1) Tim Vine “I’ve just been on a once-in-a-lifetime holiday. I’ll tell you what, never again.”
2) David Gibson “I’m currently dating a couple of anorexics. Two birds, one stone.”
3) Emo Philips “I picked up a hitch hiker. You’ve got to when you hit them.”
4) Jack Whitehall “I bought one of those anti-bullying wristbands when they first came out. I say ‘bought’, I actually stole it off a short, fat ginger kid.”
5) Gary Delaney “As a kid I was made to walk the plank. We couldn’t afford a dog.”
6) John Bishop “Being an England supporter is like being the over-optimistic parents of the fat kid on sports day.”
7) Bo Burnham “What do you call a kid with no arms and an eyepatch? Names.”
8) Gary Delaney “Dave drowned. So at the funeral we got him a wreath in the shape of a lifebelt. Well, it’s what he would have wanted.”
9) Robert White “For Vanessa Feltz, life is like a box of chocolates: Empty.”
10) Gareth Richards “Wooden spoons are great. You can either use them to prepare food. Or, if you can’t be bothered with that, just write a number on one and walk into a pub…”
英国工会领袖、工党活动家、记者 Jimmy Reid 最近去世，他留下的名言中有以下这段，形容现代资本主义社会把人变成奔命的老鼠：
A rat race is for rats. We’re not rats. We’re human beings. Reject the insidious pressures in society that would blunt your critical faculties to all that is happening around you, that would caution silence in the face of injustice lest you jeopardise your chances of promotion and self-advancement.
This is how it starts, and, before you know where you are, you’re a fully paid-up member of the rat pack. The price is too high.
Multi-hued with speed imbued the peloton advances,
And passing by provides the eye with momentary glances,
Of muscled limbs and flashing rims, shaded eyes and plastered thighs,
Mitted hands upon the bars holding on for hours and hours.
The entourage of bikes and cars are there to give support,
Through rain and sun their labours run donating what is sort,
Replacing wheels, handing drink, advising riders when they think
A change of plan could help their man to gain a lead through further speed.
The peloton streams forward with power that is driven,
By domestiques who through the weeks yield effort freely given,
To aid the team achieve their dream for which they all have striven.
No glory theirs, no podium place but they’re the force that drives the race.
The progress made is undelayed by any circumstances,
The peloton rides on and on inspite of all mischances,
So the stars will win their glory, through the help of those who ride,
In the peloton behind them and are justly filled with pride.
Nick James 谈的是民族身份的建立，以及英国电影中对“过去”的构建。他提到了由法国人 Jacques Derrida 提出的新术语 hauntology，说的是1989年柏林墙倒下和共产国家纷纷崩溃之后，对马克思主义的“幽灵”的追寻和怀念。Hauntology 这一词由 haunt 和 onlogy 组合，灵感其实就是马克思在《共产党宣言》中的名言：
A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of communism.
Have you noticed how the coverage of urban foxes – including the ones who are thought to have horribly wounded two little girls in London – resembles what’s so often written about immigrants? They come over here, into our cities, they steal our food, they swagger down the street like hoodies, they know no fear, they ignore our way of life and the authorities seem powerless and unwilling to stop them. Do you think they might be a sort of stand-in?
Now that David Miliband is standing for Labour leader, and we learn that his brother Ed might stand against him, it’s time to reprise the great line from Linda McDougall, the wife of Austin Mitchell MP, and a family friend of Ralph Miliband. “I’m afraid I can’t take either of the Miliband brothers seriously. I changed both their nappies.”
英国两位社会流行病(social epidemiology)专家 Richard Wilkinson 和 Kate Pickett 的著作 The Spirit Level 在去年出版后引起了很大反响。这本书的主要论点是证明当社会达到一定的富裕程度之后，经济的继续增长就与人民幸福程度脱钩了，而社会平等程度越高，人民的身体和精神健康程度越好。
大概正因为 Flotilla 这一称呼的微妙，善于公关的以色列官方不太愿意用这个词，外交部副部长 Danny Ayalon 的说法是“The armada of hate and violence”。Armada 特指的是海军舰队，以色列人显然是故意用这个词来暗示对方是有武装和带着敌意的，试图否定起“和平人道”的形象。
