Robert Sharp

Barrister

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Build a Better Baggie

9 September 2009 / / 1 Comment

Further to last month’s argument about the wisdom of legalising pot, here’s a competition to design packaging for when it happens:  Build a Better Baggie.

Design by The Heads of State


Via the Daily Dish, perennial advocate of state-led legalisation in the US.
I recall an urban myth I once heard, which was that Marlborough Cigarettes have the trademark “Marleys” pre-registered for the eventual legalisation of pot.  If I ever need to fill an unforgiving minute, I may create a quick mock-up of what such a pack would look like.
Previously: Arguments on Fair Trade Weed; The Alcoholic Elephant in the Smoking Room; and on Liberalisation and Legalisation.

War Anniversaries

8 September 2009 / / 2 Comments

The new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, ‘Outbreak‘, commemorates 70 years since the start of The Second World War. When I saw the poster on the tube this morning, it took me back 20 years to primary school, when we did a whole term’s class project on the war: gas mask boxes, rationing, evacuation, Vera Lynn, &ct.
That was for the 50th anniversary, which still seemed fairly recent. Seventy years seems a much more distant time. The experience of learning about the Second World War in 2009, must be a little like learning about the First World War back in 1989: I am reminded of Kottke’s Timeline Twins.
I note that, since the First World War lasted from 1914-19, and the Second World War from 39-45, there is never a year when we are without a x10 year anniversary for some event or other in one of those great conflicts. That’s a good thing: lest we forget. But I cannot help but wonder at what point the anniversaries start to get less attention. The Battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar only seem to raise interest on the x50 year markers; Banockburn, Bosworth Field, Naseby, The Boyne and Culloden only on the centenary.

Forced to Blog?

27 August 2009 / / 0 Comments

From Global Voices Online:

Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a leading reformist blogger and former vice president, started to update his blog in prison. He says that the interrogation continues but he has very friendly relation with interrogator and protesters in prison know that there was no significant fraud in Iran’s presidential election.

I smell a rat.

Cartoon by Vahid Nikgoo

Cartoon by Vahid Nikgoo

Why They Cheer

23 August 2009 / / 7 Comments

There has been plenty of outrage over the release of Lockerbie Bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. The scenes of him arriving in Libya to a hero’s welcome have provoked disgust in the UK.
Why cheer a terrorist? It’s worth considering the situation from the Libyan point of view. First, al-Megrahi’s conviction was not water-tight. The manner of his identification by a witness in Malta was, I recall, highly irregular. I remember seeing a documentary about the case last year, which made me worry about the certainty of the conviction. And if Ordinary Britons are uneasy about the case, you can bet that Ordinary Libyans will be too. The conventional narrative there will be akin to that of the Guantanamo detainees – a Western power pursuing a vendetta against and unfortunate scapegoat.
This doesn’t take al-Megrahi’s side, or excuse Libya’s stte terrorism. But it does give an alternative explanation for the crowd’s exhuberance. It is more an expression of Libyan nationalism, than simply barbarians cheering a murderer.

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