunity to read the royal state of mind. On difficult days, the king's memoranda are fissured with furious underlinings, scrawled with frantic disregard for page rules, along with bubbles of emphasis added in the margin. He also has a charming habit of separating his sections with three little Xs.

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More on Miami FTAA Protests

Posted on December 23, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

It looks to me as if this judge has clearly shown that he must recuse himself. That said, his commentary in open court is pretty reliable evidence that the Miami cops were — as has been suggested here before — waaaay over the line in trying to corral the FTAA protestors:

A judge presiding over the cases of free trade protesters said in court that he saw ''no less than 20 felonies committed by police officers'' during the November demonstrations, adding to a chorus of complaints about police conduct.

Judge Richard Margolius, 60, made the remarks in open court last week, saying he was taken aback by what he witnessed while attending the protests.

''Pretty disgraceful what I saw with my own eyes. And I have always supported the police during my entire career,'' he said, according to a court transcript. “This was a real eye-opener. A disgrace for the community.''

In the transcript, he also said he may have to remove himself from any additional cases involving arrests made during the Free Trade Area of the Americas summit.

''I probably would have been arrested myself if it had not been for a police officer who recognized me,'' said the judge, who wears his hair in a graying ponytail.

Note that Judge Margolius is a state court judge, not a federal judge.

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Threat Level Increases

Posted on December 21, 2003 by Michael Froomkin

The administration has raised the 'threat level' indicator. Note to self: Add

  1. why the whole concept is asinine and
  2. how the British do responsponses to terrorism so much better than we do

to the list of blog entries I mean to write Real Soon Now™.

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