Posted 9:47 AM by Paul
Into the Care of Others

We took Alice to the dentists today. Not our usual dentists next to the station but one a few miles away that specialises in extractions under sedation. They have an anaethetist on hand. So it's perectly safe. But that's not what goes through your head. Stories of kids dieing due to a some terrible mistake in the dosage or a hyper allergic reaction circulate in the deepest recesses of your subconscious. Then they swim into your conscious and you start thinking the unthinkable. What if...? Heather had been tense for a couple of days. I knew was going on in her head.

So we took a taxi down to the surgery in brilliant spring sunshine. Alice was was fine and Heather held her hand as she slipped under as the drugs quickly took effect. She looked utterly helpless in the dentist's chair and the nurse slipped what looked like a pair of wrap-around shades around her eyes. To help her relax I suppose.

The anaesthetist, a short friendly man of Middle Eastern appearance asked us to wait outside which we did without comment or complaint but we both felt uneasy. We didn't want to leave her. We were entrusting her to the care of others. From outside the door we could hear the drilling, but more stressfully the bleeping of a monitor. It reminded me of the torturous (more for Heather than me - obviously) minutes before she we was born and her heartbeat kept dissapearing from the ECG machine. Briefly I thought of Dr. Joan Francisco the gynocologist who delivered her and a few weeks later was murdered by an obsessional former boyfriend.

Then the door opened and Alice was led to us by the anaesthetist. She was back. Babbling incoherently at first and then asking when she would be able to walk properly. She insisted on getting up and asking me to help her walk. She hated not being in control. In the taxi home she insisted in reciting the alphabet to prove to us and herself that she was OK.

Alice will be 10 in October. More and more we will be entrusting her to the care of others and of course the care of herself. But today it was just so good to have her at home, laying on the sofa, watching Cartoon Network. Being a kid

Posted 1:57 PM by Paul
Terrorism - Discuss

Today the Israeli's assassinated the spiritual leader of Hamas and the airwaves have been alive with accusations, counter accusations and discussions about what constitutes terrorism. By all accounts Sheik Whatisname wasn't the kind of most of us would want to share a family holiday with. There seems to be quite a lot of evidence to link him with bus bombings across Israel. If your 12 year old daughter had been incinerated because of the actions of this man you would not have been too happy that he was considered a saint by whole sections of the Palestinian population. But on the other hand if your wife and 12 year old daughter had been raped and murdered in the Chantillah refugee camp massacres of the early 80s you would not have been too pleased that the man who possibly organized the whole thing is now the Israeli Prime Minister.

Whatever, it's hard to see how this will benefit the average Israeli , A Hamas leader said that Sharon had now , "opened the gates of hell." For once this does not seem like hyperbole. The Israeli Foreign Minister was on TV saying that this was showing terrorist leaders that they could organize their work evil deeds and get away with it. They had to understand that there was "a price to pay".

He's not getting it. Islamic militants are lining up for this kind of treatment. Death is not the punishment but the reward in their theological framework. Which got me to thinking. So how would you punish the spiritual leader of Hamas? I finally settled on 2 weeks in Vegas a the Bellagio. Gambling, drinking, semi-naked women. Hell indeed.

Back in Spain Eta has kindly suggested that they start discussions with the new Socialist Government, adding that it still intended to continue armed actions. Not surprisingly the Government in waiting declined the offer. This was met with quote a bit of sniffy comments from the kind of liberal newspapers that pinkos like me read. It struck me that there was a double standard at work here. The IRA were "terrorists" because they were killing us but Eta are "armed separatists" because they are killing them. This kind of duplicity annoys the hell out of the Spanish, particularly my friend Fernando who works as a doctor in Madrid.

So I decided to fire off a letter to both the Guardian and the Independent and it went like this.

Sir

Despite the fact that Eta did not carry out the Madrid bombings, no one should doubt their capacity for cold-blooded murder. The fact that they were initially scapegoated by the right wing Partido Popular for March 11th atrocities, should blind no one to the nature of an organisation which started life in the 1950s as cultural movement. In the 1960s and early 1970 only ever attacked known torturers and fascists. But times have changed.

In the late 80s Eta killed 27 people in the Hipercor supermarket bombing in Barcelona. No warning was given. In the 90s seven labourers from the poorest part of Madrid were blown up whilst they worked on a police barracks next to a school. More recently Eta has taken to sending letter bombs to Basque journalists who criticise their world view. One lost a hand and another just escaped with her life when a bomb placed at her front door failed to explode. She was with her baby daughter at the time.

Artists and academics who question Eta's narrow nationalist version of what it means to be Basque routinely receive death threats. The Catalan constitutional lawyer Ernst Lluch, who was working on a document which would have give the Basque County even more autonomy, was shot dead as he left his car.

It is all but impossible for parties that advocate a continued link to Spain to campaign in large parts of the Basque Country. Death threats against anti-Eta local politicians and their families, have poisoned the political climate. Socialist as well as Conservative councillors have been murdered in recent times by Eta. It is therefore hardly surprising that the incoming Government should describe Eta as a "terrorist organisation" and refuse to negotiate until such time as they declare a permanent unconditional cease-fire.

Independence for the Basque country is a legitimate goal - but blowing people up to achieve it is not a legitimate tactic.

………….


Bit pompous but that it how I was feeling. A blow for Fernando, Elena and all the Spanish who are sick to the back teeth of liberal Anglo-Saxons mythologising Basques who murder, justbecause their targets are Latins who are probably right wing anyway. I know the feeling. I was berated by several Americans from the Mid-West about the terrible cruelty of the English during the Potato Famine and the British occupation. True enough, but I refuse to share the blame as I wasn't around in 1845 and my ancestors were factory workers in the North of England. I suspect they gained little from the Empire's exploitation of the toiling masses of Eire.

So where do I stand in this debate? I don't know. It's like one of those undergraduate papers at the end of the first year.

When is a terrorist a terrorist and when is he a freedom fighter? Discuss.

Posted 5:58 AM by Paul
Our Finest Hour

Following the Madrid bombings Tony Blair has evoked the spirit of the Second World War. These troubled times are apparently our time of moral testing. We should not give in to terrosim in the same way as our parents and grandparents did not bend the knee to Nazism. This is a skilled piece of rhetoric as it plays on the electorate's vanity. It allows us to compare ourselves with spitfire pilots. We live is dangerous times, but I can't help thinking that the comparison is a little theatrical.

My parents were called up to withstand nightly bombing raids cowering in Anderson shelters their bodies weakened by rationing and then do a 12 hour shift the following day. Uncle Wilf fought waist deep in slime in the jungles of Burma. Uncle Walter lost his life when his ship was torpedoed in the Channel. Uncle Harry died in a tank in the Western Desert.

My task is a tad less arduous. I am called on keep an eye open for suspect packages and use my credit cards....frequent fancy restaurants and West End Theatres spending unfeasibly large amounts of money on multi coloured cocktails and Nouvelle Cuisine.

We will never surrender.

Posted 4:00 AM by Paul
American Linguistics

Ray is back on the wires. He is pessimistic. Bush will win because amongst other things Kerry "uses too many words" As a sucessful lawyer I trust Ray's judgement, and he has a good point. You need to keep it brief otherwise voters will say, "That guy is all talk".

Kerry would say

" I call upon the warring factions in Kosovo to desist from their inter communal violence".

Bush would say

" Those Kosovans should stop throwing rocks at each and get round the table."

So today's tip for Kerry is - Never use a latin based word if there is a perfectly acceptable Anglo-Saxon alternative.

Posted 1:29 AM by Paul
Linguistic Shifts

The Madrid bombings haave been dominating the political debate for the last week. I am going to write something in the next couple of days about my feelings on the subject. I have friends in Madrid and have been going to Spain every year since 1976. I want a bit more time to think before I write about something so apalling and so important.

The terrible events in Spain have seen some interesting shifts in political linguistics.

We are now being told that a major terrorist attack in the UK is inevitable. This is an exercise in managing expectations. In the old days politicians might have said something like "It's likely but we are doing everything in our power to stop it. " Now they just say " It's gonna happen. Get used to it".

The word eventually has crept into the political discourse as in, " I believe that getting rid of Saddam will eventually make the world a safer place." This suggests that at the moment the world is a more dangerous place in recognition of the fact that one of Saddam's hobbies was executing Al Quaida members. Also when is eventually ? Next week? Next century?

The Government has taken to employing the tried and tested rhetorical device of refuting the imaginary proposition in an attempt to wrong foot their critics. At least 10 supporters of the Iraq policy have been on radio insisting " There is no exemption from terrorism. Pulling out of Iraq would not make us less of a target." This is true. But no serious person is actually advancing this proposition.

Posted 3:48 AM by Paul
Kerry Gets His Mistakes in Early

I hope he doesn't do this again.

At a meeting in Florida Kerry apparently divulged that many foreign statesmen had let him know that they hoped he beat George Bush. Whilst undoubtedly true and desirable, there is no more sure fire way of piling on the votes for George W than claiming that the rest of the world wants him fired. A whole chunk of American voters don't really believe in the Rest of the World or at least only as those dark places that the President keeps referring to in his speeches.

The process of impeachment and the constitutional obligation that presidential candiates must be born in the USA are designed to confront and minimise any foreign influence on the US polity. That is also the source of the Monroe Doctrine. Fear of European meddling. At the very heart of the concept of America is the notion that Europe is the Old World, corrupt and divisive. We would have hoped Kerry would have remembered this.

The US presidential elections matter to us in the Rest of the World, but we hinder Kerry by helping him. He needs to keep schtum about any foreign support. In fact, if he is serious about winning he should engineer an argument with Jacques Chirac.

Posted 2:13 AM by Paul
School Run

The kids go to school about 400 yards from our front door.

They wake at 8.00, take half and hour to get ready. Traditional screams of - Stop moaning and yet dressed - Hurry you are going to be late - Where are my shoes? - I haven't got a clean blouse known to parents across the world echo around the house and down the street. When I am home I make a hot breakfast. Beigels, ham & eggs or porridge. Mo messing about with meusli. The kids tend to linger over their food, telling each other jokes and teasing. Occasionally arguing. Heather does their hair and heads off for the train into Central London where she works running the intranet for a government department.

We need to be out of the door by 8.50, so I have taken to playing Blitzkrieg Bop at 8.45 as the signal that it's time to wolf down the last pieces of toast. I could not have imagined in 1977 that the track would be put to this use.

Hey Ho Lets Go, What they want, I don't know, They're all revved up and ready to go.

It's worth a try

Posted 1:40 PM by Paul
A Life in Films

The cinema up the road is under new management and ticket prices have been slashed to £2.99 ($5.50). No deals no discounts. That's the price. This means that we go to the pictures at least once a week. It's a multiplex and they have a good mix of mainstream studio product and some foreign language films as well as documentaries. Bowling for Columbine played for a couple of weeks (missed it) and Spellbound starts next week - hope to catch it. The local Indian population is catered for with the occasional Bollywood blockbuster.

Today we went to see Cheaper by the Dozen.

If you don't know the plot in a nutshell it goes like this:

Family of 12 kids, a dog and two adults are plunged into chaos and angst as they move home from semi-rural Illinois to Chicago because dad has landed his dream job coaching a major college football side which is also his alma mater. Further chaos ensues as mum goes on a promotional tour to publicise her first book - an account of bringing up 12 kids - and dad has to look after the entire brood.

It's not a bad film. The kids loved the bit where the creatively naughty sister soaks her eldest sister's boyfriend's boxer shorts in hamburger mince. This jape attracts the attentions of the family dog who bites the boyfriend's private parts trying to get at the meat. Alice and Emily were in hysterics. That alone was worth the admission fee. Family entertainment at its best.

There were problems of verisimilitude. We were expected to accept that Steve Martin's character was in his mid to late 40s and that his employers would allow him to coach the football team in his back yard, so that he could look after the kids. Even more absurdly we were expected to believe that the eldest son was being picked on at his new school and was unpopular. Snag is that the actor who plays the part also plays Superboy in Smallville. It would be difficult to imagine a more muscular more handsome example of American youth. The girls, and some of the boys would have been forming an orderly queue - that's line to any American's reading.

Inevitably dad puts family before his dream job and downsizes. The morality of the film was an insight into modern America.

The city sucks. People are either pretentious health freaks or agressive brand obsessed bread heads who judge you by the size and marque of your car and the swoosh on your trainers. The real America and the true American is to be found out there in the heartland in small towns. If you don't stray It's a Wonderful Life.

.

Posted 1:08 AM by Paul
New York Exploited

Inevitably Bush and co. are exploiting the September 11th attacks as part of the Presidential re-election campaign. His early TV ads show the aftermath of the fall of the Twin Towers. Shots of firefighters picking through the rubble with a voice-over stressing the decisiveness of the President. You get the picture. Relations of the victims have been vocal in their condemnation of what they see as as cyncial exploitation of their grief.

Bush's attempt to get re-elected on the backs of 3,000 dead New Yorkers should surprise no one, despite the fact that public services in New York have been slashed as part of a package of budget cuts brought in by Republican Mayor Bloomberg. Fire stations have closed and New York may even be a more dangerous place than it was on September 10th 2001. Maybe the new ads will backfire and some voters will re-coil from such a blatant attempt to manipulate their emotions. I hope, so but I doubt it.

I suspect that Bush's people expected a backlash from New Yorkers and the victims' families, but did't really care. New York has been discounted because it is already in the bag for the Democracts. Instead, the Republican machine is using New York as a symbol of America's insecurities and fears. Some real. Many imagined. The victims of September 11th are now pawns in a wider political game. The Big Apple is more symbol that city. Kerry can have its electoral college votes because the Republicans expect to clean up in the Heartland where there is often no real affection for the cosmopolis on the Hudson.

The message of the ads is clear. Without Bush you could be next.

Posted 12:41 AM by Paul
Ramones Leave Home

Sheena is a Punk Rocker was blasting out on the stereo in the kitchen whilst I worked on my PC. Alice came through from the living room.

" Daddy! How do you turn this down? Will you turn this music down? I'm watching the Amanda Show!"

Kids today. No respect or understanding of the finer points of classical culture. Now in my day....

Posted 7:35 AM by Paul
American Time Travel

Today four of the finest elements of American civilization came together and bore fruit in South London. Internet shopping, brought to us by Amazon delivered Anthology - the 2 CD Ramones compilation - to my front door. I blogged my joy to the world. The boys from Queens are on the CD player as I type.

27 years dissapear in a flash and I am back at the Doncaster Outlook Club in 1977 wathching Johny, Joey, Tommy and Dee Dee on their second UK tour. We were dumbstruck. The speed, the energy, the leather jackets, the ripped jeans. Emmerson Lake & Palmer and Yes were history. Prog Rock was dead. Bring on the new wave. I even interviewed the Ramones for our punk fanzine Gunrubber. The boys were just so cool and nice with it. They even gave me a beer. The Talking Heads were the support act.

Much more than the Sex Pistols, the Ramones summed up the spirit of the age for us. No more rock operas, no more guitar solos. You didn't have to practice for years and save up for flash equipment anymore just get out and do it. The anthemic positivism of Blitzkreig Bop rather than the beligerent cynicism of Anarchy in the UK was our call to arms. Maybe that accurately reflects the trans-Atlantic cultural divide. Optimism versus pessimism.

The Ramones are no more. Drugs killed Dee Dee. Liver cancer got Joey. In the 90s the band split apart, riven by litigious dispute. They never sold that many records but their influence can be heard in scores of chart acts 30 years after they played their first gig at CBGBs. I cannot imagine playing the Pistols in 2004, but the Ramones sound contemporary.

All hail the mighty R.A.M.O.N.E.S! Long live New York.

Posted 1:23 PM by Paul
Return of the Undead

Former Conservative Prime Minister John Major re-appeared over the weekend on our TV sets. He was trying to help Tony Blair he said. It would be much better for the Prime Minister is he were to publish the legal advice on why the war on Iraq war legitimate. I fear that it is buried somewhere in the filing cabinets of No. 10 written on the back of a napkin. Such a nice man that John Major. I really don't know how he managed to keep his face straight. He is really enjoying Blair's agony.

John Major presided over the worst Conservative election defeat since 1831. Faced with similar humiliation most of us would have opted for plastic surgery, a fake passport and a new life in Paraguay. But Major is giving Blair helpful advice and getting fat fees for TV appearances and lecture tours. All this from the man who brought us railway privatisation.

Mind you you have to admire his chuttzpah, and his sense of deadpan humour.

Posted 1:12 PM by Paul
Judgement Day

BBC World Service had a splendid piece on Senator John Edwards, extolling his virtues as a great stump speaker and a canny lawyer who had mixed social conscience with big bucks mega deals.

He defended the Little Guy, stuck it to The Man and earned around $36m in the process. Clearly, a man to watch even though it is very unlikely that he will overtake Kerry. The powers that be in the Democratic Party think that post 9-11 they need a candidate who has foreign affairs experience. Personally, I am not so sure. I still think it is about the economy stupid.

The BBC (what would be do without them? ) piece ended with the pay off line.

"Al Gore was considering John Edwards as a running mate in 2000 but decided to go for the more experienced Joe Leiberman"

I could have wept. Oh Al! Oh Al! If only you had gone for Bubba John Edwards. One victory in South Carolina and History would have taken a different course.

This bears out my theory that when given a choice between experience and youthful enthusiasm you should go for the latter. At least if you fail it will have been an exciting ride.