New York’s mayor, a man called Michael Bloomberg, is either incredibly stupid, absurdly deluded or determined to mislead the people he represents.

“Terrorists around the world feel threatened by the freedoms we have in this country and want to take our freedoms away from us. “

No. No, no, no. Terrorists may hate us, but it’s got nothing to do with our ‘freedoms’.

Islamic terrorists hate us because of all the awful things we’ve done in Iraq,  Afghanistan and Palestine.

Bloomberg is a dangerous fool.

(The principal stated aims of al-Qaeda are to drive Americans and American influence out of all Muslim nations, especially Saudi Arabia; destroy Israel; and topple pro-Western dictatorships around the Middle East. Bin Laden has also said that he wishes to unite all Muslims and establish, by force if necessary, an Islamic nation adhering to the rule of the first Caliph.)

I was shocked and mildly wounded. She was okay, but similarly shocked. I was expecting a stream of embarrassed apologies, given that she ran into me while I was on a cycle path, but instead she shouted at me for hitting her!

Then, the group of people she was with (some kind of religious assembly that takes place on Hove beach) started berating me for not taking adequate care.

An argument ensued. They wanted me to apologise. I wanted the woman to apologise, or at least accept that she was wrong for not taking due care and attention.

It was not to be. We argued in a circle. They threatened to call the police, which I thought was a great idea. They decided the police were unnecessary. The vicar or leader of their squad came over and told me that I could go. I told him he could go, but we were both free to stay right there.

Eventually I walked away, shouting at them as I went (I think the mild shock made me angry).

For some reason, and to my consternation, this group of people continued milling about in the cycle lane, apparently oblivious to the purpose of that path, or the dangers it brings.

I’m not writing this for any great purpose, but if you happen to walk along Brighton sea front, be careful around the cycle lanes. They’re easy to wander into, but being careless could be painful. Oh, and it’s your responsibility, not the cyclists, so be careful because you’re on their turf. (I checked this with the police after the accident. It’s a bit like walking into a road: you wouldn’t blame a car for hitting you if you stepped into a busy road.)

Unfortunately, when Paul Moore spoke up, and tried to warn his bosses of what he could see was inevitable, he was sacked.

What kind of government have we installed that allows such things to happen? What do regulatory bodies like the FSA actually do?

If you would like to celebrate an intelligent act, send me an email with a brief description of your hero and why they should be celebrated – me@wordsby.me – thanks!

Clearly, Madoff is not a hero. The hero is Harry Markopolos – the man who detected Madoff’s enormous fraud. Markopolos spent nine years trying to alert the US authorities to the troubles with Madoff. I would love to know the names of the people that received Markopolos’ messages. Why were they ignored?

“misleading and mistaken.”

Finally, after eight years of generating fresh conflict, of throwing fuel on flames, the British government seems to be waking up to the reality that a war on terror is like having a fight against violence. Miliband also writes:

The more we lump terrorist groups together and draw the battle lines as a simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists, or good and evil, the more we play into the hands of those seeking to unify groups with little in common.

Hooray! Perhaps this means we can begin to repair the damage done by Bush and Blair.

Thank-you Mr Miliband for being intelligent!

We’re all going to die!

Sorry… in the first of my series of nice ideas and general acts of intelligence, I present a series of stickers by the Existential Resistance Army. Intended to interrupt daily life with messages designed to create cognitive dissonance in the minds of the mindless, these stickers should help us all remember the urgency of the need to live!

You can download a PDF version of the full sheet of stickers here.

The messages include:

• This jacket will not make up for the emptiness you feel within.
• The money you spent on this bag could pay for education, health and social care of a child in the third world.
• Volunteering would have brought you more joy than this tawdry display of  sartorial one-upmanship!
• How many bags will it take before you feel o.k. again?
• One’s wealth is measured by the people who fill our lives not by the accumulation of expensive objects.

Feel free to print the stickers and insert anywhere that they might bring about an existential awakening. (I believe the stickers were created because of these people: Benrik.)

“Rolling in the muck is not the best way to get clean.”

So rather than blogging about stupid people, I’d like to get clean by blogging about clever people who do intelligent things – or nice people who to charitable things, or philanthropic things.

Before we hose away the moronic muck, let’s just wave goodbye to stupid…