MoveOverDarling

There is a Minister of our British government called Alistair Darling; he is the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Remember the name, I don’t believe he will be in his job much longer. He said about the people of the UK, “The people are pissed off with us!” He said about the economy, that Britain was facing “arguably the worst” slump in 60 years. The Treasury spin-doctors immediately claimed that he had been misrepresented, so Darling took to the airwaves to clarify his remarks.

But rather than easing the mind of voters, the chancellor compounded the crisis he had created by restating and reinforcing his dire assessment. Darling, mega idiot that he undoubtedly is, insisted that it was his duty to be “straight” with people. He went on to warn that the slump now really beginning to bite, will be “more profound and long-lasting than people thought” could not comes at a worse moment for his neighbor in Number 10 Downing Street, Prime Minister, Gordon Brown as he struggles to shore up his leadership.

The government was plunged into turmoil yesterday as the chancellor admitted the full scale of Britain’s economic crisis.

Downing Street and the Treasury launched a despairing exercise to limit the damage after the disastrous interview with Darling. Their idea of forcing the Chancellor to do a quick television interview with prepared sound bites direct from the Prime Minister was not the best they’ve ever had.

Hazel Blears, the communities’ secretary, moved to reassure voters, saying: “We know things are tough and understand that people are worried and anxious. But Britain’s economy is fundamentally strong.” Sadly for the government no one believes them anymore, least of all Hazel Blears.

It is clear that the Labour Party’s MPs and activists were shocked, angry and mystified. Mark Todd, a Labour member of the Commons Treasury committee, said: “I must admit that by my own measurement this would be an exaggeration. The economy appears to be surviving rather better than he suggests. I was surprised by his language.”

The comments overshadow the measures to help first-time house buyers and those facing repossession that Brown is still expected to announce later this week. Perhaps it’s Darling’s petulance with such Brown originated plans into what he considers his own financial territory that caused Darling to raise his head above the parapet. Who could blame him after the 10% tax rate fiasco that Brown forced onto the Treasury department that the government then had to cancel.

All of which heats the bonfire burning under the dying embers of this government. Darling is patently suggesting that cabinet rivals are “actively trying” to do his job. This is all seen in the corridors of power in Westminster as an almost overt attack on Ed Balls, Brown’s closest political acolyte, who is assumed to be measuring up 11 Downing Street, the Chancellor’s official residence, for his own. If he’s at all competent, let alone brilliant like the current situation demands, then we should all hope his moving truck is already on route.

Many political insiders including some Labour MPs now openly question the chancellor’s judgment, while others label his comments “astonishing” and accused him of ruining attempts to turn around Labour’s current poll ratings, which are amongst the worst ever recorded.



Darling is right about one thing, the people’s entirely negative attitude about his government; does he ever stop to wonder why this is so? To a large extent he is the architect of his own downfall.

This is the same government that was remarkably complacent and sanguine about the economy just weeks ago. Darling unbelievably states that the first time after he assumed office at which he realized the economy was in such bad shape was when he was on holiday and had read reports informing him that central bankers in Europe were pouring money into Sterling to prop up its value. Whereupon the hapless financial minister apparently telephoned his office to find out what the problem was. You honestly couldn’t make this up.

How did this government go from sunny indifference to total economic apocalypse in so short a period of time? The answer is that the people currently running the UK are complete and total incompetents. The government has to get its house in order immediately; we all need and demand this. As for our Chancellor, it’s time to move over Darling!

Persistence

The Republican candidate, John McCain, acted like a gentleman a couple of days ago, and a good politician yesterday.

Yesterday, many observers attacked Barack Obama for his hubris in conducting his acceptance of the Democratic Presidential nomination at Mile High stadium in front of a Greek arch, with eighty thousand adoring, weeping acolytes.

McCain refused to join the crowd attacking Obama for his grand gestures and over the top setting and demonstrated his own fine style and old-fashioned courtesy.

Yesterday McCain picked his running mate for the role of Vice President and surprised everyone by naming the Governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin. This could well turn out to be a great short term tactic on his behalf, as it helps him pick up some of the women who would have voted for Hillary Clinton and who can’t bring themselves to vote for Barack Obama. Longer term we have to discover if Palin can overcome her obvious inexperience and total lack of foreign affairs knowledge.

McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, made his announcement at an Ohio rally that drew and audience of 15,000. This choice ended speculation that McCain would select former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney or Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut.

Palin is inexperienced in international affairs; in fact she has only been Governor of Alaska for two years. The mother of five, including a son about to serve in America’s forces in Iraq, and her youngest has Down’s syndrome.

Palin is the first woman to be a potential Vice President for the Republicans. She promised: “I’m going to take our campaign to every part of our country and our message of reform to every voter of every background in every political party, or no party at all.”

“… Politics isn’t just a game of competing interests and clashing parties,” added the woman who largely built her career by challenging fellow Republicans. “The people of America expect us to seek public office and to serve for the right reasons.”

The Republican pairing will go against the Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Obama, in his own historic moment, had formally accepted the Democratic nomination before an estimated 80,000 people in Denver the day previously.

In a fast-developing presidential campaign, McCain made his selection six days after his Democratic rival, Barack Obama, named Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, as his running mate.

There was a remarkable contrast between the two announcements — Obama, 47, picked a 65-year-old running mate with a great deal of experience in government and a man whom he said was qualified to be president.

On his 72nd birthday, McCain chose a 44-year-old female running mate who until just two years ago was the mayor of small-town Wasilla, Alaska — and made no claim she was ready to sit in the Oval Office.

McCain’s campaign issued a statement saying she was, but even so, it wasn’t a point lost on Obama’s campaign.

“Today, John McCain put the former mayor of a town of 9,000 with zero foreign policy experience a heartbeat away from the presidency,” an Obama spokesperson wrote in an official statement.

Unlike Biden, who attacked McCain sharply in his debut last week, Palin was indirect in her initial attempts to elevate McCain over Obama.

“There is only one candidate who has truly fought for America and that man is John McCain,” Palin added as the Arizona senator beamed widely. McCain was a prisoner of war for more than five years in Vietnam.

McCain trails Obama in the polls among women voters, and Palin moved quickly to remedy that.

Palin quickly proved she’s not just a pretty face when she astutely mentioned that she followed in the footsteps of Geraldine Ferraro, who was the Democratic vice presidential running mate in 1984, and favorably alluded to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who had so recently polled 18 million votes in her narrowly unsuccessful run against Obama for the Democratic nomination.

“But it turns out the women of America aren’t finished yet and we can shatter that glass ceiling once and for all,” she said.

The selection of Obama and Palin means that either the fight of women or African Americans to achieve high office will be achieved on November 4th. Whichever it turns out to be we will all win as the world will soon come to realize that neither race or gender has any bearing on ability. It has been a long fight only won by the undying persistence of millions of ordinary people who would not accept being labeled second class.

The words of Calvin Coolidge should challenge us all to follow our dreams.
“Press on, nothing can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; the world is full of unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent."

To help you stay persistent and embrace success-minded thinking, commit yourself to building and maintaining friendships and contacts that enrich and enhance your life and your dreams. I like to call these people "true fans and supporters." They are the ones who believe in you and want you to achieve your desires. They cheer you on, celebrate your accomplishments, and lift you up when you are feeling down.

The saying "misery loves company" is all too true, so limit time and set clear boundaries with those who are constantly negative, unsupportive, or drain your precious energy. They are on a different path than you. Perhaps your positive ways and abundant life will influence them to make a change in their own life, perhaps not. Remember, you can't make anyone change who is not ready.

Keep the focus on yourself. Surround yourself with positive like-minded people.
Press on, Great success will come if you are persistent.

Calvin Coolidge”

GivingSomethingBack

I wish I could repair the world but the truth is I can only work on a little bit of one corner. The question is whether it’s worth me undertaking that small service for so few, when the world at large needs so much for so many?

For me the answer is yes. I justify this for myself by the thought that if everyone does a bit of what they can do, then the results will be hugely beneficial.

I should make it clear, before some of you do, that I realize I am no paragon of virtue, and I don’t do as well as I should with some of the ideas I list here. The reason for writing this article is that sometimes the most obvious things go unwritten or unsaid. At the cost of appearing crass, stupid and patronizing I will, nevertheless try and encourage everyone to open their hearts to help others less fortunate. You never know, someday that could be you receiving rather than giving. You probably are already aware of an immutable law of physics, for every action in the universe there is an equal and opposite reaction. Or as my late father used to tell me, “you get back what you give tenfold!”

What does this mean in a practical sense? We can’t all give large sums of money for the simple reason we don’t all have a lot of money to give. But we do all have a little spare time, and maybe the only act of giving we can manage is to go and see an old and lonely relative. It’s amazing to me that I should have to write this, but so many people don’t give this most simple of gifts, some of their time.

Sometimes the thing we need most is a cold dose of the truth, and this can be a wonderful act of generosity. Recently a good friend of mine told me some home truths about what I was doing career wise. He was right, I had become a bit stuck in my ways, aiming in a direction I knew in my heart was wrong, but he had the guts and cared enough to tell me to follow another path. This reinforced what my family had already been saying to me, but it took someone a little more objective to force me to act. This was a very generous action on his part, enhanced by his recommending I seek to channel the output to a company he had found. None of us know how this might evolve, but it has opened my eyes to an entirely new opportunity. I trust I will disprove that hoary old chestnut that no good turn goes unpunished because I genuinely couldn’t appreciate his kindness more. So, David Courtney please step forward, take a bow and thank you.

Let’s all remember that the person with his hand out usually has a back story that would make you weep if you took the time to stop and listen. They’re not all scroungers and wasters; in fact most of the people asking for help do so because they need it.

We’re all having a harder time of it economically at present, after a period of huge wealth creation. We’re feeling the pinch of the credit crunch. Imagine how much more the really poor are feeling the cold draft of this impending recession and try and give something, even if it’s just a kind word, a bit of your time, an hour or two of your expertise. It’s going to count more now than ever. Of course, if you have a little cash that would be great.

There are going to be real problems this winter if we don’t all start pulling together now.

I haven’t gone soft in the head, and didn’t suddenly find a dogmatic religious belief, but we all must be made aware that this economic downturn is going to really hurt a huge number of people across our western society and we need to find ways to make this inevitable financial crash as painless as we can, because that will benefit everyone.

Our governments must move to the forefront of this battle by putting in place immediate and workable methods to keep people in their homes during the coming pandemic of houses going into negative equity and being untenable for the otherwise new homeless. There are already entire sections of cities in the USA that have been repossessed by shortsighted mortgage lenders. Are we going to allow this economic cancer to infect us all, do we want the cities to become either empty or the playground of the get rich quick speculators who are bound to take advantage of the misery of others?

Most of us are generous come Xmas or at a birthday; we all enjoy the giving and the pleasure it generates. Let’s try and make every day a holiday for ourselves and those we help. Meanwhile, in my totally inadequate way I shall do what I can to repair my tiny corner of this world we all share.

WhoWeAre

During our lives we are often asked, “what do you do?” I now believe how we answer defines us. For most of my life I would happily respond, “I make films,” and this inevitably led to subsidiary questions that further evidenced my proposition. The most often asked is, “have you ever made anything I’d have heard of?” Of course if you were not able to satisfy this question with a suitably current and well-known film title, you were somehow assumed to be either lying or a total loser.

Worse still is to be able to supply a well known title with big stars attached, because then the next question is always, “what was he/she like to work with, have you got any funny stories?” If you answer this with a witty, well-paced anecdote your reception will be wonderful. However the next time you are to meet this person they are almost bound to introduce you to their friends with, “this is Tony, he works in the film industry and he’s going to tell you some really terrific funny stories!”

Once I attended a wedding and was determined not to get caught out and so was introducing myself to anyone that didn’t know me as, “I’m a business executive.”

The man sitting next to me said he was in the media business; in fact he was in the film industry. Somehow or other, without prompting from me, it transpired that he knew Tony Klinger, despite the fact that I was sitting next to him and my knowing I had never met the man. He went into quite some detail about his friendship with Tony Klinger, during which time the people who did know me were either tittering with laughter or on the edge of terminal embarrassment. Not able to stand it any longer I calmly revealed my identity to the dishonest man. He didn’t turn a hair.
When I was a teenager I was already working in a prestigious job in films and lived in a very desirable part of central London, so, because no one would believe the real details I made up the fact that I was a trainee accountant, which no one had a problem with.

I went through a period of nearly a decade when I spent most of my time working in academia but always felt uncomfortable with describing myself as an academic, and the main reason for this reticence was the fact that I never have felt like a true academic; I just don’t think like an academic.

When, recently I worked as the Chief Executive in the content creation section of mobile telephony I began to talk of myself as an executive, and described my role. However one of my business associates was affronted as he saw me as a filmmaker and wanted me to be more honest with myself.

So now I have gone full circle. Again, as at the very start of my career, I am describing myself as a writer. It is what has underscored and underwritten everything I have ever done, and fairly says to the world, here I am, a happy scribbler. It is a great relief to have rediscovered this simple truth, and it’s a wonderful relief.

LinksacrosstheGlobe

A suspected would be assassin jumped out of a sixth floor window in a downtown Denver hotel. A car was stopped in the same town with three armed men in it, and one of them stated that his friend wasn’t going to let a black man live to be the President. Hillary Clinton makes a barnstorming speech in support of her previous rival, Barack Obama, telling her 18 million supporters to get into place behind the Democratic candidate.

Across the world in Moscow, the Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, sniffs the political air and belligerently announces that his country has recognized the separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent. This is clearly a knee jerk reaction to the West’s own reaction to the recent Russian invasion of Georgia.

When the Russian President explained his country’s actions he excused them by making the comparison with America’s own justification for Kosovan independence. Perhaps he has forgotten that there were no American tanks enforcing that situation.

For the Russian view of this we need to examine the words of Russia’s President. “They addressed to Russia with a request to recognize their independence. Taking into consideration the free will of the peoples, the UN Charter and OSCE documents, I have signed decrees to recognize the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on behalf of the Russian Federation. This is the only way to save people’s lives,” Medvedev said.

"Saakashvili chose genocide to fulfill his political plans," Medvedev said. "Georgia chose the least human way to achieve its goal - to absorb South Ossetia by eliminating a whole nation."

“Russia stopped the extermination of the Georgian people and then showed restraint with a goal to regulate the conflict through diplomacy,” the president said.

The Russian leadership has clearly studied the Nazi theories of propaganda with diligence. They demonstrated that if your first lie was big enough and was accepted then anything you said thereafter on the subject would also be accepted. This entire argument was not about Georgia swallowing another country; the two semi autonomous regions were and are legally integral parts of the country of Georgia, which Russia is now swallowing.

“Our warnings were left with no response. NATO and the UN ignored them. It is clear now that the Georgian administration was preparing for the war, whereas the support of its external protectors was only strengthening the feeling of impunity. The Georgian administration chose another way – to disrupt negotiations, launch military provocations and attack peacemakers. The Georgian administration initiated a military conflict in defiance of common sense and contrary to the UN Charter,” Medvedev said.

The truth is that there is not going to be real independence for these two new “countries” of South Ossetia and Abkhazia because the truth of their new situation is that they are now going to be semi-autonomous regions of the Russian Federation in all but name. They have simply swapped the somewhat chaotic rule of Georgia for the much more constricting embrace of the regional colossus, Russia, as it demonstrates its power.

The West, in fact most of the world, disagrees with the Russian actions but is powerless to do anything to stop them, or in fact even to slow them down unless we are willing to risk a world conflict.

The Kremlin's recognition of the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia makes it plain that it is willing to dice with almost twenty years of economic, political and diplomatic bonds with its Cold War antagonists.

Medvedev's grim televised announcement sparked immediate and spontaneous joyful celebrations on the streets of the rebel capitals. Parades of cars displaying the South Ossetian and Russian flags blared their horns, women cried for joy and gunmen fired their weapons into the air.

The United States was clearly shocked by the timing and nature of the Russian response, threatened to veto this move in the U.N. Security Council should Russia seek international recognition for the territories.

"Abkhazia and South Ossetia are a part of the internationally recognized borders of Georgia and it's going to remain so," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. President Bush called the Russian move "irresponsible."

The Kremlin insists, despite many doubts in the West, that its invasion of Georgia was a spur-of-the-moment response to the Georgian military's surprise crackdown on South Ossetia.

Remember that Georgia’s actions were, in all likelihood, engendered by the actions of militant subversives in South Ossetia, trained, directed and armed by their Russian puppet masters. In other words the Russian government set the trap and the Georgians fell right into it.

In any event, since the battles raged Moscow had weeks to weigh the consequences of recognizing the breakaway regions and did so in the knowledge of the consequences.

While the West focused on Russia's effort to shift Georgia's internationally recognized borders, the Kremlin perversely denounced the U.S. use of a Navy destroyer and Coast Guard cutter named the Dallas to deliver aid to Georgia's Black Sea coast.

There are conclusions that begin to be discernable in these seemingly unconnected circumstances. Russia has an appetite for empire and growth that isn’t yet satisfied. There is also an evident thirst for the country to reassert its superpower credentials at the top table of world affairs. Meanwhile, in the States there is the small matter of the election-taking place on November 4th.

It’s a racing certainty that the Russian leadership will, as stated previously in this column, be looking forward to testing the resolve and nerve of whoever becomes the President. If that happens to be Barack Obama then the test could be big enough to rattle all of our cages. Some of you will remember what Khrushchev did to test Kennedy in Cuba in 1961. It nearly caused world war.

What lies ahead for us after November none of us know, but you can bet with some certainty that they’re planning something in the Kremlin right now. Let us all hope no one in Moscow miscalculates and their actions don’t cause any major warlike situation in the near future.

Russia’s Prime Minister Putin is, in reality a carefully coached and coiffured dictator made ready for public consumption. Such men always mistake democratic countries seeking peacefully negotiated resolution as weak. But remember Vladimir Putin received his training whilst working for the KGB in the former East Germany. His mindset is still locked in a Cold War that might never thaw for him.

Strategically it would be a huge mistake for Putin to choose these arguments and times as a convenient window of opportunity to seek revenge for the Russian’s perceived loss of national dignity on the international stage suffered during the disintegration of the Soviet Union. He should remember what Confucius, the ancient Chinese philosopher once said, if you seek revenge first dig two graves.

PUMA

The Democrats arriving for their convention in Denver, Colorado, intend to promote party unity and use this set piece event to launch their march on the White House. But the truth is that mistrust and deep seated resentment simmer dangerously near the surface throughout the top echelons of the presumptive Presidential nominee Barack Obama and his defeated but still dangerous rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Some of her more extreme supporters formed a pressure group called PUMA, which is an acronym for Part Unity My Ass. They would do virtually anything to replace Obama with Hillary Clinton. This group may be untypical but does represent quite a few people within the party machine who are firmly convinced that Obama cannot win the Presidency.

The selection of Senator Joe Biden has done nothing to damp down the heat beneath the simmering tension between the Obama and Clinton camps that have simply failed to be reconciled since the Primaries. There have been various attempts to mend these broken fences but they have not been effective, the result is that senior Democrats are demonstrating ever-clearer signs of increasing concern about this fault line.

Obviously both the Clintons will be expected to make speeches loudly praising the Presidential aspirations of Barack Obama, and it is certain that they will duly oblige. However it’s what will really be happening behind the scenes that fascinates. In my view the likelihood is that the Clintons are demanding some quid pro quo for their wholehearted support of the Obama election campaign.

An initial major flashpoint is the designated set piece speech for former president Bill Clinton, who is scheduled to speak Wednesday night, when the convention’s theme will be “Securing America’s Future.”

The duty of that night’s speakers is to argue that Obama would be a more effective commander in chief than his Republican rival, and Vietnam veteran and prisoner of war, Sen. John McCain.

Associates of the former president are disappointed, because his wish is to speak about the economy and more broadly about Democratic ideas — emphasizing the contrast between the Bush years and his own, more successful economic record in the 1990s. Last night at a pre Convention event was the first time that Obama alluded to the fact that during the Bill Clinton Presidency Americans became, on average $6,000 better off financially whereas under George W. Bush they are $1,000 poorer.

This is a very big issue for Bill Clinton, his friends and political allies say, because chief among the many grievances he harbors about Barack Obama’s campaign Obama against Hillary is Bill’s firm conviction that the candidate bad-mouthed the political and policy successes of his two terms in office. Bill Clinton cannot and will not accept anyone messing with his political legacy.

Senior Democrats who are close to Obama, equally, made very clear in unattributed comments that they feel equally riled by the entire Clinton camp and it’s unhelpful attitude.

So, we find ourselves, nearly three months after Hillary Clinton conceded defeat in the nomination contest, these Obama partisans complained, with her team continuing to act like she and Bill Clinton hold more leverage than they actually do.

Earlier this month there was a short period when the two sides appeared to be working collegially over strategy, scheduling, and other convention logistics, things have turned sour again in more recent days.

Many of the most senior Obama supporters are clearly more than irritated at how they understand the Clintons fanned — or at a minimum failed to damp down — the many stories that Hillary was not even vetted as a possible vice presidential nominee. This, a senior Obama associate claimed, is simply due to the fact that Hillary told Obama she preferred not to go through the rigorous document production process unless she was really going to be a serious contender.

One senior Obama associate made the point that the Clinton camp were still trying to negotiate for her like “Japanese soldiers in the South Pacific still fighting after the war is over.” Maybe the truth is we’re just about to find out how deep the divisions really are, whatever Hillary or Bill say, or how wide the smiles of all the major protagonists in this incomplete saga might be.

TrulyGreatBritain

It’s time for some flag waving in Great Britain today. The results in the Olympic games that finished yesterday were a triumph for the British team. Not for one hundred years has the British team won so many events, or so many medals. It’s a feel good factor writ large, and we have every right to enjoy our national triumphs.

I have a friend who jokingly refers to the London Olympics in 2012 as a disaster waiting to happen. As we were watching the awesome Chinese organizational efforts she would say, “what’s going to happen when this show comes to London?” She means that we will get it all wrong, and I think she couldn’t be more wrong.

Of course we will get it resoundingly right, as we always do. Yes, there will be mistakes and errors, fear and trepidation along the path to our doing so but if we hold our nerve, and we are famous for doing jus that, then we will do magnificently. We have always punched above our weight whenever the going gets tough.

In Britain, as long as I can remember, the prevailing and accepted pattern of behavior is to self denigrate and play down our national achievements to the extent that we end believing we can’t achieve anything, when in fact we can achieve everything.

Any list you of the ten top countries, always has Great Britain in it. For a country of just over 60 million people it is amazing that it still is the fifth richest economy, and won proportionately more Academy Awards, Nobel Prizes and all the glittering prizes than any other.

This country has invented more things per capita than any other. This includes such wonders as the television, Internet, radar, jet propulsion, the tank, penicillin, telephones and the list goes on, seemingly forever as witness to this nation’s undying creativity and genius.

Our armed forces, much maligned by the politically correct left leaning of our own country are respected as no other by the rest of the world. The financial centre of the City of London is second to no other. Creatively our literature, art, music, films, television and radio are thought of as without equal anywhere. British museums, art galleries and our best universities are all rated as some of the best of the world.

The French sometimes say that the British are arrogant; they are wrongly mistaking this country’s natural reticence. When you measure Britain’s achievements you realize that this small country has an immense deal to be proud of.

Britain will always be idiosyncratic and funky, its people are built that way. The Mayor of London, Boris Johnston, symbolizes a wit and cleverness that promises well for the 2012 Olympics in London. Of course, like Britain, Boris will occasionally bumble his way through, but in the end, we will get it gloriously right.

WinningFair

The spirit of the Olympics is embodied in the pledge the athletes undertake to keep at its opening ceremony. Every athlete promises to play fairly and obey all of the Olympic rules. A single Chinese athlete took this oath at the Beijing Opening Ceremony on behalf of all athletes. She held a corner of the Olympic Flag while repeating the oath:

"In the name of all competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic games, respecting and abiding by the rules that govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honor of our teams."

The oath was written by Baron de Coubertin the founder of the Modern Olympic Games in 1920. Olympic officials also take an oath. While holding a corner of the Olympic Flag, one official from the host country repeats a similar oath on behalf of all the officials.

It is therefore sad and disappointing that there are questions hanging over the Beijing Olympics that must be asked. Although it would be churlish to deny the scope, scale and sheer majesty of these Games we do have to ask about the morality and ethics of their Chinese hosts.

This appears to be especially relevant where the judging of the event is subjective. By this we mean that a panel of judges rather than simply measuring the speed, height, length of a competition instead evaluates the quality of the competitors performance. Look at how well China has done in these subjective events.

Watching the last day of competition in the boxing competition there is no question in my mind that when the competition was close the Chinese boxers were given an unfair scoring advantage. The way scoring in this sport works is that there are four judges and each has a computer button to push for each punch one of the contestants’ lands on his opponent. Only if all four push their button within one second will the point register.

Therefore if you wanted to “fix” a close match all you would have to do is get to just one judge. I suspect that no one has any proof to this effect, but the distinct suspicion remains that this is happening. Perhaps such suspected corruption isn’t a money issue, but more to do with politically or personally favoring one country above another. But if you were to forensically examine the subjectively judged events you would be forced to conclude that there was a disproportionate amount of Chinese success. In boxing, in the bad old days, they used to call these kind of results, “home town decisions”.

Yesterday there was an attempt at an outrageously unfair piece of judging in the quarter final of the over 67kg taekwondo competition. Sarah Stevenson, the British girl was one point behind her two time Olympic gold medal winning Chinese opponent, Chen Zhang. With moments to go Sarah clearly landed a kick to Zhang’s head, thus scoring two points. Somehow this blow was invisible to the judging panel, no score registered. The British contestant and team, plus all neutrals were outraged.

For the next hour there was pandemonium behind the scenes as the British team protested volubly to the authorities. In the experience of all those who have ever observed the fate of such objections there was no chance for it. The shock was therefore enormous when it was announced that the result had been overturned. Sarah Stevenson was declared the winner and would fight in the semi-final. She did so, without any further preparation and lost to a feisty, excellent fighter from Mexico. Then, re-gathering her forces, Sarah won the bronze fight off. It is a great pity for Sarah that she suffered this fate, as she has, when properly prepared, beaten the Mexican twice previously.

Perhaps, during the final moments of the quarter final bout, let’s be kind, a judge was unsighted or just felt such intense outside pressure that he or she hadn’t dared score the British blow, but this simply should not happen. Why is there no video replay available for all the subjective event judging? These kinds of “mistakes” are easy to overcome. When in doubt, look at the disputed moment again.

Similarly some, if not all, of the gymnastic and diving scores are questionable for the same reasons. Discount for the moment that there are big questions still remaining over the eligibility of some of the Chinese competitors, and you begin to feel there are severe doubts about how China has operated its participation in these games, which are supposed to epitomize the Olympic spirit.

There was in these games, a feeling that the Chinese government, rather than their Olympic committee, was in total control. Take nothing away from the amazing Chinese results in almost all of the sports in which they participated and remember that just 16 years ago they won virtually no medals. From nothing to sporting superpower in 4 Olympics is a remarkable achievement that we must all applaud. But cheating is not permitted and there is more than a suspicion that some results were fixed.

Let us all learn from these events, and remember the oaths that are taken so that London hosts a great event, that is also demonstrably impartial in 2012. We want to move up from our own amazing fourth place in the Olympic medals table to an even higher position, but let’s do it fairly.

MrVicePresidentialCandidate

Joe Biden is to be Barack Obama's vice presidential running mate on the Democratic ticket for the upcoming USA elections. It’s hard to find anything particularly positive to write about this anodyne man who will, if Obama wins the race to the White House, be just a heartbeat away from the most powerful job on the planet.

Biden, who has twice run for President, remained out of public view at his home in Delaware with friends and family. The normally verbose lawmaker maintained a low profile. Biden is known to speak a great deal without saying too much. Selecting him is a demonstration of Obama picking someone to balance his ticket rather than excite the voters.

Most of us will remember Joe Biden as the man who plagiarized the Welsh windbag, Neil Kinnock’s speech for his own election campaign. You can understand borrowing brilliant words from someone whose writing is better than your own, but choosing Neil Kinnock as your role model is indicative of both cheating and bad judgment.

The 65-year-old senator was first elected to the Senate at the age of 29 in 1973. Biden brings to the potential position more experience in defense and foreign policy - areas in which Obama is rated relatively poorly in the polls compared with Republican Sen. John McCain. Biden is a man who will leave Barack feeling secure as he is perceived to present no threat politically but might carry some blue collar white voters with him to their ticket.

Hillary Rodham Clinton - who was Obama's closest rival for the presidential nomination appears not to have even been seriously considered. Although her omission was anticipated it will solidify many hard line Clinton acolytes against Obama.

Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware was selected by Obama late Friday night to balance his ticket with the older congressional veteran well versed in foreign policy and defense issues.

Biden, 65, has twice sought the White House, and is a Catholic with blue-collar roots, a generally liberal voting record and a reputation as a long-winded orator.

During his more than 30 years in the Senate, Biden served at various times as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee and as head of the Judiciary Committee, with its jurisdiction over anti-crime legislation, Supreme Court nominees and Constitutional issues.

Obama's campaign team has arranged a debut for the newly minted ticket on Saturday outside the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

The selection of Joe Biden is yet another demonstration of Obama’s failure to do more than assert his middle of the road credentials. To win the Presidency he should be seeking to maintain his previously more liberal and exciting momentum with the American electorate. However all his actions seem to achieve are a design for him not to lose too badly.

ANiceDayOff

After having some “twilight” anesthetic administered to me yesterday there was no way I could write anything at all. You might sigh in appreciation of this fact, but to me this discipline is addictive. You can feel guilty if you don’t do what feels right.

My grandfather, who was a tailor’s presser, had to work, so did my father, originally an engineer, and latterly a businessman and wonderful film producer. I don’t mean they needed the money they earned; I mean that they needed to work for its own sake.

I used to think my father worked too hard. My father thought his father worked like a donkey without common sense. Even when my father had become very successful and wanted to help my grandfather take it easier in his old age the older man was virtually unable to do so.

Personally I had always thought they were both silly and anyone should be able to relax, especially when you were a little older and the blood didn’t run so hot. I had thought of writing nothing today, as I’m entitled to do, but then I decided I should write a blog about nothing. Then fate intervened.

I received a telephone call from a friend saying those words so irresistible to a writer, “I love your blog!” I am congenitally unable to resist the siren call when phrased in such an appealing manner. Immediately my reluctance to write and tiredness dissipated like snow in the Sahara. So here we are, ready to write and with a subject in mind.

This will be brief, I promise, and concerns people complaining without justification. So many people gripe at their fate when circumstances get a little tough that you cease listening to them.

Getting back to my grandfather, his answer to anyone’s question regarding how he was he met with the response, “Mustn’t grumble.” He meant exactly what he said. No one ever heard the tough little Polish man grumble and it didn’t matter what the world threw at him. The only time I ever saw him show weakness was when he faced me to explain that his wife, our precious Nana Dora, had passed away.

It wasn’t what he said, as he stood framed by the light coming into our hallway, it was seeing his proud face crumple that made me understand he was about to impart earth shattering news.

Today too many people complain that they’re having it tough at the first whiff of trouble. It’s miserable when the credit crunch bites, but it is not yet the end of the world. Compare it to the Great Depression or African people starving in the sub Saharan dust. It’s tough, dangerous and worrying that our soldiers are facing evil and trying circumstances in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is nothing to the deprivation, danger and duration of the major wars faced by previous generations.

As I’ve written previously in these columns most of us are still in the midst of the most prosperous, peaceful and least hostile period in our entire history. Instead of complaining all the time, let’s enjoy the moment.

I admit to being a donkey much like all my ancestors, but at least what I do is a great deal easier than some of the tough jobs they endured. Adapting the words of Dick Cheney to my circumstances; the hours are good and the job involves no heavy lifting.

By the way, the small surgical procedure went off without a hitch. I shall, as the medics say, be able to buy a long-playing record with every expectation of hearing the last track.

TheGlitterHasGone

First the disclaimer, I am no fan of Garry Glitter. He has never appealed to me as either a man nor as a musician. I always found him more than a little strange to watch during his very successful singing career.

Glitter has just been released from his imprisonment after serving his prison term in Vietnam. He is a man who is unwanted virtually everywhere.

The Vietnamese prison sentence followed a very similar incarceration for an almost identical conviction in Thailand. After his expulsion from Vietnam 19 countries are understood to have signaled that he is an undesirable to all of them and none of them will allow him in.

If he comes back to Britain he will have to register on the sex offenders list and be closely monitored for an extended period.

Glitter's sentence called for him to be deported on his release, and if he is returned to Vietnam, he will almost certainly be put back on a flight to London.

But Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, is fighting to remain overseas. "I'm not going back to London," he said on his arrival in Thailand. "You can't make me. I've done my time. I'm a free man."

The Thai government refused to force Glitter back on the plane, and the British police officer traveling with him admitted he had no authority to compel him to board the aircraft.

The British consulate in Ho Chi Minh City issued Glitter’s passport. His rights are the same as any British citizen, which means he is allowed to travel to any country that does not require a visa. But now that he’s been denied entry to Singapore and Hong Kong, his future is uncertain.

There are no outstanding charges against Glitter in the UK but the British Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith said Glitter should not be allowed to leave the country if he did return to these shores.

"We need to control him, and he will be controlled once he returns to this country," Smith said.

His crimes are all linked to Glitter being a pedophile. Despite our very natural detestation of this sad man and his dreadful crimes, are we not making ourselves into a baying mob if we give in to our natural but reprehensible instincts to keep punishing a man who has already served his sentence?

Yes, Glitter is an evil bastard who has to be closely watched wherever he turns up. But isn’t this beginning to look more like the witch hunt of a sick man than a lesson in justice?

You feel as though there’s a ducking stool poised ready or a rack being polished for Glitter. Surely the days of our burning people at the stake should be over or have we learned nothing at all?

SeismicShifts

Every so often, randomly arriving at our door through fate, not design, comes a seismic shift in our collective destiny. We are, in my view, living through the beginning of such a shift.

Not since the general collapse of the Communist world and ethos have such large cracks appeared in the global fault lines. This can, as in the case of Communisms demise, lead to a positive conclusion, but getting there can be fraught with danger.

The signals of the impending changes are gathering pace. These involve varying numbers of us presently, in certain locations, but the repercussions are bound to ripple out across the world. Such are the benefits and curses of living in a global economy. We get to share the pain as well as the pleasure.

For nearly one hundred years we have been used to a world where America has always been able to dominate economically and, to some extent, militarily. The end of the Soviet Union marked the high water mark. The American economy looked monolithic and invincible, as did its military and its culture. After a decade and a half fighting asymmetrically against terrorism in all its forms the military looks like its incorrectly configured. The economy is finding it hard to adjust to a world where its hegemony over finance is challenged from London and domination over manufacturing by the Chinese. Self sufficiency of raw materials, especially oil and gas is becoming an ever more distant memory and now Canada is the big winner in the supply of fuel to the USA.

Add to these negatives for America the near collapse of its mortgage business and banks, and the signs become yet more ominous. Yesterday it was predicted that a major American bank will shortly collapse, and should they survive a major Investment bank will fold. These things are beginning to happen and are not me being a doomsayer. Perhaps, the truth is, there are simply too many banks chasing too few deals and too little money and there needed to be slimming down of the banking fraternity. This may have all been triggered by the sub prime market collapse but has now grown far wider and deeper.

But this is a global crisis, not an American one. In China there are a record number of business bankruptcies reported. The central authorities have decreed their own, internal credit crunch and it has driven the non -governmental supported businesses to the financial wall. This has resulted in many thousands of these small to medium sized businesses seeking unofficial loans from financial sharks circling in search of easy prey. The Chinese official figures reckon the size of these types of loans already exceeds $14 billion. Many of these loans are already defaulting and this is leading to business and commercial tragedy on an increasingly gargantuan scale. The authorities, not normally known for their swift market reactions has seen the big dangers lurking ahead and did release more funding quite quickly, but it remains to be seen whether this will save their situation.

This problem is exacerbated by China’s recent incredible expansion being almost totally fuelled by Western consumerism. With our moving toward recession this demand has almost evaporated. The Chinese manufacturers servicing their burgeoning internal market can temporarily disguise this, but this has clear limitations. The world’s woes are about to be shared by China.

Add to this set of problems the very real issues regarding Russia’s new imperialism, the ongoing issues in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and the Middle East and there are very rocky roads ahead.
These are the times when we need political giants to lead us and we only have Obama or McCain plus Brown, Sarkozy and Merkel. The line up facing them is led, in real terms by Vladimir Putin, and he is sharper, more focused and clearly has a plan in mind. He’s playing chess while we’re getting out our checkers board.

The methods Putin used to gain control over all aspects of the gas and oil industries demonstrated his total ruthless efficiency and a complete lack of morals and business ethics. The risk to our investments in Russia became clear when Putin’s minions behaved appallingly in their seeking to bully BP to give control to Russia of their half of their jointly owned and controlled company. When foreign capital was pouring into Russia they were happy to accept it, now that these enterprises have become profitable they want to take them. I am not an apologist for our big businesses, but if clear agreements are going to be breached the world economy falls under real threat.

However, we should seek a common denominator because we’re going to have to find a way to adjust and live together. Putin is as concerned as we are about Islamic fundamentalism and this is the area we should be working on, together. We should find ways to make Putin and Russia work with us on a common agenda that is centered on this common, major problem.

While we search for common methods to combat these common problems we also need to tighten up our EU ownership laws to disallow Russian ownership of our strategic assets. It is commercial insanity for us to entertain the idea of Russia owning sections of our power industry. Such negotiations took place over the last month and must be stopped.

Similar, financial self-defense measures need to be implemented against any ownership by any country that is at any risk of becoming our future enemy.

RelativelyStrangers

Tomorrow I might just pop a few words down for my blog or I might not. I have to visit the medics for a little something at an unearthly hour and that will mean probable hours spent in rush hour traffic in both directions.

There’s nothing much wrong with me, I think and hope, but you can’t help but think of the dance eternal when you get within a few miles proximity of a hospital.

My mood was not enhanced with a phone call I received a day or two back. I come from a big, noisy and very lively continental type family. A cousin rang me to tell me that my late mother’s first cousin had died. The lady, who I hardly knew, was in her mid 90’s, but in our tradition, when you get the phone call in the morning, about such a relation being buried that afternoon, you attend!

I have to say that the eerie quotient was magnified by the fact that at the precise moment I received the phone call about the funeral, I was doing my final draft of a radio play I’m writing, set partly in a funeral.

I attended the funeral and found myself surrounded by a great many people I didn’t know, and just a few who are related but are, shall we say, relatively strangers.

It was years since I had seen this, now somewhat distant part of our family. There was a time when we were less sophisticated and much poorer when we got together in huge regular gatherings of the entire clan. That was when my grandmother and her several sisters and a brother were still all with us, and ruled the clan with charm, a smile and a will of iron. Now we barely recognize each other. My more distant cousins have clearly prospered, and keep company with similarly well-healed friends. There were more Bentleys in the car park than are found at a premier league football club’s training ground.

My closest male cousin, Ivor, stood next to me in the prayer hall; we tend to do this at these family events. As ever we find ourselves making jokes to relieve the seriousness of the moment. We’ve been doing the same thing since we were small boys; I suppose it gives us comfort, these little moments of humor. We might be getting a little older, but when we’re together we’re still those small boys who played together at our mutual grandmother’s home.

Ivor is starting a formal genealogy of our family and has a computer programme to assist with the task. When we discussed how difficult it was just to work out our connection to all the people attending the funeral we realized how hard it would be to chart our family. But it will be great to see the result. You understand your present, and can shape your future if you know your past.

The funeral itself was, as ever, a sad and emotional outpouring of shared grief. I looked at the immediate family of the deceased, and when their veneer of smart sophistication crumpled under the strain of the moment they suddenly looked very much like my late grandmother.

I do feel a bit guilty, but as soon as it was over I returned home to make some revisions to my radio script. I can’t help it, I’m a writer, and I’m confident that my family would understand.

DejaVu

When you watch the Russian tanks rolling over Georgia the only humanity in the scene comes from the faces of the soldiers and the bystanders watching.

The former group looks more mystified than triumphant, confusion clear on their faces. They don’t understand why they’re not being greeted with friendship and fraternal greetings.

The look on the faces of the bystanders is one of horror and terror; clearly they can’t believe what’s happening or cope with the consequences. I remember that look; I have seen it before.

I was in Czechoslovakia in 1968 when the Russians invaded that country putting an end to freedom that would imprison those wonderful people for another 21 years until the velvet revolution.

I was there for that first hopeful Spring that promised so much, but then resulted in a further quarter century of misery for Eastern Europe.

That invasion was supposedly about Communist solidarity but was all about the continuation of the Russian empire, and this invasion is exactly the same.

Now the Russians have confirmed to the representatives of the European Union and others that by today at noon the Russian troops would withdraw from Georgia to the semi-autonomous region of South Ossetia.

More ominously the Russians have stated that they are conducting a phased withdrawal of their soldiers and replacing them with “peacekeepers”. That sounds very much like an Orwellian euphemism. My grandmother’s description of old time cowboy films is apt, “same men, different hats!” she would laughingly shout.

As this article is written the Russian government spokesman announced that the French foreign minister had misunderstood their negotiations. The Russian forces would be withdrawing, but not necessarily by today at noon. The Russian actions become murkier, more worrying and worse with every passing hour.

Meanwhile the people of Georgia visited their churches on Sunday and prayed for a future free of their Russian occupiers.

GimletEyes

“Poland is making itself a target for attack. Such targets are destroyed as a first priority.”

These are the extremely threatening words of General Nogovitsyn, Russia’s second highest-ranking military man. He was speaking after Poland has agreed with the Americans to host part of their missile shield in their country.

Obviously the Russians see the missile umbrella proposed by the Americans as a threat and are seeking to counter this with some good old- fashioned cold war rhetoric and rattling of sabers.

Over the weekend it became clear that Russian forces were now in control of various Georgian towns and cities despite the ceasefire it had agreed and signed. The agreement had allowed the Russians the right to patrol close to the ceasefire lines but it’s apparent that they are digging in and moving on wherever they feel its appropriate. Important centers like Gori and the countries main East to West highway are presently under Russian military occupation and their army are now within twenty miles of Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital.

The future of this area of the world is clearly being driven by its history. Russia collectively remembers the almost ritualized humiliation it suffered at the dismantlement of the Soviet Union. Its leadership is determined to reassert itself at the top of the power apex in the world. Russia sees itself as a super power and this is just the first step of the process of making the rest of the world understand this.

But this is more about Russia’s age-old spheres of influence and the geopolitical reassertion of their power. Putin and his Kremlin cronies see Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic States and the entire Caucasus region as part of their sphere of influence.

Last week, on the British television show, Newsnight, a Russian diplomat baldly stated, “If you think this Georgian side show is something wait until you see what’s going to happen in Ukraine!”

The threat is clear, the Russian bear has come out of hibernation and are fulfilling Vladimir Putin’s promise to the Russian people, that he was going to reassert their country’s will on the world.

Of course that’s really what the Russian invasion of Georgia is really all about. They have tested the West’s resolve to support their Georgian ally and found us wanting. The Russians know we are in the same mood as Neville Chamberlain at Munich. The Russians know they have an open goal in which to score. Will they decide to exploit the advantage?

America is making all the right noises, but as discussed previously in this column, there’s nothing concrete America can do militarily to resist these Russian actions. Unless America pulled out of Afghanistan or Iraq it just doesn’t have the spare capacity, the resources, or, let’s face it, the will, to take the Russians on.

America’s only other military options involve its navy and air force. All of us hope and believe they will not go strategically crazy with a disproportionately large-scale response. However a blockade or a small bombing run would be just a gesture that could, nevertheless, harvest much more serious reactions.

Much more likely is some concerted diplomatic pressure on Russia to behave. But Russia is clearly prepared to pay a diplomatic and economic price to achieve its strategic goals.

This was proved over the last week when Russia’s financial masters dumped some of its Western stocks and shares at a loss to make their anger visible.

When it was voiced to Russian diplomats that their country might be thrown out of the G8 rich countries club he burst into laughter. His point of view was obvious, “we can live without it.” That doesn’t mean that the West can or should simply stand on the sidelines as Russia’s acts threaten to conquer Georgia, and remove it from the political map.

The international community must apply intense, continuous and increasing diplomatic pressure on Russia.

The Russians must also be economically sanctioned in whatever ways that makes them understand that they will lose more than they gain by their repressive, rapacious and retrograde actions against Georgia.

ReadersandMe

This is where we explain the purpose of blogs like this one. I received the following e-mail comment from Eddy Dockett, who states that he is anonymous.

“What a load of nonsense. RIPA doesn’t provide any new powers, it just regulates the provision of the old ones (duh- it’s called the REGULATION of Investigatory Powers).
Councils already had the power to watch someone if they thought they were committing a criminal act, and benefit fraud is a criminal act which costs the UK millions. RIPA actually serves to add accountability and oversight to these powers, hence the creation of the Surveillance Commissioners.
Looks to me like you haven't read the legislation, just the papers. Well Tony, how very creative of you. I'm not surprised you list one of your favourite books at the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations- you obviously get a kick out of regurgitating other peoples' words. Lazy.
And humour? I’ve read funnier parking tickets.
Eddy Dockett”

I did read the legislation and the officially released papers. I believe that these powers are an abuse of our freedom, and their use in the circumstances outlined only serves to deepen that abuse.

No one disputes that there are benefit fraudsters and that this scourge must be combated. What we are contesting is whether the RIPA legislation and its employment are necessary for the whole of our society to combat this comparatively tiny problem in a small part of it.

This blog exists, primarily, for me to air my views without censorship, control or editing from others. To achieve this wonderful goal I forfeit some income, but it still feels worthwhile to me.

I am taking the time to explain this today because the humorless and “anonymous” Eddy, who has taken a major dislike to me, my views and even my taste in books attacked the blog yesterday.

The specific he attacked was, as you can witness, my piece on the RIPA legislation and its use. I include an excerpt of the offending article because I’m astonished that of all my writing this is what upset this reader.

“Today we can explore an inexplicable contradiction. On the one hand there is the media uproar about Google Earth and their unfolding photo mapping of every one of our streets.

On the other hand there are the local councils using the RIPA laws to enforce laws it was never intended for. I don’t understand why people are upset about a mapping picture of their home but are not upset about someone spying on their lives.

RIPA is the name of the British law designed to help counter terrorism. According to the Home Office arm of the British Government The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to give it the full name legislates for using methods of surveillance and information gathering to help the prevention of crime, including terrorism.”

I stand by every word of the article.

Occasionally you get attacked by the odd, usually anonymous e mailer as I did today. He didn’t like the RIPA article and thought it wasn’t humorous.

Sometimes I don’t even try to be humorous, and sometimes, it just isn’t appropriate. From reading your e-mail Eddy I get the impression you don’t have much of a sense of humor yourself.

Mr. Dockett also attacks my profile’s stated taste in books of quotations. I’m sorry if this offends you, but perhaps you could learn something of wisdom by reading the wit of others that preceded us.

I can only recommend that, if what I write upsets you, don’t read it.

RussianBearHugs

From the e-mails received from the readers of my blogs about the Russians in Georgia it’s clear that this is an issue that worries many of us. The fact that the Russians signed a ceasefire with the Georgians a couple of days back gave many a false sense of security.

We have all witnessed on television and media reports that there are many casual and perhaps organized acts of savagery being perpetrated on local and international civilians by the South Ossetian militia.

The facts are that, so far, the Russians are tightening their grip on the areas of Georgia in which they are interested. Clearly they are also allowing the South Ossetian militia free rein to terrorize the ethnic Georgians who live amongst them. There are many stories of murder, pillage and looting of this nature. If the Russians wanted to put an end to this outrageous behavior they could do it in a moment.

Meanwhile the American government is making increasingly graver noises of disapproval of Russia’s actions.

The Western “liberal” media’s attempt to equate Russian actions in Georgia with those of the Western alliance in Iraq and Afghanistan especially angers me. They bear virtually no similarity and this argument, should we have it, is specious and intentionally mischievous. Just for starters we all should remember two names, the Taliban and Sadaam Hussein. They, and some of their most cruel, illegitimate, barbarous, deceitful and heinous acts formed part of the argument to demolish those regimes. The fact that they massacred people, tortured, gassed and pulled people’s lives apart seems to have been conveniently forgotten. What did Georgia do that had any equivalence?

Other than having the misfortune to be geographically contiguous to the Russian bear they didn’t do much wrong. Russia just doesn’t want a friend of the West living on their doorstep.

This might have a serious and adverse affect on the long-term relationships of many of Russia’s neighbors. Poland has now agreed to the stationing of American missiles on its soil after 18 months of negotiation. As Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister stated, “We have crossed the Rubicon,” referring to this move being fundamental to the future of his country’s relationship with Russia. Tusk went on to explain that this deal with America included a “mutual commitment” between his country and the USA to come to each other’s assistance in case of trouble.

This is clearly aimed at countering the perceived Russian threat although the Polish and American official stance is that the missile umbrella is really being put into place to counter the threat from various unnamed rogue states. The Russians don’t believe this and see it as a strategic threat and believe this move upsets the military balance in their region and as a consequence they have stated they will be aiming their missiles at these new missile installations.

The Russian action in South Ossetia and Georgia is not over even though they claim that it is. Listen to the words of the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, “One can forget about Georgia’s territorial integrity because I believe it is impossible to persuade South Ossetia and Abkhazia to agree with the logic that they can be forced back into the Georgian state.”

On the ground the Russians give every indication that those two semi autonomous regions are being forcibly switched from nominal Georgian control to formal Russian hegemony. There might also be some of Georgia itself that the Russians will decide to keep as a victory prize. If any country dares to challenge this the whole of that country could well find itself back in the Russian empire.

TheFrozenNorth

The Policy Exchange think tank has reported that some cities in the North of England are beyond saving. The kinds of places they’re referring to are Bradford, Sunderland and Liverpool. I have visited them all at various times and they do have a point. I prefer Liverpool to the other two we list here, just because the people are more fun, but although it is the European city of culture it isn’t where many want to live.

Having said that I lived for about a year in this city of the North, Leeds a few years back, and loved most things about it. My wife hated it; in fact anything north of Watford brings her out in a cold sweat.

It does seem colder and wetter when you drive north, even if this is our collective imagination. But the truth is that if you’re born and bred in London everywhere else seems to offer less.

The report from the think tank is translated to mean that the future of the northern cities is irredeemable and any of its inhabitants with ambition should leave for London, Cambridge or such places as Oxford, all in the south of the country.

The trouble with this idea is that it would bring another million or so people to our already overcrowded southern cities and this would have the effect of rendering them as unappealing as their northern neighbors, albeit for different reasons.

We cannot simply abandon the northern cities because our politicians and their regeneration plans have almost totally failed them. As stated earlier the picture of failure is not universal. Leeds has re-invented itself as the vibrant centre of its region, and Manchester’s city centre has been similarly transformed for the better. Yes, there is a great deal of work to be done in other, outlaying parts of these two cities to bring them to where they should be but there has been a successful start.

The Policy Exchange recommendations are already materializing as the populations in the northern cities has decreased whilst the southeastern part of this country simultaneously and relentlessly grows.

Concurrently many of our countrymen are leaving the country for the same reasons. They don’t only leave for a better climate, but because they feel their country has let them down, and better opportunities are becoming available elsewhere.

There is nothing new in any of this. Human beings go where the climate, both actual and economic is most comfortable. That’s why the UK itself has found itself hosting several million immigrants over its recent past. Why, if these people come here to seek a better life, should we expect anything different of our citizens leaving, or people emigrating internally within our country, moving for a better life?

The challenge is for our country to find better solutions within the cities we cannot afford to abandon to their fate.

MoralDeficit

Yesterday a colleague told me about a young woman he knows who had been date raped. This is not one of those apocryphal stories about someone who knows someone. This really happened to a real person. Not, as it turned out, to just one young lady, but to five of them. The culprit had raped five women that he was tried for. The police brought the prosecution and were successful. The punishment was a sentence of two years in jail. This will result in the culprit being released in about one year.

This equates to about two months for each rape.

At the same time as this if the crime was robbery the punishment would be much more severe. The message is that we value our possessions far more than our people. The result is that we face a moral deficit in which it’s understood, cool or even hip to stab, rape or even kill but you will be severely punished if you are caught with your hand in the cookie jar.

There is further evidence of this dual morality occurring every day where we, as a society, seem to value possessions far higher than people. It is a grave mistake and should be addressed.

In the final analysis it’s all about moral values or the lack of them. We have all witnessed a rise in binge drinking, misbehavior in young women, and apparent increase in knife attacks amongst British young men. In a society as rich as ours this is indicative of our loss of understanding of what’s right or wrong.

The solution surely isn’t the simple increase of policing, arrest and long- term incarceration. The UK and USA already have amongst the highest numbers of people under lock and key of any society. But the numbers keep rising, which means the systems are failing.

Unquestionably we must also face up to, understand and deal with the society’s ills, which have resulted in a disproportionate number of young black men in prison. This is not a question of color, but is about social inequality brought about by a series of problems within the larger society we all inhabit.

There are simply too many young Afro-Caribbean women left to raise too many of their children without the help or presence of their partners. Where are these young men, why do they leave, and how does this ever get corrected?

Without solutions these problems will become generational with the children of these dysfunctional single parent families repeating the same mistakes.

These are not problems about color, nor are the real question about the prisons; it is about a deeper, more difficult aspect of our society. We are not educating our children properly; they are not being given a moral code that is normally the job of both parents, school and our religious and spiritual upbringing. It might be fashionable to belittle old values but without them our society is lost for the foreseeable future.

PeaceDeficit

A few years back I recall being taken around several vast, abandoned military bases in the USA that had been converted to civilian use. I remember thinking that was fine if the bogeymen had actually vanished for good as we had been told, but what if he still lurked in the dark corners of this all too small planet we share?

A few years back the governments of the UK and USA solemnly declared that we were going to reap major rewards from the “peace dividend”.

Their contention being that no realistic, symmetrical threat from the rest of the world existed after the collapse of the evil Soviet Empire. Therefore almost immediately we reduced our spending on big-ticket defense items. We cut back on all those things we had thought necessary for us to fight a big land war in Europe and another, lesser conflict elsewhere simultaneously.

Yes, the government leaders stated, we would have to deal with the Islamic fundamentalists and similar types of threat, and yes, there were some little countries with whom our forces might have to contend. But for these asymmetric threats, there was not going to be a need for new building programs for capital ships, main battle tanks and big armies.

Instead we would need lighter, quicker forces we could deploy with extreme speed anywhere in the world. The days when we had to plan for pitched battles on the plains of Europe, or elsewhere, were over for good.

We could, so the argument went, therefore save money on unnecessary and wasteful defense expenditure. But my argument is that we were premature in these and similar reductions in our military spending and preparedness.

Tell these myths to the people of Georgia today. Now their country faces the threat of total occupation and only continues to exist as democratic and free entity while Russia decided its next move and tests the water of world opinion. The Georgian President, Mikheil Saakashvili, has been pleading for a ceasefire for the last two days but the Russians are stating that their first priority is the safety of Russian citizens who they are pledged to protect. First amongst these, we can suppose, are the Russian soldiers now advancing on all fronts in Georgia!

Both sides in this rapidly worsening conflict should remember that there never is a good war or a bad peace.

Now, when we in the Western democracies might well need those ships, planes and men we don’t have them readily available. No one pretends that Russia is the same kind of threat as the Soviet Union; but it might turn out to be worse.

It was far easier to identify the evil inherent in the brutal suppression of freedom and dissent within the Soviet Union and it was also less difficult to predict the actions of such a centrally administered bureaucracy. In other words we could pretty much work out what that ruling gerontocracy was going to do, and how we should react. They were unsmiling, clearly our sworn enemies and wore bad suits and looked the part of Bond villains.

China under the despotic leadership of Mao Tse-Tung was also much easier to comprehend in geo- political terms than the political doughnut it has since become. The Chinese People's Republic is a curious mixture of a capitalist covering of sweet enrichment over a hard core Communist center. No one can know for sure how that will work out in practice; the world has never experienced anything like it.

Look at the polished and media savvy leaders of China and Russia as they smile broadly for the cameras, and understand that the level of threat to freedom has probably increased in direct proportion to their level of sophistication, whilst at the same moment our economies hit free fall. At precisely the moment we need to be strong so we don’t have to act tough, we’re visibly too weak. Don’t, for a second, think the Russians and Chinese are not calculating this into their strategy.

You watch the brutal oppression of dissidents in Tibet and elsewhere under Chinese hegemony and you realize that should the Chinese government turn its mind, energy and resources to increasing its pressure on its Asian neighbors we have to be ready to assist in resistance. The situation in Taipei (Taiwain) is calm now, but can we safely assume this will continue if China is angered or becomes impatient?

Russia is also beginning to flex its dormant imperial muscle and it makes an unappealing and scary picture. We’ve got to realize where this can lead. If Russia finds it is possible to force the issue as desired in Georgia there will be little or nothing we can do to stop it taking similar actions in the Ukraine and the Baltic States. Therefore it is imperative that Nato, led by Britain and the United States does more than make polite noises of protest against Russia’s disguised takeover in Georgia.

This is where it becomes extremely difficult for Europe to act in a concerted manner against Russia. We have become very reliant on the supply of Russian energy to our collective power grids. If we push them about Georgia be ready for them to push back.

That leaves America alone to do more than make noises of protest. No one seriously expects that George Bush will get out the well-battered American big stick with which to combat Russia on the ground. This leaves the US with the discredited economic sanction weapon, which might end up hurting it more than it damages a now, much strengthened Russia.

The only military option the US would have is the use of its ships and planes to harass and bomb Russian military targets and they are simply not going to be that dangerously adventurous. This all leaves Russia with a free pass to do what it wants in the Caucasus region, and that might, very worryingly, awaken another dream for the Russian hawks. If they can get away with this in Georgia how about the Ukraine, and if that’s possible, wouldn’t it be great to get back at the Baltic States?

The UK and the USA and Nato must rethink priorities fast and re-evaluate medium to long-term military spending plans.

Otherwise as China holds onto Tibet and Russia toys with Georgia we have learned nothing. These two events roll out in different parts of the world, and seemingly don’t connect to the peace dividend until you realize that they form part of what is actually a peace deficit. As the Roman writer Vegetius stated, “Let him who desires peace prepare for war.”

You don’t walk down a dangerous, dark alley at night and declare to anyone who might listen, “come and get me, I’m not armed and can’t defend myself,” unless you’re crazy.

The big bad bogeyman never went away, he was just hiding in the dark whilst we went to sleep. It’s time to WAKE UP!

GeorgianAdventure

Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Prime Minister and former President traveled direct from the Olympics to North Ossetia and visited his commanding generals as they invade South Ossetia and, possibly, in case you missed it, the country of Georgia.

For those of you who haven’t been following what happened so far here’s a quick refresher.

Since about 1800 the Georgians regarded Ossetia as part of their country, whereas the Russians similarly considered Georgia a province of Russia. North Ossetia is in the Russian Federation, South Ossetia is in Georgia.

South Ossetia speaks its own language, and most of its people chose to have Russian rather than Georgian passports. It’s not that they wanted to be Russian but they didn’t want to be Georgian. The result was that their tiny country has been semi autonomous for about a decade and a half.

Russia armed, encouraged and provoked their South Ossetian allies to attack the Georgians at every recent opportunity. The Georgians fell for the provocation and retaliated with much bigger scale attacks. This is exactly what the Russians were waiting for. Now they had an excuse to “protect” those with Russian passports in South Ossetia. The Russian peacekeepers of South Ossetia soon morphed into the advance forces of the Russian attack on Georgia.

The Russians have now driven the Georgians out of South Ossetia but are still attacking them in other parts of Georgia. The Georgians, now realizing their huge strategic mistake, are calling for a ceasefire, which the Russians are studiously ignoring. They are calling for the Georgians to totally withdraw from South Ossetia before they will ceasefire.

There are major repercussions that might well flow from these Russian provoked actions. Chief amongst these for the West is the breaching of the major power pipeline in Georgia. This means that there are countries that are totally reliant on that pipeline, which will now have to get their power via Russia.

Similarly there is another semi autonomous region called Abkhazia. Georgia has contended for nearly twenty years with these two regions, in Abkhazia and South Ossetia that want to control their own destiny. Both of these are supported by Russia as part of the Kremlin’s strategy to weaken Tbilisi’s authority.

The West, in particular America, has, some might say, mischievously stirred the embers of this fire. At the NATO summit in Bucharest the Americans pressed for Georgia and Ukraine’s membership of the alliance. Primarily the Germans temporarily blocked this move, but NATO still gave a commitment to offer membership to the two countries membership at some future date. Moscow saw this as a challenge to its dominance in the former Soviet republics.

Russia hasn’t been shy to make it crystal clear that it will do anything to prevent NATO’s expansion on its borders.

America and Britain have been intimately involved in providing arms and military assistance to the Georgians. The claim being that this support is in place to encourage Georgia as an independent, sovereign state.

We were also trying to protect the pipeline across Georgia that carries the crude oil from the Caspian to the Black Sea, which was the only export route bypassing Russia’s stranglehold on energy via this region.

This defeat for the Georgians might well signal the end of Mr. Saakashvili’s rule and set back Georgia’s efforts to establish itself as a modern Western-looking democracy for the foreseeable future. In any event, this small-scale war risks further undermines the already strained relations between Russia and the West. We mustn’t lose sight of the dangers of any conflict in a region like this, and that is the risk of it becoming a bigger war.

Travel

This blog is very much about travel. Allow me to congratulate Heathrow airport on some of the recent changes. Today we pulled up outside Terminal 3 and it was clean, well policed and the roads were working well. The general opening up of the entire area in front of the terminal is a tremendous improvement, long overdue, but excellent.

I parked the car in the recently finished car park for Terminal 3, and it was also clean, easy to park in and well organized. All of this, so far was terrific, and was much to my surprise, as it wasn’t always thus.

Then we went to the Virgin check in which is also hugely enhanced by the widening of the area, which makes it feel much less crowded. There were problems with the conveyor belts but they were coping with the problem. I don’t know how that will work out if the problem continues.

Then we had breakfast upstairs which was edible, very pleasantly served and not too unreasonably priced by English standards. We also visited some shops and these were also acceptable. There is nothing terrible to report in any of these aspects.

Our only gripe was about the lousy signposting between the departure section of terminal 3 and its short stay car park. Please BAA, it would be really easy to correct this and we were not the only people with this observation.

Have you noticed how much it cost to renew your passport?

We are one of the most expensive countries in the world at £72 ($145) for an adult and nothing for a child. There is a comparison price list on the Passport Office web site and this confirms that we are top of the costs. If you live abroad it costs much more to simply renew your passport. I know this through my daughter who lives in the States. Her next passport is going to cost her $250 (£125) and for her children, presently 4 and 7 years old, $160 (£80) each.

Why should it cost that much more for those of us who live abroad to have our passport processed?

Another question we should all be interested in is why the UK produces 6.3 million passports per year whilst countries listed, with similar population to our own, such as Germany, Italy and France only issue 2.5 million, 1.4 million, and 3.3 million passports respectively?

Japan, with a population of nearly twice that of the UK only issued 4.3 million passports. Why is the UK producing so many more passports proportionately?

These figures are those issued by the Passport Office itself.

All of this came to light in the last day before my daughter and her children, Maya and Soli returned to their Los Angeles home. It is, as you with families who live a long way off know, wonderful when you get together with your kids after a long gap, but its awful when they have to go back.

RussianTanksRoll

An odd thing happened at the Olympic opening ceremony yesterday.

Don’t worry; this is not going to be a sporting article, that would be at http://tonyklinger.co.uk/

It was the moment when a very worried look crossed the face of President George W. Bush as he sat in the heat of the Bird’s Nest super stadium. Looking like the front-page character of “Mad” comic books, Alfred E. Neumann, the President’s body language was perplexed, unhappy and hot. You could see he had something other than the two thousand and eight drummers working in syncopated harmony on his mind.

Bush stood up and spotted Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister and former President. A dark frown passed over the American’s face. Words were exchanged. You can imagine the conversation. “Hi Ya Vlad, what are your boys doing in Georgia?” Putin shrugs, “Is in my own back yard, is nothing to do with you, what about this drumming, I’m getting a headache!” Putin then shrugged and left after obtaining a headache pill from Laura Bush who smiled enigmatically and said nothing.

To me it is no coincidence that the Russian leader, because that’s what he still is despite stepping down from the Russian Presidency, is at the Olympics at precisely the moment when the Russian tanks were rolling towards the former Russian province of Georgia.

Formerly Georgia was a part of the Soviet Union, and the Russian leadership seems to have developed a bit of geographic amnesia. They clearly believe these annoying little countries on their borders should still be part of the empire, or at least be in their sphere of influence or control.

Russia doesn’t accept the progressive shift of Georgia and Ukraine towards the West. They are particularly upset and unsettled by both countries wanting to become parts of NATO.

So yesterday Russian tanks rolled into South Ossetia, a rebel province of Georgia.

Russia is becoming progressively more unpredictable as it feels its growing economic muscle. This makes the Western response more difficult.

It isn’t easy to say why this "frozen" conflict escalated now. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the Russians timed it for the very moment when the world’s eyes were on the Olympics.

The Russians claim that Georgia launched an invasion of South Ossetia, aiming to pacify the breakaway region. Georgia, meanwhile, stated that its troops entered the South Ossetian "capital" in response to escalating South Ossetian attacks, which have been going on for a week—years, really—as well as the Russian aerial bombardment of Georgian territory.

Pots and kettles come to mind. How can Russia accuse Georgia of doing precisely the same thing it does in Chechnya? The truth is we’re all hypocrites when it suits us. Before America gets on its own high horse don’t forget it’s historical attempts at invasion of Cuba, Canada and Mexico!

Previous tensions—both in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the other piece of Georgia that declared sovereignty—had been resolved without war. Someone wanted this to go further.

Both sides have deeper motives for fighting. The Russians want to prevent a Western oriented Georgia from joining NATO. George Bush called the country a "beacon of liberty"—has long wanted to do. Now the Russians will almost certainly succeed. No Western power has an interest in a military ally that is involved in a major military conflict with Russia.

The Georgian leadership, by contrast, had come to believe that the constant pressure of Russian aggression, coupled with the West's failure to accept Georgia into NATO, compelled them to demonstrate "self-reliance."

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili purchased a great many weapons in preparation for this. He apparently believed a military conflict was inevitable but could be won if he was clever. As of Friday night, with Russian soldiers fighting in South Ossetia—only a few short miles from Tblisi, the Georgian capital—it appears as if he’s made a potentially huge mistake. Russia didn’t send 150 tanks across that border to lose.

Georgia shouldn’t have played the brinksmanship game with the big bear to its north unless it didn’t mean a big hug. It should have stepped back from the precipice—and should still do so if given a chance—but Russia's deployment of such a large and carefully prepared force, not only in South Ossetia but in the rest of Georgia, is clearly an unacceptable breach of Georgia’s sovereignty and international bodies such as the UN must condemn it and order them out of their neighbor’s soil.

The whole thing reminds me of the historical claim by the German government that they had been attacked over the Polish border which they were resisting. That became the start of the Second World War.

Whoever is to blame for the present escalation, the West has little, if any influence on the outcome. Saakashvili's appeals for help and moral support—"This is not about Georgia," he told CNN, "it is about America, its values"—won’t help his country unless Russia allows them to. Putin didn’t look like he was feeling very well disposed to this idea when he shrugged in response to George Bush’s glad handing.

The truth is that the international community should have dealt with this conflict years ago. There was a dangerous security vacuum in the Caucuses; and that always makes war more likely.

In the most dangerous conflict between ideologies since the Cuba missile crisis there is potential for human suffering on an immense scale.

Georgia is an eager ally of the USA, and a successful Russian invasion of Georgia, a country with U.S. troops on its soil, reflects poorly on the West. Our moral cowardice, economic weakness, over extension and distraction elsewhere, ineptitude, lack of ideas, eliminated any thought of our involvement. Now it’s probably too late.

BoycottDurban2

I have taken the unusual step of using my blog to demonstrate against Durban 2. This conference, like its predecessor, the first Durban Conference, is being used as a means to demonize Israel as if it were a Nazi state.

I sometimes work as an academic and have been trained to discover facts via research, evaluate them forensically and arrive at an objective conclusion. The people making these false claims against Israel simply hate that country and all it represents and, as a consequence are not doing any of this. They are slaves of age old prejudices that dictate their agenda and no facts are allowed in to shed light.

I also work as a journalist and as such was taught that, with any story you should triangulate your facts. In other words if three, separate, legitimate and distinct sources tell you the same thing the likelihood is that there is truth in the story. The claim that Israel is a racist, apartheid state cannot be substantiated using this method. Like any country Israel has faults. But it is not a fault to have an identity, which it wishes to protect. If this is a sin then all the Arab countries, the UK and many others are all guilty of exactly the same thing. Israel wishes to be a Jewish state, just as Saudi Arabia wants to be Islamic, just as the UK is a Church of England country. This doesn’t mean there are not non-Christians in the UK.

Accusations such as the non-Jews are not allowed in the Israeli Defense Forces are not true. There are many non-Jews in these forces. Very few of them are Muslim however, and that is for reasons of national security. How many people of German or Japanese heritage were allowed in the British or American forces during the Second World War? The answer is very few, and the reasons are identical.

Arab Israelis do have the vote and do have members in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament. There is now a member of Israel’s ruling government who is an Arab Muslim.

Below is a call for the boycott of Durban 2 that is self explanatory and which we hope you find interesting and thought provoking.

PETITION: "BOYCOTT DURBAN 2!"
By Nasrin Amirsedghi,Thomas von der Osten-Sacken,Alex Feuerherdt
First Published July 29, 2008

Nearly seven years ago, the, UN World Conference against Racism met in Durban South Africa. The official aim of the event was the public recognition of slavery and colonialism as crimes. However, the conference mutated into an upright tribunal against Israel and its right to exist as well as defense for unfree states and dictators. Now, the United Nations plans a Durban Review Conference to take place in April 2009. A group of intellectuals urges European governments to call off their participation in this event/conference.

Recently, French novelist and essayist, Pascal Bruckner has already called to boycott the Durban Review Conference. “Anti-Semitism has become an ideology of the totalitarian movements in the UN, which they use for their own goals”, Bruckner explains his appeal. “Dictators and notorious semi-dictators abuse democratic language and instrumentalize legal standards, bringing them against democracies, without ever questioning themselves. Bruckner says that a “new inquisition” has emerged, using the term “religious slander to oppress any expression of doubt, especially in Muslim countries.” The Antiracism defended by the despots serves “to justify the very same things against which it was originally devised: oppression, prejudice and inequality”.

More than 30 journalists, authors, scientists and artists, In Europe, the United States and the Middle East have joined Bruckner’s petition, among them: Lars Gustafsson, Jeffrey Herf, Benny Morris, Peter Schneider, Seyran Ates, Necla Kelek and Ralph Giordano. They call the European Union member states, and especially Germany, to boycott the “Durban 2” Conference and to push forward a comprehensive reform of the UN Human Rights Commission.

For the initiators and supporters of the petition, the aim is democratization, secularization and universal protection of human rights against the pretended cultural-pluralism, which boils down to defending Islamic Shari’a against individual freedom. The Durban follow-up conference is diametrically opposed to this goal. Additionally, there is a fear of a renewed demonization of Israel, which democrats must confront determinedly. Anti-Semitism goes hand and hand with the support for dictatorships, such as in Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Instead of supporting the “Durban 2” conference, it is time to return to the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Therefore, we call for a deep reform of the UN Human Rights Commission, which becomes more and more a forum for diffusion of Anti-Semitism, misogyny and unfreedom.

The initiators and supporters of the appeal hope that it will receive wide support. The petition will be delivered to the German government and to the governments of other EU countries on February 15th, 2009 and needs as many signatures as possible by this date.

The Petition and Instructions to sign, in English and German can be found at: http://boycottdurban2.wordpress.com

Everyone who wants to sign the appeal is sincerely invited. Please send an e-mail with your full name, your profession and your town to boycottdurban2@yahoo.de

Afterwards your signature will be published on the website of the Petition.

The appeal will result in an open letter to the German government and further governments of the EU before the start of the Durban Review Conference. This collection of signatures will therefore be closed by February 1st, 2009.

• Your E-mail-address will not appear on the website and will not be abused for commercial purposes.