-
Abstained Character
Now, I do get the concept of abstention. It is a signal to express disdain for both options of a Hobson’s choice. In other contexts, it is a luxury; a risk-free gesture when a vote one way or another changes nothing. It is used as a ploy to avoid confrontation with opposing, warring factions, but…
-
Rolling Over
Hats off to the Chancellor of the checkered party for his rescue planning – that £280 billion package should keep us going until about next Wednesday with a Government that has, unabashed, gone full crony. Even Albanian mobsters are growing concerned that London is reflecting badly on them. But whatever news conference claptrap is trotted…
-
Cheato Jesus
In a week when Cheeto Jesus offered the first hint that he might give up the spectre of his presidency, Cheato Jesus in Argentina gave up the ghost. There will be much penned about the life and times of Diego Maradona, typically juxtaposing the genius and villain motifs. But the infamous Hand of God was…
-
False Positive
We have come to realise that online connectivity made the world a smaller place, but it is becoming more of a stretch to see social media as a positive? That is not so say that it has no advantageous features, but to me, it’s been long merrily frankensteining. The overriding challenge is that the pace…
-
Slacking Off
Ever wondered why the struggle for autism rights is like pushing water uphill with a fork? Look no further than the scorched-earth, slacktivist absolutism of self-centred, butthurt, keyboard warriors. I found this out when I had the temerity to question the vitriolic criticism of a film that none of the froth-mouthed slogan-jockeys had even watched.…
-
The Wrong Notes
When Aussie singer/songwriter Sia produced her film Music, she probably hadn’t anticipated the unmitigated shitstorm from disability activists who have blasted her as ‘ableist‘. The reason? The film centres on an autistic teenager, and shock horror, the actor cast in the lead role is not autistic. And apparently, a non-autistic producer is exercising undue privilege…
-
Smash-and-Grab
Never prior to 2020 did the sands of sanity shift as they do now with unfathomable regularity. Back in the loony bin of the UK’s Coronaresponse engine room, some faceless, but majestically twisted tit has fluffed up a concept hardon that will take some beating – a 5-day Christmas holiday from restrictions that the public…
-
The Icing on the ‘Cake’
This week’s European entertainment came to us courtesy not of the usual Vaudeville Euro parliament speeches, but of Poland and Hungary as they stuck the kai-bosh onto the EU’s bug recovery budget. And what a corker it was. Went down like a vomit gazpacho in Brussels. Well that’s democracy for you. Or to put it…
-
The Needle
Opposition politicians have awakened from their slumber and are demanding, ‘financial and criminal penalties for social media companies that fail to censor posts promoting anti-vaccination content’. Anti-vaxxing is nothing new, along with anti-everything. That’s democracy for you. But just let these calls sink in for a moment. Not in terms of whether you agree with…
-
Poise On
While it made the headlines, we did not witness the expected dogpile onto Dominic Cummings in the wake of his apparently premature evacuation. A few expected barbs from our old centre-left faves who momentarily broke away from their Diwali celebrations, and that was about it. The whole affair is characterised largely by stunned silence: the…
maxfrances.com
Fighting the Good Fight…
maxfrances.com 