Sole responsibility

In a spate of recent articles on the predictably lethal effects of the collective punishment of the Palestinians by the US and other Western nations, including the ending of medical aid (The Times: “How 14-Month-old Leukaemia Victim Is Suffering for Hamas”), I have yet to hear a Western politician justify the tactic of punishing dialysis patients as a way of pressuring a government – or see any sign that any of them were even asked, by journalists or anyone else, to do so, although Condi said Tuesday that “The Hamas-run Palestinian Authority government bears sole responsibility for the hardships facing the Palestinian people”. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike Condi? There is some talk now about finding ways to funnel money into Palestine through NGOs, the World Bank, whatever, but shouldn’t they have thought about that before cutting off the aid? I’m also hearing conflicting things about the extent to which Israel is blocking medical and other supplies entering Palestine, especially Gaza.

Something called the Catholic Secular Forum wants Christians in India to starve themselves to death to protest the movie of The Da Vinci Code. Everyone’s a critic.

Some more personals from the London Review of Books (LRB). As always, the complete collection of my favorites is available here.

Hubris made me pen this ad. You will answer, of course, but only ironically. Man, once great and 23, now alone and 51. Box no. 08/07

I’m no Victoria’s Secret model. Man, 62. Box no. 08/08

Man sought, with Mozart tendencies, his own wig and his own arch rival, by a gorgeous(ish) F (39, living in NW) Box No. 09/02 Box no.

If it wasn’t for this column I’d be the loneliest man alive. Box no. 07/06

(You can tell how lonely he is because he’s blatantly trolling for letters from LRB readers telling him it should be “weren’t” rather than “wasn’t.”)

X-rays, blood tests, EEGs, ECGs, lung function, barium, bone density, colonoscopy. Doctors don’t know what to do with me. Medical enigma (M, 33). Confounding science and all the staff at Streatham Hill Burger King since 1997. Box no. 07/07

I’d like to dedicate this advert to my mother (difficult cow, 65) who is responsible for me still being single at 36. Man. 36. Single. Held at home by years of subtle emotional abuse and at least 19 fake heart-attacks. Box no. 09/08

I spent an entire day in the British Library sourcing obscure reference material to cite in this ad, then I lost it all when I stopped off at Burger King on the way home. Man, 34. Box no. 09/12

My subscription to the LRB includes a proviso allowing time for ‘quiet naps’. That pretty much says everything you need to know. Man. Box no. 09/10