Sometimes Coco’s posts are far too wordy, so he thought he would keep it simple today. See, there are already far too many words!
Continue readingPolitics
Blame
Why look for a scapegoat when the answer is obvious?
Continue readingAfrican slavers
Slave catchers galore
In Nigeria, I remember my grandmother saying that when she was a little girl her great grandmother always said, ‘be careful how you’re behaving, if you’re naughty I’ll give you two the slave catchers’.
That must have been a terrible, terrible thing to tell a child…
Continue readingPizza or Tennis: a diplomatic incident?
A warning to Wiebo users: do not share this. And yes, Coco does know that word this is miss-spelt as Coco does incorrectly spell ohters.
Continue readingBlacklisted
Carpenters, Cleese, Cambridge and Christmas
Coco was not sure what was the most astonishing the Carpenters, Cleese or Cambridge and Christmas.
Continue readingCredimus
Words which are familiar
If you were born before 1965 or sing in a choir then these words may be very familiar to you. They form the core of many a choral work. But did you know that a similar set of words is used frequently but for a far different, yet incoherent, purpose? First of all, let me turn you to what the Bible says: There is no god, so says the fool in his heart.
Continue readingCOP26
Call Coco picky if you will but the COP26 globe which has been chosen by many to illustrate the opening of the summit looks as if someone has tried to wrap Mercator’s projection of the globe back onto a globe. This is truly flat earth thinking, however not quite so bad as the hexagonal football of British road sign infamy. Coming back to the COP26 globe, Coco does wonder how the young man at the front managed to get his head in front of the globe which is being held by a hand in front of him, and what is on the other side of the globe. Is the Pacific really that big?
Continue readingOffended?
Why academia is offensive – when difficult questions offend
Continue readingStereo typing
In the eyes of the ARC and others It is impossible to get it right. If you choose the image of a white man you can be accused of racial bias, if you choose the image of a black man you can be accused of racial bias. If you choose the image of an oriental you can be accused of bias even if the image is of the person you are actually representing. What are we to choose when we want to depict a man doing something? Coco was going to suggest that we use a monkey instead, but then, if the experience of Hartlepool is anything to go by, we shall only end up annoying the French even more than they are already. I suppose someone will consider that to be racist too. Hey-ho, Boney was a warrye, way, aye, yah. A warrye and terrye, John France, wah!
Rapid Alter[c]ation
Change comes quickly and unexpectedly
The remarkable speed with which the recent changes have taken place in Afghanistan reminded me of words spoken 2500 years ago in Israel:
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