I was sitting in the Job Centre waiting to sign on, next to me sat a small group of men, they all knew each other and I think from listening to them they had worked together and now they were unemployed together. One of them began to talk about how hard it was to find money for food, he had two children and a wife - he didn't know how to put food on the table. Instead of changing the subject and talking about sport or the Olympics each of them agreed and began to talk openly and loudly about their struggles to "make ends meet". I was really surprised to hear the conversation, these weren't women chatting about where to get the best deal or pensioners having a little moan; these men must have been in their forties, they were politically aware and angry as they discussed various scandals and the huge disparity between rich and poor they got even angrier. The anger wasn't the kind where furniture was going to be kicked over and the police called, this was bone deep fury at the way the country is heading and how they had to stand up for what was right. I didn't get to hear the rest of the conversation as I was called to sign my piece of paper with an advisor.
Walking away from the Job Centre I thought about what I had just heard, the same things are being said all across Europe, all across Africa, the Middle East, across the world and I compared their words with the speech I heard Melvin King, the Governor of the Bank of England give a few days ago announcing another down grading of our prospects - he tried to blame the Eurozone for the UK's poor export figures (this is the newest magic mushroom George Osborne has been cultivating - that great export figures are going to pull the UK out of the Depression) but that is not true, the UK exported more to Europe than the rest of the world. Exports to the rest of the world fell by 9.6% whereas exports to the Eurozone fell by 7.6%. These aren't great figures and our economy has flatlined with zero growth which according to Melvin who looked like a deer caught in the headlights, could go on for years and then there is the matter of the largest deficit for 15 years. Sorry to use so many figures, I find my own mind goes walkies when I start writing about it but that is what Melvin and all the feral rich want that it gets too much for us ordinary people to think about so we give up, well, we can't give up. To put it in real terms just a few weeks ago 806 people applied for one job in my town, that's our reality. The policy of removing real jobs from our society, making more and more people unemployed and thinking that somehow the private sector would produce new jobs to replace all the ones destroyed is lunacy. In Buddhism there is a wonderful phrase about a person who is deluded by greed, anger and ignorance and they are like someone in a burning house which is coming down around their ears but they think they are at a fabulour celebrity party which will never end. I think we are standing in the burning building but we can put the fire out.
I have written about growing our own vegetables and fruit, all the different ways you can do that on allotments, in back gardens, on top of blocks of flats and in window boxes, I wrote an earlier blog called "ABC" to try and make suggestions to augment our diets and keep down the cost of what we spend on food. With food prices set to soar we have to act for ourselves. Why do I say food is going to be more expensive? The terrible weather conditions being experienced all over the world mean crops have been destroyed especially wheat (Australia's huge flood devastated its wheat crops, America has a terrible drought right across the fertile heart land hitting the wheat and corn harvests, Filopino floods, floods in China) you could say well, I don't eat much bread and I never eat Nan or Pitta bread so this doesn't affect me but it does - cake, scones, Yorkshire pudding, Toad in the Hole and Eccles cakes and finally add in the toxic component of food price speculation. You get food riots, the riots last year across the country which were sparked by a murder were partly food riots (but we don't talk about that) instability, governments will fall and have already fallen in Haiti Egypt, Tunisia and other countries involved in the "Arab Spring" to name but a few and I haven't mentioned Africa.
What can we do, grow our own food, as much as possible, even one crop of tomatoes is one less to pay for and petition our government and the Labour Party to use the United Nations to outlaw food price speculation, let those huge cartels and multi nationals gamble with other commodities not food.
Finally, stop blaming other countries for George Osborne's ideology which is bringing us to the point of collapse. We must lobby our elected members to force them to enact tax reform, change the policy which gives tax cuts to the feral rich, penalises the poorest, least able in our society and make them see they are living in a burning building and they are throwing petrol on the flames.
Breaking News
I would love it if one morning I turned on the news and heard a bulletin which went like this: "Early this morning an Israeli battalion of hardened irrigation engineers stormed into the Gaza Strip, their spokesman said "We have only one mission, we are here and we are going to stay here until we have set up irrigation systems and built a couple of dams to support the crops these people grow". Meanwhile, in Somalia the "International Brigade" of teachers supported by builders with earth movers have just finished building their twentieth school and classes have begun for the children of the twenty areas this action involves... We can go across live to our reporter who is embedded with a platoon of "Queens Own Highlanders", these brave soldiers parachuted into Helman Province, Afghanistan carrying solar panels which will be installed in isolated villages which have no electricity"..
If I heard that kind of bulletin I would think I had died and passed over. Now, I enjoyed writing that silly paragraph and you can say it's a load of cracked ideas but I wonder. The reason I wrote it was as an antidote to the London visit of Mitt Romney and his "World Tour of Trouble Making" and all the other war mongers who move around the world trying to resurrect the Cold War, protected by their wealth from the consequences of their actions. When I had been thinking about Romney it occurred to me that actually we don't live in a world you can make old constructs come back to life. If you just look at your own life; I have friends on Facebook from all over the place, I support peaceful projects in lots of different countries, we Twitter to people all over the world and don't forget e-mail, sign petitions which do make a difference, read blogs, build dialogues through our comments and everything is instantaneous (or nearly, if you used my computer some mornings you would doubt that). This virtual society is happening all over the world, it is what has partly triggered the "Arab Spring", the "Orange Revolution" and all the other movements for change. Of course there are wars and atrocities, man made disasters and horrors but it seems to me that there are a lot of very brave (and you do have to be brave to light a candle in the dark), decent, honourable people working to stop the wars, mediate in the middle of the suffering, change our splintered societies into one global society. Our technology has already made this happen in the virtual world. I really do look forward to the day the virtual and the real worlds merge and the news presenter says "Yesterday, in the Hague, a peace treaty was signed between the two last combatants in the last war. Today is the first day of peace"..
If I heard that kind of bulletin I would think I had died and passed over. Now, I enjoyed writing that silly paragraph and you can say it's a load of cracked ideas but I wonder. The reason I wrote it was as an antidote to the London visit of Mitt Romney and his "World Tour of Trouble Making" and all the other war mongers who move around the world trying to resurrect the Cold War, protected by their wealth from the consequences of their actions. When I had been thinking about Romney it occurred to me that actually we don't live in a world you can make old constructs come back to life. If you just look at your own life; I have friends on Facebook from all over the place, I support peaceful projects in lots of different countries, we Twitter to people all over the world and don't forget e-mail, sign petitions which do make a difference, read blogs, build dialogues through our comments and everything is instantaneous (or nearly, if you used my computer some mornings you would doubt that). This virtual society is happening all over the world, it is what has partly triggered the "Arab Spring", the "Orange Revolution" and all the other movements for change. Of course there are wars and atrocities, man made disasters and horrors but it seems to me that there are a lot of very brave (and you do have to be brave to light a candle in the dark), decent, honourable people working to stop the wars, mediate in the middle of the suffering, change our splintered societies into one global society. Our technology has already made this happen in the virtual world. I really do look forward to the day the virtual and the real worlds merge and the news presenter says "Yesterday, in the Hague, a peace treaty was signed between the two last combatants in the last war. Today is the first day of peace"..
Vlad in a Box
Vladmir Putin was born a year later than me in 1952 but having seen him on his recent visit to Number 10 for a talk with David Cameron I must say he looks at least 30 years older than I do. That seems quite an unpleasant judgement to make, people can't help how they age. I always thought he looked like "Dobby the House Elf" from the "Harry Potter" books now his face lift or use of botox (no one can have such an unlined face without botox) has destroyed his features and makes me think of a badly made wax work model and as well as his waxen face he is shorter than David Cameron which means President Obama towers over him as well. Why am I making so many disparaging personal remarks? He is, in my opinion, paranoid, vain, very angry and the President of Russia.
When he became President in 2000 he brought in a lot of really good reforms which improved the lives of the Russian people, stablised the economy and got rid of a lot of corruption from the old regime of Boris Yeltsin but since he has been relected as President for a second term, in rigged elections things have changed and not for the better. He has passed new laws which criminalize defamation, fine protesters at unauthorised demonstrations £6,000 and blacklist "harmful" internet sites. He also has what you can only call his own "Hitler Youth Movement" an aggressive, racist, ignorant army of young people who idolise Putin and happily harrass anyone Putin doesn't like, including the British Ambassador. Now, Putin didn't just get out of bed one morning and think I hate the West, I hate all journalists and whistleblowers I know what I'll do I'll pass laws to destroy them. He really believes that the borders of Russia are being weakened especially when the withdrawal from Afghanistan takes place in 2014 and to that end he has ordered the building of a huge new military base to "monitor" events in Afghanistan, this has provoked demonstrations by local residents who don't want the army bringing trouble to their door. I watched some footage of Putin holding a meeting with his Generals where he sneered that America should stay in Afghanistan and go on fighting, is he thinking of starting a second war with Afghanistan in 2014 because he can't see any other way of protecting his country and his prestige? This is the reason Russian supports the Syrian regime he is convinced that if Syria falls Russia will be next. The spectre of all the other dictators who have been deposed - Gaddafi, Mubarak, Saddam Hussein must always be in his mind. Putin knows the Russian economy is struggling; gas and oil prices are falling and corruption is rife, "Wikileaks" said the American view of Russia was that it was a mafia state so guess who's the "Godfather". When the economy starts to fail, people start to ask questions and recently he is being challenged by an educated very large and vocal opposition while he thinks Russia is becoming effete and decadent like the West and only draconian laws and punishment will control the mob. To me this is paranoia and watching his body language at the meeting with David Cameron he is very angry and full of loathing. So, all these thoughts are pushing him into a box that keeps shrinking in size. When you are so angry and paranoid you can't imagine a differnt route except to repress opposition and dissent, he can't imagine having prestige and being respected without being an aggressive bully.
I can imagine a different way - repeal the new laws, release Alexei Navalny and "Pussy Riot" with a symbolic fine of one rouble, go on tv and talk to the nation laying out democratic reforms, support green industry, embark on new measures to help AIDS sufferers, institute a nationwide
system of swapping used syringes for clean needles and deal with the huge alcohol and drugs problem especially heroin and "krocodil" use. Then he and Russia will get the respect and admiration he longs for.
When he became President in 2000 he brought in a lot of really good reforms which improved the lives of the Russian people, stablised the economy and got rid of a lot of corruption from the old regime of Boris Yeltsin but since he has been relected as President for a second term, in rigged elections things have changed and not for the better. He has passed new laws which criminalize defamation, fine protesters at unauthorised demonstrations £6,000 and blacklist "harmful" internet sites. He also has what you can only call his own "Hitler Youth Movement" an aggressive, racist, ignorant army of young people who idolise Putin and happily harrass anyone Putin doesn't like, including the British Ambassador. Now, Putin didn't just get out of bed one morning and think I hate the West, I hate all journalists and whistleblowers I know what I'll do I'll pass laws to destroy them. He really believes that the borders of Russia are being weakened especially when the withdrawal from Afghanistan takes place in 2014 and to that end he has ordered the building of a huge new military base to "monitor" events in Afghanistan, this has provoked demonstrations by local residents who don't want the army bringing trouble to their door. I watched some footage of Putin holding a meeting with his Generals where he sneered that America should stay in Afghanistan and go on fighting, is he thinking of starting a second war with Afghanistan in 2014 because he can't see any other way of protecting his country and his prestige? This is the reason Russian supports the Syrian regime he is convinced that if Syria falls Russia will be next. The spectre of all the other dictators who have been deposed - Gaddafi, Mubarak, Saddam Hussein must always be in his mind. Putin knows the Russian economy is struggling; gas and oil prices are falling and corruption is rife, "Wikileaks" said the American view of Russia was that it was a mafia state so guess who's the "Godfather". When the economy starts to fail, people start to ask questions and recently he is being challenged by an educated very large and vocal opposition while he thinks Russia is becoming effete and decadent like the West and only draconian laws and punishment will control the mob. To me this is paranoia and watching his body language at the meeting with David Cameron he is very angry and full of loathing. So, all these thoughts are pushing him into a box that keeps shrinking in size. When you are so angry and paranoid you can't imagine a differnt route except to repress opposition and dissent, he can't imagine having prestige and being respected without being an aggressive bully.
I can imagine a different way - repeal the new laws, release Alexei Navalny and "Pussy Riot" with a symbolic fine of one rouble, go on tv and talk to the nation laying out democratic reforms, support green industry, embark on new measures to help AIDS sufferers, institute a nationwide
system of swapping used syringes for clean needles and deal with the huge alcohol and drugs problem especially heroin and "krocodil" use. Then he and Russia will get the respect and admiration he longs for.
If It's Not An Epee It Must Be A Double Pike
I don't know about anyone else but every four years I suddenly become an expert on sports I have never heard of, I can appreciate weight lifting's finer points and don't get me started on dressage. It is all part of the weird bubble of illusion the Olympics engenders in me. I experienced a similiar thing watching the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. I think this was partly because I had just watched a programme on BBC2 "The History of the British" with that excellent historian Michael Wood and he had been talking about the 17th Century; the Civil War, the incredible radical thought and actions that came about after the death of the King. I should declare that I am a Republican, an old fashioned Socialist and, I admit it, an Idealist and I had a head full of Levellers, Ranters, Diggers and the New Model Army when I turned over to BBC1 for the Ceremony. It was an extraordinary spectacle and it made my heart swell ( I have always thought that was a tacky, stupid, over used phrase but that was what I felt) with pride at being British, I thought to myself "Yes, this is who we are, this is our history as a country" and then after it had finished the presenter asked a visiting American if they had understood it. My immediate gut reaction flared out of nowhere, it was "I couldn't care less if this foreigner understands it, this is us, take it or leave it American idiot". I don't think like that, don't respond to foreigners like that, I have lived all over the world and I am not xenophobic. Hearing myself made me stop and think - what I had watched was a passionate, beautiful psychodrama that opened up all kinds of ideas about our country and who we are but it wasn't real. Reality is what the Olympics are blocking out. Unless you are a serious news "junkie" it is hard to find out what is going on in the world, right now I am getting most of my news from Euronews, Al Jazeera, Michael Moore.com, Smirking Chimp etc even Channel 4's evening news gives a large chunk of time to the sports, yes I know, it is a huge event but there are even bigger, much more important and dangerous events happening or about to happen. The war in Syria grinds on with atrocity piled upon atrocity displacing thousands of civilians - Jordan has set up a huge refugee camp to house them. Turkey has troops massed on its border with Syria and the fighting has leaked into Lebanon, there is even, according to an eyewitness, a kind of "International Brigade" with British fighters involved meanwhile Russia keeps supplying Assad with weapons and Mitt Romney, the ultra right wing American Presidential hopeful goes around the world stoking the fire for a war with Iran. If you try to think happy thoughts a strong rumour has started that the EU interest rate has been tampered with and a quiet investigation into the claim is being conducted. In Russia Putin is crushing any kind of dissent, from peaceful protest in St. Petersburg to yes, I know "Pussy Riot" is very old fashioned in our eyes but those feminists face 10 years in prison for "hooliganism" if they are found guilty. Perhaps it is safer being inside the Olympic bubble can I have my epee back please?
