Parliament to vote on 'religious hatred' bill

The House of Commons will today vote to pass into law last year's proposal that 'incitement of religious hatred' be treated in the same way as incitement of racial hatred. As I've pointed out in these pages before, the law (while clearly based on good intentions) is a step in the wrong direction. For a country with a state religion, the UK has long been immune to faith based initiatives such as those currently influencing the White House.

The problem here is that religious belief does not have any intrinsic value. Everyone should always have the right to believe what they like… but should they have the right to have those beliefs immune from criticism? Are my political ideas somehow different from religious beliefs? All because my ideas are based on reality? The reason I'm worried is that this law will make it easier for people with certain beliefs to silence critics and heretics because of the threat of prosecution. This sort of legislation always encourages self-censorship and repression of free speech. It is already illegal to incite violence for any reason. The law must act to protect citizens. But the law must also make sense and this one doesn't.

January 31, 2006 | Filed Under Politics, UK | Leave a Comment 

PP and the Catalan issue

The Partido Popular (PP) are having trouble with their leader in Catalonia, Josep Piqué. Ever since he said that he could support aspects of l'Estatut, the PP leadership have been at a loss over how to deal with him. Their decision: do nothing.

Perhaps they have grasped that it doesn't matter who they put into the Catalan job… they're relatively powerless anyway. For the PP, it's the Spain outside of Catalonia that is focused on. Only there will people buy the manure they peddle (e.g. the absurd claims about the Generalitat and Catalá floating about: let me say again – teachers are not being hunted for speaking Spanish on this side of the border!).

January 29, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics | Leave a Comment 

Historia de la Musica Rock

Pussy Galore were a ridiculously unpleasant and awesome band in the mid eighties which counted among its members Jon Spencer (of the JSBX) and the majestic Neil Hagerty (of Royal trux, the Howling Hex and er, Neil Hagerty). I have a couple of their albums but more than anything else from the world of music, i want to lay my hands on a copy of either the cover they did of the entire 'Exile On Main Street' album (allegedly Hagerty's 'idea'), or their album 'Historia de la Musica Rock' which has been described thus:

On the other hand, cover art triumphs over content in Historia de la Musica Rock, an album done up to look precisely like one of those ultra-cheap Spanish "classic rock" compilations. (The cover photo is atrocious; the liner notes are all in Spanish; the list of other artists in "the series" includes the Rolling Stones, Blodwyn Pig, Murphy's Law and the Cro-Mags.) The record itself — more under-rehearsed ersatz grunge played by a trio of Spencer, Hagerty and Bert — is only intermittently entertaining.

Doesn't that just sound amazing? No? Then give this a go:

With the chaotic "(Do) The Snake", it's occasionally possible to pick out the riff from "The Boy From New York City". "(Do) The Snake" is the second most appalling song ever committed to vinyl.

I need this record.

January 25, 2006 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

73 Years of Royal Trux

[Reprinted in full as it seems to have disappeared.]
"Theirs is a rock that doesn't merely cross-breed or bend genre: it obliterates it."

Gregory S. Moss on 73 years of Royal Trux

by gregory moss

INTRODUCTION
1998 marks the seventy-third year of tireless operation for the rock and roll entity known as ROYAL TRUX. A virtual Zelig of Rock Music, Royal Trux has successfully insinuated themselves through previously unsuspected time rifts, moving up and down through voices and bodies, pulling a field holler moan into RATT style arrangements, channeling Janis Joplin and Marc Bolan into Bow Wow Wow contexts, stabbing needles of white noise transmission from Sun Ra's ghost into the aesthetic dimension occupied by Prince. Anyone who has followed their career with any persistence (and I don't know anyone who likes ALL of their albums – a tribute to their ability to completely change their mode and means of expression) knows that Royal Trux EMBODIES rock and roll: spirit made flesh. They are an anomaly and their nonesuchness increases with each passing year. They are rock pantheists – denominations of indie, aor, underground, top forty pop, alternative, classic – all these terms revert to the meaningless dust they are in the hands of Trux. So vast is their accomplishment is that it can only be appreciated from an aerial view: to fully get Royal Trux (and you can't) you'd have to listen to their entire discography SIMULTANEOUSLY. Theirs is a rock that doesn't merely cross-breed or bend genre: it obliterates it.

Read more

January 24, 2006 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

I hate IKEA

This weekend, I hoped to be able to spend some time on my blog, writing updates and adding pictures to our photo gallery. Little did I know that I would spend the entire weekend building a wardrobe. With help from Gemma, Adam, Jaume and Toñi (in the form of delicious food she made to sustain us), the wardrobe took two days to be built. Why? A mixture of argument, unnecessary complication and sick Swedish humour (like the 5mm thing).

Example: the main wardrobe units (of which there were three) consisted of about eight or nine parts each, plus screws. Each one took us about half an hour to build. The two sliding doors, however, each consisted of about 50-60 individual parts. Each door took us about three hours to build. In the end we found we were missing one screw. More sick Swedish humour. I'm not sure that I will ever get involved in anything like that again.

January 23, 2006 | Filed Under General | 3 Comments 

What you may have been missing (comments, Catalonia, skiing, ipod death and viruses)

Apologies to my legion of loyal readers for a bad week on thebadrash. After gong skiing last weekend (something I have yet to write about in much detail), I have been knackered every evening. Then, to make matters worse, I caught a virus. Not at home… Kubuntu's too good for that. No, at work where I have to download, install and execute shareware applications regularly, my computer got sick and died. The source of the virus was a Russian shareware developer's website (not even a program I had run). Scum. Subhuman scum.

What you may have missed is that thebadrash has not been completely quiet. 'Lurdle' from Germany posted a comment to our discussion of the Shire Horse Centre, to which I replied with some advice on Devon's other tourist attractions. Further information from helpful readers would be much appreciated. Also, the Catalan Statute issue has generated a few comments from interested readers.

The Catalan Statute is a minor issue which has been blown out of all proportion. Have I helped remedy this? Probably not. In the end, I think it's important to recognise that this is not the end of Spain and that most people here in Catalonia, while hopeful that the Statute is passed by the Madrid parliament, have been shocked and surprised by the strength of feeling in Spain against the changes.

For those of you utterly bored by regional politics and proposed coup d'etats, I apologise. This weekend, I hope to bring stories of skiing (including the moment I made a man the proudest he'd ever been of being British), iPod death (no flowers; donations to the RNLI) and more. Easy now.

January 20, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia, Internet computer, Site news | 1 Comment 

Anem a esquiar!

We're off to Vall Nord for the weekend, skiing and perhaps taking advantage of the duty free shopping in Andorra. Andorra is a funny place. In many ways it's more Catalan than Catalonia because in Andorra the roadsigns are only in Catalan (here they have to put Spanish too). The heads of state of Andorra are the president of France and some Spanish bishop, so it's obviously not a perfect place.

While neither of us are very good at skiing, it's something we look forward to very much. I'm already planning a trip ext month for Gemma's birthday and our fifth anniversary and St Valentine's day – all of which handily coincide. It also gives me a good opportunity to test the battery life of my PSP, something which will no doubt make the journey shorter.

January 13, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia | 3 Comments 

Spanish newspapers reveal support for military coup

Right-wing daily paper La Razón today continues its anti-Catalan campaign with another series of letters published in support of Lt Gen Aguado who was arrested for threatening military action against Catalonia. Yesterday, La Razón claimed that it had received a letter signed by 50 retired military personnel who strongly support the general, while today it is the turn of civilians to call on the Spanish armed forces to save us all from the agonising choice of democracy.

El Mundo and La Razón today also both lead on stories claiming that the upper echelons of the Spanish army are in turmoil over the proposed Catalan statute of autonomy. The suggestion – taken very smoothly from PP rhetoric – is that the Socialist government have brought Spain to the brink of… well no one wants to say quite what we're on the brink of… that Spain is in trouble and that the Socialists have maliciously pushed us all into this situation. This claim is pretty difficult to understand, given the positions of the two main parties on a range of issues.

It all started with the PP losing the election after their handling of the Madrid bombings.  For those who don't remember, the right-wing party tried to blame Basque separatist group ETA for the bombings, even when they knew it was impossible that ETA were involved. The truth was that Al Qaeda had carried out the attacks in retribution for Spain assisting in the invasion of Iraq – a PP policy opposed by nearly 90% of the Spanish population.

After losing the popular mandate, the PP felt that they had been cheated. Indeed, just before the vote – when it looked like they were going to lose – José Maria Aznar tried to cancel the election… a sort of quiet coup which would almost certainly have triggered mass civil disturbances. The King told him where to go. So the PP did what spoilt brats do best – had a tantrum and refused to ever play with the Socialists. In short, the PP swore to oppose any legislation whatsoever that was proposed by the Socialist party. If the Socialists proposed tax breaks for PP members, the PP would probably vote against it and go on television to declare it "the most dangerous policy idea in a million years".

Herein lies the problem. As the PP are fundamentally opposed to the Socialist party, they take every opportunity they can to appear on television railing against proposed reforms (minor and major) and more and more often suggesting that the Socialists are driving Spain into the abyss. This is what's referred to as brinkmanship politics, and it's a very risky game. The result of constantly claiming that the political climate is overheating and in fact about to boil over, is that you raise the political temperature. This is of benefit for the PP because firstly they can claim that it's the Socialists' fault, and secondly if things do go wrong, the PP will be the people who benefit. The other risk of this posturing is if nothing happens. if the PP spend four years gnashing their teeth and wailing about the impending disaster – and then nothing happens – well, they're going to look pretty stupid. The problem with this is that it is therefore in the PP's interests to plunge Spain into a constitutional crisis: they will benefit from a military coup, and will look stupid if one doesn't happen.

Yesterday's Financial times covers the whole Aguado debacle very well but it is the closing argument that I agree with most vehemently:

Spain's constitution should also be amended to spell out the supremacy of civil over military power. Unfortunately, the opposition Popular Party, still unreconciled to its ejection from power after the Madrid bombings of March 2004, seems to think Gen Mena has a point. That could represent a greater threat to Spanish unity than Catalonia's autonomy ambitions. (source: FT, 10-jan 2005)

This is exactly the point. The Catalan statute of autonomy is not something worth tearing ourselves apart over. Yes, I support it. But I support similar moves for tyhe Basque country, Galicia, Andalusia and any other country who have democratically chosen to expand their autonomy. The future of Spain does not lie with dogmatic Madrid-centric fascism. it lies in a vibrant, liberal society – devolved in its regions with political freedom, democracy and equality as its foundation.

January 11, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics | 13 Comments 

Top Spanish general threatens military response to L'Estatut

Aguado.jpgIn a speech which should send shivers down the spine of anyone who believes in democracy, Commander of Spanish land forces Lt Gen José Mena Aguado yesterday warned of severe consequences should Catalonia achieve further autonomy. Claiming the constitutional duty to 'guarantee the sovereignty and independence of Spain and defend its integrity and constitutional arrangements', the general warned that if Catalonia's proposed new statute of autonomy were approved, it would be necessary for the military to step in.

Catalonia has sent its new Estatut to Madrid effectively demanding national status within Spain. The proposed law would hand much power to Barcelona including taxation and replacement of the supreme court. Similar reforms in the mid 1930s were used as an excuse for Franco's military rebellion.
Spain's highest-ranking general has asked defence minister Jos̩ Bono to sack Aguado immediately. According to some reports, Aguado has been placed under house arrest. It is illegal in Spain for military personnel to make political statements Рa law which reflects the very delicate state of Spanish democracy.

Aguado's comments, broadcast on state radio yesterday, confirm a long held suspicion that there remains a powerful counter-democratic element in Spain's armed forces poised to seize power if it becomes displeased with the actions of the elected government. The speech, which was clearly a planned warning, also highlights the need for reform in Spain's armed forces which have never been successfully purged of their fascistic elements. Further reform to the Civil Guard is also in the pipeline – paving the way to the demilitarisation of Spain's police forces.

Reform of state security and the constitution (which was imposed under the threat of an extended dictatorship) must now be priorities for the elected governments of Spain and Catalonia, if they are to prevent a treacherous army taking up arms against citizens as they have in the past. It is worth noting, however, that José Bono has now stated that he believes that Aguado was acting alone, and that there is no conspiracy behind him preparing for a coup.
Dick O'Brien has written an article on this story which better explains the whole story.
[Edited with new information; Monday 09 January at 1330]

January 7, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics | 3 Comments 

2006 – one week in

A week into the new year and I'm already hoping that things change pretty quickly. Over the last seven days, the news has been almost relentlessly bad. From Ariel Sharon's illness causing certain instability in a region which needs more instability like it does… well, like it needs a brain hemorrhage… to further violence and murder in Iraq; from more evidence of corruption in Washington DC to evidence of tiger mosquitoes in our house even in January.

There is some good news on the horizon though… television has picked up after an awful Christmas season, and More4 will screen a series of films on the Iraq war next week.

January 7, 2006 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

CES: Google to launch $200 PC?

The buzz is that Google is going to release a new type of PC based on a thin client, running a Google operating system (not Windows) and costing only $200. The story doesn't seem to have been picked up on much but if it happens it would be a revolutionary move. The days are gone when Google could be thought of as some group of upstarts kicking against the pricks and innovating for humankind. Now they appear to sit on the brink of becoming the great tech behemoth.

January 4, 2006 | Filed Under Internet computer | Leave a Comment 

The boycott of a nation

Since the controversy over the new Catalan Statute of Government began, some right wingers in Spain have pushed for a boycott of all Catalan produce and all companies headquartered in Catalonia. Insupportable though this may seem, there are a number of people who believe that this is a rational and reasonable response to Catalonia attempting to obtain the same treatment as, say, Bavaria in Germany or Scotland in the UK.

A discussion at Barcelona Reporter which I have been involved in has a broad spectrum of the opinions represented.

Also, download and read the extravagent demands of the boycott here: Catalan Boycott.

As I have previously pointed out, the document fails to point out that at least 25% of all Spanish petrol and oil come through Catalan depots and refineries, meaning that unless you drop all use of petrol and products which are delivered from anywhere, you cannot hope to boycott Catalan products efficiently.

Here's a picture of Alcampo supermarkets supporting the boycott:

alcampo.gif

January 4, 2006 | Filed Under Catalonia, Politics | Leave a Comment 

Snippet: Wired news outlandish claim

Wired news lists the top ten discoveries of 2005 in its article "Biggest Discoveries of 2005". At number one, the discovery that global warming exists. And their evidence for this? The Asian tsunami and hurricane Katrina.

"It's getting hot in here: Thanks to the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, global warming can no longer be ignored."

Hmmmm… while I don't doubt that global warming exists, or that climate change exists, this is exactly the sort of bullshit that helps no one. How was the tsunami even remotely linked to global warming? It wasn't. And storms bigger than Katrina have occurred in the Gulf of Mexico over the last hundred years, so there's little justification in blaming global warming for Katrina. This sort of rubbish is unhelpful becuase it confuses people about what the real issue is. Fools.

January 3, 2006 | Filed Under General | 2 Comments