The Sunday Cat feels a bit defensive.

Where is it written that a cat should know that sitting on flaps makes them harder to lift up?

 

The cat is the great Maru, lover of boxes.

Fascist, hedonistic, unstable – and bisexual. Obviously(!)

I am irritated by this characterisation from the BBC:

John Amery was the Harrow educated son of Churchill’s Secretary of State for India, Leo Amery. His brother Julian was later to become a prominent Conservative MP. A troubled man, who had been expelled from Public School and bankrupted as a young entrepreneur, John became a passionate fascist. He broadcast pro-Nazi propaganda during World War 2 and ran a programme recruiting British POWs to fight for Germany on the Eastern Front. Unlike his brother Julian, John was a wild boy – bisexual, hedonistic and unstable. Why? [emphasis added]

Apparently, bisexuality is of a piece with hedonism and instability – and, it is implied, equally in need of explanation.  Is there just the slightest, BBC-est hint of the attitude Jan Moir stated so explicitly in her column after Stephen Gately’s death?

UK Electoral Reform: Demand it

Go here. (It’s a campaign put together by quite an impressive coalition of groups including the Fawcett Society, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and Avaaz.)

Why is it needed? Consider these figures:

Conservatives: 35,021
Labour: 33,338
Liberal Democrat: 119,397
That’s the number of votes each party needed to win a seat.

(Figures from here.)

Gendered Conference Campaign: Some Nice News

at a time when clear progress feels especially welcome to those of us in the UK still reeling from the election:

I just wanted to let you know that you are having an effect. I saw a CFP for a volume where all of the invited contributors were male. Inspired by your “Gendered Conference Campaign”, I wrote to the editors, pointed out their inadvertent omission as politely as I could, explained why it mattered, and suggested a list of women who they might invite. I got a very positive response and was assured that some of the women on my list would be invited soon. I really do think that they hadn’t noticed.

I’d rather not say who this was, or who I am, since it all (apparently) went so well — there is no need to call anyone out. Indeed, it’s better if people imagine this happening in many different areas of philosophy.

Thanks for inspiring me to do this, and thanks for spreading the good word.

electoral reform, anyone?

from David McCandless under a creative commons licence: