The mobile phone is a curse and many a tube or train journey has been ruined by morons conducting loud conversations over their mobile phones. Now Ofcom have decided that we should be able to use our mobile phones on planes once they are above 3,000 metres (around 10,000 feet in real measurements), so not for take off and landing but for the rest of the journey. Aeroplanes are bad enough with the sound of drunken fools shouting competing with the sound of babies screaming and small children shrieking without adding people using mobile phones to the mix.
Clive James feels the same way as me, read his wittier remarks here.
Showing posts with label Clive James. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Clive James. Show all posts
Sunday, 6 April 2008
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Is there such a thing as a "private life" in Labour Britain?
Clive James has his doubts in this article for the Ministry of Truth.
Here is an extract:
"Most of us are capable of grasping that if everyone could suddenly read everyone else's thoughts then very few people would survive the subsequent massacre, which would effectively bring civilisation to an end. If you were living alone in a cave, you might just stay alive until the following morning, but only if you were in there alone.
To live in society at all, we have to keep a reservoir of private thoughts, which, whether wisely or unwisely, we share only with intimates. This sharing of private thoughts is called private life.
Until recently, the concept of private life was basic to civilisation. Its value could be measured by the thoroughness with which totalitarian states and religions always did their best to stamp it out. But now we have to face the possibility that the latest stage of civilisation might also be trying to stamp it out."
Here is an extract:
"Most of us are capable of grasping that if everyone could suddenly read everyone else's thoughts then very few people would survive the subsequent massacre, which would effectively bring civilisation to an end. If you were living alone in a cave, you might just stay alive until the following morning, but only if you were in there alone.
To live in society at all, we have to keep a reservoir of private thoughts, which, whether wisely or unwisely, we share only with intimates. This sharing of private thoughts is called private life.
Until recently, the concept of private life was basic to civilisation. Its value could be measured by the thoroughness with which totalitarian states and religions always did their best to stamp it out. But now we have to face the possibility that the latest stage of civilisation might also be trying to stamp it out."
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