Jonathan Waterlow is a British writer and podcaster. He is the author of It’s Only a Joke, Comrade! Humour, Trust and Everyday Life under Stalin (2018) and the founder of the Voices in the Dark podcast. Edited by Sam Dresser aeon.co Stalinism. The word conjures dozens of associations,
Abolish the death penalty for all except innocent babies – yup, makes sense.
Thomas W. Pearson sapiens.org The nurse gently lifted Michaela onto my partner’s bare chest, a newborn embraced by her mother for the first time. I marvelled at the raw beauty of it all. I have a daughter, I thought, and along with my 2-year-old son, the “perfect” family.
The word for today is… expedite (verb) – To speed up the progress of or execute quickly. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : If you’re really intent on expediting something, you jump in with both feet—or place a single foot where it will be most effective! And when you do,
The day that the public’s trust in Police died can be measured. It was 9 January 2020, the day approximately 12 armed and uniformed goons from the Police metaphorically kicked in the doors of a young Christian family to search for a .22lr lever action rabbit rifle. It is
The word for today is… existential (adj) – 1. Of, relating to, or dealing with existence. 2. Based on experience; empirical. 3. Of or as conceived by existentialism or existentialists: an existential moment of choice. 4. Linguistics Of or relating to a construction or part of a construction that indicates existence,
On Thursday evening, I was just finishing up dinner with my two oldest kids. My wife was feeling unwell and feeding our four-week-old baby in bed. I had just gotten the icecream out for the kids when the doorbell rang. I opened the door to see a number of police
Dear Editor I’ve noticed a lot of people freaking out over the speech Ricky Gervais gave at the Golden Globes. It seems that few people allow the mere possibility to cross their minds that the whole thing was scripted. The cameras did not find the right faces at the
The Herald ran a shabby little hit job on someone yesterday, it seems for the crime of once working for John Key. A Kiwi woman’s online rant about a sharing a trans-Tasman flight with a “screaming” baby has gone viral and the complainant isn’t taking a backward step.
The word for today is… ersatz (adj) – 1. Being a usually inferior imitation or substitute; artificial: ersatz coffee made of chicory. 2. Not genuine; fake. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Ersatz can be traced back in English to the 1870s, but it really came into prominence during World War I.
There seems to be more than a few Luddites out there who are vocally challenging the rollout of 5G technology. During a visit to Whangaparaoa, I noticed one such crazy who has plastered their property with hand-painted anti-5G signs. I thought I’d check out their claims. 5G Banned in
The word for today is… dispositive (adj) – (law) 1. Relating to or determining the outcome of a case or decision. 2. Relating to or involving the distribution of property, as through a trust or will. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Late Middle English (in the sense ‘contributory, conducive’): from Old
Let me be really clear: This is a headline from Stuffed. It is not my headline. It is, however, the sort of egregious nonsense, uttered by holier than thou idiots on our roads, that drives most of us to complete and utter despair. They usually turn out to be the
The word for today is… coup de grâce (noun) – 1. A deathblow delivered to end the misery of a mortally wounded victim. 2. A finishing stroke or decisive event. Source : The Free Dictionary Etymology : Borrowed directly from French and first appearing in English at the end of the 17th century,
We are given one life, and the decision is our whether to wait for circumstances to make up our mind, or whether to act, and in acting, to live. Omar Nelson Bradley American Army general 1893-1981
