TheWorkaholic

My name is Tony and I am a workaholic. There you go, the first step is the big one, the admission that there is something wrong with me. Now I’ve gone that far I guess I should explain myself.

A couple of days back I made the declaration that I was not going to post a blog until the middle of the week and all would be explained at that time. This is now the time to take that next step.

I consider myself a person of moderation in most things, except for some strongly held opinions which you have had the misfortune or otherwise to share with me in this column. I noticed that not everyone works like me, and thought that entirely natural, after all each of is built differently. In fact I think I’m lazy, and never doing enough to justify any kind of hard working description.

My grandfather Gershon worked hard, “like a donkey” my father used to say of his father. Sometimes 18 to 20 hours a day, every day for years too numerous to bear, almost dancing up and down the hard floor of his little room as a tailor’s presser in Soho’s D’arblay Street he strived to look after his family for year after year of unrelenting effort. I remember watching him as a young boy as he worked himself into his early grave. Despite his almost superhuman East European strength eventually the never-ending work took its toll on this pocket dynamo.

That was hard work, but it was my late father, Michael, who really worked hard. I never saw anyone start earlier or work later than him, and although he worked with his brain and not his brawn it was no less hard. Of course they also had something else in common, these two wonderful men who were so different in many ways; they both died too early.

So when my wife, kids, friends and even strangers started to tell me I was working too hard I, being the son of my father, at first took no notice. To me writing a book or a blog or working on a film script is pleasure, not pain. It just doesn’t seem like work. A phone call about a deal is like a stroll in the park, and doing a bit of research on the net or handling my e-mails is mostly fun and a pleasure. I’m happy working on my laptop during the evening. I am keen to be in contact on my BlackBerry most of the time.

Then it dawned on my, I have become a workaholic, I never stop working, or thinking about work, or writing, or doing deals. This became obvious to me when I intentionally cut back on my workload and felt withdrawal symptoms that were almost physical.

As a result I decided to see if I could turn off all my machinery before and after office hours and to intentionally not post these columns for a couple of days.

The world didn’t come to an end, it still revolves, and apart from a few kind souls worrying if I was OK because they had come to anticipate my columns every day, everyone and everything survived.

This has taught me to attempt the previously impossible, to try and do a little less working and a little more living. I trust you will all agree that this is the right way for a now admitted workaholic to go.

I suspect that I am not alone as a workaholic; I think that there are people reading this column who could learn from some of my mistakes and who would benefit from a spot of rest and recreation. Spoil yourselves; you’re only on this planet a very brief time.

नोनेव्स्तोदय!

I have decided not to write any blogs until the middle of the week. All will be explained then and I apologize to any of you that look forward to my taking my head and using it as a battering ram.

See you soon!

ThePalinReaction

The reaction to Sarah Palin’s speech when she accepted the Republican Party’s nomination for the role of Vice President was even bigger than that given to her Presidential running mate, John McCain, when he appeared in front of his convention and a TV audience of 39 million. This slightly exceeded the number of television viewers that Obama attracted and validates the view that this election is still too close to call.

Certainly my mailbag reflected a very lively debate taking place on this election across America and finding its way across the pond. The Presidential race has taken off after the electrifying introduction of Sarah Palin.

Many of my correspondents adopted the stance that, because I rated Palin’s speech so highly I obviously rate her as highly. Well, the truth is I don’t know any more about her than any of you and it’s way too early to make a proper judgment, either way. It wouldn’t be possible to say she’s the best thing since sliced bread, but equally the liberal media’s attempt to paint her as the devil incarnate is absurd.

Some of you agree that this media bias exists but what was clear is how polarized American opinion is over who the next President will be. It is more super charged and heated than political choice usually is from my liberal left leaning friends, and I wonder if that’s because they are beginning to realize that this election is not going to be the walkover they had been anticipating.

As a foreigner I should maintain the strict public neutrality that I suggest should be the role of the American media. To that end we shall revisit these themes as the election unfolds. It is sad that serious debate should be so obviously trivialized by both sides and their supporters but if you look back into history this has always been the case. It’s just more evident now.

What should happen now is that there should be public and open debate through which we should learn more about the candidates and their true personalities. I am concerned that the spin-doctors are so busy managing events that we might not get to do so. In the UK we recently had an election for the Mayor of London, won by a Conservative maverick, Boris Johnson. He could almost be the British political son of John McCain; his spin-doctors were able to get him elected whilst stage-managing his campaign to avoid his ever saying anything. I wonder if the British Conservatives and American Republicans are lending each other their political playbook?

If that is the case we can anticipate McCain and Obama will keep the campaigns general whilst the respective Vice-Presidential candidates slug it out on the detail. I think that would be a big mistake for Obama. He needs to let us know what he aims to do, and how he’s going to do it. It is becoming obvious that the American public already trusts the honor of McCain, even if they don’t necessarily agree with his politics, whereas the voters admire Obama, his oratory and his ability as a Professor and machine politician, but there is not a long history of great orators or Professors or machine politicians winning the Presidency.

Everything should be in favor of the Democratic Party after Iraq, George W Bush’s perceived failures and a faltering economy, which makes it even more surprising that McCain is simply not fading away.

SarahPalin

Sarah Palin made her speech accepting the Republican Party’s nomination for the role of Vice President. Not only was she able to deflect the mounting criticism of her being selected, she was triumphantly good. Watching this woman it is hard to believe that she had only served as Governor of Alaska for less than two years and prior to that for a few years as Mayor of a tiny town in that state.

With the media speculating that the McCain camp has made a dreadful mistake following several revelations regarding Governor Palin's past, some might have thought the 44-year-old, mother of five would adopt a low key, defensive tone, but this was not to be.

Governor Palin provided a suitably dramatic close to the third day of the Republican National Convention by coming out swinging at Barack Obama and the media whilst promoting her own small-town and gubernatorial government experience. She very effectively made the point that she and McCain have executive experience whereas Obama does not.

Sarah Palin was already known to be a tenacious fighter amongst the people of her Alaskan home state, and now the rest of the world has witnessed her feisty resolve live and in action. Her style was devastating, steely and barbed resolve delivered with a charming smile. Her intentions and style were clear, when, in a particularly pointed early barb, attacked Senator Obama's past as a community organizer in Chicago. She made him and this occupation sound silly and unnecessary.

"Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown," she said. "And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves. I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities."

In a classic 'when life hands you lemons' routine, Governor Palin chose to address the media frenzy surrounding her family head on. With her own daughter's pregnancy underscoring the differences in policy preference. But the Palins have insisted that they are proud of Bristol's decision to go through with the pregnancy, rather than have an abortion, as Governor Palin is extremely pro-life. Her recently having a Down’s syndrome baby just a few months ago, which she proudly shared with the world rather than hiding further evidences this.

On the subject of the media coverage of Sarah Palin we should contrast their attempts to make her seem a far right wing, Christian lunatic getting way too close to the nuclear trigger to their cloying, sycophantic, syrupy coverage of Barack Obama. This is bias writ large and it has crossed the Atlantic and is evident in the BBC, who adores the man from Chicago and clearly despise the woman from Alaska.

In her speech, she also addressed several of her other supposed weak points, each time turning them all into positives.

Addressing the negative media hype she has generated, she said:

"I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone. But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion -- I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country."

Although some have pointed to Palin’s Washington DC inexperience as a weakness, she cleverly framed it as a net positive, claiming a history as a reformer.

" I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau, when I stood up to the special interests, and the lobbyists, and the Big Oil companies, and the good-old boys."

But the man with a bull’s eye on his chest was Obama, for whom she reserved her strongest attacks. "It's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs, but not a single major law or reform, not even in the state Senate. This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting and never use the word 'victory' except when he's talking about his own campaign."

After pointing to Obama's soaring oratory and over dramatic setting at the Democratic National Convention, she asked, "What exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer -- the answer is to make government bigger, and take more of your money, and give you more orders from Washington, and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world.

America needs more energy; our opponent is against producing it. Victory in Iraq is finally in sight, and he wants to forfeit it. Terrorist states are seeking nuclear weapons without delay; he wants to meet them without preconditions. Al Qaeda terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America, and he's worried that someone won't read them their rights."

At the conclusion of her triumphant speech, Senator McCain joined her on stage and asked, "Don't you think we made the right choice for the next vice president of the United States?"

The crowd cheered in response, clearly energized by Palin's forceful tone and no-nonsense approach. On a night in which Republicans formally nominated Senator McCain, the party platform suddenly seems more coherent than it has in months.

Within moments of the evening's curtain drop, the Obama campaign issued their statement about Governor Palin's address:

"The speech that Governor Palin gave was well delivered, but it was written by George Bush's speechwriter and sounds exactly like the same divisive, partisan attacks we've heard from George Bush for the last eight years."

Here’s a newsflash for the Obama campaign staff, every one of us knows that all major political speeches in the USA are written by professional speechwriters. We are aware that this was also the case with the speech of Sarah Palin, but she captured our imagination and made the Republican spirit soar. She tailored the speech to fit both her mouth and soul, and that clearly found an echo with her party and possibly America.

It’s amazing to think that but for some twist of fate almost none of us would have ever heard of this woman. After this speech, which she seemed born to deliver, I think its fair to forecast that Sarah Palin might well be a national figure for the rest of her life.

OptingInToOptingOut

In the UK there are over 7,000 people currently on the active waiting list for donor organ transplants, and that number grows about 8% each year.

It is proposed that, in future, instead of the current system whereby people must opt into donating their organs, they will have to opt out. In other words they will have to carry a card stating that they don’t want their organs donated when they die and not the other way around.

Every year almost 1,000 people die either while on the list, or having become so ill they are no longer able to withstand transplant surgery.

Nevertheless, some intensive care doctors state that they are deeply concerned about this radical change to the law on organ donation.

It was Prime Minister Gordon Brown who politically led this call to change to the opt out system called presumed consent. A UK-wide government taskforce is due to report in the next few months.

A BBC poll of adults across the UK showed support for this idea running at two thirds - but intensive care doctors are more divided.

The Intensive Care Society says it has research suggesting that many specialists are worried such a move might damage the trust between patients, their families and doctors.

Kevin Gunning, a consultant at Addenbrooke's hospital in Cambridge carried out a survey of specialists for the society. The 125 responses from doctors around the UK shows that their opinion is evenly divided.

Some of the doctors polled express the concern that presumed consent might instill doubts in patients and relatives about a potential conflict of interest. I believe this is a genuine concern that has not been thought through.

Mr. Gunning said: "In intensive care patients are often admitted suddenly and the families have to comes to terms very quickly with the fact that someone may not survive. It is very important in this situation that we have their trust, that we are doing is going to be in the best interests of that patient."

Whilst Gunning strongly supports the principle of organ donation, he believes the consideration of presumed consent is premature.

"The trouble is we live in a society where people are very much worried about the interference of the state. I think you would find that families would view this as taking the organs - and that would create a tension."

The statistics are that about one third of patients who enter intensive care don’t make it to the exit door, dying before they can leave. The generally accepted argument goes that their deaths have the potential to benefit patients on the transplant waiting list.

Personally, however hard I try to reconcile my instincts to do good with my reluctance to donate my organs I can’t get over my reticence. I shall be one of those people, if this new law is successfully launched, to carry a card saying leave my body alone.

My reasons are primal; I want to go out of the world just as I came into it, with nothing, not less than nothing. In light of this decision I have been trying my best to wear everything out in my body so no one would possibly want anything I’ve got and that way we’ll all be fine with my decision.

However, I’m already worried that one day, as I’m lying there dying, some medic will look at my anti donor card and, out of spite, because we don’t agree politically; will let me die. I do empathize with the well-intentioned motives behind this proposal but not the coercion implicit in the way our nanny state seeks to impose their moral perception on us all. No one voted to give them that right.

BearskinHats

This week saw the launch of yet another attempt by the PC brigade to control the UK. They saw fit to demand that the bearskins worn on the heads of the Guards regiments when on formal duty in London should be replaced by fake fur alternatives.

It doesn’t matter to these do gooders that these bearskins come from bears that had died naturally or from road accidents, and is not risking the lives of a single bear. No, the army, who have used this bear fur for hundreds of years, should stop this tradition, why, because the PC Nazis have instructed them to do so. It proves you don’t need logic when you can shout very loudly and make a placard.

At stake is the traditional and iconic sight of changing the guard at Buckingham Palace with the lofty splendor of the glossy crest of black fur worn proudly by the Queen's soldiers.

The PC brigade want to replace the 200-year-old traditional bearskin helmets, worn by the guards on ceremonial duty at the royal residence in London, with a designer, humane alternative preferably made from synthetic materials.

Baroness Taylor, the minister for defense procurement, will meet some of the activists from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) to discuss their proposal to phase out the 18-inch bearskin headgear. The bearskins have been a target of animal rights groups for many years, as a highly visible garment made from the fur of Canadian black bears.

Logic has no part in how such debates are conducted when you are politically correct. Ask yourself if these guardians of our morals and ethics were paragons of virtue, as they would have you believe. It is certainly not beyond the realm of possibility for some of the same people to smoke a joint or sniff some cocaine. Such folk always blithely claim that there’s no harm to anyone else by their smoking or sniffing without thinking for a second about the gangsters and terrorists who use the money they raise from such addictions to blight the lives of us all.

We live in a very strange society when drugs are acceptable but bearskin hats are not. It’s precisely the same bloated, lazy and crazy reverse logic that sees only wrong in using animals for testing medical advances whilst seeing nothing wrong in attacking the scientists and workers conducting these sometimes vital tests. By their type of thinking you can hurt people but not animals. In this instance even the fur from dead animals must not be used.

If we were seeking to ban anything it should be the buffoons of Peta and all their fellow travelers. The world would be a better place.

RepublicanConventions

The Republican Convention was supposed to begin in St. Paul yesterday. In fact it did, but you might have missed it since John McCain had decided that there would be nothing political in the first day’s business. This is a pretty odd decision in light of the fact that it is a political convention, and what else, other than politics do you do at a convention?

On the plus side it was also decided that the President and Vice-President were not going to attend the convention. This probably helps the election chances of McCain who probably hopes that George W. Bush stays well away.

The reason for these decisions was the fact that there was a very big storm threatening New Orleans and discretion got the better part of valor on this occasion. It seems that this circumspect approach goes against all the natural instincts of McCain, but maybe John is not as gung ho as everyone has described. It might be, that unlike George W. Bush, he sometimes does engage his brain before acting.

It is also curious that McCain had known that Sarah Plain’s 17-year-old unmarried daughter was pregnant when he selected the Governor of Alaska as his running mate nevertheless. Again this, absolutely human and correct decision flies in the face of the common perception of the Republican Presidential nominee. It also means that his running mate is perhaps not the cardboard cut out Annie Oakley as has been characterized. We just don’t know enough about any of the candidate teams, with the exception of Joe Biden, who has said so much on so many issues he could take some bench time to let someone else talk.

Obama, despite his sweeping, stirring oratory is still something of an enigma to the world. Is he also more of a pragmatic, populist politician and less of a genuine conviction leader from the front?

The reason for the candidates’ true selves being obscured is that both sides have reduced the packaging of the Presidential candidates to new lows. Reality is hopelessly submerged in sound bites and cotton candy, and oh so white teeth in fixed smiles.

Guys we know you love your families, you had it tough and you really care, now show us, where’s the beef?

Now that the worst of the hurricane happily bypassed New Orleans with relatively little damage does this mean that the convention will be re-launched as a joyous coronation like the Democratic version last week?

In the rest of the world we are fascinated by these bizarre convention events, and although we can and do pick holes in these American set piece traditions we also envy and enjoy their verve, excitement and gaudy celebration of democracy.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Obama felt able to debate McCain in the full view of the American public so that we could see who these people really are, what they truly believe and how they react on their feet to pressure?

The world deserves to know who these men really are and what they believe in. If we had some idea of these answers we might be able to figure out whom to support other than by tribal allegiance to a political party.