Great Queen Street

I tried a place called Great Queen Street (on Great Queen Street, natch) near Covent Garden. I found the experience totally enjoyable.

It's a loud, "buzzy" gastropub, simply furnished with bare oak floors and tables. They serve basically British food, unpretentious but with a little flair, sometimes described with words like "sturdy" and "robust." Beef, lamb, pork - even wood pigeon. They also had a fish stew of some sort. My beef was very good and I also tried a taste the chicken pie, which was fantastic.

Even the restaurant reviews seem to be good.

The knowledgeable, efficient and very friendly service made our dinner a very pleasant experience, and even the bill wasn't too bad (for London at least). Overall, a good find.

Abbey Road

Forty years ago today, the Beatles shot their iconic "Abbey Road" album cover on a north London zebra crossing outside Abbey Road Studios. After all these years, tourists continue to dodge traffic to recreate the photo.

The BBC has done a brief feature on it and there's even a live webcam where you can watch people walk across and annoy drivers by stopping in the middle of the street to take photos.

Today at 11:35, the time the original picture was taken, fans are gathering to cross the street en mass in commemoration of the photo. That's happening just about now as I write this (totally serendipitous, as I only heard about this five minutes ago). I just looked at the webcam and the street is mobbed.

I have, of course, visited and walked across the crossing, but haven't yet gone for the photo-op. Perhaps it's time I should. It worked for these guys.

Ryanair Sucks

But Michael O'Leary sure knows how to make money.

The NY Times published a good piece on the Ryanair chief and his unabashed philosophy that "passengers will endure nearly every imaginable indignity, as long as the tickets are cheap and the planes are on time."

And it's true! Ryanair continues to make money, although not as much as before, while its competitors struggle.

I have flown Ryanair more often than I would have liked (which is never), usually out of necessity. It always amazes me how people willingly subject themselves to abuse and discomfort. Travelling British Airways or other "full service" airlines provides enough trials, but the Ryanair experience truly tries one's limits.

Nonetheless, people continue to flock to the airline who's official attitude towards their customers is to treat them like shit, because they really don't care. Apparently they're right, but do they really have to be so mean?

Americans and Torture

The Economist has published poll data showing how opinions towards the use of torture vary around the world. Based on polls taken in early 2008, the results show that:

Respondents in western European democracies such as Britain and Spain were most hostile to the idea of even some degree of use of torture, whereas residents in big but poorer countries such as Nigeria, Turkey and India seemed most willing to tolerate the idea. . . According to the polls, Americans are more willing to tolerate the use of torture than are Chinese.

Another shameful legacy of the Bush-Cheney-Rove era. 45% of Americans now think it's OK to torture people. America, I hardly know thee.

Tactics of the American Right

I recently came across this quote from Nazi leader Hermann Goering, made during an interview at the Nuremberg Trials:

Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. This is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and for exposing the country to danger. It works the same in every country.

Sound familiar? I guess we know where these guys got their playbook.

And of course, the politics of fear continues.

Freedom to Yell

I've been reading a bit about the Professor Henry Gates arrest in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for what boils down to being black and yelling at a policeman.

Paul Gowder at the blog Uncommon Priors gets to the real essence of the issue - it should not be illegal to yell at the cops:

The racism is actually the least interesting part of this story, just because we all already know that none of this would have been happened had he been white.

No, the real interesting issue is this “disorderly conduct.” The cop’s stated reason for arresting Gates was that he was yelling at him in front of other people. Let me repeat it. That was the stated reason for the arrest. So riddle me this: since when do we live in a society such that yelling at a cop is sufficiently plausible as grounds for arrest that the cop can actually write it in the arrest report?

Let’s not be confused here: the cop did not claim that Gates was getting violent, or that he posed any threat to the cop or anyone else, including himself.

Another example of how far the police state has really evolved in USA. Remember the British historian that Atlanta police wrestled to the ground and arrested for jaywalking?