Posted 1:42 PM by Paul
Back to Life - Back to Surreality

I have been back from Pamplona for a few days and just re-settling into civilized life. It was A great relief not to wear reading glasses or look at a computer screen for six whole days. It all went by in a blur of great tapas, bull-running (on TV) deafeningly loud music (ancient and techno), lousy weather (drives out the hippies) and boozy suppers. Where else can for men eat baby lamb chops, chips and peppers followed by caramel flan washed down with as much red wine as you can take for £12 a head.

The whole crew was in good form.

Me, Mark Oldfield (Ph.D. in Criminology 48) Chris Williams (race-goer, copywriter and perennial bon viveur (46) Erik McCarron (30 something Irish- Iranian American Ernst & Young executive and my brilliant David Bower ( 53 going on 23 retired British telecom exec) David's essence since I became aware of his existence is "Have a Good Time All of the Time". He did. We stayed in a cheap pension opposite the bus station and the whole thing felt like Ollie Reeds Fiesta Boot Camp. Certainly the beds were straight out of basic training.

Most writing about the fiesta of San Fermin descends into overblown cliché. I know, I have read most of it. If you are thinking " I must read The Sun Also Rises" then take my advice. Don't. It is a book about Americans who can't hold their liquor being beastly to one another. Some things don't change. There is no shortage of Americans in Pamplona bad mouthing each other.

After 29 years of experiencing fiesta rather than trying to analyze it I have decided simply to live in the moment when I am there. The Zen of getting drunk. Part of the joy of it all is when it stops. It just feels so good to be home. Eating at regular intervals and sleeping for than 5 hours a night feels so luxurious. Bed in London feels like heaven. I also miss Heather and the kids if I am away for too long. When I crossed the threshold they gave me a welcome I so richly did not deserve. All for bringing them back a groovy Kukumusu T-shirt each and one tired but intact Father and Husband. In case you want to know I last ran the bulls in 1985. My increasing weight and the fact that the last time I was near the horns someone was trying to get in front of the bulls wearing a ruc sac and wielding a video camera was a clear sign to me that my work was done.

So back from the surreality of Pamplona to the surreality of British politics

Listening to the parliamentary debate on the Butler Report about the intelligence used to justify the war on Iraq was like eavesdropping on the goings-on from another world. Hadn't they heard there was a war on? The sense of unreality was increased by the Blair's assertion that only terrorists and allied troops are killing innocent Iraqis. Who launched the rocket attacks on Falluja? Osama Bin laden?

The deaths may be justified in retrospect in the way that most people would argue that the deaths of ordinary Berliners were a tragic but necessary price to pay for the overthrow of Nazism. But it is simply untrue to claim that our troops are not causing the deaths of innocent civilians. We could all do with a little more truth. Maybe Blair should be airlifted to Falluja for 4 hours and then to the middle of a Spanish fiesta for the night. It might help his sense of perspective.

Particularly depressing, was the way in which both Tony Blair and Michael Howard scored points and played it for every laugh they could squeeze from their own back benchers. The death of 1,000 allied troops and 20,000 Iraqis- many of them young children - is simply not amusing. It would have been nice to have a little more dignity. Leave the gags to the comedians otherwise they might start standing for Parliament

The Butler Report made some valid points. It heavily criticized Blair's style of Government. This is often referred to as presidential. This is a mistake. Blair's style is Napoleonic. The Chief Executive of the USA is far more open to scrutiny from Congress than our Prime Minister is from Parliament. Congressional hearings on the Iraq war and the terrible toll of American lives have been far more rigorous than the two inquiries chaired by elderly men from the British establishment. Prime Minister's Question time is superior street theatre.

The Butler report has revealed that meetings to decide on Iraq policy were un-minuted and contributions were taken orally. Anyone who has run an organisation knows that if you are embarking on a risky strategy it is best to do it informally amongst a small group at the centre of power. People bound by a common sense of loyalty based on shared values and a shared fear of being found out are less likely to rat on each other. If there is no paper then there is no paper trail. The report also claimed that the dossier on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction was misleading, but no one had been intentionally misled. This statement reminded me of Bertrand Russell's comment that some ideas are so foolish that only very intelligent men can believe them.

I don't think any of this will make a difference to the way people vote. Everybody made their minds up months ago.

The whole tone of the debate and the political atmosphere in the Labour Party was summed up in a radio series broadcast by BBC radio to mark the formation of the news Iraqi interim Government. It was broadcast just before I escaped to Pamplona. Leading figures on both sides of the argument were invited to put their views forward and interview others with opposing views. A Labour MP in his late thirties who had first been encouraged to join the Labour Party at the height of Thatcherism by attending a Red Wedge concert spoke in favour of the Iraq War. He argued eloquently that "it was the right thing to do". Part of "making tough choice in Government" He interviewed the political editor of The Sun, a newspaper that waged a campaign for years to destroy the Labour Party and denigrate its leaders. The two got on like a house on fire despite the fact that the bloke from the Sun patronized the MP at every turn. The relationship was one of wayward schoolboy brough back inot the fold and benevolent Head Master.

He then interviewed his old idol the radical singer songwriter Billy Bragg who was stridently opposed to the invasion. Neither was swayed by the encounter, but they seemed to part on good terms.

The MPs still idealistic speaking style and Billy Bragg's down to earth and thoughtful analysis brought on a wave of nostalgia. I ran the Red Wedge office at Labour Party HQ in 1986 and helped set up a short lived campaign which hoped to get young people thinking about politics by using music and laughter. Most of all we wanted to help people feel proud to be young and Socialist or Soul-sialist as we put it on the T-shirts. Bragg was the driving force behind all of it. In a small way we played a tiny part in putting a young man on his journey to Parliament.

The MP stuck his ground and claimed that Iraq was better and the world safer due to the actions of Bush and Blair. Then the BBC presenter asked the final question.

" Yes but there was price to pay, wasn't there?"

Clearly he was talking about the thousands of deaths on both sides. I expected the MP to claim that they were tragic but justified. But the young man was on another wavelength.

" Ah yes! But there would have been a price to pay if we had not invaded. We would have been crucified by right wing tabloids for not supporting our American allies."

So that's it then. Labour Party policies are decided by fear of what The Sun will say. Now we all understood we had to make our peace with the enemies but not do their bidding.

Now that is surreal. Somebody should right a book about it