Nairn beach - 29th June 2009 at 10.47pm (Click on the image to see an enlargement) |
Monday, 29 June 2009
Nairn beach tonight - calm and beautiful
This photograph was taken slightly over 10 minutes ago (at 10.47pm) from my window, still almost light. It's been a beautiful afternoon and evening. There are still people walking on the cricket pitch and on the beach.
Sunday, 28 June 2009
Keep religion out of medicine!
I have to say that if I was in hospital as a patient and some nurse or doctor tried to 'pray for me' or talk to me of religion I would be more than upset, I would be tremendously angry. The worrying and frightening thing is, though, that if I was very ill and in much pain I might be reluctant to voice my dislike for fear of possible 'repercussions' in my medical care.
In my experience some people with a strong religious faith simply do not understand that their ministrations are not wanted and can come across as, and actually be, 'pushy' in their efforts to 'help' a poor ignorant person like me who doesn't want them to peddle their religion in my direction. It is equally true that I have known a few deeply-religious individuals who were exceedingly discreet in their faith, without in any way hiding it, but they would never dream of imposing their religious views on others who did not wish to hear it; I certainly respect such people and would never belittle their faith.
For the avoidance of any doubt or confusion it should be left to patients in hospital to express a wish for some kind of spiritual guidance or support - and to the chaplaincy service to provide it. Personally I have no objection to a nurse or doctor wearing a small and unobtrusive crucifix (for example), but unless a patient seeing it asks them for support of a spiritual kind they must not take it upon themselves to offer this - and if I was not actually in extremis and such a thing happened to me I would like to think I would have no hesitation in telling the person who had done so to 'get knotted'!
In my experience some people with a strong religious faith simply do not understand that their ministrations are not wanted and can come across as, and actually be, 'pushy' in their efforts to 'help' a poor ignorant person like me who doesn't want them to peddle their religion in my direction. It is equally true that I have known a few deeply-religious individuals who were exceedingly discreet in their faith, without in any way hiding it, but they would never dream of imposing their religious views on others who did not wish to hear it; I certainly respect such people and would never belittle their faith.
For the avoidance of any doubt or confusion it should be left to patients in hospital to express a wish for some kind of spiritual guidance or support - and to the chaplaincy service to provide it. Personally I have no objection to a nurse or doctor wearing a small and unobtrusive crucifix (for example), but unless a patient seeing it asks them for support of a spiritual kind they must not take it upon themselves to offer this - and if I was not actually in extremis and such a thing happened to me I would like to think I would have no hesitation in telling the person who had done so to 'get knotted'!
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Civil Partnership law to be passed in Ireland
An agreement has been reached between the political parties in Ireland that a Bill to be introduced into the Irish Parliament (the Dail) in the Autumn to allow Civil Partnerships will receive speedy passage and is expected to become law early next year. The subject of same-sex partners adopting children has not been addressed, but the legislation is generally welcomed by the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) as representing a "beautiful day for Irish society".
Tories were 'wrong' on devolution, says Cameron
In a documentary to mark the first 10 years of Devolution in Scotland, to be broadcast tomorrow (Sunday 28 June 2009) at 10.20pm on BBC1 in Scotland, David Cameron is quoted as saying:
Mr Cameron apparently went on to say that he 'would respect the right of the Scottish Parliament to rule on domestic matters in Scotland' if he becomes Prime Minister. In return, he would 'want the Scottish National Party to accept his mandate to decide on issues such as defence which affect the whole of the UK'.
I was not happy with the idea of devolution 10 years ago and I voted against it in the referendum held in 1997 by the then new Labour Government. I remain unhappy with it and would dearly love for it never to have happened. However, I accept that in the political cllimate then and now it was probably inevitable and that there is very probably no going back. One must therefore accept the new political reality and try to make the best of it - something I came to accept (through gritted teeth) several years ago. So David Cameron is undoubtedly correct to have come to the conclusions he has and his statement that he will work constructively with the Scottish National Party whilst it remains the elected Scottish Executive (aka 'Government'), unlike what it has often seemed is the extreme churlishness of the Labour Government in London since the SNP came to power in Scotland, is undoubtedly the sensible and pragmatic policy.
Whether it is realistic of David Cameron to hope for long-term acceptance of his 'mandate' (should be become Prime Minister) to govern the whole UK in respect of non-devolved matters is open to doubt when the avowed intention of the SNP is to achieve separation/independence for Scotland from the rest of the UK. My view on that particular subject, however, is that we should hold a referendum on Scottish separation/independence sooner rather than later to establish what is the truth about the desire of Scots for this outcome - if it voted for, then so be it (through gritted teeth), but I suspect strongly that most Scots do not actually want this and it is essential to call the SNP propaganda 'bluff' on this matter. In any case we need to know the answer to the basic question, to bring to an end the somewhat corrosive political game played by the SNP since it came to power in Edinburgh in May 2007.
"I don't think we got it right. "I think you can argue that the principled position, of arguing that devolution within a unitary state is extremely difficult and there are all sorts of problems it brings, and those problems are there. "But I think where we went wrong was we should have spent more time in government thinking, how do we give legitimate help to those people within our United Kingdom who want to have a greater expression of self-government?" |
Mr Cameron apparently went on to say that he 'would respect the right of the Scottish Parliament to rule on domestic matters in Scotland' if he becomes Prime Minister. In return, he would 'want the Scottish National Party to accept his mandate to decide on issues such as defence which affect the whole of the UK'.
I was not happy with the idea of devolution 10 years ago and I voted against it in the referendum held in 1997 by the then new Labour Government. I remain unhappy with it and would dearly love for it never to have happened. However, I accept that in the political cllimate then and now it was probably inevitable and that there is very probably no going back. One must therefore accept the new political reality and try to make the best of it - something I came to accept (through gritted teeth) several years ago. So David Cameron is undoubtedly correct to have come to the conclusions he has and his statement that he will work constructively with the Scottish National Party whilst it remains the elected Scottish Executive (aka 'Government'), unlike what it has often seemed is the extreme churlishness of the Labour Government in London since the SNP came to power in Scotland, is undoubtedly the sensible and pragmatic policy.
Whether it is realistic of David Cameron to hope for long-term acceptance of his 'mandate' (should be become Prime Minister) to govern the whole UK in respect of non-devolved matters is open to doubt when the avowed intention of the SNP is to achieve separation/independence for Scotland from the rest of the UK. My view on that particular subject, however, is that we should hold a referendum on Scottish separation/independence sooner rather than later to establish what is the truth about the desire of Scots for this outcome - if it voted for, then so be it (through gritted teeth), but I suspect strongly that most Scots do not actually want this and it is essential to call the SNP propaganda 'bluff' on this matter. In any case we need to know the answer to the basic question, to bring to an end the somewhat corrosive political game played by the SNP since it came to power in Edinburgh in May 2007.
Friday, 26 June 2009
Singer dead. Sad, but who cares?
Not me, that's for sure. I've only once before written obiquely about Michael Jackson in this blog, on the occasion of the outcome in June 2005 of a court case in which he was involved - my comment then and now is that I think the BBC (and no doubt other media) have gone stark staring bonkers devoting so much time to this issue of little real importance to anyone other than his family, to whom I extend condolences.
And that's me done on this non-issue.
And that's me done on this non-issue.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Governor of Bank of England rubbishes Government's economic policy
The Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King, seems finally to have lost patience with the Government and become willing to say in public precisely what he thinks of Darling and Brown's strategy for getting the country's finances back in ... well not exactly in some kind of order, because that's going to take a VERY long time ... but at least make a sensible start on reducing the frighteninlgy-high budget deficits. Here's what he said this afternoon before a House of Commons Treasury select committee and it's pretty explosive stuff:
The extent of the rift between Threadneedle Street and Downing Street is clear from this FT report on today's meeting, too.
Quite extraordinary and one imagines that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer cannot have enjoyed learning of what Sir Mervyn had said. He is of course quite correct and it needed to be said - one presumes that there will be consequences of one kind or another for him, tempered only by the fact that Labour is now very weak politically, even if whilst Brown remains Prime Minister he still retains a certain, now rather shabby, aura of power. Today, too, at Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron tore into Gordon Brown and his usual spin in a manner that was most satisfying to behold.
The Governor of the Bank of England is not the only senior establishment figure to have seemingly lost whatever faith they may have once had in the 'Dear Leader', if the audience Her Majesty the Queen granted to Sir Mervyn King in March last is a guide.
Is Gordon Brown set to go down in history as the worst Prime Minister this country has ever had? I've thought he was complete rubbish ever since his first budget was announced in 1997 and it gives me absolutely no pleasure that my fears at the time that Labour's latest period in government would end, sooner or later, in financial ruin for the country have become a frightening reality. So the answer to that question is "Yes", at the very least as far as my own lifetime to date is concerned.
"We are confronted with a situation where the scale of deficits is truly extraordinary. This reflects the scale of the global downturn, but it also reflects the fact that we came into this crisis with fiscal policy on a path that wasn't sustainable and a correction was needed." "There will certainly need to be a plan for the lifetime of the next parliament, contingent on the state of the economy, to show how those deficits will be brought down, if the economy recovers, to reach levels of deficits below those which were shown in the budget figures." |
The extent of the rift between Threadneedle Street and Downing Street is clear from this FT report on today's meeting, too.
Quite extraordinary and one imagines that the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer cannot have enjoyed learning of what Sir Mervyn had said. He is of course quite correct and it needed to be said - one presumes that there will be consequences of one kind or another for him, tempered only by the fact that Labour is now very weak politically, even if whilst Brown remains Prime Minister he still retains a certain, now rather shabby, aura of power. Today, too, at Prime Minister's Questions, David Cameron tore into Gordon Brown and his usual spin in a manner that was most satisfying to behold.
The Governor of the Bank of England is not the only senior establishment figure to have seemingly lost whatever faith they may have once had in the 'Dear Leader', if the audience Her Majesty the Queen granted to Sir Mervyn King in March last is a guide.
Is Gordon Brown set to go down in history as the worst Prime Minister this country has ever had? I've thought he was complete rubbish ever since his first budget was announced in 1997 and it gives me absolutely no pleasure that my fears at the time that Labour's latest period in government would end, sooner or later, in financial ruin for the country have become a frightening reality. So the answer to that question is "Yes", at the very least as far as my own lifetime to date is concerned.
Monday, 22 June 2009
"Moray Firth Live" - who they?
I've just been followed on Twitter by something called Moray Firth Live (their 'Twitter' link).
In their Twitter profile page they link to their website; click on the About link from there and you get this:
A WhoIs search for the domain registry "morayfirthlive.com" reveals it to originate from an address in Forres, with the person behind it having his Twitter page here and the website link from there taking you here (a blog, at the time of writing, last updated on 9th March 2009); the about page from there gives this information:
So, now we get to it. Wouldn't it just have been simpler to say who is behind MorayFirthLive in its own 'about' page, rather than the opaque (and somewhat 'grandiose') nonsense that is there? If that had been done I wouldn't have had to waste valuable time doing a bit of 'forensic' web research. In any case, I shall be 'following' the Twitter page for Moray Firth Live at least for a while to see how it develops. I'm not sure what the real 'value added' will be, given that there are a number of bloggers along the Moray coast already doing this 'grass-roots' news gathering, but let's see how it goes.
In their Twitter profile page they link to their website; click on the About link from there and you get this:
MorayFirthLive About Moray Firth Live is a local news aggregration service for the area around the coast of the Moray Firth from Thurso to Fraserburgh. We aggregate headlines and links to local news services. We also have our own journalists and photographers who want to hear from you. We can cover local events in words, audio and video, and update them accordingly. We are a community news vehicle and encourage local people to get in touch with their news, pictures or videos. Remember, we don’t know what’s going on unless somebody tells us, then we’ll spread the word. |
A WhoIs search for the domain registry "morayfirthlive.com" reveals it to originate from an address in Forres, with the person behind it having his Twitter page here and the website link from there taking you here (a blog, at the time of writing, last updated on 9th March 2009); the about page from there gives this information:
Marc Hindley is a technical entrepreneur. He has worked between journalism and IT for the last 20 years, and now is lead developer with web design agency Canary Dwarf. He also runs Moray IT Services, which provides computer support for small businesses and is slowly moving into niche markets such as data security and VOIP. I his journalistic capacity, he supplies the leisure marine publishing industry with news and pictures through Moray Firth Press Agency and is planning to opena small media consultancy, Clava. He writes three monthly newsletters, WebSense, MediaTech and GreenIT, and two blogs at www.marchindley.co.uk and www.canarydwarf.co.uk/blog/. Combining his skills, he advises publishers on new technology, particularly wireless newsgathering and digital/print convergence. |
So, now we get to it. Wouldn't it just have been simpler to say who is behind MorayFirthLive in its own 'about' page, rather than the opaque (and somewhat 'grandiose') nonsense that is there? If that had been done I wouldn't have had to waste valuable time doing a bit of 'forensic' web research. In any case, I shall be 'following' the Twitter page for Moray Firth Live at least for a while to see how it develops. I'm not sure what the real 'value added' will be, given that there are a number of bloggers along the Moray coast already doing this 'grass-roots' news gathering, but let's see how it goes.
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Tear gas attacks in Tehran - Saturday 20 June 2009
Some more video-footage of yesterday's demonstratons in Tehran, violently put down by the authorities with tear gas attacks:
Tehran - Saturday 20 June 2009
WARNING: The first of the two embedded video-clips below shows the death of a young woman in Tehran yesterday. It is very explicit. If you prefer not to see it, do not press the 'play' icon.
Death of a young woman in the street in Tehran yesterday
A recording of the demonstrations in Tehran yesterday
(both thru Barcepundit)
Death of a young woman in the street in Tehran yesterday
A recording of the demonstrations in Tehran yesterday
(both thru Barcepundit)
Saturday, 20 June 2009
Don't feel you have to hang around on my account, Mr Brown!
Apparently the 'Great Leader' hasn't much enjoyed (I paraphrase) the events of recent weeks and has thought he could "walk away from this tomorrow". He is quoted as saying:
I hesitate to comment upon what might or might not be good for his children and of course it's absolutely not my place to do so, but I do feel quite at liberty to state very forcefully that I do believe it would be very much in my own best intersts were he to go, and go soon.
There are other parts of the linked report that strike an even more maudlin' (and frankly pathetic) tone on the part of the Prime Minister. Despite my better instincts I found myself feeling some human sympathy after a first cursory reading of this ridiculous spin and twaddle. But after steeling myself to read it again I'm afraid it has left me even more irritated.
Just go, Mr Brown!
(And there's no need to leave a forwarding address; you won't be missed.)
"I'm not interested in what accompanies being in power... and it would probably be good for my children." |
I hesitate to comment upon what might or might not be good for his children and of course it's absolutely not my place to do so, but I do feel quite at liberty to state very forcefully that I do believe it would be very much in my own best intersts were he to go, and go soon.
There are other parts of the linked report that strike an even more maudlin' (and frankly pathetic) tone on the part of the Prime Minister. Despite my better instincts I found myself feeling some human sympathy after a first cursory reading of this ridiculous spin and twaddle. But after steeling myself to read it again I'm afraid it has left me even more irritated.
Just go, Mr Brown!
(And there's no need to leave a forwarding address; you won't be missed.)
Friday, 19 June 2009
Wednesday, 17 June 2009
Crass stupidity at Somerfield, Nairn!
Somerfield is the larger of the two supermarkets we have in Nairn, but is of course now owned by the operator of the other smaller supermarket - the Co-op; it has a limited range of merchandise because of its limited floorspace - the prices aren't that great either. One might have thought that 'customer service' would be paramount, specially when rival Sainsbury may get final approval soon (I hope!) to open a largish edge-of-town supermarket here, or even to encourage people to do a little shopping here meantime, rather than popping off to Forres or Inverness for everything. But no, such considerations do not seem to apply in the surreal world of Somerfield.
So, what has set me off today? I was up in town a short while ago to do a little shopping; I did think when heading for the roundabout in my car that I might just carry straight on and visit Tesco in Forres, but decided to turn right instead and be 'loyal' and keep the small amount I planned to spend for a local outlet, although of course I bought things I don't really need in addition. In retrospect I should should have gone to Forres!
Bill potters around Somerfield, gets his Telegraph, his Nairnshire (the local 'rag', published weekly on a Tuesday [I was indisposed yesterday]), his Radio Times for next week's TV/radio listings) and continues around the store putting a few other items in his basket (some fruit, some mozzarella, some fish etc) and the fateful item - a bottle of sherry of the amontillado variety. At the check-out the young lady (I've already realised she is a rather sullen young person who gave neither the previous customer nor me the merest glimmer of recognition and whose name as shown on her name-badge I shall refrain from recording here, only 'cause basically I'm a nice guy[+]) picks up the bottle and rather than scan it, turns her head to attract the attention of one of the other check-out assistants (a middle-aged lady I've seen there before) and points out the bottle to her, the latter nods briefly and my check-out assistant proceeds to scan the bottle. I had, at that stage, no idea what was going on and asked her 'what was all that about?' in what I hope was a quizzical, but humourous, tone. She, without hardly glancing at me to respond then said "can only sell alochol to people over 18". No "I" or even "We" you notice - basically verbal 'texting' language in other words.
I then innocently asked her "Do you think I don't look 18?" - no response, other than a sullen shrug of the shoulders. I then said "Well, there must be a lot more[*] wrong with your eyes. I wish I was only 18, but sadly that's not the case." A sullen glare from the check-out assistant and more shrugging of the shoulders was all I got from her, accompanied fortunately by a chuckle of wry amusement from the next customer who happened to be a middle-aged sari-clad Indian lady who is, I have no doubt, a veteran of much more serious abuse than that to which I had been subjected in the name of 'just following orders' (where have I heard that before) and worse, without the exercise of any sort of judgement whatsoever.
For the record I am 57 years old, not 'old looking' for my age certainly, but I doubt that anyone on the planet could reasonably confuse me with a sub-18 year old! Perhaps in my mid-20s (33 or 34 years ago) that might have been a reasonable cause for doubt, but since I turned 30 even I, in my vainer moments, would be forced to accept that would have been fanciful. Like many westerners in recent generations I've never had to do physical labour in my life and as I have never smoked and drink alcohol fairly moderately I have probably 'aged well' - but unfortunately, and completely incontrovertibly to all but the completely sightless, not THAT well.
[+] But not that nice after all, I find. You can find her name easily enough if you know the alphabet as these are the letters of her name - 11 1 25 1 - according to their order in the alphabet.
[*] She wore spectacles, as do I.
So, what has set me off today? I was up in town a short while ago to do a little shopping; I did think when heading for the roundabout in my car that I might just carry straight on and visit Tesco in Forres, but decided to turn right instead and be 'loyal' and keep the small amount I planned to spend for a local outlet, although of course I bought things I don't really need in addition. In retrospect I should should have gone to Forres!
Bill potters around Somerfield, gets his Telegraph, his Nairnshire (the local 'rag', published weekly on a Tuesday [I was indisposed yesterday]), his Radio Times for next week's TV/radio listings) and continues around the store putting a few other items in his basket (some fruit, some mozzarella, some fish etc) and the fateful item - a bottle of sherry of the amontillado variety. At the check-out the young lady (I've already realised she is a rather sullen young person who gave neither the previous customer nor me the merest glimmer of recognition and whose name as shown on her name-badge I shall refrain from recording here, only 'cause basically I'm a nice guy[+]) picks up the bottle and rather than scan it, turns her head to attract the attention of one of the other check-out assistants (a middle-aged lady I've seen there before) and points out the bottle to her, the latter nods briefly and my check-out assistant proceeds to scan the bottle. I had, at that stage, no idea what was going on and asked her 'what was all that about?' in what I hope was a quizzical, but humourous, tone. She, without hardly glancing at me to respond then said "can only sell alochol to people over 18". No "I" or even "We" you notice - basically verbal 'texting' language in other words.
I then innocently asked her "Do you think I don't look 18?" - no response, other than a sullen shrug of the shoulders. I then said "Well, there must be a lot more[*] wrong with your eyes. I wish I was only 18, but sadly that's not the case." A sullen glare from the check-out assistant and more shrugging of the shoulders was all I got from her, accompanied fortunately by a chuckle of wry amusement from the next customer who happened to be a middle-aged sari-clad Indian lady who is, I have no doubt, a veteran of much more serious abuse than that to which I had been subjected in the name of 'just following orders' (where have I heard that before) and worse, without the exercise of any sort of judgement whatsoever.
For the record I am 57 years old, not 'old looking' for my age certainly, but I doubt that anyone on the planet could reasonably confuse me with a sub-18 year old! Perhaps in my mid-20s (33 or 34 years ago) that might have been a reasonable cause for doubt, but since I turned 30 even I, in my vainer moments, would be forced to accept that would have been fanciful. Like many westerners in recent generations I've never had to do physical labour in my life and as I have never smoked and drink alcohol fairly moderately I have probably 'aged well' - but unfortunately, and completely incontrovertibly to all but the completely sightless, not THAT well.
[+] But not that nice after all, I find. You can find her name easily enough if you know the alphabet as these are the letters of her name - 11 1 25 1 - according to their order in the alphabet.
[*] She wore spectacles, as do I.
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
Bill opens up his private 'Bloglines' blogrolls
Until now my blogrolls appearing in this blog have been restricted to those hosted at Blogrolling.com. Now as an experiment I have added my full 'unexpurgated' blog reading list included in one of the RSS feed aggregators I use, Bloglines.com. I haven't yet decided whether I shall leave these new additions here indefinitely, but I suspect they will remain for a few weeks at least.
My Blogrolling blogrolls continue to appear in their usual positions in the right column. The Bloglines blogrolls appear way down the right column in a new section headed: 'Bloglines Blogrolls'.
There are several reasons why I haven't included certain blogs in my public blogrolls hitherto:
- they are relatively 'new' to me so I haven't got around to 'promoting' them to my public blogrolls; however there are now so many in this category that it has become very unwieldy to update my public blogrolls regularly, so including the 'Bloglines' feed here circumvents that unwieldiness;
- I have not considered them 'suitable' for appearance in my public blogrolls, because they are 'gay' blogs which are pretty explicit in the images and/or words they use, specially for the delicate eyes (lol - Ed) of people who are not 'gay'; I've decided to abandon this pretence - I read many explicit 'gay' blogs and have ceased to care what others may think about this; it just is;
- I have not considered them 'suitable' for appearance in my public blogrolls, because they are 'extreme' in some way, usually in the politics they help to propagate. However, whilst I may dislike intensely the political ideas that some people believe in, quite apart from fearing them, I have come to believe this is a 'cop out' - these ideas exist and need to be confronted, not brushed away under the carpet;
- Many blogs which have gone dormant, or the writer has announced they will no longer be updated, have been removed from my public 'Blogrolling' blogrolls, usually after about three months of dormancy. However I remove dormant/dead blogs from my 'Bloglines' RSS feeds much less often, just in case the writers decide to resurrect them, so some of the links there have not been updated in some time - nevertheless they were blogs I found interesting to read, so don't want to lose track of them entirely
Even with all this effort at 'transparency' however, there are still some blogs that are very well-known that you won't find anywhere in my blogrolls, whether hosted by Blogrolling or Bloglines, as I simply don't read them; in most cases I did read them in the past, but have ceased doing so. I'm not going to name them here because that would potentially give them a little additional publicity; the only time I ever visit these blogs is if some of those websites I do read include links to them in articles.
I don't pretend any or all of this is particularly logical or defensible; like most people I am a mass of contradictions and although my 'strapline' at the top of this blog is 'Striving for Objectivity, Combatting Bigotry' I'm not naive enough to believe, or even to pretend to others, that I have achieved either aim in its entirety. However, if you have managed to get this far, perhaps you'll find a few links in these new additons of interest to you.
My Blogrolling blogrolls continue to appear in their usual positions in the right column. The Bloglines blogrolls appear way down the right column in a new section headed: 'Bloglines Blogrolls'.
There are several reasons why I haven't included certain blogs in my public blogrolls hitherto:
- they are relatively 'new' to me so I haven't got around to 'promoting' them to my public blogrolls; however there are now so many in this category that it has become very unwieldy to update my public blogrolls regularly, so including the 'Bloglines' feed here circumvents that unwieldiness;
- I have not considered them 'suitable' for appearance in my public blogrolls, because they are 'gay' blogs which are pretty explicit in the images and/or words they use, specially for the delicate eyes (lol - Ed) of people who are not 'gay'; I've decided to abandon this pretence - I read many explicit 'gay' blogs and have ceased to care what others may think about this; it just is;
- I have not considered them 'suitable' for appearance in my public blogrolls, because they are 'extreme' in some way, usually in the politics they help to propagate. However, whilst I may dislike intensely the political ideas that some people believe in, quite apart from fearing them, I have come to believe this is a 'cop out' - these ideas exist and need to be confronted, not brushed away under the carpet;
- Many blogs which have gone dormant, or the writer has announced they will no longer be updated, have been removed from my public 'Blogrolling' blogrolls, usually after about three months of dormancy. However I remove dormant/dead blogs from my 'Bloglines' RSS feeds much less often, just in case the writers decide to resurrect them, so some of the links there have not been updated in some time - nevertheless they were blogs I found interesting to read, so don't want to lose track of them entirely
Even with all this effort at 'transparency' however, there are still some blogs that are very well-known that you won't find anywhere in my blogrolls, whether hosted by Blogrolling or Bloglines, as I simply don't read them; in most cases I did read them in the past, but have ceased doing so. I'm not going to name them here because that would potentially give them a little additional publicity; the only time I ever visit these blogs is if some of those websites I do read include links to them in articles.
I don't pretend any or all of this is particularly logical or defensible; like most people I am a mass of contradictions and although my 'strapline' at the top of this blog is 'Striving for Objectivity, Combatting Bigotry' I'm not naive enough to believe, or even to pretend to others, that I have achieved either aim in its entirety. However, if you have managed to get this far, perhaps you'll find a few links in these new additons of interest to you.
Monday, 15 June 2009
Ann Widdecombe for Speaker? What a nightmare!
(Please see UPDATE at end)
I wrote here a few weeks ago my general reaction to the fact that the good lady was considering putting herself forward as a candidate (an interim candidate, thank God[!], as she is to stand down at the next General Election). My earlier article was not a positive endorsement.
Since then, amazingly, her canditature has not been laughed out of contention and the final 'proof' I need that I now live in a world that has completely lost touch with reality is here - if he says it's the right outcome then for sure it's a complete nonsense! The 'evidence' of her perfomrance in a cod-reality show would be laughable if it were not so seriously stated; my recollection of that particular show is that whilst she, naturally enough, showed robust 'common sense' in a number of the episodes the overall impression was that she completely failed to understand the protagonists, and they her, as they were from two completely alien social environments; the whole premise of the programme was exploitative and even more than most reality shows was designed to highlight the bizarre nature of both parties. And in her case they succeeded! Although it was not a surprise in her case either.
Ms Ann Widdecombe has been on the 'reactionary' side of political argument for all of the time she has been in Parliament. Now people seem to think it a good idea that she be assigned the role of 'referee' there, albeit for a relatively brief period. Her campaign slogan that she has the "vulgar attributes" seems to be regarded by her as a positive characteristic, but I think translates in the vernacular to a recognition that she is likely to appeal to the electorate's (i.e. the real voters, not the actual electorate in this particular little 'stitch-up') baser and more 'reactionary' instincts. Hence, I suppose, her appeal in this particular quarter.
The only genuinely worthy candidate, Frank Field MP, is unfortunatley not standing, having effectively been black-balled by the present Labour government hierarchy - he's far too honest and impartial for their liking! Of the actual candidates, I'd have to say my personal favourite would be the LibDem Sir Alan Beith and failing him Conservative John Bercow, the current 'bookies favourite'.
The idea that we need an 'interim candidate', which is what Ms Ann Widdecombe aspires to be, is itself more than just an anachronism; all that will be achieved by selecting her is to postpone the selection of a 'real' Speaker for at most 11 or so months until the next election is over, whereas a Speaker needs already to be in place to preside over the newly-elected House of Commons. If they choose her it will be an abdication of responsibility - indicating even more forcefully than recent events in relation to the Government's poor management of the country and its economy , not to mention the scandal surrounding the unjustifiable expenses claims of MPs, that a General Election is already long overdue,
UPDATE: (Tuesday 16JUN09 08.37 BST) There's an excellent article here, with which I agree broadly; see also the link from there to this excellent analysis of the merit/demerits of each candidate.
I wrote here a few weeks ago my general reaction to the fact that the good lady was considering putting herself forward as a candidate (an interim candidate, thank God[!], as she is to stand down at the next General Election). My earlier article was not a positive endorsement.
Since then, amazingly, her canditature has not been laughed out of contention and the final 'proof' I need that I now live in a world that has completely lost touch with reality is here - if he says it's the right outcome then for sure it's a complete nonsense! The 'evidence' of her perfomrance in a cod-reality show would be laughable if it were not so seriously stated; my recollection of that particular show is that whilst she, naturally enough, showed robust 'common sense' in a number of the episodes the overall impression was that she completely failed to understand the protagonists, and they her, as they were from two completely alien social environments; the whole premise of the programme was exploitative and even more than most reality shows was designed to highlight the bizarre nature of both parties. And in her case they succeeded! Although it was not a surprise in her case either.
Ms Ann Widdecombe has been on the 'reactionary' side of political argument for all of the time she has been in Parliament. Now people seem to think it a good idea that she be assigned the role of 'referee' there, albeit for a relatively brief period. Her campaign slogan that she has the "vulgar attributes" seems to be regarded by her as a positive characteristic, but I think translates in the vernacular to a recognition that she is likely to appeal to the electorate's (i.e. the real voters, not the actual electorate in this particular little 'stitch-up') baser and more 'reactionary' instincts. Hence, I suppose, her appeal in this particular quarter.
The only genuinely worthy candidate, Frank Field MP, is unfortunatley not standing, having effectively been black-balled by the present Labour government hierarchy - he's far too honest and impartial for their liking! Of the actual candidates, I'd have to say my personal favourite would be the LibDem Sir Alan Beith and failing him Conservative John Bercow, the current 'bookies favourite'.
The idea that we need an 'interim candidate', which is what Ms Ann Widdecombe aspires to be, is itself more than just an anachronism; all that will be achieved by selecting her is to postpone the selection of a 'real' Speaker for at most 11 or so months until the next election is over, whereas a Speaker needs already to be in place to preside over the newly-elected House of Commons. If they choose her it will be an abdication of responsibility - indicating even more forcefully than recent events in relation to the Government's poor management of the country and its economy , not to mention the scandal surrounding the unjustifiable expenses claims of MPs, that a General Election is already long overdue,
UPDATE: (Tuesday 16JUN09 08.37 BST) There's an excellent article here, with which I agree broadly; see also the link from there to this excellent analysis of the merit/demerits of each candidate.
Saturday, 13 June 2009
That man sure has style!
The 'that man' in question is President Barack Obama who made a little girl's day by writing her a personal note to give to her teacher, to excuse her absence from the last day of class, because she was accompanying her father to a 'town hall' style meeting held by the President in Green Bay, Wisconsin. After writing the note, whilst continuing his dialogue with her father who was asking a question, the President then nonchalantly wandered down to the edge of the stage area, microphone in hand, so he could hand her the note personally. Few other recent Presidents could have acted with such aplomb and without any fuss - the only one I can think of really is Ronald Reagan; John Kennedy or Bill Clinton could certainly have done it too, but they surely would have made it a big 'production number'.
(thru my AOL news headline page here)
(thru my AOL news headline page here)
Friday, 12 June 2009
Blears driven before the cameras by the Brown 'enforcers' with a cattle prod?
Forgive this old cynic his moment of retching, but the spectacle today of Hazel Blears [forcibly?] atoning for her 'sins' in criticising the 'Dear Leader' stretches my credulity way beyond breaking-point!
It makes her sound like a complete 'ninny' as if she had no inkling of the effect her actions were likely to have. As if! I may not like her politics, but she has always struck me as a lady who is pretty astute and with a fair dose of common sense. If her actions had resulted in the desired outcome (the departure of the 'Dear Leader') I doubt if we would have been subjected to this nauseating exercise in attempted manipulation of public opinion. It is clear that Brown is following the same kind kind of ritual humiliations inflicted on transgressors in the real-life former Soviet Union, the present-day North Korea or the theoretically purely-fictional Oceania as depicted in the novel 1984 - which I have come to believe Labour would dearly desire to recreate here on 'Airstrip One'. BBC reporting of Blears's remarks today seems dutifully to follow the 'Party line' with no effort to achieve a modicum of balance in its coeverage - as on so many occasions in recent years.
By the by, it was most amusing to see Peter Hain on 'Question Time' last night attempting to bluster his way through what must have been a very uncomfortable evening for him; his visible shock (possibly he might have gone pale briefly, but it was difficult to tell given his usual 'orange' hue) when a member of the audience, an employee of LDV, assured him that whilst this government may have forgotten them, they would not forget Labour - at the time of the next General Election; one could see in his eyes for a brief few seconds a man who knows that Labour is headed for [near-]oblivion when the next general election comes along.
It makes her sound like a complete 'ninny' as if she had no inkling of the effect her actions were likely to have. As if! I may not like her politics, but she has always struck me as a lady who is pretty astute and with a fair dose of common sense. If her actions had resulted in the desired outcome (the departure of the 'Dear Leader') I doubt if we would have been subjected to this nauseating exercise in attempted manipulation of public opinion. It is clear that Brown is following the same kind kind of ritual humiliations inflicted on transgressors in the real-life former Soviet Union, the present-day North Korea or the theoretically purely-fictional Oceania as depicted in the novel 1984 - which I have come to believe Labour would dearly desire to recreate here on 'Airstrip One'. BBC reporting of Blears's remarks today seems dutifully to follow the 'Party line' with no effort to achieve a modicum of balance in its coeverage - as on so many occasions in recent years.
By the by, it was most amusing to see Peter Hain on 'Question Time' last night attempting to bluster his way through what must have been a very uncomfortable evening for him; his visible shock (possibly he might have gone pale briefly, but it was difficult to tell given his usual 'orange' hue) when a member of the audience, an employee of LDV, assured him that whilst this government may have forgotten them, they would not forget Labour - at the time of the next General Election; one could see in his eyes for a brief few seconds a man who knows that Labour is headed for [near-]oblivion when the next general election comes along.
Thursday, 11 June 2009
The power of leadership and an infectious personality
This fellow seems happy and doesn't care what people think of his antics. In a very few minutes they've all joined in the fun:
(thru José M Guardia at Barcepundit)
(thru José M Guardia at Barcepundit)
Wednesday, 10 June 2009
Is freedom of speech only for those people one happens to agree with?
Or is freedom of speech for everyone?
Like a lot of people I was shocked and angry, and more pertinently fearful, at the election of two British National Party candidates as MEPs during last week's European Parliament elections. I loathe and abhor everytthing about the BNP, but it is a legal political party. I've written here before (here in May 2007 and here in July 2004) denouncing the misguided prohibition on BNP members being employed in various types of employment such as the police.
Similarly, I think the actions of some opponents of the BNP in making it physically impossible for newly-elected BNP MEPs to hold a 'press conference' (aka 'publicity stunt') in London yesterday was completely misguided and quite possibly counter-productive; people receptive to the filth that the BNP promulgates are likely only to see such actions as 'proof' that they are as disriminated against as they claim. The same anti-democratic antics were apparently on display again today in Manchester from people opposed to allowing BNP MEPs to speak. Personally I believe in confronting odious views with debate and discussion - I have sufficient confidence in the strength and validity of my beliefs to be willing to argue against views I dislike, but some people obviouusly don't share this view. They think it satisfactory simply to prevent people speaking with whom they disagree. Whatever this is it is most certainly not 'democracy'.
If the government or anyone else in authority wants to make it impossible for members of odious organisations like the BNP to have a political platform then they should declare it an illegal organisation and have done with it! I do NOT advocate this as a 'solution', because it would not solve anything, merely drive 'underground' people who support BNP ideas. I don't like having to defend the right of odious people such as Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons to speak in public, but defend it I must. Democracy and freedom of speech is not just for 'nice' people, it's for everyone or it has no value - and the police should have been on hand yesterday to defend the right of legally-elected politicians to speak. But the police were curiously-absent in this video report or an event taking place in Parliament Square, which must be in one of the most heavily-policed parts of London. Why? I would hate to think it is because the Metropolitan Police and/or the Labour Government had asked the police not to intervene because it was politically expedient (as Labour had suffered most at the European Parliament elections), but I'm afraid I am forced to consider it as a possibility. Would a violent demonstration like that yesterday have been permitted for a cause with which the Labour Government had no sympathy? That's a hard question, but I'm afraid it HAS to be asked! Specially when one recalls scenes of an elderly Labour Party member who heckled in a pretty restrained manner Jack Straw (then Home Secretary) at a Labour Party conference being forcibly removed from the hall, or the lady who wished merely to recite the names of British military personnel killed in Iraq since 2003 whilst standing near the Cenotaph in London being bundled away by the police and having her DNA samples taken as well as being found guilty of breaching Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act(!), or this sad incident during another Labour Conference.
What this seems to illustrate, no let me be less mealy-mouthed about it, what it DOES illustrate is that under this present Labour Government, policing and justice depends upon whether views held are 'approved' by Labour. Those who hold views that Labour disagrees with can expect harrassment, whether direct or indirect (by permitting hooligans to shout down views the Government happens not to like).
To summarise, I may loathe and despise everything that the BNP stands for, but whilst it remains a legal organisation their right to express their views within the law must be defended.
Like a lot of people I was shocked and angry, and more pertinently fearful, at the election of two British National Party candidates as MEPs during last week's European Parliament elections. I loathe and abhor everytthing about the BNP, but it is a legal political party. I've written here before (here in May 2007 and here in July 2004) denouncing the misguided prohibition on BNP members being employed in various types of employment such as the police.
Similarly, I think the actions of some opponents of the BNP in making it physically impossible for newly-elected BNP MEPs to hold a 'press conference' (aka 'publicity stunt') in London yesterday was completely misguided and quite possibly counter-productive; people receptive to the filth that the BNP promulgates are likely only to see such actions as 'proof' that they are as disriminated against as they claim. The same anti-democratic antics were apparently on display again today in Manchester from people opposed to allowing BNP MEPs to speak. Personally I believe in confronting odious views with debate and discussion - I have sufficient confidence in the strength and validity of my beliefs to be willing to argue against views I dislike, but some people obviouusly don't share this view. They think it satisfactory simply to prevent people speaking with whom they disagree. Whatever this is it is most certainly not 'democracy'.
If the government or anyone else in authority wants to make it impossible for members of odious organisations like the BNP to have a political platform then they should declare it an illegal organisation and have done with it! I do NOT advocate this as a 'solution', because it would not solve anything, merely drive 'underground' people who support BNP ideas. I don't like having to defend the right of odious people such as Nick Griffin and Andrew Brons to speak in public, but defend it I must. Democracy and freedom of speech is not just for 'nice' people, it's for everyone or it has no value - and the police should have been on hand yesterday to defend the right of legally-elected politicians to speak. But the police were curiously-absent in this video report or an event taking place in Parliament Square, which must be in one of the most heavily-policed parts of London. Why? I would hate to think it is because the Metropolitan Police and/or the Labour Government had asked the police not to intervene because it was politically expedient (as Labour had suffered most at the European Parliament elections), but I'm afraid I am forced to consider it as a possibility. Would a violent demonstration like that yesterday have been permitted for a cause with which the Labour Government had no sympathy? That's a hard question, but I'm afraid it HAS to be asked! Specially when one recalls scenes of an elderly Labour Party member who heckled in a pretty restrained manner Jack Straw (then Home Secretary) at a Labour Party conference being forcibly removed from the hall, or the lady who wished merely to recite the names of British military personnel killed in Iraq since 2003 whilst standing near the Cenotaph in London being bundled away by the police and having her DNA samples taken as well as being found guilty of breaching Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act(!), or this sad incident during another Labour Conference.
What this seems to illustrate, no let me be less mealy-mouthed about it, what it DOES illustrate is that under this present Labour Government, policing and justice depends upon whether views held are 'approved' by Labour. Those who hold views that Labour disagrees with can expect harrassment, whether direct or indirect (by permitting hooligans to shout down views the Government happens not to like).
To summarise, I may loathe and despise everything that the BNP stands for, but whilst it remains a legal organisation their right to express their views within the law must be defended.
European elections - my thoughts on the final results
Everybody and his/her dog has been writing about this in the past couple of days, but I'm afraid that 'real life' rudely disrupted the time I could devote before now to doing my own round-up on the final result since I did my live-blogging on Sunday night.
A number of well-known websites have links to utilities which will allow you to analyse the final results in various different ways, but why go to the media when you can visit the European Union's own website and get all the relevant information there, presented in a very flexible utility.
So far as the UK is concerned, the results are here. However, to get a more detailed analysis, specially of changes since the last election in 2004 the best place is the BBC website here. There are several things to say about the overall UK result:
- the governing Labour Party was pushed into third place, behind the Conservative Party and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), a major 'drubbing' and humiliation, richly deserved by the tawdry excuse we have for a Government;
- the fascist British National Party (BNP) gained two seats, the first time these odious racists have gained seats at a national election. Labour and other left-of-centre people professing what they call 'progressive' political ideas categorise the BNP as 'right wing', but a cursory study of its manifesto reveals it to be 'collectivist' in nature, much more characteristic of the kind of 'socialist' politics of a 'left wing' political party, such as Labour - which is where most of the votes for the BNP have undoubtedly come from. The 'authoritarian' and 'racist' ethos of the BNP is certainly not in doubt.
For me the four UK regions of most interest, for quite different reasons, are these:
- Scotland, because that's where I live. The main development here is the fact that Labour has been pushed into second place by the Scottish National Party (SNP); no longer can Scotland be described as a Labour 'fiefdom'. Of course I am not personally enamoured of the SNP, but that's a whole different discussion.
- Wales, where the result is even more dramatic than in Scotland in some respects. It is the first time since 1918 that Labour have lost the popular vote here and the fact they have been pushed into second place by the Conservatives of all people is specially dramatic. They lost one of their two MEPs, to the so-called 'fluke' UKIP. Some 'fluke'!
- The Yorkshire and The Humber and the North West regions in each of which a BNP candidate was elected with 9.8 and 8.0 per cent respectively of the vote. In both these regions the Labour Party was forced into second place by the Conservatives with UKIP in third position.
Other amazing results in this election were noted in Cornwall where Labour was relegated to 6th place behind both the Greens and Mebyon Kernow (Cornish nationalists). The only English region where Labour topped the popular vote was in the North East region.
In summary it was a grim election result for Labour, as they managed to get only 15.7 per cent of the national vote and their tally of MEPs was reduced by 5 down to 13, although that to me was a very positive development. Much less positive of course was the 6.2 per cent achieved nationally by the BNP, giving it 2 MEPs and all the funding that goes with this. Frankly Labour has a lot to answer for with its chronic mismanagement of the economy during its 12 years in power and for its persistent refusal to engage and combat the political arguments of its left-wing cousins, the BNP; Labour's panicky 'vote for anyone but the BNP' mantra in recent months I'm afraid was far too little too late.
A number of well-known websites have links to utilities which will allow you to analyse the final results in various different ways, but why go to the media when you can visit the European Union's own website and get all the relevant information there, presented in a very flexible utility.
So far as the UK is concerned, the results are here. However, to get a more detailed analysis, specially of changes since the last election in 2004 the best place is the BBC website here. There are several things to say about the overall UK result:
- the governing Labour Party was pushed into third place, behind the Conservative Party and the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), a major 'drubbing' and humiliation, richly deserved by the tawdry excuse we have for a Government;
- the fascist British National Party (BNP) gained two seats, the first time these odious racists have gained seats at a national election. Labour and other left-of-centre people professing what they call 'progressive' political ideas categorise the BNP as 'right wing', but a cursory study of its manifesto reveals it to be 'collectivist' in nature, much more characteristic of the kind of 'socialist' politics of a 'left wing' political party, such as Labour - which is where most of the votes for the BNP have undoubtedly come from. The 'authoritarian' and 'racist' ethos of the BNP is certainly not in doubt.
For me the four UK regions of most interest, for quite different reasons, are these:
- Scotland, because that's where I live. The main development here is the fact that Labour has been pushed into second place by the Scottish National Party (SNP); no longer can Scotland be described as a Labour 'fiefdom'. Of course I am not personally enamoured of the SNP, but that's a whole different discussion.
- Wales, where the result is even more dramatic than in Scotland in some respects. It is the first time since 1918 that Labour have lost the popular vote here and the fact they have been pushed into second place by the Conservatives of all people is specially dramatic. They lost one of their two MEPs, to the so-called 'fluke' UKIP. Some 'fluke'!
- The Yorkshire and The Humber and the North West regions in each of which a BNP candidate was elected with 9.8 and 8.0 per cent respectively of the vote. In both these regions the Labour Party was forced into second place by the Conservatives with UKIP in third position.
Other amazing results in this election were noted in Cornwall where Labour was relegated to 6th place behind both the Greens and Mebyon Kernow (Cornish nationalists). The only English region where Labour topped the popular vote was in the North East region.
In summary it was a grim election result for Labour, as they managed to get only 15.7 per cent of the national vote and their tally of MEPs was reduced by 5 down to 13, although that to me was a very positive development. Much less positive of course was the 6.2 per cent achieved nationally by the BNP, giving it 2 MEPs and all the funding that goes with this. Frankly Labour has a lot to answer for with its chronic mismanagement of the economy during its 12 years in power and for its persistent refusal to engage and combat the political arguments of its left-wing cousins, the BNP; Labour's panicky 'vote for anyone but the BNP' mantra in recent months I'm afraid was far too little too late.
London Tube 48-hour strike - Bill goes all "Devil's Kitchen"
I had the dubious pleasure of watching Bob Crow, the 'capo' of the union (aka 'gang') known as the RMT, last evening telling poor unfortunate Londoners why they would just have to 'grin and bear it' because members of the union were staging a 48-hour strike for some fatuous reason; not that I'm biased of course, you understand, but watching that 'mockney' lout on my television screen brings a rage-mist down over my eyes, I'm a little embarrassed to admit. Luckily I happened to flick through my RSS feeds tonight and found something in Gavin Whenman's blog that struck me as specially apt. The embedded video relates to a shorter strike a couple of years ago and encapsulates what are I imagine the sentiments of many commuters in London tonight. There is 'profanity' in the embedded video I'm afraid, but it seems to me that when confronted by divisive and offensive eejuts such as Crow some leeway is permitted:
- the title by the way refers to the serial swear-blog known as the Devil's Kitchen of course - even if I find the language used regularly there to be far too strong for my tastes, I read it often because the quality of the writing is otherwise so high and the quality of the arguments deployed is plenty high enough - even if I call a halt when the ranting carries on for screen after screen of obsessiveness in some of the [far too] lengthy articles.
However, amidst all the probable chaos in London over the next couple of days it is pleasing to read in the traditional 'journal of record' that the online blogging community is recognised as providing a valuable level of helpful information and advice for those who will be trying to negotiate their way through Bob Crow's ego-fest in the coming couple of days.
- the title by the way refers to the serial swear-blog known as the Devil's Kitchen of course - even if I find the language used regularly there to be far too strong for my tastes, I read it often because the quality of the writing is otherwise so high and the quality of the arguments deployed is plenty high enough - even if I call a halt when the ranting carries on for screen after screen of obsessiveness in some of the [far too] lengthy articles.
However, amidst all the probable chaos in London over the next couple of days it is pleasing to read in the traditional 'journal of record' that the online blogging community is recognised as providing a valuable level of helpful information and advice for those who will be trying to negotiate their way through Bob Crow's ego-fest in the coming couple of days.
Tuesday, 9 June 2009
Ryanair cancelling swathes of bookings - involving Inverness and perhaps other destinations
(Please see UPDATES at end)
I just had an email from Ryanair advising me that a flight I had booked some time ago with them from East Midlands airport (EMA) to Inverness airport (INV) has been cancelled. In my case it's a flight several months in the future (15th October), but the cancellations seem to affect people travelling a lot sooner than that! And perhaps on other routes too, because although my email tells me about my own flight (roughly speaking) and no doubt fulfils their legal obligations to the letter, there is absolutely no mention of this in their website, so there may be many other changes/curtailments of service which won't be obvious to anyone not directly affected. Here's the text of the email I received, which illustrates the guarded way in which my email (and presumably those received by many other people who have booked flights) is worded:
Of course I am only transiting East Midlands airport (EMA), as I shall be arriving there on an easyJet flight from Spain some hours before my Inverness was originally scheduled to depart. This airport serves the English Midlands cities of Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham and Derby, not places I have ever had any particular requiirement to visit.
It is, somewhat to my amazement, still technically feasible for me to get to Nairn that day by taking the airport bus into Derby, then a crosscountry train to Edinburgh, then a direct ScotRail train to Nairn/Inverness via Aberdeen (rather than the more usual Perth). It would of course have me arriving at Nairn at 11.45pm approximately rather than 5.20pm at Inverness airport and, although I haven't priced it yet, undoubtedly cost more than the now-cancelled Ryanair flight. I may therefore look at changing the itinerary for my return to the UK completely, as I have no over-riding need to be back here on that date.
Whether these flight cancellations by Ryanair have any direct correlation with the announcement of the first ever losses by the company just a few days ago is not known to me, but one might perhaps be forgiven for wondering if these are not 'slash and burn' tactics in operation to get the company back 'into the back' as expeditiously as possible, with the routes affected being those they consider marginal to their main route network.
It'll be interesting to see whether there are any flights to/from Inverness by Ryanair in the foreseesable future, specially during the current economic recession/depression whose end-date can only be guessed at. One must I suppose hope that it will be less long than the one which blighted the 1930s with such terrible consequences. Do you think I am being melodramatic? I sincerely hope I am.
UPDATE: (Tuesday 9JUN09 22.10 BST) Within less than an hour of uploading this article, there were 'Google' searches using as their search criteria some of the same precise wording used in the email I received from Ryanair, originating from Poland - indicating perhaps that these 'slash and burn' route network cuts do go rather further than their Inverness-East Midland route, as I had speculated. I wonder just how many destinations are affected.
2nd UPDATE: (Wednesday 10JUN09 02.18 BST) It seems that the Durham Tees Valley airport to Dublin service is also being withdrawn from July.
3rd UPDATE: (Thursday 11JUN09 10.32 BST) Now I see internet searches alighting here from the Czech Republic over the issue of Ryanair flight cancellations. Just how far does this thing extend?
I just had an email from Ryanair advising me that a flight I had booked some time ago with them from East Midlands airport (EMA) to Inverness airport (INV) has been cancelled. In my case it's a flight several months in the future (15th October), but the cancellations seem to affect people travelling a lot sooner than that! And perhaps on other routes too, because although my email tells me about my own flight (roughly speaking) and no doubt fulfils their legal obligations to the letter, there is absolutely no mention of this in their website, so there may be many other changes/curtailments of service which won't be obvious to anyone not directly affected. Here's the text of the email I received, which illustrates the guarded way in which my email (and presumably those received by many other people who have booked flights) is worded:
Ryanair Flight Cancellation Dear Customer Ryanair regrets that following an operational review your flight/s detailed below will cease operation from the 16/07/09 - 24/10/09. Please advise any other passengers who may be travelling in your party of the cancellation of this booking. Any flights booked departing between the 16/07/09 - 24/10/09 have been cancelled and a refund will be automatically processed back to the original form of payment used to pay for the original booking. If one of the flights in this reservation is due to depart before the 16/07/09 and you do not wish to use the flight you can receive a refund by clicking on the link below and completing the form. (URL to my flight booking) Ryanair sincerely apologise for the inconvenience caused by this route cancellation. |
Of course I am only transiting East Midlands airport (EMA), as I shall be arriving there on an easyJet flight from Spain some hours before my Inverness was originally scheduled to depart. This airport serves the English Midlands cities of Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham and Derby, not places I have ever had any particular requiirement to visit.
It is, somewhat to my amazement, still technically feasible for me to get to Nairn that day by taking the airport bus into Derby, then a crosscountry train to Edinburgh, then a direct ScotRail train to Nairn/Inverness via Aberdeen (rather than the more usual Perth). It would of course have me arriving at Nairn at 11.45pm approximately rather than 5.20pm at Inverness airport and, although I haven't priced it yet, undoubtedly cost more than the now-cancelled Ryanair flight. I may therefore look at changing the itinerary for my return to the UK completely, as I have no over-riding need to be back here on that date.
Whether these flight cancellations by Ryanair have any direct correlation with the announcement of the first ever losses by the company just a few days ago is not known to me, but one might perhaps be forgiven for wondering if these are not 'slash and burn' tactics in operation to get the company back 'into the back' as expeditiously as possible, with the routes affected being those they consider marginal to their main route network.
It'll be interesting to see whether there are any flights to/from Inverness by Ryanair in the foreseesable future, specially during the current economic recession/depression whose end-date can only be guessed at. One must I suppose hope that it will be less long than the one which blighted the 1930s with such terrible consequences. Do you think I am being melodramatic? I sincerely hope I am.
UPDATE: (Tuesday 9JUN09 22.10 BST) Within less than an hour of uploading this article, there were 'Google' searches using as their search criteria some of the same precise wording used in the email I received from Ryanair, originating from Poland - indicating perhaps that these 'slash and burn' route network cuts do go rather further than their Inverness-East Midland route, as I had speculated. I wonder just how many destinations are affected.
2nd UPDATE: (Wednesday 10JUN09 02.18 BST) It seems that the Durham Tees Valley airport to Dublin service is also being withdrawn from July.
3rd UPDATE: (Thursday 11JUN09 10.32 BST) Now I see internet searches alighting here from the Czech Republic over the issue of Ryanair flight cancellations. Just how far does this thing extend?
Sunday, 7 June 2009
European Parliament elections - rolling results
I'll be live-blogging and 'tweeting' the results as they come in for the next three or so hours before I go off to bed. Ony 7 or 8 minutes to go until we start to see the results trickle through:
00.15 (Monday) - I'm off to bed. Hope the BNP won't get any more MEPs. Nightie-night!
23.44 - Wales UK. Regional allocation: Conservative - 1, Labour - 2, Plaid Cymru - 3, UKIP - 4. Labour pushed out of top position in Wales to Conservatives!
23.37 - Listening to new BNP Yorkshire and Humber MEP speaking. He sounds frighteningly plausible - has this idiot not read the BNP constitution? Ugh!! Nick Robinson had some comments about the man's background and his past activities - sounds a real charmer! Not!
23.26 - Yorkshire and Humber UK. Regional allocation - Conservative - 1, Labour - 2, UKIP - 3, LibDem - 4, Conservative - 5, BNP - 6. SO BNP have an MEP!! Boo!!! Overall result - Conservative 2, Labour 1, UKIP 1, LibDem 1, BNP 1. What a sad moment for UK democracy!
23.06 - East of England UK. Regional allocation - Conservatives 1, UKIP - 2, Conservative 3, LibDem - 4, Labour - 5, Conservative - 6, UKIP - 7. And no BNP! Hurray!! So Conservatives 3, UKIP 2, LibDem 1, Labour 1 - no change. I repeat, no BNP!!!
22.32 - France - EPP significant rise to 28 (+11), Socialist significant fall to 15 (-13). Good result on both counts! Rise for Greens.
22.17 - Sky News reporting that overall EU turnout for the European Parliament elections estimated at 43%; a record low!
21.42 - results from North-east UK. Regional allocation - Labour 1, Conservative 2, Liberal Democrats 3. So one each from these 3 parties - no change.
21.25 - Poland - EPP up 12 to 28, EUN up 3 to 12(?) - This is the right-wing homophobe crowd that UK Tories want to team up with - Hague speaking. He says they would deny their characterisation (the Polish Justice and Law Party, that is)
21.18 - Austria - EPP stay at 6
21.17 - Germany - EPP down 7 to 42
21.01 - Denmark announced its results - too small to matter (sorry Denmark)
00.15 (Monday) - I'm off to bed. Hope the BNP won't get any more MEPs. Nightie-night!
23.44 - Wales UK. Regional allocation: Conservative - 1, Labour - 2, Plaid Cymru - 3, UKIP - 4. Labour pushed out of top position in Wales to Conservatives!
23.37 - Listening to new BNP Yorkshire and Humber MEP speaking. He sounds frighteningly plausible - has this idiot not read the BNP constitution? Ugh!! Nick Robinson had some comments about the man's background and his past activities - sounds a real charmer! Not!
23.26 - Yorkshire and Humber UK. Regional allocation - Conservative - 1, Labour - 2, UKIP - 3, LibDem - 4, Conservative - 5, BNP - 6. SO BNP have an MEP!! Boo!!! Overall result - Conservative 2, Labour 1, UKIP 1, LibDem 1, BNP 1. What a sad moment for UK democracy!
23.06 - East of England UK. Regional allocation - Conservatives 1, UKIP - 2, Conservative 3, LibDem - 4, Labour - 5, Conservative - 6, UKIP - 7. And no BNP! Hurray!! So Conservatives 3, UKIP 2, LibDem 1, Labour 1 - no change. I repeat, no BNP!!!
22.32 - France - EPP significant rise to 28 (+11), Socialist significant fall to 15 (-13). Good result on both counts! Rise for Greens.
22.17 - Sky News reporting that overall EU turnout for the European Parliament elections estimated at 43%; a record low!
21.42 - results from North-east UK. Regional allocation - Labour 1, Conservative 2, Liberal Democrats 3. So one each from these 3 parties - no change.
21.25 - Poland - EPP up 12 to 28, EUN up 3 to 12(?) - This is the right-wing homophobe crowd that UK Tories want to team up with - Hague speaking. He says they would deny their characterisation (the Polish Justice and Law Party, that is)
21.18 - Austria - EPP stay at 6
21.17 - Germany - EPP down 7 to 42
21.01 - Denmark announced its results - too small to matter (sorry Denmark)
European Parliament elections - 7 Jun - day 4
Today is the fourth and final day of voting in the elections for the European Parliament; voting is taking place today in 19 countries:
Austria
Belgium
Bulgaria
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Italy (*)
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
(*) Second day of voting in Italy.
Austria - Public opinion in Austria is much against use of GMOs in agriculture - there's an embedded video via the link that's worth watching. Estimates are that only around 20 per cent of Austrians will vote today. Austria's economic fate is cloesly aligned with the economies of eastern Europe, given the massive extent of its investments in and lending to countries in that region, so the world recession which has affected the region will have a strong impact on Austria, too. Some facts about Austria are in the European Parliament website here.
Belgium - Voting is compulsory so there is normally a 90 per cent plus turnout in votes here, but despite this these elections are likely to be overshadowed in importance by local issues in the regional elections. The economic crisis is likely to push the European elections even further than is usual to the sidelines in importance. Some facts about Belgium are in the European Parliament website here.
Bulgaria - European elections are probably still something of a novelty here, but as often happens elsewhere national self-interest overrides community cohesion. A desire to combat domestic corruption in the use of EU funds is thought likely to keep voting numbers high. Some facts about Bulgaria are in the European Parliament website here.
Denmark - A poll estimates that voter turnout may reach 56 per cent, the second-highest in the EU after Luxembourg and Belgium; voting may be boosted because there is a simultaneous national referendum on changing the Danish Act of Succession to remove gender as a factor in deciding the order of accession to the throne. As in other countries lack of media interest is criticised for reducing public awareness of the issues at stake. Some facts about Denmark are in the European Parliament website here.
Estonia - The country where Skype originated is commonly-agreed to be at the forefront of internet usage and is using i-voting for the first time in European elections, having tried the idea for the first time in 2005 for local elections then later in 2007 for national elections, although whether this will boost voter turnout is open to question; at the last elections in 2004 the turnout was only 27 per cent, one of the lowest in the EU. More here. Some facts about Estonia are in the European Parliament website here.
Finland - The trappings of EU membership (the flag, the anthem) are of little importance to most Finns, when compared with the practical benefits it is hoped it will bring. There is relatively low voter turnout, reflecting the value Finns place on it and its perceived legitimacy. The highly eurosceptic True Finns party has been gaining in support in recent elections, as has the National Coalition party of the Finance Minister, both to the detriment of the Prime Minister's Centre party. Some facts about Finland are in the European Parliament website here.
France - According to this Telegraph article President Sarkozy has been keen to turn the European elections into a referendum on his Presidency as despite his own relative unpopularity the opposition is even less liked. There are 161 list candidates for the 72 French seats, with only 47 per cent expected to vote. Some facts about France are in the European Parliament website here.
Germany - Turnout may be lower than the 43 per cent last time in 2004, and may not exceed 40 per cent for the 99 seats on offer, the largest national representation by far in the 736 seat European Parliament. According to this report only a trickle of voters had made it to the polling stations by midday, indicating the electorate may be ignoring the pleas from the major parties to use their votes. National elections are scheduled for September this year and despite the rising unemployment, lower order books and a somewhat gloomy feeling amongst the electorate, polling suggests Angela Merkel's ruling centre-right coalition is likely to do well in both the European and national elections. Some facts about Germany are in the European Parliament website here.
Greece - According to polling the main opposition party, PASOK, is likely to do best in the elections, followed by the ruling New Democracy Party of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis. Recent corruption scandals mean that the elections are focussing almost entirely on national issues, specially after the riots of last year. Control of [illegal] immigration is a major issue. Some facts about Greece are in the European Parliament website here.
Hungary - The 'far-right' Jobbik party is thought likely to win at least one seat; the language they use in relation to the country's gypsy (Roma) population is quite shocking, although such policies are not limited to Hungary, but extend to several other eastern European countries with Roma populations. Some facts about Hungary are in the European Parliament website here.
Italy - Italy holds its European Parliament elections over two days. The country's parlous economic and unemployment situation, not to mention domestic political controversy involving the personal life of its Prime Minister are, together with worries about immigration, the hot topics of interest to Italian voters. Some facts about Italy are in the European Parliament website here.
Lithuania - The country recently elected its first female President. it is suffering badly in the present economic crisis. The President-elect is urging people to vote and not to succumb to indifference. Some facts about Lithuania are in the European Parliament website here.
Luxembourg - The attack on banking secrecy, principally orchestrated from Berlin and Paris, together with the financial crisis, is forcing Luxembourg to reassess its policies. Comments from German SPD leader Franz Müntefering, who in all seriousness, explained that in the past, Berlin would have settled the matter "by sending in the troops" were obviously not designed to massage the tiny country's sensibilities! Some facts about Luxembourg are in the European Parliament website here.
Poland - Predictions are that the country will favour 'right-leaning' political parties, which could pose a problem for the UK Conservative party in its plans to leave the EPP and set up a new partnership involving the Polish Law and Justice party, widely believed to espouse homophobic, eccentric and nationalistic policies. Some facts about Poland are in the European Parliament website here.
Portugal - Only one in eight of Portuguese say they know when the elections are held, and turnout is projected to reach only 24 per cent. There is some anti-capitalist campaigning here, noted also in other EU member states, perhaps a worry for the future if the economic crisis continues. Some facts about Portugal are in the European Parliament website here.
Romania - The country is voting for the first time in European Parliament elections, but these are being overshadowed by the Presidential elections due in the Autumn. Whilst membership of the EU seems popular, the country is still getting used to having a market economy. Some facts about Romania are in the European Parliament website here.
Slovenia - Some facts about Slovenia are in the European Parliament website here.
Spain - A new third party is attempting to break the duopoly of power in Spain held by the two major political parties. Some facts about Spain are in the European Parliament website here.
Sweden - A curiosity here is the new Pirates Party, campaigning to implement a sweeping reform of copyright law and an end to patents. Some facts about Sweden are in the European Parliament website here.
Belgium
Bulgaria
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Italy (*)
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
(*) Second day of voting in Italy.
Austria - Public opinion in Austria is much against use of GMOs in agriculture - there's an embedded video via the link that's worth watching. Estimates are that only around 20 per cent of Austrians will vote today. Austria's economic fate is cloesly aligned with the economies of eastern Europe, given the massive extent of its investments in and lending to countries in that region, so the world recession which has affected the region will have a strong impact on Austria, too. Some facts about Austria are in the European Parliament website here.
Belgium - Voting is compulsory so there is normally a 90 per cent plus turnout in votes here, but despite this these elections are likely to be overshadowed in importance by local issues in the regional elections. The economic crisis is likely to push the European elections even further than is usual to the sidelines in importance. Some facts about Belgium are in the European Parliament website here.
Bulgaria - European elections are probably still something of a novelty here, but as often happens elsewhere national self-interest overrides community cohesion. A desire to combat domestic corruption in the use of EU funds is thought likely to keep voting numbers high. Some facts about Bulgaria are in the European Parliament website here.
Denmark - A poll estimates that voter turnout may reach 56 per cent, the second-highest in the EU after Luxembourg and Belgium; voting may be boosted because there is a simultaneous national referendum on changing the Danish Act of Succession to remove gender as a factor in deciding the order of accession to the throne. As in other countries lack of media interest is criticised for reducing public awareness of the issues at stake. Some facts about Denmark are in the European Parliament website here.
Estonia - The country where Skype originated is commonly-agreed to be at the forefront of internet usage and is using i-voting for the first time in European elections, having tried the idea for the first time in 2005 for local elections then later in 2007 for national elections, although whether this will boost voter turnout is open to question; at the last elections in 2004 the turnout was only 27 per cent, one of the lowest in the EU. More here. Some facts about Estonia are in the European Parliament website here.
Finland - The trappings of EU membership (the flag, the anthem) are of little importance to most Finns, when compared with the practical benefits it is hoped it will bring. There is relatively low voter turnout, reflecting the value Finns place on it and its perceived legitimacy. The highly eurosceptic True Finns party has been gaining in support in recent elections, as has the National Coalition party of the Finance Minister, both to the detriment of the Prime Minister's Centre party. Some facts about Finland are in the European Parliament website here.
France - According to this Telegraph article President Sarkozy has been keen to turn the European elections into a referendum on his Presidency as despite his own relative unpopularity the opposition is even less liked. There are 161 list candidates for the 72 French seats, with only 47 per cent expected to vote. Some facts about France are in the European Parliament website here.
Germany - Turnout may be lower than the 43 per cent last time in 2004, and may not exceed 40 per cent for the 99 seats on offer, the largest national representation by far in the 736 seat European Parliament. According to this report only a trickle of voters had made it to the polling stations by midday, indicating the electorate may be ignoring the pleas from the major parties to use their votes. National elections are scheduled for September this year and despite the rising unemployment, lower order books and a somewhat gloomy feeling amongst the electorate, polling suggests Angela Merkel's ruling centre-right coalition is likely to do well in both the European and national elections. Some facts about Germany are in the European Parliament website here.
Greece - According to polling the main opposition party, PASOK, is likely to do best in the elections, followed by the ruling New Democracy Party of Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis. Recent corruption scandals mean that the elections are focussing almost entirely on national issues, specially after the riots of last year. Control of [illegal] immigration is a major issue. Some facts about Greece are in the European Parliament website here.
Hungary - The 'far-right' Jobbik party is thought likely to win at least one seat; the language they use in relation to the country's gypsy (Roma) population is quite shocking, although such policies are not limited to Hungary, but extend to several other eastern European countries with Roma populations. Some facts about Hungary are in the European Parliament website here.
Italy - Italy holds its European Parliament elections over two days. The country's parlous economic and unemployment situation, not to mention domestic political controversy involving the personal life of its Prime Minister are, together with worries about immigration, the hot topics of interest to Italian voters. Some facts about Italy are in the European Parliament website here.
Lithuania - The country recently elected its first female President. it is suffering badly in the present economic crisis. The President-elect is urging people to vote and not to succumb to indifference. Some facts about Lithuania are in the European Parliament website here.
Luxembourg - The attack on banking secrecy, principally orchestrated from Berlin and Paris, together with the financial crisis, is forcing Luxembourg to reassess its policies. Comments from German SPD leader Franz Müntefering, who in all seriousness, explained that in the past, Berlin would have settled the matter "by sending in the troops" were obviously not designed to massage the tiny country's sensibilities! Some facts about Luxembourg are in the European Parliament website here.
Poland - Predictions are that the country will favour 'right-leaning' political parties, which could pose a problem for the UK Conservative party in its plans to leave the EPP and set up a new partnership involving the Polish Law and Justice party, widely believed to espouse homophobic, eccentric and nationalistic policies. Some facts about Poland are in the European Parliament website here.
Portugal - Only one in eight of Portuguese say they know when the elections are held, and turnout is projected to reach only 24 per cent. There is some anti-capitalist campaigning here, noted also in other EU member states, perhaps a worry for the future if the economic crisis continues. Some facts about Portugal are in the European Parliament website here.
Romania - The country is voting for the first time in European Parliament elections, but these are being overshadowed by the Presidential elections due in the Autumn. Whilst membership of the EU seems popular, the country is still getting used to having a market economy. Some facts about Romania are in the European Parliament website here.
Slovenia - Some facts about Slovenia are in the European Parliament website here.
Spain - A new third party is attempting to break the duopoly of power in Spain held by the two major political parties. Some facts about Spain are in the European Parliament website here.
Sweden - A curiosity here is the new Pirates Party, campaigning to implement a sweeping reform of copyright law and an end to patents. Some facts about Sweden are in the European Parliament website here.
Now I've heard absolutely everything - "glow-in-the-dark tartan"
Mind you it's not a bad idea! The tartan fabric 'incorporates a reflective yarn to increase night-time safety' and is to be used in conjunction with a Scottish Borders "homecoming" event.
It was designed by a student at Heriot-Watt University and woven by Robert Noble and it's a smart-looking tartan, too.
It was designed by a student at Heriot-Watt University and woven by Robert Noble and it's a smart-looking tartan, too.
Saturday, 6 June 2009
European Parliament elections - 6 Jun - day 3
Voting in the elections for the European Parliament is taking place today in 6 countries:
Cyprus
Czech Republic (*)
Italy (+)
Latvia
Malta
Slovakia
(*) Second day of voting in the Czech Republic.
(+) Voting continues tomorrow in Italy
Cyprus - The Cyprus News Agency has information about voter profiles and other relevant information here. Some facts about the Cyprus are in the European Parliament website here. Will the two parts of Cyprus ever be reunited? Despite the apparent willingness of the parties to talk, their genuine commitment to this eventuality is not clear - see here and here. The incentive for Cyprus (i.e. the southern 'Greek' part which is currently an EU member) to progress these talks is not all that great in my view - they already have what they want as I wrote at the time the country became an EU member, here and here. Should the divided Cyprus ever have been permitted to join the EU under the cobbled-together 'solution' of five years ago? I have no definite answer although I tend to believe the answer should have been 'no', but we are where we are.
Czech Republic - Read about voting in the Czech Republic here. Some facts about the Czech Republic are in the European Parliament website here. The Euronews website has updates about the voting in the Czech Republic here.
Italy - Like the Czech Republic, Italy holds its European Parliament elections over two days, although not the same two days. The country's parlous economic and unemployment situation, not to mention domestic political controversy involving the personal life of its Prime Minister are, together with worries about immigration, the hot topics of interest to Italian voters. Some facts about Italy are in the European Parliament website here.
Latvia - Latvia faces tough economic problems just now and its currency is decidedly weak; it's believed that the reprecussions could adversely affect other eastern European countries, too. The rise of the 'Russophone' parties, following the anti-Russian policies enacted soon after independence, is likely to change the political complexion of the country in the longer term, too. See also here. Some facts about Latvia are in the European Parliament website here.
Malta - The Times of Malta has some information about numbers of eligible voters in this tiny country. Some facts about Malta are in the European Parliament website here.
Slovakia - A survey in May indicated that Slovaks may once again be those least-interested in taking part in the European Parliament elections as only 12 per cent of voters indicated they were sure to vote. As in several other eastern European countries, hate-crimes against their gypsy population are a particular problem in Slovakia, 'whipped-up' by 'right-wing'(~) political parties. Some facts about Slovakia are in the European Parliament website here.
(~) Such parties are often characterised as 'right wing', but close examination of their policies usually reveals them to be, in actual fact, extreme 'left wing' political parties, however much the more moderate left wing parties object to such an analysis; the same considerations apply to some extremist political parties in western Europe (e.g. the BNP in the UK, or most notoriously the German National Socialist Workers Party (NSDAP) of the 1930s and the 1940s).
Czech Republic (*)
Italy (+)
Latvia
Malta
Slovakia
(*) Second day of voting in the Czech Republic.
(+) Voting continues tomorrow in Italy
Cyprus - The Cyprus News Agency has information about voter profiles and other relevant information here. Some facts about the Cyprus are in the European Parliament website here. Will the two parts of Cyprus ever be reunited? Despite the apparent willingness of the parties to talk, their genuine commitment to this eventuality is not clear - see here and here. The incentive for Cyprus (i.e. the southern 'Greek' part which is currently an EU member) to progress these talks is not all that great in my view - they already have what they want as I wrote at the time the country became an EU member, here and here. Should the divided Cyprus ever have been permitted to join the EU under the cobbled-together 'solution' of five years ago? I have no definite answer although I tend to believe the answer should have been 'no', but we are where we are.
Czech Republic - Read about voting in the Czech Republic here. Some facts about the Czech Republic are in the European Parliament website here. The Euronews website has updates about the voting in the Czech Republic here.
Italy - Like the Czech Republic, Italy holds its European Parliament elections over two days, although not the same two days. The country's parlous economic and unemployment situation, not to mention domestic political controversy involving the personal life of its Prime Minister are, together with worries about immigration, the hot topics of interest to Italian voters. Some facts about Italy are in the European Parliament website here.
Latvia - Latvia faces tough economic problems just now and its currency is decidedly weak; it's believed that the reprecussions could adversely affect other eastern European countries, too. The rise of the 'Russophone' parties, following the anti-Russian policies enacted soon after independence, is likely to change the political complexion of the country in the longer term, too. See also here. Some facts about Latvia are in the European Parliament website here.
Malta - The Times of Malta has some information about numbers of eligible voters in this tiny country. Some facts about Malta are in the European Parliament website here.
Slovakia - A survey in May indicated that Slovaks may once again be those least-interested in taking part in the European Parliament elections as only 12 per cent of voters indicated they were sure to vote. As in several other eastern European countries, hate-crimes against their gypsy population are a particular problem in Slovakia, 'whipped-up' by 'right-wing'(~) political parties. Some facts about Slovakia are in the European Parliament website here.
(~) Such parties are often characterised as 'right wing', but close examination of their policies usually reveals them to be, in actual fact, extreme 'left wing' political parties, however much the more moderate left wing parties object to such an analysis; the same considerations apply to some extremist political parties in western Europe (e.g. the BNP in the UK, or most notoriously the German National Socialist Workers Party (NSDAP) of the 1930s and the 1940s).
Sixty-five years ago today ...
On the morning of 6th june 1944, the allies began the process of liberating Europe by landing troops on the Normandy coast of France by sea and from the air. Later that day the French government in exile in London (the 'Free French') announced to compatriots in France through its regular broadcasts courtesy of the BBC that bridge-heads had been established on French soil earlier in the day and that the liberation of France was underway. In the recording embedded below, General de Gaulle addresses the French people:
Friday, 5 June 2009
"I won't walk away, insists Brown " - unfortunately!
I watched his press conference late this afternoon with a mixture of incredulity and anger. The man really is completely and utterly out of touch.
I wish he would just 'walk away'! No-one would miss him - well, apart from the sigh of relief that would echo across the naton.
I wish he would just 'walk away'! No-one would miss him - well, apart from the sigh of relief that would echo across the naton.
European Parliament elections - 5 Jun - day 2
Voting in the elections for the European Parliament is taking place today in:
Czech Republic (*)
Ireland
(*) Voting continues tomorrow in the Czech Republic.
Read about voting in the Czech Republic here. Some facts about the Czech Republic are in the European Parliament website here. The Euronews website has updates about the voting in the Czech Republic here.
The Irish Times carries a report about the high eestimates of voter turnout in Ireland today. The ElectionsIreland.org website will carry full results of today's elections as they are announced (not before Sunday, of course, once all EU countries have voted), together with full details of the results in previous European Parliament elections; main page is here. The European Parliament's website for Ireland is here and some facts about the country are
here.
Ireland
(*) Voting continues tomorrow in the Czech Republic.
Read about voting in the Czech Republic here. Some facts about the Czech Republic are in the European Parliament website here. The Euronews website has updates about the voting in the Czech Republic here.
The Irish Times carries a report about the high eestimates of voter turnout in Ireland today. The ElectionsIreland.org website will carry full results of today's elections as they are announced (not before Sunday, of course, once all EU countries have voted), together with full details of the results in previous European Parliament elections; main page is here. The European Parliament's website for Ireland is here and some facts about the country are
here.
Nairn Book & Arts Festival - 2009
The Nairn Book & Arts Festival starts today and continues until 13th June; the full programme is here.
- I hope if you are in Nairn or the vicinity over the next 8 days you find something to interest you.
- I hope if you are in Nairn or the vicinity over the next 8 days you find something to interest you.
Thursday, 4 June 2009
The moment the polls closed - the knives are out for Brown!
Within a minute of the European Election polls closing, we had Nick Robinson on the BBC1 10pm news telling us James Purnell (Work & Pensions Secretary) is resigning from the Governing to force a leadership election within the Labour Party. His letter of resignation says he wants Brown to stand down.
Another 'senior' back-bench MP (name not noted, sorry) said he believed a secret leadership ballot would result in Brown being forced out.
It is probably 'curtains' for Brown very soon. And not before time!
Another 'senior' back-bench MP (name not noted, sorry) said he believed a secret leadership ballot would result in Brown being forced out.
It is probably 'curtains' for Brown very soon. And not before time!
European Parliament elections - 4 June - day 1
The elections for the European Parliament start today, with voting taking place today in:
Netherlands
United Kingdom
If you have a vote, please (please!) use it! Don't waste it by not voting, whichever political party or grouping you choose to support. The more people who vote, the more accurate will be the result. That's all I ask - that as many of us as possible exercise our right to vote. Thank you!
I'll be off out in the next hour or so to vote myself - obviously I'd like as many as possible in the UK to vote Conservative. I know that many readers of my blog vote for other political parties. Fair enough, but the important thing is that as many of those entitled to vote do so. In my area (Scotland) there is certainly plenty of choice and the same applies in every region of the UK.
In the UK, 'Polling Places' remain open until 10pm tonight (22.00 BST). Please exercise your right to vote!
United Kingdom
If you have a vote, please (please!) use it! Don't waste it by not voting, whichever political party or grouping you choose to support. The more people who vote, the more accurate will be the result. That's all I ask - that as many of us as possible exercise our right to vote. Thank you!
I'll be off out in the next hour or so to vote myself - obviously I'd like as many as possible in the UK to vote Conservative. I know that many readers of my blog vote for other political parties. Fair enough, but the important thing is that as many of those entitled to vote do so. In my area (Scotland) there is certainly plenty of choice and the same applies in every region of the UK.
In the UK, 'Polling Places' remain open until 10pm tonight (22.00 BST). Please exercise your right to vote!
Bill in the lead-up to the big '57'
Yesterday was my 57th birthday - so I hope you will forgive me if I call 'time', if only briefly, on the usual diet here of politics and current affairs. The main component of my day yesterday was to take my mother out from the residential home where she recently (i.e. last week) became a resident so that she could treat me and a mutual friend to lunch - you see, I am Scottish after all in that I like to mix altruism with self-interest! It was her first trip outside of the residential home since she entered it and went quite successfuly, I'm glad to say. In actual fact we had a great afternoon - lunch in a prettily-located restaurant within a few metres of the sea at Rosemarkie (where we have often eaten before), followed by a short car drive to the other side of the Black Isle (not of course an island, but a peninsula) for coffee in a rather eccentric bookshop (another favourite place), where I usually find a book that will prove a 'good read' and quite often a favourite - today my choice fell on Only in London by Hanan al-Shaykh; my cursory reading suggests it is a book I will like, but it's too soon to be certain about that; the fact that I spent many years of my adult life in the Arab world (and at one time spoke fairly decent Arabic, although I'd hesitate to claim that today) is obviously one factor in why I chose this book. Also acquired there, as a gift, is a coffee mug from a range depicting Penguin Books - I chose the one bearing the Penguin logo for Brave New World, a novel by Aldous Huxley which I first read in my mid-teens, rather more than 40 years ago; certainly one of the novels which cemented my visceral opposition to an over-weening State governing our every option and action. The coffee was good, too!
Last year for my elder brother's 60th birthday our mother had prepared a special card to commemorate the event, which I wrote about here; normally she would have made a similar card for me in three years time, but she decided that it was perhaps better to do it this year, for reasons which you can perhaps imagine, but I will not record in print (I don't want to tempt fate) - in any case the card is here:
- where there are two boys in the photograph, I am the younger one. Warts and all, eh?!
Last year for my elder brother's 60th birthday our mother had prepared a special card to commemorate the event, which I wrote about here; normally she would have made a similar card for me in three years time, but she decided that it was perhaps better to do it this year, for reasons which you can perhaps imagine, but I will not record in print (I don't want to tempt fate) - in any case the card is here:
Bill's big '57' card (Click on the image to see an enlargement) |
- where there are two boys in the photograph, I am the younger one. Warts and all, eh?!
Wednesday, 3 June 2009
Labour government in process of collapse
Well, we can but hope so! Yesterday three Ministers decided they had had enough - Jacqui Smith (Home Secretary), Tom Watson (Cabinet Office Minister) and Beverley Hughes, (Children’s Minister) - and are leaving the Government. Rats and sinking ship come to mind!
Now this morning comes the news that Hazel Blears (Communities Secretary) has resigned from the Government and much more than the others she is 'putting the boot in', or perhaps as this Guardian article has it plunging a giant knife into the Prime Minister's back. And just one day before the European elections and local elections in England - too delicious!
I shall unfortunately have to miss Prime Minister's Questions 'live' today as I am shortly going out for lunch (it's my birthday today); however, once I've watched a recording of it late-afternoon or early-evening I shall no doubt have a few words to say on what is likely to be quite a turbulent half hour. Will he still be Prime Minister next week to take another PMQ session? We can but dream that an election will be called over the weekend once the likely full horror of the election results begins to sink in. Surely he cannot long continue with the whole government imploding around him?
Now this morning comes the news that Hazel Blears (Communities Secretary) has resigned from the Government and much more than the others she is 'putting the boot in', or perhaps as this Guardian article has it plunging a giant knife into the Prime Minister's back. And just one day before the European elections and local elections in England - too delicious!
I shall unfortunately have to miss Prime Minister's Questions 'live' today as I am shortly going out for lunch (it's my birthday today); however, once I've watched a recording of it late-afternoon or early-evening I shall no doubt have a few words to say on what is likely to be quite a turbulent half hour. Will he still be Prime Minister next week to take another PMQ session? We can but dream that an election will be called over the weekend once the likely full horror of the election results begins to sink in. Surely he cannot long continue with the whole government imploding around him?
The European Elections voting marathon explained
Tomorrow (Thursday 4th June) the European Elections start, but they will not be completed until Sunday 7th June. As an Expatica article helpfully explains it's a lot more complicated than that - and of course the whole thing will take several weeks to resolve as the results are digested in the 'carving up' of the top jobs on committees, etc:
The first reasonably reliable projections of the results are likely to be available around 9pm (BST) on Sunday 7th June 2009. We'll all need a long rest after this 4-day vote-fest!
- voting timetable Thursday 4th June 2009 - United Kingdom, Netherlands Friday 5th June 2009 - Ireland Friday 5th June and Saturday 6th June 2009 - Czech Republic Saturday 6th June 2009 - Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Slovakia Saturday 6th June and Sunday 7th June 2009 - Italy Sunday 7th June 2009 - France, Germany, Spain and the other 15 countries in the EU |
The first reasonably reliable projections of the results are likely to be available around 9pm (BST) on Sunday 7th June 2009. We'll all need a long rest after this 4-day vote-fest!
Scottish Parliament likely to pass new hate crime law
The BBC report linked to states: 'The Offences Aggravated by Prejudice (Scotland) Bill, which would have the effect of widening the definition of hate crimes, would bring Scotland into line with the rest of the UK.' Also included in the report is this: 'The effect of the new law, Under the legislation, crimes motivated by hatred of gay or disabled people would be considered as aggravated offences.'
I may not be a supporter of the Bill's sponsor, Green MSP Patrick Harvie, but I see passage of this Bill as an unequivocal 'good thing'. The Conservatives, however, are as usual on the wrong side of history apparently as they opine idiotically, according to the report: '... it could create a two-tier justice system, allowing some victims to gain more rights than others'.
If the article reports the Conservative view accurately then what they seem to be saying sounds suspiciously, whisper it please, 'socialist', for they seem to want all victims to suffer 'equally' - have no real idea what they are trying to say here, but it sounds like the worst kind of Labour-lite nonsense.
Earlier reports here and here amplify the debate about this Bill, from the latter of which the antediluvian views of [Scottish] Conservative Justice Spokesman Bill Aitken may be gleaned. It really is time the Conservatives 'get with the programme' and stop trying to dress-up naked prejudice and bigotry as a worry about equality - it doesn't wash! Will I vote 'Conservative' tomorrow in the European elections - I had more or less decided to, but now I'm not so sure.
I may not be a supporter of the Bill's sponsor, Green MSP Patrick Harvie, but I see passage of this Bill as an unequivocal 'good thing'. The Conservatives, however, are as usual on the wrong side of history apparently as they opine idiotically, according to the report: '... it could create a two-tier justice system, allowing some victims to gain more rights than others'.
If the article reports the Conservative view accurately then what they seem to be saying sounds suspiciously, whisper it please, 'socialist', for they seem to want all victims to suffer 'equally' - have no real idea what they are trying to say here, but it sounds like the worst kind of Labour-lite nonsense.
Earlier reports here and here amplify the debate about this Bill, from the latter of which the antediluvian views of [Scottish] Conservative Justice Spokesman Bill Aitken may be gleaned. It really is time the Conservatives 'get with the programme' and stop trying to dress-up naked prejudice and bigotry as a worry about equality - it doesn't wash! Will I vote 'Conservative' tomorrow in the European elections - I had more or less decided to, but now I'm not so sure.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
D-Day celebrations and that much-delayed Royal invite
Will we ever discover who was behind the decision not to invite Her Majesty the Queen or any other member of the Royal Family to the 65th anniversary commemoration of the D-Day Landings? I've been following what has been going on in the past week or so about this and wondering what the outcome would be.
I was nonplussed yesterday when I heard that President Obama had taken up the matter; he apparently considered it highly unusual that Her Majesty had not been invited and it seems his intervention may have been at least a part of the reason why Prince Charles has now received an invitation, although according to this article Clarence House had already been in contact with the French Presidency on the matter; not a 'dickie-boo' have we heard from the British Government.
There are several possibilities I can see for this ginormous 'gaffe', some more likely than others, but I list some of those I can think of, for the record:
- The French and the Americans had intended it to be solely for their two nations (possible, but unlikely, I'd have thought);
- Gordon Brown muscled in on the invite (sounds plausible to me);
- British Prime Minister Brown had been informed by the French about their plans and had suggested as it was the 65th, rather than the 60th or 70th anniversary, a Royal attendance was unnecessary (sounds plausible to me); it's possible he may even have advised The Queen of this during one of their Tuesday-evening meetings (highly unlikely);
- Possibly The Queen Herself decided that it was not an important enough anniversary to warrant Her attendance (very highly unlikely I'd have thought); She might even have decided that She is too old to attend, specially as it's 'only' the 65th anniversary (so unlikely as to be almost impossible to imagine, but I list it here for completeness);
- President Sarkozy had wanted to make it only for himself and President Obama as a way of boosting his domestic profile (possible), and in any case there continues to be resentment amongst certain French that they were liberated at least partly with the help of their old rivals the British (possible, but probably not a major consideration in the France of today).
There are a number of other even more tortuous explanations for this outrageous omission and yes, I do believe the omission was completely outrageous. My own sickening feeling is that it was Gordon Brown who engineered the omission, as he may have thought he could use his attendance there, without any Royal, to boost his own increasingly shaky hold on the leadership of the Labour Party and on power as Prime Minister. The real story is unlikely ever to be revealed (at least within the life of this Government or perhaps the life of Her Majesty, too) and is probably only known to Her Majesty, Prince Charles, Gordon Brown and perhaps President Sarkozy. I doubt very much that the American were aware of it until it started to become a public scandal. If I were The Queen I would certainly take my revenge on whoever was responsible, possibly in Her own funeral arrangements, by pointedly snubbing the relevant people or their political successors and ensuring they are not invited; that might mean either the Leader of the Labour Party at the time, whoever that is, or the President of France, whoever that is. Personally I feel that the decision to exclude the Head of State of the country which did more than any other to ensure that Nazi tyranny would not prevail is utterly and completely outrageous, even if it did not do that on its own and particularly had need of the Americans to assist, however late, in the project. I really do not feel that the perpetrators of this decision should escape completely, however long it takes - and I hope that Her Majesty will live on for quite few years yet.
However, revenge IS a dish best served cold and I hope that She will not let the matter lie completely unanswered; no doubt Charles will be dignified on 6th June, but I hope He snubs very politely, but pointedly, and unmistakably whoever caused this gaffe.
I was nonplussed yesterday when I heard that President Obama had taken up the matter; he apparently considered it highly unusual that Her Majesty had not been invited and it seems his intervention may have been at least a part of the reason why Prince Charles has now received an invitation, although according to this article Clarence House had already been in contact with the French Presidency on the matter; not a 'dickie-boo' have we heard from the British Government.
There are several possibilities I can see for this ginormous 'gaffe', some more likely than others, but I list some of those I can think of, for the record:
- The French and the Americans had intended it to be solely for their two nations (possible, but unlikely, I'd have thought);
- Gordon Brown muscled in on the invite (sounds plausible to me);
- British Prime Minister Brown had been informed by the French about their plans and had suggested as it was the 65th, rather than the 60th or 70th anniversary, a Royal attendance was unnecessary (sounds plausible to me); it's possible he may even have advised The Queen of this during one of their Tuesday-evening meetings (highly unlikely);
- Possibly The Queen Herself decided that it was not an important enough anniversary to warrant Her attendance (very highly unlikely I'd have thought); She might even have decided that She is too old to attend, specially as it's 'only' the 65th anniversary (so unlikely as to be almost impossible to imagine, but I list it here for completeness);
- President Sarkozy had wanted to make it only for himself and President Obama as a way of boosting his domestic profile (possible), and in any case there continues to be resentment amongst certain French that they were liberated at least partly with the help of their old rivals the British (possible, but probably not a major consideration in the France of today).
There are a number of other even more tortuous explanations for this outrageous omission and yes, I do believe the omission was completely outrageous. My own sickening feeling is that it was Gordon Brown who engineered the omission, as he may have thought he could use his attendance there, without any Royal, to boost his own increasingly shaky hold on the leadership of the Labour Party and on power as Prime Minister. The real story is unlikely ever to be revealed (at least within the life of this Government or perhaps the life of Her Majesty, too) and is probably only known to Her Majesty, Prince Charles, Gordon Brown and perhaps President Sarkozy. I doubt very much that the American were aware of it until it started to become a public scandal. If I were The Queen I would certainly take my revenge on whoever was responsible, possibly in Her own funeral arrangements, by pointedly snubbing the relevant people or their political successors and ensuring they are not invited; that might mean either the Leader of the Labour Party at the time, whoever that is, or the President of France, whoever that is. Personally I feel that the decision to exclude the Head of State of the country which did more than any other to ensure that Nazi tyranny would not prevail is utterly and completely outrageous, even if it did not do that on its own and particularly had need of the Americans to assist, however late, in the project. I really do not feel that the perpetrators of this decision should escape completely, however long it takes - and I hope that Her Majesty will live on for quite few years yet.
However, revenge IS a dish best served cold and I hope that She will not let the matter lie completely unanswered; no doubt Charles will be dignified on 6th June, but I hope He snubs very politely, but pointedly, and unmistakably whoever caused this gaffe.
Internet connection problems
(Please see UPDATE at end)
During yesterday I had intermittent problems with my broadband connection. This culminated at about 5pm when my internet connection went down completely and has not as yet been restored.
Diagnosing what the real problem is has not yet reached a proper conclusion. My ISP (AOL) informed me on the telephone this morning that whilst there were some problems in my local exchange yesterday, these have been resolved and my internet line is 'active' so far as they are concerned. They suggested I contact my wireless router manufacturer (Netgear in my case).
Netgear tell me that because certain lights are not illuminated on my router that the problem must be with the cable or the splitter (filter). My next task will be to repair the cable and filter (or more probably buy new ones as they are not expensive).
I don't have a lot of confidence in what the AOL call centre told me as on several occasions in the past their advice has, to put it kindly, been flawed.
Anyway, what this means is that my access to the internet is for the moment severely restricted - I am currently using the broadband connection of a kind neighbour and may possibly be able to get sporadic access from her over the next few days until my own broadband is restored and functioning properly, although I do not wish to impose on her generosity unnecessarily. So if I seem 'quiet' or unresponsive for at least the next few day, this is the reason. My apologies.
UPDATE (Tuesday 2JUN09 17.40 BST): My internet connection has come back to life. I have been out for the whole afternoon and when I switched on the wireless router on my return home a short while ago, it booted up normally with all three relevant lights illuminated to show that there was a carrier signal and an internet connection. AOL had assured me this morning that, since the exchange work yesterday (when the problem began), my broadband connection was again 'live' according to their systems, which it obviously wasn't! I have no confidence whatsoever in AOL's technical helpline and must now really 'bite the bullet' about switching my ISP; there have been too many problems over the last 2 or 3 years and I am cheesed-off with them; they used to be so excellent, but in recent years have gone downhill badly and it is not as if they are a low-cost provider. I've kept them as my ISP only because it was the easy option, but I've really now got to undergo the inconvenience of making the change to someone else, so I can escape from their clutches. Having had my 'rant', I'm obviously pleased to be back online; being deprived of an internet connection has become akin to being rendered blind or deaf for those like me who have become accustomed to its convenience.
During yesterday I had intermittent problems with my broadband connection. This culminated at about 5pm when my internet connection went down completely and has not as yet been restored.
Diagnosing what the real problem is has not yet reached a proper conclusion. My ISP (AOL) informed me on the telephone this morning that whilst there were some problems in my local exchange yesterday, these have been resolved and my internet line is 'active' so far as they are concerned. They suggested I contact my wireless router manufacturer (Netgear in my case).
Netgear tell me that because certain lights are not illuminated on my router that the problem must be with the cable or the splitter (filter). My next task will be to repair the cable and filter (or more probably buy new ones as they are not expensive).
I don't have a lot of confidence in what the AOL call centre told me as on several occasions in the past their advice has, to put it kindly, been flawed.
Anyway, what this means is that my access to the internet is for the moment severely restricted - I am currently using the broadband connection of a kind neighbour and may possibly be able to get sporadic access from her over the next few days until my own broadband is restored and functioning properly, although I do not wish to impose on her generosity unnecessarily. So if I seem 'quiet' or unresponsive for at least the next few day, this is the reason. My apologies.
UPDATE (Tuesday 2JUN09 17.40 BST): My internet connection has come back to life. I have been out for the whole afternoon and when I switched on the wireless router on my return home a short while ago, it booted up normally with all three relevant lights illuminated to show that there was a carrier signal and an internet connection. AOL had assured me this morning that, since the exchange work yesterday (when the problem began), my broadband connection was again 'live' according to their systems, which it obviously wasn't! I have no confidence whatsoever in AOL's technical helpline and must now really 'bite the bullet' about switching my ISP; there have been too many problems over the last 2 or 3 years and I am cheesed-off with them; they used to be so excellent, but in recent years have gone downhill badly and it is not as if they are a low-cost provider. I've kept them as my ISP only because it was the easy option, but I've really now got to undergo the inconvenience of making the change to someone else, so I can escape from their clutches. Having had my 'rant', I'm obviously pleased to be back online; being deprived of an internet connection has become akin to being rendered blind or deaf for those like me who have become accustomed to its convenience.
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