A bend in this blog

After living in England for a few years and becoming completely disillusioned by what he described as a paternalistic and cloistered society, Bend is finally back in India for good. Good for me; I had to bear the brunt of a number of bitter monologues about how public life in England sucks.

But nothing from that time stuck in my mind more than Bend's unthinking but sublimely political characterization of the state of affairs: at one point, he stopped calling ordinary English as people, instead choosing to use the term "subjects".

He is not alone. I just ran into this post, Born a citizen, living in subjection, on Samizdata (via Instapundit). Here is the executive summary:

ID cards, databases, surveillance, and dependency.

If I hadn't been armed with the perspective, I would surely have missed the point.

On the subject of Bend, check out his song A cup of tea in Madhepura. It has been described as having "mattfinis simplicity"....what else do you expect from the house of Guthrie, Seeger, and Zimmerman?