Semi-detached member

I rejoined the party last week. I had rather hoped that some dramatic announcement would allow me to rejoin feeling vindicated, but it sadly doesn't work like that. So, I rejoined anyway, because I really wanted to be member if Bozza manages to beat the Ken tomorrow. I shall inevitably remain a semi-detached member for the foreseeable.

Mark you, semi-detached can mean many things. My favourite hypocritical moment of the election surrounds the Kate Hoey furore, who - inter alia - is my local MP. I particularly liked Livingstone's high handed description of her as "a sort of semi-detached member of the party in recent years." The party expelled him.

Free Tibet?

There is a splendid letter in last week's LRB (which I have only got round to reading today) about Tibet, which skewers very nicely the absurb western stance on Tibet and China. I've always struggled with Tibet, being torn as to whether to attack the communists or the Buddhists, I usually come down on the side of Tibetans, not least because the world needs more theocracies.

However, this recent spate of anti-Chinese protest is absurd. As the letter points out:

a) Tibet has always been dire
b) Tibet has been part of China (loosely) for a while
c) China's quite nasty to lots of people
d) And it's been doing it systematically for a while now
e) We know Olympic boycotts don't achieve anything (see Moscow 1980 and LA 1984)

But because it's buddhism we get this tedious protest. In fact, especially because it's Tibetan buddhism (I believe is called the vehicle of the diamond thunderbolt), which is the worst of the lot, with its tantra (that will be spells then) and awakening / enlightenment through sex (so convenient) and its theocratic state.

It's a mystery to me why there aren't more right wingers on these protests, because these don't seem like core left wing values.