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Samir Kassir on being Arab

Read this if you have not read before

Hummus For Thought

Samir Kassir

Today we remember Samir Kassir.

Nine years ago to this day, a car bomb exploded in Beirut. The usual confusion that followed was soon replaced with a nation-wide shock. The victim this time was none another than Samir Kassir.

Kassir cannot be described in a few words, so I won’t try and do so. The son of a Palestinian father and a Syrian mother, Kassir was one of the most well known intellectuals of the Arab left. He was a strong supporter of the Palestinian cause, and of Secular Democracy throughout the Middle East. His attempt to defend universal principles of equality and justice and adopt them to a Pan-Arab context made him deeply unpopular with some, leading to his death – it is usually believed that it was his opposition to the Syrian government’s presence in Lebanon and his criticism of the Baath party that killed him.

The following is an…

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Where Did I Lose My Name? #poetry #travel

penned in moon dust

new name

Somewhere between LAX, Charlotte  and Baltimore

I lost my identity

in the airplane engine’s intake

(or in the Starbuck’s line)

I was sucked in

spun about

spit out on a cup

what remains are three letters

that don’t belong to me

I finger them

striving for meaning

squinting for an answer

“L” always a sexy letter

that looks better curvy

saying “linger on my loops”

“I” is almost floating away

in a cloud of after thought

at 30,000 feet

“Z” a backwards s

the sound buzzes through your teeth

rather than hisses

and where am I?

Drowning in remembrance

attached to another name?

or talking in strange tones

after too much helium?

gather up your bags

whoever you are

there is  another leg to life’s journey

regardless of the name

wing

Ever had your name spelled wrong? Been called something else? How do you respond?

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The Newark Tory candidate’s mansion home he’s trying to keep secret:

Posh, very posh!

Pride's Purge

(not satire – it’s the Tories!)

The Tory candidate for the Newark by-election Robert Jenrick describes himself as “the son of a secretary and a small businessman”.

But for some strange reason, nowhere does he mention he’s also a Director of Christie’s auction house.

Perhaps he’s trying to present himself as a man of the people.

Which is probably why he also doesn’t mention his home.

Well, one of Jenrick’s homes to be exact – he also owns two houses in London – but the most impressive in his personal collection of expensive houses is his country home called Eye Manor which he bought in 2009.

Eye Manor is situated in Herefordshire (not in Nottinghamshire where Newark is situated) and was listed for sale at a reasonable £1.3 million.

Reasonable I say because it really is very, very nice indeed:

eye manor 1

eye manor 2

eye manor 3

eye manor 4

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Not exactly a man of the people then?

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Government boosts GDP by adding sex and drugs to economy

Pride's Purge

(not satire – no really, it’s not!)

The government’s thought of a sure-fire way to boost the economy.

The Office for National Statistics has decided to include prostitution and sales of heroin in its assessments of the UK economy – adding 5 per cent to the UK’s gross domestic product at a stroke;

Drugs and prostitution add £10bn to UK economy

Now we know why George Osborne was chosen to run the economy.

He might only have worked as a towel folder in Selfridges before becoming chancellor but he’s a real expert on prostitutes and illegal drugs.

Allegedly.

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Please feel free to comment.

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