Pretend London Mayor Boris Johnson launched Ken Livingstone's cycle hire project this week.
We needn't worry about him for very long if the interview with BBC London is anything to go by.
According to Boris, cycling is a great time to plan meetings, and stimulates all kinds of ideas and free-thinking as you peddle merrily along the with the breeze in your helmet.
However much of a prat he is, I wouldn't want Boris to get killed by one of his new Routemaster buses, if they ever appear, or by a Bendybus, nomatter how delicious the irony. But I feel less concern for him than for any naiive newcomer who adopts his Dolly Daydream attitude.
As anyone who cycles in London knows, riding traffic demands 100% concentration all the time. It is not a time for relaxation, or listening to music, and to give that impression is almost criminally irresponsible.
7/31/2010
All Lies are True, But Some Lies are More Truthful than Others.
Elton John is in the planning stages of a musical version of Orwell's Animal Farm. .
God save us. As if Orwell hasn't been trivialised and distorted and hijacked enough.
It doesn't suggest that Sir Elton has read much more of Orwell than the farmyard fable, or he would have felt Orwell glowering in appalled silence at the idea of yet another anti-socialist tract cobbled together from his work. So I don't suppose for a second that there's a chance in hell that the show might reclaim the actual conclusion of the book, which is that there is nothing to distinguish the pigs from the farmers. Between Stalin and Churchill, essentially. If it were to undo the myths and lies spun around Orwell's politics, that would be literally fabulous.
In the conclusive great peace conference between businessmen and pigs, Mr Pilkington of Foxwood farm makes a long and significant speech to unanimous approval:
Orwell was certainly criticising Stalinist communism in Animal Farm, but more for its betrayal of socialism and its collusion with capitalism than for any ideals or aspirations it might once have had. And whatever generations of misled children of all ages have been told, Orwell was most definitely not attacking socialism for being either unworkable or undesirable. Elton John's vanity project will certainly be both if he fails to appreciate this fact of the text.
Only weeks ago, George Galloway announced his plans for a musical of the life of Dusty Springfield. Has the world gone mad? Surely the scripts were sent to the wrong addresses.
God save us. As if Orwell hasn't been trivialised and distorted and hijacked enough.
It doesn't suggest that Sir Elton has read much more of Orwell than the farmyard fable, or he would have felt Orwell glowering in appalled silence at the idea of yet another anti-socialist tract cobbled together from his work. So I don't suppose for a second that there's a chance in hell that the show might reclaim the actual conclusion of the book, which is that there is nothing to distinguish the pigs from the farmers. Between Stalin and Churchill, essentially. If it were to undo the myths and lies spun around Orwell's politics, that would be literally fabulous.
In the conclusive great peace conference between businessmen and pigs, Mr Pilkington of Foxwood farm makes a long and significant speech to unanimous approval:
"Their struggles and their difficulties were one. Was not the labour problem the same everywhere? ... "If you have your lower animals to contend with," he said, "we have our lower classes!" This bon mot set the table in a roar; and Mr. Pilkington once again congratulated the pigs on the low rations, the long working hours, and the general absence of pampering which he had observed on Animal Farm. ..And now, he said finally, he would ask the company to rise to their feet and make certain that their glasses were full. "Gentlemen," concluded Mr. Pilkington, "gentlemen, I give you a toast: To the prosperity of Animal Farm!"Immediately after the peace conference, they all start fighting again. War will continue, and only the rulers will benefit.
Orwell was certainly criticising Stalinist communism in Animal Farm, but more for its betrayal of socialism and its collusion with capitalism than for any ideals or aspirations it might once have had. And whatever generations of misled children of all ages have been told, Orwell was most definitely not attacking socialism for being either unworkable or undesirable. Elton John's vanity project will certainly be both if he fails to appreciate this fact of the text.
Only weeks ago, George Galloway announced his plans for a musical of the life of Dusty Springfield. Has the world gone mad? Surely the scripts were sent to the wrong addresses.
7/29/2010
The Internet and Your Head
Political change happens largely because enough people change their minds about something to see the stupidity of doing it the old way. On their own, halls to have meetings in, or money to pay for propaganda, or any of the other crude implements of the political machine - even printing presses for pamphlets and the telephone, are of no use until the perception of power and identity alters in enough people to make a difference. Until the lightbulb wants to be changed.
'On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres' by Copernicus went almost unnoticed by the most people in its day, whatever its effect among the scientific and religious communities. And whatever its faults, it undoubtedly undermined the perception of Man's role at the centre of God's universe, with Jerusalem at the centre of the world. Over the succeeding generations, and in the light of subsequent discoveries, enough people shared this new view of man as a relatively insignificant sideshow in God's cosmos, and not central at all. This shifted the emphasis from a cosmically centralised power structure, with its HQ in Rome, to something far more susceptible to personal interpretation, people started to ask 'What about me? What do I get out of this?' and the modern Individual was born. The printing press threw gasoline on this bonfire of feudal submissiveness. It is no accident that there were no Hamlets or Rembrandt self-portraits before the Reformation.
The entire political change we call the Reformation was empowered partly by the bumbling, timid Copernicus and his meanderings around Europe avoiding his creditors. People did not use his discovery to achieve political change - like a soapbox or TV station. They were simply allowed to see that another interpretation of the world was possible, and that they could be part of implementing that interpretation in their own interest, not the interest of any Oligarchy or orthodoxy. They could, possibly, decide the course of their own lives.
The parallels with the growth of internet use are obvious. People ask, 'How can people use the internet for political change? It's full of porn and teenagers scribbling nonsense?' Which is to entirely miss the point. The same people might have asked: 'What political use is a science book by an old crank. And one which got it wrong, anyway?' The discovery wasn't used to make change happen, it was the change. By altering the psychological perspective it altered the world.
The shift from consumer to producer changes everything. A world of photographers is more likely to be visually literate and therefore less susceptible to advertising and propaganda. And when a society reaches a stage when almost a majority are regularly using written words for pleasure, not out of duty or business, but because of the basic fun instinct, then something's got to give. People learn fast when they are taught by personal trial and error. And as producers they not only learn to see the tricks being played on them, but also experience a shift in their own self-worth. They feel that their word is just as much as a college professor or prime minister or Pope. In the words of Oscar Hammerstein:"I'd like to teach you all a little sayin'`And learn the words by heart the way you should. I don't say I'm no better than anybody else. But I'll be danged if I ain't just as good!"
'On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres' by Copernicus went almost unnoticed by the most people in its day, whatever its effect among the scientific and religious communities. And whatever its faults, it undoubtedly undermined the perception of Man's role at the centre of God's universe, with Jerusalem at the centre of the world. Over the succeeding generations, and in the light of subsequent discoveries, enough people shared this new view of man as a relatively insignificant sideshow in God's cosmos, and not central at all. This shifted the emphasis from a cosmically centralised power structure, with its HQ in Rome, to something far more susceptible to personal interpretation, people started to ask 'What about me? What do I get out of this?' and the modern Individual was born. The printing press threw gasoline on this bonfire of feudal submissiveness. It is no accident that there were no Hamlets or Rembrandt self-portraits before the Reformation.
The entire political change we call the Reformation was empowered partly by the bumbling, timid Copernicus and his meanderings around Europe avoiding his creditors. People did not use his discovery to achieve political change - like a soapbox or TV station. They were simply allowed to see that another interpretation of the world was possible, and that they could be part of implementing that interpretation in their own interest, not the interest of any Oligarchy or orthodoxy. They could, possibly, decide the course of their own lives.
The parallels with the growth of internet use are obvious. People ask, 'How can people use the internet for political change? It's full of porn and teenagers scribbling nonsense?' Which is to entirely miss the point. The same people might have asked: 'What political use is a science book by an old crank. And one which got it wrong, anyway?' The discovery wasn't used to make change happen, it was the change. By altering the psychological perspective it altered the world.
The shift from consumer to producer changes everything. A world of photographers is more likely to be visually literate and therefore less susceptible to advertising and propaganda. And when a society reaches a stage when almost a majority are regularly using written words for pleasure, not out of duty or business, but because of the basic fun instinct, then something's got to give. People learn fast when they are taught by personal trial and error. And as producers they not only learn to see the tricks being played on them, but also experience a shift in their own self-worth. They feel that their word is just as much as a college professor or prime minister or Pope. In the words of Oscar Hammerstein:"I'd like to teach you all a little sayin'`And learn the words by heart the way you should. I don't say I'm no better than anybody else. But I'll be danged if I ain't just as good!"
- which seems to be applicable to most frontier situations. And as with previous new frontiers and unmapped wildernesses, the internet will alter people's perceptions of their own worth and power enough for them to want to fufill the new potential they discover.
Clay Shirky seems at first sight to be someone who understands the relationship between fun and awareness and political change, and is not prepared to sacrifice his idealism to the clunky misreadings of the reactionary press and TV, to whom the internet is merely a licence for paedophiliacs. The more his optimism and faith in human decency infects the mainstream media in their damp sulky caves, the better.
'We have a set of tools for aggregating things people care about... Those tools turn love into a renewable building material.'
'Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age'
'We have a set of tools for aggregating things people care about... Those tools turn love into a renewable building material.'
'Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age'
7/28/2010
Wikileaks And The Trouserless United Nations
A single typical file from the Wikileaks hoard would at one point have easily cost one life, directly or indirectly, given the number of operatives and contacts and the Byzantine convolution of deception and human bungling required to deposit each file under its park bench on Hampstead Heath.
Now it is possible for anyone to anonymously submit any classified or Dark Information to Wikileaks, and via them to the world. The great fear is that this will eventually uncover the genuine political and economic policies of states, and reveal how little democratic control the people actually enjoy. That the knowledge of the existence of another universe of policies and strategems and treachery will expose the modern nation state for the massive Lie Machine it is. However, a trouserless United Nations would in fact be a Very Good Thing indeed. If the mighty US has lost its trousers, how many other countries can guarantee their modesty? If any dissident can now publish to the world in relative confidence, what price state secrecy? Governments might even have to live by their manifesto commitments. And where would we be then?
A previous generation of political thought would have called this a revolution. The fact that there are no barricades or Molotov cocktails does not prevent it from being one.
Now it is possible for anyone to anonymously submit any classified or Dark Information to Wikileaks, and via them to the world. The great fear is that this will eventually uncover the genuine political and economic policies of states, and reveal how little democratic control the people actually enjoy. That the knowledge of the existence of another universe of policies and strategems and treachery will expose the modern nation state for the massive Lie Machine it is. However, a trouserless United Nations would in fact be a Very Good Thing indeed. If the mighty US has lost its trousers, how many other countries can guarantee their modesty? If any dissident can now publish to the world in relative confidence, what price state secrecy? Governments might even have to live by their manifesto commitments. And where would we be then?
A previous generation of political thought would have called this a revolution. The fact that there are no barricades or Molotov cocktails does not prevent it from being one.
7/13/2010
Doctor-ccountants
So now your friendly family doctor is going to be an accountant as well.
I was under the impression that vital public servants, such as doctors and police officers, were to be relieved of the burden of paperwork, got out from behind their desks, and put back 'on the front line', doing what they were trained for.
Now I find that as well as doctor-ccountants, parents are now even expected to run schools for the local authority. What other services are going to be run by amateurs, like during the General Strike? How many more chinless bungling twits will be able to boast "I drove a bus!"
If this madness does manage to survive, it will naturally and inevitably lead to the pre-NHS market in the most profitable practices, which will be in the most salubrious postcode areas, and again the level of universal health care will suffer. The recent studies* which showed the NHS to be one of the most efficient and effective healthcare systems in the world will show a different picture when they report in 4 or 5 years time.
7/07/2010
English Fritzophilia - World Cup 2010 Political Revolution
I never thought I'd live to see the day. The English seem to actually like the Germans. This is a seismic cultural shift. And happened in spite of, or even because of, being beaten by them in a game in which they were cheated out of a critical goal!
It's as if, in this case, English Spitfire nationalism was inflated so much this time that when it was punctured, it could never be repaired again. Are we now entering a the Post post-war period of relations with Germany? Something a bit less cartoonish and a bit more grownup? Here's hoping.
All the interviews with the weary, swindled English fans plodding home through the streets and departure lounges spoke of willing respect and resignation, not resentment. In an era not so long ago, this would have been the trigger for trouble. But this time it really wasn't worth it, the whole thing was so obviously a fraud - spiritually, financially, and in sporting terms that the only conclusion for the worldy-wise Engand supporter was 'We Won't get Fooled Again'. 'Peace and Reconciliation'?
And all turning on the actions of 22 men for 90 minutes on a couple of acres of grass in Africa. Who says football is just 'kicking a ball about'?
It's as if, in this case, English Spitfire nationalism was inflated so much this time that when it was punctured, it could never be repaired again. Are we now entering a the Post post-war period of relations with Germany? Something a bit less cartoonish and a bit more grownup? Here's hoping.
All the interviews with the weary, swindled English fans plodding home through the streets and departure lounges spoke of willing respect and resignation, not resentment. In an era not so long ago, this would have been the trigger for trouble. But this time it really wasn't worth it, the whole thing was so obviously a fraud - spiritually, financially, and in sporting terms that the only conclusion for the worldy-wise Engand supporter was 'We Won't get Fooled Again'. 'Peace and Reconciliation'?
And all turning on the actions of 22 men for 90 minutes on a couple of acres of grass in Africa. Who says football is just 'kicking a ball about'?
7/02/2010
The Price of Peace
David Miliband outlines his call for a settlement for "the vanquished as well as the victors in Afghanistan.
This can only mean a massive Marshall Plan style investment. Like the plans promised by the liars Reagan and Bush in the twin treacheries which gave birth to Al Qaida and the Taliban in the first place.
But these grand schemes never happen because that would mean that nuclear families in the status-chasing, consumption-addicted West would have to endure their current car for another year, or make do with only 4 giant-super-double-double cheeseburgers a week.
There is a limit to how much people will pay for peace. The West was unwilling to pay it after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the attacks on the Twin Towers. There is no reason to assume it is willing to pay it now.
This can only mean a massive Marshall Plan style investment. Like the plans promised by the liars Reagan and Bush in the twin treacheries which gave birth to Al Qaida and the Taliban in the first place.
But these grand schemes never happen because that would mean that nuclear families in the status-chasing, consumption-addicted West would have to endure their current car for another year, or make do with only 4 giant-super-double-double cheeseburgers a week.
There is a limit to how much people will pay for peace. The West was unwilling to pay it after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the attacks on the Twin Towers. There is no reason to assume it is willing to pay it now.
Music Exposed. Religion and Music
The Herbert Morrison Primary School in Lambeth, south London, says it has seen up to 22 children removed from music lessons. This has caused a furore among music lovers and Muslim-haters alike.
All religion have to make their minds up about music. Either to harness it or demonise it. The fact that Christianity decided to harness it is no reason to condemn Islam for demonising it. After all, they are only trying to make a living too.And before Christians and the like get into the pulpit as defenders of the crotchet, they should examine the church's record on artistic persecution. They even outlawed a mathematical interval. How paranoid is that?
All authoritarian tyrannies have to either shackle or eradicate music because it is such a powerful medium, capable of conveying emotions and changing opinions across the centuries, and of codifying an incredibly broad and subtle spectrum of information.
Allowing free access to such a weapon of freedom would be suicide to any doctrine with one message which must be obeyed. Islam (according to the few puritan freaks who spew out this garbage) just chooses to do without music altogether rather than mangle it to their purposes.
There is an honestly about that. At least it saves us another ''Oh Lord Our help in Ages Past'.
All religion have to make their minds up about music. Either to harness it or demonise it. The fact that Christianity decided to harness it is no reason to condemn Islam for demonising it. After all, they are only trying to make a living too.And before Christians and the like get into the pulpit as defenders of the crotchet, they should examine the church's record on artistic persecution. They even outlawed a mathematical interval. How paranoid is that?
All authoritarian tyrannies have to either shackle or eradicate music because it is such a powerful medium, capable of conveying emotions and changing opinions across the centuries, and of codifying an incredibly broad and subtle spectrum of information.
Allowing free access to such a weapon of freedom would be suicide to any doctrine with one message which must be obeyed. Islam (according to the few puritan freaks who spew out this garbage) just chooses to do without music altogether rather than mangle it to their purposes.
There is an honestly about that. At least it saves us another ''Oh Lord Our help in Ages Past'.
6/29/2010
Mosquito Mental Swamp
Police Minister Nick Herbert wrote in a Commons reply on Monday that this was not an issue on which ministers should intervene, and it was for local authorities dealing with anti-social behaviour to decide whether or not to use the Mosquito.Or leave it to the good ol' boys, in other words.
Leaving aside the brutal redneck stupidity of the Cameron government in endorsing these spiteful litte machines, there is a wider issue to address, which is the mental contortions required to maintain the current British level of Paedophobia.
It is amazing how the meaning of 'anti-social' is dependent on the age of the subject, rather than their actual behaviour. This is truly an example of our disregard for language and basic 'cause and effect'. For the rational world as we know it. A person is not judged by their deeds but their age. And the term 'anti-social' has now almost come to mean 'young'. Say the word to most people, and the image they will see in their head will be of a teenager.
Create a taboo or bogeyman or monster of any kind, and primitive superstition automatically kicks in. This is fine in books and other entertainments, but when it becomes an everyday means of dealing with reality by inverting it, we are in serious trouble.
Is there any legal obligation to reveal where these Hate-Screamers are located, as with speed cameras? Jeremy Clarkson would know what to do with them. Then they wouldn't need to be banned.
6/28/2010
Thought for the Day: Toy Story Religion.
Another sad vicar on Today today trying to catch a ride for her dying job on the coat-tails of popular culture. Toy Story 3 makes men cry, and therefore is simply repeating the great truths and lessons of religion, which got there first, and which cannot really be improved on.
In spite of the desperate attempt of religion to exploit the success of fiction, in this case a cartoon, religion is not fiction, it is a lie. The fact that religion cannot understand the difference between willing suspension of disbelief and the coercion of belief, of the freedom to interpret a story and being made to believe its literal, historic truth, is the ultimate demonstration of its lack of moral understanding. Religion is the least repository of moral truth.
In spite of the desperate attempt of religion to exploit the success of fiction, in this case a cartoon, religion is not fiction, it is a lie. The fact that religion cannot understand the difference between willing suspension of disbelief and the coercion of belief, of the freedom to interpret a story and being made to believe its literal, historic truth, is the ultimate demonstration of its lack of moral understanding. Religion is the least repository of moral truth.
The Nearness of History
Coming to grips with the scale of historic periods before you were born is naturally difficult.
Here's a little trick.
Choose an event you remember as a mature adult, or late teenager. Something which still seems a prominent part of your existence. Calculate the number of years to the present day. Call it 30 years.
This is the roughly same period between the death of the Old Queen and the Great Depression. Apart from placing your life precisely in context, it also tends to undermine the historic stereotypes which are the raw material of the false, 'pageant' of history, in which be-whigged sophisticates speaking in perfect sentences are transformed into top-hatted cotton-barons at the chimes of the C19th.
It is also very scary.
I can remember 30 years fairly clearly, and that means I am only the same distance now from the boycotted 1980 Olympics as I was then from the election of the Churchill government in 1950.
The more time you've got to play with, the chillier it gets.
Here's a little trick.
Choose an event you remember as a mature adult, or late teenager. Something which still seems a prominent part of your existence. Calculate the number of years to the present day. Call it 30 years.
This is the roughly same period between the death of the Old Queen and the Great Depression. Apart from placing your life precisely in context, it also tends to undermine the historic stereotypes which are the raw material of the false, 'pageant' of history, in which be-whigged sophisticates speaking in perfect sentences are transformed into top-hatted cotton-barons at the chimes of the C19th.
It is also very scary.
I can remember 30 years fairly clearly, and that means I am only the same distance now from the boycotted 1980 Olympics as I was then from the election of the Churchill government in 1950.
The more time you've got to play with, the chillier it gets.
An Absolute Shower
Never mind the giant Murdoch vulture tearing the liver from the national game, the obvious culprit in this catastrophe is the scandalous demise of the grammar schools, which relegated suitable lower class types to a future of toil or football, created a degree of due deference in them, and concentrated their blind loyalty on their national duty.
'NFL - The Socialist Game in the Land of the Free'
..
England players are are in the most competitive league in the most bitterly competitive society in europe. The result is that they do not know how to play the game, only to do it to others. 'It's not just about the winning, it's the taking them apart.'
Until they can redress the balance between co-operating with each other and competing against the opposition they will always be intimidated by less inhibited opposition, who take pleasure from what they do.
Watching England play is like watching Subutteo. Not playing football, but doing it by numbers.
The idea that playing in the most demanding schedule in the world under the endless scrutiny of the most invasive media in the world could produce the most under-achieving team in the world is wishy washy liberalism of the most debilitating kind, and incipient socialism more pernicious than even the BBC.
The last time England won the world cup, they had a proper manager who sounded as if he'd been to public school and who brought the vital element of military discipline to the job from his years of honourable service in defence of his Queen and country. And also, the team was notably free of pollution by non-English, alien temperaments, with their inevitable tendency to panic under fire. The result was the kind of gritty, winning teamwork which is inherent in the English genius.
Until the national slide into the pit of wooly inclusiveness and insolence towards elders and betters is reversed, we can expect no better from our sporting representatives. Until then, they will remain a shower, and absolute shower. Demoralised, sullen and useless.
Mind you, those damn Bolshies do seem to have sorted out the Yanks and their mini-rugby game.'NFL - The Socialist Game in the Land of the Free'
..
England players are are in the most competitive league in the most bitterly competitive society in europe. The result is that they do not know how to play the game, only to do it to others. 'It's not just about the winning, it's the taking them apart.'
Until they can redress the balance between co-operating with each other and competing against the opposition they will always be intimidated by less inhibited opposition, who take pleasure from what they do.
Watching England play is like watching Subutteo. Not playing football, but doing it by numbers.
6/27/2010
Lord of the Ring-Fence Lies
This is a political Black Sunday for the Condems. The real bug-eyed, malformed nocturnal tory reptiles surface through the PR scum on the swamp.
Ian Duncan Smith does a Tebbit, and orders the ethnic cleansing of the unemployed from their communities, and in the process releasing a tide of internal immigration of Northrons to swamp leafy, industrial Roehampton and St Albans. Exactly what's needed to keep the southern workforce on their toes. Where else is he going to get enough aliens to keep people fighting amongst themselves? Without this competition for jobs and homes and services, they might begin to know their own value, and with it their strength, and that would be fatal to Cameron's doctrine of People Power.
Within an hour of Smith, Nigel Lawson admits Tories lied to the electorate on NHS 'Ring-Fencing'. The NHS is to be slashed like everything else. And in an ultra-Stalinist proposal which will see more riots than the SPG, SUS Law, Miners' Strike and the Polltax combined, Tory Ferret-in-Chief, Michael Gove also wants to evict the single and childless from council housing to make room for families.
And all on the day on which England were eliminated from/gloriously triumphed in the World Cup.
Ian Duncan Smith does a Tebbit, and orders the ethnic cleansing of the unemployed from their communities, and in the process releasing a tide of internal immigration of Northrons to swamp leafy, industrial Roehampton and St Albans. Exactly what's needed to keep the southern workforce on their toes. Where else is he going to get enough aliens to keep people fighting amongst themselves? Without this competition for jobs and homes and services, they might begin to know their own value, and with it their strength, and that would be fatal to Cameron's doctrine of People Power.
Within an hour of Smith, Nigel Lawson admits Tories lied to the electorate on NHS 'Ring-Fencing'. The NHS is to be slashed like everything else. And in an ultra-Stalinist proposal which will see more riots than the SPG, SUS Law, Miners' Strike and the Polltax combined, Tory Ferret-in-Chief, Michael Gove also wants to evict the single and childless from council housing to make room for families.
And all on the day on which England were eliminated from/gloriously triumphed in the World Cup.
6/22/2010
I'M JON VENABLES!
The revelation that Jon Venables, the killer with Robert Thompson of toddler James Bulger, has breached the terms of his parole has unleashed the usual howl of redneck hate, including the predictable demands for capital punishment for children. So we're hanging children now. But from what age? That is what the barbarians never make clear.
People have written on the internet that Jon Venables has evil eyes, and that he's the devil. He did devilish things, but in fact he's not The Devil. There is no such thing as EVIL. It is a primitive concept which identifies the cause of all crimes in a Supreme Malevolent force. A mythical external entity which inhabits the individual and can only be overcome by massive doses of the antidote, The Supreme Force for Good - or by the ritual purging of the individual concerned, often with fatal consequences. This cartoon morality neatly avoids any real causes of criminal behaviour, and therefore spares us any responsibilty for altering reality so as to eliminate them. It is a destructive, obsolete, poisonous, dead-end word, and the sooner we stop relying on it to explain our own failings as a society the better.
The adult trial of John Venables obviously didn't work, so we have to think again. But the main problem with telling children that 7 year olds are as culpable as adults and that they can all make adult judgements is that theybelieve it, and will then use that power to inflict Kids Justice as and when they feel it necessary.
So if two ten year old boys decide that a four year old is, as they've been told, 'evil', they might well decide to use their new-found adult judgement, and punish the child, saving the grown-ups the trouble. How they did this would depend entirely on their existing moral framework, but one now empowered and licensed to judge others of the same age and immaturity as 'evil'. And hearing adults baying for the blood of Jon Venables could well influence the severity of their sentencing policy.
If a child of 8 or 7 is held to be mature enough to be judged as an adult , then it must therefore be mature enough to judge as one. So where does this new-found faith in the judgement of children end?
And telling them that all children are capable of adult levels of evil will merely make them more judgemental, without being able to make adult judgements. And more children will be abused. We need to give children back their childhoods, not demonise them even further.
People have written on the internet that Jon Venables has evil eyes, and that he's the devil. He did devilish things, but in fact he's not The Devil. There is no such thing as EVIL. It is a primitive concept which identifies the cause of all crimes in a Supreme Malevolent force. A mythical external entity which inhabits the individual and can only be overcome by massive doses of the antidote, The Supreme Force for Good - or by the ritual purging of the individual concerned, often with fatal consequences. This cartoon morality neatly avoids any real causes of criminal behaviour, and therefore spares us any responsibilty for altering reality so as to eliminate them. It is a destructive, obsolete, poisonous, dead-end word, and the sooner we stop relying on it to explain our own failings as a society the better.
The adult trial of John Venables obviously didn't work, so we have to think again. But the main problem with telling children that 7 year olds are as culpable as adults and that they can all make adult judgements is that theybelieve it, and will then use that power to inflict Kids Justice as and when they feel it necessary.
So if two ten year old boys decide that a four year old is, as they've been told, 'evil', they might well decide to use their new-found adult judgement, and punish the child, saving the grown-ups the trouble. How they did this would depend entirely on their existing moral framework, but one now empowered and licensed to judge others of the same age and immaturity as 'evil'. And hearing adults baying for the blood of Jon Venables could well influence the severity of their sentencing policy.
If a child of 8 or 7 is held to be mature enough to be judged as an adult , then it must therefore be mature enough to judge as one. So where does this new-found faith in the judgement of children end?
And telling them that all children are capable of adult levels of evil will merely make them more judgemental, without being able to make adult judgements. And more children will be abused. We need to give children back their childhoods, not demonise them even further.
All the barbarians want to know where they can find Jon Venables, so that they can exercise their primitive fantasies and relish the stench of their decaying minds. Well:
I'M JON VENABLES!
Dr Howard Martin and the Good Old Days
The case of ex-Dr Howard Martin, who pleads humanitarian motives for his personal euthanasia initiative, will raise memories and suspicions in many people of a certain age and class background.
It is a matter of accepted family history that our venerable family doctor, Dr Llewellyn, ended the life of my grandmother with a shot of heroin. This was in the early 50's, and my mother, a wartime nurse and St John's veteran, gratefully accepted the practice as humane and practical, as did the rest of the family. This is not to excuse the practise, but simply to register the level of expectancy within the social class we occupied.
Like most of the Professional Classes, doctors like ours - a dead ringer for Dr Cameron from Doctor Finlay's Casebook, with a three piece suit and gold watch chain - were held in great reverence. Their decisions were not questioned since the solutions they offered were often the most economical to a family which simply did not have the personnel or time to provide the care its old and infirm members needed at the end of their lives.
Not a million miles from the nomadic tribes who abandon their ailing members to die at the banks of whichever river they are finally unable to cross.
Like most of the Professional Classes, doctors like ours - a dead ringer for Dr Cameron from Doctor Finlay's Casebook, with a three piece suit and gold watch chain - were held in great reverence. Their decisions were not questioned since the solutions they offered were often the most economical to a family which simply did not have the personnel or time to provide the care its old and infirm members needed at the end of their lives.
Not a million miles from the nomadic tribes who abandon their ailing members to die at the banks of whichever river they are finally unable to cross.
6/21/2010
Will The England Bus Be Stoned On Wednesday?
If I'd spent over £20,000 to watch England sulk, I would be furious.
We have seen in the past how little provocation it takes to cause trouble amongst England fans. In Germany, it was merely the comic book past which roused their fury.
It would therefore be timely to consider what might happen if they are given real offence, and by their own team no less. And at a time when football players are the last people on George Osborne's Cutback Hitlist.
A truly degraded performance by England against Slovenia might leave a nasty taste in a lot of people's mouths about football in general. After such an abject surrender, who could justify the absurd extravagance of a season ticket to a Premiership club against the escalating cost of running a family?
The Premier League clubs will look like Robin Hood turned tax-collector for the Sheriff of Nottingham.
We have seen in the past how little provocation it takes to cause trouble amongst England fans. In Germany, it was merely the comic book past which roused their fury.
It would therefore be timely to consider what might happen if they are given real offence, and by their own team no less. And at a time when football players are the last people on George Osborne's Cutback Hitlist.
A truly degraded performance by England against Slovenia might leave a nasty taste in a lot of people's mouths about football in general. After such an abject surrender, who could justify the absurd extravagance of a season ticket to a Premiership club against the escalating cost of running a family?
The Premier League clubs will look like Robin Hood turned tax-collector for the Sheriff of Nottingham.
6/20/2010
Fiona Bruce's Arse
Fiona Bruce Fiona Bruce Fiona Bruce.
That's taken care of three or four hundred hits in the next month or so.
It seems that the internet and its users are so stupid that the mere mention of this Bimbo will continue to draw the drooling multitudes on their hands and knees, if need be.
And now her most intelligent feature, her arse, has won an award. So let the good times roll.
This dreary child of Thatcher actually wrote a book in 2008 in which she delivered the startling revelation that women are routinely sexually molested and that in fact, they don't like it, and don't ask for it, and that it is the fault of men - not the women themselves! Who'd'a'thunkit?
Women everywhere breathed a sigh of admiration and wonder, and prepared to live new, liberated lives courtesy of Ms Bruce. Now they can also marvel at the liberating influence of her arse, and everything she says through it.
And naturally, the Fragrant Fiona is no more to blame than this lot. I don't have a clue who most of them are, but apparently they are the best people on the planet. If I've left out any household gods please correct me. We wouldn't want to displease them.
And Uncle Tom Cobbley and all.
That's taken care of three or four hundred hits in the next month or so.
It seems that the internet and its users are so stupid that the mere mention of this Bimbo will continue to draw the drooling multitudes on their hands and knees, if need be.
And now her most intelligent feature, her arse, has won an award. So let the good times roll.
This dreary child of Thatcher actually wrote a book in 2008 in which she delivered the startling revelation that women are routinely sexually molested and that in fact, they don't like it, and don't ask for it, and that it is the fault of men - not the women themselves! Who'd'a'thunkit?
Women everywhere breathed a sigh of admiration and wonder, and prepared to live new, liberated lives courtesy of Ms Bruce. Now they can also marvel at the liberating influence of her arse, and everything she says through it.
And naturally, the Fragrant Fiona is no more to blame than this lot. I don't have a clue who most of them are, but apparently they are the best people on the planet. If I've left out any household gods please correct me. We wouldn't want to displease them.
The Best People On the Planet List
Michael Jackson, Jordan, Sting, Bono, Adam Sandler, Aishwarya Rai, Alana De La Garza, Ali Landry, Ali Larter, Alicia Silverstone, Alyson Hannigan, Alyssa Milano, Amanda Bynes, Amanda Peet, Amy Adams, Amy Jo Johnson, Amy Lee, Amy Poehler, Amy Smart, Angelina Jolie, Angie Harmon, Anna Faris, Anna Kournikova, Arielle Kebbel. Ashlee Simpson, Ashley Judd. Ashley Scott, Ashley Tisdale, Autumn Reeser, Avril Lavigne, Beyonce Knowles, Brad Pitt, Brea Grant, Bridget Fonda, Bridgette Wilson, Britney Spears, Brittany Murphy, Brittany Snow, Brooke Burns, Brooke Shields, Cameron Diaz, Carrie Anne Moss, Cassie Ventura, Catherine Zeta Jones, Chandra Wilson, Charisma Carpenter, Charlize Theron, Christina Aguilera, Christina Applegate, Christina Ricci, Claire Forlani, Claudia Schiffer, Colleen Haskell, Constance Marie, Courteney Cox, Dakota Fanning, Deanna Russo, Demi Moore, Denise Richards, Diane Lane, Diora Baird, Drea De Matteo, Drew Barrymore, Elisha Cuthbert, Eliza Dushku, Elizabeth Hurley, Elizabeth Shue, Ellen Pompeo, Elsa Benitez, Emily Procter, Emma Watson, mmy Rossum, Eric Dane, Erica Durance, Estella Warren, Eva Longoria, Eva Mendes, Evangeline Lilly, Faith Hill, Felicity Huffman, Fergie, Gabrielle Union, Gena Lee Nolin, Gillian Anderson, Goldie Hawn, Gwyneth Paltrow, Halle Berry, Hayden Panettiere, Heather Graham, Heather Locklear, Heidi Klum, Helen Hunt, Hilary Duff, Hilary Swank, Isaiah Washington, Jaime Pressly, James Pickens Jr, Jenna Fischer, Jennie Finch, Jennie Garth, Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Lopez, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Jennifer Morrison, Jenny McCarthy, Jeri Ryan, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jessica Simpson, Jordana Brewster, Josie Maran, Jude Law, Jules Asner, Julia Roberts, Julia Stiles, Justin Chambers, Kate Beckinsale, Kate Hudson, Kate Walsh, Kate Winslet, Katee Sackhoff, Katherine Heigl, Katie Holmes, Keira Knightley, Kelly Carlson, Kelly Clarkson, Kelly Preston, Kelly Ripa, Keri Russell, Kiley Dean, Kim Basinger, Kirsten Dunst, Krista Allen, Kristanna Loken, Kristen Bell, Kristin Kreuk, Kurt Russell, Lacey Chabert, Laetitia Casta, Laura Linney, Lea Thompson, Leah Remini, Leelee Sobieski, Leila Arcieri, Lindsay Lohan, Lucy Lawless, Lucy Liu, Madonna, Majandra Delfino, Mandy Moore, Marcy Rylan, Marg Helgenberger, Mariah Carey, Marisa Miller, Masi Oka, Masiela Lusha, Meg Ryan, Megan Fox, Melissa Hart, Mena Suvari, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michelle Rodriguez, Michelle Ryan, Mike Myers, Miley Ray Cyrus, Minka Kelly, Mischa Barton, Missy Peregrym, Molly Sims, Monica Keena, Nadine Velazquez, Natalie , Natascha McElhone, Neve Campbell, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Eggert, Nicole Kidman, Nicollette Sheridan, Nikki Cox, Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, Patricia Arquette, Patricia Heaton, Patrick Dempsey, Penelope Cruz, Petra Nemcova, Phoebe Cates, Piper Perabo, Rachael Leigh Cook, Rachel Bilson, Raquel Alessi, Rashida Jones, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, Rebecca Saint James, Reese Witherspoon, Renee Zellweger, Robin Williams, Roselyn Sanchez, Russell Crowe, Salma Hayek, Sandra Bullock, Sandra Oh, Sara Paxton, Sara Ramirez, Sarah Jessica Parker, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Sarah Silverman, Scarlett Johansson, Shakira, Shannon Elizabeth, Sharon Stone, Sigourney Weaver, Steve Martin, T.R. Knight, Tara Reid, Tea Leoni, Teri Hatcher, Thora Birch, Tiffani Amber Thiessen, Tim Allen, Tina Fey, Tobey Maguire, Tom Cruise, Tommy Lee Jones, Tori Spelling, Tricia Helfer, Uma Thurman, Valerie Bertinelli, Vanessa Angel, Vanessa Anne Hudgens, Vanessa Ferlito, Vanessa , Vanessa Williams, Victoria Beckham, Vin Diesel, Virginia Madsen, Will Smith, William Shatner, Yasmine Bleeth, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Bell, Zooey Deschanel.And Uncle Tom Cobbley and all.
6/19/2010
Player Infiltrates England Dressing Room
News of this appalling breach of security will send a shiver up the spines of all aficionados of England at the World Cup. If this level of incompetence continues, how can England hope to maintain its glorious record of success?
6/16/2010
Vuvuzela! The Drone of the Blatt-o-Phone
Football, like other forms of crowd theatre, is a collective experience. The performance partly relies on the reactions of the crowd to create the drama. By smothering them, the monotone Blatt-o-Phone drone smothers the drama.
During the last Six Nations rugby on BBC, I tried out the red-button audio options for the first time. The choice was between the standard TV broadcast commentary, two different radio commentaries, and nothing but pure stadium noise plus the referee. Without the commentary what I quickly remembered after many years of being priced out of a ticket for international matches, was the almost sexual character of the responses of the crowd to the twists and turns of the spectacle. And it also became clear that the oohs and aahs weren't just triumphalism at gaining advantage or relief at denying it to the opposition, but sheer spontaneous admiration for the skills and prowess on display. Anyone who's been to a live event of this size will understand the rhythm of a crowd being entertained till it hurts.
Drowning out that essential feedback to the play is almost an act of sabotage. It's certainly a ridiculous dampening of the experience. Like being the only member of an audience at an opera. Or like being inflicted with a chronic inner-ear problem.
The Music of the Stadium
During the last Six Nations rugby on BBC, I tried out the red-button audio options for the first time. The choice was between the standard TV broadcast commentary, two different radio commentaries, and nothing but pure stadium noise plus the referee. Without the commentary what I quickly remembered after many years of being priced out of a ticket for international matches, was the almost sexual character of the responses of the crowd to the twists and turns of the spectacle. And it also became clear that the oohs and aahs weren't just triumphalism at gaining advantage or relief at denying it to the opposition, but sheer spontaneous admiration for the skills and prowess on display. Anyone who's been to a live event of this size will understand the rhythm of a crowd being entertained till it hurts.
Drowning out that essential feedback to the play is almost an act of sabotage. It's certainly a ridiculous dampening of the experience. Like being the only member of an audience at an opera. Or like being inflicted with a chronic inner-ear problem.
The Music of the Stadium
6/15/2010
Bloody Sunday Truth at Last. Where Next?
The Saville Report has finally exonerated the dead of Bloody Sunday. The list of war-crimes and shameful lies are exposed, David Cameron apologises in Parliament to the bereaved and to the community.
But even as the families of the murdered were offering their thanks for the truth, and their forgiveness and reconciliation in a heartfelt attempt to achieve peace for their community, the press and police helicopters delivered a chattering heckle of disrespect overhead.
They just won't let go. Even after all the time wasted and money spent wringing the triuth out, and clearing the names of the innocent, they insist on the last word. On spoiling the party.
But the question remains. If British soldiers can do that to British citizens, what can they do to less familiar prey, and when under less intensive scrutiny?
Heroes? Don't make me laugh.
The slaughterhouse of competing nationalisms which is Northern Ireland only accentuates the absurdity and futility of fighting for lines on a map. A random, irrelevant commonality which can only divide to rule.
This is the trap of nationalism, of any kind.The disputed land and heritage doesn't go away, and so the crimes of each generation are justification for the crimes of the next generation, and until they all
"Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot whereon the numbers cannot try the cause, which is not tomb enough and continent to hide the slain."
The religious slaughterhouse is even more absurd and archaic. When the people of northern Ireland discover the real things they have in common, there will be progress, as eveywhere else.
The other interesting aspect of this report was the fact that evidence was provided by the Sunday Times Insight team, raising questions of press confidentiality. My question is, how much more incriminating evidence of other state crimes is still hidden in the vaults of Wapping or Canary Wharf? The case of Blair Peach might be a lot more clear-cut if we knew everything the reporters and photographers on the day saw and recorded. Not to mention the killings at Ballymurphy, which preceded Bloody Sunday, and seem to have been at least as cold-blooded.
'Unequivocal', 'unjustified', 'clear', 'wrong'.
It was magnificent to hear the silence from all the usual suspects in Parliament as the true horror sunk in. All the vindictive, moaning, penny-pinching apologists and quibblers who were primed to launch into their usual whines about the burden on the taxpayer of the enquiry, and the 'hypocrisy' of subjecting the British Army to such persistent scrutiny. 'Whatabout the soldiers who were killed? Whatabout their rights?' they were about to ask. But they didn't. They were dumbstruck by what all the eye-witnesses had confirmed all along. And all Diddy Cameron had to do was read the perfect script. 'Unequivocal', 'unjustified', 'clear', 'wrong'.
The ultimate confirmation of the Saville report was of the truthfulness and decency of ordinary human nature. Anyone who shared and had faith in people always believed the testimonies of those who were there, testimonies which were vindicated by Saville. We believed, but we simply couldn't prove what we believed in the face of the most disgraceful Vuvuzela of media collusion with the state to overwhelm the truth with noise.
Even Saville, for all its clarity, still decided that the fault lay in a 'serious loss of fire discipline.' This is to fall into the trap of applying military dialect to a human crime. This many 'rotten apples' do not happen to all be in the same place at the same time. The problem was, and is, systemic and cultural, and the loss was one of Humanity, not discipline. The troops in Northern Ireland, as everywhere still, were trained to regard all other human beings with suspicion. They were dehumanised towards their fellow creatures. And there is no evidence that this desensitising regime is any different today. It is part of every soldier's weaponry - what makes it possible for them to use their weapons and kill on demand in the first place.
There are some hard-line sectarian complaints about the lack of a Saville Enquiry into unionists killed in the Troubles, which is of course a totally seperate issue and shows their usual lack of political vision. How many Unionists were killed by British soldiers or the RUC? At least PIRA had the honesty and far-sightedness to take responsibility for its actions at the time, however horrific and inhuman. The British State persistently and continually lied about its murders, and so did the gutter press on its behalf.
So if these were murders, when are those responsible to face justice? The key is surely in the legal defintion of responsibility. If I were 'private F' on trial for my actions on the day, my lawyer would simply plead that I was temporarily not of sound mind, and proceed to a rigorous examination of exhibit A, the process of desensitisation all soldiers are subjected to in order to do their jobs. No jury would convict, and I would probably be liable for some level of compensation.
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