Arsenal 2-0 Olympiakos

Rangers 1-4 Sevilla

(Via the BBC, of course)

[intro]

If you haven't read this, go read it. Really. Go read it.

Girl-on-girl bullying or hazing is old news by now, for anyone who has seen “Mean Girls” or “Heathers” or “Gossip Girl”: popular girls organize a perfectly-coiffed and designer-clothed gang; fringe girl is targeted; bullies use their meanness and power to further marginalize fringe girl and reassert their status.

But news of a “slut list” at a top-ranked New Jersey high school last week highlighted two disturbing points: the increasingly explicit and sexual nature of the taunts, magnified by the Internet. And, in another twist, the perception that allegations of promiscuity — however fictional — are a badge of honor, a way into the cool group, and not a cause for shame.

The result is a 180-degree reversal of what a “slut list” might have meant, especially when the parents of these girls were growing up.

That the list and other hazing went on for more than 10 years at Millburn High School in New Jersey was only half the shock to parents and the national news media who set up cameras outside the school, which includes students from the affluent Essex County towns of Millburn and Short Hills. The repercussions to officials for allowing it to go on, only lightly checked over that time, are still playing out.

More surprising to many was the cachet that seemed to come to those on the list — even though it accuses the anointed girls of sleeping around, lap dancing and lusting after their own brothers. ...

Another brief highlight from the Labour Party conference-- Martin McGuinness, he of Sinn Fein affiliation (he's their deputy leader), apparently showed up in Brighton, at an event at the Grand Hotel, on Monday. Sinn Fein being the political party that, to put it kindly, historically has been associated with the IRA, of course, and Brighton's Grand Hotel being the site of an IRA bombing in 1984, of course...

Norman (Lord) Tebbitt, someone who I don't generally tend to be the biggest fan of, is blasting Labour over this saying McGuinness' appearance was "inappropriate." Seems fair:

Lord Tebbit has said Labour should not have allowed Martin McGuinness to attend its conference in Brighton.

[...]

Lord Tebbit was injured and his wife permanently disabled in the attack during the Tory conference in 1984.

Mr McGuinness attended a party organised by the Guardian newspaper at the Grand Hotel on Monday night.

Five people were killed in the Brighton bombing.

One of the best-remembered images of the night was that of Lord Tebbit, who had to be rescued from the rubble.

[...]

Mr McGuinness has admitted being in the IRA and politicians in Britain and Ireland believe he was a leader of the paramilitary organisation.

On Tuesday morning he spoke at a conference fringe event.

There are a lot of people, on both ends of the political spectrum, in American political life who, quite frankly, I wish were not (Michael Moore and Rick Santorum both qualify, at least sometimes). But it is occasionally nice to work in politics in a country where the prospect of suspected former leaders of actual terrorist organizations don't rock up at mainstream political gatherings....