Following on from my recent article I have enjoyed further meetings with American friends over the last two days that reinforce my views about what’s happening in this amazing country, and around the world, and what’s likely to happen next.
It strikes most people that it is grossly unfair that banking and finance arrangements freely entered into in good times, have been unilaterally changed by the lenders to the detriment of the borrowers during the current bad financial times.
Yes, there is probably the legal right for the lenders to make these changes; but just because you can do this doesn’t mean you should.
These alterations in terms are without exception, to the benefit of the lender, and damage the borrower. The implicit danger to the lenders is that they will, in the longer term, kill the goose that has laid their many golden eggs.
The result of these short sighted, unfair changes in financial terms by the financial institutions has been the collapse of many small to medium size businesses and an explosion of personal bankruptcies and property repossessions. It is logical to anticipate that this situation will become far worse if allowed to continue on the same trajectory.
Business debt collection agencies are already finding it next to impossible to obtain very large percentages of the money due to the lenders.
Another outcome of the present financial crisis has been the explosive growth in the supply of bail out money to the banks and now other industries from our governments. Such printing of money on a massive but quiet scale is fueling the future fall in value of that money. This will lead to a money bubble to follow the property and financial and stock market bubbles, and this could well lead to another major crash in the value of money itself. There is nothing more damaging to a country during peacetime than this outcome, witness the Great Depression, the Weimar Republic or the current crisis in the wrecked country, Zimbabwe.
Are our leaders able, with the inspiration of President Elect Obama, to do anything whatsoever to keep us safe when we have arrived at this precipice?
With all my heart I want to believe that they can save some prosperity for us, but my head says otherwise. Reality dictates that we might not enjoy the prosperity of the past decades again, and certainly should not plan for such an outcome for the foreseeable future.
Such financial instability will lead to problems in supply and demand for raw materials, and possible battles for that supply at prices our countries can afford to pay. Will we, in such circumstances, be willing to forego our individual transportation on demand, or heating or refrigeration when necessary?
These are fundamental issues we are going to have to wrestle with at the same time as our capacity to fight such battles economically, politically and militarily become progressively more seriously impaired. Do we wait until we are even more seriously weakened or pick our fights cynically at a time and place that suits us?
Even more fundamental, if such a thing is possible, will be the control of food and water production and its distribution around the world. Do we behave in a fair and equitable manner or simply pursue a behavior model to suit our more narrow national interests?
My hope is that we see further than the end of our own nose. Our vital need is to work together for eventual global salvation or fail singly. There are no victories to be gained by individuals or even countries acting alone, now, more than ever, we must find new ways to work together.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Saturday, December 27, 2008
WaitingforObama
As the festive season rolls on in America there is a sense of waiting, and dare I say, hoping. The country, if not the entire world, is waiting impatiently for the inauguration of Barack Obama as President. Some here seem convinced he is the Messiah, and those of us of a more cynical bent are still hopeful that he might be more John F. Kennedy than Jimmy Carter with speech making abilities.
Whichever he is the world desperately needs hope and leadership as it is awash with problems. The perspective in the States is slightly different than it is in Europe but the underlying themes are identical. The economy stands out as the principal issue and last night I was dining out with a bunch of politically active Southern Californians in the city of Glendale. The consensus amongst all of them, Republicans, Democrats and the non-aligned was the same. The country has to get back in the business of making things that people want and need to buy. Two examples given were low emission and high mileage little cars and fuel-efficient power generation.
On the ground level there was clear evidence that local businesses are in deep trouble just as they are at home. It was agreed that the principal culprits are the banks that are still misusing funds, now provided by us all, and are not recycling that money back into the system. The results of this short termism are rapidly becoming catastrophic as businesses simply cannot arrange credit and are incapable of continuing with finance.
In property I encountered a lady who manages many “for rent” apartments and houses. As people have already invested their funds to purchase the properties she manages she is unable to vary the terms of those properties except for the virtually cosmetic provision of initial inducements. As people simply cannot qualify for regular mortgages to purchase homes here you could assume that they will be rushing to rent. But this is not the case, the business is virtually not moving as the unfortunate folk who can’t afford to stay in their homes as purchasers are moving back in with their families. This is a recession like no other in living memory.
You get some additional signs of this when you look around you on the streets of Los Angeles and Las Vegas and notice the hugely increasing numbers of people begging on the streets in near freezing temperatures. This dramatic increase in numbers is a new phenomenon; these people are dressed more like middle class professionals than they are tramps. They could be you and me.
I spoke with a retailer who has dropped his prices on clothing by 50% for this usually busy period for his store, and he had 3 customers in an entire day. He doesn’t know how long he can continue to stay in business if it continues like this.
The happiest person at the party was the lady who recently retired with a teacher’s pension. Many others were congratulating her for her remarkable good fortune and hoping that they can reach the same stage without further problems.
I have never met a group of Americans who are so pessimistic, and it is really quite worrying and depressing to do so, and this was without anyone raising little matters like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the continuing problems in the Middle East and the unresolved War on Terror. Let us all hope that next month, when Obama takes his Presidential oath in Washington that it is the first step in his starting to lead this country and the world to a better future, we certainly need it.
Whichever he is the world desperately needs hope and leadership as it is awash with problems. The perspective in the States is slightly different than it is in Europe but the underlying themes are identical. The economy stands out as the principal issue and last night I was dining out with a bunch of politically active Southern Californians in the city of Glendale. The consensus amongst all of them, Republicans, Democrats and the non-aligned was the same. The country has to get back in the business of making things that people want and need to buy. Two examples given were low emission and high mileage little cars and fuel-efficient power generation.
On the ground level there was clear evidence that local businesses are in deep trouble just as they are at home. It was agreed that the principal culprits are the banks that are still misusing funds, now provided by us all, and are not recycling that money back into the system. The results of this short termism are rapidly becoming catastrophic as businesses simply cannot arrange credit and are incapable of continuing with finance.
In property I encountered a lady who manages many “for rent” apartments and houses. As people have already invested their funds to purchase the properties she manages she is unable to vary the terms of those properties except for the virtually cosmetic provision of initial inducements. As people simply cannot qualify for regular mortgages to purchase homes here you could assume that they will be rushing to rent. But this is not the case, the business is virtually not moving as the unfortunate folk who can’t afford to stay in their homes as purchasers are moving back in with their families. This is a recession like no other in living memory.
You get some additional signs of this when you look around you on the streets of Los Angeles and Las Vegas and notice the hugely increasing numbers of people begging on the streets in near freezing temperatures. This dramatic increase in numbers is a new phenomenon; these people are dressed more like middle class professionals than they are tramps. They could be you and me.
I spoke with a retailer who has dropped his prices on clothing by 50% for this usually busy period for his store, and he had 3 customers in an entire day. He doesn’t know how long he can continue to stay in business if it continues like this.
The happiest person at the party was the lady who recently retired with a teacher’s pension. Many others were congratulating her for her remarkable good fortune and hoping that they can reach the same stage without further problems.
I have never met a group of Americans who are so pessimistic, and it is really quite worrying and depressing to do so, and this was without anyone raising little matters like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the continuing problems in the Middle East and the unresolved War on Terror. Let us all hope that next month, when Obama takes his Presidential oath in Washington that it is the first step in his starting to lead this country and the world to a better future, we certainly need it.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Spooky
This morning I woke up early and decided to use the time productively. With the wonders of modern science you can check out the whereabouts and well being of friends, old and new, on the Internet with the greatest of ease.
I eased my shiny and lovely MacBook Air onto my lap and hit the Google button. Next I entered the name of a friend I hadn’t seen in many years, a man who once served with me on the Board of Directors of our company in America, and when I was starting out in the film business and he was the big boss of Cinerama Distribution gave my first little movie, The Festival Game, its release. His name is Joe Sugar and I thought I could ring him once I found out where he was to say hi, wish him well for the festive season but sadly I was too late, he had died in the last weeks.
I was saddened and disconcerted, I wish I had spoken with my old friend and we'd shared some chuckles about the wonderful Friars Club lunches we had enjoyed together in Beverly Hills; swapping jokes and anecdotes, but it was not to be.
Now I was even more motivated to look up another old friend who I had heard was sick with that cruel illness, Alzheimer’s, his name is Sandy Howard. This guy was one of the funniest and most charming of men, handsome and talented, a born raconteur and a producer of sometimes-manic energy if sometimes less wisdom. He made films, good and not so great, but always with a smile and a smashing story. I once met him with another friend at a local Chinese restaurant, and they were relieved to see my father and I arrive as they clearly couldn’t afford the meal they’d eaten, they agreed that they “had momentum, but unfortunately it was downward momentum!” Sadly the downward momentum has continued because Sandy had also just died.
Life is the poorer for the passing of such men, hugely entertaining and knowledgeable, old school entertainment people that define the word, Hollywood, for the rest of the world.
Now I was getting very worried because I had checked out two friends and they had both gone to meet their maker, so I thought I would check out someone I didn’t like so much. I clicked on the name of John Daly, someone who I had good reason to dislike after once being friends and having done deals together. Up came his name, guess what, he had also recently died. However much I didn’t care for John I don’t wish anyone dead, but now I felt like I’d killed him.
I was beginning to think that I had better put the computer away for the day and not open it again. But time passes and logic took hold hence I’m writing this blog, but don’t worry, I won’t be checking any friends out on Google for a while.
I eased my shiny and lovely MacBook Air onto my lap and hit the Google button. Next I entered the name of a friend I hadn’t seen in many years, a man who once served with me on the Board of Directors of our company in America, and when I was starting out in the film business and he was the big boss of Cinerama Distribution gave my first little movie, The Festival Game, its release. His name is Joe Sugar and I thought I could ring him once I found out where he was to say hi, wish him well for the festive season but sadly I was too late, he had died in the last weeks.
I was saddened and disconcerted, I wish I had spoken with my old friend and we'd shared some chuckles about the wonderful Friars Club lunches we had enjoyed together in Beverly Hills; swapping jokes and anecdotes, but it was not to be.
Now I was even more motivated to look up another old friend who I had heard was sick with that cruel illness, Alzheimer’s, his name is Sandy Howard. This guy was one of the funniest and most charming of men, handsome and talented, a born raconteur and a producer of sometimes-manic energy if sometimes less wisdom. He made films, good and not so great, but always with a smile and a smashing story. I once met him with another friend at a local Chinese restaurant, and they were relieved to see my father and I arrive as they clearly couldn’t afford the meal they’d eaten, they agreed that they “had momentum, but unfortunately it was downward momentum!” Sadly the downward momentum has continued because Sandy had also just died.
Life is the poorer for the passing of such men, hugely entertaining and knowledgeable, old school entertainment people that define the word, Hollywood, for the rest of the world.
Now I was getting very worried because I had checked out two friends and they had both gone to meet their maker, so I thought I would check out someone I didn’t like so much. I clicked on the name of John Daly, someone who I had good reason to dislike after once being friends and having done deals together. Up came his name, guess what, he had also recently died. However much I didn’t care for John I don’t wish anyone dead, but now I felt like I’d killed him.
I was beginning to think that I had better put the computer away for the day and not open it again. But time passes and logic took hold hence I’m writing this blog, but don’t worry, I won’t be checking any friends out on Google for a while.
Friday, December 19, 2008
TheAmericanMedicalSystem
I promised to write about all elements I found here during my stay, including the less positive aspects of America during my trip, so here goes. The U.S. medical system is expensive, but very effective, but only if you can afford it.
This morning we were, as a family, all sick with lingering various coughs and sneezes type symptoms. We needed medical attention to sort it out. More a precautionary measure than an emergency, but if 4 out of 5 of you are laid low you want to know recovery is certain and not too far off.
If you have money and / or insurance this is not a problem. Fortunately I am an assiduous gatherer of travel protection so our journey to recovery was to prove more interesting than painful.
In fact there was very little pain involved at all. I had carefully filed my travel insurance ready for this trip but had forgotten to pack the policy document. My lame excuse is that this oversight was due to my already having flu and a temperature. Despite the lack of my policy document I did have my policy number and more than my share of Klinger chutzpah.
Sarah, my daughter, seeing our ailments and fed up with being an unpaid nurse, took decisive action and called her own medical practitioners for an emergency appointment first thing this morning, which she obtained within 15 minutes.
Getting to the shiny, clean and well-appointed medical building within the allotted time was no problem. Seeing the medical assistant and the doctor was almost immediate and without any fuss.
There was the anticipated problem with the insurance numbers from the UK not being recognizable for an American medical practice but remarkably we were being checked over, comprehensively, politely and with no fuss exactly how you would wish. The doctor, the medical assistant and the receptionist were charming, helpful and terrific at their jobs.
I was reeling from the shock, it isn’t exactly like this in England, where going to the doctor is something like meeting Osama Bin Laden and his cronies on a day they’re feeling nasty.
The only down side here, on which we in the UK have the definite advantage, is that our General Medical Practices are totally free of charge, and accessible to all, whereas here in the States you need the cash or the insurance or these medical pleasures are unavailable.
It was at the point of payment that the system did unravel somewhat. The receptionist almost blew a gasket trying to work with the insurers, and it proved to be simply impossible, so I paid for the service and we went to the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions. Again this was probably worse in the States as a service than in the UK and undoubtedly far more expensive. Instead of just a few pounds the prescriptions cost over $120.
I was reminded of a trip we once took to Vancouver in Canada, when my son Dan was sick. We found that Canada had all the medical efficiency of America at its finest, combined with the caring for all mentality of Britain’s National Health Service at its best. Surely both are possible and desirable and are a measure of a country’s civilization. In this respect Canada is the model we should all aspire to.
This morning we were, as a family, all sick with lingering various coughs and sneezes type symptoms. We needed medical attention to sort it out. More a precautionary measure than an emergency, but if 4 out of 5 of you are laid low you want to know recovery is certain and not too far off.
If you have money and / or insurance this is not a problem. Fortunately I am an assiduous gatherer of travel protection so our journey to recovery was to prove more interesting than painful.
In fact there was very little pain involved at all. I had carefully filed my travel insurance ready for this trip but had forgotten to pack the policy document. My lame excuse is that this oversight was due to my already having flu and a temperature. Despite the lack of my policy document I did have my policy number and more than my share of Klinger chutzpah.
Sarah, my daughter, seeing our ailments and fed up with being an unpaid nurse, took decisive action and called her own medical practitioners for an emergency appointment first thing this morning, which she obtained within 15 minutes.
Getting to the shiny, clean and well-appointed medical building within the allotted time was no problem. Seeing the medical assistant and the doctor was almost immediate and without any fuss.
There was the anticipated problem with the insurance numbers from the UK not being recognizable for an American medical practice but remarkably we were being checked over, comprehensively, politely and with no fuss exactly how you would wish. The doctor, the medical assistant and the receptionist were charming, helpful and terrific at their jobs.
I was reeling from the shock, it isn’t exactly like this in England, where going to the doctor is something like meeting Osama Bin Laden and his cronies on a day they’re feeling nasty.
The only down side here, on which we in the UK have the definite advantage, is that our General Medical Practices are totally free of charge, and accessible to all, whereas here in the States you need the cash or the insurance or these medical pleasures are unavailable.
It was at the point of payment that the system did unravel somewhat. The receptionist almost blew a gasket trying to work with the insurers, and it proved to be simply impossible, so I paid for the service and we went to the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions. Again this was probably worse in the States as a service than in the UK and undoubtedly far more expensive. Instead of just a few pounds the prescriptions cost over $120.
I was reminded of a trip we once took to Vancouver in Canada, when my son Dan was sick. We found that Canada had all the medical efficiency of America at its finest, combined with the caring for all mentality of Britain’s National Health Service at its best. Surely both are possible and desirable and are a measure of a country’s civilization. In this respect Canada is the model we should all aspire to.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
StillHopeForAmerica
There are certain aspects of life in the USA that are particularly good, and others that are the opposite. During this trip I shall touch on both, but my overwhelming reaction on this trip is one of hope. America isn’t done yet, and that’s very important to all of us. We need a strong, resilient America, and this country might be bloodied but it remains unbowed.
Perhaps the reason that there’s still hope is enshrined in the slender shape of President Elect Obama. The people here, by and large, are convinced that they have amongst them a man who can and will lead this country back to the summit of world affairs whilst regaining the traction to rediscover and invigorate its moral leadership of the free world.
It remains to be seen whether or not this optimism is well founded although all right thinking people must hope so. There are deep shadows that threaten the horizon and they come in the form of the scandal-plagued Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich who was arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to swap political favors for cash, including an attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama following his presidential election victory.
No one is suggesting that the President Elect has any connection to the Governor’s alleged misbehavior, other than that of geographical proximity. However there is the underlying linkage of the Chicago political machine of the current Mayor Daly that underpins all Democratic shenanigans in the windy city. Barack Obama cut his political teeth against this background, which means his saintly aura might be more than a little tarnished. Personally a little humanity makes the new president much more convincing for me.
Now that interest rates are approaching zero per cent and the great governments of the old industrial powerhouses are totally committed to the financial and industrial salvage operation we have few weapons left to deploy except common sense and our will to win. It has seen us through even bigger crisis than this huge economic downturn, and it will do so again.
Perhaps the reason that there’s still hope is enshrined in the slender shape of President Elect Obama. The people here, by and large, are convinced that they have amongst them a man who can and will lead this country back to the summit of world affairs whilst regaining the traction to rediscover and invigorate its moral leadership of the free world.
It remains to be seen whether or not this optimism is well founded although all right thinking people must hope so. There are deep shadows that threaten the horizon and they come in the form of the scandal-plagued Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich who was arrested last week on charges of conspiracy to swap political favors for cash, including an attempt to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Barack Obama following his presidential election victory.
No one is suggesting that the President Elect has any connection to the Governor’s alleged misbehavior, other than that of geographical proximity. However there is the underlying linkage of the Chicago political machine of the current Mayor Daly that underpins all Democratic shenanigans in the windy city. Barack Obama cut his political teeth against this background, which means his saintly aura might be more than a little tarnished. Personally a little humanity makes the new president much more convincing for me.
Now that interest rates are approaching zero per cent and the great governments of the old industrial powerhouses are totally committed to the financial and industrial salvage operation we have few weapons left to deploy except common sense and our will to win. It has seen us through even bigger crisis than this huge economic downturn, and it will do so again.
Monday, December 15, 2008
TheProposition8Disaster
Many of you won’t know what a Proposition in California means. It usually equates to the ultimate in American statewide democracy. If enough of the electorate agrees on a political proposal it can be forced on the ballot and then be voted on by everyone.
Usually this means that some grass roots, populist ideas can be enacted and generally has been a force for political freedom in the best traditions of the country. But, at the same time Barack Obama was being elected President there was a new Proposition 8 being voted upon which changed the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman and eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry. The proposition does not affect domestic partnerships in California.
The opposing campaigns raised $35.8 million and $37.6 million, respectively, becoming the highest-funded campaign on any state ballot that day and outspending every other campaign in the country in except for the presidential contest. The proponents insist the law should recognize exclusively heterosexual marriage and claimed that failure to reverse the May 2008 Supreme Court ruling that recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry would damage society, require changes to a school curriculum to discuss same-sex marriage, and threaten the free exercise of religion. The opponents argued that eliminating the rights of any Californian and mandating that one group of people be treated differently from everyone else was unfair and wrong.
As far as this writer can ascertain there was no such school curriculum to change as marriage, of any kind, was not and is not taught in California’s schools.
Just as the electorate of the American West were congratulating themselves on the success of their liberal tendency for electing President Obama the State of California was simultaneously taking an amazingly retrograde step. It is a great shame on the backers of Proposition 8 that they consider only heterosexual partnerships should have legitimacy and on any logical basis this argument has no merit. The sexual gender of your bed partner has no bearing on how you run your public life.
I am not gay, and have never been a public campaigner on this or related issues. But it must be obvious to everyone that every adult should have the right to choose his or her partner, and for that partnership to be recognized in law. How you can argue against this is a question that boggles my mind, but let’s voice what this is really about. People who consider themselves devout followers of various religions have interpreted their scriptures to mean that the Lord above does not permit such partnerships, but as they can’t enforce this, they’ll make do by stopping such partnerships being legal.
This is made worse because there are many people in California who waited many years to be able to enter into legal partnerships in their home state, and then did so, only to now find that these partnerships have been unraveled.
Surely we have reached a stage in our civilization where we understand that it cannot be considered a sin for two adults to fall in love with people of the same sex and then commit to a legally binding partnership between them. Such retrograde laws as Proposition 8 will inevitably be overturned but a great many people will suffer more and for no good reason.
Usually this means that some grass roots, populist ideas can be enacted and generally has been a force for political freedom in the best traditions of the country. But, at the same time Barack Obama was being elected President there was a new Proposition 8 being voted upon which changed the state Constitution to restrict the definition of marriage to a union between a man and a woman and eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry. The proposition does not affect domestic partnerships in California.
The opposing campaigns raised $35.8 million and $37.6 million, respectively, becoming the highest-funded campaign on any state ballot that day and outspending every other campaign in the country in except for the presidential contest. The proponents insist the law should recognize exclusively heterosexual marriage and claimed that failure to reverse the May 2008 Supreme Court ruling that recognized the right of same-sex couples to marry would damage society, require changes to a school curriculum to discuss same-sex marriage, and threaten the free exercise of religion. The opponents argued that eliminating the rights of any Californian and mandating that one group of people be treated differently from everyone else was unfair and wrong.
As far as this writer can ascertain there was no such school curriculum to change as marriage, of any kind, was not and is not taught in California’s schools.
Just as the electorate of the American West were congratulating themselves on the success of their liberal tendency for electing President Obama the State of California was simultaneously taking an amazingly retrograde step. It is a great shame on the backers of Proposition 8 that they consider only heterosexual partnerships should have legitimacy and on any logical basis this argument has no merit. The sexual gender of your bed partner has no bearing on how you run your public life.
I am not gay, and have never been a public campaigner on this or related issues. But it must be obvious to everyone that every adult should have the right to choose his or her partner, and for that partnership to be recognized in law. How you can argue against this is a question that boggles my mind, but let’s voice what this is really about. People who consider themselves devout followers of various religions have interpreted their scriptures to mean that the Lord above does not permit such partnerships, but as they can’t enforce this, they’ll make do by stopping such partnerships being legal.
This is made worse because there are many people in California who waited many years to be able to enter into legal partnerships in their home state, and then did so, only to now find that these partnerships have been unraveled.
Surely we have reached a stage in our civilization where we understand that it cannot be considered a sin for two adults to fall in love with people of the same sex and then commit to a legally binding partnership between them. Such retrograde laws as Proposition 8 will inevitably be overturned but a great many people will suffer more and for no good reason.
Friday, December 12, 2008
GreetingsFromAmerica
Greetings from America and forgive me if the jet lag hampers my fluency and my ability to edit myself. It is warmer and sunnier than back home in freezing England. Leaving home it was cold, dark and icy, arriving here I was greeted by a smiling uniformed man who greeted me with the words, “Welcome to Los Angeles, we hope you enjoy your stay!”
I know its corny, or as we now say in England, cheesy, but it is much more pleasant than the people at terminal 3 of Heathrow who informed me that I was at the wrong terminal as if I should know this by telepathy. Apparently I am not alone in my ignorance, as according to the United Airline ground staff, this error is being repeated all the time. But no one cares, in fact it seems as if the mistake amuses him or her.
The whole trip is made even more pleasant by the fact that I have finally been able to accumulate enough miles to obtain free tickets to America and been able to do so before the benefits expired!
Arriving early the flight was informed that we would be bussed to another building because “Immigration” was not able to deal with us. It was as if our planeload of passengers were a total surprise to “immigration”, which does seem strange as the flight in question are daily and have been running for many years. But you know what jokers these airline people are. The huge line facing the passengers trying to get through the customs hall proved this. It was as if we were in a huge Disney line with the only difference being that there was not going to be any great rides a the end of the line.
Better organized this ordeal could have been half as long and much more efficient. Official America lets itself down by the way it treats its visitors with such disdain, but it’s still a great place.
Everything was made wonderful when our daughter, Sarah, along with her children picked us up without attracting a parking ticket from the traffic cop hovering over anyone daring to pause curbside for more than a second or two. Now I’m sitting in her living room, trying to adjust to the time difference without passing out but fully aware that I will be awake about 3 in the morning, so it would be good if it could be fun.
Perhaps I should indulge in the Night Cold remedy, which could fix my cough and cold and allow me the chance to simply fall asleep. Forgive me if I sound sleepy, normal service will shortly
I know its corny, or as we now say in England, cheesy, but it is much more pleasant than the people at terminal 3 of Heathrow who informed me that I was at the wrong terminal as if I should know this by telepathy. Apparently I am not alone in my ignorance, as according to the United Airline ground staff, this error is being repeated all the time. But no one cares, in fact it seems as if the mistake amuses him or her.
The whole trip is made even more pleasant by the fact that I have finally been able to accumulate enough miles to obtain free tickets to America and been able to do so before the benefits expired!
Arriving early the flight was informed that we would be bussed to another building because “Immigration” was not able to deal with us. It was as if our planeload of passengers were a total surprise to “immigration”, which does seem strange as the flight in question are daily and have been running for many years. But you know what jokers these airline people are. The huge line facing the passengers trying to get through the customs hall proved this. It was as if we were in a huge Disney line with the only difference being that there was not going to be any great rides a the end of the line.
Better organized this ordeal could have been half as long and much more efficient. Official America lets itself down by the way it treats its visitors with such disdain, but it’s still a great place.
Everything was made wonderful when our daughter, Sarah, along with her children picked us up without attracting a parking ticket from the traffic cop hovering over anyone daring to pause curbside for more than a second or two. Now I’m sitting in her living room, trying to adjust to the time difference without passing out but fully aware that I will be awake about 3 in the morning, so it would be good if it could be fun.
Perhaps I should indulge in the Night Cold remedy, which could fix my cough and cold and allow me the chance to simply fall asleep. Forgive me if I sound sleepy, normal service will shortly
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
ObamaWhatWorriesMeNow
Yesterday amongst the subjects I covered was my concern that President Elect Obama is acting as if he is already the President. One of my readers wrote me this;
“ I don’t think you can blame the lack of activity and leadership on the one who takes it because he had to pull the baby out of the bathwater.
These months are precious to restore confidence and avoid sliding into a depression- and it may already be too late – so not to try at this stage, knowing he has to deal with it formally, as of January, would be stupid and reckless.”
My response is that it's Obama's hypocrisy and flagrant disregard for the law and constitution I dislike.
Obama does really not convince me but we all really need to hope.
It's not a good start for him to say one thing and do the other. If he said I really need to bend the rules because we have a huge problem and did exactly what he's doing I'd be fine with it.
It's a blatant disregard for the truth or for our ability to spot the lie that's of great concern. It's also really dangerous for us all if we allow breaches of the constitution when it suits us because we won't be able to do anything about future breaches when it doesn't.
“ I don’t think you can blame the lack of activity and leadership on the one who takes it because he had to pull the baby out of the bathwater.
These months are precious to restore confidence and avoid sliding into a depression- and it may already be too late – so not to try at this stage, knowing he has to deal with it formally, as of January, would be stupid and reckless.”
My response is that it's Obama's hypocrisy and flagrant disregard for the law and constitution I dislike.
Obama does really not convince me but we all really need to hope.
It's not a good start for him to say one thing and do the other. If he said I really need to bend the rules because we have a huge problem and did exactly what he's doing I'd be fine with it.
It's a blatant disregard for the truth or for our ability to spot the lie that's of great concern. It's also really dangerous for us all if we allow breaches of the constitution when it suits us because we won't be able to do anything about future breaches when it doesn't.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
WorryingTimes
Two seemingly disassociated events taking place this week in the US and UK might be inextricably linked. In fact they are potentially of immense political significance.
In the USA President Elect Barack Obama is acting, in all but name, as if he were already the President, whereas, in fact, as he has previously correctly stated, there is only one President at a time, and still, at this time, his name is President George W Bush. We have never had such a lame duck last months of a Presidency as we are currently suffering from, and this is caused by two factors. One, we all have to admit, is that George W Bush has not continued to assert himself prior to his leaving and as a consequence there is a leadership deficit. The other unavoidable conclusion is that the President Elect is so determined to hit the ground running that he has inserted himself into the vacuum.
In the UK the police arrested and questioned a Member of Parliament, Damien Green about his alleged gathering and dissemination of Home Office leaks about immigration. The police not only raided Green’s two homes they also entered his House of Commons office. The police virtually never take such actions, in fact the last time someone attempted to arrest Members of Parliament and enter the territory of the Commons was when Charles I did so with his officers in 1642, and he and his men were ejected and their actions led directly to the English Civil War.
Both of these situations represent well-intentioned leadership that assumes they are always right and certainly never wrong. In the case of the British Prime Minister we have a perfect example of the poacher turned gamekeeper. Gordon Brown is the same man who, when in opposition, built a reputation by obtaining and distributing a constant stream of leaks against the then Conservative government.
Unbelievably the senior politicians to whom the police report in the UK deny all prior knowledge of the police action. I am amongst many others who simply don’t believe this assertion, to the extent that I am calling Minister Jacqui Smith a liar.
Now there will be an investigation by another, supposedly independent police officer to discover the truth. I hope they are able to conduct this investigation quickly and thoroughly, and then whoever authorized and controlled this foolhardy and unacceptable breach of our system should be unceremoniously kicked out of office.
There is, in both countries, an erosion of liberty. In the UK the rate of this shrinking freedom is very alarming, so much so that it is a common discussion amongst the population.
In the USA the jury is still out, as none of us knows the actuality of the Obama Presidency. We can only guess at its shape and style by the tone of its preparation. We all understand his desire to hit the ground running but that does not excuse his pre-emption of Presidential authority and power.
Neither of our countries can afford to allow any further slippage of our constitution or tradition and freedom, too many people have shed too much blood to build them for us.
In the USA President Elect Barack Obama is acting, in all but name, as if he were already the President, whereas, in fact, as he has previously correctly stated, there is only one President at a time, and still, at this time, his name is President George W Bush. We have never had such a lame duck last months of a Presidency as we are currently suffering from, and this is caused by two factors. One, we all have to admit, is that George W Bush has not continued to assert himself prior to his leaving and as a consequence there is a leadership deficit. The other unavoidable conclusion is that the President Elect is so determined to hit the ground running that he has inserted himself into the vacuum.
In the UK the police arrested and questioned a Member of Parliament, Damien Green about his alleged gathering and dissemination of Home Office leaks about immigration. The police not only raided Green’s two homes they also entered his House of Commons office. The police virtually never take such actions, in fact the last time someone attempted to arrest Members of Parliament and enter the territory of the Commons was when Charles I did so with his officers in 1642, and he and his men were ejected and their actions led directly to the English Civil War.
Both of these situations represent well-intentioned leadership that assumes they are always right and certainly never wrong. In the case of the British Prime Minister we have a perfect example of the poacher turned gamekeeper. Gordon Brown is the same man who, when in opposition, built a reputation by obtaining and distributing a constant stream of leaks against the then Conservative government.
Unbelievably the senior politicians to whom the police report in the UK deny all prior knowledge of the police action. I am amongst many others who simply don’t believe this assertion, to the extent that I am calling Minister Jacqui Smith a liar.
Now there will be an investigation by another, supposedly independent police officer to discover the truth. I hope they are able to conduct this investigation quickly and thoroughly, and then whoever authorized and controlled this foolhardy and unacceptable breach of our system should be unceremoniously kicked out of office.
There is, in both countries, an erosion of liberty. In the UK the rate of this shrinking freedom is very alarming, so much so that it is a common discussion amongst the population.
In the USA the jury is still out, as none of us knows the actuality of the Obama Presidency. We can only guess at its shape and style by the tone of its preparation. We all understand his desire to hit the ground running but that does not excuse his pre-emption of Presidential authority and power.
Neither of our countries can afford to allow any further slippage of our constitution or tradition and freedom, too many people have shed too much blood to build them for us.
Friday, November 28, 2008
MumbaiAftermath
Over the last two days there have been a series of linked, murderous terrorist outrages in the Indian city of Mumbai. Over 100 people were murdered and more than 300 have been injured. So far we don’t know the precise nature of the group that perpetrated the attack other than the fact that they appear to be from the Indian sub continent and are followers of Islam, as they claim.
The other inescapable fact is that they were targeting, in particular, citizens of the USA and UK in addition to having invaded a specifically Jewish building.
Already the politically correct apologists in our midst have expressed their view that we “must understand the causes of this reaction on their part.” This is code for polite society to turn off their normal morality button unless and except if it were a member of their own family who is lying dead in a bloodied heap because of this group of murdering thugs.
The PC argument continues with, look at how we have made their (Muslim) people suffer in (substitute whichever suits you) Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Bosnia, Sudan etc. etc. and you will have a better understanding of their anger.
Enough of this nonsense, how about our anger, our rights and our people?
Because these people happen to be Muslim terrorists does not make all Muslims terrorists; but there are clearly enough Muslims who are terrorists to cause the sane part of their society major problems. In addition, there have other Muslims who are sympathetic to their "cause" and identify with their anger who provide back up, finance and emotional support.
It is past time for the common Muslim person who is outraged by such acts of terrorism to take every opportunity to express their outrage and to work with the authorities to help stamp such groups out.
Muslim terrorists have been attacking anyone they could attack without any real reason or acceptable justification for a very long time, and its time it was stopped. We plainly will not stop them by talking to them when their intent is to overthrow your civilization and kill or suppress all non-believers.
Before anyone reading this reaches for his or her electronic pen to assail me with any response supporting or understanding the rights of these killers let me, as calmly as possible, respectfully point out that terrorism such as the Mumbai massacre has it roots way before there was any possible justification.
Before there was a modern state of Israel in 1948 there were massacres of vulnerable parts of the Jewish population more than 20 years earlier, before there was any war in Iraq or Afghanistan there was the first bombing of the World Trade Center, 10 years previously.
We could go on with such facts but the truth is that the Politically Correct idiots don’t want to hear facts when they are inconvenient.
There have even been calls for covert talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban despite their bombings of civilians, random massacres and their recent acid attacks on the faces of their country’s girls and young women who dare to get an education.
Let me make my position clear, these are evil people who are at war with us, and they must be eradicated before they are able to do even greater damage. You don’t make peace at any cost with such people; instead you must consign them to the litter-bin of history.
I understand that such terrorist groups seek a political over-reaction on our part, so that we become the agents of oppression they so much would love us to be. But the truth is that in every major conflict the result of the battle is that we have to grow callouses over our souls for the duration, until we've won the fight, and this will be no different.
It is fashionable to condemn anything that President George W Bush or former Premier Tony Blair did when they were in office, but their successors, Gordon Brown and Barack Obama agree with them that the terrorist threat such attacks represent are still top of their target list.
Such terrorists are our deadly enemy and must be beaten, and if we don’t deal with them, root and branch, they will, one day soon, attack you again; the only difference being it will be a bigger, better organized attack and the target will be nearer to your home.
The other inescapable fact is that they were targeting, in particular, citizens of the USA and UK in addition to having invaded a specifically Jewish building.
Already the politically correct apologists in our midst have expressed their view that we “must understand the causes of this reaction on their part.” This is code for polite society to turn off their normal morality button unless and except if it were a member of their own family who is lying dead in a bloodied heap because of this group of murdering thugs.
The PC argument continues with, look at how we have made their (Muslim) people suffer in (substitute whichever suits you) Israel, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, India, Bosnia, Sudan etc. etc. and you will have a better understanding of their anger.
Enough of this nonsense, how about our anger, our rights and our people?
Because these people happen to be Muslim terrorists does not make all Muslims terrorists; but there are clearly enough Muslims who are terrorists to cause the sane part of their society major problems. In addition, there have other Muslims who are sympathetic to their "cause" and identify with their anger who provide back up, finance and emotional support.
It is past time for the common Muslim person who is outraged by such acts of terrorism to take every opportunity to express their outrage and to work with the authorities to help stamp such groups out.
Muslim terrorists have been attacking anyone they could attack without any real reason or acceptable justification for a very long time, and its time it was stopped. We plainly will not stop them by talking to them when their intent is to overthrow your civilization and kill or suppress all non-believers.
Before anyone reading this reaches for his or her electronic pen to assail me with any response supporting or understanding the rights of these killers let me, as calmly as possible, respectfully point out that terrorism such as the Mumbai massacre has it roots way before there was any possible justification.
Before there was a modern state of Israel in 1948 there were massacres of vulnerable parts of the Jewish population more than 20 years earlier, before there was any war in Iraq or Afghanistan there was the first bombing of the World Trade Center, 10 years previously.
We could go on with such facts but the truth is that the Politically Correct idiots don’t want to hear facts when they are inconvenient.
There have even been calls for covert talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban despite their bombings of civilians, random massacres and their recent acid attacks on the faces of their country’s girls and young women who dare to get an education.
Let me make my position clear, these are evil people who are at war with us, and they must be eradicated before they are able to do even greater damage. You don’t make peace at any cost with such people; instead you must consign them to the litter-bin of history.
I understand that such terrorist groups seek a political over-reaction on our part, so that we become the agents of oppression they so much would love us to be. But the truth is that in every major conflict the result of the battle is that we have to grow callouses over our souls for the duration, until we've won the fight, and this will be no different.
It is fashionable to condemn anything that President George W Bush or former Premier Tony Blair did when they were in office, but their successors, Gordon Brown and Barack Obama agree with them that the terrorist threat such attacks represent are still top of their target list.
Such terrorists are our deadly enemy and must be beaten, and if we don’t deal with them, root and branch, they will, one day soon, attack you again; the only difference being it will be a bigger, better organized attack and the target will be nearer to your home.
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
TimeToChange
I see what you see and hear what you hear. The British and American governments are, like their many colleague governments, doing their best to lead the recovery of our economies.
The holes that our banks have helped to dig are so deep and the damage so immense that just this problem will take a long time and a great deal of luck to fix. But the problems are bigger than this; we’re facing a raft of financial and economic woes that have deeper roots than the immediate recession.
The most important of these is not the lack of consumer spending; much more serious are the balance of trade deficit, the lack of manufacturing in our key strategic industries, the growing foreign control of our power and energy sources, in fact overseas ownership of our countries.
We need immediate encouragement for our people to save for the future, to curb their long term spending on consumer rubbish and focus on our real needs, such as building pension values and investments. Governments and individuals should be encouraged to live within their means.
We must find ways to keep people in their homes and to generate movement in the property market. In the UK this could easily be helped by reducing the taxes and increasing the incentives, even on a temporary basis this would help.
Perhaps one of the most pressing issues that must be unraveled is the sheer size of the public spending in the UK as a percentage of our Gross Domestic Product. This has been growing in this country and elsewhere at an alarming rate and will continue to do so for the immediate future as this is one of the areas of the economy that governments feel might be successfully pump primed as a means of resuscitating the flat lining economy.
The fact is that the government is mortgaging our future as a rescue package for our present and this will linger like a bad smell, possibly for generations. Perhaps we need to swallow hard and take the awful medicine now rather than have to swallow poison later. We should seek solutions that might be less immediately palatable but provide long term and effective solutions. The voters will swing behind whichever politicians generate genuine answers rather than silly quick fixes that we will have to pay for in the long term.
The holes that our banks have helped to dig are so deep and the damage so immense that just this problem will take a long time and a great deal of luck to fix. But the problems are bigger than this; we’re facing a raft of financial and economic woes that have deeper roots than the immediate recession.
The most important of these is not the lack of consumer spending; much more serious are the balance of trade deficit, the lack of manufacturing in our key strategic industries, the growing foreign control of our power and energy sources, in fact overseas ownership of our countries.
We need immediate encouragement for our people to save for the future, to curb their long term spending on consumer rubbish and focus on our real needs, such as building pension values and investments. Governments and individuals should be encouraged to live within their means.
We must find ways to keep people in their homes and to generate movement in the property market. In the UK this could easily be helped by reducing the taxes and increasing the incentives, even on a temporary basis this would help.
Perhaps one of the most pressing issues that must be unraveled is the sheer size of the public spending in the UK as a percentage of our Gross Domestic Product. This has been growing in this country and elsewhere at an alarming rate and will continue to do so for the immediate future as this is one of the areas of the economy that governments feel might be successfully pump primed as a means of resuscitating the flat lining economy.
The fact is that the government is mortgaging our future as a rescue package for our present and this will linger like a bad smell, possibly for generations. Perhaps we need to swallow hard and take the awful medicine now rather than have to swallow poison later. We should seek solutions that might be less immediately palatable but provide long term and effective solutions. The voters will swing behind whichever politicians generate genuine answers rather than silly quick fixes that we will have to pay for in the long term.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Piracy
Certain things seem so obvious to me that I feel there should be no need to write them in a blog or article. But then something comes along that shakes the foundations of your beliefs.
I am, as some of you already know, a writer and a filmmaker, I am also an occasional media academic. Clearly that gives me a vested interest in the well-being of those sectors. You would think the same would apply to others similarly laboring in these creative areas. Apparently we would all be wrong.
Whilst discussing some recent movies over lunch last week one of my colleagues calmly announced that he burned downloads on the net onto his blank DVD’s. He made it plain, in case I’d not understood him that these were unlicensed copies that he had not paid for. I asked him to think about this for a moment and he laughed, “What, you care for the fat cats that run those hugely rich foreign corporations, why should we care about any of them?”
I was staggered by his attitude, and I imagine it showed on my face. He smiled again, less cocky this time as I responded, “What about the several hundred thousand British people who earn their living in the production of media?” I asked him, “What do you want to say to them when they lose their jobs because people like you are stealing their livelihood by your piracy.” He now colored in embarrassment, and he said, “I’d never thought about that really.”
If there were no British creative industries the actual amount lost to our Treasury would be something in the region of 10% of this country’s Gross Domestic Product and it employs more than 600,000 people. This is not an argument about semantics, this industry is far more important than car production, steel, coal and several other industrial sectors added together.
Think about it, this lecturer is a man who teaches young impressionable people about media and he didn’t realize there was anything morally or economically wrong with pirating other people’s work.
Surely this is a perfect example of what teaching without context can bring.
During the same discussion it also became apparent that most of the media teachers around the table are also not paying their TV license fee. They dressed this up as a form of Robin Hood like act of defiance against authority, when the truth is that they are simply trying to defend the indefensible.
You cannot opt out of laws you don’t like. The option we all have is seek to change such laws, or vote for people with similar views to your own. It is totally unacceptable for our teachers to preach general anarchy like this because it is both immature and dangerous.
We are left to shake our heads and ask how our students will learn to understand the difference between right and wrong with teachers like these?
I am, as some of you already know, a writer and a filmmaker, I am also an occasional media academic. Clearly that gives me a vested interest in the well-being of those sectors. You would think the same would apply to others similarly laboring in these creative areas. Apparently we would all be wrong.
Whilst discussing some recent movies over lunch last week one of my colleagues calmly announced that he burned downloads on the net onto his blank DVD’s. He made it plain, in case I’d not understood him that these were unlicensed copies that he had not paid for. I asked him to think about this for a moment and he laughed, “What, you care for the fat cats that run those hugely rich foreign corporations, why should we care about any of them?”
I was staggered by his attitude, and I imagine it showed on my face. He smiled again, less cocky this time as I responded, “What about the several hundred thousand British people who earn their living in the production of media?” I asked him, “What do you want to say to them when they lose their jobs because people like you are stealing their livelihood by your piracy.” He now colored in embarrassment, and he said, “I’d never thought about that really.”
If there were no British creative industries the actual amount lost to our Treasury would be something in the region of 10% of this country’s Gross Domestic Product and it employs more than 600,000 people. This is not an argument about semantics, this industry is far more important than car production, steel, coal and several other industrial sectors added together.
Think about it, this lecturer is a man who teaches young impressionable people about media and he didn’t realize there was anything morally or economically wrong with pirating other people’s work.
Surely this is a perfect example of what teaching without context can bring.
During the same discussion it also became apparent that most of the media teachers around the table are also not paying their TV license fee. They dressed this up as a form of Robin Hood like act of defiance against authority, when the truth is that they are simply trying to defend the indefensible.
You cannot opt out of laws you don’t like. The option we all have is seek to change such laws, or vote for people with similar views to your own. It is totally unacceptable for our teachers to preach general anarchy like this because it is both immature and dangerous.
We are left to shake our heads and ask how our students will learn to understand the difference between right and wrong with teachers like these?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
BNPBusted
This week someone published the BNP membership list on the net. The BNP is the British National Party, and for those of you that still don’t understand, they are a bunch of fellow traveling National Socialists, still don’t get it? The BNP are Nazis in all but name.
Apparently, and somewhat hilariously, the BNP Party Leader, Nick Griffin, is disgusted that a supposedly disgruntled ex-employee should stoop so low that he or she had seen fit to expose his previous fellow travelers.
Personally I am delighted that these swamp people are now exposed to the rest of us. They are racists dressed up as nationalists and they follow the same general principles as Hitler and his stooges of the Third Reich. Anything that can be done within the law to damage this group of evil and stupid people is not only permissible but should be compulsory.
I admit to a prejudice against Nazis born out of the fact that I’m Jewish and anti racist and many members of my own family were murdered for being Jewish by bastards such as these. So if these deluded BNP pinheads lose their jobs or friends or previous high regard now that their secret is revealed I really don’t care, I delight in the fact.
By the way their claims for racial purity and superiority are also misguided and inaccurate. Once, not so long ago when I was a Director of a department of an East London University we checked out the backgrounds of 100 local people who regarded themselves as pure English. It turned out that only 7 people qualified and all the rest were a dolly mixture of different origins.
Apparently, and somewhat hilariously, the BNP Party Leader, Nick Griffin, is disgusted that a supposedly disgruntled ex-employee should stoop so low that he or she had seen fit to expose his previous fellow travelers.
Personally I am delighted that these swamp people are now exposed to the rest of us. They are racists dressed up as nationalists and they follow the same general principles as Hitler and his stooges of the Third Reich. Anything that can be done within the law to damage this group of evil and stupid people is not only permissible but should be compulsory.
I admit to a prejudice against Nazis born out of the fact that I’m Jewish and anti racist and many members of my own family were murdered for being Jewish by bastards such as these. So if these deluded BNP pinheads lose their jobs or friends or previous high regard now that their secret is revealed I really don’t care, I delight in the fact.
By the way their claims for racial purity and superiority are also misguided and inaccurate. Once, not so long ago when I was a Director of a department of an East London University we checked out the backgrounds of 100 local people who regarded themselves as pure English. It turned out that only 7 people qualified and all the rest were a dolly mixture of different origins.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
BabyPATragedy
I am going to write about the death of a British baby, known, for legal reasons, only as Baby P. This poor, doomed child had the terrible misfortune to be born to two mad and bad parents, who were cruel, malicious, vicious and more like Nazi monsters than modern parents. This awful fate for Baby P was compounded by the fact that he was born in the district of Haringey, a part of London.
In the UK we have long been proud of our social services, which, it was thought, had long safeguarded those unable to care or look after themselves.
Sadly, dreadfully, we now know that this is no longer the case. It transpires that there were obvious grave suspicions about the well being of Baby P because the social services had made or participated in 60 (sixty) visits or interactions with this baby and its family. Included amongst these were doctor examinations of the child and these missed the many terrible injuries he suffered. Amongst these were broken bones, including a broken back. What kind of doctor examines an at risk baby and misses a broken back? I shall answer that question, it’s a doctor who doesn’t give a damn.
How did all the health and social workers simply file their forms, check the boxes and visit that dreadful family but not do anything about it? All of them, without any explanation or excuse being acceptable, plainly did not give a damn.
It was revealed today that six months ago a letter was sent to then Minister of Health, Patricia Hewitt, by a social worker about his concerns regarding the lack of care being provided by Haringey Council. Nothing was done. Why, because she was a Minister who didn’t really give a damn.
It is alleged that the lady social worker that warned of this danger to Baby P was victimized for acting in a way that her seniors working for Haringey Council deemed inappropriate. How could this be possible? It’s because they cared more about their jobs than they did about the welfare of this baby.
The leader of this section of Haringey Council did not even apologize until he was forced to by pressure coming down on his shoulders from the entire media and politically from the Prime Minister, and every other leading public figure. This is some of that apology;
“I want as Leader of the Council to make this formal apology on behalf of Haringey Council at this first meeting of the Cabinet. I will do so again to the meeting of the full Council next week. These are the right places for Haringey to formally acknowledge our deep sorrow for these tragic events.
Let me begin by making clear that we are very sorry for the events which led up to the death of Baby P; sorry for the suffering he endured; sorry for the failure of all the child protection agencies involved to protect him, to save his life.
Haringey Council’s apology is heartfelt and unreserved.
It is made to all those who knew and cared for the well being of Baby P; it is made to all those residents of Haringey who feel let down by the actions of the child protection agencies in our area and concerned for the future of every other child at risk; and it is made to the wider public who will have listened with horror at the dreadful damage done during the tragically short life of Baby P.
We are truly sorry.”
Again, like the recent financial catastrophe, we have more evidence here of systematic failure. It is not enough to have forms to fill and procedures to follow. If common sense and your own eyes tell you that a disaster is unfolding you must stop covering your own ass and start looking after everyone’s ass. We have, as a society, abandoned responsibility for our own actions and, instead, hidden behind procedures.
There should be better protection for those in our society who cannot look after them, and punishment for those charged with this care that fail in its delivery.
It is past time for the individual to stand up and be counted. If you see something is wrong don’t keep quiet, make your concern known, tell people, put it in writing and make sure you follow it up. It could really make a difference. Who knows, you might just save a life.
In the UK we have long been proud of our social services, which, it was thought, had long safeguarded those unable to care or look after themselves.
Sadly, dreadfully, we now know that this is no longer the case. It transpires that there were obvious grave suspicions about the well being of Baby P because the social services had made or participated in 60 (sixty) visits or interactions with this baby and its family. Included amongst these were doctor examinations of the child and these missed the many terrible injuries he suffered. Amongst these were broken bones, including a broken back. What kind of doctor examines an at risk baby and misses a broken back? I shall answer that question, it’s a doctor who doesn’t give a damn.
How did all the health and social workers simply file their forms, check the boxes and visit that dreadful family but not do anything about it? All of them, without any explanation or excuse being acceptable, plainly did not give a damn.
It was revealed today that six months ago a letter was sent to then Minister of Health, Patricia Hewitt, by a social worker about his concerns regarding the lack of care being provided by Haringey Council. Nothing was done. Why, because she was a Minister who didn’t really give a damn.
It is alleged that the lady social worker that warned of this danger to Baby P was victimized for acting in a way that her seniors working for Haringey Council deemed inappropriate. How could this be possible? It’s because they cared more about their jobs than they did about the welfare of this baby.
The leader of this section of Haringey Council did not even apologize until he was forced to by pressure coming down on his shoulders from the entire media and politically from the Prime Minister, and every other leading public figure. This is some of that apology;
“I want as Leader of the Council to make this formal apology on behalf of Haringey Council at this first meeting of the Cabinet. I will do so again to the meeting of the full Council next week. These are the right places for Haringey to formally acknowledge our deep sorrow for these tragic events.
Let me begin by making clear that we are very sorry for the events which led up to the death of Baby P; sorry for the suffering he endured; sorry for the failure of all the child protection agencies involved to protect him, to save his life.
Haringey Council’s apology is heartfelt and unreserved.
It is made to all those who knew and cared for the well being of Baby P; it is made to all those residents of Haringey who feel let down by the actions of the child protection agencies in our area and concerned for the future of every other child at risk; and it is made to the wider public who will have listened with horror at the dreadful damage done during the tragically short life of Baby P.
We are truly sorry.”
Again, like the recent financial catastrophe, we have more evidence here of systematic failure. It is not enough to have forms to fill and procedures to follow. If common sense and your own eyes tell you that a disaster is unfolding you must stop covering your own ass and start looking after everyone’s ass. We have, as a society, abandoned responsibility for our own actions and, instead, hidden behind procedures.
There should be better protection for those in our society who cannot look after them, and punishment for those charged with this care that fail in its delivery.
It is past time for the individual to stand up and be counted. If you see something is wrong don’t keep quiet, make your concern known, tell people, put it in writing and make sure you follow it up. It could really make a difference. Who knows, you might just save a life.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
AnAmericanPublicServiceAnnouncement
This is a public service announcement which I felt I should pass on to our American readers. I received it from a friend - I cannot attest to the accuracy of this information but it appears accurate and worth doing;
American Cell phone numbers go public tomorrow.
REMINDER....
All cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies tomorrow and you will start to receive sale calls
YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR SUCH CALLS
To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222
It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number
you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.
It takes about 20 seconds.
HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.
American Cell phone numbers go public tomorrow.
REMINDER....
All cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies tomorrow and you will start to receive sale calls
YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR SUCH CALLS
To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222
It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number
you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.
It takes about 20 seconds.
HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
TouchingNervesonW
There will be a few blank blog days over the next couple of weeks as I rush around the country doing my best to spread the good word and, perhaps, if I am lucky, to make a living!
Today’s blog is brief due to the pressure of other writing commitments. It seems as if I have touched some nerves with my comments regarding the rationale of Oliver Stone and his pals in the making of his film W, about America’s outgoing President George W Bush.
Make of it what you will; here is a selection of reactions received today.
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve
To: tdklinger@aol.com
Sent: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:02 pm
Amen Tony. I could not agree more. You also might note that the mainstream media now operates with the exact same mindset. I find it laughable that so many on the "left" despise the Fox News network. That is because they are the ONLY network that actually is Fair and Balanced. The bottom line is if you do not march lockstep with the liberal left you are a pariah. Keep up the work. Thanks, Steve
Thanks Steve, You should see the attacks I got from my more vitriolic left leaning friends. They truly believe that any other viewpoint is some kind of heresy. This is America's truly frightening first glimpse of the kind of British political correctness we've had to suffer these last twelve years. Now the buggers tell us how to eat, exercise and soon, no doubt, make whoopee.
Tony
It was a bit of a crank screed on Oliver Stone and the meds...and I hope it goes increasingly in that direction for entertainment's sake. Making a distorting and stupid film about Bush is redundant. You say that Bush getting into an Ivy league was not about his father--OF COURSE IT WAS. It's well known that he barely scraped a C average together at Yale and the stories are fairly legendary at this point. His application was tagged "Alumni" with the annual dollar donation--that's how Ivy leagues work, especially for terrible students like Bush. As you probably got from Stone, he was very interested in getting jumped into skull and bones which gives you a better idea of what these places are all about--networking. People like him are everywhere at Cornell--surreally uncurious, incompetent, and unfit for higher learning--but private schools are status symbols designed to jump the progeny of stupid wealthy fuckers into the system. The baseball team, the oil --the guy is a classic East coast prep school washout who reinvented himself as a Texan, which probably is closer to his sensibilities. It doesn't change the fact that he ought to be wearing rumpled khaki and hanging around on a yacht--he's been handed everything but the presidency. On that score, it's not necessary to rehash how he got in...except to say that his "folksy" shtick was recently copped by Palin, and the door was opened to this sort of low-watt intellectual stuff by Reagan whose most staunch conservative backers (Buckley, George Will etc.) openly conceded that Reagan was uninterested by anything resembling a detail. Their point was that eggheads don't do well historically in the presidency--bring in the dumb shit who is "tuned" into the party line and people, and who embodies the volk and the fatherland with an American exceptionalist poetics. It worked for Hitler...
You could argue, and many have, that a dull-witted ideologue who knows how to delegate, keep it simple, surround him/herself with good people might actually be more effective that an intellectual. That is the Reagan/Bush/Palin gambit. I would disagree with that however, and it seems the country (at least for now) has overcome its anti-intellectual streak to hire an egghead again.
I think it's important to watch how the word "stupid" is thrown around. Carter was far from stupid, but he got a bad start by overestimating his clout with congress--his filibuster proof majority included southern dixie-crats who turned on him and he never recovered. This identical mistake was Clinton's--although Clinton readjusted. Clinton of course was a Rhodes scholar and Obama is not with him there, although close in some respects for his rhetoric and as a delegator. You could say that academic excellence does not necessarily translate into political skills in Washington, although even there you would be in trouble...Johnson was an effective legislator and very brilliant.
I think the concern for Republicans with their heads screwed on is how not to be the party of white dumb shits. The demographics from this latest election show democratic gains everywhere in the country across all categories--except in the Deep South. There are a lot of smart conservatives out there, but they tend to be more secular--and that's a problem.
Brad.
My response:
I do concur that it was as President that Carter was a dimwit, as he actually had about the highest IQ score of all the Presidents. I do think that the job of President is to deal with the bigger picture and that those that get too engrossed in detail are bound to fail, as there are simply too many details for any human to deal with.
I don't think that President George W Bush is as dumb as he is portrayed by the movie, and I don't think that President Elect Obama is the Messiah that the left is painting him. I think he'd agree with that, and would like it if the expectation levels were lessened right now, as it will lead to unrealistic expectations, which he will fail to meet. I don't believe you need an egghead in the White House, any more than a General needs to be a great brain, for those jobs you need the right instincts, some great strategy and a whole lot of luck.
In the end it is the perception that makes the legacy, and I think it is the left who are the most mean spirited, and the right that is the dumbest. Hopefully Obama can rise gracefully above all this a bit like a superpower Cicero with the balls of a Thatcher, and despite her being a woman she really did have big balls!
I am not sure that America voted for what makes Obama interesting, his intellect being part of that, but they certainly did vote against a continuation of what Bush was, but, and this should be remembered, only by about 6%.
Tony
From: Marjorie
Subject: Re: http://bcreativelimited.com/ LiarsandLoweringStandards
IN response to your disgust for your fellow men who are lacking in fastidiousness, may I suggest you offer free disinfectant packets to them on the way out?
Maybe you can invest in a few and always have them on hand?
(LOL)
I actually thought W was very sympathetic to George W. In fact he made him a more 'likeable' person, instead of the 'lizard-like/cold blooded war monger impression I had before.
Hi M,
I haven't reviewed the film yet, just the lies surrounding the film. I don't share your position about it being sympathetic to George W as he is neither a lizard nor an idiot.
Tony
From: Stephen
Sent: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 5:20 pm
Subject: W Blog
F… ing brilliant. Here here you are right on but don’t you know TK almost every artist is narcissist and thinks he is the creator of a unique ideology of the world. It is pathetic...We must allow our critics their say and opinions. Some of the right and left are like religious zealots only they get key to the kingdom. Only they are right. They tolerate no disagreement or criticism and to me that in un-American and awful.
Love Stevie
Thanks Stevie,
I am already taking flack from the left leaners who cannot see that I might be one of them, but the fact is that I respect the truth!
Tony
I have now reviewed the film W at
http://www.tonyklinger.co.uk/
Today’s blog is brief due to the pressure of other writing commitments. It seems as if I have touched some nerves with my comments regarding the rationale of Oliver Stone and his pals in the making of his film W, about America’s outgoing President George W Bush.
Make of it what you will; here is a selection of reactions received today.
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve
To: tdklinger@aol.com
Sent: Tue, 11 Nov 2008 12:02 pm
Amen Tony. I could not agree more. You also might note that the mainstream media now operates with the exact same mindset. I find it laughable that so many on the "left" despise the Fox News network. That is because they are the ONLY network that actually is Fair and Balanced. The bottom line is if you do not march lockstep with the liberal left you are a pariah. Keep up the work. Thanks, Steve
Thanks Steve, You should see the attacks I got from my more vitriolic left leaning friends. They truly believe that any other viewpoint is some kind of heresy. This is America's truly frightening first glimpse of the kind of British political correctness we've had to suffer these last twelve years. Now the buggers tell us how to eat, exercise and soon, no doubt, make whoopee.
Tony
It was a bit of a crank screed on Oliver Stone and the meds...and I hope it goes increasingly in that direction for entertainment's sake. Making a distorting and stupid film about Bush is redundant. You say that Bush getting into an Ivy league was not about his father--OF COURSE IT WAS. It's well known that he barely scraped a C average together at Yale and the stories are fairly legendary at this point. His application was tagged "Alumni" with the annual dollar donation--that's how Ivy leagues work, especially for terrible students like Bush. As you probably got from Stone, he was very interested in getting jumped into skull and bones which gives you a better idea of what these places are all about--networking. People like him are everywhere at Cornell--surreally uncurious, incompetent, and unfit for higher learning--but private schools are status symbols designed to jump the progeny of stupid wealthy fuckers into the system. The baseball team, the oil --the guy is a classic East coast prep school washout who reinvented himself as a Texan, which probably is closer to his sensibilities. It doesn't change the fact that he ought to be wearing rumpled khaki and hanging around on a yacht--he's been handed everything but the presidency. On that score, it's not necessary to rehash how he got in...except to say that his "folksy" shtick was recently copped by Palin, and the door was opened to this sort of low-watt intellectual stuff by Reagan whose most staunch conservative backers (Buckley, George Will etc.) openly conceded that Reagan was uninterested by anything resembling a detail. Their point was that eggheads don't do well historically in the presidency--bring in the dumb shit who is "tuned" into the party line and people, and who embodies the volk and the fatherland with an American exceptionalist poetics. It worked for Hitler...
You could argue, and many have, that a dull-witted ideologue who knows how to delegate, keep it simple, surround him/herself with good people might actually be more effective that an intellectual. That is the Reagan/Bush/Palin gambit. I would disagree with that however, and it seems the country (at least for now) has overcome its anti-intellectual streak to hire an egghead again.
I think it's important to watch how the word "stupid" is thrown around. Carter was far from stupid, but he got a bad start by overestimating his clout with congress--his filibuster proof majority included southern dixie-crats who turned on him and he never recovered. This identical mistake was Clinton's--although Clinton readjusted. Clinton of course was a Rhodes scholar and Obama is not with him there, although close in some respects for his rhetoric and as a delegator. You could say that academic excellence does not necessarily translate into political skills in Washington, although even there you would be in trouble...Johnson was an effective legislator and very brilliant.
I think the concern for Republicans with their heads screwed on is how not to be the party of white dumb shits. The demographics from this latest election show democratic gains everywhere in the country across all categories--except in the Deep South. There are a lot of smart conservatives out there, but they tend to be more secular--and that's a problem.
Brad.
My response:
I do concur that it was as President that Carter was a dimwit, as he actually had about the highest IQ score of all the Presidents. I do think that the job of President is to deal with the bigger picture and that those that get too engrossed in detail are bound to fail, as there are simply too many details for any human to deal with.
I don't think that President George W Bush is as dumb as he is portrayed by the movie, and I don't think that President Elect Obama is the Messiah that the left is painting him. I think he'd agree with that, and would like it if the expectation levels were lessened right now, as it will lead to unrealistic expectations, which he will fail to meet. I don't believe you need an egghead in the White House, any more than a General needs to be a great brain, for those jobs you need the right instincts, some great strategy and a whole lot of luck.
In the end it is the perception that makes the legacy, and I think it is the left who are the most mean spirited, and the right that is the dumbest. Hopefully Obama can rise gracefully above all this a bit like a superpower Cicero with the balls of a Thatcher, and despite her being a woman she really did have big balls!
I am not sure that America voted for what makes Obama interesting, his intellect being part of that, but they certainly did vote against a continuation of what Bush was, but, and this should be remembered, only by about 6%.
Tony
From: Marjorie
Subject: Re: http://bcreativelimited.com/ LiarsandLoweringStandards
IN response to your disgust for your fellow men who are lacking in fastidiousness, may I suggest you offer free disinfectant packets to them on the way out?
Maybe you can invest in a few and always have them on hand?
(LOL)
I actually thought W was very sympathetic to George W. In fact he made him a more 'likeable' person, instead of the 'lizard-like/cold blooded war monger impression I had before.
Hi M,
I haven't reviewed the film yet, just the lies surrounding the film. I don't share your position about it being sympathetic to George W as he is neither a lizard nor an idiot.
Tony
From: Stephen
Sent: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 5:20 pm
Subject: W Blog
F… ing brilliant. Here here you are right on but don’t you know TK almost every artist is narcissist and thinks he is the creator of a unique ideology of the world. It is pathetic...We must allow our critics their say and opinions. Some of the right and left are like religious zealots only they get key to the kingdom. Only they are right. They tolerate no disagreement or criticism and to me that in un-American and awful.
Love Stevie
Thanks Stevie,
I am already taking flack from the left leaners who cannot see that I might be one of them, but the fact is that I respect the truth!
Tony
I have now reviewed the film W at
http://www.tonyklinger.co.uk/
Monday, November 10, 2008
LiarsandLoweringStandards
I saw the film “W” and will be reviewing it in my other blog at http://www.tonyklinger.co.uk/ tomorrow. The reason for my mention of it here is that I will later comment on the honesty, or lack of it, of the film’s makers, particularly Oliver Stone, its director. Am I alone in thinking standards have gone down, and continue to do so?
I have a regular prescription with several items on it, and the doctors, who pass it on to the dispensing pharmacists, renew this every month. They make it up and I collect it. Every month, unless I chivvy them up there is some kind of screw up. It seems impossible to me that this could be so, but every month, without fail there is another, new mistake.
On Friday last I went to take my medication and one of the boxes was empty, so I looked for the replacement box within the other medications. It wasn’t there, and now it’s the weekend, and there is nothing I can do about it as the particular pharmacy from which I must collect my medications is closed all weekend. I am fortunate not to have a desperate need and therefore a couple of days was going to be OK health wise.
Today I went to the pharmacy to ask for my missing medications and the dispensing pharmacist said he had forgotten to place them in my packet along with the other medications. No apology, no thought that he could have rung me last week to tell me of his mistake, and absolutely no apology for the inconvenience for my having to go back to his shop in the pouring rain.
I am by nature a grumbler, but there is no point in my grumbling to the pharmacist, as I intend to do him the favour of telling his boss at head office. That way some other sucker, who might be in dire need of careful attention will be looked after properly.
Over the recent past I have also noticed that when I visit a public toilet there are a large and growing number of men and boys who do not wash their hands after using the convenience. This is not only disgusting for their own state of cleanliness but will, inevitably have a direct and negative bearing on the health of us all.
It sounds like I am becoming a terrible, angry old man, but the truth is obvious and shouldn’t be ignored, whatever its origination.
Back to my opening, about Oliver Stone, who is a talented man with a long track record of left leaning polemics disguised as filmed entertainment, and he’s at it again here, lying prettily dressed up as high art. Please understand I am no fan of President George W. Bush but that doesn’t mean he should be lied about just because I disagree with him or his policies.
Apparently such lies have become not only acceptable but are applauded. There are innumerable instances of inaccuracies about the President in the film, there are many false innuendos, and many insidious libels dressed up as fact. We could spend hours debating the catalogue of fabrications dreamed up by Stone portrayed here as fact. All I ask is that you check out the facts for yourselves.
I remember the same ideologues of the left saying much the same things about President Ronald Reagan. They claimed he was an incompetent idiot who basically didn’t have a brain. I happen to know some people that knew that President, and without exception they stated that he was very bright and sharp.
I suspect that if President George W. Bush is as stupid as this film portrays him he wouldn’t have gained entrance into either Yale or Harvard Business School and wouldn’t have ended up as a very successful businessman, and wouldn’t have owned a baseball franchise and wouldn’t have been elected Governor of Texas; All of which the film W passes of as simply the rewards for being the son of the first President Bush. No one could really believe that all of those accomplishments came the way of George W because he has a powerful father.
Does anyone dare say anything is lacking in President Elect Obama because he has accomplished so much less?
Where are the similar films about the well-documented peccadilloes of the Democratic President Clinton or the stupid and inept Democratic President Jimmy Carter?
Stone is the same director who made the film JFK and who felt no compunction about inventing historical events for that movie that simply didn’t happen. The same kind of filmmaking was employed in the film Nixon, and instead of it being attacked it is praised by the like-minded left leaning “media intelligentsia” who sneer at anything or anyone with an opinion to the right of his or her own.
I don’t crown these fools and liars with the word liberal, because they are not liberal, they are dogmatic fools who do not have the good grace to grant any rightness to the cause of those they regard as their political enemies. They would do well to remember that the root of democracy is not to the right or left of the spectrum, but above it, where right is not a direction but a byword for probity, civility and honesty, and maintaining the highest standards.
I have a regular prescription with several items on it, and the doctors, who pass it on to the dispensing pharmacists, renew this every month. They make it up and I collect it. Every month, unless I chivvy them up there is some kind of screw up. It seems impossible to me that this could be so, but every month, without fail there is another, new mistake.
On Friday last I went to take my medication and one of the boxes was empty, so I looked for the replacement box within the other medications. It wasn’t there, and now it’s the weekend, and there is nothing I can do about it as the particular pharmacy from which I must collect my medications is closed all weekend. I am fortunate not to have a desperate need and therefore a couple of days was going to be OK health wise.
Today I went to the pharmacy to ask for my missing medications and the dispensing pharmacist said he had forgotten to place them in my packet along with the other medications. No apology, no thought that he could have rung me last week to tell me of his mistake, and absolutely no apology for the inconvenience for my having to go back to his shop in the pouring rain.
I am by nature a grumbler, but there is no point in my grumbling to the pharmacist, as I intend to do him the favour of telling his boss at head office. That way some other sucker, who might be in dire need of careful attention will be looked after properly.
Over the recent past I have also noticed that when I visit a public toilet there are a large and growing number of men and boys who do not wash their hands after using the convenience. This is not only disgusting for their own state of cleanliness but will, inevitably have a direct and negative bearing on the health of us all.
It sounds like I am becoming a terrible, angry old man, but the truth is obvious and shouldn’t be ignored, whatever its origination.
Back to my opening, about Oliver Stone, who is a talented man with a long track record of left leaning polemics disguised as filmed entertainment, and he’s at it again here, lying prettily dressed up as high art. Please understand I am no fan of President George W. Bush but that doesn’t mean he should be lied about just because I disagree with him or his policies.
Apparently such lies have become not only acceptable but are applauded. There are innumerable instances of inaccuracies about the President in the film, there are many false innuendos, and many insidious libels dressed up as fact. We could spend hours debating the catalogue of fabrications dreamed up by Stone portrayed here as fact. All I ask is that you check out the facts for yourselves.
I remember the same ideologues of the left saying much the same things about President Ronald Reagan. They claimed he was an incompetent idiot who basically didn’t have a brain. I happen to know some people that knew that President, and without exception they stated that he was very bright and sharp.
I suspect that if President George W. Bush is as stupid as this film portrays him he wouldn’t have gained entrance into either Yale or Harvard Business School and wouldn’t have ended up as a very successful businessman, and wouldn’t have owned a baseball franchise and wouldn’t have been elected Governor of Texas; All of which the film W passes of as simply the rewards for being the son of the first President Bush. No one could really believe that all of those accomplishments came the way of George W because he has a powerful father.
Does anyone dare say anything is lacking in President Elect Obama because he has accomplished so much less?
Where are the similar films about the well-documented peccadilloes of the Democratic President Clinton or the stupid and inept Democratic President Jimmy Carter?
Stone is the same director who made the film JFK and who felt no compunction about inventing historical events for that movie that simply didn’t happen. The same kind of filmmaking was employed in the film Nixon, and instead of it being attacked it is praised by the like-minded left leaning “media intelligentsia” who sneer at anything or anyone with an opinion to the right of his or her own.
I don’t crown these fools and liars with the word liberal, because they are not liberal, they are dogmatic fools who do not have the good grace to grant any rightness to the cause of those they regard as their political enemies. They would do well to remember that the root of democracy is not to the right or left of the spectrum, but above it, where right is not a direction but a byword for probity, civility and honesty, and maintaining the highest standards.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
WelcomeTheNegotiator
Today this column hosts a very good friend, The Negotiator. This is a man who will find you solutions when it doesn’t seem possible.
In these troubled times there is every reason for me to host the Negotiator.
If you have any questions or comments for him please e-mail them to tony@bcreativelimited.com and I shall pass them on to the Negotiator.
The lady on SKY News said ‘….many people are facing negative equity.’
Why did the newsreader present this as such a catastrophe? Bad news sells better than good news.
The first question is ‘what is negative equity?’ It’s what happens when you have a mortgage equal to most or all of the value of your house, the market drops, and suddenly your house is worth less than your mortgage.
We have established what it is, who’s likely to catch it and what should they do?
Anybody with a least one property against which they were borrowing over 75% of its value in 2007, is likely to catch it. If you are one of the people who go down with a bout of negative equity there are four likely scenarios.
1. You are able to meet your commitments; you have no need or intention of selling any of your assets in the next two years. This is the mildest form of the bug, and shouldn’t cost you a minute of sleep. If it happens to be a business arrangement – commercial property, buy-to-lets – a jittery lender might ask you to put up additional collateral. To such an impertinent request the appropriate answer is:” Get stuffed. No one put a gun to your head when you drew up the papers. No one coerced you into lending me more than prudence might suggest. You were motivated by the need to hit your sales target; your employer was motivated by pure greed. As long as I am meeting my payments I will entertain no further discussion of fresh protection for you.”
2. You were planning to sell soon. If this were not a forced position you would be well advised to re-consider your plans. Unless you are trading up, wait until the financial world turns the right way up again.
3. Your short-term fixed rate mortgage is coming to an end. You’ve borrowed more than your house is worth at 3.9% and they’ve lent you five and a half times your stated income without even verifying it. Once again, your lenders acted on the impulse of greed and the fear of losing out to the competition. So what do you do? The one do you can’t do is NOTHING. The option of putting your head under the bedclothes is not open to you. You must go out and meet the problem; don’t wait for it to come to you. Three to four months before your current arrangement finishes speak to a good mortgage broker. There are plenty of mediocre or downright bad mortgage brokers, and a few good ones. You want an Independent Financial Advisor – one who has access to the whole of the market, and not an advisor who is tied to just one company and its range of products. You need a person who can think laterally and will persevere until you have the best deal available. We have Howard; everyone should have a Howard. Over the next few months the banks and building societies will suddenly remember that they make their living by lending money. New products will become available.
But what if he can’t find you a suitable mortgage? Far be it from me to incite a mass movement for civil unrest but a short time on the Internet will reveal a very large number of people who have caught this strain of negative equity. More and more of them seem to have started fighting back. When lenders try to intimidate them they are saying in growing numbers ‘No! I can’t repay the mortgage and I won’t be forced into selling my home. You gave me this deal to entice me away from my previous lender because you wanted my business. You gambled on the property market continuing to rise… and you lost. I will not pay your gambling debts. I will continue to make my monthly payments. If you refuse to accept them I will pay them into my solicitor’s account, and when appropriate he will pay them into court.’’ This ploy seems to be enjoying some success at the moment and may result in forcing a complete change of attitude.
4. You can’t keep up the payments. There is no disgrace to this. The possible reasons are numerous.
• You lost your job
• You fear of losing your job
• You have kept your job but lost the large bonuses you used to receive
• Your business has slowed down
• Your mortgage rate has increased
Whatever the reason, you can’t afford it. Once again doing nothing is not an option.
Meet the problem before it meets you. Speak to your broker, or speak to a professional. Lenders really do not want to repossess properties that they would have to sell for less than the debt. Chances are that they will be amenable to a deal, an arrangement to receive some money until things improve.
I failed to foresee the last recession but I was one of the first to realise that financial weakness is a strong place from which to negotiate. I eliminated large chunks of debt by taking advantage of the difference between the borrowing and the ‘forced sale’ value of the properties in question.
Having negotiated large savings for myself I went on to sell that knowledge to other people in the same position. Just remember negative equity is a reality but it doesn’t have to be a bogeyman. Handled corrected it can be controlled and possibly made to work to your advantage.
In these troubled times there is every reason for me to host the Negotiator.
If you have any questions or comments for him please e-mail them to tony@bcreativelimited.com and I shall pass them on to the Negotiator.
The lady on SKY News said ‘….many people are facing negative equity.’
Why did the newsreader present this as such a catastrophe? Bad news sells better than good news.
The first question is ‘what is negative equity?’ It’s what happens when you have a mortgage equal to most or all of the value of your house, the market drops, and suddenly your house is worth less than your mortgage.
We have established what it is, who’s likely to catch it and what should they do?
Anybody with a least one property against which they were borrowing over 75% of its value in 2007, is likely to catch it. If you are one of the people who go down with a bout of negative equity there are four likely scenarios.
1. You are able to meet your commitments; you have no need or intention of selling any of your assets in the next two years. This is the mildest form of the bug, and shouldn’t cost you a minute of sleep. If it happens to be a business arrangement – commercial property, buy-to-lets – a jittery lender might ask you to put up additional collateral. To such an impertinent request the appropriate answer is:” Get stuffed. No one put a gun to your head when you drew up the papers. No one coerced you into lending me more than prudence might suggest. You were motivated by the need to hit your sales target; your employer was motivated by pure greed. As long as I am meeting my payments I will entertain no further discussion of fresh protection for you.”
2. You were planning to sell soon. If this were not a forced position you would be well advised to re-consider your plans. Unless you are trading up, wait until the financial world turns the right way up again.
3. Your short-term fixed rate mortgage is coming to an end. You’ve borrowed more than your house is worth at 3.9% and they’ve lent you five and a half times your stated income without even verifying it. Once again, your lenders acted on the impulse of greed and the fear of losing out to the competition. So what do you do? The one do you can’t do is NOTHING. The option of putting your head under the bedclothes is not open to you. You must go out and meet the problem; don’t wait for it to come to you. Three to four months before your current arrangement finishes speak to a good mortgage broker. There are plenty of mediocre or downright bad mortgage brokers, and a few good ones. You want an Independent Financial Advisor – one who has access to the whole of the market, and not an advisor who is tied to just one company and its range of products. You need a person who can think laterally and will persevere until you have the best deal available. We have Howard; everyone should have a Howard. Over the next few months the banks and building societies will suddenly remember that they make their living by lending money. New products will become available.
But what if he can’t find you a suitable mortgage? Far be it from me to incite a mass movement for civil unrest but a short time on the Internet will reveal a very large number of people who have caught this strain of negative equity. More and more of them seem to have started fighting back. When lenders try to intimidate them they are saying in growing numbers ‘No! I can’t repay the mortgage and I won’t be forced into selling my home. You gave me this deal to entice me away from my previous lender because you wanted my business. You gambled on the property market continuing to rise… and you lost. I will not pay your gambling debts. I will continue to make my monthly payments. If you refuse to accept them I will pay them into my solicitor’s account, and when appropriate he will pay them into court.’’ This ploy seems to be enjoying some success at the moment and may result in forcing a complete change of attitude.
4. You can’t keep up the payments. There is no disgrace to this. The possible reasons are numerous.
• You lost your job
• You fear of losing your job
• You have kept your job but lost the large bonuses you used to receive
• Your business has slowed down
• Your mortgage rate has increased
Whatever the reason, you can’t afford it. Once again doing nothing is not an option.
Meet the problem before it meets you. Speak to your broker, or speak to a professional. Lenders really do not want to repossess properties that they would have to sell for less than the debt. Chances are that they will be amenable to a deal, an arrangement to receive some money until things improve.
I failed to foresee the last recession but I was one of the first to realise that financial weakness is a strong place from which to negotiate. I eliminated large chunks of debt by taking advantage of the difference between the borrowing and the ‘forced sale’ value of the properties in question.
Having negotiated large savings for myself I went on to sell that knowledge to other people in the same position. Just remember negative equity is a reality but it doesn’t have to be a bogeyman. Handled corrected it can be controlled and possibly made to work to your advantage.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
KeynesALesson
In looking for potential solutions for our economic woes we could do worse than look back at possibly the greatest modern economist of them all; John Maynard Keynes, the British genius who can show us, from beyond the grave, the route to the Promised Land.
Like all great men, Keynes was capable of mistakes and errors of judgment in many small ways, but was also to make some very wise forecasts that, had he been listened to, could have changed the future of the world. He correctly insisted that the Versailles Treaty at the end of the First World War was too punitive on the defeated nation and would lead to a dreadful reaction by Germany. He was right, the Treaty gave Hitler and his Nazis the argument against this national humiliation as an excuse, which led directly to the Second World War.
According to Keynesian economics the state can, and in my opinion should, stimulate economic growth and improve stability in the private sector - through, for example, interest rates, taxation and public projects. This, in general terms appears to be the course being followed by Gordon Brown in the UK, and now, might well be what the USA does.
In 1936 Keynes published these theories that formed the basis of Keynesian economics in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. In this theory, micro-level actions by individuals and firms can lead to aggregate macroeconomic outcomes in which the economy operates below its potential output and growth.
The majority of Keynes contemporary classical economists had believed in Say's Law, which stated that supply creates its own demand, so that a "general glut" would be impossible.
Keynes argued convincingly that aggregate demand for goods would prove to be insufficient during major economic downturns, and this would lead to unwarranted high unemployment and consequential losses of potential output. He was convinced that government policies should be used as an instrument to increase aggregate demand, thus increasing economic activity and reducing high unemployment and deflation.
Although Keynes's macroeconomic theories were mostly a direct response to mass unemployment in 1920s Britain and in 1930s America they are no less appropriate in today’s situation.
Keynes stated that the solution to economic depression was the stimulation of the economy through a variable use of two approaches; the first of these being a reduction in interest rates and the second, Government investment in infrastructure.
The injection of income results in more spending in the general economy, which in turn stimulates more production and investment involving still more income and spending and so forth. The initial stimulation sparks a cascade of events, whose total increase in economic activity results in a multiple of the original investment.
A central conclusion of Keynesian economics is that in some situations, no strong automatic mechanism moves output and employment towards full employment levels. This conflicts with other economic theories, which assume a tendency towards equilibrium. The 'neoclassical synthesis', combines Keynesian macro concepts with a micro foundation, the conditions of General equilibrium allow for price adjustment to achieve this goal.
In the corridors of power of Whitehall were many bureaucrats who either didn’t understand or appreciate the financial genius of Keynes.
Perversely Keynes never saw his ideas fully utilized in his own country. Instead it was President Franklin Roosevelt who partially bit this bullet in his effort to get America out of the Great Depression.
More strangely it was the UK that came out of that depression first, in about 1935, and it was not due to any of the Keynesian ideas, but more the result of the UK being de-coupled from the gold standard, that up to then had meant that there was literally gold held centrally in exchange for every pound or dollar.
America’s economic salvation was a mixture of FDR led intervention by big government in addition to the country meeting the huge production demands of the Second World War.
Keynes himself, worn out by his efforts on behalf of the world economy at Breton Woods, and more particularly that of his own country, was to die within one year of the end of the war after successfully raising a huge loan from America to rebuild England from its near bankruptcy. Keynes was a liberal, not socialists, and perhaps this was humorously proven by his last words; when asked whether there was anything he regretted, he answered, “I should have drunk more champagne.”
Whichever way we find our way through this period of economic turmoil it will all be OK as long as we remember to revert to less government intervention the very minute we can, so we can all drink a little champagne again.
Like all great men, Keynes was capable of mistakes and errors of judgment in many small ways, but was also to make some very wise forecasts that, had he been listened to, could have changed the future of the world. He correctly insisted that the Versailles Treaty at the end of the First World War was too punitive on the defeated nation and would lead to a dreadful reaction by Germany. He was right, the Treaty gave Hitler and his Nazis the argument against this national humiliation as an excuse, which led directly to the Second World War.
According to Keynesian economics the state can, and in my opinion should, stimulate economic growth and improve stability in the private sector - through, for example, interest rates, taxation and public projects. This, in general terms appears to be the course being followed by Gordon Brown in the UK, and now, might well be what the USA does.
In 1936 Keynes published these theories that formed the basis of Keynesian economics in The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. In this theory, micro-level actions by individuals and firms can lead to aggregate macroeconomic outcomes in which the economy operates below its potential output and growth.
The majority of Keynes contemporary classical economists had believed in Say's Law, which stated that supply creates its own demand, so that a "general glut" would be impossible.
Keynes argued convincingly that aggregate demand for goods would prove to be insufficient during major economic downturns, and this would lead to unwarranted high unemployment and consequential losses of potential output. He was convinced that government policies should be used as an instrument to increase aggregate demand, thus increasing economic activity and reducing high unemployment and deflation.
Although Keynes's macroeconomic theories were mostly a direct response to mass unemployment in 1920s Britain and in 1930s America they are no less appropriate in today’s situation.
Keynes stated that the solution to economic depression was the stimulation of the economy through a variable use of two approaches; the first of these being a reduction in interest rates and the second, Government investment in infrastructure.
The injection of income results in more spending in the general economy, which in turn stimulates more production and investment involving still more income and spending and so forth. The initial stimulation sparks a cascade of events, whose total increase in economic activity results in a multiple of the original investment.
A central conclusion of Keynesian economics is that in some situations, no strong automatic mechanism moves output and employment towards full employment levels. This conflicts with other economic theories, which assume a tendency towards equilibrium. The 'neoclassical synthesis', combines Keynesian macro concepts with a micro foundation, the conditions of General equilibrium allow for price adjustment to achieve this goal.
In the corridors of power of Whitehall were many bureaucrats who either didn’t understand or appreciate the financial genius of Keynes.
Perversely Keynes never saw his ideas fully utilized in his own country. Instead it was President Franklin Roosevelt who partially bit this bullet in his effort to get America out of the Great Depression.
More strangely it was the UK that came out of that depression first, in about 1935, and it was not due to any of the Keynesian ideas, but more the result of the UK being de-coupled from the gold standard, that up to then had meant that there was literally gold held centrally in exchange for every pound or dollar.
America’s economic salvation was a mixture of FDR led intervention by big government in addition to the country meeting the huge production demands of the Second World War.
Keynes himself, worn out by his efforts on behalf of the world economy at Breton Woods, and more particularly that of his own country, was to die within one year of the end of the war after successfully raising a huge loan from America to rebuild England from its near bankruptcy. Keynes was a liberal, not socialists, and perhaps this was humorously proven by his last words; when asked whether there was anything he regretted, he answered, “I should have drunk more champagne.”
Whichever way we find our way through this period of economic turmoil it will all be OK as long as we remember to revert to less government intervention the very minute we can, so we can all drink a little champagne again.
Friday, November 7, 2008
TheCalvinCoolidgeExample
President Calvin Coolidge was very different to the more talkative modern politicians with whom we are currently familiar. There was something very appealing about Coolidge, he used a minimum of words to express himself, and thus it was clear what he meant, and he meant to be clear.
One day at a public meeting a man walked over to the President and said that he had made a bet with his friend that he could get Coolidge to use three words, to which the response was, “You lose.”
One Sunday Coolidge went to his church and returning home his wife asked what did the preacher speak about in his sermon; “He talked about sin,” he responded, “what did he say?” she persisted, “He’s against it.” Coolidge answered.
We could do with more of this kind of directness in our political figures. President elect Obama is eloquent, but I think I’m not alone in wondering what he really means to do. I believe that’s why the market isn’t bouncing upwards with joy at the news of his election.
In general I am no fan of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but it is hard to escape the conclusion that this taciturn, dour man has managed to be reinforced by the economic problems assailing every country, rather than be destroyed by the awful news.
This is interesting because Brown was in charge of the British economy for the 10 years prior to his becoming Prime Minister a little more than a year ago. He has managed the neat trick of following the original Teflon man, not being contaminated by the bad problems, but getting credit for the good stuff.
Yet, in yesterdays Scottish by election Brown’s Labour Party candidate won a comfortable majority, against the odds and despite all the pundits predicting that this constituency was a shoo in for the Scottish Nationalists.
Gordon Brown achieved this morale-boosting victory in the Glenrothes by-election early today after Labour comfortably fought off a concerted challenge from the Scottish National Party who had mounted a determined campaign to inflict a humiliating defeat against the Prime Minister in his own political backyard. But Lindsay Roy, the Principal at the Prime Minister's old school delivered Labour's first by-election win for more than a year.
This is beginning to look like the beginning of an historic comeback for Brown and his party. They were previously thought so unelectable for the next general election that there were elements in the Party who were plotting to throw Brown out before the election.
Now Brown is looking like a potential winner and this is due to his appeal in a crisis. He looks like he can handle himself in the economic clinches, and in fact that might be the case. I have lost count of the number of people I have been in communication with who have said that they don’t like Brown at all, but they do think he’s the right man, maybe the only man to lead the country during the present crisis. That might be true.
As long as we are in this mess I think Brown can look like a leader with a future, but as soon as the crisis lessens he will be thrown out, just as Prime Minister Winston Churchill was summarily dismissed by the electorate after his victorious, almost miraculous war.
It will be a matter of timing and luck for Brown, as it will be for the people he governs, and the world that appears to be shadowing his every economic move.
President Calvin Coolidge was "distinguished for character more than for heroic achievement," wrote his Democratic admirer, Alfred E. Smith. "His great task was to restore the dignity and prestige of the Presidency when it had reached the lowest ebb in our history ... in a time of extravagance and waste...."
Let us hope that Barack Obama and Gordon Brown are similarly inspired.
One day at a public meeting a man walked over to the President and said that he had made a bet with his friend that he could get Coolidge to use three words, to which the response was, “You lose.”
One Sunday Coolidge went to his church and returning home his wife asked what did the preacher speak about in his sermon; “He talked about sin,” he responded, “what did he say?” she persisted, “He’s against it.” Coolidge answered.
We could do with more of this kind of directness in our political figures. President elect Obama is eloquent, but I think I’m not alone in wondering what he really means to do. I believe that’s why the market isn’t bouncing upwards with joy at the news of his election.
In general I am no fan of UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, but it is hard to escape the conclusion that this taciturn, dour man has managed to be reinforced by the economic problems assailing every country, rather than be destroyed by the awful news.
This is interesting because Brown was in charge of the British economy for the 10 years prior to his becoming Prime Minister a little more than a year ago. He has managed the neat trick of following the original Teflon man, not being contaminated by the bad problems, but getting credit for the good stuff.
Yet, in yesterdays Scottish by election Brown’s Labour Party candidate won a comfortable majority, against the odds and despite all the pundits predicting that this constituency was a shoo in for the Scottish Nationalists.
Gordon Brown achieved this morale-boosting victory in the Glenrothes by-election early today after Labour comfortably fought off a concerted challenge from the Scottish National Party who had mounted a determined campaign to inflict a humiliating defeat against the Prime Minister in his own political backyard. But Lindsay Roy, the Principal at the Prime Minister's old school delivered Labour's first by-election win for more than a year.
This is beginning to look like the beginning of an historic comeback for Brown and his party. They were previously thought so unelectable for the next general election that there were elements in the Party who were plotting to throw Brown out before the election.
Now Brown is looking like a potential winner and this is due to his appeal in a crisis. He looks like he can handle himself in the economic clinches, and in fact that might be the case. I have lost count of the number of people I have been in communication with who have said that they don’t like Brown at all, but they do think he’s the right man, maybe the only man to lead the country during the present crisis. That might be true.
As long as we are in this mess I think Brown can look like a leader with a future, but as soon as the crisis lessens he will be thrown out, just as Prime Minister Winston Churchill was summarily dismissed by the electorate after his victorious, almost miraculous war.
It will be a matter of timing and luck for Brown, as it will be for the people he governs, and the world that appears to be shadowing his every economic move.
President Calvin Coolidge was "distinguished for character more than for heroic achievement," wrote his Democratic admirer, Alfred E. Smith. "His great task was to restore the dignity and prestige of the Presidency when it had reached the lowest ebb in our history ... in a time of extravagance and waste...."
Let us hope that Barack Obama and Gordon Brown are similarly inspired.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
AfterTheParty
After the party usually comes the hangover. On this particular occasion the party was for the general celebration for the victory of Barack Obama and the problem remains mainly the economy.
Today in the UK The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee unexpectedly voted to reduce the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves by 1.5 percentage points to 3%.
This is the lowest since 1955 as these crucial U.K. policy makers attempt to put the brakes on the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.
This huge cut was not predicted by any of the main quoted economists.
``It's absolutely staggering and deeply impressive,'' said the director of economic research at Societe Generale in London, Brain Hilliard. ``They are clearly grasping the nettle and taking deep action. Boy, this is going to have an impact.''
The seizure in credit markets has helped push Britain to its first recession since 1991, which created the need for the initial 50 billion-pound ($80 billion) bank rescue package from the government and a half-point emergency rate cut on Oct. 8.
The British government immediately stepped up its already intense pressure on commercial banks to speedily pass on these rate reductions to their businesses and consumers.
As for us common folk, here are some of the exchanges between myself and some of my readers overnight. I have removed personal details and edited for space. Many thanks for the many contributions; I’m sorry I couldn’t use them all. They are in reverse time order, the most recent at the end.
From: Steve
To: Tony
Sent: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:01 am
Subject: DOW down
So the DOW dropped 500 pts on Wednesday. The biggest post election drop in history. Do you think this is a sign of what's to come? I pray not.
Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008, 5:11 AM
My guess is that it gets worse before it starts to get better. Breton Woods Mk 2 might begin to start up some new confidence, but I think there's a lot else needs to be done before the free market begins to look free and attractive again. Personally, if I had spare cash, and I am working on that, I would be investing it in the market right now. But that shows I am probably just as big an idiot as the rest of them.
Tony
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve
Sent: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:27 am
Subject: Re: DOW down
You’re not an idiot. Warren Buffet advises to do exactly that. I too wish I had some "spare" cash to invest, as I would follow suit. Good luck to you. I enjoy our little chats.
Steve,
Thanks for the vote of confidence, which is probably undeserved. But I did predict the collapse nearly 2 years ago and was laughed at by my academic and consultant peers, especially those in banking!
Tony
From: Brad
Sent: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:50 am
Subject: Re: [tonybeingcreative] EverythingisPossible
Tony:
I have a friend who is opening a restaurant in Ohio (he used to have one here in town). All vendors want cash within a week of delivery. No credit whatsoever is being extended on equipment--with the upside that everything is radically slashed in price. This is the microcosm, but it's the same in the big international picture--credit is not moving at all--the pyramid scheme has folded.
Having said that, it's the first day of the 21st century.
Brad.
Brad,
You're in serious danger of becoming quite eloquent in your dotage, and
also accurate. It's a whole new world out there, and there are some
very bad aspects to that, and, let's hope, some really good bits to come!
The economy is seriously in the toilet, but after the toilet comes the flush!!
Tony
Today in the UK The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee unexpectedly voted to reduce the official Bank Rate paid on commercial bank reserves by 1.5 percentage points to 3%.
This is the lowest since 1955 as these crucial U.K. policy makers attempt to put the brakes on the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.
This huge cut was not predicted by any of the main quoted economists.
``It's absolutely staggering and deeply impressive,'' said the director of economic research at Societe Generale in London, Brain Hilliard. ``They are clearly grasping the nettle and taking deep action. Boy, this is going to have an impact.''
The seizure in credit markets has helped push Britain to its first recession since 1991, which created the need for the initial 50 billion-pound ($80 billion) bank rescue package from the government and a half-point emergency rate cut on Oct. 8.
The British government immediately stepped up its already intense pressure on commercial banks to speedily pass on these rate reductions to their businesses and consumers.
As for us common folk, here are some of the exchanges between myself and some of my readers overnight. I have removed personal details and edited for space. Many thanks for the many contributions; I’m sorry I couldn’t use them all. They are in reverse time order, the most recent at the end.
From: Steve
To: Tony
Sent: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:01 am
Subject: DOW down
So the DOW dropped 500 pts on Wednesday. The biggest post election drop in history. Do you think this is a sign of what's to come? I pray not.
Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008, 5:11 AM
My guess is that it gets worse before it starts to get better. Breton Woods Mk 2 might begin to start up some new confidence, but I think there's a lot else needs to be done before the free market begins to look free and attractive again. Personally, if I had spare cash, and I am working on that, I would be investing it in the market right now. But that shows I am probably just as big an idiot as the rest of them.
Tony
-----Original Message-----
From: Steve
Sent: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:27 am
Subject: Re: DOW down
You’re not an idiot. Warren Buffet advises to do exactly that. I too wish I had some "spare" cash to invest, as I would follow suit. Good luck to you. I enjoy our little chats.
Steve,
Thanks for the vote of confidence, which is probably undeserved. But I did predict the collapse nearly 2 years ago and was laughed at by my academic and consultant peers, especially those in banking!
Tony
From: Brad
Sent: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 11:50 am
Subject: Re: [tonybeingcreative] EverythingisPossible
Tony:
I have a friend who is opening a restaurant in Ohio (he used to have one here in town). All vendors want cash within a week of delivery. No credit whatsoever is being extended on equipment--with the upside that everything is radically slashed in price. This is the microcosm, but it's the same in the big international picture--credit is not moving at all--the pyramid scheme has folded.
Having said that, it's the first day of the 21st century.
Brad.
Brad,
You're in serious danger of becoming quite eloquent in your dotage, and
also accurate. It's a whole new world out there, and there are some
very bad aspects to that, and, let's hope, some really good bits to come!
The economy is seriously in the toilet, but after the toilet comes the flush!!
Tony
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
EverythingisPossible
America has resoundingly elected its first black President proving, that in America anything is possible. That’s the headline around the world, which generally celebrated the election of President Barack Obama. The world loves it when America rediscovers its normal spirit of optimism and this election represents a new hope in the eyes of those who have long been in opposition.
Whether you like him or not, whether you support or oppose him, Obama is seen as the agent of change, a phrase he has repeatedly uttered on his own behalf. The media had conspired to elevate Obama to almost Messianic status whilst, against him, McCain ran a sometimes very uninspired and strategically inept campaign.
It became apparent that Obama was seen as the future and McCain the past, and once that had become the common perception the older, whiter man had no real chance. Ironically Obama is more a product of Hawaii and his half white parentage than he is the normal African American urban black experience of his adopted hometown, Chicago.
However, what really killed McCain’s chances were two facts; the first that he was a Republican contender trying to follow on from President Bush and he is the most unpopular holder of that office, ever. Bush is more unpopular than Nixon was at his nadir and that is difficult to achieve. The second, and possibly even more decisive factor against McCain is the financial tsunami that has undercut and eroded the foundations of the American economy. During the election campaign every time the Dow Jones went down so did McCain’s popularity, and it has gone a long way down.
The electorate of the USA voted in record numbers to put Obama in the White House and, amid emotional scenes in many American cities and these were echoed around the world. Obama’s resounding success was celebrated with widespread and deep emotion bordering in some places on mass hysteria.
McCain accepted his defeat with the typical good grace of a true American hero, and the country now need to gather together behind Obama, because to rally to his cause is to be patriotic.
This column has repeatedly argued that Obama, if elected, will be tested by the leaders of America’s enemies, such as Russia and Iran and, of course, Al-Qaeda. I see no reason to change that view; and if that was not enough he also has to deal with the incredibly difficult economic problems facing the country and the world and let’s not forget Iraq and Afghanistan. I am also sure that there are crazies who will want to harm America’s new President before he even assumes office in January, since that is the way of the country’s extremists when confronted by agents of change.
The difference now is that there will be no acceptable excuses or blame attaching to anyone else. Now the American people will expect, in fact, demand, that their man Obama can change everything for the better.
The situation reminds me, emotionally, very much of Tony Blair with a tint, when he first came to power in the UK. It is hard to remember that at that stage Prime Minister Blair was thought by his supporters to walk on water, he could do no wrong. Blair walked on water until it was discovered that there were holes in his feet. Then we witnessed how supporters turn against their heroes when they feel let down by them. The very people who were so thrilled by his initial victories now loathe Blair. I am sure that Obama is aware of unrealistically high expectations that can and probably will haunt his term in office.
Obama does look and sound good, and projects a new and positive image for America and as a world citizen I truly hope that he can live up to his promise. He won this election against huge odds when many thought it was impossible, and I don’t mean his fight against McCain. No, when he overcame Hillary Clinton, he beat an opponent who had the money and the political machine behind her and that was a remarkable achievement. Now President Obama faces seemingly impossible odds again, this time in his new job, and I have my doubts, but then again, I didn’t think he could beat Clinton.
Change has come to America; Barack Obama will soon be in the White House. Many now say that they are again proud to be American. I believe Americans should have always been proud. We all pray for President Obama to enjoy every success but let’s hope that his countrymen don’t expect miracles, their new leader has an almost impossibly difficult job ahead of him.
Whether you like him or not, whether you support or oppose him, Obama is seen as the agent of change, a phrase he has repeatedly uttered on his own behalf. The media had conspired to elevate Obama to almost Messianic status whilst, against him, McCain ran a sometimes very uninspired and strategically inept campaign.
It became apparent that Obama was seen as the future and McCain the past, and once that had become the common perception the older, whiter man had no real chance. Ironically Obama is more a product of Hawaii and his half white parentage than he is the normal African American urban black experience of his adopted hometown, Chicago.
However, what really killed McCain’s chances were two facts; the first that he was a Republican contender trying to follow on from President Bush and he is the most unpopular holder of that office, ever. Bush is more unpopular than Nixon was at his nadir and that is difficult to achieve. The second, and possibly even more decisive factor against McCain is the financial tsunami that has undercut and eroded the foundations of the American economy. During the election campaign every time the Dow Jones went down so did McCain’s popularity, and it has gone a long way down.
The electorate of the USA voted in record numbers to put Obama in the White House and, amid emotional scenes in many American cities and these were echoed around the world. Obama’s resounding success was celebrated with widespread and deep emotion bordering in some places on mass hysteria.
McCain accepted his defeat with the typical good grace of a true American hero, and the country now need to gather together behind Obama, because to rally to his cause is to be patriotic.
This column has repeatedly argued that Obama, if elected, will be tested by the leaders of America’s enemies, such as Russia and Iran and, of course, Al-Qaeda. I see no reason to change that view; and if that was not enough he also has to deal with the incredibly difficult economic problems facing the country and the world and let’s not forget Iraq and Afghanistan. I am also sure that there are crazies who will want to harm America’s new President before he even assumes office in January, since that is the way of the country’s extremists when confronted by agents of change.
The difference now is that there will be no acceptable excuses or blame attaching to anyone else. Now the American people will expect, in fact, demand, that their man Obama can change everything for the better.
The situation reminds me, emotionally, very much of Tony Blair with a tint, when he first came to power in the UK. It is hard to remember that at that stage Prime Minister Blair was thought by his supporters to walk on water, he could do no wrong. Blair walked on water until it was discovered that there were holes in his feet. Then we witnessed how supporters turn against their heroes when they feel let down by them. The very people who were so thrilled by his initial victories now loathe Blair. I am sure that Obama is aware of unrealistically high expectations that can and probably will haunt his term in office.
Obama does look and sound good, and projects a new and positive image for America and as a world citizen I truly hope that he can live up to his promise. He won this election against huge odds when many thought it was impossible, and I don’t mean his fight against McCain. No, when he overcame Hillary Clinton, he beat an opponent who had the money and the political machine behind her and that was a remarkable achievement. Now President Obama faces seemingly impossible odds again, this time in his new job, and I have my doubts, but then again, I didn’t think he could beat Clinton.
Change has come to America; Barack Obama will soon be in the White House. Many now say that they are again proud to be American. I believe Americans should have always been proud. We all pray for President Obama to enjoy every success but let’s hope that his countrymen don’t expect miracles, their new leader has an almost impossibly difficult job ahead of him.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
VotingDiscuss
During the current American election I have received a pretty big electronic postbag. Here is a sample for you to share. These flowed from my blog of yesterday where I implored my American friends to vote, whatever their preference. I have edited for space, but kept the intent, typos and even my own errors, for which I apologize!
Many thanks to my contributors.
Tony, I could not disagree with you more. America is stock full of
idiots who have no knowledge of candidate platforms and will vote
blindly..
To which I responded,
Hi Steve,
If voting was just decided on IQ, it would be down to just me and you
and a couple of friends in MENSA who, I must be the first to state,
can't find their own ass in the dark. If voting was based on knowledge
then George W could not have stood let alone voted! The man's entire
foreign travel experience before becoming President was one trip to
Mexico. It used to be decided by your wealth, or land, in different
countries, and yet, in democracies it (the right to vote) is supposedly decided by universal suffrage. To be universal it should be mandatory, not because we all know so much, or are so clever, or rich or are men, but because everyone has a voice in a democracy, even the bloody idiots!
Steve’s answer;
I tend to agree with you but I still hold to the notion you should at
least know something about the candidate your voting for. The Howard
Stern radio show did a skit where an interviewer went to Harlem NY
and asked the "man on the street" questions such as who are you voting for. To a man/woman they said Obama. Then the interviewer went on to ask if they agreed with "Obamas" policies and proceeded to recite McCain policy and everyone agreed. Proving they had absolutely no knowledge of either candidate. Then the icing on the cake came. The interviewer asked if Obama wins will they be okay with Sarah Palin as the V.P.? Everyone said it would be fine.... go figure. Anyway it's sad that people don't take a more active role in educating themselves but it is what it is.
Next is one from Dick, to which there can be no response.
Let's hope that the next two days are among the happiest in history and that the crucial corner is turned. Will somebody please advise Howard Dean that he has two friends in Malibu who will celebrate his genius, dedication and compassion in the highest when those numbers roll in, Karl Rove's best efforts to steal history notwithstanding. Interesting that Rove spells his first name the same way any self-respecting Nazi might but... don't tell McPain this because it will inspire a new Palin speech... he also spells it the same way Karl... are you sitting?... MARX did. Does that make him a Marxist or merely a socialist?
Dick also wrote me another e-mail,
Tony, thanks... I'm not sure I go along with the Australians. I think
people who are too sloth to educate themselves about the candidates and the issues are better off left out of the count. I think every citizen who feels himself informed should vote.
From concerned citizen Marjorie there was this,
We're already having some insanity starting over the voting. There's a Republican guy on the overpass of the 101 in Santa Barbara with army fatigues and a gun screaming obscenities about Obama. I suppose tomorrow all hell may break loose! Aren't you glad you're in London? This may be politics answer to the West Hollywood Halloween celebration on Santa Monica Blvd. Stay tuned.........
And indirectly, via Stevie, what Ms. Brigitte Bardot think of it all;
French film legend-turned-activist Brigitte Bardot took a swipe at Sarah
Palin on Tuesday, saying the US vice presidential candidate was a disgrace to women.
"I hope you lose these elections because that would be a victory for
the world," Bardot wrote in an open letter to Republican John McCain's
running mate in the November vote.
"By denying the responsibility of man in global warming, by advocating gun rights and making statements that are disconcertingly stupid, you
are a disgrace to women and you alone represent a terrible threat, a true
environmental catastrophe," wrote Bardot.
The screen icon from the 1960s, who now heads an animal rights foundation, went on to assail Palin for supporting Arctic oil exploration that could jeopardize delicate animal habitats and for dismissing measures to protect polar bears.
"This shows your total lack of responsibility, your inability to protect or simply respect animal life," Bardot wrote.
In a final salvo against Palin, the 74-year-old ex-star picked up on
Palin's depiction of herself as a pitbull wearing lipstick and said she
"implored" her not to compare herself to dogs.
"I know them well and I can assure you that no pitbull, no dog, nor any other animal for that matter is as dangerous as you are," Bardot wrote.
My considered response it to ask what can you write when faced with such words, voiced by such a level headed champion of all things fluffy that bark?
I received this from Don,
Well said. It's a shame you don't have the e-mail address of every
American!
Perhaps I should have just featured Don’s message? Whatever way you look at it America, VOTE!
Many thanks to my contributors.
Tony, I could not disagree with you more. America is stock full of
idiots who have no knowledge of candidate platforms and will vote
blindly..
To which I responded,
Hi Steve,
If voting was just decided on IQ, it would be down to just me and you
and a couple of friends in MENSA who, I must be the first to state,
can't find their own ass in the dark. If voting was based on knowledge
then George W could not have stood let alone voted! The man's entire
foreign travel experience before becoming President was one trip to
Mexico. It used to be decided by your wealth, or land, in different
countries, and yet, in democracies it (the right to vote) is supposedly decided by universal suffrage. To be universal it should be mandatory, not because we all know so much, or are so clever, or rich or are men, but because everyone has a voice in a democracy, even the bloody idiots!
Steve’s answer;
I tend to agree with you but I still hold to the notion you should at
least know something about the candidate your voting for. The Howard
Stern radio show did a skit where an interviewer went to Harlem NY
and asked the "man on the street" questions such as who are you voting for. To a man/woman they said Obama. Then the interviewer went on to ask if they agreed with "Obamas" policies and proceeded to recite McCain policy and everyone agreed. Proving they had absolutely no knowledge of either candidate. Then the icing on the cake came. The interviewer asked if Obama wins will they be okay with Sarah Palin as the V.P.? Everyone said it would be fine.... go figure. Anyway it's sad that people don't take a more active role in educating themselves but it is what it is.
Next is one from Dick, to which there can be no response.
Let's hope that the next two days are among the happiest in history and that the crucial corner is turned. Will somebody please advise Howard Dean that he has two friends in Malibu who will celebrate his genius, dedication and compassion in the highest when those numbers roll in, Karl Rove's best efforts to steal history notwithstanding. Interesting that Rove spells his first name the same way any self-respecting Nazi might but... don't tell McPain this because it will inspire a new Palin speech... he also spells it the same way Karl... are you sitting?... MARX did. Does that make him a Marxist or merely a socialist?
Dick also wrote me another e-mail,
Tony, thanks... I'm not sure I go along with the Australians. I think
people who are too sloth to educate themselves about the candidates and the issues are better off left out of the count. I think every citizen who feels himself informed should vote.
From concerned citizen Marjorie there was this,
We're already having some insanity starting over the voting. There's a Republican guy on the overpass of the 101 in Santa Barbara with army fatigues and a gun screaming obscenities about Obama. I suppose tomorrow all hell may break loose! Aren't you glad you're in London? This may be politics answer to the West Hollywood Halloween celebration on Santa Monica Blvd. Stay tuned.........
And indirectly, via Stevie, what Ms. Brigitte Bardot think of it all;
French film legend-turned-activist Brigitte Bardot took a swipe at Sarah
Palin on Tuesday, saying the US vice presidential candidate was a disgrace to women.
"I hope you lose these elections because that would be a victory for
the world," Bardot wrote in an open letter to Republican John McCain's
running mate in the November vote.
"By denying the responsibility of man in global warming, by advocating gun rights and making statements that are disconcertingly stupid, you
are a disgrace to women and you alone represent a terrible threat, a true
environmental catastrophe," wrote Bardot.
The screen icon from the 1960s, who now heads an animal rights foundation, went on to assail Palin for supporting Arctic oil exploration that could jeopardize delicate animal habitats and for dismissing measures to protect polar bears.
"This shows your total lack of responsibility, your inability to protect or simply respect animal life," Bardot wrote.
In a final salvo against Palin, the 74-year-old ex-star picked up on
Palin's depiction of herself as a pitbull wearing lipstick and said she
"implored" her not to compare herself to dogs.
"I know them well and I can assure you that no pitbull, no dog, nor any other animal for that matter is as dangerous as you are," Bardot wrote.
My considered response it to ask what can you write when faced with such words, voiced by such a level headed champion of all things fluffy that bark?
I received this from Don,
Well said. It's a shame you don't have the e-mail address of every
American!
Perhaps I should have just featured Don’s message? Whatever way you look at it America, VOTE!
Monday, November 3, 2008
VOTE
I want to add my two cents worth to the great election debate in the United States. My message is very simple, but terribly important. Please, all my American friends, I don’t dare tell you how to vote, but I can ask you, as a concerned friend of your country to make sure you get off your bums and VOTE!
It could not be a more important election and every vote could be vital. Remember that it was just a few spoiled ballot papers in Florida that stopped us experiencing President Al Gore, and the world might have been a very different place right now. I’m not saying better or worse, you’ll draw your own conclusions on that.
It looks like it might be an Obama landslide but stranger things have happened and bigger odds overturned. When the pundits all nod their heads in unison and say it’s a foregone conclusion you had better be prepared for big shocks.
As a friendly observer all I will say is that democracy demands that you get out and vote, and make sure as many of your friends and family are similarly encouraged and energized. The world deserves of your country’s best, and that means your vote counts.
Personally I support the Australian voting system in which it is, I understand, illegal not to vote. That way you don’t get sloth and failure to launch as apathetic excuses. This world needs you America, so vote!
So if you’re a desperate McCain supporter you need to keep going that extra few yards, and if you’re an Obama fan you must not take anything for granted, it isn’t over until every vote has been counted.
It could not be a more important election and every vote could be vital. Remember that it was just a few spoiled ballot papers in Florida that stopped us experiencing President Al Gore, and the world might have been a very different place right now. I’m not saying better or worse, you’ll draw your own conclusions on that.
It looks like it might be an Obama landslide but stranger things have happened and bigger odds overturned. When the pundits all nod their heads in unison and say it’s a foregone conclusion you had better be prepared for big shocks.
As a friendly observer all I will say is that democracy demands that you get out and vote, and make sure as many of your friends and family are similarly encouraged and energized. The world deserves of your country’s best, and that means your vote counts.
Personally I support the Australian voting system in which it is, I understand, illegal not to vote. That way you don’t get sloth and failure to launch as apathetic excuses. This world needs you America, so vote!
So if you’re a desperate McCain supporter you need to keep going that extra few yards, and if you’re an Obama fan you must not take anything for granted, it isn’t over until every vote has been counted.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
TheDemocraticRepublicofCongo
There is always something awful happening in Africa, it seems as if that wonderful continent is cursed with trouble. Currently there are terrible massacres, pillaging and rapes being inflicted on vast numbers of innocent people in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
There is always something undemocratic about any country that labels itself as Democratic. It’s also suspect and dangerous when countries change their name. I remember some visits to Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it doesn’t sound like anything has changed for the better. This is a personal story from my past of just how unpredictable and dangerous equatorial Africa can be.
It was in the mid 1970’s, I was line producer of a film called Shout at the Devil, being partly filmed in South Africa. We had a deal with a French airline UTA, and they routed their jets from Paris via Kinshasa, the hub of that country. I became used to stopping over in the then shanty type airport, or around the equator a bit, in the equally hot and humid Libreville, capital of another former colonial country, Gabon. Both were not fun places and I could fill a book with my experiences in Gabon, but we’ll focus on DR Congo.
On this particular trip I was with my wife and the airplane was scheduled to stop at Libreville, which was about half way down Africa, and, although an annoying interruption of our flight to Johannesburg, would give us the chance to stretch our legs. As we were descending the pilot announced that there had been a change of plan and we were diverting to Kinshasa. It didn’t make much difference to most of the passengers, but the man sitting one row ahead of us, and to our right in the first class cabin became very agitated. He was a black man, dressed smartly in a Saville Row suit, and I could see the perspiration break out on his face. He spoke quietly to the stewardess who smiled prettily and shrugged with Gallic dismissal that said, “what can I do about it?”
The plane touched down and I vividly remember that there was a change of normal arrangements. At that time, in those places it was unusual for all the passengers to disembark but on this occasion we were ordered to de-plane. We saw the sweating passenger say that he refused to alight but two men in uniform escorted him off a couple of minutes ahead of the rest of us.
I noticed that the man’s passport and personal possessions were still on his seat as we walked down the stairs of the plane. We felt the terrible suffocating heat hit us like a wet towel as we shuffled into the breezeblock building, which then served as the terminal. We entered an area where the ground staff handed us room temperature soft drinks and we sat on rickety wooden slated seats. Next to us, just a few yards away was a partition wall that finished a few feet shy of the ceiling, it was partially topped by some corrugated iron. You could see a single bulb light and, some half obscured shadows of people in the room were visible. We could certainly hear some raised voices that were muffled by the wall, that and the sound of the occasional punch and slap and the moans of a man in pain and discomfort.
No one did anything; to be honest we were all too scared of the armed guards who were watching us all too closely.
After a pause of about fifteen minutes we were instructed to return to the plane, which we did. Every passenger could hear the continuation of the beating of our fellow traveler. Back on the plane we noticed that the man’s personal possessions were still on his seat and we pointed this out to the cabin crew. We asked that they do something to get him back, after all wasn’t the captain responsible for his passengers. Our question was met with another of those Gallic shrugs and we were told to return to our seats, which, to my shame, I did. I don’t know what else I could have done, and I have no idea what happened to the man.
After the flight I did make an enquiry to the airline and initially they blandly told me they didn’t know anything about the incident. When I became a little more insistent they told me I had misunderstood and the passenger in question had simply changed his travel arrangements and had decided to stay in Zaire. Leaving his papers had been a mistake.
I have no idea what was really happening but I do know, for sure, that the man was a very reluctant visitor to Zaire and that his fate was terrifying.
The likelihood is that all sides of the political, tribal and racial equation are equally in the wrong. The central perception our Western leaders need to grasp is that these problems will continue to unravel because they are tribal and embedded in long and bitter historical disputes that transcend borders and nationalities. And, before we climb on our high horse of Western superiority let me remind my readers of our own tribal conflicts between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere, Christian and Muslim in the Sudan and elsewhere, Serb and Croat and Muslim and Christian in former Yugoslavia and, nearer to home, Protestant and Catholic in Northern Ireland. So, let’s not throw stones, and see if we can help.
There is always something undemocratic about any country that labels itself as Democratic. It’s also suspect and dangerous when countries change their name. I remember some visits to Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it doesn’t sound like anything has changed for the better. This is a personal story from my past of just how unpredictable and dangerous equatorial Africa can be.
It was in the mid 1970’s, I was line producer of a film called Shout at the Devil, being partly filmed in South Africa. We had a deal with a French airline UTA, and they routed their jets from Paris via Kinshasa, the hub of that country. I became used to stopping over in the then shanty type airport, or around the equator a bit, in the equally hot and humid Libreville, capital of another former colonial country, Gabon. Both were not fun places and I could fill a book with my experiences in Gabon, but we’ll focus on DR Congo.
On this particular trip I was with my wife and the airplane was scheduled to stop at Libreville, which was about half way down Africa, and, although an annoying interruption of our flight to Johannesburg, would give us the chance to stretch our legs. As we were descending the pilot announced that there had been a change of plan and we were diverting to Kinshasa. It didn’t make much difference to most of the passengers, but the man sitting one row ahead of us, and to our right in the first class cabin became very agitated. He was a black man, dressed smartly in a Saville Row suit, and I could see the perspiration break out on his face. He spoke quietly to the stewardess who smiled prettily and shrugged with Gallic dismissal that said, “what can I do about it?”
The plane touched down and I vividly remember that there was a change of normal arrangements. At that time, in those places it was unusual for all the passengers to disembark but on this occasion we were ordered to de-plane. We saw the sweating passenger say that he refused to alight but two men in uniform escorted him off a couple of minutes ahead of the rest of us.
I noticed that the man’s passport and personal possessions were still on his seat as we walked down the stairs of the plane. We felt the terrible suffocating heat hit us like a wet towel as we shuffled into the breezeblock building, which then served as the terminal. We entered an area where the ground staff handed us room temperature soft drinks and we sat on rickety wooden slated seats. Next to us, just a few yards away was a partition wall that finished a few feet shy of the ceiling, it was partially topped by some corrugated iron. You could see a single bulb light and, some half obscured shadows of people in the room were visible. We could certainly hear some raised voices that were muffled by the wall, that and the sound of the occasional punch and slap and the moans of a man in pain and discomfort.
No one did anything; to be honest we were all too scared of the armed guards who were watching us all too closely.
After a pause of about fifteen minutes we were instructed to return to the plane, which we did. Every passenger could hear the continuation of the beating of our fellow traveler. Back on the plane we noticed that the man’s personal possessions were still on his seat and we pointed this out to the cabin crew. We asked that they do something to get him back, after all wasn’t the captain responsible for his passengers. Our question was met with another of those Gallic shrugs and we were told to return to our seats, which, to my shame, I did. I don’t know what else I could have done, and I have no idea what happened to the man.
After the flight I did make an enquiry to the airline and initially they blandly told me they didn’t know anything about the incident. When I became a little more insistent they told me I had misunderstood and the passenger in question had simply changed his travel arrangements and had decided to stay in Zaire. Leaving his papers had been a mistake.
I have no idea what was really happening but I do know, for sure, that the man was a very reluctant visitor to Zaire and that his fate was terrifying.
The likelihood is that all sides of the political, tribal and racial equation are equally in the wrong. The central perception our Western leaders need to grasp is that these problems will continue to unravel because they are tribal and embedded in long and bitter historical disputes that transcend borders and nationalities. And, before we climb on our high horse of Western superiority let me remind my readers of our own tribal conflicts between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere, Christian and Muslim in the Sudan and elsewhere, Serb and Croat and Muslim and Christian in former Yugoslavia and, nearer to home, Protestant and Catholic in Northern Ireland. So, let’s not throw stones, and see if we can help.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
TheSunWillComeOutTomorrw
Recently, in fact every day for a few months now, we have been inundated with bad news. It has come at us all relentlessly and with monotonous regularity. Mainly this has concerned the collapsing economies of each of our countries, and then, because this is not quite bad enough, we are reminded it is a global recession. In case you incorrectly assumed that you might, in your corner of the world, get away with it, they’re going to make sure you realize that you are just about to catch it in the ear.
In case you think you’re so rich and secure that you’re immune to the vicissitudes of the economic storms raging just outside your door, and then wait for it, the terrorists are bound to get you.
Just when you’re safely through the security issues and have convinced yourself its OK to go through the airport check in you are somberly reminded that we are having the worst war situations since the Second World War in Iraq and Afghanistan.
All these issues are, obviously, terrible problems, and all too real, but give us a break. It wouldn’t be dishonest to talk these issues up a little less. After all it must be clear to everyone that the more we talk up these problems the more we worsen these situations to the detriment of all. We are talking ourselves into a recession and, if we carry on in this depressive mood we could actually tilt into much worse. It is not necessary and it will be very stupid if we become the architects of our own destruction in the ultimate act of suicidal stupidity.
We will get through this economic situation and come out the other end more prosperous in my opinion. The worst case scenario will be a better regulated environment and enhanced self discipline.
Our military will get out of Iraq, as they will, eventually, from Afghanistan.
In fact we would all benefit from a little less pontification and a bit more reconstruction, and, as I have repeatedly said in this column, the sun will, eventually come out tomorrow.
In case you think you’re so rich and secure that you’re immune to the vicissitudes of the economic storms raging just outside your door, and then wait for it, the terrorists are bound to get you.
Just when you’re safely through the security issues and have convinced yourself its OK to go through the airport check in you are somberly reminded that we are having the worst war situations since the Second World War in Iraq and Afghanistan.
All these issues are, obviously, terrible problems, and all too real, but give us a break. It wouldn’t be dishonest to talk these issues up a little less. After all it must be clear to everyone that the more we talk up these problems the more we worsen these situations to the detriment of all. We are talking ourselves into a recession and, if we carry on in this depressive mood we could actually tilt into much worse. It is not necessary and it will be very stupid if we become the architects of our own destruction in the ultimate act of suicidal stupidity.
We will get through this economic situation and come out the other end more prosperous in my opinion. The worst case scenario will be a better regulated environment and enhanced self discipline.
Our military will get out of Iraq, as they will, eventually, from Afghanistan.
In fact we would all benefit from a little less pontification and a bit more reconstruction, and, as I have repeatedly said in this column, the sun will, eventually come out tomorrow.
Friday, October 31, 2008
ObamaQuestions
I seem to be hitting a nerve with my American friends regarding the upcoming Presidential election. It’s not like we share some special knowledge, but perhaps simply because we are looking at these issues from a slightly different, British angle.
In Britain we remember when Margaret Thatcher was first standing as the leader of the Conservative Party. They were fast approaching their first opportunity in government for quite some time. All the polls indicated that Maggie was going to win but as the date for the election approached her supporters were becoming extremely nervous. Remember that the economic situation in the UK at the time was so hopeless that the country was thought to be ungovernable. Many were emigrating, and my family and I had moved to the States to avoid the 3 days work week, punitive taxation and power black outs.
Would the people who said they were going to vote for a woman actually going to do so in the privacy of the voting booth? Would it have meant that the country was misogynistic if it did not?
Luckily for Mrs. Thatcher, and many say for the UK, they overwhelmingly did so, with the result that the UK had its iron lady as its Prime Minister. The secondary result was the renaissance of the British economy that, from that time only knew growth and prosperity over 44 successive quarters, until now!
The same type of hypothesis applies to Barack Obama. Will the American people really vote for a black man just like they say they will do? Is the country racist if it does not?
The truth is that the world really would prefer America to choose Obama, not because they especially love him, but due to the fact that they believe he represents a new beginning, a hope that there might be a step change in the way America behaves abroad as the remaining superpower.
Personally I don’t share the common perception that McCain is such a bad choice, or that Obama will be such a great one. I am highly nervous about both their choices for running mate. Joe Biden is simply a windbag, probably just about suited for the non-job of being number 2 to Obama. But it is much more likely that whoever is the back up to McCain has a better than even choice of being promoted to President. Palin in that role is more than scary.
Whoever wins will have to sort out some livable arrangements for an acceptable pull out from Iraq in the kind of time frame the Iraqi political leaders are talking about, over the next 18 to 36 months. Most of the slack will unfortunately be taken up by some kind of troop surge against the Taliban in Afghanistan to achieve the same type of result. Whatever our liberal hearts might wish for, there is no way to avoid the confrontation with the exporters of terrorism. Remember they were bombing you long before you thought of defending your country.
The real big elephant in the room for whoever leads America is how good are they going to be when dealing with the economy. That needs an alchemist who has a great deal of luck, because the job might be more about timing and long term planning in a global context than it is simply turning the US economic taps on and off. So far neither Obama nor McCain has offered any meaningful answers for these problems, and it could be that so far, there are no answers available for anyone to give.
In Britain we remember when Margaret Thatcher was first standing as the leader of the Conservative Party. They were fast approaching their first opportunity in government for quite some time. All the polls indicated that Maggie was going to win but as the date for the election approached her supporters were becoming extremely nervous. Remember that the economic situation in the UK at the time was so hopeless that the country was thought to be ungovernable. Many were emigrating, and my family and I had moved to the States to avoid the 3 days work week, punitive taxation and power black outs.
Would the people who said they were going to vote for a woman actually going to do so in the privacy of the voting booth? Would it have meant that the country was misogynistic if it did not?
Luckily for Mrs. Thatcher, and many say for the UK, they overwhelmingly did so, with the result that the UK had its iron lady as its Prime Minister. The secondary result was the renaissance of the British economy that, from that time only knew growth and prosperity over 44 successive quarters, until now!
The same type of hypothesis applies to Barack Obama. Will the American people really vote for a black man just like they say they will do? Is the country racist if it does not?
The truth is that the world really would prefer America to choose Obama, not because they especially love him, but due to the fact that they believe he represents a new beginning, a hope that there might be a step change in the way America behaves abroad as the remaining superpower.
Personally I don’t share the common perception that McCain is such a bad choice, or that Obama will be such a great one. I am highly nervous about both their choices for running mate. Joe Biden is simply a windbag, probably just about suited for the non-job of being number 2 to Obama. But it is much more likely that whoever is the back up to McCain has a better than even choice of being promoted to President. Palin in that role is more than scary.
Whoever wins will have to sort out some livable arrangements for an acceptable pull out from Iraq in the kind of time frame the Iraqi political leaders are talking about, over the next 18 to 36 months. Most of the slack will unfortunately be taken up by some kind of troop surge against the Taliban in Afghanistan to achieve the same type of result. Whatever our liberal hearts might wish for, there is no way to avoid the confrontation with the exporters of terrorism. Remember they were bombing you long before you thought of defending your country.
The real big elephant in the room for whoever leads America is how good are they going to be when dealing with the economy. That needs an alchemist who has a great deal of luck, because the job might be more about timing and long term planning in a global context than it is simply turning the US economic taps on and off. So far neither Obama nor McCain has offered any meaningful answers for these problems, and it could be that so far, there are no answers available for anyone to give.
ObamaQuestions
I seem to be hitting a nerve with my American friends regarding the upcoming Presidential election. It’s not like we share some special knowledge, but perhaps simply because we are looking at these issues from a slightly different, British angle.
In Britain we remember when Margaret Thatcher was first standing as the leader of the Conservative Party. They were fast approaching their first opportunity in government for quite some time. All the polls indicated that Maggie was going to win but as the date for the election approached her supporters were becoming extremely nervous. Remember that the economic situation in the UK at the time was so hopeless that the country was thought to be ungovernable. Many were emigrating, and my family and I had moved to the States to avoid the 3 days work week, punitive taxation and power black outs.
Would the people who said they were going to vote for a woman actually going to do so in the privacy of the voting booth? Would it have meant that the country was misogynistic if it did not?
Luckily for Mrs. Thatcher, and many say for the UK, they overwhelmingly did so, with the result that the UK had its iron lady as its Prime Minister. The secondary result was the renaissance of the British economy that, from that time only knew growth and prosperity over 44 successive quarters, until now!
The same type of hypothesis applies to Barack Obama. Will the American people really vote for a black man just like they say they will do? Is the country racist if it does not?
The truth is that the world really would prefer America to choose Obama, not because they especially love him, but due to the fact that they believe he represents a new beginning, a hope that there might be a step change in the way America behaves abroad as the remaining superpower.
Personally I don’t share the common perception that McCain is such a bad choice, or that Obama will be such a great one. I am highly nervous about both their choices for running mate. Joe Biden is simply a windbag, probably just about suited for the non-job of being number 2 to Obama. But it is much more likely that whoever is the back up to McCain has a better than even choice of being promoted to President. Palin in that role is more than scary.
Whoever wins will have to sort out some livable arrangements for an acceptable pull out from Iraq in the kind of time frame the Iraqi political leaders are talking about, over the next 18 to 36 months. Most of the slack will unfortunately be taken up by some kind of troop surge against the Taliban in Afghanistan to achieve the same type of result. Whatever our liberal hearts might wish for, there is no way to avoid the confrontation with the exporters of terrorism. Remember they were bombing you long before you thought of defending your country.
The real big elephant in the room for whoever leads America is how good are they going to be when dealing with the economy. That needs an alchemist who has a great deal of luck, because the job might be more about timing and long term planning in a global context than it is simply turning the US economic taps on and off. So far neither Obama nor McCain has offered any meaningful answers for these problems, and it could be that so far, there are no answers available for anyone to give.
In Britain we remember when Margaret Thatcher was first standing as the leader of the Conservative Party. They were fast approaching their first opportunity in government for quite some time. All the polls indicated that Maggie was going to win but as the date for the election approached her supporters were becoming extremely nervous. Remember that the economic situation in the UK at the time was so hopeless that the country was thought to be ungovernable. Many were emigrating, and my family and I had moved to the States to avoid the 3 days work week, punitive taxation and power black outs.
Would the people who said they were going to vote for a woman actually going to do so in the privacy of the voting booth? Would it have meant that the country was misogynistic if it did not?
Luckily for Mrs. Thatcher, and many say for the UK, they overwhelmingly did so, with the result that the UK had its iron lady as its Prime Minister. The secondary result was the renaissance of the British economy that, from that time only knew growth and prosperity over 44 successive quarters, until now!
The same type of hypothesis applies to Barack Obama. Will the American people really vote for a black man just like they say they will do? Is the country racist if it does not?
The truth is that the world really would prefer America to choose Obama, not because they especially love him, but due to the fact that they believe he represents a new beginning, a hope that there might be a step change in the way America behaves abroad as the remaining superpower.
Personally I don’t share the common perception that McCain is such a bad choice, or that Obama will be such a great one. I am highly nervous about both their choices for running mate. Joe Biden is simply a windbag, probably just about suited for the non-job of being number 2 to Obama. But it is much more likely that whoever is the back up to McCain has a better than even choice of being promoted to President. Palin in that role is more than scary.
Whoever wins will have to sort out some livable arrangements for an acceptable pull out from Iraq in the kind of time frame the Iraqi political leaders are talking about, over the next 18 to 36 months. Most of the slack will unfortunately be taken up by some kind of troop surge against the Taliban in Afghanistan to achieve the same type of result. Whatever our liberal hearts might wish for, there is no way to avoid the confrontation with the exporters of terrorism. Remember they were bombing you long before you thought of defending your country.
The real big elephant in the room for whoever leads America is how good are they going to be when dealing with the economy. That needs an alchemist who has a great deal of luck, because the job might be more about timing and long term planning in a global context than it is simply turning the US economic taps on and off. So far neither Obama nor McCain has offered any meaningful answers for these problems, and it could be that so far, there are no answers available for anyone to give.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
AmericanQuestions
Here is an exchange I have had with some American people, regarding the upcoming Presidential election. Salutations and thanks to my correspondents.
Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read, "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.
Once in the restaurant my server had on an "Obama 08" pin, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to
someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I 've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.
At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized
the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient needed money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept
than in practical application.
To which I responded;
I am a Brit and live in the UK. We have, since WW2 lived with socialism in all but name, most of the time.
Let me tell you, my American friends, whatever you call it, socialism doesn't work, unless the givers and receivers are happy with the deal, like the tiny proportion of people who live voluntarily in those mini socialist paradises called old style kibbutzim (in Israel).
I don't have a vote in your election and to me Obama reminds me much more of a handsome, darker version of Jimmy Carter, which is very worrying. But he looks like he's decent and trying to do the right thing, whereas McCain looks a really decent guy, who doesn't have a clue about the economy. What would swing me and most of my fellow Brits to vote for Obama is our total terror of Sarah Palin!
By the way, most of us in the UK love your country and are always fascinated by it, and we want good to happen there, particularly me as I have a daughter who lives there and two grandchildren who are American.
Good luck with the election America, you need it!
All the best, Tony Klinger
Which drew another response;
I am a friend . I enjoyed reading your response. I have a question for you. What scares you about Sarah Palin? She was a Governor of a state. This, in my opinion, gives her more experience of being in charge then Obama. He was a Senator. What does a Senator run? Nothing! I do agree with you. Just curious about the Palin thing. According to people in Alaska, she has a very high approval rating. So she must be doing something right. Obama and Biden just remind me of con men.
In return I sent this;
I have done quite a lot of research on Sarah Palin, who, initially I thought a very attractive person and candidate. There have since been a great many personal anecdotes and interviews about her, which I found disturbing. Being a journalist/ documentary filmmaker by original profession, I am trained to triangulate my sources on the basis that one source might lie, two might distort but three means you have a fair chance of some accuracy. I have so far logged about 20 genuinely worrying instances of her behavior that I find of great concern. I think she does mean well, and I am convinced her intent is genuinely good, but I also think she is armed with very little self-correcting political / personal GPS. I'm not saying positive things about Obama, and I think Biden is a wind bag, (please feel free to read some of my blogs on these men!) but I do think we have to consider what might happen if Ms. Palin were to assume power one day, and that is probable if McCain was to win. There are all kinds of problems beginning to surface in Alaska, which she has tended to run like a mom and pop shop rather than as a democratic state.
Personally I hate to think of what Voltaire said, that a country gets the government it deserves, because that means both our countries must have been doing something pretty bad recently. Perhaps there needed to be a major re-adjustment of how things would be run, and we are still in the middle of that seismic shift. Sadly I don't think any of the candidates is anywhere near as outstanding as we need or, I like to think, warrant. I'm advocating a negative vote, Obama, possibly being a damage limitation exercise in an almost impossible situation. However, we should all remember that your country once faced similar impossible odds and came up with FDR who pretty much saved the Western way of life along with a little fellow my country found at just the right moment, what price a Winston Churchill right now?
Obama and especially Biden give me the same feeling they give you, but, unlike McCain and Palin, they also do seem to know, a little bit of what they're supposed to be doing. Not a great choice though.
I received;
Thanks for the comments. I enjoyed reading them.
Today on my way to lunch I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read, "Vote Obama, I need the money." I laughed.
Once in the restaurant my server had on an "Obama 08" pin, again I laughed as he had given away his political preference--just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to
someone who I deemed more in need--the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $10 and told him to thank the server inside as I 've decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.
At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized
the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient needed money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept
than in practical application.
To which I responded;
I am a Brit and live in the UK. We have, since WW2 lived with socialism in all but name, most of the time.
Let me tell you, my American friends, whatever you call it, socialism doesn't work, unless the givers and receivers are happy with the deal, like the tiny proportion of people who live voluntarily in those mini socialist paradises called old style kibbutzim (in Israel).
I don't have a vote in your election and to me Obama reminds me much more of a handsome, darker version of Jimmy Carter, which is very worrying. But he looks like he's decent and trying to do the right thing, whereas McCain looks a really decent guy, who doesn't have a clue about the economy. What would swing me and most of my fellow Brits to vote for Obama is our total terror of Sarah Palin!
By the way, most of us in the UK love your country and are always fascinated by it, and we want good to happen there, particularly me as I have a daughter who lives there and two grandchildren who are American.
Good luck with the election America, you need it!
All the best, Tony Klinger
Which drew another response;
I am a friend . I enjoyed reading your response. I have a question for you. What scares you about Sarah Palin? She was a Governor of a state. This, in my opinion, gives her more experience of being in charge then Obama. He was a Senator. What does a Senator run? Nothing! I do agree with you. Just curious about the Palin thing. According to people in Alaska, she has a very high approval rating. So she must be doing something right. Obama and Biden just remind me of con men.
In return I sent this;
I have done quite a lot of research on Sarah Palin, who, initially I thought a very attractive person and candidate. There have since been a great many personal anecdotes and interviews about her, which I found disturbing. Being a journalist/ documentary filmmaker by original profession, I am trained to triangulate my sources on the basis that one source might lie, two might distort but three means you have a fair chance of some accuracy. I have so far logged about 20 genuinely worrying instances of her behavior that I find of great concern. I think she does mean well, and I am convinced her intent is genuinely good, but I also think she is armed with very little self-correcting political / personal GPS. I'm not saying positive things about Obama, and I think Biden is a wind bag, (please feel free to read some of my blogs on these men!) but I do think we have to consider what might happen if Ms. Palin were to assume power one day, and that is probable if McCain was to win. There are all kinds of problems beginning to surface in Alaska, which she has tended to run like a mom and pop shop rather than as a democratic state.
Personally I hate to think of what Voltaire said, that a country gets the government it deserves, because that means both our countries must have been doing something pretty bad recently. Perhaps there needed to be a major re-adjustment of how things would be run, and we are still in the middle of that seismic shift. Sadly I don't think any of the candidates is anywhere near as outstanding as we need or, I like to think, warrant. I'm advocating a negative vote, Obama, possibly being a damage limitation exercise in an almost impossible situation. However, we should all remember that your country once faced similar impossible odds and came up with FDR who pretty much saved the Western way of life along with a little fellow my country found at just the right moment, what price a Winston Churchill right now?
Obama and especially Biden give me the same feeling they give you, but, unlike McCain and Palin, they also do seem to know, a little bit of what they're supposed to be doing. Not a great choice though.
I received;
Thanks for the comments. I enjoyed reading them.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
