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.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Friday, August 8, 2008
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.
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.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
HealthChecks
The worst and most uncivilized aspect of the USA, a country that many of us hugely admire and love, is the almost total lack of health protection it affords its vulnerable citizens.
In the UK we complain about the standard and timeliness of the care we receive as by right. My fellow British citizens cannot imagine how much worse this situation would be for them if there were no such care provided.
The number of people who drop through the health insurance net in the States is alarming. Many folk, when they get more mature, face an uncertain health future, just when they need it most.
I have an American friend who has to take medication costing him over $1,200 (£600) per month. Put this in context, I also have to take regular prescriptions and in the UK this costs me $15 (£7.20) per month.
Surely a very significant measure of a society’s civilization is how well it looks after its sick and infirm, by this measure America disgraces itself.
Many Americans have the mistaken belief that we all therefore are compelled to use the social medicine, which is free to all at the point of need. This is not the case. We also have a very large and parallel private medical system, available if you want to pay for it. This operates on a totally commercial basis and to obtain these services you need money or insurance, just like our American cousins.
British private medical costs are expensive, but not nearly as costly as America. However, to afford it comfortably you really do need to pay for medical insurance or major treatment could ruin all but the richest patient customer.
Maintaining good health insurance cover is very important if you can afford it, but we all know this becomes ever more unattainable and expensive as premiums increase as you get older. In Britain take a look at forming or joining a group plan which can very substantially decrease the cost of this premium.
An easy and obvious precaution is to look after your body; it never ceases to astonish me when people don’t. You only have the one body and you need it to work as well as it can.
At least once a year try and make sure you give your body a medical check up. You do this for your car if you have any sense, so do it for your own body.
Your bits need to be maintained or they might drop off or cease to function well or at all. The best of these check ups are provided by the big health care providers and health insurance companies.
In my own experience I have every reason to recommend such check ups. I am alive because of these simple precautions. A small irregularity showed up in one of my blood tests. I was called back in to see the doctor who referred me to a specialist. One thing very quickly led to another and before I knew it I was given a colonoscopy which led to the instant, and might I add painless, removal of a polyp. It transpired that this was pre-cancerous. The specialist sat me down and said that cases like mine made his career worthwhile. He told me that had I not discovered the problem I would, eventually have had inoperable bowel cancer. As it was I now had no problem whatsoever. What price that check up?
I recommend that you also have a full body scan every 3 or 4 years. This is a bit costly but its money very well spent. The scanner is extremely sensitive and picks up the very beginnings of medical problems. Watch out for special deals on this service that seem to appear at fairly regular intervals. In the case of my family we found some small issues that, because we were forewarned, should never become big issues.
Nothing, not the diet, exercise or regular health checks will stop you getting ill. However it might help you get through it. I complained to a doctor that it was unfair that I had just suffered a bad bit of health despite my looking after myself, his response was revealing, “if you weren’t so fit you would have died, as it is you survived and now can continue living an active life, so keep the good lifestyle going!”
We can’t keep the clock from turning but we can and should look after ourselves.
In the UK we complain about the standard and timeliness of the care we receive as by right. My fellow British citizens cannot imagine how much worse this situation would be for them if there were no such care provided.
The number of people who drop through the health insurance net in the States is alarming. Many folk, when they get more mature, face an uncertain health future, just when they need it most.
I have an American friend who has to take medication costing him over $1,200 (£600) per month. Put this in context, I also have to take regular prescriptions and in the UK this costs me $15 (£7.20) per month.
Surely a very significant measure of a society’s civilization is how well it looks after its sick and infirm, by this measure America disgraces itself.
Many Americans have the mistaken belief that we all therefore are compelled to use the social medicine, which is free to all at the point of need. This is not the case. We also have a very large and parallel private medical system, available if you want to pay for it. This operates on a totally commercial basis and to obtain these services you need money or insurance, just like our American cousins.
British private medical costs are expensive, but not nearly as costly as America. However, to afford it comfortably you really do need to pay for medical insurance or major treatment could ruin all but the richest patient customer.
Maintaining good health insurance cover is very important if you can afford it, but we all know this becomes ever more unattainable and expensive as premiums increase as you get older. In Britain take a look at forming or joining a group plan which can very substantially decrease the cost of this premium.
An easy and obvious precaution is to look after your body; it never ceases to astonish me when people don’t. You only have the one body and you need it to work as well as it can.
At least once a year try and make sure you give your body a medical check up. You do this for your car if you have any sense, so do it for your own body.
Your bits need to be maintained or they might drop off or cease to function well or at all. The best of these check ups are provided by the big health care providers and health insurance companies.
In my own experience I have every reason to recommend such check ups. I am alive because of these simple precautions. A small irregularity showed up in one of my blood tests. I was called back in to see the doctor who referred me to a specialist. One thing very quickly led to another and before I knew it I was given a colonoscopy which led to the instant, and might I add painless, removal of a polyp. It transpired that this was pre-cancerous. The specialist sat me down and said that cases like mine made his career worthwhile. He told me that had I not discovered the problem I would, eventually have had inoperable bowel cancer. As it was I now had no problem whatsoever. What price that check up?
I recommend that you also have a full body scan every 3 or 4 years. This is a bit costly but its money very well spent. The scanner is extremely sensitive and picks up the very beginnings of medical problems. Watch out for special deals on this service that seem to appear at fairly regular intervals. In the case of my family we found some small issues that, because we were forewarned, should never become big issues.
Nothing, not the diet, exercise or regular health checks will stop you getting ill. However it might help you get through it. I complained to a doctor that it was unfair that I had just suffered a bad bit of health despite my looking after myself, his response was revealing, “if you weren’t so fit you would have died, as it is you survived and now can continue living an active life, so keep the good lifestyle going!”
We can’t keep the clock from turning but we can and should look after ourselves.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
GettingOn
Shakespeare’s words are still as current in today’s world as they were when he wrote them, “Age, I do abhor thee, youth, I do adore thee.”
If we are lucky we will all get older. One of the indignities of the ageing process is that bits tend to drop off, sag or simply malfunction. This is the modern take on Shakespeare’s seven ages of man, and we’re at number six. That means we are on the slippery slope, which is pretty bad, but nothing compared with what is sure to come when the teeth, eyes, gums, bladder and brain start to give out. If this is not yet happening to you it is, for sure, happening to people you care about, be it parents, grand parents or just someone you like or love. Help them to look after themselves.
Right now it feels like we should have a party just for waking up. A prize should be given to the old fart who can remember his name and a bonus given for sitting down without that noise coming out of our mouths, the sigh of contentment that reminds us how much like our parents and grand parents we really are.
It’s a special, secret joy to hear the list of ailments of friends who have a more extensive collection than you. This is not because you’re mean and nasty but rather, because this reflects the honest emotion that you’re just a little bit less unhappy than the other poor bastard.
My dad used to say that it was truly horrible to consider all the indignities of old age until you consider the alternative.
Is there anything we can do about the results of the advancing years?
Well, there are some deficiencies you can do nothing about. Your eyes will dim with the passage of time, your body does change and your memory will simply not operate in the same way it did when you were younger. However there are methods to deal with all of this.
The first and most important thing to do is to take some care of you. It is truly vital that even if you don’t have to do anything you should keep yourself busy. It’s just as vital to exercise your brain as any other part of your body. You must keep your mind active, it’s vital.
Nothing can replace a healthy diet and regular exercise. A healthy diet does not necessarily mean less food, but it should mean more of the right balance of food.
Exercise should means different things to us at different ages throughout our lives. When we’re small kids its about coordination, learning about team games, and how to contribute. It should be about fun and taking part. Recently a friend gave me pictures of myself in the under 11 boxing and football teams at Holland House school in Edgware. We both remember the time we spent taking part with enormous pleasure. I loved all the sport I was encouraged to do, except working out how to climb a rope in the gymnasium. Although I was about 8 at the time, I knew that it was physically impossible for me to take my body straight up a rope so why bother?
Next comes the stage when your body is naturally pretty fit and taking its strong adolescent shape. Now you compete and the harder the better. You learn to win and, perhaps more important, how to handle losing. Then you reach bodily maturity and you are competing because you want to. You’re enjoying the experience, and the benefits of taking part. In England we have lost some of this spirit but still do well enough to prove we haven’t lost all our fighting sprit part of which comes, I am convinced, from the playing fields of our youth.
There is another, not much discussed period after this, when you’re in your thirties. This is when you begin to fully understand your physical limitations but still get a ton of pleasure from taking part. Perhaps you are more suited to individual sporting pursuits rather than team sports. The latter now becomes more difficult to play except within your own age group. When you get injured it takes progressively longer to recover, and it also takes a little bit longer to get your wind back and for your heart rate to drop back to its resting norm.
Personally I played fairly competitive football until my mid to late thirties, and really enjoyed the experience until the injuries were taking forever to heal. There was then a big gap as I searched for something to replace the pleasure I had enjoyed. Eventually, and against my better judgment I was introduced to running (more like jogging) when I was in my early forties. This was also the time I quit smoking, which is probably just as well, as I would have probably killed myself had I tried to do both. The running, with gaps every so often, continued for many years. I started doing this purely for fitness but over an extended period it became an immensely enjoyable experience.
I suppose the first thing to go from the too constant pounding was my knees. They started to ache, and then, as if in sympathy, so did my feet. I developed strange aches and pains that wouldn’t stop until I stopped running. During this period I was introduced to exercise videos, and much to my amazement I enjoyed working out, despite the fact that I’d never enjoyed the gym. Now I happily work out about 4 to 6 times a week to some rather vicious Australian ladies on Sky Sports. Believe me their mix of aerobics, Pilates and outright sadism does the trick!
A great many of my friends and relatives do none of the above. They don’t exercise or have regular check ups and they would argue that they are just as fit and well as anyone else. Of course this is possible, but we are looking at probabilities. It is certainly true that regular exercise, a good diet and regular check ups will benefit the majority and anyone who says different is stupid, they might get lucky, but they’ll still be stupid!
If we are lucky we will all get older. One of the indignities of the ageing process is that bits tend to drop off, sag or simply malfunction. This is the modern take on Shakespeare’s seven ages of man, and we’re at number six. That means we are on the slippery slope, which is pretty bad, but nothing compared with what is sure to come when the teeth, eyes, gums, bladder and brain start to give out. If this is not yet happening to you it is, for sure, happening to people you care about, be it parents, grand parents or just someone you like or love. Help them to look after themselves.
Right now it feels like we should have a party just for waking up. A prize should be given to the old fart who can remember his name and a bonus given for sitting down without that noise coming out of our mouths, the sigh of contentment that reminds us how much like our parents and grand parents we really are.
It’s a special, secret joy to hear the list of ailments of friends who have a more extensive collection than you. This is not because you’re mean and nasty but rather, because this reflects the honest emotion that you’re just a little bit less unhappy than the other poor bastard.
My dad used to say that it was truly horrible to consider all the indignities of old age until you consider the alternative.
Is there anything we can do about the results of the advancing years?
Well, there are some deficiencies you can do nothing about. Your eyes will dim with the passage of time, your body does change and your memory will simply not operate in the same way it did when you were younger. However there are methods to deal with all of this.
The first and most important thing to do is to take some care of you. It is truly vital that even if you don’t have to do anything you should keep yourself busy. It’s just as vital to exercise your brain as any other part of your body. You must keep your mind active, it’s vital.
Nothing can replace a healthy diet and regular exercise. A healthy diet does not necessarily mean less food, but it should mean more of the right balance of food.
Exercise should means different things to us at different ages throughout our lives. When we’re small kids its about coordination, learning about team games, and how to contribute. It should be about fun and taking part. Recently a friend gave me pictures of myself in the under 11 boxing and football teams at Holland House school in Edgware. We both remember the time we spent taking part with enormous pleasure. I loved all the sport I was encouraged to do, except working out how to climb a rope in the gymnasium. Although I was about 8 at the time, I knew that it was physically impossible for me to take my body straight up a rope so why bother?
Next comes the stage when your body is naturally pretty fit and taking its strong adolescent shape. Now you compete and the harder the better. You learn to win and, perhaps more important, how to handle losing. Then you reach bodily maturity and you are competing because you want to. You’re enjoying the experience, and the benefits of taking part. In England we have lost some of this spirit but still do well enough to prove we haven’t lost all our fighting sprit part of which comes, I am convinced, from the playing fields of our youth.
There is another, not much discussed period after this, when you’re in your thirties. This is when you begin to fully understand your physical limitations but still get a ton of pleasure from taking part. Perhaps you are more suited to individual sporting pursuits rather than team sports. The latter now becomes more difficult to play except within your own age group. When you get injured it takes progressively longer to recover, and it also takes a little bit longer to get your wind back and for your heart rate to drop back to its resting norm.
Personally I played fairly competitive football until my mid to late thirties, and really enjoyed the experience until the injuries were taking forever to heal. There was then a big gap as I searched for something to replace the pleasure I had enjoyed. Eventually, and against my better judgment I was introduced to running (more like jogging) when I was in my early forties. This was also the time I quit smoking, which is probably just as well, as I would have probably killed myself had I tried to do both. The running, with gaps every so often, continued for many years. I started doing this purely for fitness but over an extended period it became an immensely enjoyable experience.
I suppose the first thing to go from the too constant pounding was my knees. They started to ache, and then, as if in sympathy, so did my feet. I developed strange aches and pains that wouldn’t stop until I stopped running. During this period I was introduced to exercise videos, and much to my amazement I enjoyed working out, despite the fact that I’d never enjoyed the gym. Now I happily work out about 4 to 6 times a week to some rather vicious Australian ladies on Sky Sports. Believe me their mix of aerobics, Pilates and outright sadism does the trick!
A great many of my friends and relatives do none of the above. They don’t exercise or have regular check ups and they would argue that they are just as fit and well as anyone else. Of course this is possible, but we are looking at probabilities. It is certainly true that regular exercise, a good diet and regular check ups will benefit the majority and anyone who says different is stupid, they might get lucky, but they’ll still be stupid!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
SpeedTraps
As we’ve noted before in our blog this is the news silly season. Nothing is supposed to happen in the dog days of summer, but this year, despite government being on vacation along with much else, there is still too much to write about.
It’s hard to ignore the bane of every British person’s life, automatic camera ticketing for speeding cars. It surfaced today that the number of fines issued via this system has increased by 400% over the last decade.
This column is not seeking exoneration for all the people who have been photographed while driving too fast, but that is not the point.
No doubt, if there were a camera at every single corner there would be even more speeding tickets issued. But we’re not supposed to be living in a police state and this camera proliferation just isn’t necessary unless the purpose is to punish and browbeat us all into blind obedience.
About ten years ago, speed cameras started to proliferate as if they were the illegitimate metal children of the politically correct. We were told that these cameras were being put in position purely to reduce the accident rate. We were also informed that all the money collected would be spent helping to improve road safety.
The latter has been interpreted to mean that all the money collected would be used to buy yet more cameras to be put in place to fine drivers yet more money to be used to buy more cameras. In the end this small island will be covered in cameras!
The authorities still claim that there has been a concomitant decrease in accidents due to these cameras, but the link is not proven to this writer’s satisfaction. Let’s all see the forensic evidence. If there is a link let’s have a further study that demonstrates the second part of this contentious argument in which more cameras will provably result in even less accidents. If we were to accept this specious argument there must be some point at which we could eliminate all accidents? I don’t believe this and neither, seriously, can anyone else.
We are informed that these cameras are collecting fines on nearly 2,000,000 (two million) speeding tickets a year. This amounts to penalties of more than £106,000,000 ($210 million) each year via camera. This equates to a quadruple increase over the last decade in which the Labour party has been in power in the UK. Is it yet another example of unproven politically correct dogma that blights our lives?
The Conservative party opposition spokesman, David Ruffley, correctly stated that the government is “treating motorists like cash cows.” He went on to state, “The number of tickets issued for speeding has increased 150% under Labour.”
Revenue from speeding tickets has almost quadrupled to £200 a minute since Labour came to power.
The increase has coincided with a massive expansion in the number of speed cameras
Home Office figures reveal that 1.8million tickets are being issued each year, or 4,850 a day. In 1997, only 713,000 fixed penalty notices were handed to drivers.
This is an increase of 150 per cent in only a decade, and it has been compounded by an increase in the value of fines - from £40 to £ 60 - in 2000.
'Coupled with an increase in the basic speeding fine, this means speeding tickets are now raising over £100 million a year for the Government.
'Ministers need to tell us what they are doing with this £100million a year taken from motorists.
'How much is actually put back into practical road safety that does not involve speed cameras?
'Ministers' failure to answer that question confirms the view that for this Government the British motorist is "a nice little earner".
'Is Labour using speeding tickets just to raise revenue rather than making our roads safer?
'Using speed cameras as a cash cow undermines public confidence. The Government needs to rethink ways of improving road safety, including cracking down on uninsured drivers.'
His questions and ours remain unanswered. Meanwhile this intentional and constant attempt to trap everyone speeding will result in every one of us eventually falling foul of the all embracing system, rendering it all meaningless. Surely, when we all break a law it must be time to change that law.
It’s hard to ignore the bane of every British person’s life, automatic camera ticketing for speeding cars. It surfaced today that the number of fines issued via this system has increased by 400% over the last decade.
This column is not seeking exoneration for all the people who have been photographed while driving too fast, but that is not the point.
No doubt, if there were a camera at every single corner there would be even more speeding tickets issued. But we’re not supposed to be living in a police state and this camera proliferation just isn’t necessary unless the purpose is to punish and browbeat us all into blind obedience.
About ten years ago, speed cameras started to proliferate as if they were the illegitimate metal children of the politically correct. We were told that these cameras were being put in position purely to reduce the accident rate. We were also informed that all the money collected would be spent helping to improve road safety.
The latter has been interpreted to mean that all the money collected would be used to buy yet more cameras to be put in place to fine drivers yet more money to be used to buy more cameras. In the end this small island will be covered in cameras!
The authorities still claim that there has been a concomitant decrease in accidents due to these cameras, but the link is not proven to this writer’s satisfaction. Let’s all see the forensic evidence. If there is a link let’s have a further study that demonstrates the second part of this contentious argument in which more cameras will provably result in even less accidents. If we were to accept this specious argument there must be some point at which we could eliminate all accidents? I don’t believe this and neither, seriously, can anyone else.
We are informed that these cameras are collecting fines on nearly 2,000,000 (two million) speeding tickets a year. This amounts to penalties of more than £106,000,000 ($210 million) each year via camera. This equates to a quadruple increase over the last decade in which the Labour party has been in power in the UK. Is it yet another example of unproven politically correct dogma that blights our lives?
The Conservative party opposition spokesman, David Ruffley, correctly stated that the government is “treating motorists like cash cows.” He went on to state, “The number of tickets issued for speeding has increased 150% under Labour.”
Revenue from speeding tickets has almost quadrupled to £200 a minute since Labour came to power.
The increase has coincided with a massive expansion in the number of speed cameras
Home Office figures reveal that 1.8million tickets are being issued each year, or 4,850 a day. In 1997, only 713,000 fixed penalty notices were handed to drivers.
This is an increase of 150 per cent in only a decade, and it has been compounded by an increase in the value of fines - from £40 to £ 60 - in 2000.
'Coupled with an increase in the basic speeding fine, this means speeding tickets are now raising over £100 million a year for the Government.
'Ministers need to tell us what they are doing with this £100million a year taken from motorists.
'How much is actually put back into practical road safety that does not involve speed cameras?
'Ministers' failure to answer that question confirms the view that for this Government the British motorist is "a nice little earner".
'Is Labour using speeding tickets just to raise revenue rather than making our roads safer?
'Using speed cameras as a cash cow undermines public confidence. The Government needs to rethink ways of improving road safety, including cracking down on uninsured drivers.'
His questions and ours remain unanswered. Meanwhile this intentional and constant attempt to trap everyone speeding will result in every one of us eventually falling foul of the all embracing system, rendering it all meaningless. Surely, when we all break a law it must be time to change that law.
Monday, August 4, 2008
CarrotsOrSticks
Do you prefer being punished for your misdemeanors or rewarded for your accomplishments? How could anyone pick the former when the latter is clearly more desirable? Wouldn’t it be better to reward so called socially responsible behavior rather than punish those who are not followers of the politically correct responses?
In the UK the politically correct thought police, otherwise known as our government, both local and national, confront us with punishment rather than inducement.
How else can we describe laws and regulations that will fine people up to £110 ($220) for overfilling your refuse bin?
Or in another part of the country, £1,000 ($2,000) for failing to properly sort your refuse as proscribed.
This madness doesn’t stop with rubbish, but goes on to charge trucks huge fines for entering the low emission zone around London. On top of this, if you have a bigger engine car you have to pay a much higher car tax. To add misery to this charge the government, in its infinite wisdom has backdated this particular legislation to include cars that are up to 6 years old.
These are sure to be ineffective green taxes on our population. You can go on but you have probably got the message.
What would happen if you were to reward the population for doing what’s commonly considered desirable, instead of punishing them for not doing so? An example of this exists in Germany where there are huge schemes in which bottle returns are really well rewarded and as a consequence almost everyone makes sure they do it. That’s one problem the Germans simply made disappear.
In parts of the USA there are payments made to residents for sorting their garbage rather than penalties levied on those that don’t do so. The companies who administer these schemes profit from running these schemes. These are schemes in which no one loses and everyone gains. Perhaps that’s why Britain’s local government doesn’t go down this enlightened path, they’re basically too socialist and petty minded.
Another myth perpetrated in the UK is that the lower the road speed limit the less accidents and fatalities. I have driven in Germany where there are many sections of roads without speed limits and the figures for accidents and fatalities are very similar to those in the UK. Yet in the UK you can’t drive anywhere for more than a short distance without car speed cameras automatically monitoring your car’s speed; why?
I have another idea for these bureaucrats who try to make parking as miserable as possible for us all. In every town in the UK there are parking charges of varying sizes almost everywhere you park your car. This has caused possibly irreversible damage to the small local shopping located in the old town center. This type of shopping has been largely replaced by the out of town supermarkets and shopping malls. One of their great advantages is their convenience, particularly the ease of parking at no charge. You could easily combine the benefits. Charge the highly profitable supermarkets a car parking tax for each space at the mall so that all of the spaces in the town could be made free of charge to the public.
Remember that from today onwards, August 4th, if you are caught in the UK, speaking on your mobile phone (not on a hands free system) whilst driving and having had an accident where someone is killed, you can be arrested, and if, at your trial you are convicted you could serve up to 7 years in jail! The regular sentence for using your mobile phone remains, a 3-point fine on your license and a very hefty financial penalty. This is one occasion in which we can all surely agree that the punishment does fit the crime.
In the UK the politically correct thought police, otherwise known as our government, both local and national, confront us with punishment rather than inducement.
How else can we describe laws and regulations that will fine people up to £110 ($220) for overfilling your refuse bin?
Or in another part of the country, £1,000 ($2,000) for failing to properly sort your refuse as proscribed.
This madness doesn’t stop with rubbish, but goes on to charge trucks huge fines for entering the low emission zone around London. On top of this, if you have a bigger engine car you have to pay a much higher car tax. To add misery to this charge the government, in its infinite wisdom has backdated this particular legislation to include cars that are up to 6 years old.
These are sure to be ineffective green taxes on our population. You can go on but you have probably got the message.
What would happen if you were to reward the population for doing what’s commonly considered desirable, instead of punishing them for not doing so? An example of this exists in Germany where there are huge schemes in which bottle returns are really well rewarded and as a consequence almost everyone makes sure they do it. That’s one problem the Germans simply made disappear.
In parts of the USA there are payments made to residents for sorting their garbage rather than penalties levied on those that don’t do so. The companies who administer these schemes profit from running these schemes. These are schemes in which no one loses and everyone gains. Perhaps that’s why Britain’s local government doesn’t go down this enlightened path, they’re basically too socialist and petty minded.
Another myth perpetrated in the UK is that the lower the road speed limit the less accidents and fatalities. I have driven in Germany where there are many sections of roads without speed limits and the figures for accidents and fatalities are very similar to those in the UK. Yet in the UK you can’t drive anywhere for more than a short distance without car speed cameras automatically monitoring your car’s speed; why?
I have another idea for these bureaucrats who try to make parking as miserable as possible for us all. In every town in the UK there are parking charges of varying sizes almost everywhere you park your car. This has caused possibly irreversible damage to the small local shopping located in the old town center. This type of shopping has been largely replaced by the out of town supermarkets and shopping malls. One of their great advantages is their convenience, particularly the ease of parking at no charge. You could easily combine the benefits. Charge the highly profitable supermarkets a car parking tax for each space at the mall so that all of the spaces in the town could be made free of charge to the public.
Remember that from today onwards, August 4th, if you are caught in the UK, speaking on your mobile phone (not on a hands free system) whilst driving and having had an accident where someone is killed, you can be arrested, and if, at your trial you are convicted you could serve up to 7 years in jail! The regular sentence for using your mobile phone remains, a 3-point fine on your license and a very hefty financial penalty. This is one occasion in which we can all surely agree that the punishment does fit the crime.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
AdoptATony
Once in a while you have to adapt to circumstances. One was my plea for adoption to Bill Gates yesterday. Despite my being an orphan, Bill has not responded with an offer. I am ready, and I would call you daddy or whatever else you’d like Bill. I’d fetch you coffee every morning, and listen respectfully to your every utterance.
Still nothing? OK, it’s plan B, I shall be looking for another adopter.
I was considering making a proposal to the Royal Family, but I’m unsure whether they would readily adopt a middle aged Jewish fellow into the family. I admit that I am not religious, but I am not too confident that I’d want to become the Defender of the Faith, especially if the faith is not my own. But we can adapt if they adopt.
Yesterday we had some of our extended family at home for a get together and it was great fun. We’re very fortunate that everyone gets on sufficiently well to want to repeat these gatherings even when it’s not an official holiday.
Today we are in a playful mood because it’s my wife’s birthday. Grandchildren and children, chocolate cakes, presents and various paraphernalia, have surrounded us and it has been great fun.
Now we’re off to my cousin’s home where the rest of my family lay in wait. We do these kinds of things as regularly as we can to keep our sense of unity alive even when there are no weddings or funerals or other obligatory functions to attend.
Similarly we arranged a Klinger gathering in California a couple of months back. No family is perfect, you can’t ask more than for them to be more than interesting.
All you really want when you discover your family’s attributes is that they are pleasant, maybe even attractive, but definitely not asking you for money!
That’s where you come in Your Majesty.
Still nothing? OK, it’s plan B, I shall be looking for another adopter.
I was considering making a proposal to the Royal Family, but I’m unsure whether they would readily adopt a middle aged Jewish fellow into the family. I admit that I am not religious, but I am not too confident that I’d want to become the Defender of the Faith, especially if the faith is not my own. But we can adapt if they adopt.
Yesterday we had some of our extended family at home for a get together and it was great fun. We’re very fortunate that everyone gets on sufficiently well to want to repeat these gatherings even when it’s not an official holiday.
Today we are in a playful mood because it’s my wife’s birthday. Grandchildren and children, chocolate cakes, presents and various paraphernalia, have surrounded us and it has been great fun.
Now we’re off to my cousin’s home where the rest of my family lay in wait. We do these kinds of things as regularly as we can to keep our sense of unity alive even when there are no weddings or funerals or other obligatory functions to attend.
Similarly we arranged a Klinger gathering in California a couple of months back. No family is perfect, you can’t ask more than for them to be more than interesting.
All you really want when you discover your family’s attributes is that they are pleasant, maybe even attractive, but definitely not asking you for money!
That’s where you come in Your Majesty.
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