Second-Degree Blogging

Three completely different posts that catch my beady eye this morning...

N.Irish Magyar bemoans the dropping of West Belfast from the 2005 marathon route. I don't quite agree with Paul on this - I think that a flatter route sounds lovely thank you very much - but there you go. Still, I am interested in some of the debates on this (e.g. see Slugger) which suggest that something like the Marathon should, for reasons of fairness, visit each of Belfast's main neighbourhoods. Or, as Paul suggests, that it gives people a good tour of the city (which, as a jogger, I suppose I should admit makes some sense to me: jogging outdoors is a great way to get to know a place: I'm an expert on South Belfast's geography and there are few things more satisfying than jogging along the Lagan from the meadows into the Waterfront on a sunny (not too warm!) day).

...then...

Via Victor on Political Arguments, a new article on Critical Theory in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. I've had a quick look and it's pretty good.

...and finally...

YI raises the issue of a British vote on a United Ireland, which he rejects on the grounds that "I couldn't support a referendum that allowed a foreign nation the final say on an issue that affects my nation" (is it just me, or does this sound strangely familiar???). Actually, I find the idea of giving all the people I met in the South of England the opportunity to tell the Irish to fark orf highly amusing. I plan to suggest this to the next person who holds a strong Ulster-is-British-and-nothing-else line with me. I'm kind of sympathetic to them in some senses, but I wonder what the response would be if I said that, in that case, all British people should have a say in NI's future!