The Conservatives' disastrous London campaign

In what was meant to be a plea to fans of democracy and  a rallying call to London's Tories, a Conservative member of the London Assembly has brought into sharp focus her party's links with known terrorists who threaten the violent overthrow of Hugo Chavez's legitimate government. Writing in The Guardian, Angie Bray related meeting with 'Venezuelan dissidents' whom the Mayor, Ken Livingstone, had barred from entry to the GLA building. Comments on her article, most notably from Calvin Tucker of 21st Century Socialism, drew attention to the fact that the so-called 'dissidents' were none other than Aleksander Boyd of the website VCrisis.

On a number of occasions, Boyd has publicly called for the violent overthrow of Venezuela's government (which has won 8 democratic votes, all scrutinised by international authorities).  He has also written that he wished he was Genghis Khan so that he could conquer Venezuela and pour molten silver into the eyes of his enemies. Don't we all?

Angie Bray's column was in response to the GLA's decision to buy oil for London Transport from Venezuela in exchange for below-market prices and some knowledge transfer from London to Caracas. Her aim was to paint Livinstone as recklessly doing business with Chavez (a figure hated among right-wing political groups the world over), just in order to offer Londoners 'an election bribe' prior to forthcoming mayoral elections. As some commenters on the Guardian website pointed out: this woman is trying to convince Londoners to vote Conservative by telling a sob story about a violent, self-obsessed terrorist who has also, interestingly enough, referred to  writer Tariq Ali as 'that Paki journalist'.

But that's not all! As part of her article, Bray makes claims about ballot papers and the electoral roll in Venezuela which are simply untrue:

Have you ever seen the Venezuelan electoral register? It looks innocent enough at first, with columns for your name, address and polling number. But then it suddenly turns slightly menacing: a long line of columns records every ballot you have ever cast.

This is a fantasy. One can only assume it was fed to her by that ass Boyd as an attempt to get her to see him as the one true Genghis.

In one short blog post, Angie Bray has done more to help Labour's mayoral campaign than Hugo Chavez. Naturally, she should resign for consorting with (and taking mendacious stories from) known terrorists and racists. Also, David Cameron must be asked about his knowledge of Angie Bray's contact with Aleksander Boyd, and whether he agrees that Chavez should be violently overthrown.

Also, just what is considered to be 'an electoral bribe' these days? A proposed Tory tax cut which would hurt the poor by cutting services but benefit the wealthy is somehow passed off as economics whereas a deal with Caracas to source cheap fuel for Transport for London, to the benefit of the poorest, is smeared as a cheap 'electoral bribe'.

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August 25, 2007 | Filed Under 'Terror', Politics, UK | 4 Comments 

It's always been Russia

Today's photo opportunities news stories revealing an RAF Typhoon Eurofighter intercepting a Russian Tupolev Bear-H bomber are the latest in a long series of incidents between the two countries. Ever since the Litvinenko incident, via the restart of Russian bomber patrols and the recall of diplomats, we seem to be going through a period of particularly poor relations with Russia.

But sub sole nihil novi est - Britain has always had poor relations with Russia. Since the cold war, since the Revolution, since the Great Game, since the Anglo-Russian war, the two countries have probably spent more time in hostility than in friendship. So it's almost beginning to look like good fortune that our Eurofighters, delayed for years, were designed in the Cold War to fight Soviet bombers.

Realistically, there's no other country which could be considered a threat in the western hemisphere. The US missile defence program which has caused so much anger in Russia (and which the UK is a party to) is obviously aimed at containing Russia. It is Russia, after all, which is believed to have a stockpile of up to 18,000 intact atomic warheads. It is also Russia which seeks to operate diplomacy by doing things like switching off gas supplies to neighbours. Potentially just as worrying, Russian society is becoming more and more politically extreme. The growth of fascist, ultra-nationalist and Putin-youth groups all point to a radicalisation in Russian society.

Five days ago, the Sun newspaper launched a salvo against Russia which shows that relations have certainly reached a new low: they're using their worst insult against the Russian leader. They reckon he might be gay.  By the way, check out the slideshow… it's not far from the sort of thing that used to be written about Hitler.

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August 22, 2007 | Filed Under Politics, UK | 3 Comments 

Air travel and dehumanisation

We had a wonderful weekend in England. London is a fantastic city where I'd like to spend more time. But our departure from Stansted airport did much to cement  certain views I've held about air travel for some time now.

Modern air travel is cheap and quick. It also used to be fairly simple but in the last year or so, it has become an increasingly complicated way of travelling. The trouble started with check-in. We joined the queue for our flight shortly after check-in opened. We spent about an hour and a half queueing because of the ineptitude of the woman at the easyJet desk. She was phenomenally slow and left her post for nearly half an hour after claiming that a passenger with dark skin didn't have the correct documentation. His Spanish passport was eventually, grudgingly accepted and the queue continued to shuffle on at the rate of one passenger served every five minutes.

A sign by the check-in desk warned passengers to allow at least 40 minutes to clear security - making clear that the onus is on the passenger to make sure that (s)he gets to the gate on time. In this case, though we had joined the queue as it began, we cleared security with about 10 minutes to spare. At least five passengers toward the end of the queue checked in but were then delayed in the security check phase. They were kicked off the flight and the flight's captain gave us a patronising lecture about leaving enough time to get onto the plane. Perhaps he didn't know that the five passengers whose luggage had to be removed from the flight were delayed because of one of his own colleague's ineptitude.

Next, we approached the security check. This is the biggest recent change to modern air travel. Apparently, current rules (introduced in the wake of various terrorist attacks and attempts), insist that every passenger be put through a series of humiliating trials which test whether they're a terrorist or not. Herded like cattle on their way to the slaughterhouse (or at the very least, the dipping tank), passengers wait in line until shouted at to proceed. Queues appear and disappear as stewards marshall people this way and that like shepherds call sheep. Belts must be removed, jumpers and jackets too. Personal possessions are laid out for all to see in black metal trays for the x-ray.

Next, we are forced to walk guiltily through a metal detector so inefficient that it failed to detect my wedding ring, 2lbs of coins and bulky metal watch which I had elected not to put through the x-ray. The girl in front of me had three bottles of sun cream which were confiscated, obviously because they might have been used for the production of high explosive. After the indignity of dressing myself again in public, I was herded down the next roped-off passageway only to be told to remove my shoes. By this point, I was getting really annoyed. "For Christ's sake!", I said as I pulled my trainers off - all the while being told by the woman at the shoe checking desk that I should 'move out of the way'. This woman obviously noticed my irritation and said to me in a very obviously challenging way, "You seem very angry, sir".

That short sentence made it clear that the exhibition of emotion of any sort was suspicious and deserved being challenged. I have no doubt whatsoever that if I had remonstrated with her over that fact that only half of the passengers were being screened in this way (the rest were allowed to just walk straight past), I would have been questioned - and probably by one of the police officers armed with huge semi-automatic rifles.

My problem here is not with security per se. I'm aware that there's a small number of people out there who want to blow aeroplanes up. I'm also aware, however, that 50% of passengers could just walk through the shoe-checking phase. That I carried loads of metal through the metal detector without it noticing. That I could buy a tennis racket or bottle after security which could realistically be used as a weapon on an aeroplane. That it's by no means inconceivable that a terrorist network could infiltrate airport shops and make sure that a bottle of water, perfume or shampoo that actually contained the ingredients for explosive were placed on shelves for the right person to buy. In short, I don't believe that the security in modern airports is particularly effective. It still contains multiple holes which could easily be exploited by a committed terrorist cell.

In truth, I believe that these security checks we all have to undergo are part of a campaign of psychological warfare, the object of which is not to protect us but to cow us. The series of controls act more than anything else as steps in a process of dehumanisation and humiliation which never fail to conjure up the feeling of the emotions we might experience as we queue for access to the camps.

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August 20, 2007 | Filed Under 'Terror', Rants | 5 Comments 

London Calling

We're off to London tomorrow for the first time in ages… well for me, anyway.

A twelve-month analysis of my carbon-footprint up to tomorrow would probably find me to be worse behaved than China. Ah well… it's like the cod question, isn't it?

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August 16, 2007 | Filed Under Home | 1 Comment 

Protest and democracy: mutually incompatible?

The other day I read an absolutely astounding remark at the Iberian Notes blog:

"They're going to have a demonstration this afternoon on Calle Escorial, bang pots and pans, and cut off the traffic. I don't like demos because there isn't much point in holding public protests in a democracy. "

I've been debating for some time how best to respond to this. Usually, I correct factual errors on IN in the comments section of the blog but I think this warrants a post of its own.

OK so the assertion is fairly simple: in a democracy, there's not much point in holding public protests. The reasoning behind the assertion is harder to see but I reckon that John was  suggesting that - given that one can de-elect a government which carries out unpopular legislation or policy - public protests are a waste of time.

Of course, his assertion tells of a deep misunderstanding (perhaps even dislike) of what democracy actually means.  Public protest is one of the cornerstones of healthy democratic government, as a means whereby the public may express its dislike (or even approval) for a single piece of government policy. Indeed, the absence of public protest is the very hallmark of an unhealthy democracy: it's evidence of a detached or cowed populace, of a disconnection between people and events.

Elections, when they occur, are an excellent opportunity for the public to express their judgement of the ruling government, based on their record during that term of government.  But few would agree that they cast their votes based on one policy alone. An exception (a true vote of protest) was the result of the 2003 general election in Spain, when voters kicked the PP out of office after they committed the country to an unpopular war. There were lots of other good reasons to kick the PP out (nepotism, stealing of state funds to pay for Aznar's daughter's marriage, the party's ministers being a mixture of the nasty and the bizarre, etc) but it seems that the war was the prime motivator for many voters. The protest vote came weeks after a public protest involving millions of people who opposed the war, which was totally ignored by the PP. He who dismisses the importance of protest: beware!

Anyone who opposes non-violent public protest is really opposing freedom of expression and the true spirit of democracy.

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August 13, 2007 | Filed Under Politics, Spain | Leave a Comment 

Mad Dogs and Englishmen

Tibidabo from behind - a very welcome sight!

One of my favourite pastimes is walking. It's an agreeable, physically stimulating exercise which gives one time for thought (or debate, if you're not alone). So it was with this in mind that I set out at midday today, to walk from Cerdanyola to Barcelona. Solo.

It's a walk I've done several times in a group, and it involves walking out of our front door and ending up at Tibidabo. I'm not sure about the distance but I reckon it's about 18km - pretty short really. The route takes you across the Parc de la Collserola, the green, forested ridge behind Barcelona, and offers stunning views and lots of nature to see.

I divide the route into 3 unequal parts. The first part takes you from my street via the headquarters of the Catalan handball team, into the Collserola and eventually the picnic area at Can Coll. This part is hard in the sense that you're just getting into the swing of things. There are a couple of steep hills that never fail to make me feel knackered, but there are also some amazing views of unspoiled forest, as well as lots of flora and fauna. Today I saw a butterfly which was significantly bigger than my hand. It scarpered too fast for a photo, unfortunately.

The second part of the walk is by far the hardest. It takes you to Can Borell, an old fashioned Catalan restaurant (the path actually leads through a dining area!). And then (after a weird sort of zoo in the middle of nowhere), you have the biggest uphill/downhill part of the walk. I had to get a stick to clear undergrowth and brambles on the decent; it was really hard work. Finally, I stood looking up at the path cleared for electricity pylons before me. The ascent (believe me, it warrants the name) is a steep hill consisting solely of rock: I considered turning back but decided to press on. No point, you see.

At the top, where even in May or October, I feel hot and tired, I realised that I was certainly beginning to suffer from heat exhaustion. I was out of breath, nauseous and my pulse was very high. It was at this point that I decided to break away from the path in order to find a shortcut (rather than do yet another descent/ascent as the path dictated). As I broke away from the path, I saw that the forest creates a lot of shade! I picked the nearest spot and sort of collapsed. Actually, it wasn't so much a collapse as a very fast, arbitrary lie-down. I actually wanted to call my wife and let her know that I was potentially in trouble but I couldn't even speak. Besides, I was lying under a bush in the middle of Collserola: who could help me, anyway?

When I picked myself up, I felt terrible. I considered throwing up but I didn't want to waste any fluids, or throw up. I pressed on with my made-up shortcut and within minutes found that I was on the right path! I probably cut half an hour off my walk, and probably avoided a very embarrassing and potentially lethal dose of heat stroke. Yay!

The 3rd and final part of the walk is much easier, but always goes on for longer than expected (all walks end like this, though, really). You hit the path for Tibidabo very quickly, and after a lot of twists and turns, you cross a beautiful viaduct. My trusty hat (which I credit along with my stick, my iPod, my choice to find a shortcut and my body, for saving my life), chose this moment to blow off my head and sail down under the viaduct. so I had to get it (honour trumps all), and pretty much crossed the valley, negating the need for the viaduct.

The rest of the story is pretty simple. I got to the drinking fountain just before Tibidabo and moaned ecstatically as I doused myself with cold tap water. I filled my belly and my bottle with cold water. Then I got to Tibidabo and stopped at a bar for a beer and some more water. There are few things that have tasted better in my life than the ice-cold Voll Damm I had at that bar. I was a mess. Stinking, covered in earth from my very fast lie-down, cut by bramble and thorn, I didn't cut a very heroic figure. But I felt great. I had beaten the mountain. Sure, I'd nearly killed myself, but isn't that what being 27 is all about?

Moral of the story: Noel Coward had a point. That walk is far more enjoyable in May or October. But nowhere near as rewarding.

UPDATE: some pictures of my trek can be seen here.

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August 11, 2007 | Filed Under Catalonia | 4 Comments 

Howling Hex XI - Review - amazing

I can contain myself no longer. I admit that I downloaded this album illegally (although I'll obviously buy it when it's out). This album is incredible! It's jazz rock pop punk (and even with a bit of the Beat). This album represents both a coming together of the strands that up to now have made up the Howling Hex and a completely new direction (or multiplicity of directions) for Neil Hagerty's band.

With four songwriters and lead singers, the main departure here is from what always felt like a Hagerty controlled machine. Even if we knew that he was experimenting with different songwriters and musicians, it still felt like a man preaching the word. Now, it's like he was never the man - more just a guy waiting for the other guys to show up so they could kick some ass.

I love all of the tracks but am particularly interested by Everybody's Doing It, Dr Slaughter and the awesome Live Wire. Isn't Live Wire a cover? It sounds like a classic garage rock track. Everybody's Doing It is the boogie-woogie hit of the year with its drum fills, triumphant horns and the sort of chorus you'll one day hear gangs of men singing outside a closing bar. Dr Slaughter is more of a (dare I say it?) Jon Spencer number - but much better executed. A barebones instrumental line (but with the ever present flaring horns), unfinished lyrics and and heavy wah-wah guitar all conspire to make this song more than a toe-tapper. It's a pelvic thruster.

The rest of the album is also great. As I've said to a couple of other fans over the last few days: this feels like it borrows something from Neil Hagerty's days in Pussy Galore, Royal Trux, Weird War, solo and with the Howling Hex - but it's also much more that. The input of other songwriters and singers has given this album a mixed texture that Top 10 bands could only dream of. This is not only the best rock album I've heard in years, it's the best Neil Hagerty album too… 1 out of 1

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August 10, 2007 | Filed Under General | Leave a Comment 

Idiocracy: reasons not to like Kate Nash

Gemma and I recently watched the 2006 film Idiocracy and I can't recommend it enough. Luke Wilson plays the most average man in the US armed forces, who is selected for a top secret experiment into freeze-drying humans. He was meant to be awoken after a year but - you guessed it - ends up being frozen  for 500 years. In the meantime, various factors combine to cause the human race to gradually become more and more stupid. They replace water with Gatorade, watch films called things like 'ASS' (which features one close-up of a man's arse farting for 90 minutes) and are governed by an incredibly vain former pro-wrestler. Actually, it felt more like 50 years in the future than 500, but you get the point.

Shortly afterwards, we watched 5 minutes of Big Brother on Channel 4 and switched off, shocked. Yes, Big Brother was stupid before we ever saw Idiocracy but it had always at least seemed funny. Not any more. Society really does feel like it's getting stupider. Dumbing down, it's often called. BBC Breakfast has been reduced to a 2-hour commercial for forthcoming BBC television programmes. Car surfing is the new cool pastime. Kate Nash is in the charts.

There are many reasons to dislike Kate Nash. Her popularity, for example, or her chart success. It would be perfectly acceptable to dislike her for sounding very similar to Lily Allen - the dropped-aitches of their mockney accents are particularly grating. But none of these things make me dislike Kate Nash as much as her lyric:

You said I must eat so many lemons
Cos I am so bitter

You see, lemons aren't bitter. They're sour.  Now I'm not the first to point this out but I am probably the first to waste half an hour writing a blog post about it. That lyric renders an already poisonously self-involved and poorly structured song so infuriating that I nearly wept when I first heard it. Last time I heard it, I immediately thought of Idiocracy.  I mean, sure, there have always been bad pop lyrics around but this young woman is being lauded on all sides. She's being given recognition and praise for a songwriting talent that just doesn't exist.

Another thing I don't like about Kate Nash is her use of the gender card. Responding to yet another suggestion that she might sound a little bit like Lily Allen, Nash  said:

It's lazy journalism and also quite sexist that there's not enough room for more than one female singer songwriter from London

No, Kate: the reason that people are comparing you to Lily Allen is because you sound more or less exactly the same as her. It's not sexism at all and I reckon it's pretty low of you to use such a fallacious claim in order to divert attention away from your rubbish music.

So, yeah, I don't like Kate Nash.

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August 6, 2007 | Filed Under Music, Rants, UK | 2 Comments 

Another birthday survived

It's currently less than one minute since the end of my birthday. I survived again.

I now enter into my twenty-eighth year: the most dangerous of all.

I've not been a big fan of my birthday for some time. This is not related to a sense of getting older. I'm not absolutely sure, but I reckon it has something to do with birthdays just never being the same as they were in my salad days. Naturally, the fifth birthday is better than the fifteenth, which in turn beats the twenty-fifth.

I reckon that this is the worst of the birthdays: at 27, hangovers last, ribs break, responsibilities begin, babies invade, money starts to matter, music dies,  et cetera. At least, that's what I reckon.

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August 6, 2007 | Filed Under General | 1 Comment 

Shark alert in Devon - Joe to the rescue

thesun-joe-and-chris.gifIn what must be the best tabloid newspaper story I've ever read, my friends Joe and Chris are in The Sun today talking about their experiences with a shark off the Devon coast on Sunday. Joe comes out of the story very well, referred to as a frantic hero among other things. Chris's photo also adorns the front page of the newspaper which is frankly amazing.

Joe saved his cousins, Hannah and Freya, from what certainly looked to be a big shark, when they were bathing off  the South Devon coast. The story includes Chris's pictures of the three Millers in the water, as well as an action shot of 'HERO' Joe, dashing from the water. All I can say is that I'm glad that Joe and his cousins survived to swim another day.

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August 1, 2007 | Filed Under UK | 1 Comment 

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