Today’s blog is cut short because my very pregnant daughter, Georgia, has just rung. Need I say more?
Bye for now, updates will be forthcoming..
Monday, June 30, 2008
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Changes
The leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Wendy Alexander has just resigned. It’s an honorable thing for her to have done. There has not been a great amount of honor in her behavior up to now, but at least she has fallen on her sword, and lived up to the rules of her own party and Parliament, at last!
This is one of three examples of sleaze permeating the arrogant upper reaches of our political elite. It used to be said that the Tories always had sex scandals, whereas the Labour party were more inclined to financial scandals. Now sleaze seems to be universal and has no boundaries.
There has always been sleaze within any political system but there used to be an attitude within British politics that if you were caught in the full glare of public exposure you, the exposed, would hold your hands up, and in the old fashioned world, said, “it’s a fair cop gov.” You then vanished into an obscure retirement from public life, either to a remedial career in charity, if you were a Conservative of independent means, or to a career as a non-executive director of a series of small public companies on the make if you were Labour.
Now there appears to be no shame, even recognition of having done anything wrong, by those discovered with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar. They are pried from office with media enhanced pickaxes, like barnacles from the political ship of state.
Talking of pooh stuck on the shoe of the world, President Mugabe has won his election in Zimbabwe. He would do so as he was standing against no one in his sham election. This proves that you can beat yourself.
The only present hope for the people of Zimbabwe is that the current meeting of African leaders taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, will mandate the use of extreme sanctions to drive Mugabe and his regime from power. His country is landlocked and his lifeline flows direct via South Africa. If that country turns off the tap he will be forced out. On the down side this will unfairly affect the already downtrodden citizens of Zimbabwe who have done nothing wrong. Therefore the least bad consequence is for the African states to quickly invade Zimbabwe and drive this wicked regime into the dustbin of history.
This is one of three examples of sleaze permeating the arrogant upper reaches of our political elite. It used to be said that the Tories always had sex scandals, whereas the Labour party were more inclined to financial scandals. Now sleaze seems to be universal and has no boundaries.
There has always been sleaze within any political system but there used to be an attitude within British politics that if you were caught in the full glare of public exposure you, the exposed, would hold your hands up, and in the old fashioned world, said, “it’s a fair cop gov.” You then vanished into an obscure retirement from public life, either to a remedial career in charity, if you were a Conservative of independent means, or to a career as a non-executive director of a series of small public companies on the make if you were Labour.
Now there appears to be no shame, even recognition of having done anything wrong, by those discovered with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar. They are pried from office with media enhanced pickaxes, like barnacles from the political ship of state.
Talking of pooh stuck on the shoe of the world, President Mugabe has won his election in Zimbabwe. He would do so as he was standing against no one in his sham election. This proves that you can beat yourself.
The only present hope for the people of Zimbabwe is that the current meeting of African leaders taking place in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, will mandate the use of extreme sanctions to drive Mugabe and his regime from power. His country is landlocked and his lifeline flows direct via South Africa. If that country turns off the tap he will be forced out. On the down side this will unfairly affect the already downtrodden citizens of Zimbabwe who have done nothing wrong. Therefore the least bad consequence is for the African states to quickly invade Zimbabwe and drive this wicked regime into the dustbin of history.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Soldiering
Soldiering is a brave but bloody business. In the British army the general female to male ratio is one in ten, but in Iraq and Afghanistan that ratio rises to one in five.
In the last week the first British woman soldier killed in action in the Afghanistan conflict, Corporal Sarah Bryant, was buried as were her two male colleagues. She was killed, alongside three male Territorial Army special forces, in a large roadside explosion east of Lashkar Gah, in the south of Afghanistan. The three men who died were from 23rd Special Air Service Regiment, which is one of two Territorial Army (Reserve) SAS units.
This article is not the personal stories of any of these soldiers. I am not comparing their fate or their bravery but only the consequence of their gender.
It is noticeable that even in these days of legally mandated sexual equality there was a huge, some would say disproportionate reaction to the death of Sarah Bryant. It’s obvious that the first reason for this reaction is that there hadn’t been a previous female soldiering fatality.
However, there is another reason, which, I believe relates to the fact that there is an inbuilt, almost primal fear harbored deep within us for the fate of our women in combat. I use the word “our” specifically because we clearly appear to be identifying with these women in a very personal and emotional way, that we don’t employ when contemplating male combat casualties.
Our unspoken fear includes the very real regarding what an enemy might do to a captured woman. This includes the prospect of sexual attack that no one wishes to contemplate. The truth is that this can and does sometime happen to some captured female combatants as it does to female citizens who just happen to get in the way.
Other countries have long had female soldiers in their ranks, but very few have them in their front lines, undertaking combat roles. Sarah was on an intelligence related mission in a war that knows no front lines or safe areas. The men who died with her were there to guard her.
Another reason for male reticence regarding female combat soldiers is that most women do not have the necessary physical strength. Those that have utilized women in combat under extreme situations have found these women to be as good or better than their male counterparts.
The American military, like the British, have an increasing number of their women in certain types of combat roles, now flying fighter jets and other military aircraft, that were formerly an exclusively male preserve.
It is hard not to feel defensive of our women in these situations but we have to understand that women serving on the front line and suffering the awful consequences is an inevitable consequence of sexual equality.
In an idealized world there would be no need for female combat soldiers, but in that world there would be no war.
In the last week the first British woman soldier killed in action in the Afghanistan conflict, Corporal Sarah Bryant, was buried as were her two male colleagues. She was killed, alongside three male Territorial Army special forces, in a large roadside explosion east of Lashkar Gah, in the south of Afghanistan. The three men who died were from 23rd Special Air Service Regiment, which is one of two Territorial Army (Reserve) SAS units.
This article is not the personal stories of any of these soldiers. I am not comparing their fate or their bravery but only the consequence of their gender.
It is noticeable that even in these days of legally mandated sexual equality there was a huge, some would say disproportionate reaction to the death of Sarah Bryant. It’s obvious that the first reason for this reaction is that there hadn’t been a previous female soldiering fatality.
However, there is another reason, which, I believe relates to the fact that there is an inbuilt, almost primal fear harbored deep within us for the fate of our women in combat. I use the word “our” specifically because we clearly appear to be identifying with these women in a very personal and emotional way, that we don’t employ when contemplating male combat casualties.
Our unspoken fear includes the very real regarding what an enemy might do to a captured woman. This includes the prospect of sexual attack that no one wishes to contemplate. The truth is that this can and does sometime happen to some captured female combatants as it does to female citizens who just happen to get in the way.
Other countries have long had female soldiers in their ranks, but very few have them in their front lines, undertaking combat roles. Sarah was on an intelligence related mission in a war that knows no front lines or safe areas. The men who died with her were there to guard her.
Another reason for male reticence regarding female combat soldiers is that most women do not have the necessary physical strength. Those that have utilized women in combat under extreme situations have found these women to be as good or better than their male counterparts.
The American military, like the British, have an increasing number of their women in certain types of combat roles, now flying fighter jets and other military aircraft, that were formerly an exclusively male preserve.
It is hard not to feel defensive of our women in these situations but we have to understand that women serving on the front line and suffering the awful consequences is an inevitable consequence of sexual equality.
In an idealized world there would be no need for female combat soldiers, but in that world there would be no war.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Decay
The UK was the first country to be industrialized, and we have been at the vanguard of the modern world ever since. We were first or near the front of every major development that makes life appear civilized. That goes for developments such as properly surfaced roads, railways, central heating, powered shipping, radio, television, computer, radar, airplanes and hey, it was a great British person, Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web and other Brits who designed such modern marvels as Apple’s recent generations of products, the Dyson vacuum cleaner and the entire concept of Formula One racing cars, the world renowned Open University and a little thing called the National Health Service.
This should all be put within a context that makes matters clear and easy to evaluate. The UK is one of the richest countries in the world, ever. It still has huge overseas investments, and riches beyond measure. So why is everything falling apart?
We have grid lock on many of our roads, it is estimated that it was faster to traverse the centre of London a hundred years ago, on a horse, than it is today, during rush hour traffic. Our sewerage system, once the envy of engineers around the world, is creaking at the seams. Train travel is a travesty. The National Health service, previously the model that, the rest of the world copied slavishly, is now not clean enough in certain of its hospitals to trust. You can go in well and come out of a British hospital dead because of the germs you can be infected with. Educationally we have certainly stopped going forward, and appear to be going backwards in the core subject curriculum in comparison with the emerging economic powerhouses.
In the last few days Britain’s top Muslim, Asian police officer, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who serves in the Metropolitan Police, has accused his immediate boss, the Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, of racism. When the third most powerful police officer in London accuses his number one like this what chance is there for the rest of us? It’s difficult to find a good word to say about either of these gentlemen who spend their time fiddling while our new Rome burns with feral youths committing crime in every direction you look.
The British authorities repeatedly tell us that crime is going down, so why does everyone you talk with share the view that the opposite is true, and that it’s going up? Perhaps, as if with many other things in our cockeyed country, it’s really the peculiar way our leaders have of counting.
One of the present current problems in the UK is the sheer proliferation of laws that come out of the maw of Parliament in an unending stream of politically correct rubbish. There have never been such a huge number of new laws, regulations and proposals in our history. One that has been proposed, that I do support is the idea that all forms of ageism be legally banned.
Ageism is as iniquitous as any other form of discrimination. It permeates employment opportunities, financial matters and insurance issues, particularly those regarding health insurance. It’s obvious that private health insurers put up the rates for older people so that the effect is to allow the health insurance companies to edit out anyone who’s considered too risky because of their actuarial age, unless they’re very rich.
Local councils in Britain have the power to snoop on their local inhabitants by using surveillance powers that were originally reserved for judicial control by the police and security services. Before David Blunkett, then Home Secretary, changed the law, there were 9 state bodies then allowed to use such rights to spy on citizens, now that number has risen to 790 organizations. This is insanity and must be stopped before the issue gets even worse. Do we want to go down the same road as the total power to spy on their citizens found in China? We now have anti terrorism laws in the UK being used to stop local residents over filling their dustbins. This is a totally inappropriate use of power.
There was a by election last night in Henley. This is a beautiful part of England hard by the River Thames, formerly represented in Parliament by the newly elected London mayor, Boris Johnson. His party, the Conservatives won by a huge majority as expected. More shocking for the government of Gordon Brown was that their candidate didn’t even come third after the Liberal Democrats, no they limped into fifth place, behind the Greens and the British National Party, making Labour the new fringe party of British politics. They even lost their deposit which is the price every party has to pay for entry into a Parliamentary election, which is supposed to guarantee you’re candidature is serious. Do you think the Prime Minister will learn anything from this? No, I expect he’s sitting at his breakfast in Number 10 Downing Street this morning saying to anyone who will listen, “ Why can’t everyone understand how right I am?”
This week the same British government finally saw fit to remove President Mugabe’s honorary knighthood. This is another example of their total lack of backbone and judgment. After all, how could they have waited until now? Never mind, as the saying goes, better late than ever. Also, I’m happy and relieved to report, Nelson Mandela, did, as many others and I had asked, and finally made a statement about Mugabe. In it he said, “We watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighboring Zimbabwe.” It wasn’t much to say Nelson, but it’s a great deal more than the deafening silence we’d heard so far from Africa’s moral giant.
The common theme of these stories is that they demonstrate the total lack of vision of our leadership. On the first anniversary of Gordon Brown being Prime Minister I offer up the fervent prayer for our country that he is gone before he does too much more damage. There is a saying that a country gets the government it deserves; but what did Britain do that was so bad?
This should all be put within a context that makes matters clear and easy to evaluate. The UK is one of the richest countries in the world, ever. It still has huge overseas investments, and riches beyond measure. So why is everything falling apart?
We have grid lock on many of our roads, it is estimated that it was faster to traverse the centre of London a hundred years ago, on a horse, than it is today, during rush hour traffic. Our sewerage system, once the envy of engineers around the world, is creaking at the seams. Train travel is a travesty. The National Health service, previously the model that, the rest of the world copied slavishly, is now not clean enough in certain of its hospitals to trust. You can go in well and come out of a British hospital dead because of the germs you can be infected with. Educationally we have certainly stopped going forward, and appear to be going backwards in the core subject curriculum in comparison with the emerging economic powerhouses.
In the last few days Britain’s top Muslim, Asian police officer, Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who serves in the Metropolitan Police, has accused his immediate boss, the Commissioner, Sir Ian Blair, of racism. When the third most powerful police officer in London accuses his number one like this what chance is there for the rest of us? It’s difficult to find a good word to say about either of these gentlemen who spend their time fiddling while our new Rome burns with feral youths committing crime in every direction you look.
The British authorities repeatedly tell us that crime is going down, so why does everyone you talk with share the view that the opposite is true, and that it’s going up? Perhaps, as if with many other things in our cockeyed country, it’s really the peculiar way our leaders have of counting.
One of the present current problems in the UK is the sheer proliferation of laws that come out of the maw of Parliament in an unending stream of politically correct rubbish. There have never been such a huge number of new laws, regulations and proposals in our history. One that has been proposed, that I do support is the idea that all forms of ageism be legally banned.
Ageism is as iniquitous as any other form of discrimination. It permeates employment opportunities, financial matters and insurance issues, particularly those regarding health insurance. It’s obvious that private health insurers put up the rates for older people so that the effect is to allow the health insurance companies to edit out anyone who’s considered too risky because of their actuarial age, unless they’re very rich.
Local councils in Britain have the power to snoop on their local inhabitants by using surveillance powers that were originally reserved for judicial control by the police and security services. Before David Blunkett, then Home Secretary, changed the law, there were 9 state bodies then allowed to use such rights to spy on citizens, now that number has risen to 790 organizations. This is insanity and must be stopped before the issue gets even worse. Do we want to go down the same road as the total power to spy on their citizens found in China? We now have anti terrorism laws in the UK being used to stop local residents over filling their dustbins. This is a totally inappropriate use of power.
There was a by election last night in Henley. This is a beautiful part of England hard by the River Thames, formerly represented in Parliament by the newly elected London mayor, Boris Johnson. His party, the Conservatives won by a huge majority as expected. More shocking for the government of Gordon Brown was that their candidate didn’t even come third after the Liberal Democrats, no they limped into fifth place, behind the Greens and the British National Party, making Labour the new fringe party of British politics. They even lost their deposit which is the price every party has to pay for entry into a Parliamentary election, which is supposed to guarantee you’re candidature is serious. Do you think the Prime Minister will learn anything from this? No, I expect he’s sitting at his breakfast in Number 10 Downing Street this morning saying to anyone who will listen, “ Why can’t everyone understand how right I am?”
This week the same British government finally saw fit to remove President Mugabe’s honorary knighthood. This is another example of their total lack of backbone and judgment. After all, how could they have waited until now? Never mind, as the saying goes, better late than ever. Also, I’m happy and relieved to report, Nelson Mandela, did, as many others and I had asked, and finally made a statement about Mugabe. In it he said, “We watch with sadness the continuing tragedy in Darfur. Nearer to home we have seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighboring Zimbabwe.” It wasn’t much to say Nelson, but it’s a great deal more than the deafening silence we’d heard so far from Africa’s moral giant.
The common theme of these stories is that they demonstrate the total lack of vision of our leadership. On the first anniversary of Gordon Brown being Prime Minister I offer up the fervent prayer for our country that he is gone before he does too much more damage. There is a saying that a country gets the government it deserves; but what did Britain do that was so bad?
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Waiting
Are you waiting for the other foot to drop? I am, I find myself fearing the future after always looking forward to it. We all know, and if you don’t why haven’t you been reading my blogs, that the old order is changing in the world. Suddenly the old certainties are no longer so certain. It used to be that there was an order to things, that America was top dog, and we were top of the middle sized countries, which made us comfortably in the top six or seven of all the countries, whatever their size, in whatever way you measure these things.
Now there are seismic shifts which are not in our control and which promise to be unpleasant. The Americans will have to adjust to not being the lone superpower, and possibly, one day in the not too distant future, to not being a superpower at all. My definition of that word, superpower, meaning that you can impose your will on other countries, wherever they are and for whatever reason you pick, in whichever manner you select, be it military, diplomatic or economic.
The threat to the established order comes from the BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China, and we mustn’t forget the others yapping at the fringes like Canada who have smaller populations but vast natural resources that will become increasingly vital. It does not come in equal measure from the supposedly asymmetric conflicts with various Islamic groups or countries as these are threats that can be dealt with.
I don’t claim that the Anglo Saxon countries have a divine right to rule or dominate other countries, but I do make a case for our having been of benefit to the rest of the world, a benign influence. Let’s not forget if it were not for British obduracy and undeniable courage plus American capacity and bravery, albeit a bit late, Nazism would today dominate the entire world. No other countries demonstrated that capacity or willingness to fight the evil tyranny until it was too late.
Like every other country ours have taken many, if not most of their decisions for purely pragmatic and selfish reasons, but sometimes, like in World War Two we did what we thought to be right because it was the moral thing to do.
It is a common belief that China follows a course of action for reasons of pure expedience? Witness how the Chinese government cynically manipulates the publicity surrounding the Beijing Olympics during the torch runs around the globe. Everyone else in the world acknowledges the systematic rape of Tibet but is powerless to act. Once the Games are over what will remain to coerce the Chinese government to show any modicum of restraint or reasonable behavior. We shouldn’t assume that the Chinese people agree with my Western view of their rationale. I think a great many Chinese nationals are very proud of their country’s economic and cultural leap forward. They like a system that works for their pockets and stomachs and gives them back their pride.
Likewise Russia, now led by its latest Czar, Vladimir Putin. We already see all the signs of a returned dictatorship, with almost all the recent flowering signs of a thriving democracy being carefully controlled or eliminated. Perversely the Russian people en masse seem to love the man. He has won several elections with increasingly large majorities. Perhaps its true that the Russian historical liking for a strong man at the centre of power remains their nation’s driving wish. Why should we assume that everyone does, or should aspire to our form of democratic governance?
Russia has restored its morale and increasing power via its regaining control of its vast natural resources. As Russia re-asserts itself among the top table of countries it will increasingly drain the Anglo American focus. This is inevitably going to prove to be a problem.
The other great player in the world which no one pays much attention to is the quiet behemoth, the European Union. This now comprises 27 countries and, of course, lest we forget, includes the UK. If you consider it as an economic and political block it is the biggest and strongest in the world. However no one has seriously suggested that it sees itself in this way. At the moment it is either Hydra, the mythical beast with many heads and one writhing body or Sisyphus, one of the Titans condemned to push a stone up a hill that everlastingly rolled back down again in unceasing but fruitless labor.
Presently the European Union’s biggest problem is its genuine lack of transparency and democratic answerability. The EU hierarchy’s lack of responsiveness to the no votes against the proposed Lisbon Treaty demonstrates their inability to understand or empathize with the European people.
But all it will take is one charismatic leader who can combine the people’s common dreams and aspirations. Hopefully this will be a democratic and not follow the previous proponents of such a combination of European power, which included Hitler and Napoleon and many Emperors of Rome. In the end all had the same flaw that it is very hard, if not impossible to create a power bloc of component parts without central authority being exerted by a very small controlling force.
We need to re-think how we work with the Russians and our fellow Europeans rather than ignore these new realities and America in particular has to figure out to react before they are forced to reconsider their strategies. America was at its most powerful after the Second World War all the way through to the trauma of 9/11. America was also at its most magnanimous during that period and now it must return to a policy of listening as well as talking.
The UK should return to its post war role of being the political, cultural and sometimes economic bridge between Europe and America, understanding both places better than either understands the other.
Now there are seismic shifts which are not in our control and which promise to be unpleasant. The Americans will have to adjust to not being the lone superpower, and possibly, one day in the not too distant future, to not being a superpower at all. My definition of that word, superpower, meaning that you can impose your will on other countries, wherever they are and for whatever reason you pick, in whichever manner you select, be it military, diplomatic or economic.
The threat to the established order comes from the BRIC countries, Brazil, Russia, India and China, and we mustn’t forget the others yapping at the fringes like Canada who have smaller populations but vast natural resources that will become increasingly vital. It does not come in equal measure from the supposedly asymmetric conflicts with various Islamic groups or countries as these are threats that can be dealt with.
I don’t claim that the Anglo Saxon countries have a divine right to rule or dominate other countries, but I do make a case for our having been of benefit to the rest of the world, a benign influence. Let’s not forget if it were not for British obduracy and undeniable courage plus American capacity and bravery, albeit a bit late, Nazism would today dominate the entire world. No other countries demonstrated that capacity or willingness to fight the evil tyranny until it was too late.
Like every other country ours have taken many, if not most of their decisions for purely pragmatic and selfish reasons, but sometimes, like in World War Two we did what we thought to be right because it was the moral thing to do.
It is a common belief that China follows a course of action for reasons of pure expedience? Witness how the Chinese government cynically manipulates the publicity surrounding the Beijing Olympics during the torch runs around the globe. Everyone else in the world acknowledges the systematic rape of Tibet but is powerless to act. Once the Games are over what will remain to coerce the Chinese government to show any modicum of restraint or reasonable behavior. We shouldn’t assume that the Chinese people agree with my Western view of their rationale. I think a great many Chinese nationals are very proud of their country’s economic and cultural leap forward. They like a system that works for their pockets and stomachs and gives them back their pride.
Likewise Russia, now led by its latest Czar, Vladimir Putin. We already see all the signs of a returned dictatorship, with almost all the recent flowering signs of a thriving democracy being carefully controlled or eliminated. Perversely the Russian people en masse seem to love the man. He has won several elections with increasingly large majorities. Perhaps its true that the Russian historical liking for a strong man at the centre of power remains their nation’s driving wish. Why should we assume that everyone does, or should aspire to our form of democratic governance?
Russia has restored its morale and increasing power via its regaining control of its vast natural resources. As Russia re-asserts itself among the top table of countries it will increasingly drain the Anglo American focus. This is inevitably going to prove to be a problem.
The other great player in the world which no one pays much attention to is the quiet behemoth, the European Union. This now comprises 27 countries and, of course, lest we forget, includes the UK. If you consider it as an economic and political block it is the biggest and strongest in the world. However no one has seriously suggested that it sees itself in this way. At the moment it is either Hydra, the mythical beast with many heads and one writhing body or Sisyphus, one of the Titans condemned to push a stone up a hill that everlastingly rolled back down again in unceasing but fruitless labor.
Presently the European Union’s biggest problem is its genuine lack of transparency and democratic answerability. The EU hierarchy’s lack of responsiveness to the no votes against the proposed Lisbon Treaty demonstrates their inability to understand or empathize with the European people.
But all it will take is one charismatic leader who can combine the people’s common dreams and aspirations. Hopefully this will be a democratic and not follow the previous proponents of such a combination of European power, which included Hitler and Napoleon and many Emperors of Rome. In the end all had the same flaw that it is very hard, if not impossible to create a power bloc of component parts without central authority being exerted by a very small controlling force.
We need to re-think how we work with the Russians and our fellow Europeans rather than ignore these new realities and America in particular has to figure out to react before they are forced to reconsider their strategies. America was at its most powerful after the Second World War all the way through to the trauma of 9/11. America was also at its most magnanimous during that period and now it must return to a policy of listening as well as talking.
The UK should return to its post war role of being the political, cultural and sometimes economic bridge between Europe and America, understanding both places better than either understands the other.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tribulations
I feel I should apologize. Several times a week I write another blog, mainly regarding entertainment at http://tonyklinger.blogspot.co.uk I am also on the run to a meeting in the City of London and situations like this mean that I try to write my companion piece here on days like this, in a lighter, briefer style. The reasoning is that it would be easier and less complicated. The trouble is that there has been hardly one day during the recent past in which nothing of consequence has happened.
Even the latest twist in our tortured judicial procedures seems trivial by comparison with the issues of the world today. Police investigating extreme crime in the UK went into meltdown yesterday. A major crime trial was halted when the judge stated that the accused had the right to know who the witnesses against him were. Up to this point it had become standard operating procedure when dealing with suspected violent criminals for the witnesses against them to be granted total anonymity. As a consequence, the man on trial had not been able to see who his accusers were and his lawyers successfully argued that it was not in the interests of justice for a conviction to be gained in this way.
This means that there can be no further anonymous witnesses and this in turn will result in convicted criminals being released on appeal on this basis, and about forty cases currently going through the courts collapsing because the witnesses will withdraw in fear for their safety and that of their families. It also equates to already convicted criminals being released on this basis. There were immediate moves made by the government to find a way to over-rule this judge’s ruling. It seems as if the judiciary in the UK are determined to be politically correct at the cost of any common sense.
At the same time, in Southern Africa only the President of Zambia can hold his head up. He is the only leader to unequivocally condemn the tin pot dictator of nearby Zimbabwe. “ A fair election was not possible,” echoed the head of the United Nations. Mugabe called the MDC opposition leader, “a cry baby”.
Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from Friday's presidential run-off, handing victory to President Robert Mugabe. Mr. Tsvangirai said there was no point running when elections would not be free and fair and "the outcome is determined by... Mugabe himself".
He called on the global community to step in to prevent "genocide". But the ruling Zanu-PF said Mr. Tsvangirai had taken the decision to avoid "humiliation" in the poll.
The man still illegitimately claiming to be President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe is seemingly determined to go ahead with the election on Friday, despite having forced the opposition leader to withdraw from the process.
Belatedly even South Africa announced that they accepted the UN leaders comment regarding Mugabe, as the President of the ruling ANC said that they feel that Mugabe has gone out of control. The American government has also condemned the Zimbabwean leaders attempts to pretend at legitimacy. Still, no one has done anything concrete to force Mugabe out of power, and he isn’t going to volunteer to vanish. Perhaps, as distasteful as it feels, the best solution is to offer the old despot safe passage to a neutral country with some of his money and retinue and a guarantee of non-prosecution or pursuit as long as he agrees to retire. Surely anything that warranties his safe exit would be of huge benefit to the world.
Even this suffering is put into perspective when you compare it to the pain aching at the heart of the people of Somalia, already racked by civil war and now afflicted by drought and crop failure. People in this country have nothing but their unbelievable endurance and capacity to suffer. Estimates are that 2.5 million people are being given aid currently, and the situation continues to get worse.
This puts into perspective our griping at the cost of fuel, the problems with inflation and the fall in our house prices. How would we feel if we lived in Zimbabwe and had no democracy, the threat of violence and a lack of everything? Or, heaven forbid, in Somalia, where your only means of transportation might be your feet, and you have no food, hygiene or medicine.
Even the latest twist in our tortured judicial procedures seems trivial by comparison with the issues of the world today. Police investigating extreme crime in the UK went into meltdown yesterday. A major crime trial was halted when the judge stated that the accused had the right to know who the witnesses against him were. Up to this point it had become standard operating procedure when dealing with suspected violent criminals for the witnesses against them to be granted total anonymity. As a consequence, the man on trial had not been able to see who his accusers were and his lawyers successfully argued that it was not in the interests of justice for a conviction to be gained in this way.
This means that there can be no further anonymous witnesses and this in turn will result in convicted criminals being released on appeal on this basis, and about forty cases currently going through the courts collapsing because the witnesses will withdraw in fear for their safety and that of their families. It also equates to already convicted criminals being released on this basis. There were immediate moves made by the government to find a way to over-rule this judge’s ruling. It seems as if the judiciary in the UK are determined to be politically correct at the cost of any common sense.
At the same time, in Southern Africa only the President of Zambia can hold his head up. He is the only leader to unequivocally condemn the tin pot dictator of nearby Zimbabwe. “ A fair election was not possible,” echoed the head of the United Nations. Mugabe called the MDC opposition leader, “a cry baby”.
Morgan Tsvangirai withdrew from Friday's presidential run-off, handing victory to President Robert Mugabe. Mr. Tsvangirai said there was no point running when elections would not be free and fair and "the outcome is determined by... Mugabe himself".
He called on the global community to step in to prevent "genocide". But the ruling Zanu-PF said Mr. Tsvangirai had taken the decision to avoid "humiliation" in the poll.
The man still illegitimately claiming to be President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe is seemingly determined to go ahead with the election on Friday, despite having forced the opposition leader to withdraw from the process.
Belatedly even South Africa announced that they accepted the UN leaders comment regarding Mugabe, as the President of the ruling ANC said that they feel that Mugabe has gone out of control. The American government has also condemned the Zimbabwean leaders attempts to pretend at legitimacy. Still, no one has done anything concrete to force Mugabe out of power, and he isn’t going to volunteer to vanish. Perhaps, as distasteful as it feels, the best solution is to offer the old despot safe passage to a neutral country with some of his money and retinue and a guarantee of non-prosecution or pursuit as long as he agrees to retire. Surely anything that warranties his safe exit would be of huge benefit to the world.
Even this suffering is put into perspective when you compare it to the pain aching at the heart of the people of Somalia, already racked by civil war and now afflicted by drought and crop failure. People in this country have nothing but their unbelievable endurance and capacity to suffer. Estimates are that 2.5 million people are being given aid currently, and the situation continues to get worse.
This puts into perspective our griping at the cost of fuel, the problems with inflation and the fall in our house prices. How would we feel if we lived in Zimbabwe and had no democracy, the threat of violence and a lack of everything? Or, heaven forbid, in Somalia, where your only means of transportation might be your feet, and you have no food, hygiene or medicine.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Greatness
Shakespeare wrote, “But be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” Many people are very good at what they do, but never attain greatness. Greatness is a term handed out with too much ease at present. An athlete runs a good race and is given the sobriquet, great, he isn’t, he’s fast, but he hasn’t earned the word great yet. Being great means that you rise above all others, to join a pantheon of giants, to actually transcend normal expectations and be exceptional, and become immortal.
Just because a footballer scores a great goal, or has a season or two in which he scores a great many, or an athlete can run a bit faster than the next person, or a cricketer hit an incoming ball despite it bouncing in front of him at 100 miles per hour it doesn’t render them great. Even the assumption of greatness by association doesn’t work. Take the example of a rainy day in London. A priest met his friend, the local vicar. They stopped to chat for a moment, and then, as they were parting, the priest said to the vicar, "by the way, Vicar, before you could settle an argument, one of my ladies in the church said I look the image of Jesus Christ.... modesty forbids me having an opinion, but do you agree?" the Vicar laughed in his colleagues face, "You.... look like the Lord? I can assure you, my parishioners are unanimous that I am the living image of Jesus."
They soon nearly came to blows and only stopped by the arrival of the local rabbi who seeing their animosity stopped to speak to his friends. They explained their argument, asking "Jesus was born of a Jewish mother rabbi so you’d be in a good position to judge which of us Rabbi, is created in the image of Jesus Christ?" the Rabbi burst into wild laughter.
" Neither of you" and continued to belly laugh. "In fact" he replied, "I KNOW I am the image of Jesus Christ.... and we can prove it!"
Both the Christian clergymen looked at each other in silence. "Go on, then, prove it!" The rabbi said,” OK, follow me." The three men walked down the backstreets of Kings Cross and eventually arrived at a very run down, seedy area.
The rabbi led the way to a particularly dilapidated house where rooms can be rented by the hour. There’s a notice by the door offering "French Lessons Upstairs" the rabbi said, "Here we go, follow me." He led them up the rickety stairs to a door, which he thumped on, and it was opened by a blonde lady in a negligee, she stared at the rabbi and proclaimed "Jesus Christ.... it's you again!!!"
There are very few greats in sport, or any other human endeavor. Strangely the very greatest of our real heroes, men like Winston Churchill, Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi all had humility in common, and this was not false modesty. A lack of humility in the immodest doesn’t make them great, it makes them louder. A celebrity once said to me, with false self deprecation, "I’m modest about my achievement” and I borrowed the line, “you’ve got a lot to be modest about.” He thought it was a compliment.
It’s the self-aggrandizement of the “I” generation. Look over here; I’m smarter, richer and more amazing than you. The fact that you say you’re great guarantees that you’re not.
Greatness is a much over used word, devalued by this over use to describe people of limited talent and no lasting claim on it. It was, I believe, Winston Churchill who said, “we’re all worms, I just hope to be a glow-worm”. Perhaps the lesson from this is to aim to be as good as we can be, and hope someone else might, one day, label us great.
Just because a footballer scores a great goal, or has a season or two in which he scores a great many, or an athlete can run a bit faster than the next person, or a cricketer hit an incoming ball despite it bouncing in front of him at 100 miles per hour it doesn’t render them great. Even the assumption of greatness by association doesn’t work. Take the example of a rainy day in London. A priest met his friend, the local vicar. They stopped to chat for a moment, and then, as they were parting, the priest said to the vicar, "by the way, Vicar, before you could settle an argument, one of my ladies in the church said I look the image of Jesus Christ.... modesty forbids me having an opinion, but do you agree?" the Vicar laughed in his colleagues face, "You.... look like the Lord? I can assure you, my parishioners are unanimous that I am the living image of Jesus."
They soon nearly came to blows and only stopped by the arrival of the local rabbi who seeing their animosity stopped to speak to his friends. They explained their argument, asking "Jesus was born of a Jewish mother rabbi so you’d be in a good position to judge which of us Rabbi, is created in the image of Jesus Christ?" the Rabbi burst into wild laughter.
" Neither of you" and continued to belly laugh. "In fact" he replied, "I KNOW I am the image of Jesus Christ.... and we can prove it!"
Both the Christian clergymen looked at each other in silence. "Go on, then, prove it!" The rabbi said,” OK, follow me." The three men walked down the backstreets of Kings Cross and eventually arrived at a very run down, seedy area.
The rabbi led the way to a particularly dilapidated house where rooms can be rented by the hour. There’s a notice by the door offering "French Lessons Upstairs" the rabbi said, "Here we go, follow me." He led them up the rickety stairs to a door, which he thumped on, and it was opened by a blonde lady in a negligee, she stared at the rabbi and proclaimed "Jesus Christ.... it's you again!!!"
There are very few greats in sport, or any other human endeavor. Strangely the very greatest of our real heroes, men like Winston Churchill, Jesus Christ, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi all had humility in common, and this was not false modesty. A lack of humility in the immodest doesn’t make them great, it makes them louder. A celebrity once said to me, with false self deprecation, "I’m modest about my achievement” and I borrowed the line, “you’ve got a lot to be modest about.” He thought it was a compliment.
It’s the self-aggrandizement of the “I” generation. Look over here; I’m smarter, richer and more amazing than you. The fact that you say you’re great guarantees that you’re not.
Greatness is a much over used word, devalued by this over use to describe people of limited talent and no lasting claim on it. It was, I believe, Winston Churchill who said, “we’re all worms, I just hope to be a glow-worm”. Perhaps the lesson from this is to aim to be as good as we can be, and hope someone else might, one day, label us great.
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