Vladimir Putin, Russia’s Prime Minister and former President traveled direct from the Olympics to North Ossetia and visited his commanding generals as they invade South Ossetia and, possibly, in case you missed it, the country of Georgia.
For those of you who haven’t been following what happened so far here’s a quick refresher.
Since about 1800 the Georgians regarded Ossetia as part of their country, whereas the Russians similarly considered Georgia a province of Russia. North Ossetia is in the Russian Federation, South Ossetia is in Georgia.
South Ossetia speaks its own language, and most of its people chose to have Russian rather than Georgian passports. It’s not that they wanted to be Russian but they didn’t want to be Georgian. The result was that their tiny country has been semi autonomous for about a decade and a half.
Russia armed, encouraged and provoked their South Ossetian allies to attack the Georgians at every recent opportunity. The Georgians fell for the provocation and retaliated with much bigger scale attacks. This is exactly what the Russians were waiting for. Now they had an excuse to “protect” those with Russian passports in South Ossetia. The Russian peacekeepers of South Ossetia soon morphed into the advance forces of the Russian attack on Georgia.
The Russians have now driven the Georgians out of South Ossetia but are still attacking them in other parts of Georgia. The Georgians, now realizing their huge strategic mistake, are calling for a ceasefire, which the Russians are studiously ignoring. They are calling for the Georgians to totally withdraw from South Ossetia before they will ceasefire.
There are major repercussions that might well flow from these Russian provoked actions. Chief amongst these for the West is the breaching of the major power pipeline in Georgia. This means that there are countries that are totally reliant on that pipeline, which will now have to get their power via Russia.
Similarly there is another semi autonomous region called Abkhazia. Georgia has contended for nearly twenty years with these two regions, in Abkhazia and South Ossetia that want to control their own destiny. Both of these are supported by Russia as part of the Kremlin’s strategy to weaken Tbilisi’s authority.
The West, in particular America, has, some might say, mischievously stirred the embers of this fire. At the NATO summit in Bucharest the Americans pressed for Georgia and Ukraine’s membership of the alliance. Primarily the Germans temporarily blocked this move, but NATO still gave a commitment to offer membership to the two countries membership at some future date. Moscow saw this as a challenge to its dominance in the former Soviet republics.
Russia hasn’t been shy to make it crystal clear that it will do anything to prevent NATO’s expansion on its borders.
America and Britain have been intimately involved in providing arms and military assistance to the Georgians. The claim being that this support is in place to encourage Georgia as an independent, sovereign state.
We were also trying to protect the pipeline across Georgia that carries the crude oil from the Caspian to the Black Sea, which was the only export route bypassing Russia’s stranglehold on energy via this region.
This defeat for the Georgians might well signal the end of Mr. Saakashvili’s rule and set back Georgia’s efforts to establish itself as a modern Western-looking democracy for the foreseeable future. In any event, this small-scale war risks further undermines the already strained relations between Russia and the West. We mustn’t lose sight of the dangers of any conflict in a region like this, and that is the risk of it becoming a bigger war.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Travel
This blog is very much about travel. Allow me to congratulate Heathrow airport on some of the recent changes. Today we pulled up outside Terminal 3 and it was clean, well policed and the roads were working well. The general opening up of the entire area in front of the terminal is a tremendous improvement, long overdue, but excellent.
I parked the car in the recently finished car park for Terminal 3, and it was also clean, easy to park in and well organized. All of this, so far was terrific, and was much to my surprise, as it wasn’t always thus.
Then we went to the Virgin check in which is also hugely enhanced by the widening of the area, which makes it feel much less crowded. There were problems with the conveyor belts but they were coping with the problem. I don’t know how that will work out if the problem continues.
Then we had breakfast upstairs which was edible, very pleasantly served and not too unreasonably priced by English standards. We also visited some shops and these were also acceptable. There is nothing terrible to report in any of these aspects.
Our only gripe was about the lousy signposting between the departure section of terminal 3 and its short stay car park. Please BAA, it would be really easy to correct this and we were not the only people with this observation.
Have you noticed how much it cost to renew your passport?
We are one of the most expensive countries in the world at £72 ($145) for an adult and nothing for a child. There is a comparison price list on the Passport Office web site and this confirms that we are top of the costs. If you live abroad it costs much more to simply renew your passport. I know this through my daughter who lives in the States. Her next passport is going to cost her $250 (£125) and for her children, presently 4 and 7 years old, $160 (£80) each.
Why should it cost that much more for those of us who live abroad to have our passport processed?
Another question we should all be interested in is why the UK produces 6.3 million passports per year whilst countries listed, with similar population to our own, such as Germany, Italy and France only issue 2.5 million, 1.4 million, and 3.3 million passports respectively?
Japan, with a population of nearly twice that of the UK only issued 4.3 million passports. Why is the UK producing so many more passports proportionately?
These figures are those issued by the Passport Office itself.
All of this came to light in the last day before my daughter and her children, Maya and Soli returned to their Los Angeles home. It is, as you with families who live a long way off know, wonderful when you get together with your kids after a long gap, but its awful when they have to go back.
I parked the car in the recently finished car park for Terminal 3, and it was also clean, easy to park in and well organized. All of this, so far was terrific, and was much to my surprise, as it wasn’t always thus.
Then we went to the Virgin check in which is also hugely enhanced by the widening of the area, which makes it feel much less crowded. There were problems with the conveyor belts but they were coping with the problem. I don’t know how that will work out if the problem continues.
Then we had breakfast upstairs which was edible, very pleasantly served and not too unreasonably priced by English standards. We also visited some shops and these were also acceptable. There is nothing terrible to report in any of these aspects.
Our only gripe was about the lousy signposting between the departure section of terminal 3 and its short stay car park. Please BAA, it would be really easy to correct this and we were not the only people with this observation.
Have you noticed how much it cost to renew your passport?
We are one of the most expensive countries in the world at £72 ($145) for an adult and nothing for a child. There is a comparison price list on the Passport Office web site and this confirms that we are top of the costs. If you live abroad it costs much more to simply renew your passport. I know this through my daughter who lives in the States. Her next passport is going to cost her $250 (£125) and for her children, presently 4 and 7 years old, $160 (£80) each.
Why should it cost that much more for those of us who live abroad to have our passport processed?
Another question we should all be interested in is why the UK produces 6.3 million passports per year whilst countries listed, with similar population to our own, such as Germany, Italy and France only issue 2.5 million, 1.4 million, and 3.3 million passports respectively?
Japan, with a population of nearly twice that of the UK only issued 4.3 million passports. Why is the UK producing so many more passports proportionately?
These figures are those issued by the Passport Office itself.
All of this came to light in the last day before my daughter and her children, Maya and Soli returned to their Los Angeles home. It is, as you with families who live a long way off know, wonderful when you get together with your kids after a long gap, but its awful when they have to go back.
Saturday, August 9, 2008
RussianTanksRoll
An odd thing happened at the Olympic opening ceremony yesterday.
Don’t worry; this is not going to be a sporting article, that would be at http://tonyklinger.co.uk/
It was the moment when a very worried look crossed the face of President George W. Bush as he sat in the heat of the Bird’s Nest super stadium. Looking like the front-page character of “Mad” comic books, Alfred E. Neumann, the President’s body language was perplexed, unhappy and hot. You could see he had something other than the two thousand and eight drummers working in syncopated harmony on his mind.
Bush stood up and spotted Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister and former President. A dark frown passed over the American’s face. Words were exchanged. You can imagine the conversation. “Hi Ya Vlad, what are your boys doing in Georgia?” Putin shrugs, “Is in my own back yard, is nothing to do with you, what about this drumming, I’m getting a headache!” Putin then shrugged and left after obtaining a headache pill from Laura Bush who smiled enigmatically and said nothing.
To me it is no coincidence that the Russian leader, because that’s what he still is despite stepping down from the Russian Presidency, is at the Olympics at precisely the moment when the Russian tanks were rolling towards the former Russian province of Georgia.
Formerly Georgia was a part of the Soviet Union, and the Russian leadership seems to have developed a bit of geographic amnesia. They clearly believe these annoying little countries on their borders should still be part of the empire, or at least be in their sphere of influence or control.
Russia doesn’t accept the progressive shift of Georgia and Ukraine towards the West. They are particularly upset and unsettled by both countries wanting to become parts of NATO.
So yesterday Russian tanks rolled into South Ossetia, a rebel province of Georgia.
Russia is becoming progressively more unpredictable as it feels its growing economic muscle. This makes the Western response more difficult.
It isn’t easy to say why this "frozen" conflict escalated now. Perhaps it’s no coincidence that the Russians timed it for the very moment when the world’s eyes were on the Olympics.
The Russians claim that Georgia launched an invasion of South Ossetia, aiming to pacify the breakaway region. Georgia, meanwhile, stated that its troops entered the South Ossetian "capital" in response to escalating South Ossetian attacks, which have been going on for a week—years, really—as well as the Russian aerial bombardment of Georgian territory.
Pots and kettles come to mind. How can Russia accuse Georgia of doing precisely the same thing it does in Chechnya? The truth is we’re all hypocrites when it suits us. Before America gets on its own high horse don’t forget it’s historical attempts at invasion of Cuba, Canada and Mexico!
Previous tensions—both in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the other piece of Georgia that declared sovereignty—had been resolved without war. Someone wanted this to go further.
Both sides have deeper motives for fighting. The Russians want to prevent a Western oriented Georgia from joining NATO. George Bush called the country a "beacon of liberty"—has long wanted to do. Now the Russians will almost certainly succeed. No Western power has an interest in a military ally that is involved in a major military conflict with Russia.
The Georgian leadership, by contrast, had come to believe that the constant pressure of Russian aggression, coupled with the West's failure to accept Georgia into NATO, compelled them to demonstrate "self-reliance."
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili purchased a great many weapons in preparation for this. He apparently believed a military conflict was inevitable but could be won if he was clever. As of Friday night, with Russian soldiers fighting in South Ossetia—only a few short miles from Tblisi, the Georgian capital—it appears as if he’s made a potentially huge mistake. Russia didn’t send 150 tanks across that border to lose.
Georgia shouldn’t have played the brinksmanship game with the big bear to its north unless it didn’t mean a big hug. It should have stepped back from the precipice—and should still do so if given a chance—but Russia's deployment of such a large and carefully prepared force, not only in South Ossetia but in the rest of Georgia, is clearly an unacceptable breach of Georgia’s sovereignty and international bodies such as the UN must condemn it and order them out of their neighbor’s soil.
The whole thing reminds me of the historical claim by the German government that they had been attacked over the Polish border which they were resisting. That became the start of the Second World War.
Whoever is to blame for the present escalation, the West has little, if any influence on the outcome. Saakashvili's appeals for help and moral support—"This is not about Georgia," he told CNN, "it is about America, its values"—won’t help his country unless Russia allows them to. Putin didn’t look like he was feeling very well disposed to this idea when he shrugged in response to George Bush’s glad handing.
The truth is that the international community should have dealt with this conflict years ago. There was a dangerous security vacuum in the Caucuses; and that always makes war more likely.
In the most dangerous conflict between ideologies since the Cuba missile crisis there is potential for human suffering on an immense scale.
Georgia is an eager ally of the USA, and a successful Russian invasion of Georgia, a country with U.S. troops on its soil, reflects poorly on the West. Our moral cowardice, economic weakness, over extension and distraction elsewhere, ineptitude, lack of ideas, eliminated any thought of our involvement. Now it’s probably too late.
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.
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.
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