The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.

I’d want to remind [you] how precious life is, and how precious the sight of a green tree would be when you’re deprived of it.

Don’t fear failure so much that you refuse to try new things. The saddest summary of a life contains three descriptions: could have, might have, and should have.

Louis E. Boone

It is nobler to declare oneself wrong than to insist on being right - especially when one is right.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.

Peter Ustinov

Dear Gary Younge,

I thoroughly enjoyed your piece today. It was incisive, studious and intellectual - as always. I especially liked the David and Goliath metaphor, and will quote it in argument as soon as I find a suitable opportunity!

My perception is that many of those you described as ‘Goliaths’, are, in the modern era of political correctness and liberal thought, better described as ‘Davids’ - if only in terms of their size, and underdog status. They do not however have the honour of David, as the mud they sling is petulant and unnecessary. These men and women who currently seek to inspire reactionary *isms, do so because their perceived birthright has (and still is) being intellectually and memetically dismantled. Their desperate radicalism - ironically similar to al Qaeda’s regressive mindset (and perhaps just as bloody) - increases as their true grip on power diminishes. I accept that their inherited power gives them the stature of Goliath wielding an impressive sword, but the liberal mindset is armed with an unconventionally mighty weapon - the pen, and shall ultimately overcome.

Orwell said in ‘1984′, “the object of power is power”. The object of *ism is *ism, regardless of how it is dressed up. Hopefully commentators like yourself will continue to strip away their facades and expose their bravado as last-ditch cowardice. You must.

Keep up the good work.

Best regards,

nosa

Code is free, but bandwidth never will be.

I haven’t written for a LONG time. An article in today’s MediaGuardian has changed that. Sir Ian Blair has criticised the media for being institutionally racist in their reporting of crimes. Naming several high profile case as support for his statement he said:

We do devote the same level of resources to murders in relation to their difficulty. What the difference is, is how these are reported. I actually believe the media is guilty of institutional racism in the way they report deaths.

I don’t always agree with Sir Ian Blair, but on this, he is spot on. Aside from Damilola Talyor, and more recently Anthony Walker, the mainstream media devotes less time to ethnic victims of crime. Those two cases were ironically viewed as important by the national press, because the media associated them with Stephen Lawrence’s death which, following a police bungle of the investigation led to the McPherson Report, led to the police being defined as institutionally racist.

31-year-old lawyer Tom ap Rhys Price was murdered on Jan 12 near Kensal Green station, NW London recently and recieved media focus. Balbir Matharu in contrast did not. He was killed on the same day in north-west London - dragged to his death behind his car by thieves who had tried to steal his £70 car stereo. No-one has even been arrested for this latter crime against the 54-year-old Asian father of two, while Rhys Price continues to dominate coverage following the charging of 2 people.

The tabloids paint the starkest picture of the racial bias - Rhys Price was mentioned in 98 articles, while Matharu was covered in just 14. The Media as the fourth estate, is well aware of how their coverage motivates people to approach the police with intelligence on crimes. Their silence is unacceptable.

Referring to the lawyers murder, their was a media outcry, with several articles and shows dominated with white middle-class commentators sanctioning the carrying of weapons to protect themselves. They believed that Rhys Price’s murder was the turning point, and signified that it may be better to risk being stopped by the police that to be caught unarmed by a hoodie mugger. Several years ago, my friend’s 15-year-old brother was stabbed to death outside his school, after just finishing his last GCSE exam, by a fellow 11-year-old pupil. Do the commentators, who suggest the carrying of weapons from comfortable studios across the country, sympathise then with many other boys at the same school, who feeling unprotected and unrecognised may choose to protect themselves? How about 23-year-old men who actually reside within no-go-areas they refer to? The answer no, but the immediate question is: why?

Because they see themselves as distinct from the black working-class? Because they react only to their majority audience? In either case, minorities have zero hope of representation.

The present situation is a case of the pot calling the kettle racist. Both the media and the police have an impartial job to do. The police seem to have rectified some of their institutional failings. While numbers of black police officers are growing, i wonder whether the same is true of ethnic minorities in news media.

Sir Ian Blair is right. The media are racist, but like the pre-McPherson Met, may not even realise fully or even accept the charge. That must change.

Space and time are not conditions in which we live; they are simply modes in which we think.