tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58553669152347168792024-03-19T11:52:45.180+00:00Ramblings of a wandering ToonNorth East food, history, culture, art and other thingsMietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.comBlogger158125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-74215003804089321872016-08-18T17:26:00.001+01:002016-08-19T00:30:06.321+01:00Corbyn and the stump speech in the modern eraJeremy Corbyn has adopted a style of speaking I hadn't heard since I worked for Claude Ryan in Quebec. Back then during a by election campaign in a vast rural constituency, Mr. Ryan then leader of the provincial Liberal Party would open his stump speech with the following bit... "This is the 23rd time I have made this speech". The number would increase each time of course, but the implication was clear, he was required to make his message personally to each crowd as he could not depend on the local media and radio in rural Quebec to publish his every utterance in time to reach the population of Argenteuil county.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZ4445Gpe1WmRAhLXvslO1u4J2GJBxr66UN95XdZeHAcNN6j-2afC6NyIAZ_snOQGtt64Hee3EqA6SWn_Zfj6a0lEa__1vrmXcEfJQsLdS_pqmu_jO1i4GRYy2t56dWu3gPurQ6TXNRo/s1600/_MG_3947.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmZ4445Gpe1WmRAhLXvslO1u4J2GJBxr66UN95XdZeHAcNN6j-2afC6NyIAZ_snOQGtt64Hee3EqA6SWn_Zfj6a0lEa__1vrmXcEfJQsLdS_pqmu_jO1i4GRYy2t56dWu3gPurQ6TXNRo/s320/_MG_3947.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">2000 listen in Sunderland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
There were of course extenuating circumstances. The area the size of half of England was considered sparsely populated and not worthy of it's own daily media outlet and the radio was all about sound bites. So why does Corbyn, in a country with a modern rolling news station on telly and many national papers that should be interested in at least some of what he has to say, opening his rallies with the words... "This is the 25th rally I have spoken at since..." followed by the usual litany we can recite by heart. Anti austerity, defence of workers right to collective bargaining, right to organise, nationalisation of the rail and bringing buses under council control, saving the NHS, housing, mental health; mixed with the local policy issues that crop up in various locations. Surely clear signs that some of us get it but obviously not most people using the traditional media, apparently. <br />
<br />
I can hear you shouting all sorts of un comradely things about Auntie Beeb and the Murdoch press, but I won't repeat them here as I'm taking the high road. I won't for example accuse BBC news of blatant propaganda and fudging of numbers and images, that would never be on. Furthermore it would be unwise of me to intimate the intentions of credible news organs like daily politics and the mainstream dailies in their choice of sources and front page stories, also likely to get me in trouble. Instead I will simply say the truth.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fY4zeNOZphYiTo0ti-THr4rIJJfsLLCDKLVsLZUw1_URYZyrQPw83CYsPMjQ55FSloHxPYyevVcamLCP1vh-A4-7zeQEMX_yS2_-8hz2w3VyTdZ0qb_n5VbSko3RnGvNWl0BtouC4DY/s1600/_MG_3832.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1fY4zeNOZphYiTo0ti-THr4rIJJfsLLCDKLVsLZUw1_URYZyrQPw83CYsPMjQ55FSloHxPYyevVcamLCP1vh-A4-7zeQEMX_yS2_-8hz2w3VyTdZ0qb_n5VbSko3RnGvNWl0BtouC4DY/s320/_MG_3832.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The selfie</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The news media in general and the BBC especially have ignored to their level best on the national supper hour and rolling news, the tour. Corbyn and his team could be selling out every o2 arena in the land and doing the best impression of Glastonbury complete with mosh pits and muddy fields and it would still not be news. Who cares what thousands of supporters in each town think? During the private volunteers meeting in Gateshead council chamber, Corbyn had at that time done 20 rallies and estimated that to the end of the leadership run, he'd have spoken at another forty such rallies in public squares and parks, as venues these days seem to be too expensive ( football stadia and concert arenas) or just plain too small. So let's do the maths here. 20+40=60. Yes comrades, that's at least 60 x minimum average of 2000 people per rally plus the extra 8,000 from Liverpool. In other words, 200,000 supporters minimum, will have heard him speak. That's more than the entire membership of the Tory party. Still less than a quarter of the membership of the Labour party a few weeks ago, when it stood at least 500,000.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnc33dRjqj3Ssd6hFfBzJ0F-9SdkgkVDZZO6QJUUaz-6YO2cYap-SfOlP_BFLciszU17FjUB7dgQrOn-G7V4FczIPhEks3ov9BkYZL7N-XdWT0GOL5W8FfAgSHcpx6vTv1-EVEE4gM9-o/s1600/13872757_10153693938141867_1164687549336468565_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnc33dRjqj3Ssd6hFfBzJ0F-9SdkgkVDZZO6QJUUaz-6YO2cYap-SfOlP_BFLciszU17FjUB7dgQrOn-G7V4FczIPhEks3ov9BkYZL7N-XdWT0GOL5W8FfAgSHcpx6vTv1-EVEE4gM9-o/s320/13872757_10153693938141867_1164687549336468565_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1500 Geordies march in support of the leader earlier last month.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
This is the sort of stubborn resistance we are faced with. The sort of clear unvarnished agenda that takes months not weeks or days to plan against the democratically elected leader of the Labour party.<br />
<br />
I was told by a friend of mine who'd spoken to Jeremy not too long ago, it could have been at the Miner's Gala even, that it was the rallies last year that put the fire in Corbyn's belly. To be precise, We had been working hard to set up a meeting in Newcastle last year, Middlesbrough had been hastily added to the tour and the Town Hall at mid day was the venue in a place known to be hostile to Corbyn in 2015. When Jeremy was greeted by a packed hall on short notice in the middle of Blairite country, he knew he could win. When he showed up inside the Tyneside Opera house after addressing a crowd of close to 1300 people outside, he was greeted by a heaving audience full to the rafters who'd patiently waited for him, waited for his message, for his signal that our Labour Party would never again be the same; he was blown away.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP99gsdF86bIO0RJdLMj12s6CP8txUAuzsgX9VOLjXZWsoe29nl0kDDNqzh-XRYgfwpGmMdquZArZB9anEszB3CLhtxE5601cu_Lxs8jrgBC_7tBBFWW_XObzyySb6gK2n4yLyAEoHcOY/s1600/11222671_10153001057191867_7780799150699582601_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP99gsdF86bIO0RJdLMj12s6CP8txUAuzsgX9VOLjXZWsoe29nl0kDDNqzh-XRYgfwpGmMdquZArZB9anEszB3CLhtxE5601cu_Lxs8jrgBC_7tBBFWW_XObzyySb6gK2n4yLyAEoHcOY/s320/11222671_10153001057191867_7780799150699582601_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speaking to the packed house at the Tyne Opera House 2015</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoR409vWWTcgnKroidOFxZmtU_biNHIszwMeXLZrYARhIp_fVrDwrUmyvAJXu52ILaRtu1SN5H7nH1TmxgRGdTeQl4IB1c6cRJEoSeKRsOWm-0SGPQaFCdlnYUnJi1ksJgKMM0VQwDs8k/s1600/11894561_10153001055931867_4511830316130489921_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoR409vWWTcgnKroidOFxZmtU_biNHIszwMeXLZrYARhIp_fVrDwrUmyvAJXu52ILaRtu1SN5H7nH1TmxgRGdTeQl4IB1c6cRJEoSeKRsOWm-0SGPQaFCdlnYUnJi1ksJgKMM0VQwDs8k/s320/11894561_10153001055931867_4511830316130489921_o.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Newcastle 2015 addressing the first big crowd after that London meeting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Today as he speaks, apparently at no fewer than two maybe three rallies, we the true progressive wing of Labour are the wind beneath his wings. Corbyn is so happy now he'd rather dance than worry about the big bad traditional press. Some have likened us to :<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivog0n74v-zNZ0pbOJy3rxfsB2JTdnhh9A_OzYYl8gBR17XbRXP-oItwIqPOU3wcvJGnk0ztTxiqmmYqCY6yRtKlaDjDT3vS6ZNfxUUG5JNYIQHkmjyZbR13A67HALVZvfc6Gwcy0BHnk/s1600/13912304_10153693934111867_5867665264990928488_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivog0n74v-zNZ0pbOJy3rxfsB2JTdnhh9A_OzYYl8gBR17XbRXP-oItwIqPOU3wcvJGnk0ztTxiqmmYqCY6yRtKlaDjDT3vS6ZNfxUUG5JNYIQHkmjyZbR13A67HALVZvfc6Gwcy0BHnk/s320/13912304_10153693934111867_5867665264990928488_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Core Labour workers who will be on the doorstep and create policy.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
Trots - Nazis - Moonies - a fan club - rabble -Thugs -Bullies<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZMCZXrNylQgocSE-jxHtJjL_NgxFiwZI8TLxoJLmkEaDEOKM4WzPgseQ7IqntBoDf8hBP6DePNeIMdY_rmF4YeQMjVQXnGFOkPQ2LzHL1hwFJ-5sOIezNSj_tswJOcBxvNEO019oNIE/s1600/jd+momentum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRZMCZXrNylQgocSE-jxHtJjL_NgxFiwZI8TLxoJLmkEaDEOKM4WzPgseQ7IqntBoDf8hBP6DePNeIMdY_rmF4YeQMjVQXnGFOkPQ2LzHL1hwFJ-5sOIezNSj_tswJOcBxvNEO019oNIE/s320/jd+momentum.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We are none of those things, we are people who have a clear vision and programme that will be carried out by one man and his team of present and future MPs, councillors and party officers. We are Momentum, We are the fresh blood that this party and country needed for decades. I was not aware until a few few days ago, mostly due I will admit to the torrent of negative stories, that the Labour party of the UK is the biggest socialist party in Europe and growing bigger every week. If that is failure we are spectacularly going down the pan. It's been repeated elsewhere, but as John McDonnell said during his visit to Newcastle, it's not Corbyn the establishment fears, it's us, the 99% who are refusing to fall back into quiet submission. The agenda is ours to write and soon the the narrative even in the mainstream will be required to give under the sheer weight of evidence out there.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmQ40u6Nqkz-vqEvQHw9ZBZEe1e9r625KAo8hJpXIuusnuyLdZufcomrbEDfeK4E2vrKr3vFJ0AiCQ0TpujzIyQjhQWv9HbhZSS-KQL7_5vlpu3iP9SF5zhdObBEavy3eWF8vqmuBm4fQ/s1600/13873056_10153693939321867_6856334882084805337_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmQ40u6Nqkz-vqEvQHw9ZBZEe1e9r625KAo8hJpXIuusnuyLdZufcomrbEDfeK4E2vrKr3vFJ0AiCQ0TpujzIyQjhQWv9HbhZSS-KQL7_5vlpu3iP9SF5zhdObBEavy3eWF8vqmuBm4fQ/s320/13873056_10153693939321867_6856334882084805337_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ian Mearns " This MPs not terrified, cos Corbyn's on fire!"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
What can we do to make this come to pass faster? Be the media. Spread the links in social media, pressure the local broadcasters and press to recognise the mass movement Jeremy Corbyn merely is the head of. Join your local Labour Party and Momentum groups. Participate in any way you can no matter how limited. Come the general election we'll need every foot soldier, policy wonk, fundraiser, phone banker, door knocker, organiser and CANDIDATE we can lay hands on. This is a movement that will be written about for decades and studied for much longer. I would love if that movement was to culminate in the election of the first of a string of Governments Bevan would be proud to vote for.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
The fact that this movement is so strong and policy based, is testament that we are not Jeremy so much as He is US. The social movement that he represents is the acorn planted by Occupy in 2011 when people decided the status quo no longer good enough. The Corbyn wave is Occupy all grown up and now entering active practical politics through the route of Peoples Assembly, Momentum, trade unions and the Greens. The energy and push for change from within and without the Labour Party are there and not going away. I'm fairly sure Corbyn will win resoundingly and push on...<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2-sYhsr2JOHyJaFlkjU2bead-2VVDl19OKp-9oq7wGDkdmW1h9J9_R8IfO6gKIp72u9qOhpl5SI91V_K-1oERgGj4BZSThVVUjfThtmw8gXpeAPM49_xAOCeF23rFqeMfUXiwce-aL3g/s1600/_MG_4073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2-sYhsr2JOHyJaFlkjU2bead-2VVDl19OKp-9oq7wGDkdmW1h9J9_R8IfO6gKIp72u9qOhpl5SI91V_K-1oERgGj4BZSThVVUjfThtmw8gXpeAPM49_xAOCeF23rFqeMfUXiwce-aL3g/s320/_MG_4073.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corbyn busts a move in Sunderland</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTaWRlv0Yq_l6Hbr4ZURJDeHS9BYtagR_C0T5uaSZHcj1vI5kIcUno5OcMqUYpP-9sYWffQglUGXu6FkjZtRMojWvH6PQ_3mJ4g-lXJhKHdTCpokKv49JpMlm1417UdXfyv5OHGbicEfw/s1600/_MG_3811.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTaWRlv0Yq_l6Hbr4ZURJDeHS9BYtagR_C0T5uaSZHcj1vI5kIcUno5OcMqUYpP-9sYWffQglUGXu6FkjZtRMojWvH6PQ_3mJ4g-lXJhKHdTCpokKv49JpMlm1417UdXfyv5OHGbicEfw/s320/_MG_3811.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Listening in Gateshead</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
However, before we can talk future elections we need to insure that our leader remains leader despite the dirtiest campaign I have had the displeasure of witnessing and enduring in my political life. Go to phone banks to get the vote out, go to rallies to support the leader, be active in local campaign NOW, become the beating heart of your bit of the Labour Party. If enough of us do this to the end and beyond, we will like the ants in the song... knock over the rubber tree plants. Sounds revolutionary doesn't it? That's because it is brothers and sisters, it is the very revolution some of us have waited all our lives for and others are lucky to be there at the right place and time. WE will suffer every sling and arrow of <span class="st">outrageous fortune, including the most recent Victoria Derbyshire omnishambles of a failed stitch up, to get to the end of this and there waving in the breeze, a bit tattered, a bit torn but intact, will be our flag and the man who holds that banner high in victory. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="st"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhWzumbHYYV8eUWI315GJPrQxIPmB8Ie52C-6DswljG7nYdqIrdvnvrwVSHBcu1mxJUCkROJFb4s-mUSLM2Z8bVMQ3vE8L5-arb09ekrlWPNox4bhoUnDn9j7ukLfqxhFlwW9EbRO4H54/s1600/_MG_3909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhWzumbHYYV8eUWI315GJPrQxIPmB8Ie52C-6DswljG7nYdqIrdvnvrwVSHBcu1mxJUCkROJFb4s-mUSLM2Z8bVMQ3vE8L5-arb09ekrlWPNox4bhoUnDn9j7ukLfqxhFlwW9EbRO4H54/s320/_MG_3909.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st">I'll stop now before we have to start singing about our martyred dead ... :-)</span>Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-81210388451799926972015-10-23T22:10:00.002+01:002015-10-26T14:58:15.613+00:00Wither Canada or the second coming of TrudeaumaniaWither Canada, no not the Python episode from the 70's but the genuine question; what ever became of Canada.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3xX7p5XhQ4MlzsEZu0pDBJ5GWKZTj-S9s41Axzy9yOelymxr39H46jAAQSlMq9RXAvpK7qCFXeUfWFm_JNKB2FjV0uzcrV_gE8qVvBP8wuuM32KSSms4OYRATML_4KJrXyr6mEQOkIMk/s1600/Grey3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3xX7p5XhQ4MlzsEZu0pDBJ5GWKZTj-S9s41Axzy9yOelymxr39H46jAAQSlMq9RXAvpK7qCFXeUfWFm_JNKB2FjV0uzcrV_gE8qVvBP8wuuM32KSSms4OYRATML_4KJrXyr6mEQOkIMk/s320/Grey3.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>
<br />
Well the short answer is that it never went away, but from the day Stephen Harper became PM in 2006 to last Monday, Canada had been the 51st state, the pale imitation of trickle down Rayndian neo liberal petrie dish to the USA. For years people in the UK would, especially from the election of Barak Obama in 2008, naturally or rather unnaturally look to the USA for examples of how to do things and shining examples of small l liberalism or alleged socialism. The only problem with that model is that the USA is not now nor will it ever be anything but an apple to the UK's orange. The histories of both nations divert in every significant way you can think of and the resulting political structures and philosophies that dictate world views as well as economic and societal structures could not be more different. And yet UK political and economic elites continued till a few days ago to only go to the well of America for inspiration .<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyy6ph5pPHmk8_L8kShKaWFlDH274F_ntLhuiMerUQxWBtQ8EM9rD3OUpi_rJxjtcG6Lu1BfAHhtUlz-kz7JNMATMgXKGcP6RFJ5yc-W00EmZT4tM8Qs72pOHSHkdeBXLH5BKZEKb7YA/s1600/harper+robot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPyy6ph5pPHmk8_L8kShKaWFlDH274F_ntLhuiMerUQxWBtQ8EM9rD3OUpi_rJxjtcG6Lu1BfAHhtUlz-kz7JNMATMgXKGcP6RFJ5yc-W00EmZT4tM8Qs72pOHSHkdeBXLH5BKZEKb7YA/s1600/harper+robot.png" /></a></div>
I suppose I should point out the obvious or not so obvious, starting with the basic notion that Canada has a House of Commons and Senate modelled on Westminster. What that means is that much of the required assumptions of how government works be it central or provincial will be the same assumptions that govern systems and applications of civil service, how a bill proceeds through Parliament and how members are elected and behave in the chamber. Party political fund-raising through to the rules governing elections and debates are closer than anything you will find in the USA. And yet when talk of reform surfaces, the last thing you hear is why don't we ask our Canadian cousins for their experience.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sPqIT3y1PBWV6s_9wtN8sXO6uSf9T-zZe63bgfDMsiYaLAoMVFfMY6pNcxICgAi98YVFqXR9M82EzaOlsDI7K7r7pUmJsGHAS-BaRdnMwVjq59qTH-OH47O09yorPGhQpkg1q7iVkP8/s1600/thatcher-vertical1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6sPqIT3y1PBWV6s_9wtN8sXO6uSf9T-zZe63bgfDMsiYaLAoMVFfMY6pNcxICgAi98YVFqXR9M82EzaOlsDI7K7r7pUmJsGHAS-BaRdnMwVjq59qTH-OH47O09yorPGhQpkg1q7iVkP8/s200/thatcher-vertical1.jpg" width="140" /></a></div>
<br />
Next up is of course the very basic veering off point between Canada and the UK... being where on the spectrum each country was in 1979. In Ottawa a very likeable but slightly gormless Tory named Joe Clark was about to be lapped by Pierre Elliot Trudeau in February of 1980 after losing a non confidence motion on a money bill, while the UK had in May of 1979 embarked on the hell that would be the Thatcher era. Monetarism at it's worst v the Just Society and centralised mixed socialist economy. It's natural that while Canada built on the foundations of the late 60's and 1970's social and economic compact that preserved the welfare state and multiculturalism with a huge dash of leading the West and the South ( aka third world aka developing block of ) nations in a series of initiatives to fight land mines, global warming and poverty, it was seen as a genuine alternative player on the world stage and that of course included think tanks in the UK. However, from the moment the Government in Ottawa joined the lock step march of the UK and USA in the trickle down world of the American Republican and Thatcherite war on the poor the sick and weak, it became easy even under the Blairite era to ignore any contributions to public policy and debate Canada would have to give. Let's be honest, for a while as much fun it was to kick the shins of American politicians for their ignorance, it was damn embarrassing watching the likes of John Baird the minister of selling off natural resources and national parks, deny global warming at International conferences. Harper himself would be the dull invisible PM at G8 and Commonwealth conferences who if Canadians were lucky; said nothing and if not, made some deal that further put the country in the back pockets of dictators and multinationals.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WhLCm4FSkmByPONruwW-6v8IsGJtw61YLcx7AtmtWJMf8pbEz_hLQUKu-_hhXkA8zaAjx70m2KS054mQNaOyviGdZHIjBriF1cPlZgosxkjKRo77tAzw_iqBTS9T3nBwAoYt6Mixo7I/s1600/Coal+Loves+John+Baird.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WhLCm4FSkmByPONruwW-6v8IsGJtw61YLcx7AtmtWJMf8pbEz_hLQUKu-_hhXkA8zaAjx70m2KS054mQNaOyviGdZHIjBriF1cPlZgosxkjKRo77tAzw_iqBTS9T3nBwAoYt6Mixo7I/s320/Coal+Loves+John+Baird.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
And yet... even under these unproductive circumstances, there were and still are plenty of areas where UK policy can learn much from Canada. Federal structures and reform, party political financing, internal reforms of the House of Commons as it pertains to operating hours and the accountability of it's members to the House and the electorate. Why is it that even now the PM here still only faces questions once a week when in Ottawa there is no such thing as PMQ, it's just question period and the PM must be a part of it every time unless away from Parliament. The expenses scandal we had would not have happened if rules and regs in place for over a decade if not longer in Canada, had been applied. As for the NHS, every Province and Territory has had universal
health care since 1968 while the Americans still struggle with the
concept of free health care at point of delivery. Why when there is
public discussion of the NHS and the mess it's in are we not even
alluding to Canada or other nations at least on the same page as we are? Gay rights, Canada quietly and without fuss allowed gays to marry over a decade ago ( something that still is news to many here), in 1967 the minister of Justice ( go on guess who) said<i> "The state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation" </i>thus decriminalising homosexuality. Women have had control over their bodies and reproductive systems for so long it's simply not an issue now. All still issues in the USA, home of the free and the brave. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4C8DwftFWAci0iAitKUWG2yfC2jWwzMRUf_t5SW3He6p5461hRBRHGSKJMjEV7xG3B_4P9EZ1e9jFNe0ycv7kGa4r5DbeMJQHSt-NnXYGhn1emGuPpsg7z5Gd7q5-0yABHS-ZUr5rZ7s/s1600/Healthcare.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4C8DwftFWAci0iAitKUWG2yfC2jWwzMRUf_t5SW3He6p5461hRBRHGSKJMjEV7xG3B_4P9EZ1e9jFNe0ycv7kGa4r5DbeMJQHSt-NnXYGhn1emGuPpsg7z5Gd7q5-0yABHS-ZUr5rZ7s/s320/Healthcare.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Most recently and wisely the new Governor of the Bank of England was hired from Canada, that country that had been the direct neighbour of the USA, that didn't go down the route of Fanny May and Enron. Yet when the debate occurred here, till recently, it was still the fault of Gordon Brown??? How blind some media outlets and political parties were to utterly ignore the facts. Our closest political cousins did not need to bail out the banking sector ( even under a tory administration) while here Thatcher's children pointed fingers at Brown and ignored the reality of a stable Canadian economy. Only the apparently brave and ultra left wing fire brand and threat to the nation.... Jeremy Corbyn winning, put an end to that lie.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvW0kijv6-Ug9fIdkcCvYttDNSLQ9XZIWu1DDWnoHAxemEBOKePSU201S9ZcSf1JdLkdy_metq4SozlCekORk_yhXP-N_GHbfs6_ACGi4tj2jvDEH6jwHWnK_E2Xe_IK0wn5rSZQyVES4/s1600/corbyn+tour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvW0kijv6-Ug9fIdkcCvYttDNSLQ9XZIWu1DDWnoHAxemEBOKePSU201S9ZcSf1JdLkdy_metq4SozlCekORk_yhXP-N_GHbfs6_ACGi4tj2jvDEH6jwHWnK_E2Xe_IK0wn5rSZQyVES4/s320/corbyn+tour.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<br />
Which brings me nicely to the events of Monday and why they happened. Justin Trudeau, the most interesting thing to happen in Canada since Celine Dion or that abomination Justin Bieber , if we're to believe the sudden eruption of serious news stories and vid clips of him kissing men and twisting the light bulb emerging on the net, became Prime Minister elect. If I were a brit for the last 30 years I'd be going, where in hell did this guy come from? But the answer is he was always there and is the natural extension of the what it is to be Canadian. To be clear, the Harper years are even referred to by Canadians as very un Canadian. The two issues that won Trudea the election were in order 1- Defecit spending and 2- The Niqab. then maybe 3- Taxing the 1% followed by the environment ...The reasons he won are very Canadian.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8ypraEielc" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV-2kpcuUOINlW8q4O9vqgZcUMveS-89N3550hTGF3BIDA6cbGm1T_5piGqM-HzCRWWBhGk8tEJQtgaEuNvJkiAGVx5y-MZILuY5KPJIaeSGU_vyK4Bx37cwuaYk1AvQWEOI3e2PLT0_8/s320/heres-canadas-next-prime-minister-justin-trudeau--2-21528-1445511348-2_big.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Before I say more, for those of you in the know, I do not acknowledge
the existence of limp and useless Michael Ignatieff and mourn the
kicking around of a wonderful but far too nice a man <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St%C3%A9phane_Dion">Stephane Dion</a> who I
had the honour of calling my MP and friend. His Green plan was years
ahead of it's time and will most likely be the foundation of the new
government's war on green house gasses. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgy3_y28Pwseb8kTQ1rMUhJtcThNywZIjA_qGlZ9VwK0JxhAXLYKad8YMdcCbe2AR8dGjcnQnQdI4xk0OYq9O2_S4DTOqcnexZEQvEjKFwSTcKyveaGYOl6TSSOdoIuRtceGOK4oYq5VQ/s1600/keynes19372014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgy3_y28Pwseb8kTQ1rMUhJtcThNywZIjA_qGlZ9VwK0JxhAXLYKad8YMdcCbe2AR8dGjcnQnQdI4xk0OYq9O2_S4DTOqcnexZEQvEjKFwSTcKyveaGYOl6TSSOdoIuRtceGOK4oYq5VQ/s320/keynes19372014.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Let's start with deficit spending. Going back as far as the early 70's, Keynesian based policy that espoused the spending of money to make money and the tolerance of a certain level of deficit was the back bone Liberal policy. Every minister of finance right up to several who themselves became Prime Minister were never shy of spending a little more than they had. In the last Parliament, Harper managed to extract a promise from Thomas Mulcair and his NDP ( the allegedly real left wing party) to support a law forcing future Canadian governments to operate under a balanced budget. Let's examine the terms here . For Tories, here and there, balanced budget is another term for austerity. A policy that has seen veteran pensions reduced by more than half, services to the public including door to door delivery of the post being withdrawn most recently, and throughout the Harper years, a consistent effort to reduce the amount of money spent on citizens and the services given them across the board. Even the hobbled and injured CBC so used to cuts from central government was on the verge of the final indignity of complete irrelevance as a national broadcaster. But The NDP felt they had to respect the public mood and take on board the will of the people if they stood a chance of winning the election. Sound familiar? It should.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesUVPhKuc4Ma0WHuudgQFhsgEnv87td33-DT_9GtPexTg4W0bpSTJeYEsUWJ7CGTIPvw2MIx6Wa5kFXca78Ae2LCSmXfRv45d97KyqFCAjJoHIIhBpFAKPUMHB-YHIMo7qpcYVEmxll4/s1600/CBC-Cuts.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjesUVPhKuc4Ma0WHuudgQFhsgEnv87td33-DT_9GtPexTg4W0bpSTJeYEsUWJ7CGTIPvw2MIx6Wa5kFXca78Ae2LCSmXfRv45d97KyqFCAjJoHIIhBpFAKPUMHB-YHIMo7qpcYVEmxll4/s320/CBC-Cuts.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
The actual left in Canada, which has always been the Liberal Party, under a controversial, bold, brave, perhaps even courageous leader said NO. The accepted wisdom was that the Liberals had signed their own death warrant. Oooo I'm sure I've heard that here somewhere too... But then a funny thing happened on the way to the circus, the team explained what that actually meant. Municipalities and families and farmers and small businesses signed on and supported the Liberal position. Shock horror! Except if you think about it, it 's perfectly sensible centrist policy that has worked on and off in Canada going as far back as 1948 or earlier if you take Mackenzie King's rural electrification policy that cut the legs out from under the CCF. The occasional slow down for a liberal balanced budget ( achieved by the way by Chretien and Martin) were exercises in socially just economic policy that still included taxing the wealthy and collecting taxes from large corporations.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFWPnt4_JG-wwS-_KwQuLkaFFueaDQg4NkpPY51zA2ZefIH8TcRtzqdPeOxXmHMoM10rDPR31H6xVwBVm7PS5xp_4P61clZ1tdJxUkH08ShmVd8qHZLCVZfDB_2RBJKbJzjLfX8qyWFl4/s1600/niqab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFWPnt4_JG-wwS-_KwQuLkaFFueaDQg4NkpPY51zA2ZefIH8TcRtzqdPeOxXmHMoM10rDPR31H6xVwBVm7PS5xp_4P61clZ1tdJxUkH08ShmVd8qHZLCVZfDB_2RBJKbJzjLfX8qyWFl4/s320/niqab.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Next up the niqab. Oh what a lovely petard the right weaves to hoist itself upon. And this one did not fail to explode in the face of the Tories and the nationalists. The simple facts are that a woman who was going to a citizenship ceremony wanted to wear the niqab when getting sworn in. On the surface an issue that could be dangerous to anybody brave enough to touch it. The Tories and the Bloc Quebecois waded in and demanded the woman show her face. Quickly and I mean at light speed, the debate especially in Quebec, escalated to the levels where the EDL and UKIP would feel particularly comfortable. It's at this point that the NDP again waffled, choosing to to finally appear to both support the woman and the existing rules. Trudeau in March had said<i> </i><span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody"><i>“You can dislike the
niqab. You can hold it up it is a symbol of oppression. You can try to
convince your fellow citizens that it is a choice they ought not to
make. This is a free country. Those are your rights,” he said. “But
those who would use the state’s power to restrict women’s religious
freedom and freedom of expression indulge the very same repressive
impulse that they profess to condemn. It is a cruel joke to claim you
are liberating people from oppression by dictating in law what they can
and cannot wear.” </i>So when the whole thing blew up in Quebec and the party taking again a brave position to support the choice of that woman was seen as taking a strong stand against the apparent public mood , it cemented in the minds of undecided voters and NDP voters that the only way to be rid of the Tories was to vote Liberal. <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/poll-tracker/2015/">As the rot spread and the NDP vote collapsed in Quebec the rest of the country noticed and took a three way race and turned Trudeau into the front runner.</a> </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCxxhuz9hosPcEW6IixsPxv0AYZ0kQ61hyphenhyphenbnFnmbokE-Pw4_9mi_WeEQanyFxuLqi5AjIYoBEIB9We7DqHIMsg0kJKBWWPROUvtbNi5wV7pVvQVTWg0uL_MYDvlq59ohmrv2l_vUQkos/s1600/trudeau+wins.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCxxhuz9hosPcEW6IixsPxv0AYZ0kQ61hyphenhyphenbnFnmbokE-Pw4_9mi_WeEQanyFxuLqi5AjIYoBEIB9We7DqHIMsg0kJKBWWPROUvtbNi5wV7pVvQVTWg0uL_MYDvlq59ohmrv2l_vUQkos/s320/trudeau+wins.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">The thing to take from this exercise in decision making and risk taking is that Justin Trudeau gambled that Canadian core values had not changed. A country built by immigrants would be tolerant and accepting, a country that had as of Sept 3rd responded with a huge outpouring of anger and dismay at the death of a refugee boy who's family was already in Canada. The shame felt by people that such a government spoke for them with such miserly cold hearts that it killed a child in the name of austerity, immigration control and let's face it ... Islamophobia. The only decision then was which way were the the 60% of the electorate not voting tory going to go. Harper knew his goose was cooked by early September but until that moment during the Niqab debate Mulcair was still in with a shout for a minority coalition. The mesquinerie or pettiness of Harper had driven the final nail into the desire of Canadians to be well rid of him and the NDP was going to pay the price. This is illustrated by an incident best related by<a href="http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/justin-trudeau-for-the-record-we-beat-fear-with-hope/"> Justin Trudeau himself on election night</a></span><br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody"></span><br />
<i>Last week, I met a
young mom in St. Catharines, Ontario. She practises the Muslim faith and
was wearing a hijab. She made her way through the crowd and handed me
her infant daughter, and as she leaned forward, she said something that I
will never forget. She said she’s voting for us because she wants to
make sure that her little girl has the right to make her own choices in
life and that our government will protect those rights.</i><br />
<i>
</i><i>To her I say this: you and your fellow citizens have chosen a new
government, a government that believes deeply in the diversity of our
country. We know in our bones that Canada was built by people from all
corners of the world who worship every faith, who belong to every
culture, who speak every language.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">Lastly there is a trickle of issues that would make a leftist here giddy with delight if they thought there was a ghost of a chance of getting elected on these planks.. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">1- Taxing the top 1%</span><br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">2- Legalizing the sale of marijuana as a priority </span><br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">3- Increasing exponentialy the representation of women and natives in the Commons</span><br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">4- Going on the world stage and reclaiming Canada's rightful place in the Green House Gas fight</span><br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">5- Saying refugees are welcome and will not be allowed to die, </span><span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">target 25,000 before Christmas.</span><br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">6- Withdraw from participation in the bombing of Syria and Iraq with as immediate effect as can be achieved. </span><br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody"></span><br />
<br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">and some of you will positively wet yourselves over this one.</span><br />
<br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">7- Vowing that the 2015 election was going to be the last ever federal election using the first past the post system. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody">To quote his father in less happy and more dangerous times<i> "Just watch me"</i> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9Uq4acDYu5TXO1bfT0wQXTcywKq_ayn4AnJRwmLywApqA3JtgSU5jUz3b4ovSloxzm51sDpcy1ZP6SnlEWwr1YWF8yYufm2ELmjfw5OdCZf_HgQrj38e4lQu84DxPDdmf-GQKYgc_tU/s1600/_86222567_canada_elections_2011_2015_v2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk9Uq4acDYu5TXO1bfT0wQXTcywKq_ayn4AnJRwmLywApqA3JtgSU5jUz3b4ovSloxzm51sDpcy1ZP6SnlEWwr1YWF8yYufm2ELmjfw5OdCZf_HgQrj38e4lQu84DxPDdmf-GQKYgc_tU/s320/_86222567_canada_elections_2011_2015_v2.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody"> So what do we on the left have to learn from these strange creatures in Canada who are so related to us they are nearly us? Fate has given us Jeremy Corbyn. He's done three impossible things according to the establishment. Get on the ballot, be a serious candidate and win. Can he win an election? If a centrist Keynesian Socialist can take a mainstream party from 34 seats in the commons to a majority government of 184 MPs in a country where there is a belief they are open , friendly accepting and progressive, then why not here? </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="entry-content" itemprop="articleBody"> </span> <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-20087212132853083602015-10-12T18:06:00.002+01:002015-10-12T21:41:25.398+01:00West End's Dine@theBistro unveils new look <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><br />
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings><br />
<o:AllowPNG/><br />
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings><br />
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><br />
<w:WordDocument><br />
<w:View>Normal</w:View><br />
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom><br />
<w:TrackMoves/><br />
<w:TrackFormatting/><br />
<w:PunctuationKerning/><br />
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/><br />
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid><br />
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent><br />
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText><br />
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/><br />
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther><br />
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian><br />
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript><br />
<w:Compatibility><br />
<w:BreakWrappedTables/><br />
<w:SnapToGridInCell/><br />
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/><br />
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/><br />
<w:DontGrowAutofit/><br />
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/><br />
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/><br />
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/><br />
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/><br />
</w:Compatibility><br />
<m:mathPr><br />
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/><br />
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/><br />
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/><br />
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/><br />
<m:dispDef/><br />
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/><br />
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/><br />
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/><br />
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/><br />
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/><br />
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/><br />
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument><br />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml><br />
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267"><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/><br />
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/><br />
</w:LatentStyles><br />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><br />
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
</style><br />
<![endif]--><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday I attended a fund raiser in Newcastle’s West End<br />
that doubled as the launch for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DineTheBeacon?fref=ts"> Dine@the Beacon's </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br />
</span>new menu. Located in the old fire station on the Westgate road the<br />
Bistro has evolved from a place that just did basic coffee and not much else,<br />
to a full service family friendly restaurant. Amer Mirza and <a href="http://noorcouture.com/">Noor Couture</a> have<br />
done an amazing job of turning the space into one of the West End’s newest fun<br />
places to eat.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjik77jxQupD_aXN7VMfRHvjNm2fFtrniSDIdTRzG84y2D8BgwZh7zsRDtOSQ9VoJiFgDHoIma26LfUQRhGW5dVtzFto8XVXHgL7_N3AUkdAo42sfnH2PXxHj9WzJNCoVtediceDQQGyIg/s1600/halal+breakfast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjik77jxQupD_aXN7VMfRHvjNm2fFtrniSDIdTRzG84y2D8BgwZh7zsRDtOSQ9VoJiFgDHoIma26LfUQRhGW5dVtzFto8XVXHgL7_N3AUkdAo42sfnH2PXxHj9WzJNCoVtediceDQQGyIg/s320/halal+breakfast.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A cracking full room from start to finish was treated to Newcastle’s<br />
best and probably only, all day Halal full English breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The bacon is replaced by wonderful turkey rashers and if you go for the large plate the price includes a generous<br />
coffee.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing on the menu costs more than £5.95 so feeding your family won’t bust your budget. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All the food is prepared from fresh ingredients and made on site; as the breakfast implies, it’s Halal and they don’t serve beef but do make a wide variety of dishes from chicken and lamb including an amazing pie and mash. I had the wonderful home made lasagne, which like the Halal full English breakfast flew out the kitchen and has now passed into legend among those who had the<br />
pleasure of tasting it.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgngB9fR365G8nvHoMH2lym8zD9u-bG8vo83jQJ0n003XTGTfHeIAlik0wOUD8ZD2evrosLI5twth7Ey8kgFxUhn7Pit-6JVAo9tnlPoNoQ591rxy-pT90YVyyeSzzYu2dP8HFb-rLTyTA/s1600/pie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgngB9fR365G8nvHoMH2lym8zD9u-bG8vo83jQJ0n003XTGTfHeIAlik0wOUD8ZD2evrosLI5twth7Ey8kgFxUhn7Pit-6JVAo9tnlPoNoQ591rxy-pT90YVyyeSzzYu2dP8HFb-rLTyTA/s320/pie.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The menu also includes salads, panini and wraps made from fresh seasonal ingredients, as well as a shepherd's pie, reasonably priced burger platers of lamb or chicken served with chips or vegetables . Amer who is the brains behind the catering team of Thomson and Naffa, produce dishes you would not normally have time to cook at home. The soups of the day, sweet potato and coconut today, are as varied as the ingredients available on the day, and the only thing I can say is TRY THEM.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYxY3e_qJtZghK-09iDAgzU3vj-FxH_l2cz4qjLayttiu28h4zQSTbO-A55X7hkb_aRqXbdRRlT0FYJbg0i-W-IxYOT0hd3IEQkQWSAm4fbrY6piCiH2Kv9c0wKOYkMugqPeEDLmelo6Q/s1600/soup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYxY3e_qJtZghK-09iDAgzU3vj-FxH_l2cz4qjLayttiu28h4zQSTbO-A55X7hkb_aRqXbdRRlT0FYJbg0i-W-IxYOT0hd3IEQkQWSAm4fbrY6piCiH2Kv9c0wKOYkMugqPeEDLmelo6Q/s320/soup.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2SvuqtTVhxeBInitJ5cSiN_rFpOyl9ju9pgs9MCJn7xsMSoT2FTi-BZV1P_NHUEEJoLVa836QOO6SqLUmW7KhospslzwRkPQsCCwSOwL9C2AYjKQpVtSDReCIg6DqYoQesBNLUhUYxE/s1600/somosa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh2SvuqtTVhxeBInitJ5cSiN_rFpOyl9ju9pgs9MCJn7xsMSoT2FTi-BZV1P_NHUEEJoLVa836QOO6SqLUmW7KhospslzwRkPQsCCwSOwL9C2AYjKQpVtSDReCIg6DqYoQesBNLUhUYxE/s320/somosa.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wherever you live in Newcastle, if you are in the West End with your family, don’t stress, it’s your kitchen away from home and it’s Halal. Come along with the kids after school for tea, and let them choose from the mini diners menu.<br />
<br />
Amer caters a fine dining vegetarian experience suitable for all events.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiatTy2xIVf9yPi07hY6vC_Yn076GEZGkeSDR57DSWOi_gRV_iQoAB3QE0lMF4N_SgylOa8DjahM8G8RwfmuFT1vwlDj4zIXyzep7Qr1ursOQsBhP8L5k2vQut9bvOp9Eou0tANB0Bj7W0/s1600/dine+at+beacon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiatTy2xIVf9yPi07hY6vC_Yn076GEZGkeSDR57DSWOi_gRV_iQoAB3QE0lMF4N_SgylOa8DjahM8G8RwfmuFT1vwlDj4zIXyzep7Qr1ursOQsBhP8L5k2vQut9bvOp9Eou0tANB0Bj7W0/s320/dine+at+beacon.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So don’t forget to make Dine@the Beacon part of your daily<br />
routine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Home of the best all day Halal<br />
English breakfast in town, open to dine in or take away…. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Weekdays 8 am to 6pm</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Saturday 11 am to 10 PM</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sunday 11 am to 6 pm<br />
Call for catering options 0191 242 5425 <br />
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-WEFzskXt6l4VNV9-EYuJ5GGInz3v_LDO2QIwOc94H8i-M7j9l0KUFNfHRsoueN_tE9Wyug_te5CuRpMwPM2PTbV5sabyuUmdWK-eVbTRSLyOt4jDeZIIXspuI5komlRPUpHIFt9eZI/s1600/serving.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp-WEFzskXt6l4VNV9-EYuJ5GGInz3v_LDO2QIwOc94H8i-M7j9l0KUFNfHRsoueN_tE9Wyug_te5CuRpMwPM2PTbV5sabyuUmdWK-eVbTRSLyOt4jDeZIIXspuI5komlRPUpHIFt9eZI/s320/serving.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-91002267649689933752015-08-30T09:55:00.000+01:002015-08-31T00:40:40.885+01:00Corbyn, from fringe to frontrunner, an insider's perspective .<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:DoNotOptimizeForBrowser/>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
text-autospace:ideograph-other;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
It’s been a while since that first tiny meeting at the
Newcastle Irish Centre so many weeks ago, so the best question to ask is where did
we start from, where are we now, and maybe<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>even how we got there.<br />
. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Way back on Sunday July 12<sup>th</sup> we were mostly
resigned to hitching our wagon to a principled man and his ideas which were
ours as well and knowing we’d never get out of last place because let’s face
it, who would have wanted to vote for a lefty like Corbyn? The day before I’d
been out canvasing in South Heaton on the Chili road with Mick Bowman and few
others of our ilk and had declared that given the choices, we’d rather go down
with the ship with principles intact than support a candidate who would quietly
bury us in the history books<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>come
2020.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Armed with this fatalistic, doom
laden “now is a good time to die” approach, some of us dove in feet first and
waited to see what the man was like in person. </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Z8EPQinRun65JlNB3w3fnbRqL2U14j6xgN143jI8JEay7RnA5f2LjNoFXf5_d9qyUvZn62kc8RVXgYRo8LLMDUDZo9wQYmyoT1KX80I4Hpn_TWYO5Eu7M8zshZpT4-inx3aUCxmuG98/s1600/_MG_2334.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Z8EPQinRun65JlNB3w3fnbRqL2U14j6xgN143jI8JEay7RnA5f2LjNoFXf5_d9qyUvZn62kc8RVXgYRo8LLMDUDZo9wQYmyoT1KX80I4Hpn_TWYO5Eu7M8zshZpT4-inx3aUCxmuG98/s320/_MG_2334.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgty-WlO-h8oSjkGfBByIaHJswhL_nh0qVWGybdW98CLDJYF2jGq7iP4b74zZDEYn8C-VXFIQPDahWNVXegOoo51jcq26ePx9R4F2x44ZNcmOz3CzHbtRsJFOmdmgmZgxgbfo0Ws3ZiE/s1600/_MG_2335.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgty-WlO-h8oSjkGfBByIaHJswhL_nh0qVWGybdW98CLDJYF2jGq7iP4b74zZDEYn8C-VXFIQPDahWNVXegOoo51jcq26ePx9R4F2x44ZNcmOz3CzHbtRsJFOmdmgmZgxgbfo0Ws3ZiE/s320/_MG_2335.jpg.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not disappointed, from his entrance into the packed function
room that holds about 200, Corbyn walked in, knocked over the music stand of
the singer who will now forever be known as that lass who sang at the Corbyn
do, helped her pick up her bits and pieces, thus making him the only man she’d
ever had to bow down to.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the candidate
Once on stage, Ben Sellers, David Stockdale and all the others who had come to
or organised the event were treated to a fairly direct and honest<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Q&A with Jeremy Corbyn.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ranging from the soft and flippant to the
harder edged serious questions, the veteran Islington MP managed to keep an
even, sincere tone while never wholly shaking that image of a man thrust into a
strange new place despite himself. I can’t speak for others, but I knew from
about the second question in, I liked the man. He reminded me of the great
lefty activists I used to know when I lived in Montreal, sincere to a fault and
unlikely to shrink from a fight if forced into a corner. Those who mistake his
laid back nature for weakness do so at their peril, there is a sharp tongue and
even sharper mind in that head and he’s not a jumped out of nowhere phenom with
no policy, unlike last year’s flavour of the moment, UKIP. It’s likely that
barring a few meetings, that was the last time Corbyn would speak to a room as
small and the last time any of us would feel as suicidally principled.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But you know even as the meeting was breaking
up, the photo ops and souvenir shots taken and the man was going out the door,
I still hadn’t shaken the feeling we were anything but a valiant last stand of the
real left. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A week later on the 20<sup>th</sup> of July, Harriet Harman
put on a three line whip and ordered to our horror Labour MPs abstain on the
welfare bill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As it happened, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/welfare-bill-who-are-the-48-rebel-labour-mps-who-voted-against-it-10403502.html">48 broke the whip </a>including only one leadership candidate. From that day onward our
fatalism became anger, the public who were till then somewhat supportive but
incredibly sceptical of the chances of a good man, a mensch, surviving the
process let alone getting elected leader, turned on the Labour establishment
with a flashing anger and determination not to give up.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>From that day, we started collecting, first
in ones and twos then in whole groups, people who wanted to at least register
their support for the one decent, good candidate that spoke their language.
Then those who had come to our fairly large tent started to believe we should
try, could even make a fight of it. New people from the trade unions, community
groups, young, old, native,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>immigrant, well
off, poor , men, women, hopeful , disillusioned etc…<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>all of them came wanting to join what was
becoming a wave, a movement. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzCUrYJBxukzcLKHqSv1fGUNvWCO4zW8nPlmqG8SYXzCemxlNJEATQJ6J1xyL0mL9h9eSPVuroWdaY1LjKHg-B2bYuH44hSvsuob7DXJ03MMoKfSvoza_OMaW4RZTmdOoRSISqp1NVzY/s1600/corbyn+tour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFzCUrYJBxukzcLKHqSv1fGUNvWCO4zW8nPlmqG8SYXzCemxlNJEATQJ6J1xyL0mL9h9eSPVuroWdaY1LjKHg-B2bYuH44hSvsuob7DXJ03MMoKfSvoza_OMaW4RZTmdOoRSISqp1NVzY/s320/corbyn+tour.jpg" width="226" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I knew we had come to that no turning back moment when a mate who shall remain nameless , Ed, co created<a href="https://www.facebook.com/kittens4corbyn?fref=ts"> Kittens for Corbyn</a>. When you have kittens, all other arguments become invalid and Mum's net declares your man sexiest man on Earth. You can't make it up. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtL9PhGWR2mpfzq-POoEPzo2lfmEbt2XOzbUSoIaIRsT688FzMSq3YFXs1wvaclR1wX4eEL-e2uqr7jDNbcalZ5lWy5YfQIMXxj7afnZGr-4VFFleQglGXkui6nGESmO3muLizgWd2RZw/s1600/i+broke+the+internet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtL9PhGWR2mpfzq-POoEPzo2lfmEbt2XOzbUSoIaIRsT688FzMSq3YFXs1wvaclR1wX4eEL-e2uqr7jDNbcalZ5lWy5YfQIMXxj7afnZGr-4VFFleQglGXkui6nGESmO3muLizgWd2RZw/s320/i+broke+the+internet.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I want to take a step back here now, a few years ago<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when I first came to Newcastle I said that
the complacent<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>comfortable, dare I say
presumptuous air of the Labour Party in the North East could easily be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>swept aside in a tsunami of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>populist,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>charismatic , hope renewed politics. When UKIP came along, it shook us a
bit but not enough to dislodge or<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>create
a wave, the Greens and Tusc<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>hurt us but
no so much that we lost ground, if anything Labour picked up votes on the back
of a real desire to stick it to the tories, at least in the North.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But if there had been an SNP candidate
around, I can tell you that we could have had a nasty shock on election
night.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The SNP did to us what the rotten
empty shell of the Labour party deserved. It swept it aside in a popular wave
that took even great hard working MPs in its wake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So imagine my relief when the next wave, the
one that would have washed the last remains of the old Labour Party was a
Labour man from North London riding the crest with his sensible suit and
socialist beard, bearing the ideas and the tools to take the barely standing
shell and fill it once again with strength, principle and volunteers. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next big thank you I have is to Tony Blair…. The day he
informed us we needed a heart transplant, there was no turning back. Those
still wondering and waiting, waited no more. If there was a day on which this
race was lost by the right, it was that one. Everything else has been second
third and fourth helping of Sh… . Just when I think there is no more mud to
sling they scraped a bit more off the bottom of the barrel. Tis a miracle it is
we have kept our tongues civil, but we shall march on knowing we have the people
and the truth with us. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKpS-pNDefzn9L4CWGZk2ULlMUu38fprn6eNEXko2Bs-7cWmHsDbeg8c58Zt9JA1Y6ucGv4sxkECnduT8KJhDvdZx3uUQk90fJQFUYxV3jv6INq7fRPJUKJkms9rn_6e6BSMqbklfAeAE/s1600/Stop-the-Labour-Purge-653x653.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKpS-pNDefzn9L4CWGZk2ULlMUu38fprn6eNEXko2Bs-7cWmHsDbeg8c58Zt9JA1Y6ucGv4sxkECnduT8KJhDvdZx3uUQk90fJQFUYxV3jv6INq7fRPJUKJkms9rn_6e6BSMqbklfAeAE/s320/Stop-the-Labour-Purge-653x653.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So roll on a few weeks, add to the mix a relentless smear
campaign against Corbyn<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by all but a few
so called journalists and political types, fold in a generous dose of paranoia
fed by all the talk of purges and threats from infiltrators…. and you have an
establishment running scared.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing
sticks, his numbers grow, and his ratings are incredibly strong even in places
where we should be weak. This is an election like none other, in all my years I
have not seen the likes of such a thing. In one constituency where we should
have been beaten by a huge margin, we are in fact 10 points ahead of the rest.
Suffice to say where we are strong; the numbers are at times so hard to swallow
we have to check twice to make sure we aren’t somehow imagining it all. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_M7E6Iu8Z-pDnmVovyLQAO_PKAFmg2LG56hH2PPWa4qX_RPHfIVJT4mSeVQrSu3AYAwCflxXfnKwad51UrbuRLdosvNewmyNcKXC4ZftmOJqvKaRGFtl-gpwkBCwQMI3pL8vQeWmqa7E/s1600/_MG_3941.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_M7E6Iu8Z-pDnmVovyLQAO_PKAFmg2LG56hH2PPWa4qX_RPHfIVJT4mSeVQrSu3AYAwCflxXfnKwad51UrbuRLdosvNewmyNcKXC4ZftmOJqvKaRGFtl-gpwkBCwQMI3pL8vQeWmqa7E/s320/_MG_3941.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Days away from the close of the vote, Ladbrookes having paid
out on wagers, any result other than a win will be seen as tampering of the
first order. What the Grandees and PLP have done is just insure that when the
change does come it will not be the one they wanted or nearly as nice to them
as it would have been. We on the left have been asked by our leader to turn the
other cheek, be nice, and not play their game. Well most of us won’t, at least
not in the open, why should we? We’ve already won; we’ve won because we are no
longer the long shot, the crazy ones, and the disconnected unelectable ones. We
are the future, we had been before but no one was listening, in giving us
Corbyn the party gave us the two things we needed to win… a platform and a
candidate. We will not now be ignored, we will not now be cowed, and we will
not now be robbed of our party and our leader.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_NUFWiIOD6gAH7NVpFv9Iza11WuNp3EzOx39HOjbvKqDA0RTxm2aid7X7yXlI-tyurYACMkoNENlczQoKXH8HA-228QXgU62m8v4oivu2H4hr32pONsvBa0fpNbORw-yam3_EZQaU5kE/s1600/badge+corbyn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_NUFWiIOD6gAH7NVpFv9Iza11WuNp3EzOx39HOjbvKqDA0RTxm2aid7X7yXlI-tyurYACMkoNENlczQoKXH8HA-228QXgU62m8v4oivu2H4hr32pONsvBa0fpNbORw-yam3_EZQaU5kE/s320/badge+corbyn.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they
fight you, and you win. Transformed since July from the unwilling standard
bearer of the left into the smooth front runner with the confidence to confront
the worst of the dirt thrown at him, Jeremy Corbyn has done the one thing none
of the others have done; produce popular, vetted and principled positions that
resonate with the party and the public. On the night he came to Newcastle the
second time I saw him in his dressing room alone with his son and an advisor,
composing himself. Let me tell you,<b> <i>the defiant, confident powerful speaker we
saw, come from deep inside a private man who knows he is the holder of the
dreams, desires and demands of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people. The
mantle we have laid on him lays heavy but he is equal to the task. </i></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGZzIjUOcRWL-TlusLFqyWfUU7RivnefCebYbijYWXIAu5yu_r0GjOhLfN7r8m7ojA5u7muVQ2XO39JiniQnqFajMAVqRII9FRZVBTLqHnpTTzwNonleqFSyxCKSVBdCrc87xo32C6x4/s1600/_MG_3991.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYGZzIjUOcRWL-TlusLFqyWfUU7RivnefCebYbijYWXIAu5yu_r0GjOhLfN7r8m7ojA5u7muVQ2XO39JiniQnqFajMAVqRII9FRZVBTLqHnpTTzwNonleqFSyxCKSVBdCrc87xo32C6x4/s320/_MG_3991.jpg.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8O251l_PNo">Watch the full event on youtube (start from the 38th minute) </a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO1fpdmTYirMrY9zRlnb3CgAjZD2xkY3SJeOnoyommNGaL9E0gryAQzEY4ECnSuOEZkrs1fSe1oHYfb0W-ZamEn6qXTH8M5fPNXWmHn8dL_cU6gVfs_f7nkufVt4Kh6OUpxKcxLcnJHPA/s1600/_MG_3994.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO1fpdmTYirMrY9zRlnb3CgAjZD2xkY3SJeOnoyommNGaL9E0gryAQzEY4ECnSuOEZkrs1fSe1oHYfb0W-ZamEn6qXTH8M5fPNXWmHn8dL_cU6gVfs_f7nkufVt4Kh6OUpxKcxLcnJHPA/s320/_MG_3994.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fool to fighter and winner in such a short time, Jeremy
Corbyn has been the figure head and vessel for an entire movement that slumbers
no more, what the party does with us in the next few days will go far in
determining if there is a Labour Party after 2020. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-22311012589563314082015-07-21T16:45:00.001+01:002015-07-21T16:48:57.545+01:00The night we crossed the Rubicon<div class="_5pbx userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">
<br />
<br />
so 48 Labour MPs voted NO on welfare cuts, my own MP Nick Brown was not<br />
among them, though according to stories in the papers he was among a <br />
great many not happy at being forced to abstain. At the end of the day <br />
it is the 48 who said no who will have made the stand those of us who <br />
voted Labour in the last election and kept faith, wanted to see. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv5R1WJcVBMQsA-m47tMQcdpHG7Ddb1bJ33CKsJfdEo92ymMhg3v9DICfU3uNZQ2QTeoFePtExrc-8HROUHWTejasnp26GUfjs7L3jcwtmxkMp8gYBdId5N4fBhDiUO_em1jIziS7P0ok/s1600/_MG_2391.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhv5R1WJcVBMQsA-m47tMQcdpHG7Ddb1bJ33CKsJfdEo92ymMhg3v9DICfU3uNZQ2QTeoFePtExrc-8HROUHWTejasnp26GUfjs7L3jcwtmxkMp8gYBdId5N4fBhDiUO_em1jIziS7P0ok/s320/_MG_2391.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At the Newcastle Irish Centre </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
My choice weeks ago was not set, but vaguely left and curious about <br />
Corbyn. As of two or three weeks ago I fell into the Corbyn camp more <br />
out of comfort with fellow travellers than understanding that I was, <br />
like them , following my principles to their logical conclusions. During<br />
the election I had longed for us to steal the thunder of the SNP and be<br />
kind to immigrants, fight austerity, bin Trident adding my own personal<br />
goal of nationalising the rail lines and utilities. Positions <br />
described as unpopular but surprisingly gaining traction even before <br />
election day dawned. As it happened we had no spine, our leaders were <br />
weak and never did figure out we wanted more distance between us and <br />
the tories not less.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Who's NHS? OUR NHS! well apparently no... <br />
not with our comfortable season ticket holding career leadership <br />
cowering behind the wall in fear of the dark mass of Daily Mail readers <br />
that wouldn't vote for us even if we promised to castrate Millwall fans.<br />
Last night's vote proves they fear wandering from the Tory narrative so<br />
much they prefer to be known as the ones who put the final nails in <br />
the coffin of the Labour party. Well I can hear you saying that Corbyn <br />
and the left wing of the party will do that.<i> At least it would be a <br />
choice we give the electorate, a clear obvious dramatically clear <br />
choice. I'd rather go down fighting than be smothered quietly in the <br />
soft mushy quicksand the Parliamentary party wants us to perish in. </i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2-FxR66VfaDgjckSjPl3aNiqyieKfhyphenhyphen4VURhISnmC4gp6kmSkG1mqAvCqWzyTezCCwO4ZQbxNTRDUXfPWUb_rg2mh8F0bLnL-sMdtzQ2eMh38zfzJiLXsVv1dM9WV6x5AXyfSlzfjK0E/s1600/_MG_2128.jpg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2-FxR66VfaDgjckSjPl3aNiqyieKfhyphenhyphen4VURhISnmC4gp6kmSkG1mqAvCqWzyTezCCwO4ZQbxNTRDUXfPWUb_rg2mh8F0bLnL-sMdtzQ2eMh38zfzJiLXsVv1dM9WV6x5AXyfSlzfjK0E/s320/_MG_2128.jpg.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Speaking at the Durham Miners Gala</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
The fact is that we have five years of the Tories in a majority <br />
government, we've lost the Scots, the left and the middle ground. If we <br />
don't have a discussion now about policy and reform, when will we? Who <br />
will trust us ever again? By choosing Jeremy Corbyn, we as individuals <br />
make clear to the Westminster mob that the rank and file will not stand <br />
idly by and be dictated too like small naughty children who don't know <br />
any better. Our popular positions are in fact what people want, and it's<br />
time the party reflected that. So who's party is it anyways? You'd be <br />
surprised how complicated and expensive it was until recently to join <br />
the party of the people, starved of volunteers, local constituencies , <br />
hands tied by regulations and sliding scales, have been unable to <br />
operate anywhere near as busy or active as they should due to the <br />
Byzantine politics of recruiting. Policy dictated from above and <br />
filtered out so carefully we are at times at a loss to determine what is<br />
and is not official policy.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyLQhPArBheds-7mUpuCufD8A4OvqmJ1UrK7m5xCdkfu-M-zrpqX_NWpXj2T8_lZ05v4NyFcqqIJTxYI4rEEcRZ9hCxhPOXO2DF45gXklJfE32Iks_vaFaeWjoqQT1ycNQ4z79MdK2CZM/s1600/keep+calm+sod+it.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyLQhPArBheds-7mUpuCufD8A4OvqmJ1UrK7m5xCdkfu-M-zrpqX_NWpXj2T8_lZ05v4NyFcqqIJTxYI4rEEcRZ9hCxhPOXO2DF45gXklJfE32Iks_vaFaeWjoqQT1ycNQ4z79MdK2CZM/s320/keep+calm+sod+it.jpg" width="274" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I can tell you that from where I <br />
sit, only Jeremy Corbyn can force the conversation that has to take <br />
place to halt the rot and turn around the decline in what are supposed <br />
to be core Labour values. Compassion, fairness, openness to the world <br />
and the balls to take the acceptable risks to get Britain working again.<br />
And it is a discussion, one in which we will not all agree nor will we <br />
get all our bits in. Which brings me to another thing. Some have said <br />
they cannot vote for a candidate because he or she does not tick the one<br />
foreign policy box they see as a deal breaker. For some its BDS, yet <br />
others Palestine or our involvement in foreign wars. Let me tell you <br />
comrades, I as a member of stop the war coalition desperately want <br />
peace, but cannot agree for reasons of culture and personal self <br />
interest on every iota they have to say , and yet ... I will work hard <br />
for them. Are some of you troubled by the one or two positions held by<br />
Jeremy Corbyn on Palestine? Will that stop you, an otherwise committed <br />
voter on the left from supporting him? That would be sad as this is less<br />
about foreign policy than it is about the kind of Britain we want to <br />
live in. There is only one candidate willing to put that vision into <br />
practice. World events come and go, but we need a party that will save <br />
our NHS, protect the weakest in society, promote education, trade unions<br />
and yes even hard working business people willing to pay their fair <br />
share of tax. Like all things that change, working conditions have <br />
changed along with the challenges that come with the Internet economy. <br />
The self employed, the small family business and the need to harness, <br />
feed and house all this talent rather than doom them to the back alleys<br />
and food banks. But if you are hung up on one issue and think some <br />
perfect person will come along that fits you like a glove, mate you're <br />
in for a long wait while the rest of us get on with it. Europe is at yet<br />
another crossroads where we can veer left or carry on with austerity. <br />
Country by country we are lurching towards a real alternative that does <br />
not abandon compassion, fairness or security. Hard fought worker rights <br />
are under threat, health care, access to education and civil rights are <br />
crumbling before our eyes. <i>If we allow the right and the fascists to <br />
high jack the agenda of change we have only ourselves to blame.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Now is our turn to take the first step by joining the Labour Party as a <br />
supporter at a £3 level before August 12th. Let's elect a real socialist<br />
as leader who will conduct the conversation our top most layer seems to<br />
fear so much. I would be shocked if it turned out what we're saying <br />
wasn't connecting with the public and the rank and file. Long ago the <br />
mainstream press from the Guardian to the Telegraph became more <br />
interested in selling papers than the truth; on the street, in meeting <br />
halls and in the privacy of social media outlets people have been moving<br />
along and past these now paralysed old organs of the establishment <br />
looking for an instrument of change, Jeremy Corbyn is that instrument.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Did you vote TUSC, Green, SNP or not at all in the last election? Maybe<br />
you held your nose and voted Labour, no matter; that was then, this is <br />
now. Get the party you want by taking part in the process. I don't <br />
promise you perfection or that we'll win every time. But I will tell you<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu9fQRGwk4asetOtOj0PhFUHjXhyphenhyphendbuvDJo-G5e60RXP4GiNIMi-lVdMtnngkCG1Upmn_qznX8BQW-_RfgdsGClGntQ2yiLM8Bis5U_5gPKc0bZ6HfLcheUiUCJfopy-9ezsEkoIGk_Lk/s1600/labour-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu9fQRGwk4asetOtOj0PhFUHjXhyphenhyphendbuvDJo-G5e60RXP4GiNIMi-lVdMtnngkCG1Upmn_qznX8BQW-_RfgdsGClGntQ2yiLM8Bis5U_5gPKc0bZ6HfLcheUiUCJfopy-9ezsEkoIGk_Lk/s1600/labour-logo.png" /></a>this, a few weeks ago we thought it would be a miracle if Corbyn got on the ballot, then we figured he'll at least make a good show of it, but <br />
look at where we are. 15 points in the lead according to some polls, the<br />
party establishment is afraid, very afraid. Last time I saw such a <br />
thing we won a close municipal marginal much to the surprise and dismay of the Lib Dems. <a class="_58cn" data-ft="{"tn":"*N","type":104}" href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/jezwecan?source=feed_text&story_id=10152940262101867"><span class="_58cl">#</span><span class="_58cm">jezwecan</span></a> The only thing crazy about this campaign is that it looks like as long we don't take our eye off the ball, we will win this! <br />
<br />
Contact your local constituency party, Labour councillor or trade union to see about joining and helping.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.labour.org.uk/w/labour-party-supporters">Join the Labour Party</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://Jeremy Corbyn for Labour Leader - Northern">Corbyn for leader North</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-42039646659106629362014-07-21T22:14:00.001+01:002014-07-21T22:14:09.819+01:00Sanctuary Artspace presents: Maya Horton Silent SeasRunning from the 21st to the 31st of July, at St-Edmunds church in Gateshead, <a href="http://sanctuaryartspace.org/">Sanctuary Artspace</a> presents a retrospective of works by local artist Maya Horton.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Maya is a trained marine biologist who's work has taken her to far flung places in the northernmost reaches of the planet. From as close to home as South Shields to the wintry vistas of the frozen tundra, when free time presented itself, Maya recorded the special way water and sky combine at sea. She has captured in particular, the strong blues that only ever occur this close to the top of the world. Combined with the variety of weather and the eternal dusk of her paintings, you cannot help be transported to these wild isolated places.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
The gallery is open from noon to 4 pm most days and is right across from the Trinity Square shopping Centre. To close the show on the 31st, from 7 pm to 9pm there will be a special story telling evening starring the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheMossTroopers">Moss Troopers</a>. In the setting of an 800 year old church, hear northern culture come to life. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidhMGXiqe8xMPSWa0w8wz4ZQoIROs9nt2rN4qfF4K6xLG-HrDqsDUrcnahniYWzB01I6w-kmIoU2bX-eeBnWjXwop-uTJ6xiQ1_VPQkZgVNpAnqE7Qbaymesbn5zxTOAWUsSZa0joYZlo/s1600/sky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidhMGXiqe8xMPSWa0w8wz4ZQoIROs9nt2rN4qfF4K6xLG-HrDqsDUrcnahniYWzB01I6w-kmIoU2bX-eeBnWjXwop-uTJ6xiQ1_VPQkZgVNpAnqE7Qbaymesbn5zxTOAWUsSZa0joYZlo/s1600/sky.jpg" height="238" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-8262308103551263512014-07-16T17:23:00.002+01:002014-07-16T17:43:50.732+01:00Sanctuary Artspace presents: The selfie as mirror of the soul <a href="http://sanctuaryartspace.org/">Gateshead's Sanctuary Artspace</a>, known for it's many and varied exhibits in the past, has for this week only, an interactive display art event they hope to move into a more permanent viral format . When asked if this was an one off, Rev Jim Craig said he hoped an
online version of this could be set up and maintained so that more
people could participate.<br />
<br />
The "how do you see your #selfie " exhibition opened on Monday with over 100 hand drawn selfies, each as unique as the person who drew it.<br />
<br />
<br />
Ranging from small children to adults and crossing the wide gulf that is perceived artistic talent, the selfies reveal a range of ambitions, emotions and self image. In amongst the many tiny images, I found inspirational combinations of words and images that alone or in juxtaposition to other images revealed a healthy, spiritual and hopeful community. If we as people could find a way to wear our hopes, dreams and desires as clearly as this display does, we might realize that in a very real way that no man is an Island, we are not alone in a sea of utter gloom, nor are the aspirations and connections around us as uniform as we think they are. <br />
<br />
<br />
In my own selfie I drew a man who is among the views and vistas he loves, but the instrument I view them with and share with the rest of the world... my camera... was bold, clear, distinct. The camera is revealed as my face to the world, my images, how I hope to be seen. While I was saying don't look at me, look at my work, others were in your face and bold about themselves rather than what they do.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMox7w4uWLFxzGa-op8b9c9qOsKn_0snhpOCvsNiZaulbE-iQN7JN4SVpHZTFCF0c0iPd9TbDK9m9UCVZ4eZu_Jqcex0PwjBxTacGVtmLHpWBYHVQIHU4b1g9SrdlQuVvuVEbEIJJltiw/s1600/jim+journal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMox7w4uWLFxzGa-op8b9c9qOsKn_0snhpOCvsNiZaulbE-iQN7JN4SVpHZTFCF0c0iPd9TbDK9m9UCVZ4eZu_Jqcex0PwjBxTacGVtmLHpWBYHVQIHU4b1g9SrdlQuVvuVEbEIJJltiw/s1600/jim+journal.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rev. Jim Craig</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The creators of this event, Sanctuary Artspace director Rev Jim Craig and his visiting trainee Vicar Kate Jamie, were also looking for signs of spirituality and faith. In the art works we see a variety of self belief, reliance on faith for guidance and the flame of those who hope that they are in fact good examples to those around them. If there is a word that comes to mind that links both the timid and the bold in these spiritual selfies, it is hope. Hope that we are the best we can be in the eyes of others, hope that others see us as we are ourselves and hope that what it is we are, is of some use to others.<br />
<br />
<br />
Is this public made installation, art? Are the various bits of art meant to be seen solely as unique expressions of individuality and nothing more? I like to see it as the DNA of those moved to lift part of their mask joining up into a single bright lamp. Be like them, show your soul, be inspired by others.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim81FhfFTxLKTWuRKbHy4gjesWucQdVuG5LAqUPvdfmX3datC2G_XEy7XzvAHAGQVG9FoGzPN3usStHRxIcAAf3EZpbVBcyj3f2zN5TaODNWERnNIS_aYhc7HQcfaKozErz4EjmDRylVc/s1600/selfie+ad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim81FhfFTxLKTWuRKbHy4gjesWucQdVuG5LAqUPvdfmX3datC2G_XEy7XzvAHAGQVG9FoGzPN3usStHRxIcAAf3EZpbVBcyj3f2zN5TaODNWERnNIS_aYhc7HQcfaKozErz4EjmDRylVc/s1600/selfie+ad.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5fqHVtGPYSBXN7BedlaqYXumErbqd0ixQecL_8ipEmCaktMitwbDPGxhQ39f4huhzf_LaCJEG4y8IUDQiskonNEVBI0ymqgOUM_hbAsCpGwfXqm20uE_m7qPRiyb0mif5hej4zSj8oW8/s1600/selfie+flame.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5fqHVtGPYSBXN7BedlaqYXumErbqd0ixQecL_8ipEmCaktMitwbDPGxhQ39f4huhzf_LaCJEG4y8IUDQiskonNEVBI0ymqgOUM_hbAsCpGwfXqm20uE_m7qPRiyb0mif5hej4zSj8oW8/s1600/selfie+flame.jpg" height="320" width="162" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cut out the flame , fill it in, add it to the others.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-27043148744040267892014-06-30T18:06:00.004+01:002014-06-30T20:31:29.481+01:00Dear Labour party: Time to engage in a fact based dialogue<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx6-EUkmgXtqce9hXjqCDj4Q1bR-GvYOF7j_UZI3tyqf_Y0qXl2QZTvpCC3a708RH35f0EZdc5UUEr7b7YhXY-zk3ZGVOYT3cCPM6xWXn9BD5p1fO3xYP9IVnkSAimtl8El-05CynZKTM/s1600/labour-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx6-EUkmgXtqce9hXjqCDj4Q1bR-GvYOF7j_UZI3tyqf_Y0qXl2QZTvpCC3a708RH35f0EZdc5UUEr7b7YhXY-zk3ZGVOYT3cCPM6xWXn9BD5p1fO3xYP9IVnkSAimtl8El-05CynZKTM/s1600/labour-logo.png" /></a></div>
Dear Labour party and Ed, it occurred to me a while ago while watching the news on Al Jazeera and Euro news in several languages, that we are not alone in facing a similar onslaught of far right lies and conservative trickle down theology that is held up by a barely believable but well financed media campaign that has pulled the wool over the eyes of even some of the smartest people I know, some of them even in the front benches of Her Majesty's loyal Opposition. Isn't it time we stopped "taking on board the concerns of the people" and started maybe putting out the case for the vision of the future under Labour?<br />
<br />
I have no problem with reactionary politics if it means<br />
<br />
1- We de-construct the myths from the truths in any public policy debate. <br />
<br />
2- Show people the genuine consequences of some of the other parties policies if they are elected for the one popular policy or slogan they have. <br />
<br />
3- Insure that who ever is being the straw man of the day is rescued before it becomes not only ok but required ritual to demonize any one group of people regardless of class, level of wealth, ethnicity or religion.<br />
<br />
4- Boldly strip the media bullies of the power to lie by not going for the bait. <br />
<br />
5- We stand by the principles that underpin the NHS, the welfare state and the Just Society so many other people are fighting deadly awful wars and revolutions to achieve. <br />
<br />
and lastly.<br />
<br />
6- We finally make a move on creating that coalition with the electorate we used to have. Only this time it's young women who are not their mothers and grandmothers, immigrants who are on the whole, hard working, educated and business minded and what about all those middle and upper class people you abandoned to the Lib Dems and the Tories. There are a lot more of those people than a hard core of former trade unionists or rabid common sense revolution far right nutters.<br />
<br />
Here are a few things some people in the party seem to not know or pretend not to know.<br />
<br />
Posh people vote and they are not all tories. If anything, educated, slightly better off and not blue collar still make an impact in the market place and the fair trade world of consumerism, do you honestly think they will bite you if you talk to them?<br />
<br />
<i>Religious people are not all right wing swivel eyed loons.</i> In fact most immigrants are a delightful combination of Catholic, Muslim or Sikh and do not believe in creationism, buggery of children or homophobia. As for your bog standard "English" religious person, and they are legion, they are also in the same mould as the immigrants. All of these people, who by the way support the separation of Church and state to some extent or other, have in the past and will again, vote Labour, the question is, <i>how much recognition and respect will you give them? </i><br />
<br />
About Immigrants. <i>Immigrants are in the vast majority, not on benefits, many even if they wanted to, cannot qualify for at least three years. They are healthy, young, educated and multilingual, here to work and build businesses that pay taxes and contribute to the cost of all those English people on benefits moaning about immigrants on benefits.</i> Nobody is living in £3 million houses for free with 20 children. It may not mean much to some, but to people of immigrant stock or recent arrivals, it's beyond insulting and has to stop. BTW, where do you think all those immigrants, old and new go to for advice, spiritual needs, food, meetings and parties? PUB? no, more like Churches, Mosques, small family run businesses, community halls and centres. Without these institutions many of us would not even have our cultures, basic liberties or dignity. We shop in small community grocers and we cook, we buy in bulk, our food is smelly and funny and sometimes it even becomes flavour of the week and yet despite all those vital and interesting contributions to the community, local economy and democracy, we have to fight still in 2014 to be treated as something more that just a colourful dance troupe on special days. <br />
<br />
<b>What are British values?</b> Well not to put too fine a point on it, Judeo
Christian values that are best expressed by a combination of basic laws
that protect the weak, the poor and the truth from oppression and
tyranny. It is a system that has evolved to create a better distribution
of wealth and tolerance of difference in culture and language where the
basic laws that govern civil society need not bar or limit the free
expression of people or peoples in a community. It is since 1948, a
system that takes it as given that all people have a right to proper
health care, education and upward mobility. Most if asked, are proud of
the relatively recent tradition of accepting refugees and helping those
who cannot help themselves. These values have evolved and gotten better
with every generation and with every wave of immigration. If we stand
for inclusion, tolerance , justice and equality, then I'm fine with
British values. But <i>let's be careful where we go if we insist on
blindly going along with IDS and Theresa May.</i><br />
<br />
<i>As for White Voters, let's draw a line under that term and call a spade a spade..... White means English/Scot/Irish/Welsh, everybody else is something else.</i> Some of us are excitable Slavs, emotional Latins or Mediteranians and equally mysterious Nordic types. We have as many different and varied ways of interacting with others or ourselves as there are ethnic groups and regional traditions. If you think you can appeal to every so called WHITE PERSON with a uniform campaign strategy, media message and direct contact, then you are doomed to miss out on vast swathes of the electorate. Not everybody drinks down the pub or shops at the Morrison's. There is so much happening out there away from the tired old spots; Parks, Churches, Mosques, YMCAs, allotments and schools, these are all the other natural collection points for people that don't spend all their time at the pub or at home watching telly. <br />
<br />
<b>About the White Voters.</b> How come so many are so afraid? Well the further away you are from the more multi ethnic city centres the more likely you are to be a bigot. The less education you have, the more likely you are to be a bigot. The poorer you are the more likely you are to be lured in by the far right fantasies about immigrants, poor people, the unemployed and the sick. So what to do with them? Firstly some of them will never change and there is no point in trying to dissuade them. Secondly, the rest of them, if given a better laid out situation with the truth in plain sight, will at the very least be less openly bigoted or even .... come around and see reason. <br />
<br />
<b>I am mystified at the continued belief among some that we can somehow win the next election with only the unlikely combination of worried "working class" white voters, atheists, ageing feminists and disillusioned 40 and 50 something year old Guardian readers.</b><br />
<br />
When the likes of the Tory front benches and the increasingly shrill right wing media, including the BBC now, put up straw man after straw man and the media and gullible public lap it up like mother's milk, it's time we as a party made a decision to stop being so bloody cautious and understanding. <br />
<br />
<i>The fact is that with hardly any declared policy and a less than stellar performance from the leadership, we are in a position to win a majority government.</i> Imagine if we showed some spine and spirit, I'm giddy with the idea of waking up the electorate. We sit on the cusp of a major rebellion among the most destitute and the least powerful, we ignore the middle class that is slipping into the same trap and still despite saying next to nothing, have a shot at power. Now if we also tried to lure back all those people being temped by the Greens on the intellectual left, the toff left, and the grumpy old Hippie left,<i> instead of apologising to the UKIP/Tory hordes, the narrative in UK politics would be different. </i><br />
<br />
<br />
Do we not stand for something good? Is not the Labour party about rising above the easy the trite and the safe? When principles are as easily abandoned as yesterdays dirty pants then they are not principles. When it wasn't popular or easy, Labour promoted the NHS, social equality, immigration, environmental policy and Europe. Even now we can high jack the agenda by turning it on its head and making it about the big multi nationals that don't pay taxes, protecting the migrant workers from exploitation, rebuilding the trust and the foundations of the NHS, creating new long lasting jobs for well educated young people who have hope not despair. I'm still waiting for the rumble to be heard over the din of the Number 10 orchestrated pro Murdoch press.<br />
<br />
<b>From now on in, the conversation with the electorate and the press, if with nobody else, needs to be in the tone of a Government in waiting.</b> Labour need to discredit the lies and defend the legacy it took decades to build. People are not as stupid as they sometimes let on. An informed electorate will be less likely to fall for the lies peddled by the red tops and now sadly the BBC. We need to grow a spine, strip the lies away and deal with the actual problems head on. It won't make the party friends with everybody, but why would you want that? You want a solid mass of voters to support a properly thought out platform that can be carried out over the life of a Parliament or even two.<br />
<br />
What about the European question? I cannot speak for others but I believe in Europe, I believe in a union that is keeping us free from a major war and the sort of chaos that sucked the world into a frenzy of racism, ethnic cleansing and intolerance that lead to the ovens of Auschwitz. NEVER AGAIN. The EU is not perfect but the alternative is far worse. Political and economic union is hardly the end of the world and has despite a few hick ups created a zone where we are frankly better off than we were before the EU. A massive level playing field will never be a bad thing and even now benefits the UK more than harms it. And in case people are missing this particular bit of news, were it not the active involvement of the EU right now, Putin would not have backed down and we would be knee deep in a Central European war with all that goes with it.... refugees on a scale not seen since 1945, escalations and massive destruction and the disruption of the gas supply from Russia, followed by the inevitable reconstruction decade where we rebuild everything that got burned bombed and levelled to the stone age. To me, Europe is not an academic question nor is it just about a few miserable regulations. <br />
<br />
So in short, please Eds, both of them and all the others, please start acting like the next Government. We have a year, let's not waste the time. <br />
<a href="http://press.labour.org.uk/post/90233612414/i-will-build-a-britain-which-reconnects-the-wealth-of"><br /></a>
<a href="http://press.labour.org.uk/post/90233612414/i-will-build-a-britain-which-reconnects-the-wealth-of">Ed Miliband's recently released text from the Sunday Times. It's a start, but we need more. </a><br />
<br />
Are you considering Labour? <a href="http://www.yourbritain.org.uk/">Help shape the message </a><br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-52581390555707574142014-04-29T20:08:00.000+01:002014-04-29T21:21:51.637+01:00Why a federal South SudanAs I write this, Riek Machar is in the bush fighting for the survival of the dream of a just and equal South Sudan while the rest of the world is grasping at straws or is pretending that Silva Kiir is just another politician who's head has been filled with the desire of power past the point of recognizing reason.<br />
<br />
The truth is far less simple and the root of the problem is to be found in the very nature of the old Sudan and the way even the South of the country operated from 1957 onwards. South Sudan much like the rest of the country it broke away from, is far from homogeneous. It is a place where a multitude of peoples, some more numerous than others, live cheek by jowel with each other in a mixed society that only found an identity when the desire for an independent South Sudan got enough traction within the ranks of the SPLA/SPLM and it's splinter movements over the years. As far back as John Garang, there was always a plan to create a federated Sudan or Riek Machar's plan do the same to an independent South Sudan.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVWQP5IfQa9QqRrsEMsziREgBoAF3c7-bWUv_7S4ggv5pzPoN2UV8WrmTGdhmxtYPs9n9tHXx8eYKPy6C72jB_cu3FVwl-1ABj3muSuWwIaWk66kdpNq8u6i2BPVHjLCWfupx6jkqGJAc/s1600/JohnGarang.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVWQP5IfQa9QqRrsEMsziREgBoAF3c7-bWUv_7S4ggv5pzPoN2UV8WrmTGdhmxtYPs9n9tHXx8eYKPy6C72jB_cu3FVwl-1ABj3muSuWwIaWk66kdpNq8u6i2BPVHjLCWfupx6jkqGJAc/s1600/JohnGarang.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">John Garang</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Why federalism? What is the attraction of a system that creates a filtering of power from the people v the direct application of power by the all the people over the entire region? It's simple, South Sudan is not easily lumped into one chamber and one identity in that sort of organic natural way that you could say.... expect of Portugal. Tribally or ethnically the end result of a Presidential system leads to the selection of a leader by all Southern Sudanese who is flawed in as much as the only possible result is yet another Dinka or Nuer who will think of nobody else or Riek Machar who along with his alies was always for a more representative leadership that took into account the needs of the entire nation. Such a system requires all Equatorians to band together and support one party or create a party that will somehow attract votes from across the country, but inevitably, never enough to win the presidency. But in a federal system with a prime minister, such a party in a parliamentary system would be very powerful indeed. <br />
<br />
When I was working for RASS many years ago during the long dark years of struggle, we realized quickly that the creation of an identity for the new country would not come from ethnicity, but from the cooperation of many ethnicities in the fashion that had always existed. Towit; every time there was a Gordian knot of massive proportions to cut through, it was done by people from smaller, less populous tribes from Equatoria. This worked for the simple reason that traditional mediation by such peoples was accepted by the much larger tribes on the basis that these smaller groups would not propose any solution that would allow for a worse situation in which they themselves would be hurt and by extension the rest of the country would be equally protected from further disagreement that usually stemmed from a Dinka Nuer conflict, that as we have just seen , could lead to bloodshed on a massive scale.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrrrr1NBgfhRnCrRvDjowWwmw7N31LEn9LHF5eIQT7aZ9tinn-RTwxTR2KfFaT5pFSe-PdbiRlasHy958lEX1V4OtLwXSElQs7q7n7URX7mRHZVCv9N2zDbL-XnYneJ0DEpp083v8Cy0/s1600/south+sudan+three.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrrrr1NBgfhRnCrRvDjowWwmw7N31LEn9LHF5eIQT7aZ9tinn-RTwxTR2KfFaT5pFSe-PdbiRlasHy958lEX1V4OtLwXSElQs7q7n7URX7mRHZVCv9N2zDbL-XnYneJ0DEpp083v8Cy0/s1600/south+sudan+three.png" height="238" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzJxL47tt8yuIeQioqRAWGWVzG9Bbf5qY4tDPKXFpCSBQ-2rrkCegA49Sp3q4ukjfxy76T9_U9fqOIxTHhaW_ZEob7y3xzId2TNdEiwBUctN3WHZp90vD2wuu1TJKy1SZLQmuvXeNDww/s1600/SouthSudanLivelihoods.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWzJxL47tt8yuIeQioqRAWGWVzG9Bbf5qY4tDPKXFpCSBQ-2rrkCegA49Sp3q4ukjfxy76T9_U9fqOIxTHhaW_ZEob7y3xzId2TNdEiwBUctN3WHZp90vD2wuu1TJKy1SZLQmuvXeNDww/s1600/SouthSudanLivelihoods.jpg" height="201" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ArJPLMAIuGcLYnMxKSA3EFQd71q63QPPjfvV3bEv0TutxF_iPsxs1RBNTdvxb1CQlmRQd1CqjX4QZXKgc6fZj8EokTMII_zbfzbKgspd3LMQMz7eqPRuOFvQ7A7kQZj13A8domFHW-A/s1600/south_sudan_geology.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ArJPLMAIuGcLYnMxKSA3EFQd71q63QPPjfvV3bEv0TutxF_iPsxs1RBNTdvxb1CQlmRQd1CqjX4QZXKgc6fZj8EokTMII_zbfzbKgspd3LMQMz7eqPRuOFvQ7A7kQZj13A8domFHW-A/s1600/south_sudan_geology.jpg" height="225" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Why this traditional tribal structure that has worked for decades was set aside, I do not know. The current artificial presidential model has led to numerous policy disasters not least of which was the apparent decision that it would be a good idea for Dinka cow herders to take over farm land in Equatoria for grazing in the name of the national interest. This national interest is little more than the more obvious example of Dinkocracy in which the winner of the presidential vote got to make policy for his people, not all the people, just his people.<br />
<br />
If there had a been a properly set up federal system with a proportionally balanced and weighed amount of seats by region in a national Parliament that could counter weigh such tendencies as have rocked the country in the last year, we could have avoided this entire bloody mess. The mere feeling backed up by unchecked political power that one man from one tribe could today favour the Dinkas and the next one the Nuer, sets up a perpetual see saw of conflict that will doom South Sudan to faliure before it's got on it's own two feet. The moderating influence of Equatorian counter weight in any discussion means that no policy will ever be adopted in Juba that isn't genuinely in the national interest.<br />
<br />
After the shooting stops from the latest round of violence, it would be nice to see the creation of a party political system that isn't based on ethnic or regional loyalty. There is need to establish such an ideological/practical array of political division or there will be a repeat of incidents like the ones plaguing South Sudan right now. National interest cannot be created nor can a national consensus exist as long as people do not rise above the current voting patterns. I am aware from as early as the years just prior to the peace agreement and the cooling off period following the end of the war of liberation, that the only way we created consensus in the North American diaspora was when we made people leave the tribal divisions at the door. Only then were we able to create the list of jobs needed to do when the time came, the list of priority spending targets when the money became available. At the end of the day at every one of those conferences we knew that almost everybody in the room had lost people to the bullets and bombs of Khartoum. How many hours, days , weeks and months were spent building the consensus that created the new identity of "South Sudanese". How could we allow petty self interest now that the country is liberated , ruin what could be one of the most prosperous nations in Africa.<br />
<br />
South Sudanese is not something you can point to in an anthropology study or linguistic map of Africa, South Sudanese is as artificial as American, Canadian or even Italian. A country as large as Western Europe, with as many linguistic groupings and regions cannot be expected to become ONE seamless perfect identity overnight, but with the help of a federal system and the taking into account of all the regional and ethnic interests in decision making, it wouldn't take long for a stable albeit new identity to take root. Tribalism should give way to multiculturalism and cooperation, a society where it is ok to be Dinka , Nuer or any other tribe and still be like a brother or sister to your fellow South Sudanese. Celebrate your diversity, but never forget that the nation was forged in the blood and the steel of all the peoples of South Sudan, not just those of the current presidency.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuIvVRh5gRqb33pcWs_xpUV0hLxfyl2bkolyZOfp-E_hkUKeqfeGvh08W73jvqhvGc8ZU-486gnwMa4kVxkGcrAbm_3la6ufY70kcCa1DbPsljAZrLnDhydKLmp6BYUjPadzWRM0ZYFLQ/s1600/south+sudan+tribes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuIvVRh5gRqb33pcWs_xpUV0hLxfyl2bkolyZOfp-E_hkUKeqfeGvh08W73jvqhvGc8ZU-486gnwMa4kVxkGcrAbm_3la6ufY70kcCa1DbPsljAZrLnDhydKLmp6BYUjPadzWRM0ZYFLQ/s1600/south+sudan+tribes.jpg" height="256" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
In the years I served the Movement ( SPLM/SPLA indepence then SSIM/SSIA ) in my RASS capacity, I was proud to be part of a process that slowly over time took people from a disconnected group of people with a similar strugle against oppression, to a path where all concerned were agreed that there should be a country called South Sudan and that the country should learn from the errors of the North. To be clear, what precisely did the North do ? How did they treat the South from the 1950's to the last day the bullet flew? Sisal, sesame and coffee, all crops that would have made South Sudan prosperous were suppressed or stolen and the profits all went to Khartoum, oil revenues and fields were entirely in the control of the North while population centres from Juba, Malakal, Torit and others were bombed and destabilised. Is this what people really want to do yet again but this time in the name of skewed national self interest? Should Equatoria be made the next South, to be marginalized and maltreated at the hands of a string of un representative non pan-national leaders whose only desire is to insure the comfort of one large tribe or the other? <br />
<br />
What is required now is a meritocracy in the civil service, national bank, judiciary and police, the estblishment of a fully British styled assembly with the power to name a Prime Minister from amongst it's own, empowered to run federal affairs via a cabinet also named of assembly members supporting the PM's party. This federal assembly needs to however work with and for the various interests as represented by the states or provinces that speak for specific regions and the interests that arise from that region's resources and talents. The benefits of strong provincial governments and strong federal government mean the tight balancing act between regional interests, national interests and good common sense solutions to problems that otherwise left to fester, will only lead later to the sort of bloodshed we have seen or the ultimate dissolution of South Sudan and the glee of many who said it should never have been allowed to go it alone. <br />
<br />
<br />
I know the desire of my old boss Commander Chairman Riek Machar and all those that were imprisoned and now recently released, as well as all of those under them, was to make South Sudan a rich, prosperous and fair country. I would like to think that if Silva Kiir has the best interests of the country at heart, he would rapidly move to make sure the talks start soon and the reforms put in place quickly. I however will not hold my breath, I was aware early on that there was every possibility that because Riek Machar, or for that matter anybody else, could have beaten Mr Kiir, trouble was brewing. When, the mass firing occurred after the removal of VP Machar, I knew that paranoia had taken hold. Such was the situation that only the blindest could not see the bloodbath to come. That the UN and the rest of the world are doing nothing to stop Uganda from propping up the rotten and dangerous regime of Silva Kiir is even more distressing given the extra work this gives the rebels who would otherwise have cleared the crumbling vestiges of legitimacy and power still left.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtO2zB-zES4sUzXJ2KKbVGlLJCyASZQJyPXbv-i44h0xD4uSZ1AGH7m7UO2S0qcexw4phsm8xuJv_Yq_kjou9As2wF71DjPmOolZ6T4Bdzmh39Pc9Xu6HiunI9J3irCPtRDU5FUcWbNY4/s1600/Riek-Machar1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtO2zB-zES4sUzXJ2KKbVGlLJCyASZQJyPXbv-i44h0xD4uSZ1AGH7m7UO2S0qcexw4phsm8xuJv_Yq_kjou9As2wF71DjPmOolZ6T4Bdzmh39Pc9Xu6HiunI9J3irCPtRDU5FUcWbNY4/s1600/Riek-Machar1.jpg" height="199" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Riek Machar</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
As it is, it would appear that the South Sudanese diaspora is coming to side with Riek Machar and his rebels, most recently the Dinka community in Minnesota has joined in the many other voices calling for the toppling of the current president of the country. One hopes this ends soon and the rebuilding can start without delay. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-13078550422743625972014-04-25T18:32:00.002+01:002014-04-25T21:59:05.392+01:00The far right, UKIP and why we should vote in the European electionsMay 22nd Europe will vote, even the bit of Europe that isn't on the continent, yes, by that I mean the UK. What's interesting is that until about last week I thought UKIP and Nigel Farage were going to be the embarrassing winners of a lightly attended vote thus sticking them further and more firmly on the front pages of every newspaper in the land. Turns out however that in the last few days the shine has come off of the UKIP penny, and that by their own hand.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL4roYDD2zVdXScNrzdADvMFnvTpfc1e6YGrdmJsL6Hjyf0l9UAkCJYZBQY54ent2cBuYM2ntSS6VaN-UXx7Vsda9iKS0ynh5yjSycc4Zx2K-HZslKqKzQ5RpesS7D0qHqlH5Ky-K-xLg/s1600/ukip+racist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL4roYDD2zVdXScNrzdADvMFnvTpfc1e6YGrdmJsL6Hjyf0l9UAkCJYZBQY54ent2cBuYM2ntSS6VaN-UXx7Vsda9iKS0ynh5yjSycc4Zx2K-HZslKqKzQ5RpesS7D0qHqlH5Ky-K-xLg/s1600/ukip+racist.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
By making it known that the money guy paying for the ads won't let the party craft the message and accepting the message this man is putting out, UKIP acknowledge once and for all they are out and out racists. No better than the BNP, The National Front and the EDL. It gets worse for them and better for us, suddenly, it would appear, parties including the Lib Dems and Labour are growing a spine, saying nice things about immigrants, talking about the real issues of a level labour playing field and the unchecked power of big business. The deflection of immigration and other racial issues that seemed to seep into the mainstream with the disgraceful apology by Gordon Brown for having called a racist , shock..... Racist, and seemed to have slipped in the way of reasoned discussion is now giving way to a more cautious and careful approach that has in recent days broken into a full blown defence of the previously indefensible. Faced with a choice of allowing the further radicalisation of the British electorate or fighting back, the instinct seems to finally show the revulsion of having to compete for the same handful of racist bigots who are even now tearing the Tory party to pieces. <a href="http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2014/04/22/that-ukip-joke-isn-t-funny-anymore">In point of fact, the rise of UKIP is directly tied to the moment the mainstream parties abandoned the moral high ground</a> and egged on Farage and his goons in the hope of hurting the left or hurting the right. All three parties are guilty of not seeing the danger earlier. Like the German power brokers who thought they could harness Hitler in the hope he would stop the left, they learned, tho not fast enough, that there was no holding him back once they had given him the room to grow and flourish. Are Nigel Farage and UKIP, Hitler and his Nazis? God no, but only because most of us like to think that no one would actually vote for these barking mad pedlars of fear. So far so good.<br />
<br />
For an interesting read.... <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/02/ukip-party-bigots-lets-look-evidence">Is UKIP a party of bigots</a> from the New Statesman. <br />
<h2>
Links with European far-right parties ( from the article cited above)</h2>
<b>
</b><b>Ukip is part of the group Europe of Freedom and Democracy (EFD). The
group includes representatives of the Danish People’s Party, the True
Finns Party, the Dutch SGP and the infamous Italian Lega Nord – all of them far-right. Nigel Farage is co-President of the group along with Lega Nord’s Francesco Speroni, who described multiple murderer Anders Breivik as someone whose “ideas are in defence of western civilisation."</b><br />
<br />
That said, I don't for a second think that a person who is a racist and ignorant of the general easily verifiable truth out there will stop being a racist in a sudden flash of remorse; that would be too Moffat love conquers all, but I do think that people who might have bought into the surface bile and lies and might have voted UKIP now won't. They will either stay at home or vote for parties that aren't trying to ignite a race war in the streets of Britain. What with Russia, Ukraine and fuel prices showing conclusively that we not only need the EU to stop WW3 but we need it to establish a fair social and economic balance across all of Europe. If enough rational people vote on May 22nd, the rise of the far right will not be contributed to by voters in the UK, it may even be given a solid kick in the chops by greens, socialists and even fiscal conservatives across Europe who have no problem with gays, blacks, Jews, Muslims, Romanians or Polish plumbers.<br />
<br />
The sickening tone of the far right message regardless of where it comes from is the single greatest cause of concern in Europe today, and if isn't, it should be. The rise of the far right and it's reach into the very heart of the discussion of what it means to be European and where we should go as a block, has so intruded on the debate, it has derailed the very real important questions that need asking even now. Is it necessary to re-arm the constituent states in order to protect ourselves from Russian hunger? Can we create a larger fairer marketplace for labour and manufacturing to thrive where even now some governments would prefer to keep stifling protectionist measures up. What ever happened to the green agenda? Like all the other issues, it's been sidetracked by apologists, climate change deniers and Eurosceptics intent on showing how bad the EU is by trying to break it. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/SYgPRdMIqyg?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
As long as the right continues to pillory immigrants, we continue to loose sight of things like recently released figures showing an increasingly aged population with a shrinking pool of young people in employment also being asked to care for the elderly. Any nation state that permits immigrants, will have an easy pool of working tax payers to cushion this blow, those that wish to remain closed off will find not only that the ill equipped poorly trained local labour force is not willing to take up certain jobs but is also simply not trained to. If you want your society to collapse, by all means, stop immigration.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7WZiKDrajRnlUsASG4IPB4bZBXBCQBg14uuvDWG4bghAvlWpvQbGlXeSm_sqGhIIVCpzdCGVdOOb73GDy1Rr5Uf-JhMnKdGMrl0IUW0HEQqt7x6-mE00D2LVvoRd1Vte3JgITQj-VKgU/s1600/lib+dem+stats.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7WZiKDrajRnlUsASG4IPB4bZBXBCQBg14uuvDWG4bghAvlWpvQbGlXeSm_sqGhIIVCpzdCGVdOOb73GDy1Rr5Uf-JhMnKdGMrl0IUW0HEQqt7x6-mE00D2LVvoRd1Vte3JgITQj-VKgU/s1600/lib+dem+stats.jpg" height="300" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
And if that weren't enough.... the jobs these immigrants are going to steal have been created by a ratio of 6 out of 7 by other immigrants. In my time in North America and here in the UK I have always been aware of a certain over representation of ethnics and immigrants in the riskier parts of the economy. These people, these dangerous people, are the ones who have been creating jobs for decades and will continue to do so. And yet, we see the ignorant and the closed minded politics of the far right in every corner of Europe scoring points on the backs of Gypsies, Jews, Turks, Africans and Muslims amongst many other selected targets. How can these people get on with life and what they do best when around every corner there are parties who's principle aim is to come to power by solving the economic woes of a country by advocating the 4th Reich?<br />
<br />
Most recently has the acceptability of anti-Semitism, which had been on the wane overall and had in fact all but disappeared in some places, become so strong that a group of Russian sponsored activists thought it was ok to pass out a pamphlet that appeared to officially demand that Jews in the Donetsk region register or leave. In Hungary an anti semetic and anti muslim party is the 3rd largest in Parliament, Nordic democracies long known for tolerance and social activism are lurching to the right with Muslims first and foremost in the line of fire, but hardly exclusively. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivPy0hIgc5HiO0GuVqOKrpnQ3tB4TKjC6DAG1_0kxXvDPCqIqK-jVoRwRCHZxWQIrsvWYI7h85P8ziyiqNu3tZHe21l3V_5q04HCLFN6-MbsHYq9mQwZWZv4Rg69QTHag4kXaUtCJxtbM/s1600/Oswald-Mosley-pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivPy0hIgc5HiO0GuVqOKrpnQ3tB4TKjC6DAG1_0kxXvDPCqIqK-jVoRwRCHZxWQIrsvWYI7h85P8ziyiqNu3tZHe21l3V_5q04HCLFN6-MbsHYq9mQwZWZv4Rg69QTHag4kXaUtCJxtbM/s1600/Oswald-Mosley-pic.jpg" height="146" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mosley black shirts</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In the 1930's, Europe from the streets of London to the Black sea, was awash with strong read brutal regimes and parties that espoused a view of the world that we thought had died with the extinguishing of the last oven in the last German concentration camp in 1945. Alas, even the upheavals and soul searching of the 60's and 70's has not extinguished the appeal of the far right. As a child who's own father's family was split between fascist and socialist, I chose to insure in the most absolute way that never again would a Nazi, Fascist or other such scum be allowed to flourish let alone come to power. I have a bookshelf full of books about rebuilding entire nations dating from the post war period, all of them demonstrating the incredible waste of resources and the destruction of cultural, commercial and agricultural capacity that took in some cases over a decade to recover and some cases never, as for the human toll, not including military deaths and collateral damage to civilians, over 12 million died in the camps that we know of . Do we really want to go through that all over again? <br />
<br />
So with the next great European war simmering away on the front burner in Ukraine, Putin being hailed by the right as a strong leader who should be admired and an economic crisis hanging over the Eurozone and Europe over all, what are the actual issues that should be exorcising people today? I'm glad you asked. How about getting on with the job of finding a new source of gas and oil other than Russia till we find new greener ways to keep warm, cook and build things. Extending the benefits of justice to every corner of the EU, keeping open a road and rail system that hasn't been this free and easy to use since the start of WW 1. Creating a better Euro or finding another way to insure the economies of Europe already interlincked one way or the other don't fall victim to the poor judgement of one country or one sector. How about training people to participate in labour intensive lucrative industrial sectors that would make multiple parts of Europe, World leaders in industries that will not fade and die as quickly as the dot com bubble or the building boom fuelled by reckless bankers who are still asking for double bonuses and want us to pay for their mistakes. <br />
<br />
Of course to do that, European leaders and people themselves need to admit that some of this won't be easy, and issues like food security have to take into account reality and be less driven by the wide eyes innocence of the 70's and 80's. Issues like regional security will include a component of choosing to stop pretending that Russia under Putin is in any hurry to become part of the Union or to be democratic. Energy security which has become more pressing since the ongoing problems in Ukraine, recently hotted up, is far from resolved. There is a school of thought that feels regulatory powers are used with little regard to reality or regional circumstances. A more focussed approach by politicians and technocrats can find the solutions if the process is not distracted by growing numbers of far right protest parties who's only goal appears to be sabotage. <br />
<br />
So what's so bad about having a few clown fish from every nation sitting in Strasbourg? Surely these far from rational people are not harming the greater dream of an integrated Europe? Well maybe they are. Every time deputations like those of UKIP do not vote on key issues or worse vote against what even the most Eurosceptic Tory would find reasonable , even important, they help create a block of hate that gives oxygen to the views of parties like Golden Dawn, Jobbik and many others. Despite the lack of awareness the average British voter has regarding The EU or because of it, small numbers of determined nutters are taking the jobs of what should be Tory, Labour, Lib Dem and Green MEPs . The voice of Britain in Europe is the sound of screeching hyenas baying at the moon and waving their toy plastic swords in defence of the fantasy white world that never existed. In their haste to show just how useless the European Parliament is, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/04/23/ukip-vote-against-ivory-trade_n_5197278.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular">UKIP were 6 among the 14 to vote against a ban on elephant ivory poaching. Just what did the elephants ever do to UKIP ? </a>There isn't a day that doesn't go by where yet another elected UKIP swivel eyed loon pops his or her head over the ramparts for a shot at everything the Daily Mail hates and a few things even the Daily Mail have yet to hate.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRepMWUzZXtoC4EN-56LssByuugTWN6kpT0vQSIHnwBqZqyzLF37PLrGIZWzSLTOyu1KekiITgPTgVBkDTnoCC3jD3h7-nyrLPLaEwaFc2AOPyyUnkcCs-HwDFZlrRRcHvFXZ-zGU1Yg4/s1600/ukip+elephants.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRepMWUzZXtoC4EN-56LssByuugTWN6kpT0vQSIHnwBqZqyzLF37PLrGIZWzSLTOyu1KekiITgPTgVBkDTnoCC3jD3h7-nyrLPLaEwaFc2AOPyyUnkcCs-HwDFZlrRRcHvFXZ-zGU1Yg4/s1600/ukip+elephants.jpg" height="135" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
And so what is it that will convince the great British electorate that what happens in Europe, even far off Kiev with whom the UK have 5 iron clad treaties of cooperation and defence, is as important to them as Paris, London or Manchester? How will the suffering and deaths of people in Donetsk, the consequent ripples of worry all through Central Europe from Warsaw to Vienna, the utter misery of being Greek or Spanish in austerity finally convince Britons it has something to do with them? I would like to think they care now, but I know most of them are oblivious to events further than their doorstep and couldn't even name their own MP let alone consider what occurs in Brussels as significant to them. However there will come a time when the specific events in the Ukraine and the need for a united Pan European reaction to Putin and his empire will make it all very close to home. Will it take the near break out of WW3? Will it take the tripling of gas and oil prices? Will it perhaps come when the average Briton sees the rest of Europe as just another place where they can, like anybody else, go forth and seek work, their own back yard, the next county over. Maybe then . At some point the people of Britain will take as seriously European elections as they do the ones to Westminster, till that day we need to keep working at getting the numbers up steadily in order to insure that come election night, we won't be sending any more UKIP etc... fruitcakes to Brussels than we absolutely have to. <br />
<br />
I'll be voting Labour as they are part of the <a href="http://socialistsanddemocrats.eu/">Socialist block (S & D)</a>, their platform is one I find practical to apply, creating a world closer to my liking. I have chosen a path that is not hatred and isolation, I have chosen a path that promises a solution to the challenges facing the greater society we live in. I urge you to explore the blocks on your own and see where you fit in. Be part of the dialogue that is Europe. <br />
<br />
If you have not yet registered for the election , you have till May 6th.... don't delay. Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-75573894977487511142014-04-04T15:50:00.000+01:002014-04-04T15:50:00.607+01:00A guide to the ethics of freecycling and recyclingThe other day I brought a few things over to St Oswald's for them to sell or send to the rag and bone people. I now prefer to do this over the more conventional options supported by the city, such as just bin things on the day, put them in the recycling bin or bring them to the recycling centre near St-Peter's in Byker. The practical truth is that these options are now less desirable than ethically distributing things between neighbours and donating to various charities. <br />
<br />
Before we get to the how of Freecycling, let's look at the why.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDuFeBHqyTpOENN-qi-AKxU4cCUPle1JMwNJW8uBnIR1R7nA-7fGjdwwZ1quTyvWc5vP1Q9SeTXN-7G4qmTZWEGKc-4DYDG-Alre0S878Efv5NO8qmQyH_bKoWWFmkcjXXeZ1lEC6Eios/s1600/bin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDuFeBHqyTpOENN-qi-AKxU4cCUPle1JMwNJW8uBnIR1R7nA-7fGjdwwZ1quTyvWc5vP1Q9SeTXN-7G4qmTZWEGKc-4DYDG-Alre0S878Efv5NO8qmQyH_bKoWWFmkcjXXeZ1lEC6Eios/s1600/bin.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The last two times I tried to use the recycling depot I was verbally abused by the officious little *&nts from the council running the place. Despite my heartfelt desire to bring electronic goods, rags and other things they were designed to take, I was barred from the place for having entered on the power of my own legs. Forget that I at the time lived two blocks away and didn't want to drive a car in ( or in my case somebody else's), the facility is built on the exclusive notion that you will drive in and out, there is no pedestrian access. Because of the slavish devotion to health and safety as well as the belief that people are too stupid to look out before walking into a place to see if there is any traffic, means that anybody using something smaller than a mini austin or with fewer than 3 wheels cannot bring any recycling into the centre. Good job City of Newcastle, for making the disposal of unwanted things more likely to end up being fly tipped. I am not the only one who feels this way but repeated complaints have have done nothing to remedy the situation and now I depend on other means which I shall talk about in a bit.It still means that at the end of the day, there is an even greater probability that the item I would have brought there to be dealt with properly, be it electronics, old paint, cardboard or building materials, will end up in landfill and not be recycled at all. <br />
<br />
So what about the recycling bin you say? The problem is not so much the sorting, that I don't mind, glass away from the rest, makes sense. The problem begins when you try to shoe horn things like rods or odd bits of plastic that won't fit in. Try leaving the clearly for recycling cardboard boxes neatly folded and staked next to the bin and they ignore the stuff. You need to cut it up and tie it and put a pretty bow on it with a note telling the workers how brilliant they are AND stuff it into the already full bin. Left over building material not numerous enough to hire a skip lays unloved and untouched for weeks or months until some bright spark takes pitty on the stuff and cuts it up with saw or steals it in the night. So while the blue bin is ok for most stuff, the things most foisted on us despite our best efforts, are near impossible to get rid of.<br />
<br />
The blue bin part 2: We don't create a lot of rubbish, in fact if it weren't for a bit of egg shell, trimmed veg and bones, we'd have no rubbish at all. We recycle as much as we can and try to buy things with as little packaging as possible. This means that our green bin is effectively a large unused space taker in front of the house. What to do? For starters, what if I could use it as a recycle bin as well? Just need a council approved sign of some kind..... a signal of some kind that says it's not got any rubbish, but today I have put a load of old papers and other things in that would not fit in the blue one. It would take a second for them to look.<br />
<br />
The Brown bin: If you live in a place with a lawn , a garden or some other such place with vedure and root things that need regular tending, you'll know you can't mix in food waste, you can't put in any sticks over a certain length and you cannot put in anything that is not some kind of plant life. Fair enough about that, but during certain seasons you'll trim a lot more than one brown bin's worth, and it will take weeks to be rid of the stuff if ever. In short, If I can , and I can....we burn it. We can't be bothered to wait a month to reduce a day's garden waste. And if that wasn't bad enough, it's a limited service, miss the days and you're stuck with a bin full of grass cuttings till next season. Three guesses where all that grass ends up. Personally, I just hide it in with the occasional regular rubbish I accumulate, but little wonder some people have wrong mindedly paved, astro turfed or concreted over their laws. These people who had a choice to be kind to the planet or free of one more job, chose to deny water yet a few hundred more square feet of space to gently go into the ground. Wonder why there's so much flooding? there's one reason.<br />
<br />
Composting: A fine idea, sometimes even supported by local councils but mostly not. What do you need to compost? Enough waste that is clean ( uncontaminated ), clean kitchen waste, some paper, some space, a composting kit and a reason to make the stuff in the first place. If you can't use it but your neighbour can, good. But if you're not that lucky, who's going to take it away to be used at allotments, private gardens or local farms? Depending where you live, the service is spotty to none. Which brings me to us....We cook from scratch, buy fresh, mostly free of packaging and only in the amounts we need in the case of food that will go off quickly. Food prep waste, mostly fruit, veg and egg shells, means we should compost, but we produce too little even with all the home cooking. We are forced to find novel ways to get rid of the stuff, and so we start here with the freecycling and the ethics of it all. Faced with the dilemma of binning v making the world's smallest compost bin, we have been forced in the absence of a nearby compost bin to just bin the stuff in the closest green bin owned by people who never heard of recycling, and believe me.... there are still way too many of them. It saddens us that until we finally turn over the yard and turn it into a our own small free hold farm short of the chickens ( hums the good life theme), we are effectively forced to go against our own principles or end up knee deep in bits of onion and garlic skins.<br />
<br />
Having lived a few places in my life, not least of which was a city that led the way with what we now call free cycling, I find myself turning to the old solutions, as they are still the best. <br />
<br />
As a boy my grandmother taught me two important things.<br />
<br />
<b>Other peoples rubbish can and should be gold, but only if you need it or know people who need it . </b><br />
<br />
and<br />
<br />
<b>Always be clean and respectful of other people's property when reclaiming something into usefulness. </b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglbB52ig3Bmpo63hKPJpHH-4LIp3ojNYBxoKjB253OKOuswEffTUql4DIehaWrHp8qaXosqV6vZ54keyComBFu_6MSELgUD31odRz5h13Qwcn6VvIQGOpXQp47STL9UYlKOp35k_3Cdl4/s1600/hornofplenty1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglbB52ig3Bmpo63hKPJpHH-4LIp3ojNYBxoKjB253OKOuswEffTUql4DIehaWrHp8qaXosqV6vZ54keyComBFu_6MSELgUD31odRz5h13Qwcn6VvIQGOpXQp47STL9UYlKOp35k_3Cdl4/s1600/hornofplenty1.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
It's amazing what perfectly good things people will bin. In my lifetime I have saved furniture, books, clothes, toys and games not to mention the abundant harvest of pumpkins, melons and other perfectly edible decorative veg that goes out the day after harvest festivals and Halloween. We lived on an unused clean 5 kg bag of lentils for two months once. Most recently we have acquired <br />
<br />
1- a lawn mower<br />
2- a strimmer<br />
3- several antique non electric yard and kitchen gadgets that still work fine<br />
4- enough spare parts to build or repair most of the appliances in the house<br />
5- book cases, books, cd's <br />
6- perfectly good computer peripherals including a kick ass set of mini speakers<br />
7- Enough toddler toys to stock a day care.... which it did in the end<br />
8- Art.... you will not believe the bounty off people with bad taste.<br />
<br />
and FOOD.... food that thing that keeps us alive. When you move house and you bin perfectly good fresh food.... don't make it hard to get to, don't cover it in slime. Make it easy to find and take, and if you can spare the effort and time... offer it to somebody, anybody. It's food and it's a sin, a crime to waste it. <br />
<br />
CLOTHING is another area we need to tread carefully on. Most clothes in this country end up in one of two places, the bin or increasingly, the charity shop. I used to run a charity and can tell that despite the most logical hygiene rules, people still donate underwear, aka stuff that has been near your genitals or bottom. Do I even need to say why this is wrong????? Pants aside, most clothes, washed and in good condition deserve to be used by somebody. If we have lost weight and cannot take the clothes in ourselves or they are not worth the expense of a seamstress, we will bring the clothes to one of the many large metal boxes situated in convenient places and that are dry even in the wettest weather. Barring that, we always walk the clothes over to a charity shop near us to insure the goods are not ruined by passing dogs and other beasts that could open the bags up. That said, my wife and I have been the grateful recipients of clothes from others who thought we'd appreciate perfectly good clothes that could fit us but not the person offering.<br />
<br />
<b>Freecycling is easy and ethical</b> if you follow a few simple principles<br />
<br />
<b>1- Assume somebody needs what you don't want any more:</b> This is true with furniture, appliances, art, books and kitchen things. My preferred way is to put things in plain sight a few days before the bin men come. What doesn't get taken by people who need it gets taken by the rag and bone men ( salvage ). If you feel uneasy about this, then call a proper charity that will place or sell on your things at a low price to those who will need it most. Avoid the charity that regularly breaks and bins most things they get if they cannot get a good price off the antique dealers. Ask the questions and you'll be sure the goods ( not actual rubbish) get a new home as opposed to just taking longer to get to the landfill. In fact the step before the charity is to ask around your neighbours or family before you put it put on the curb. Even better, hold a garage sale, put a small price tag and shift it to somebody else's house. <br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>2- When taking something from the tip behind the big grocery store:</b> be careful to be clean, be careful to take only what you need and no more. In fact you can, if you think it will work, arrange to let the manager know you are taking the stuff and why. Let them know that there are food banks and families that are going without while they bin industrial quantities of food every week.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>3- When taking something from the yard of a person</b> on or near the bin days: keep it clean, only take the stuff you can use and leave the rest for somebody else.<br />
<br />
<b>4- Give back:</b> keep the cycle going, do not be ashamed of what you are doing and make sure you never break any laws. <br />
<br />
<b>5- If you have enough people or space to take food</b> from the "not so perfect" back bin in large amounts, cook it, share it , freeze it , and share some more.<br />
<br />
<b>6- If you garden</b>, swap with others, give away excess seeds so others can garden as well. Process your fruit and veg into something that will last and cook with it or bake with it.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>7- Books:</b> If you're not the type to hold onto books for long, find people willing to take them off you or sell them to used books shops. <br />
<br />
<b>8- You are online:</b> then use the swapping sites, be fair, be honest and never undervalue things just because some idiot is giving things away for 25p. Things have value, just try buying them new cheap or trying to find somebody willing to build it for you for free..... these things have value and so do the skills to make them. <br />
<br />
9- lastly, in all of this, never loose sight of the fact that your act of generosity and consideration will <b>be a reason to socialize more and be aware of your impact on the people around you</b>. <b>You are also reducing the amount of materials used to replace the binned things if you had to buy them new yourself.</b> Consider that the next time you feel the need for a new phone a mere 4 or 5 months after you just upgraded. Waste is waste regardless of what end of the wheel you take it from. <br />
<br />
<b>Freecycling is not begging or scavenging for the sake of a temporary budgetary short fall</b>, it's a way of life that goes goes back centuries and will survive the current greedy culture that just wants us to buy new things and replace them 5 minutes later with something newer. Hand me downs are not always a bad thing , they are thrift. Some children's clothing is made so well and so timeless that several generations can wear them before they are worn out. Freecycling as we know it now was started in New York City by middle-class people and socialites who grew tired of the waste and even at their rarified cost of living were having to choose what they spent money on and what they preferred not to. That it took them back to the same values their parents and grandparents held barely 60 years ago is no accident. <br />
<br />
Because of this way of life, I have learned how to cook with an assortment of novel unexpected ingredients, I have learned to repair appliances and acquired the skills to use tools that have been abandoned by an entire generation. I have made new friends and been introduced to new cultures. My reach and impact into other people's lives is greater because I participate in the swapping, giving and reusing. The absolute ethical spine that drives the movement here and in other places is one that fights the instinct of some to isolate themselves and think only of themselves. <br />
<br />
I don't for a second suggest that this is the ultimate way of life, this using old or slightly used things only. I feel it's important that you also spend some serious cash with skilled workmen, farmers and merchants who get up in the morning to make a living. I'm not raising the act of charitable giving above and beyond every other thing you can do to the distraction of profit and the destruction of the marketplace for skilled people. We still need a functioning economy, but if you feel that wasting things is bad and you prefer to spend your money on things you can't make yourself, then freecycling is the route for you.<br />
<br />
<b>I do have one proviso about the reusing of things for the sake of reusing things</b>...... Know the value of what you are about to destroy for the sake of arts and crafts, fashion or simple utility. If you are taking a first edition of 1984 to cut amusing shapes into , then you are desecrating a book, but if you take 50 copies of Jaws in paper back to make coasters, you're ok. If you find vintage clothing and decide to cut it up for curtains, you could be insuring the destruction of the last of such an item. Underclothes especially are hard to find, but clothes of any kind above a certain age are worth more intact than altered or damaged. Do you need a spare part off an older thing that still works? be sure the main object is beyond use. Just because YOU don't see any value in the bit of furniture, book, record, painting etc.... does not give you the right to destroy it. Before you make the ultimate gesture of removing an object from it's principle reason of being, be damn sure it's beyond use, once it's gone, it's gone.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicp2UyB0UdLhG6iX9gjH0nPdEXhF5_LXtrszJnRidjgxzebkHA179m7sUmzcaBRXBK0m5VgGSQL82WF5vyjoRfYyOPlpODqsbnKL4JHVyywyU4W5dY0SvnucjPAsJqxNLVK0sdpAepLys/s1600/meat-grinder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicp2UyB0UdLhG6iX9gjH0nPdEXhF5_LXtrszJnRidjgxzebkHA179m7sUmzcaBRXBK0m5VgGSQL82WF5vyjoRfYyOPlpODqsbnKL4JHVyywyU4W5dY0SvnucjPAsJqxNLVK0sdpAepLys/s1600/meat-grinder.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">still using this</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
Here's a way my wife and I developed years ago and still use. We call it <i>the Bench G-d</i>, we take a box or bags of items we don't want and leave it on a park bench or bus stop. At some point, if we've chosen wisely, more than a few people who actually need the items will stop long enough and help themselves. It helps somtimes to put the word FREE in large friendly letters, but you don't have to. Friend of ours regularly does this by leaving books near the fireplace of her local pub, if anything, the place seems to breed more books now and all of them good for somebody. <br />
<br />
A few interesting links you can use to follow up on this.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://uk.freecycle.org/">UK freecycle</a>, a site where you .... swap or give away for free. <br />
<a href="http://www.gumtree.com/">Gumtree</a> , sell your stuff<br />
<a href="http://www.communitytransport.org/locations/solihull/">CT home Newcastle</a> ... furniture, appliances service for the less well off. Dealers not tolerated. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-24868145747773564702014-03-17T15:07:00.001+00:002014-03-17T21:48:28.760+00:00The re emergence of Central Europe or how the next European War started.I hate to say I told you so, but, I told you so. Russia under the leadership of Vladimir "Rex" Putin has only gone and proved me right yet again. Years ago I said he wasn't to be trusted, years ago, when he meddled in Georgia the World was warned that the current bunch of Empire rebuilding Russians were not going to rest until they fixed the mistakes of Mikhail Gorbachev. There has always been a nationalist party in the Kremlin and regardless of ideology, any regional government that tried to get away from the loving embrace of Mother Russia has paid in blood and even greater loss of freedom.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkF7AO1WUfToISGNQHWshFCEqOMYW3lJO9veUcYI56ZCJGNydniVPK1bkvENS2b6wUFQ2h95lj6tqNGwyy9hvrAN6cZCANi2vm4_CzB-UNuH6i7xbOBU4P5ylDo_TjmawNxes9FfPB0TM/s1600/old+crimea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkF7AO1WUfToISGNQHWshFCEqOMYW3lJO9veUcYI56ZCJGNydniVPK1bkvENS2b6wUFQ2h95lj6tqNGwyy9hvrAN6cZCANi2vm4_CzB-UNuH6i7xbOBU4P5ylDo_TjmawNxes9FfPB0TM/s1600/old+crimea.jpg" height="251" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
That the Crimea or Krim which is easier to say and more familiar to me, was never a part of Ukraine, really seems academic at this point, but is worth considering if only for the intellectual exercise most rational people went through as early as the emergence of an independent Ukraine in the 1990's. Firstly, the ceding in 1954 to the then wholly artificial concept of an independent self sufficient Ukraine within the Soviecky Soyuz by an apparently drunken Soviet leader in a fit of more than usually strong alcoholic haze, is one of the great mysteries of modern Russian history. That most regretted it almost immediately is not questioned. Roll onto the dissolution of the Soviet Empire in the wake of Glasnost and Peristroika, and you see the rise of nationalist elements that began to clamour for the reconstruction of what had been lost. Solely in the case of the Krim was there ever a justified case for the restitution of territory to it's proper place. If people who consider themselves Russian want to live in the paradise that is the Soviet Empire redux, that I will grudgingly admit, is their right. Where I depart from the views of both Kiyov and Moscow is the argument that you can forcibly keep people within borders that were never really yours or that you can just take back land after a sham referendum in which every rule ever written for referendums was broken. The less than subtle armed take over followed by the "transparent" ballot boxes and annexation atmosphere that followed the occupation of the peninsula, including the unvarnished and unapologetic propaganda machine that had hundreds of thousands of imaginary refugees fleeing Ukraine, pogroms and apparent rise of 5th column nazis rising in their hundreds of thousands ready to wage terrible war on the legacy of dear old Lenin, would have been funny had it not been so earnestly taken seriously by Russians and Russian speakers in the Ukraine. Having got the required soviet style 97 % in a vote( prior to the Russian occupation , a poll had annexation at 40%) , Putin and the ultra nationalists have the needed bit of moral justification they wanted. They would have achieved this years ago if they hadn't spent the entire time scaring the hell out of their own citizens and those of countries around them. Who knows, if Gorbachev had ultimately succeeded in creating a truly free and democratic Russia and the IMF and others not insisted on trying to recreate in Moscow what failed so miserably under Reagan and Thatcher, we'd be looking at situation where Crimea would continue to be an autonomous, predominantly Russian speaking state that could have eventually chosen in time to 1- separate from Ukraine then 2- negotiate it's entry into Russia..... or not. As it stands, this brutal regime has yet again shown it will do anything, as long as it can do so without fear of retribution or loss of personal power and fortune. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWkC4REoYdEPnxBHPA02glqwjgSPYxoCfy3Hv1wMrgdWbyhuvfotogFdotHM5dbvTWcLhAlYyxNJ-JsnOU2lkbmzEfh4KBrHtuOaHLLRsI_obS97X1N3o2GAHG54WUW2GqrAu3JQar6co/s1600/Ukraine+1919.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWkC4REoYdEPnxBHPA02glqwjgSPYxoCfy3Hv1wMrgdWbyhuvfotogFdotHM5dbvTWcLhAlYyxNJ-JsnOU2lkbmzEfh4KBrHtuOaHLLRsI_obS97X1N3o2GAHG54WUW2GqrAu3JQar6co/s1600/Ukraine+1919.jpg" height="289" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The fact remains that most existing sovereign states in central and eastern Europe today
live in constant fear that Russia will next target them in the never
ending crusade to rescue imperilled Russians living abroad or to repatriate territory unjustly , in the eyes of Russians, given away at one time or another and most recently in the great dissolution of the temporary madness of Gorbachev. Having successfully bluffed the West and the rest of Europe in the Krim, Putin now has his eye on <a href="http://scurvytoon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/central-european-slac-russia-and-the.html">the Eastern territories of Ukraine</a>. If the current crisis can be stopped at this tipping point between all out European war and some old fashioned diplomatic tension, we and the people of the Ukraine may yet walk away from the naked territorial grab that is next in the works without thousands of Ukrainians and Russians dying needlessly when the ultimate result is a draw in which nothing changes but the formerly intact landscape of homes, factories and farms. If shooting breaks out, the inevitable outcome is the hardening of the resolve of millions of Ukrainians, both native speakers and Russian speakers alike v the not so paternalistic Russian forces coming to take them kicking and screaming home to Moscow. As a citizen of Europe, you surely cannot be unaware that any war on European soil that involves Russia directly like this, cannot help but escalate tensions and cause every government from Warsaw through at least Berlin or even Paris to mobilize it's armed forces where if the desired effect for Putin is pan European war, he will get his wish. The mood that prevailed last week where economic and diplomatic sanctions on Russia and it's oligarchs was not seen to be realistic or practical has now moved into full application. Germany and a number of other nations are moving to a position where soon a defacto boycott of many Russian products and services will occur. Sanctions on individuals and their companies so successful against the Serbs in the last Balkan war, are the first step in a long line of steps designed to stop the naked territorial aggression and ambitions of Putin's Russia short of having to declare War. I do have one question to which even I don't have an answer.... Can The United Nations Security council survive with it's reputation intact if a permanent member is allowed to veto any resolution stopping it's own aggression on a sovereign state let alone it's own people? I'm sure like the League of Nations it will hobble along like a dying animal for a bit, but can the Security council find a way around this? I for one hope so, the vacuum it's death would cause is too dangerous to contemplate.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgLOFqiJZMtZQLH0JSNIFsYbYM1ff_KlEd8CgQzrbPY8bBVpUCeO_u7Q9HV3TD3MpUlf5qbKXuG5S0FY76af41fKJbOlS1P8vRtuIe2FXbYX3AVI7UzLBNt2K0sQgqoopGuudXI4ILYS8/s1600/league+of+nations.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgLOFqiJZMtZQLH0JSNIFsYbYM1ff_KlEd8CgQzrbPY8bBVpUCeO_u7Q9HV3TD3MpUlf5qbKXuG5S0FY76af41fKJbOlS1P8vRtuIe2FXbYX3AVI7UzLBNt2K0sQgqoopGuudXI4ILYS8/s1600/league+of+nations.png" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
What are the other critical forgotten conflict zones where it could all still go horribly wrong? Moldova, Georgia and Azerbaijan as well as Latvia where fully 25% of the population are ethnic Russians. If we step away from strictly linguistic and ethnic tensions, Russia has till now been, all be it unstable at times, a partner in the greater international efforts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons and in ( he laughed with unease ) Syria, where it has so far ( rolls eyes) refrained from further escalating the civil war/revolution into a bigger unstable bloodbath. As and when Russia drops the pretence of being an honest broker and good global citizen, we will be back in the full grips of a Cold War we have not felt since the 80's. I'm still not convinced that anybody will use nuclear weapons, and maybe because of this, I'm all the more concerned that full on conventional war will break out in Europe and drag the rest of the World into it..... again. The European Union and the effect it has had on nations in it and those wanting in is tangible and powerful proof that the last thing Europeans want is another European land war. Oh look at those words come out of hibernation people, like tired old soldiers who thought they'd been retired for good but called out again for one last kick at the ball. Where was I? The EU, In recent elections in Serbia and Bulgaria, the political momentum has been away from isolationism and towards a greater integration into the European Union, the cleansing effect this has had on countries is in marked contrast to what they were like a mere 10 years ago. The one positive you can take from the crisis is that even in the UK, the anti European rhetoric will be falling on increasingly deafer ears as the fear of war and the destruction of Pax Europa is staring us down the barrel of a kalishnikov.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim-e06oHlWYIPCKZax6YmYEbHAD7OC_KBlVtoT0ljDh3Smuh6dsJLMW1qduF8BemPwn_qkUmF8f4XxSUVTA0Uu3DSYOGvceoDy6IItrPwIQZPA_Pg6nwDLRGsAdBnlaN7n37EqOD9gqf8/s1600/the+day+after.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim-e06oHlWYIPCKZax6YmYEbHAD7OC_KBlVtoT0ljDh3Smuh6dsJLMW1qduF8BemPwn_qkUmF8f4XxSUVTA0Uu3DSYOGvceoDy6IItrPwIQZPA_Pg6nwDLRGsAdBnlaN7n37EqOD9gqf8/s1600/the+day+after.jpg" height="142" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Some of you are too young to remember what it was like to live in the cold war. Lucky you, but grab your towels fast because we're about to get another ride on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse merry go round. Sometime from the moment Russian tanks crushed the Hungarian revolution in 1957 to the moment of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Peace Dividend somewhere in early 1989, the world was in the cold war. From as early as aged 7, I lived in daily terror of dying from a nuclear holocaust. It coloured my view of relationships, marriage and my definition of long term planning. I had for years a recurring nightmare where I would be walking in the street near my home seeing my family walking away from me under threat and when I turned around to look at the house, there would be the unmistakable, yet silent, mushroom cloud of death rising over the city from behind our home. The wind would approach, trees would bend and buildings dissolve and just before I died....I would wake up. That was no way to live. When the nightmares stopped, we all thought that regular programming had resumed and to a great extent it has. This current crisis has however restored the previous levels of terror prior to the last cold war. Where in the rest of Europe the appetite of Germany, Austria, France and Britain has effectively gone away, Russia is still hungry. It has never stopped and pushes up against the political and economic aspirations of a peaceful and unified Europe. The death of the so called nuclear deterrent only makes actual conventional war more inevitable in Europe and the European Union the only effective solution to the Russian threat.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/Sx_cOTkrSyU/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/Sx_cOTkrSyU&source=uds" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><embed width="320" height="266" src="https://youtube.googleapis.com/v/Sx_cOTkrSyU&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object> </div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
War is neither evitable or inevitable </div>
<br />
<br />
The first ripples of fear will manifest themselves in the Central European capitals like Berlin and Warsaw where already the new Europe is drawing up plans to put a stop to the as yet "evitable?" war with Russia. New mutual defence pacts are being drawn up or tested as we speak, gone is the hope that somehow Russians will somehow develop a healthy appreciation of our democracy, our only desire now being to castrate the regime and it's friends enough to buy time to shore up defences, limit the damage and be clear we mean business. I would like to think that the wishes and desires of the various peoples of the emerging Central Europe that had been swallowed by the Russian Bear will be respected and encouraged to the detriment of Soviet ambitions, but I fear at least some of the more far off western powers will still try to use us as a bargaining chip. Please be aware that once out of the bottle, powers like Poland that have joined Germany and France in the new Entente Cordiale that includes the potent mix of NATO and EU membership will be hard to break down short of the previously mentioned naked armed aggression.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkeFK9BZPCYNSTTv7gK0meHxJ8TdSlRQggRhwxBZSJWjUDe6WJzJVijDvYqUE6D_CdrPYuob_5aE3fzWXagMyazFOjsAR2Qx_bsJzW159PY-Q0z6JeEZ3g7A_81DarblYOtIb__jqkvkU/s1600/merkle+tusk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkeFK9BZPCYNSTTv7gK0meHxJ8TdSlRQggRhwxBZSJWjUDe6WJzJVijDvYqUE6D_CdrPYuob_5aE3fzWXagMyazFOjsAR2Qx_bsJzW159PY-Q0z6JeEZ3g7A_81DarblYOtIb__jqkvkU/s1600/merkle+tusk.jpg" height="259" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Merkle and Tusk</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Russia has had it's moment to be part of greater Europe and seems to have decided rather firmly that it will not even try be part of Pax Europa. If this is the way it's meant to be for the next decade or so, then so be it, let's not drag our feet any more than we need to. No more Mr Nice Guy, time we took down the oligarchs and the dictators they are supported by. I'm sad it's come to this, but at least I can look forward to the leadership and wisdom of Frau Merkle who herself had to endure the horrors and deprivations of the Cold War like the rest of the new European leaders in Central Europe. There is nothing like a victim at the helm to insure the mistakes of the past are not repeated. Yet it would be foolhardy for the peaceniks too to think for a second that self defence and military alliances that mean something are a bad thing. If Ukraine asks for help from it's neighbours as it will most assuredly not hesitate to do should it come to that, be prepared to see many more millions of slavs who have tasted freedom since 1989 to stand thier ground and not roll over and die with a whimper like some in the West have done repeatedly. Some of us have lost relatives to Russian aggression and oppression in every decade since 1945, if you think there is no stomach for a fight in Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria or the Baltic states, etc.., think again.<br />
<br />
In my lifetime I have seen a few things I thought I would never see.<br />
<br />
1- Polish freedom from Russia<br />
2- The fall of the Soviet Union<br />
3- Irish peace<br />
4- The end of the nuclear nightmare.... literally.<br />
5- The restoration of Europe to it's state of affairs prior to 1900<br />
<br />
The New Europe has ignited hopes in me of standing for election as an MEP, the House of Commons or even the Polish Sejm. I now live on the cusp of fulfilling several long held dreams, not least of which living in Poland again at least part time on my family's own recovered lands and properties. However that and other hopes are tempered by that old familiar feeling in the pit of my stomach I still have every time I watch a programme about European history and they get to the part where yet again, Poland and the rest of Central Europe are engulfed in a fight not of their own making, where our young and not so young people will yet again die for the vanity of a man in Moscow. Yet again we will be forced to rebuild our cities and towns and yet again we will be bombed into an industrial stone age, our economies in ruins. Well not this time if we can help. And if it comes to a fight at least this time we'll be ready.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegTIyq0ufYo6A7PNgDoXr8Wd_ZYEGcS0vFXW2kyt5su4eH20X-Ay0PlLGtR-sea1zgumA0-mFN99vO7WGz3_AgR1OIj-H3BeN_rzpasK-TZtZUIivBQGbkN2TeelWaGjCJHNIysa2tRE/s1600/children+among+the+ruins.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhegTIyq0ufYo6A7PNgDoXr8Wd_ZYEGcS0vFXW2kyt5su4eH20X-Ay0PlLGtR-sea1zgumA0-mFN99vO7WGz3_AgR1OIj-H3BeN_rzpasK-TZtZUIivBQGbkN2TeelWaGjCJHNIysa2tRE/s1600/children+among+the+ruins.jpg" height="207" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Those of you in far flung places who don't think a few shots fired in the Balkans or the Crimea will amount to anything are forgetting that the recent history between 1914 and 1989 was an interlude in which Central Europe was swallowed whole by both the West and the East, made to be the pawns of powers far away and too concerned with other matters to think our people mattered. Things are different now, we have our countries back, our power back and our dignity back. Soon jobs held in near perpetuity by British, French and American politicians, diplomats and generals will pass into the hands of those most concerned. Central Europe is back and hoping it will not require a baptism of fire to be taken seriously. <br />
<br />
I strongly recomend you watch this instructive video of the evolution of the map of Europe. pick a spot, any spot and watch, then look at Poland, Germany, Russia and a few other states. Try to realize that through most of European history the nations some of us hardly reckon can muster so much as a veto were for the longest time huge military and economic powers with interests that reached far past their physical boundaries. Further take your modern history glasses off and realize that Russia is IN Europe, it , Russia IS Eastern Europe and all the states to the west of it form the centre along with Germany. Maybe now you'll realize once and for all that things have changed. There is no Warsaw pact, no Soyuz and no Soviet Empire, just free sovereign states that are part of the old Europe minus a few royal houses. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://loiter.co/v/watch-as-1000years-of-european-boarders-change/" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhlo0lV5w9YyE1CI_1g-atp_xK3-iyAFxBFAuYjf8z2rKIdWvQNlW_-WDyzKQU5RNwBQYia8Xbae53yF1tYxTsVEJ3sxG8EQMgv2tBdhl_idCwn8Gyc_kfwyqDfQ5IqXOkTuygNVUvpRE/s1600/interactive+europe.PNG" height="182" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8fc84a6e-adde-11e3-bc07-00144feab7de.html#axzz2wFFeyK8T">Late news edit: Russian demands that Ukraine</a> create a new federal constitution, it remain neutral or in other words, not join the EU or NATO, give status to the Russian language and Lastly respect the result of the impromptu referendum in Crimea. <i>The real news is that President Obama on the recommendation of Foreign Secretary Kerry, has accepted this.</i> Again, the actual opinion of the legitimate government of Ukraine is to be ignored and Russia is allowed to dictate terms in order to get out of a sticky wicket. Typical, disgusting and a complete surrender by Obama. Who is he to speak for another country, who is Lavrov to demand these things of Ukraine? While on the surface some of the demands are even reasonable, but seen as a whole, similar to the attempt to humiliate Serbia in 1914. And if you need reminding, despite the total acceptance of even the most intrusive demands from Austria, Serbia still ended up being invaded. Can we expect better from Russia? Probably not. EU foreign ministers are to meet and are already rejecting some of the demands as extreme. Among the demands the creation of a “Support Group for Ukraine” consisting of the US, EU and Russia that would guarantee the military neutrality of Ukraine, the same sort of diplomatic construct that kept Belgium neutral till 1914 when it no longer suited the Kaiser. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
At the end of the day if Ukraine does join the EU it too will want to make military alliances with neighbours that won't threaten to invade them. Russia will have to accept at some point that they no longer can call the shots like that. This of course will take longer if people like Obama insist on telling another people that they have no free will unless he and Putin think they can have it. How very sad. Plus ça change and all that. Even sadder is it's not clear if Putin is blinking or just playing WW1, the game. Obama's words<b> "continue to oppose any violations of Ukraine's sovereignty or territorial integrity " </b>ring even more hollow in the knowledge that the reaction in the White House and UN are those of the old school diplomats that have blinked when they could have helped at the ultimate cost of Ukraine. The desire of Ukraine to join the EU, the very reason for the uprising in the first place now seems to be in jeopardy. Time will tell if this premature climb down by the Americans will be accepted by the European foreign ministers and Ukraine itself. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-32041605961133524692014-03-15T16:44:00.000+00:002014-03-15T21:47:44.757+00:00What me? Sinner? or how to fine tune yourself<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I have a question for you. Can
you, the living breathing embodiment of the Mahatma Ghandi or Mother
Theresa be free of sin, you who have given to every charity, recycled,
voted, protested, signed petitions, been nice to minorities, adopted rescue kittens,
read the Guardian and bought fair trade, be capable of sin? </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbHiAWkum6KCHjlxleLZmXNHbuVnQe4zjykJawowAC-l4ZPud8XzemEO_f0dcuZgSvKAX-ef77LA3kwo2Fyg0phZJS0cYmAdUK-yEqym67oUeGMjRAi4_9SYpdzy7SkMFGVUkzavCm8lU/s1600/mother_teresa_tout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbHiAWkum6KCHjlxleLZmXNHbuVnQe4zjykJawowAC-l4ZPud8XzemEO_f0dcuZgSvKAX-ef77LA3kwo2Fyg0phZJS0cYmAdUK-yEqym67oUeGMjRAi4_9SYpdzy7SkMFGVUkzavCm8lU/s1600/mother_teresa_tout.jpg" height="208" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Most people won't consider themselves capable of sin so long as they still go by the old fashioned teaching that created multiple generations of Catholics ( or other Christians) who were told that disobeying your parents, not doing your homework and forgetting to throw out the rubbish was sinning. Such a list of what we can call minor <span data-dobid="hdw">misdemeanour</span>s, compared to actual sins and the adult application of what is actually meant as a sin, are worlds apart and are the principle reason most people either don't understand or take seriously the word SIN.<br />
<br />
In this season of Lent where we are supposed to examine ourselves and find ways to improve ourselves, perhaps a quick look at Sin itself and the way it affects our lives is in order.<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPp8HB8vmQI0e8aTMrtamMuiJN1bUWoROMdF9iVKzCLSpk76ZG3SUAB_ndmc4WPAFUyqCwaQDLIGuub1xeHgISF7Z4iQ7bKGycc9KEmMb-UOfSsJOM6EH9Ly15F8th_V0GtRSK0UxQXso/s1600/cricket.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPp8HB8vmQI0e8aTMrtamMuiJN1bUWoROMdF9iVKzCLSpk76ZG3SUAB_ndmc4WPAFUyqCwaQDLIGuub1xeHgISF7Z4iQ7bKGycc9KEmMb-UOfSsJOM6EH9Ly15F8th_V0GtRSK0UxQXso/s1600/cricket.png" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Guilt is your conscience reminding you it's there.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Guilt, Catholic guilt, closely related to Jewish guilt and that thing English people do when confronted with squelchy noises and awkward situations, is the manifestation of all people asking themselves the core question, consciously or unconsciously, "Am I doing the right thing". It's another way of being aware of sin. Sin in and of itself is not just the list of the big ones, the cardinal sins, the sins that get you locked up and fined, but the myriad of small traps that define life for ourselves and those around us, that through awareness keep us from complicating day to day life unnecessarily. And yet it is also the force that requires us to occasionally make a few waves but know also when to stop. It's hardly simple is it? But it operates in some, 24 hours a day and in others hardly at all. Sin, the awareness of sin or guilt are the only tools we have as people to navigate an often tempting world where many basic values have been left by the side of the road.<br />
<br />
When some pray <b>"</b><span class="st"><b>God, <i>grant me</i> the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, ... the things: which should be changed,: and the <i>Wisdom to</i> distinguish: the one from the other."</b> They are asking for guidance in knowing when to pick a fight, when to make a principled stand, when to bend and when to lead by example. This doesn't absolve anybody for a second from trying to insure a better self or a better world, but it does keep us from getting into the kind of trouble that will make our efforts wasted, misunderstood or so devalued, we may as well not have tried.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1E2c6Yeg7GqaFXwMiLeITAe18sN4KqSRLhiDxtSxGL76rYXz23ileBQsCguPmYl-DoKrHyDPWOAJvWzuMZw3zk-AHtdmoR05elIXyFzi6L4JgwJXdoEIk28pziBfj97HZqc711DhQMP8/s1600/Tony_Benn_Cheltenha_159774a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1E2c6Yeg7GqaFXwMiLeITAe18sN4KqSRLhiDxtSxGL76rYXz23ileBQsCguPmYl-DoKrHyDPWOAJvWzuMZw3zk-AHtdmoR05elIXyFzi6L4JgwJXdoEIk28pziBfj97HZqc711DhQMP8/s1600/Tony_Benn_Cheltenha_159774a.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="st"> I can hear some of you thinking, but this is about idealism and big principles. Well sometimes it is, and it guided the actions of many great people, including the just passed away <b>Tony Benn</b>, who was a great practitioner of the Methodist school of Socialism. His life was about righting great wrongs and picking his moments. Sometimes he chose wisely, other times he preferred to loose than to win just a little bit. While life, especially political life is about the great debates and great reforms, it is also about the the small battles we face every day with ourselves, with others and with the limits of where our rights and obligations begin and end. </span><br />
<br />
<span class="st">We need to accept that if we are to achieve personal serenity and adherence to the values we hold dear and more importantly through our own example, show others that they are good values, we need to first break down the intellectual notion of what sin actually asks us to examine. In the Catholic mass, the following phrase is used when confessing to sin and declaring our souls pure and open to receiving G-d. </span><br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:TargetScreenSize>800x600</o:TargetScreenSize>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]-->
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0cm;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
</style>
<![endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span></b><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> <span style="font-size: large;">"I
confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have
sinned through my own fault <b>in my thoughts</b> and <b>in my words</b>, <b>in what I have
done</b>, and <b>in what I have failed to do</b>. "</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It's not long, but boy is it heavy laden, and yet despite multiple repetition or even mumbling over the years, the weight of those words is lost on many who still, as we have seen, believe sinning is not having made your bed and disobeying your Mother. <b> That somehow sinning is for small children and once you're old enough to open a bank account, it doesn't apply to you is missing the point entirely. </b> If you take nothing else out of a church service, then that simple sentence should be the one thing ringing in your ears everyday of your life. It is the moment during the service when you are asked, for a few seconds to examine yourself and see if you could make the week coming better than the last. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<i><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Let's look at the 4 conditions and consider them. </span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b>"In my thoughts": </b> You could argue that your thoughts are your own and that if you do not follow through on killing the person who has just mistaken Tuesday for Thursday for the 3rd week in a row, costing you time and money, you have showed restraint, even mercy. In as much as you have avoided a direct action that could have been unfortunate and even possibly illegal, you may be right, but are still not out of the woods. Your thoughts, your decision making as it were, will guide your attitude towards people and things in a number of small but significant ways. If you are not open to new suggestions, new ideas, new information or the exercise of reserving judgement until you have enough information, you will choose unwisely. If you limit the sphere of consequence of your decisions to the 3 feet around you and your personal comfort, glory and satisfaction, you have in fact through your thoughts sinned. No man is an Island and if we accept that we live in a society that is composed of more than just ourselves, we must be inclusive in our thinking. But if you insist on me giving you a concrete example of sin through thought by even a saintly person, I give you reckless, insensitive, sinful thought, I give you... <b>jumping to conclusions</b>. It's a favoured sport in my tribe and that of my wife, having led us individually and together to a lot of bad decisions, some funnier than others and some, life alteringly awful, dragging on for years and usually based on absolutely nothing.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8IFHUo7mjkwFmdnAuBbW9lgC9W-q8F2flhQ6j-TWLUDFBmxZw0CrPSvgZmoUEcNzsNa5BG8C1gUXlr8_PBVn_vbYxLt_jsXJ22_9VQxC0slJjR_Tr3EJq8QATHoSuIqAmncKgiUnGdUA/s1600/jumping+to+conclusions.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8IFHUo7mjkwFmdnAuBbW9lgC9W-q8F2flhQ6j-TWLUDFBmxZw0CrPSvgZmoUEcNzsNa5BG8C1gUXlr8_PBVn_vbYxLt_jsXJ22_9VQxC0slJjR_Tr3EJq8QATHoSuIqAmncKgiUnGdUA/s1600/jumping+to+conclusions.png" height="224" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b>"In my words":</b> Words are powerful if you give them power, and other times they are just words. You need to know the difference. This diplomatic skill eludes a lot of people, especially the brightest among us. We will at times forget ourselves and say things that are inadvertently hurtful or lead to questions and consequences that were wholly avoidable. I'm not telling you to never utter a word, or never praise or never mention something embarrassing or never correct. These are sometimes the right thing to do. Some people just need to deal with the fact that life goes on regardless, that praise is part of the learning process and that correction is the passing on of wisdom, that humour is as much part of the healing process as is comforting. Where some of us might cross the line is when we carry a joke too far or pick at a still raw, less than healed sore of another person. You have to ask yourself if it was worth the discomfort of the other person when you scored that extra point or humiliated your friend for "a laugh". As for the less learned, you also sin with words when you use them and think, it's all the same, you can chop and change meanings and expect others to justify and support your ignorance. Do not be offended or surprised when you get something wrong. When you reject the correction or the wisdom with your words, you send a signal to the other person that they need not waste any more effort on you, and that will be your loss, not theirs. If anything, remember always that the wisest man is the one who is still learning. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Lastly, sometimes ignorance can in fact be bliss. Ask yourself at least three times before you spill the beans about something too soon, to the wrong person or to the person being wronged. I won't say who, but a person of my acquaintance was in a bad relationship. I tried to the best of my ability to meddle with a light touch, but discovered she was not yet ready to find out for herself what kind of mess she was in. When the time came and the relationship dissolved, I was there to offer help when it was needed and we are still friends. If she had in fact been in any kind of real danger, you bet I would not have hesitated to act more forcefully, but some people just won't be told and sometimes you're best staying out of it. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">A good rule of thumb before you open your mouth and can never take back what you said is to 1- know who is there 2- be sure what you're going to say doesn't open a can of worms and 3- Be sure you will be clearly understood. How others choose to twist your words is not down to you, but always strive for clarity. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu1WMb5CSjWTsddJ-yWtV0eGTXefbpuQD7jbWHUJJczZliv0eZByjV-K8KTYDq9-NJJx9YNsYXn38YYftmKQS7a2d05e8TUNTNOfumOMuoBmm2QWS7pTkI4pm0DNBUbDaivpWj8nQmYho/s1600/speak_become.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu1WMb5CSjWTsddJ-yWtV0eGTXefbpuQD7jbWHUJJczZliv0eZByjV-K8KTYDq9-NJJx9YNsYXn38YYftmKQS7a2d05e8TUNTNOfumOMuoBmm2QWS7pTkI4pm0DNBUbDaivpWj8nQmYho/s1600/speak_become.gif" height="250" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b>In what I have done:</b> This is different from words, as words, however good or bad, flawed or premature, can be rendered into a choice not taken. However, once you've crossed the Rubicon, that's it. In doing something, you open a whole new can of worms that can't be changed. Consequences of a much more solid variety, as a rule will cost you more than an I'm sorry I said that, they will bring with them a lot of ill will, anger and retribution on you. Are you really prepared to waste your money or time for example, on a luxury for yourself when your dependent children and spouse who have in no way wronged you or been bad, will later have to suffer themselves because of your own greed? Is it really a harmless sin when you opt to do something to a person or persons over a matter so trivial there is no law for it but will lead to their lives being worse directly or indirectly through your choice. I do not suggest you hold the weight of the world like Atlas, but do think about how your choices will impact on those around you. When you hold hostage something out of spite or out of simple seeking of fun, the person to whom the object belongs to will trust you less, expect restitution of damaged goods and likely place you on a black list you will not soon come off of. And you had better hope and pray that whatever it is you damaged isn't irreplaceable. Sentimental objects, collector items and appliances that will cost more than a week's wages to repair or replace will also shift responsibility for the replacement of those things on others if you yourself are not able to. How fair is it that they need to pay for your stupidity? Why should they loose something they took care of for years because you were too inept to be careful? And even if it is yours and has come to you from an older relative, does it give you the right to be the last person to ever have it or use it? In most cases we are meant to preserve and care for things and people, and it starts from the moment we are able to pass something on intact or better than when we received it. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj68XU471K0rwi32upPpPwgMP2g_HH2dWphnoSZJQlOwAkHozxWgbjoHqgSFhu0j-Vclv2kWp4sEvI6JV3MsLmyrvihmNw1E11R-gCumugCTG3lwDbOZT5-JfqoC1grtw6PuR3_YAK7oWo/s1600/actions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj68XU471K0rwi32upPpPwgMP2g_HH2dWphnoSZJQlOwAkHozxWgbjoHqgSFhu0j-Vclv2kWp4sEvI6JV3MsLmyrvihmNw1E11R-gCumugCTG3lwDbOZT5-JfqoC1grtw6PuR3_YAK7oWo/s1600/actions.jpg" height="287" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b>In what I have not done:</b> Here's a tough one that isn't any harder to understand than the power of words. So you didn't do something, so what , who got hurt? Well you didn't, but it has cost somebody else for sure. I'll use a simple example we've all seen in operation. The <b>somebody else's problem field </b>so well explained in Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy. There are three or four of you in a house, somebody , the famous somebody, but not you, has left a sock on the floor. You see it, but it's not yours, so you leave it there, a few days go by, the others too ignore the sock, especially the person who dropped it. Eventually the sock becomes a no go zone, surrounded by dust, and for all intents and purposes, invisible. Then laundry day comes along and presto, who ever was doing the laundry picked it up. They had to go on a seek and destroy mission around the house looking for all the lost bits of clothing, it cost them time, it cost them happiness and it made them feel used and unappreciated that nobody else would pick up the damn sock. Again mining the rich vein that is Douglas Adams, there is a refrigerator, a detective and a cleaning lady. The detective won't throw out the disgusting rotting sandwich in the back of the fridge as it's the cleaning lady's job, she won't touch it as she expects not to have to be exposed to possible new life forms that will eat her. It's not hard to see Dirk Gently is wrong, but we also recognize a huge stubborn streak in him. it's not his job, not his responsibility and it's certainly not his problem. Somebody will have to clean it up , but not him. Again I'm not suggesting you become muggins and do it all yourself, but show some initiative, then get the problem solved in a more permanent and fair manner. Lastly, without breaking any law or being immediately and irrevocably awful, if you delay action, any action, too often, the time to do the right thing will pass and you will be responsible for the worsening of something through your inaction. Try not to leave those to do lists mouldering too long before they become impossible to do things. Some won't affect anybody but yourself, yet others will in point of fact leave you hoping others don't find out it was you that forgot to apply for something when it was easy but you figured " I don't need it, so sod it" and now your mates are wondering why they are the only ones paying full price and locked into a year long contract. BTW, if you know something seriously bad is being done and you can stop it but you don't do anything, you are as good as doing it yourself. </span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipYN6vq462ZiKuqSnDkrBPL_sZCt67X0kfZ9JohBmvgiUVhrEwZ2WHdmN79fY_xUzR8cgDFTwhyPS9-CoQuI38oOyoaDT9UcmouXWb1KQLFWDPVV4szxpAmnGrVIDcBjYMok3CypMv8M4/s1600/narcissism2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipYN6vq462ZiKuqSnDkrBPL_sZCt67X0kfZ9JohBmvgiUVhrEwZ2WHdmN79fY_xUzR8cgDFTwhyPS9-CoQuI38oOyoaDT9UcmouXWb1KQLFWDPVV4szxpAmnGrVIDcBjYMok3CypMv8M4/s1600/narcissism2.jpg" height="320" width="234" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It's a simple thing to do things on time, do them even if you don't feel the need for it now. It can and probably will come in handy later on and you can never predict how your decision to not do something today will impact harmfully on your friends or future relatives. Make the time to do things, think about others and how your seen or unseen unselfish act will always reflect better on people than the selfish one you hope they never find out about. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Savings, thrift, the act of not wasting, the act of sharing , the act of asking if others want as well, are all actions you can choose not to do that are not a cardinal sin, just nigly little annoying ones that if you let them pile up, will hurt you and those around you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">There you have it, the four conditions, the four horsemen of Sin, not so scary, not so simple and not so insignificant. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Having got through this, let me ask you again .... You , can you, the living breathing embodiment of the </span><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> Mahatma Ghandi or Mother
Theresa be free of sin, you who have given to every charity, recycled,
voted, protested, signed petitions, been nice to minorities, adopted rescue kittens,
read the Guardian and bought fair trade, be capable of sin</span>? Of course you can, not even the great Mahatma was free of sin, sin as you can see is not just about the big heavy commandments, it's a life long fine tuning of yourself ,and guilt, the little voice reminding you to look at your check engine light from time to time.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_MJN4OZffo50bzAylHSUOyAnRHtdLWaY5TmmA02mMl4P5DPaTwgzUxP-g59J7G01fj8e9YtAT68qF4lAMoldvi7CKPNatVJooMxR36emDOWbErnPHV85XDLepL-_sc0_aXr0Ce52R8c/s1600/easteregg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgF_MJN4OZffo50bzAylHSUOyAnRHtdLWaY5TmmA02mMl4P5DPaTwgzUxP-g59J7G01fj8e9YtAT68qF4lAMoldvi7CKPNatVJooMxR36emDOWbErnPHV85XDLepL-_sc0_aXr0Ce52R8c/s1600/easteregg.jpg" height="226" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<span class="st"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="st"> </span> <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-14787597062934818902014-03-11T20:55:00.000+00:002014-03-12T16:25:36.301+00:00Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy: 36 years later. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicav7OQceeocDiHcNmzRvc6y7aUAbL92WzV5BMnx4EdS7QQn2m7MU54czHE29RwTvCwW0EGGCI_lhC-qxCFd5plJFigYmfxVdjFP41xkCra8Uq1uLKorTFoPj9N7NYpDG1yuhnwMeWN-k/s1600/douglasadams.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicav7OQceeocDiHcNmzRvc6y7aUAbL92WzV5BMnx4EdS7QQn2m7MU54czHE29RwTvCwW0EGGCI_lhC-qxCFd5plJFigYmfxVdjFP41xkCra8Uq1uLKorTFoPj9N7NYpDG1yuhnwMeWN-k/s1600/douglasadams.jpg" height="307" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent">In case you missed it.... it's Douglas Adams's
Birthday today. One of the greatest sons of Cambridge, second only to
the founder of the circling poets of Kakrafoon, 5th in line in froodness
from the Jamaican roti wagon man who is the holder<span class="text_exposed_show">
of the perspex pillar of justice with wich he scrapes grease from
the grease trap. A man who still owes a script to the BBC which
graciously has granted him yet another extension, having missed the
last 8, at least 3 out of simple habit and one out of mischief. We may yet rescue a story from one of his hard drives
but I suspect it will be more Silmarilion than Restaurant at the end. In the interim, we can read, watch or listen to any number of versions of his Magnum Opus till that day comes to pass.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">I was moved to write today mostly out the need to tell as many people as I could about the hoopie little features the BBC has laid on for the HHGTTG cognoscenti around the world. I set the mood first by tuning into <a href="http://www.induceddyslexia.com/hitchhiker.htm">this wonderful site holding the radio plays</a> or <a href="http://grooveshark.com/#!/album/The+Hitchhiker+s+Guide+To+The+Galaxy/232148">here </a>as they went out that first time in 1978. I could have also gone to the specially designed <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007jlzj">BBC page complete</a> with reconstituted retro game even, but chose to not wait till next week, tho in fairness, I need little provocation to listen again and do so at the slightest excuse or if I have a long train ride that would otherwise be punctuated by offers of bad biscuits and overpriced East Coast hot beverages. (<a href="http://www.clivebanks.co.uk/THHGTTG/">scripts for the radio shows here, follow the logical links)</a></span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImasPf0vw3yslKsGfjHYZMui3kflwqfzkqj61oIfb_LyeKvGrXBKHD-KQtsZlfw8rT1afiibfEDm7wYXQos5wRIJHLp55rBdIpL7LsDXur70ck84beSqVUO1ccU_mkaa-epgtyFU4OFw/s1600/infocom+adams+game.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhImasPf0vw3yslKsGfjHYZMui3kflwqfzkqj61oIfb_LyeKvGrXBKHD-KQtsZlfw8rT1afiibfEDm7wYXQos5wRIJHLp55rBdIpL7LsDXur70ck84beSqVUO1ccU_mkaa-epgtyFU4OFw/s1600/infocom+adams+game.gif" height="243" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-the-galaxy-game-30th-anniversary-edition">Play the game again or for the first time</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Ah yes.... er, Games, yes. If you're old enough, you'll remember the joy of early gaming where you </span></span>typed instructions and dialogue into a programme that if you were lucky, had you trained in the appropriate machine language responses required to get past the bulldozer. If however you are alive now and were not a spotty youth in 1984, you will find bewildering the manner in which you interact. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1g84m0sXpnNCv84GpN2PLZG/the-hitchhiker-s-guide-to-the-galaxy-game-30th-anniversary-edition">Don't Panic, the kind boffins at the BBC have included several tabs that help you navigate the Neanderthal retro game with ease</a>. It has lots of cool sound effects and once you get the hang of it, it even begins to make sense. I having been a past master when it first came out, took only 10 minutes to finally get out the house before I was crushed to death by the bulldozer. Not bad as it's been nearly 30 years since I played it last. Truth be told, even then it was a miracle that first time when I made onto the Vogon cruiser. I won't give any more away, but if you get onto the Heart of Gold, do please pay a visit to the Nutrimatics drinks dispenser. You know what the sad thing is ? Even now I'm getting the details from memory. </span></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0JmQbftzJ_J-Aeuf80FapRmX9HBXCCkFXzZOilehBMgiLcf1lQDXO-tjcDGnQp1EHd308Z58NdVTs-pfrVzMMh4G27CWyYQwE5-a6U21FkBRjXfdykX2BQaxBkinV8WZbh-7-nIlKsWE/s1600/babelfish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0JmQbftzJ_J-Aeuf80FapRmX9HBXCCkFXzZOilehBMgiLcf1lQDXO-tjcDGnQp1EHd308Z58NdVTs-pfrVzMMh4G27CWyYQwE5-a6U21FkBRjXfdykX2BQaxBkinV8WZbh-7-nIlKsWE/s1600/babelfish.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">And that's the thing about Douglas Adams, he wrote other things.... Dirk Gently, Doctor Who eps and lots of other stuff, but what sticks like glue in our collective minds , occupying precious space that could be storing valuable information like where I left that Dalek cookie cutter or the alleged safe place I last left my datastick in, is the entirety of HHGTTG, all of it, the radio plays, the telly plays and the books. Greater even than Shakespeare and his many plays, better than JRR Tolkein's LOTR, HHGTTG has managed to be ever present babelfish Sci Fi trope treasure trove and existentialist Woody Allen sketch edited by a Pythoner filtering the rest of life for you. If you're like most of my geek mates of a certain age, that's precisely the sort of thing that would appeal to you. Give it to a young person who's just turned old enough to start considering the question of Life the Universe and Everything, and you'll soon find out if you have a deeply curious person who may turn into scientist, philosopher or both. A constant questioning vein of humour runs throughout the entire work and distracts the reader/listener from the fact that Douglas Adams turned inconsistency, lack of continuity and writing by the skin of your teeth into an art form. If you read it correctly, you can actually hear him thinking out loud, wondering which turn to take and more often than not, wondering how to get himself out of yet another trap of his own making. His most famous such trap was left unresolved in the upstairs landing of Dirk Gently's Apartment building. Like the Gordian Knot of old, a man from the removal firm finally sawed it in half. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">If you're new to the obsession, I warn you that you'll need all of it. Well maybe not the film, it was a mess and you'll only mutter darkly afterwards, but the rest, you'll need it all. Here's why. Our boy could never leave anything well enough alone, consequently when the radio plays were made into telly plays and books, details would change, some not so important others more so. If you have heard the radio plays, you'll know there is a giant statue with bird people living in the head, they are never heard from again but the statue reappears later in a cave. If you read the books published separately, the perspex pillar is also the award for the most gratuitous use of the word fuck in a screenplay, but in the omnibus, it's now Belgium. You're not even safe with the omnibus editions, I'm not sure but I think that from the the one without "Zaphod plays it safe" to the one with, there are more minuscule alterations. My point is that if you pick up any of the books out there, from the radio scripts to the novelizations to the omnibus, you can have a differently spiced version every time. </span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Our book club is reading Hitch Hiker this month, I know some of them won't get it. The undisciplined mind that created the Electric Monk and the interconnectivity of all things is just too scattered and easily distracted for the type that prefers a traditional beginning , middle, end going somewhere with this story. HHGTTG is not one of those books, it's more of an exploration of reality, spirituality and the universe through humour and viewed via the filter of the British stiff upper lip that dances on the border of madness and control. One of the tensest scenes in the entire story takes place in a railway dinner in which a single packet of biscuits is shared by two people who each think the other is stealing their biscuits. Propriety and fair play in the midst of bureaucratic intransigence arises time and again as if it were a game of cricket. In fact cricket as life and as philosophy of life is never far from the surface. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">Marvin the Paranoid Android is the fatalistic Russian Jewish side of the story that springs up at you </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcnXLHKLdY7dpNU9PAWJqfVW-aiQTEZSI-ybMB2gTzdL6obOqTumNzPAzX1E9sXIQT6p9BRw7CPmaGgT0lobj9hq5KBLvwzETdOKr7lB_cs0-keWqnyibEiAveupngRb2vAQCImeQ8CHI/s1600/Marvin_meets_Ford_and_Arthur.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcnXLHKLdY7dpNU9PAWJqfVW-aiQTEZSI-ybMB2gTzdL6obOqTumNzPAzX1E9sXIQT6p9BRw7CPmaGgT0lobj9hq5KBLvwzETdOKr7lB_cs0-keWqnyibEiAveupngRb2vAQCImeQ8CHI/s1600/Marvin_meets_Ford_and_Arthur.jpg" height="250" width="320" /></a></span></span></div>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">forever pointing out that life is hard and that G-d, if he exists, has it in for you. The planet Krikkit is inhabited by Daily Mail readers who hate outsiders and Arthur Dent is himself a shlemiel who finds out the long hard way that it's the little things in life and tea, that remain constant, not the same, but constant, that sometimes certain people are in fact the centre of the Universe and the rest of us will never be. I could explain that in greater detail, but I would much rather you read the books. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">The only way to enjoy these books is to let go of structure and allow the narrative to take you on a ride through surrealism and alternate streams of thought occasionally resting in a oasis long enough to have a go at yet another social blunder, security blanket or fad. I'm not saying he's Joseph Conrad, Tolstoy or Kafka, tho at times you would swear he'd been reading them just before he sat down to write. Then again, if you like Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Kafka, it stands to reason you like Adams. You need a corkscrew sort of mindset to get into the stories, they are all about everything and about nothing. </span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">I'm going to have a piece of Faery cake and a cup of tea now, even in the darkest depths of space in the most advance ship ever known, there is always time for tea and a bit of a bath. </span></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfqROeA_T1-Xd19qeVKtRNxeqHvXH04DLc_ejccUSD9_JrJX6HLAM-l-sFp-kttCGMZeWLIug_pj3MXMebAwWBS7gkZwK425apXiyGCyB3wK98S4NouxqKk7_DKp7Xqn4T8fklWAeXA2Y/s1600/42+cake.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfqROeA_T1-Xd19qeVKtRNxeqHvXH04DLc_ejccUSD9_JrJX6HLAM-l-sFp-kttCGMZeWLIug_pj3MXMebAwWBS7gkZwK425apXiyGCyB3wK98S4NouxqKk7_DKp7Xqn4T8fklWAeXA2Y/s1600/42+cake.jpeg" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>
<span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br /></span></span>Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-36084305088962668242014-03-10T18:00:00.000+00:002014-03-10T19:37:20.370+00:00Dawkins Atheism, Right Wing fundamentalism and the death of indifference<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXfHywNG1LYd9dOipJ1EtV_cPIu2M4qQAVNfd0BrFwqUZjAjLidgfIUj6R1ha_t7yvJbv93LrLf3pEnhKTOjVG8x5CNpCx3i3ffD5zeLJaXLqNCj-CxYspnmzwZKIjW51OlbWR16P-ECc/s1600/15441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXfHywNG1LYd9dOipJ1EtV_cPIu2M4qQAVNfd0BrFwqUZjAjLidgfIUj6R1ha_t7yvJbv93LrLf3pEnhKTOjVG8x5CNpCx3i3ffD5zeLJaXLqNCj-CxYspnmzwZKIjW51OlbWR16P-ECc/s1600/15441.jpg" /></a></div>
I hadn't meant to write this today, but a few things happened that made me question the state of dialogue, academic pursuits and the general public's ability to perceive things beyond a few simple catch phrases.<br />
<br />
Let me begin at the beginning. A few days ago I wrote a piece about Lent. Those who read right away were predisposed to being of a particular spiritual bent, others were less quick to read it. Had it been about say Daleks or the rise of the Ultra right wing in Central Europe, they would of gladly clicked the link. But no, each group in it's way seemed less inclined to explore the territory it felt less comfortable with. One of my mates, a devout defender of the down trodden seems to have developed a blind spot for Russia, another for Israel and yet others just avoid anything about religion on the basis it's all rotten and not worth wasting the time on, yet others hate politics all together. There are multiple dogmas.... atheist dogma, ultra left dogma, feminist dogma, you can't say that ...can you ? dogma, classist trade union dogma, working class dogma, anti Catholic dogma, anti Muslim dogma and lastly, anti sick and poor dogma ( I can go on). I apologize if I in any way insinuated the existence of a functioning class system btw, there of course isn't one . Some of the avoidance is down to not wanting to stray from favoured topics and opinion trends, some of it is frankly fear of being challenged. This I regret and it grieves me that even among some of my smartest friends, they have allowed these little oases of fear to flourish. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
The particular thread in facebook that got some of us going was <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/its-no-good-dawkins-no-ones-going-to-abandon-religionbecause-some-atheist-is-banging-on-at-them-about-science-9157991.html">an article about Richard Dawkins in the Independent.</a> It matters little what the piece said, but if you must know, it stated that saying no it's not a lot won't stop a load of people from going to church or believing in G-d or spirits. There was one person in the conversation who took the early Dawkins approach and the rest of us aligned, rather surprisingly along the centre, and managed a nice well developed discourse without a single person going " No it's not", "Yes it is" then going off in a strop. But it did bring forward the rather amusing notion that I had decided to go back to church mostly as a reaction to Dawkins telling me I was a silly person if I did and that I would burn in his Atheist hell if I did. Thanks Richard Dawkins , I think.... but the kind of discourse you represent is not how humanity ever reached for the stars, pasteurized milk or created Democracy. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQ-W07MiH04VDyARw503SZfkue45WEiAugzbTaPgulF5-T2Fxr82sSAMQ8YoPvBaJR7cBGVZ11fX734eNHG8sxPj9Iunbe-tYlIo5fyhuu21_w3PGCU-4Wnj02HHRJKm3va-ct70cIqA/s1600/debate-vs-argument-cartoon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQ-W07MiH04VDyARw503SZfkue45WEiAugzbTaPgulF5-T2Fxr82sSAMQ8YoPvBaJR7cBGVZ11fX734eNHG8sxPj9Iunbe-tYlIo5fyhuu21_w3PGCU-4Wnj02HHRJKm3va-ct70cIqA/s1600/debate-vs-argument-cartoon.jpg" height="265" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQFKtI6gn9Y">Watch the Python version of this article</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Just because some people can't spell, doesn't mean grammar and spelling don't exist. Dawkins and his kind are quite clear that the spirit world and all things associated with it do not exist. I cannot help what he can't feel and I can. His not feeling or knowing something will not eradicate my knowing or feeling. Scientifically and philosophically his position is untenable.<br />
<br />
The argument goes like this. I say that I just had a cup of tea ( because as far as I can tell... I did) He says I didn't because apparently I washed the things and put them away after I finished and there is no evidence of my drinking tea. He says I'm delusional because he does not believe. At least with the cat in the box there is a 50 50 chance it's dead or alive. Here I am a liar or I drank some tea.<br />
<br />
If all arguments are reduced to a need for absolutely empirical proof of a statement, then even the invisible pillars that hold up democracy, law and good order would be unprovable. And yet here we are with an imperfect system that manages to keep us all from eating each other with mint sauce.<br />
<br />
Trust is a belief, love is a belief, forgiveness is a belief that the person or thing will not revert to previous form. Without it we would be savages. Yet you cannot touch or smell or quantify any of these things. As strong as water or wind, these beliefs are at least as responsible for the direction we walk in every day.<br />
<br />
But if we surrender to the questionable dogmatism of unvarnished Dawkins theology, we find ourselves becoming very bitter unhappy un trusting greedy people who's only joy is to stick our fingers into other people's wounds to prove they aren't lying. Oh look there, I accidentally referred to the new testament.... Better edit that out before somebody says I'm preaching.<br />
<br />
Dogmatic atheists like Richard Dawkins and their crusades to rid the world of any religious influence whatsoever are no better than the loons on the right that take things written thousands of years ago, translated poorly, lost in a jar, found and transcribed even more poorly sometimes, then translated yet again., poorly... as the basis of a divinity's literal unalterable message to man. In either case, if you disagree with them they will make sure you are branded as some sort of social deviant or worse. <br />
<br />
Where these atheists and myself part company is at the fork in the road that asks us to accept that things change, things evolve and that not all things that were true or appropriate 2000 years ago, are now. If a text attempting to teach a person, usually in the form of a letter, instructing us in a particular duty is important, it will do so using 2000 year old context and examples. The core message may remain the same ( principle ) but the details ( dogma) will change. Atheists and particularly those who have taken an extreme dislike of religion, which can be separated from spiritualism for the purposes of this discussion, have not allowed for the abandonment of what might have once been sacred holy law but is now anathema to most people, neither have they allowed for the fact that some eras in history have created interpretations of the basic tenets of scripture based on who was regarded a "person" or worthy of inclusion in the club.<br />
<br />
I don't see Democracy being rejected out of hand by humanists scholars because the principles were applied to male Atheneans only, and that those outside of the city were treated as no better than slaves at times. If anything, in the grand scheme of History, as political philosophies go, democracy has been a failure, having been the guiding principle of most of Western society for less than 250 years. It is the critical thinking required to recognize the goodness that any movement is capable of and that like all things the movement too changes and usually for the better, over time. The scientific method itself springs from the desire of religious people to understand the beauty and mystery of nature and how it works. Frankly the more I see, the more terms like G-d particle and the fingerprint of G-d come up. As for modern social reforms that even now are being dismantled by the greedy right and alleged G-d fearing conservative streams in the USA, Canada and the UK, these sprang from the desire of church going people of means to spread the simple but important principles laid out in Torah and the Christian Bible of sharing the wealth, being honest, not being greedy and trying to build a better world where we all share in the bounty of that which surrounds us, all the while making sure it's preserved for future generations. Nothing happens in a vacuum . The catalyst for much of the good in the world started with a few religious types saying what if we were a bit more like the people asking us to be good and answering the question ; What makes the world work and how do I fit into it. By what miracle is it that we don't just collapse into a heap of spineless jello? ( Nick Clegg, boom boom ) <br />
<br />
Now let's let's have a go at the equally dogmatic religious and fiscal right. Theirs is the only way of doing things and all attempts at reform and tinkering ,but heresy writ large. Heresy of the kind that denies the luxury of some among us to close their minds to the changes and new conditions that constantly erode the absolute certainty with which we hold the idea that that which was irrefutably correct 6000 years ago let alone half an hour ago must still be true now, however retrograde it appears. These people have used this orthodoxy to disallow rational reforms in dietary laws, as well as intellectual, social and scientific day to day activities. They have, on the basis that change is bad, isolated themselves into communities who over time had to detach from general society a bit more with every new reform. But where the Mennonites and other ultra orthodox sects of Christianity, Judaism and other faiths kept to themselves, others have attempted to impose their particular brand of conservatism on a community that is nothing like them. Out of the the same belief the Atheists share.... they are the anointed ones, the only carriers of the truth and no one else shall matter, because they know best and we should just go along with it.<br />
<br />
Jesus and his followers said to the Rabbis at the temple "We would like to continue with the principles of what makes us Jewish, but we'd like to modernise it a bit, if you don't mind, pretty please" they went on to say , "it's been a few thousand years since the laws and teachings were written and things have changed a lot, can we at least try to reflect some of that?". And now depending on what part of Christianity you look at , some are clinging on dogmatically to out of date practices set up about 200 years after that particular conversation, and others are making room for change on the basis of simple questions.... What and who are people? What does history, science and medicine bring to the application of principles that have survived in the case of Judaism 6 to 8 thousand years and Christianity and the Muslim faith, a little under 2000 years. I would argue the case that most of those principles are the very same ones viewed from a slightly different angle. Jews in fact have had conversations like this several times resulting in the creation of Hasidism which rejected growing bourgeois tendencies and reforms of the top layers of Jewry in the 14th century that themselves are later viewed as conservative and worth preserving in the Voltaire era debate that questioned the need for isolationism and supported the desire to integrate more into general society without destroying their own inherent Jewishness. Catholicism of late, starting with Benedict and now going full steam with Pope Francis is conducting a root and branch review of the Dogma. It will shock people who cannot tell the difference between the "literal word of G-d" and a good story or the equally important codes of conduct that are not per se in the Bible, but allegedly based on interpretation. As we've seen from the above, interpretation, like the conditions, changes, but the basic ideals do not, that is what makes an institution or belief system solid. I take this moment to ask those who have till now have gone out of their way to avoid information, to take note. Things are changing due to pressure from below, pressure from regular Catholics and maybe you need a new whipping boy. <br />
<br />
The fact that there is so much ossification in both the left and the right with each pointing to an idealised world that never existed or if it did, not for long, is the manifestation of a human desire to grasp something and hold onto it like a blanket that was there when you were a child. The reality is that my youngest son's blanket was reduced to a thread, as far as I know, he still had it on him to remind himself of the security and simplicity of when he too was a baby till he was about 14, then he grew up. If we accept that to get the same result every time we need to do things differently sometimes, we then are ready for reform. Great ideas are exposed as flawed, flawed ideas are recognized as not entirely awful. From this we get growth and reform and the preservation of those things most precious to us.<br />
<br />
I discovered from my own reaction to the extremes on both sides but particularly the Atheist who wanted to exclude even my most basic manifestations of my faith from popular culture and politics, that it was worth fighting for. It was worth going back to Church for those regular masses and it was worth defending the principles and the history that was being white washed as I stood there waking up. I grew up as those who've read me before will know, in a multi ethnic, multi religious and multi cultural community. We shared holy days, we helped each other and learned from each other. If I let the isolationists and atheists win I would be denying myself, my own experiences and the possibility of future generations to also experience that eye opening education you only get if you dive in feet first.<br />
<br />
There is an other important aspect as I said in the beginning,... nobody is going to determine for me what I have seen, felt, smelt and tasted. No one is going to force me to retreat from my own experiences on the grounds they think they never happened. No one will ever be able to convince me or anybody else that the essence of being as we feel it and know it, is a figment of our imagination. This is why indifference is the last complacency to fall. When my way of life, however benign and harmless and even to be frank, dull, is being actively denied me by an Ivory Tower brigade from both the religious right and the Atheist left, I feel the need to make a stand and protect my boring, benign, simple principled life that these people seem to think is so flawed that in practising it I will corrupt others with it. I never stopped people from not doing things or doing things, I never demanded of my closest or even farthest acquaintances to recant football, dancing, chic flics, animé or anything else that fell well within the norm of generally accepted political, social and moral codes we all claimed to be familiar with. <br />
<br />
Yet now I am accosted from both sides with demands that I set aside decades of tolerance, openness, and curiosity in the name of the safety of the great white Christian nation, the great non de-script humanist nation that dare not define itself lest it offend anybody and the great me me me nation that is frankly interested in itself only and cares little for the rest of the world and the future. I am often confused by the commandment that I must accept evolution as a scientific principle but not also go along with the logic that some functions and abilities are weaker or stronger depending on where you are and what your role in society is. That's code for race, gender, social standing and other environmental variables. I'm asked to believe that we are all equally abled and there are no differences. I am asked to say mouthfulls like baby woman or pregnant person, as pregnant woman is sexist. If I point out that Kenyans are on the whole incredible runners, I am racist. If I, using a large representative sample of people within a general area come to the conclusion that Poles don't trust Russians, I'm told I'm making assumptions and how could I know that? <br />
<br />
<br />
I have a real problem with the informationally challenged, or using the more sensitive term "morons". There is almost a pride in ignorance, knowing too much leads to opinions and as we all know, opinions are dangerous and could lead to facts and differences of opinion which again we are told , are bad. This should at all cost be avoided. So then how are we supposed to evolve or grow if we cannot know or say such things? How can we begin to question when some fundamental questions are taboo themselves? How can I predict the reaction of Ukranians to the acts of Russians in the Crimea If I don't allow myself the ability to see that the people I'm looking at are in fact nothing like London bankers or farmers from Corwall. Why must I pretend to be nice and nod agreeably when some barely there person tells me there is no such thing as a New York school or London style of photography or poetry? Of course there are diffirences, and they matter. The fact some can spot a person to within 50 miles of where the family is from by the way they speak, react and phrase things, surely is testament to the need to stop sublimating things to the point that we are nothing. I had to fill out a survey and it asked me if I was Asian, black or white. I'm a slav, that will tell you more than me telling you I'm white any day of the week. I'm a Catholic, it shapes my thinking, I'm an upper class twit socialist who loves G-d. But no they just want t know if I'm white and male. When knowledge dies,questioning dies, so does curiosity and the ability to reason and absorb new ideas<br />
<br />
This is a great time to be a demagogue with simple answers to complex questions. In this last week the Tories were revealed as having held back economic studies that backed up multiple other such studies that showed immigrants were not a danger or a drain, if anything they were good for the economy. Not without coincidence , within days the government used the chief vet to launch an attack on Halal and Kosher. Nice one, I call that fancy skating if ever I saw any. Shift the focus back onto something the Tories can play with. As and when it becomes patently obvious to even the thickest, that the large corporations and multi nationals are the reason there is such a huge deficit through non payment of tax and abuse of government latitude on regulations, I have to wonder how long it will take to shift it back on the the shoulders of the poor and the sick? Ignorance is bliss say some, I'm sure the dogmatists agree. <br />
<br />
Between the PC left and the equally dogmatic right, the centre has been squeezed and along with it the ability to debate, tolerate and get along. People who might otherwise be prepared to try something new, won't. People who were prepared to accept that sometimes some things are not possible due to basic immutable facts and that one must find ways around them are now often faced with intransigent fanatics on both sides that will not allow for reality, however weird and wonderful it is, to unfold and do it's magic. Yet others who retain the basic curiosity we are all born with, feel the need to suppress the questions and the explorations lest they themselves be seen in a bad light by one or the other side. <br />
<br />
I like to think that I represent a growing part of society that is militantly reclaiming the middle ground of life, the universe and everything. That wonderful mix of science, curiosity, G-d, spirituality, imagination, innovation, humour, exploration, comfort with the known , the unknown and the bits that work, that for better or worse has gotten humanity this far. Join me on the shady side where nothing is ever as black or white as it seems on first inspection. If anything, it's very colourful.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfisXI7rllxQ7MhuHmIlq23RBIKKiVP1TA6A-UT2JEjpms4uMtLq3M6LbwMFmrIrKYoXsYiDgyznZ90GY3qtjrNDHiyoiEYEhSQOwWbipVRui1ytGsfxUbED6Eh-I8Lgw5JMpaqeTY2Q/s1600/dontpanic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijfisXI7rllxQ7MhuHmIlq23RBIKKiVP1TA6A-UT2JEjpms4uMtLq3M6LbwMFmrIrKYoXsYiDgyznZ90GY3qtjrNDHiyoiEYEhSQOwWbipVRui1ytGsfxUbED6Eh-I8Lgw5JMpaqeTY2Q/s1600/dontpanic.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-3400220102108201122014-03-05T14:36:00.000+00:002014-03-17T08:44:19.065+00:00Lent and the modern Catholic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHlwM-J0Q-QsesJHWK53IftHTFQp6bC07vIGxySR9y2lR8PrEkslQKqV-JYfiuyOhbk6RC0cab14CQiSgfGqjZwQbM5GZiIIsM4ehqpjBjrjvNi8pjhdcknHxcgmO18sNtt1_O0vjOMo/s1600/lent-2-heartlarge.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIHlwM-J0Q-QsesJHWK53IftHTFQp6bC07vIGxySR9y2lR8PrEkslQKqV-JYfiuyOhbk6RC0cab14CQiSgfGqjZwQbM5GZiIIsM4ehqpjBjrjvNi8pjhdcknHxcgmO18sNtt1_O0vjOMo/s1600/lent-2-heartlarge.gif" height="320" width="249" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://scurvytoon.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/what-me-sinner-or-how-to-fine-tune.html">What is Sin?</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Growing up as a Catholic boy I was told a lot of things about the period leading up to Easter and why it was the holiest time of the Christian calendar. I'm sure most of it at the time even stuck, but just to be sure I checked the apparent arbiter of simple unvarnished truth that is wikipedia <br />
<br />
"<b>The traditional purpose of Lent is the preparation of the believer through <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer" title="Prayer">prayer</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penance" title="Penance">penance</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repentance_%28theology%29" title="Repentance (theology)">repentance</a> of sins, <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almsgiving" title="Almsgiving">almsgiving</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atonement" title="Atonement">atonement</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asceticism" title="Asceticism">self-denial</a>. Its institutional purpose is heightened in the annual commemoration of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Week" title="Holy Week">Holy Week</a></b>, marking the death, burial and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_of_Jesus" title="Resurrection of Jesus">resurrection of Jesus</a>, which recalls the tradition and events of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Testament" title="New Testament">New Testament</a> beginning on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_of_Sorrows" title="Friday of Sorrows">Friday of Sorrows</a>, further climaxing on Jesus' <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crucifixion" title="Crucifixion">crucifixion</a> on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday" title="Good Friday">Good Friday</a>, which ultimately culminates in the joyful celebration on <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Sunday" title="Easter Sunday">Easter Sunday</a> of the <a class="mw-redirect" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_of_Jesus_Christ" title="Resurrection of Jesus Christ">Resurrection of Jesus Christ</a>."<br />
<br />
Yeah, that's about right. What has of course percolated through to the less knowledgeable or devout layer of people is that we have to give something up for 40 days, something we like, we need to suffer. That's all fine and good on the surface, but doesn't actually tell us why. Why do we need to give up a luxury? What's the point? How does my giving up chocolate or expensive entertainments help me get ready for Easter?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBpCHB1kf4igCeFdJMzTwpjmDQCtbNantHh-RoJRoGjM_69hBChwAzs5nF2ooq6vrwk10WHq2Jc3CqINA2EQqIb6bIkFEyX9cE9Ywlg5bTxeijPEW7FG-3GaNTuhmF9Xjga2uijlT8rw/s1600/153.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQBpCHB1kf4igCeFdJMzTwpjmDQCtbNantHh-RoJRoGjM_69hBChwAzs5nF2ooq6vrwk10WHq2Jc3CqINA2EQqIb6bIkFEyX9cE9Ywlg5bTxeijPEW7FG-3GaNTuhmF9Xjga2uijlT8rw/s1600/153.jpeg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Self denial</b> in conjunction with fasting, and self examination allows us the intellectual space to review ourselves and our life and habits. It allows us to see what it is we can do to be better persons in the long run. Jews and Muslims have not unsimilar traditions with precisely the same goals. Lets examine the principal actions asked of every Christian during this period.<br />
<br />
<b>Penance</b>: Or the confession of sin, is the act of realization that maybe some of our actions have been bad, harmful or selfish. Jesus and pretty much every other prophet who ever came along has told us not to be shmucks, putzes and self centred egomaniacs to the detriment of everybody else and everything around us. We are individual parts of a whole and our harmonious participation is predicated on the notion that we accept that we are not always the centre of the universe. To do this, we need a time to consider the year that was, the actions we did, good bad or indifferent. If the giving up of ostentatious displays and a few luxuries brings us back to the level of the humblest among us, then we are all the more open to the exercise of self examination. Here is a short and hardly axhaustive list of simple questions to ask yourself.<br />
<br />
1- Have I been a help or a hindrance to those around me?<br />
2- Have I made the most of my opportunities, especially those that came out of the blue and those that came after much struggle? <br />
3- How aware am I of the impact of my actions on those closest to me and to my general surroundings?<br />
4- Have I maximized my talents, education and time, life has thus far offered me? <br />
5- Have I made myself, my talents and resources available to those who needed them. <br />
<br />
<b>Repentance:</b> Having had a good long look at one's self, we have established a number of things we may have been guilty of. And by guilty I don't necessarily mean things like lying and cheating, tho that does count, I mean the subtler sins of waste, egocentrism, self indulgent pity and other assorted reasons why you can't do what you know is good for you and for others. This step is particularly important as you're going to do that thing you failed utterly to do at New Year's.... resolve to avoid said bad behaviour and find a different and better path to follow. AND MEAN IT. By the way, did you make a list of people you wronged? Yup, that's the next step,<br />
<br />
<b>Atonement:</b> In plain English it means saying you're sorry, you won't do it again and you need to find a way to the best of your ability to tell people this. If this sounds like something out of AA, you're not wrong. And saying you're sorry sometimes isn't enough, you need to do an act of contrition or reparation. A recent example of this is Csanad Szegedi<a href="http://www.cbn.com/tv/2589469849001"> a former right wing nationalist Hungarian politician</a> who upon discovering he was Jewish, went into a deep period of reflection and is now still sitting but as an independent that stands for human rights and social equality. He will spend the rest of his life atoning for his previous life, but for him that is the price he has to pay for having been such a terrible person before.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_UXRHtg9NsQL2DiT4g_NrLF1m4A-9b0qO7fG8YP4guIBOx_QAvVeffL_JxDMSHHq9tSIKAqwhWbFhor77FteO-6yck4B0qhotC2pR1-v1eGXi-JEcbDoKKljtMX7P6ubHTSAiOv_uIE/s1600/Szegedi5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD_UXRHtg9NsQL2DiT4g_NrLF1m4A-9b0qO7fG8YP4guIBOx_QAvVeffL_JxDMSHHq9tSIKAqwhWbFhor77FteO-6yck4B0qhotC2pR1-v1eGXi-JEcbDoKKljtMX7P6ubHTSAiOv_uIE/s1600/Szegedi5.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Szegedi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Now here is the tricky bit for some. <b>Forgiveness:</b> Forgiveness for sins against ourselves and dealing with those who are too bitter and angry at us for the sins we committed against them. You cannot allow those who won't forgive you to be the reason you don't follow through, sometimes what you did to them was just too damaging, you will make new friends and a new life, even if you have to bear the consequences of some of your actions for the rest of your life. And if somebody has wronged you and made the effort to apologize and really mean it; you have a responsibility to try, to dig down in yourself and forgive them, never forget, but forgive and wipe the slate clean. As I said, it's not easy, if it were, everybody would be doing it. <br />
<br />
<b>Alms giving and good deeds</b>: Mitzvah the Jews call it. The art of sharing yourself, your talent and your wealth with those who need it most for nothing but the knowledge that you made their life better. A true mitzvah does not ask for a receipt or testimonial dinner. All good deeds be they large or small, eventually as the saying goes, get repaid ten fold. Some of us will get a box of chocolates or the occasional tray of biscuits, others will get a medal or knighthood in the fullness of time, but most of us will be rewarded at most by a smile and a polite thank you, sometimes not even that. And yet, that is not a reason to not do it. Each example of such a good deed that makes you a mensch ( really good person) without leading you necessarily to sainthood either, makes you a living embodiment of what every prophet and holy man and woman ever asked of humanity.....Don't be A SHMUCK. At the very least, if somebody has to choose how to be and they have you and some putz as an example, they will have the wisdom to be you, because you were nice to them, because somebody was nice to you. <br />
<br />
What exactly is defined as a good deed then you ask? It could be the simple act of charity, the act of taking your time and spending it with somebody who is lonely, perhaps seeing a friend who is themselves encumbered with problems not of their own making and just not dealing with them due to lack of resources or strength and saying , " Today I'll be here to help you, and if can, I'll do it next week too." Charity can sometimes be a balm on the conscience of the comfortable and the well off that excuses them from thinking about the connections of actions and results. Perhaps if you give to a charity, ask yourself why the people or things are in such dire need. What can you do to reverse the situation permanently. In so doing you may find that the simple act of giving money or spare food becomes just the opening gambit. Here is a site that provides a wonderful way to <a href="http://www.40acts.org.uk/">Do Lent Generously.</a><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizd6DJhTrtXvd5mnRJnMMbLtiaV_kwiKJQx0r93STPZ0RuG3YxP40lIwQzr2FQh8pdM3U2RVAECiTi4edO6uFmxS2opM9AG9oOazRu9o1TweBXa2UCwSpN-IDPpnGOp57jOBSLTIYLnaY/s1600/Do-Lent-generously.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizd6DJhTrtXvd5mnRJnMMbLtiaV_kwiKJQx0r93STPZ0RuG3YxP40lIwQzr2FQh8pdM3U2RVAECiTi4edO6uFmxS2opM9AG9oOazRu9o1TweBXa2UCwSpN-IDPpnGOp57jOBSLTIYLnaY/s1600/Do-Lent-generously.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Volunteering is part of charity, it is the self sacrifice of your leisure time away from x factor and other such things designed to numb you from the reality around you. The volunteer sector is more and more pressurized to provide services that governments have abdicated, add this on top of the usual sports, scouts, guides, gardening, OAP activities etc... that depend on an ever shrinking pool of people, and you can see how even a few hours you previously spent playing World of Warcraft or voting in bread and circuses talent shows on telly can alleviate a bit of the pressure. I would like to mention and praise here a group of particularly devoted Star Trek fans of the NE of England who take any opportunity to make a noise in Klingon or even Dalek if it means a good local charity gets a bit of help. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Quarks-Tyne-Bar/227657137255282?fref=ts">Quark's Tyne bar</a>, always ready to serve the Klingon Empire, The Federation and any cause that doesn't mind people eating Rokeg Blood Pie or accusing them of being a P'Tok.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8R3C_CwpWsj4W28gGzzJufOHtUjtVYK0bZ_i4-SqPIduyRkDQpCGBWiKi-8mf3w0oS1xQ4nRtwDUiYYiXdjmOWh8ctfzToqLIHlQ_p5r86V0y9etfmkaPXQltnG7oykVtuOc_tlomNI/s1600/quark's.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz8R3C_CwpWsj4W28gGzzJufOHtUjtVYK0bZ_i4-SqPIduyRkDQpCGBWiKi-8mf3w0oS1xQ4nRtwDUiYYiXdjmOWh8ctfzToqLIHlQ_p5r86V0y9etfmkaPXQltnG7oykVtuOc_tlomNI/s1600/quark's.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
While Lent is all of the things you've just read, it is first and foremost a time of reflection about yourself and your place in the world. How you can best contribute to and share it's bounty with others. Being a better person is the reason why you give up chocolate for 40 days. It's about giving your soul and your body a chance to heal and maybe change for the better. There is no perfect way of doing this, but if you follow even a part of the observance, even if it's just talking to your G-d, reading from the texts that you claim to inspire your more altruistic self, or just reaching out to those around you and trying to understand them and the person you could be if you just tried, you have made a road map for yourself to follow until next year, when it starts all over again.<br />
<br />
Muslims and Jews reading this will find much familiar to them and I would hope it goes a long way in letting them know that where it matters most, we are all praying to the same G-d. For my humanist and atheist friends, I hope you take from this an understanding of what it truly means to us to be what we are and to respect us for that. This period of reflection we travel is something every person can do regardless of faith, regardless if they even believe in a higher power. Make the effort in your own way and you'll be the better for it, in fact we all will.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_pAB34OpHeo72P6yPZpa7rFHGi0xK9nbKKPOpGjfjXME5jdDoajDr-f7OXdKtQhkh0y64uW1q-YNoXB24X20syzzqUMN0NERAkie-XScQ7GDzIk-Krh43vEZcRgLL7cGxY6BDgVUFK8/s1600/easter+eggs.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_pAB34OpHeo72P6yPZpa7rFHGi0xK9nbKKPOpGjfjXME5jdDoajDr-f7OXdKtQhkh0y64uW1q-YNoXB24X20syzzqUMN0NERAkie-XScQ7GDzIk-Krh43vEZcRgLL7cGxY6BDgVUFK8/s1600/easter+eggs.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-35838765382462093432014-03-02T22:50:00.002+00:002014-03-03T11:39:10.913+00:00We love Brits but do they love us? Recently Youguv asked <a href="http://yougov.co.uk/news/2014/02/28/exclusive-poll-poles/">Poles how they felt about Britain and Brits.</a> It seems that overall, Poles love Britain and the Brits who live there. This is particularly true of younger Poles, they even feel at a rate of 50% that Brits have a positive view of Poles.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZp9krxSyjsT4tCYTurMbRodJk75nJ52YBhBmSLllN9Xfu3sN8kR7hqha42LSGEOHXVOmVf47qMAY0JKFFoyCfar6N7rNshEBmFD2EODZvdqGWtVcouloj42D1XAzyMIlVvsjQQvm05w/s1600/polish+jack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQZp9krxSyjsT4tCYTurMbRodJk75nJ52YBhBmSLllN9Xfu3sN8kR7hqha42LSGEOHXVOmVf47qMAY0JKFFoyCfar6N7rNshEBmFD2EODZvdqGWtVcouloj42D1XAzyMIlVvsjQQvm05w/s1600/polish+jack.jpg" height="117" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I bring this up as there are a number of questions that this poll raises and at least one issue that gnaws at the very political debate that rages in Britain now and will likely continue to do so well after the next general election in 2015. Oh and Nigel ( never met an immigrant I didn't not like) Farage says he's uncomfortable not hearing his native tongue on trains. More on this in a bit.<br />
<br />
First the questions....<br />
<br />
1- What's so great about Britain to other Europeans?<br />
<br />
If you work hard and keep out of trouble, locals will respect you and look up to you. Or at least that's what some of us think and even been told. And to a great extent it's true. I have yet to met a single person who will to my face tell me I'm stealing his job or somehow not deserving of the same care or dignity as any native born Brit. I'm sure a handful would have loved to tell me, but being British, preferred to keep it to themselves and have a go at me later when I was gone. But the vast majority have offered help, friendship and encouragement. If anything, when the nasty, ignorant, uneducated EDL came to Newcastle last year, the political, broadcasting and cultural establishment covering the full spectrum of what passes for "normal" here, came out and told the EDL to piss off home and get an education.<br />
<br />
2- What, besides the obvious attracts immigrants to the UK? <br />
<br />
It is a society where the rule of law prevails, you are innocent until proven guilty ( by law) and if you are here to make money and want to set up a business or to offer your talent to willing buyers, there are laws that apply as much to you as they do to every other person and without having to pay bribes or wait months or even years for answers from the impartial even handed civil service. This much cannot be said of a lot of countries in the World and especially not of specific European nations still struggling with a culture of bribery, laziness and institutional entitlement within the bureaucracy. <br />
<br />
3- How do we see the UK as a society?<br />
<br />
Well from the outside looking in and even if you grow up in it as the child of immigrants.... The UK has been sold to us an open multi cultural society that is accepting of the contributions of other peoples over the decades since WW2 and even going as far back as Hadrian. With the BBC World service we are led to believe that if there was ever a World power or former power that cared about the fate of the less fortunate in other places, it was the UK. The fact that both sides of a conflict would accuse the BBC of being biased means they have for the longest time, gotten it right. Without sweeping under the rug the many times mobs have gone mad in the past and attacked innocent people based on colour of skin, spoken tongue or religion, the fact remains that the only other Western European nation more historically open to minorities has been Holland.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pNzAFd9mMBNVmYfokneHXgD_xPQE9rmm4cQ7BfVxnULS11fc3LVaS0LZDn3gBoPiyFXoWoy6FYjy_2ljlO8yLWx9RFpekFRXo6owHqFNP3WVhUro3gs4wIMvIIpWiPyPL5ubTmp4AHE/s1600/bbc+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4pNzAFd9mMBNVmYfokneHXgD_xPQE9rmm4cQ7BfVxnULS11fc3LVaS0LZDn3gBoPiyFXoWoy6FYjy_2ljlO8yLWx9RFpekFRXo6owHqFNP3WVhUro3gs4wIMvIIpWiPyPL5ubTmp4AHE/s1600/bbc+4.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
As an appendage to the last paragraph I have to point out that the BBC through both it's programming on television provides at least 90% of the English language documentaries and costume dramas the world gets to watch and it's World Service on radio and the cable/internet news stations world wide, is the de facto news face of Britain to the rest of the planet. In the rest of the world the BBC news division portrays GB as the knight in shinning armour that decries the depravities and tragedies of the world, that shines a light on other continents in a way that other national news divisions simply cannot or will not. Britain acquires a sort of James Bond mystique of <span class="st"><i>righteousness. </i></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZDltjZwO9SFBj0bBLDCxoSk8XUthYMVo2P5Gw9PSLBEROtDaGLZmyjFASNzFTDfATuro0wZpiSmlq3Rv_cyEpo98SrQobcBKTNH0lzGwQveI9QqBoGELySKae6OTM2gh3z1O6kU7qlYs/s1600/bbc+world.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZDltjZwO9SFBj0bBLDCxoSk8XUthYMVo2P5Gw9PSLBEROtDaGLZmyjFASNzFTDfATuro0wZpiSmlq3Rv_cyEpo98SrQobcBKTNH0lzGwQveI9QqBoGELySKae6OTM2gh3z1O6kU7qlYs/s1600/bbc+world.gif" height="180" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
We like what Britain has and want to contribute to it as well. For if you think about it, a lot of those strictly brit things that even the most extreme of the groups want to defend, have by and large come from another place and many many many ( bis) cultures too numerous to name here. Much of the progress that came to pass here was done by and on the backs of immigrants. To pretend otherwise is to deny simple facts that start with trading links spreading as far as India and pre-dating the arrival of the Romans in Colchester to the contributions of Irish, Jews , Asians and Continental Europeans to the growth of the industrial machine that powered mills as of the 18th century, the Empire it built and the modern economy we are all a part of by extension. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBL1jHxGQIVizih07Ek5pwfsziBJLdL6gFFTRPj-DAC41hUQNOm-bh1O54D-PfJnMMWL2iRo_LAmStp6eS3ux0lobQv1N7SSGPYPNRzgG9KC77CH3-mZRNPx11fYfsxsjfDNu-nXQlrI0/s1600/red-ed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBL1jHxGQIVizih07Ek5pwfsziBJLdL6gFFTRPj-DAC41hUQNOm-bh1O54D-PfJnMMWL2iRo_LAmStp6eS3ux0lobQv1N7SSGPYPNRzgG9KC77CH3-mZRNPx11fYfsxsjfDNu-nXQlrI0/s1600/red-ed.jpg" height="209" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Do I need to tell people where the leaders of this nation are from? Maybe I do. The PM is the descendant of rampaging northern town burning Normans, nothing changed there. Clegg is more recent , of a family of Russian emigrees fleeing the Bolshevik revolution and lastly dear old Ed Miliband who is destined to be I think, the next PM, the child of Polish Jews who fled Hitler. That btw, would make him the 2nd Jew in the job after Benjamin Disraeli. What ever you may think of these men and people like them, they are now in positions of power and privilege because their families settled here. In fact the House of Commons and Lords is full of immigrants and their children. And what of the commercial elites and the so called back bone of the high street and neighbourhoods? The shop keepers and small merchant or specialists who keep Britain in milk, fags, beer and clothes and every other thing that is taken for granted? For every old line mythical pure breed brit, 7 or 8 immigrants or descendants of immigrants run those shops. They are the risk takers, the ones who sacrifice normal lives to make miserly takings and small profits while others wait for soft well paying jobs they feel best suited for.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUd37L1fmT1oFcBN3TnU1FmqbNFMg8_GpMSgOBY5tx5bwZX4Ikj-2E8BDtUdDQ6kV0hUriuidzj-3amaJTusc9qhWi9ORgKeTuHCWvNb-Y8Yap7vcu_06H21Qrwlcoc47XniJqkbNzpxw/s1600/sugar_1746815c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUd37L1fmT1oFcBN3TnU1FmqbNFMg8_GpMSgOBY5tx5bwZX4Ikj-2E8BDtUdDQ6kV0hUriuidzj-3amaJTusc9qhWi9ORgKeTuHCWvNb-Y8Yap7vcu_06H21Qrwlcoc47XniJqkbNzpxw/s1600/sugar_1746815c.jpg" height="199" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
And then there are the migrant workers who are paid terrible wages in factories and warehouses or on farms or in Hotels and restaurants. It's not like they want to take lower wages, the fact is that more often than not, no one born in the UK is willing to take those jobs for any amount of money. If just for one day there was a strike of migrant workers in the UK, the economy of this country would come shuddering to a halt. There would be no food on the shelves for at least three days maybe longer. It would take at least a week to recover the lost revenues and far too many businesses, many of them small would die. As for the hotels and restaurants, I would suggest that a lot people learn to cook real fast, because guess who's making all those curries and pizzas and take away food. <br />
<br />
While I want to see better working conditions for all, a proper living wage for everybody and a level playing field for tradesmen, it is important to note first that the educational system of Britain is not able to provide the skilled or even unskilled workers required to just keep the current operation going from day to day without outside help. That those doing the work come from the EU and other places further proves that despite everything, Britain needs the EU and the rest of Europe needs Britain. We may as well learn to like each other officially, you know like when the politicians and the newspapers start saying nice things and stop looking for scapegoats and begin to answer the really hard questions. How do we save European industry, how do we prop up the value of our currencies and lastly , how do we make Europe a relatively self sufficient and competitive part of the greater world economy. <br />
<br />
To a greater or lesser extent the United States and Canada have asked those questions and with the contribution of vast armies of immigrants have over the last few decades produced more goods, new services and circulated more money than in the entire history of the early industrial age. Were it not for poorly thought out free market ideas about the "sin" of regulating banks and big corporations, they would still be telling the rest of the world what to do right now.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitix6Yc_2TeHWYbyuEa6m4jd00EeqOBDgT0Fa6SRqcy8MhJPRPwBnMQvTiJIUyefCQisb3ZN-wt-1JhRA_i0QbPQms5IlJD7hhlMg728SKKkZzY0sarxdQIXH6bQpLrLglKreqgGghAFg/s1600/nigel-farage-in-train.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitix6Yc_2TeHWYbyuEa6m4jd00EeqOBDgT0Fa6SRqcy8MhJPRPwBnMQvTiJIUyefCQisb3ZN-wt-1JhRA_i0QbPQms5IlJD7hhlMg728SKKkZzY0sarxdQIXH6bQpLrLglKreqgGghAFg/s1600/nigel-farage-in-train.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
<br />
Which brings me nicely to what I had to listen to today on Radio 4. A panel was asked to comment on Nigel Farage's discomfort at apparently hearing no or little English during certain parts of his commute to and from work. German born Labour MP Gisela Stuart and Peter Hitchens of the Daily Mail speak. It is worth listening to the conversation and knowing that later the vast majority of those who chose to text the show agreed with the pro immigrant and frankly non racist tone of the MP v the fear mongering Mr Farage. ( <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/bh">Listen here, follow the links)</a>. Gisela Stuart put it best when we she pointed out the obvious that<br />
<br />
1- People need to live somewhere<br />
2- People will talk to each other in the tongue most comfortable to each other<br />
3- And if that happens to be two Poles or two Hungarians etc.... they will speak to each other most likely in that common language. <br />
<br />
If pressed, the fact is that most of those people would be able to speak some level of English, often even a very fine English, but like the married couple that consisted of a Chinese born woman and her Brit Chinese husband, it was best to resort to what they spoke at home.... Chinese. When asked how many other languages they spoke, the wife proudly said at least 5 apart from English. <br />
<br />
I grew up in a Polish household. My Father was an immigrant, my mother the daughter of immigrants. You bet I learned Polish at home. I also learned English, French, Yiddish and Italian amongst others. I am the better for it and any company I work for benefits from that. If you're uncomfortable hearing a language on mass transit that you don't understand, then you clearly must think people have nothing better to discuss than you. I take it as a point of pride that I live in a place where so many cultures feel sufficiently free and secure they can talk among themselves and not worry somebody will abuse them or force them to do something against their will. The Catholic Parish I belong to has no fewer than 14 different languages spoken in the congregation. NOBODY CARES. We're all there for one reason and we all get along. We have some of the best social events precisely because it's not all just one culture, one language or one tradition. So if a load people want to talk Polish, Cantonese or Slovak on the way to work to each other, let them.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBRvo-IYQC1UqXUU_Kxox_CfdA35R8Ka9d1wK42FL1PuCec3aMKq3XrLwZ8YGNjWJrkfZAXlMR_UN-G-qDD8x4pMGbWmPiYOkkGEsdABraOT8OmiX41aaA-74EGDG9Wz5RCm8Vy0WCOUE/s1600/WhiteSlaversSm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBRvo-IYQC1UqXUU_Kxox_CfdA35R8Ka9d1wK42FL1PuCec3aMKq3XrLwZ8YGNjWJrkfZAXlMR_UN-G-qDD8x4pMGbWmPiYOkkGEsdABraOT8OmiX41aaA-74EGDG9Wz5RCm8Vy0WCOUE/s1600/WhiteSlaversSm.jpg" height="320" width="227" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I've got a secret, the only people who are gossiping about you, YES YOU, are Philipino women in nail salons, the rest of us, we're just wondering what's for supper, if the children got in ok from school, the list goes on. <b>It's like being gay, we do all the same things unilingual English speakers do but in another language and sometimes in a gay way, which of course is pretty much the same way straight people do.</b> I know, shocking but true. We're not plotting the overthrow of the Government, nor are we thinking of new and novel ways to enslave the native population of Britain. People are just people. We worry about the same things and at the end of the day have the same political tendencies from right to left on basic issues that well established British families do.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1t1WtNWChLpOuykW47aAEJWVDGOxWI8-DuuHkE2jtnyplHjvFhgk9iKjG4HE99jJIgtEFbbmODdUuNQhAduSgXjdyq6b3E5qLWwbRIZALWUCGG40l4gnbmZe5RzZvxZrMmpk6y_CZeZg/s1600/Being+Gay.+what+the+world+thinks_907b61_3885480.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1t1WtNWChLpOuykW47aAEJWVDGOxWI8-DuuHkE2jtnyplHjvFhgk9iKjG4HE99jJIgtEFbbmODdUuNQhAduSgXjdyq6b3E5qLWwbRIZALWUCGG40l4gnbmZe5RzZvxZrMmpk6y_CZeZg/s1600/Being+Gay.+what+the+world+thinks_907b61_3885480.jpg" height="197" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I am aware that some people like Nigel Farage worry about immigrants not speaking English at work. Fair point. Well the truth is that where English is required, they do and with very few exceptions are learning or already know English. While some could make more of an effort to mingle outside of any particular community, the fact is that those who have come here in hopes of staying long term are fully aware that in order to stay they need to integrate. Some will marry outside of their cultures others won't, but the moment they become part of greater society they will learn the language and culture faster than any English person I know. They will have children who won't stop being what they are but will also be British. And the cycle will go one.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_x7qa8dKKgWdWuiLGjazniG0U4TwoHzMm5onoTQxaUS_X2Vc-tIpe3fSGksj54exS-5o5zpGBBKNWnBPVTcnLAKB0rg64v3LlKJ9PqsAn6HVzsDMTknCQhVuFabnUYtIlQlGj0If0cA/s1600/mopping+floor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD_x7qa8dKKgWdWuiLGjazniG0U4TwoHzMm5onoTQxaUS_X2Vc-tIpe3fSGksj54exS-5o5zpGBBKNWnBPVTcnLAKB0rg64v3LlKJ9PqsAn6HVzsDMTknCQhVuFabnUYtIlQlGj0If0cA/s1600/mopping+floor.jpg" height="320" width="271" /></a>One last thing while I'm at it. Aimed squarely at the people reading this who have a far too skewed and low view of migrant workers and immigrants. Most of the people you see around you running tills, packing fruit, cleaning toilets, wiping the bottoms of old people and the sick.... they aren't stupid, or unskilled. If you stopped to ask them, they would tell you they are farmers,merchants,university graduates,scholars, engineers, doctors, historians and accountants and yes some of them came to take those awful jobs nobody else wants and for better pay than at home. They, unlike some of the ultra privileged classes of natives here, aren't too picky about the work they can get till a better offer comes along and they are most definitively not stupid or simple. The fact is that the more immigrants you have in any one area of the country, the better the economy is there. The correlation is hard to miss and I'm sure the nice people at Her Majesty's Revenue would be more than happy to point out for the umpteenth time this simple fact. <br />
<br />
I suppose the real question is when will the chattering classes and the politicians of this country publicly and officially recognize the valuable contribution immigrants make to society and the economy and like the more courageous among them, <b>call out the Daily Mail, The Sun and so many others for the racists and fear mongers they are. </b>Only then can we look at educating the ones who fear and those who learned to believe that those who fear must somehow be right. Like women, Jews and gays before them, immigrants need to make it clear to politicians and the media that the sort of baiting and bigotry they think they can do is not only wrong but dangerous and needs to stop.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-RgYh1Tq8k-mXDZOrj5vFL_le-EhrgKD-rlrNnpNxFMLlfU1_C4tb6m64iLutDzmlw6BtWKh0wJ3wG9Up7lma9oxrOEp0rk-iZ9KNMsU8cnLhIoIjewukEPXT0KK7trnGvtG2j8oppAY/s1600/German+Jews+Pouring+into+this+country.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-RgYh1Tq8k-mXDZOrj5vFL_le-EhrgKD-rlrNnpNxFMLlfU1_C4tb6m64iLutDzmlw6BtWKh0wJ3wG9Up7lma9oxrOEp0rk-iZ9KNMsU8cnLhIoIjewukEPXT0KK7trnGvtG2j8oppAY/s1600/German+Jews+Pouring+into+this+country.jpg" height="314" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
In a recent Youguv poll apx 70% of Britons admitted to feeling uncomfortable about hearing a language they couldn't understand. Most of those people would relax if the noise coming from Fleet Street and the Commons was less strident and intent on finding a scapegoat for problems manufactured elsewhere or by their own hand. And as for the NE of England, I hear almost as much of other tongues as I did In New York or Toronto, and that makes me happy. As far as I can tell from the frankly oblivious or relaxed faces of Geordies, they aren't much bothered either.<br />
<br />
This so called problem must be somewhere else. According to one effort at locating these quivering folk, a great deal of them were found in the serene country side away from the big cities, some appear to live in the suburbs just outside London. I wonder if they would be so afraid if they knew just how important those people who speak funny were to their ability to eat, be clothed and get decent health care services and that they in fact look up to them and admire them.<br />
<br />
I know that regardless of what any of us do or say, some will never be convinced, I can live with that. I do however hope that with Euro elections in 2014 and National elections in 2015, the political classes find a way to finally tell the truth rather than continue to cling to lies they feel they need to uphold just to get elected.<i> It's no longer OK to be homophobic, and all the parties and the electorate behave accordingly, I don't see why we can't do the same for immigrants.</i><br />
<br />
Next time you see me on the street talking Polish to a mate, feel free to ask me the time or for directions, I'll be more than happy to do so in English .... or French or some other tongue. You know what else I learned by not being afraid to speak? That I could and would make new friends from all over the place and expand my horizons, both culinary and cultural. I urge you to do the same, be you immigrant or native born.... it'll blow your mind. <br />
<br />
Never forget the words of that great part English part Dutch descendant of immigrants, Franklin Delano Roosevelt <b>"The only thing to fear, is fear itself" </b><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwBqudGNsIjmuS0xOr97D8x0XowXUaLNV5EsJtH6bEtmHj07NG7l11HXmTSoxlhuejfa9VwhMa0qTSLIKxU_LOPSCyI0YrULcgnpUR1-_bw4CvljYRaTLWszgvJpKSmCo_GT9HHZWHSVk/s1600/FDRinwheelchair.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwBqudGNsIjmuS0xOr97D8x0XowXUaLNV5EsJtH6bEtmHj07NG7l11HXmTSoxlhuejfa9VwhMa0qTSLIKxU_LOPSCyI0YrULcgnpUR1-_bw4CvljYRaTLWszgvJpKSmCo_GT9HHZWHSVk/s1600/FDRinwheelchair.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
If that's too deep for you, try reading the books of the son of German Immigrants, Dr Seuss. I attach the image of one particularly appropriate tome with it's modified less child friendly title. I'm sure you'll know it right away.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZ0iqcf51DL7cR9pkLL2tHHpfsUmBuGgrln4d1_LSW2Dog-E6gICmJxz0aG2o4ua3qa_0ni2OPxXmbMJVNV0W99-5YT5nD-tv4V3UXF5S472qRI3C8rFCzRxaBy3GpX6KI8mgupqzaJE/s1600/Dr-Seuss-less-subtly-07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidZ0iqcf51DL7cR9pkLL2tHHpfsUmBuGgrln4d1_LSW2Dog-E6gICmJxz0aG2o4ua3qa_0ni2OPxXmbMJVNV0W99-5YT5nD-tv4V3UXF5S472qRI3C8rFCzRxaBy3GpX6KI8mgupqzaJE/s1600/Dr-Seuss-less-subtly-07.jpg" height="320" width="229" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-37455151242660608182014-02-25T12:15:00.002+00:002014-02-26T18:03:06.755+00:00The EU, Central European Slavs, Russia and the upheaval in Ukraine<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu0JFB5vFk03Dvm23j3gyAwP7Gmd3I8uhfx_dv6QqdRw0q6ZYqSe2viPb5pfztHb5gBfGx5QTPnHvNMUAxRdt43zHtIhNKPnrda8L1iNc0ShQHDemDmaeytF4cKziB9fble81quwQJhdA/s1600/rumpy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu0JFB5vFk03Dvm23j3gyAwP7Gmd3I8uhfx_dv6QqdRw0q6ZYqSe2viPb5pfztHb5gBfGx5QTPnHvNMUAxRdt43zHtIhNKPnrda8L1iNc0ShQHDemDmaeytF4cKziB9fble81quwQJhdA/s1600/rumpy.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rompuy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
European Council President Herman Van Rompuy "I salute the will of the Ukrainian people to live in a free,
independent and united country with strong ties to the EU. We stand
ready to sign the Association Agreement and support Ukraine in these
difficult times," Rompuy said in a statement issued in Brussels on
Monday after the EU-Brazil summit, during which the sides discussed the
situation in Ukraine.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
RUSSIAN PRIME MINISTER DMITRY MEDVEDEV:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYVXY4LdOSI0w55p9ZF2mSNKC_XKbPPj3UD0QF5ONjzEYYQMSffAKLIMaKoWiJ0rkHM1gc49B_tued3B6PL9_mtDZ5FZCcjYb8o4RBpICW79gvlybXNQI1LgCM44eN1dRTrJGk2Je-NO8/s1600/medvedev.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYVXY4LdOSI0w55p9ZF2mSNKC_XKbPPj3UD0QF5ONjzEYYQMSffAKLIMaKoWiJ0rkHM1gc49B_tued3B6PL9_mtDZ5FZCcjYb8o4RBpICW79gvlybXNQI1LgCM44eN1dRTrJGk2Je-NO8/s1600/medvedev.jpg" /></a></div>
"Strictly speaking, there is no one to talk to there. The
government doesn't exist. There are big doubts about the legitimacy of a
whole series of organs of power that are now functioning there." He and other Russian officials go on to say that the place is now run by armed rebels who have overthrown a legitimate government and that the west should not interfere in the internal matters of a sovereign nation. Russia of course can do what ever it feels like as it considers Ukraine a province and integral part of greater Russia despite the small matter of it being in fact a sovereign independent nation. The fact Putin's pet seat warmer Medvedev or Foreign Minister Lavrov were allowed to say these things as opposed to the assorted wingnuts on the edges of Russian broadcasting who are normally afforded the role of saying things the Government wishes known but cannot say, is a sign that they mean it. <br />
<br />
Which brings me to the bit nobody outside of Central Europe seems to be aware of. <br />
<br />
There should be a third quote, it can have come from any of the Central and Eastern European <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxQz7yHKrAAZ2WkPh9jyGXhOY-bnyKXeo5rniC5h65mEJAgv3G5or6f-8oXHzDdmutCLrcMOtkl6ymwLqXvuaLBUeiUo2B1T9ozs-Y7eUQn09A-JP6IiY_ny0FysbLdlDSPK42JnXoRY/s1600/Sikorski.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNxQz7yHKrAAZ2WkPh9jyGXhOY-bnyKXeo5rniC5h65mEJAgv3G5or6f-8oXHzDdmutCLrcMOtkl6ymwLqXvuaLBUeiUo2B1T9ozs-Y7eUQn09A-JP6IiY_ny0FysbLdlDSPK42JnXoRY/s1600/Sikorski.jpg" height="248" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
politicians or citizens who live in the shadow of Russia . It would go something like this. "Russia will not easily let Ukraine go. They will do what ever they feel they can get away with to keep the people living in the current boundaries of the Ukrainian Republic from having free will or joining the European camp." Furthermore, the person would go on to say that Russia would not be shy about insuring this by invading countries other than Ukraine or again punishing the former satellites who have left the sphere of influence, with a cut off of gas. This mindset is not without merit as Russia has in fact invaded it's neighbours repeatedly, going as far back as Ivan the Terrible and most recently Georgia, Osetia and Abkhazia among too many other nations they have overtly attacked and others they have destabilised in a ham fisted less than subtle apparently unofficial manner. ( As I edit this, Russia has already launched a media barrage asking "On what side were you in WW 2?) As I said, subtle as a sledge hammer and probably the most innocuous thing they will do. <br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc66GRR3DW-ikrFz2dxcd4lw3x598EieK0SJSVbl0JFFSyrH_5RWcpaYoPbvIv5Sp3OZOg1UKSLAQiRUXE2_LSuxUSXiNqtRcqwemxJKB4tID1pQGIPPb36TaZybZWSYSyEzrKZbElyQc/s1600/Map-1930.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc66GRR3DW-ikrFz2dxcd4lw3x598EieK0SJSVbl0JFFSyrH_5RWcpaYoPbvIv5Sp3OZOg1UKSLAQiRUXE2_LSuxUSXiNqtRcqwemxJKB4tID1pQGIPPb36TaZybZWSYSyEzrKZbElyQc/s1600/Map-1930.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Central Europe</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Before I go on, a little history lesson. What is Central Europe? It is what used to be part of the Great Powers. A collection of nations that were in the you guessed it one....Central Europe. Among these nations were Hungary, the various incarnations of the Czech republics, Poland, Germany, Austria and Yugoslavia. When the Russians finally took what they wanted in 1945, it fell into the sphere along with the aptly named Eastern European nations that were in point of fact incredibly eastern. The new politi of Europe still uses the terms of the Cold War despite the unfreezing of European history, the restart of the flowering of the legitimate evolution of the Europe that from the Polish frontier to London itself, represented the great civilized block that had connections to the rest of the world by rail to Turkey and by sea to Africa. Russia has always been on the outside looking in and like it or not that has not changed. They are the last part of the European puzzle that needs to be integrated into the phsyche and very real thing that is Greater Europe. Those of us who consider the countries in the Centre home, by birth or by affiliation, will always be Central Europeans. The sooner you in the West recognize this and apply this to your thinking, the sooner we will cease to be such a mystery to you.<br />
<br />
As for the Ukrainians, and for that matter the Bulgars and the Romanians and assorted Baltic states <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMRr2-bW8XR19UGvZsvb94md6QVC1rkXM5xZrzrOvL-u0wwLsRkOwgp9a4FuD-aBnQq9okoIWAUGSMDJD7W1dy_Jjy2fVjqInDMmDJgwD_ZvWinTz7i805hiqU3hWY7WMgtOSsOcbQJ4U/s1600/woodrow-wilson-1918-granger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMRr2-bW8XR19UGvZsvb94md6QVC1rkXM5xZrzrOvL-u0wwLsRkOwgp9a4FuD-aBnQq9okoIWAUGSMDJD7W1dy_Jjy2fVjqInDMmDJgwD_ZvWinTz7i805hiqU3hWY7WMgtOSsOcbQJ4U/s1600/woodrow-wilson-1918-granger.jpg" height="320" width="253" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">President Woodrow Wilson</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
including Finland. They are and want to be European, have always, according to even the 1918 Wilson 14 points, had a right to self determination and freedom of political and economic association. The only people who collectively and apart seem to think otherwise, are the Russians. It will take a long time for them to let go of their children, their precious babies. But when it comes to Ukraine, it is all the more difficult. Ukraine belongs to the Tsars, to Mother Russia, Ukraine is the body as much as Moscow is the brain and the soul of Russia. At least that is what Russians will tell you. I myself coming from the toes or the kidney of Russia will tell you that Poland is and always has been an independent sovereign state that stood for and defended at various times a multi cultural collection of peoples that have been citizens of what we could call the anybody but Russia federation. Today while not nearly as large, we are still not happy being offered back to the tender mercies of Mother Russia as the kidney or the intestine any more than the Ukrainians want to be the body of Russia.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggrzS1twJyBuQUIYHD-T0G5kujZnD5Hq3JfYeQqfRul4GpTJA_3bWsDeRBZabL4s77eCcRDiVLC3JR9AXfRHkaUJiGMDXvy83trFHUCwjSHD1nAwst86D-xNbIFDryJ-XYJ1LOiKqrkM0/s1600/Ukraine-growth.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggrzS1twJyBuQUIYHD-T0G5kujZnD5Hq3JfYeQqfRul4GpTJA_3bWsDeRBZabL4s77eCcRDiVLC3JR9AXfRHkaUJiGMDXvy83trFHUCwjSHD1nAwst86D-xNbIFDryJ-XYJ1LOiKqrkM0/s1600/Ukraine-growth.png" height="190" width="320" /></a></div>
In the most significant recent past ..... 1918 to the present, Ukraine has seen a few changes, most not of their own will or making and most designed to absorb more territory into the Russian Empire. Between the anti Ukrainian famine of the 1930's that was at least as bad as the German Holocaust and the annexation into the Ukrainian Oblast of bit's of Romania, Poland and the addition of the till then nominally autonomous, Krim, Russia has by design built in a fracture factor that will produce even in an independent Ukraine, the sort of tensions that will destabilise any regime that takes hold even for a short time. Even today the vast majority of Russian speakers in the East of Ukraine and Krim as well as the bit near it, get their news direct from Moscow in Russian with all the spin and the consequences therein. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzkAiRCAhntsTeK-g5knAmaYj3stMK3_MnWjYPrVd9te7qnIY_P-NLz5E2VSl4hoA-6TNiIR8x6aitf22SHyM1JWhgGquzQfjiG2V_Dz1oNHdVMF5BXuWxMI2K56ZDlh92IN900sZogNE/s1600/vote+split.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzkAiRCAhntsTeK-g5knAmaYj3stMK3_MnWjYPrVd9te7qnIY_P-NLz5E2VSl4hoA-6TNiIR8x6aitf22SHyM1JWhgGquzQfjiG2V_Dz1oNHdVMF5BXuWxMI2K56ZDlh92IN900sZogNE/s1600/vote+split.png" height="222" width="320" /></a></div>
Little wonder that Russia feels it has not only a vested interest, but a right to interfere. The best thing that can now happen is in fact the fracturing of the current Ukraine. Perhaps not at first into smaller separate nations but genuinely autonomous provinces with special powers regarding culture. This would at least preserve the economic and political union that is the current Ukraine. However if we are realistic, this cannot last long. In the Krim the long established Russian colonists sent there to thin out the native Tartars will want out or rather in with Russia. In the East much the same will occur. As long as there is a voting block so entrenched and incapable of escaping tribalist voting instincts that work against the stability of the historic cultural core that is Ukraine, we will continue to see this sort of see saw game of block v block much like Thailand is currently suffering. It will require either the creation of a politi that is ideological in base and spans the complete spectrum from left to right or the creation of constitutional guarantees that will build in a valve that bleeds the pressure of the tribalism before it explodes yet again. I'm no constitutional expert on the complexity of the constituents parts of the current Ukraine, but I can tell you it will be a hard sell to the country and the Russians who think none of the current Ukrainians have a right to have a say in their future.<br />
<br />
The Rada or Parliament is now operating under the 2004 constitution that declares that cabinets must <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqX7q82XezQlZdXH58GTl9DEcxoBJBb7XvDFXFpnNNc_urXuQiY2jC5cg_FveY4tNmIDZYvWZ1y9F1TNoDRZBf8lACcyYWgtLkd7qJIMG7Xzp7NZTp4MZWe266uJyhyphenhyphenwW611eNAaZcRWQ/s1600/speaker.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqX7q82XezQlZdXH58GTl9DEcxoBJBb7XvDFXFpnNNc_urXuQiY2jC5cg_FveY4tNmIDZYvWZ1y9F1TNoDRZBf8lACcyYWgtLkd7qJIMG7Xzp7NZTp4MZWe266uJyhyphenhyphenwW611eNAaZcRWQ/s1600/speaker.jpg" height="220" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
be made of and be supported by deputies of the body. Furthermore the post of President is not the sort of all powerful American model but closer to that of Ireland. As it stands, that is a good thing. For as long as the Rada is elected in free an fair elections and the seat spread regarding regions is fair, we can hope for a responsible Government that will not fall into bad habits. The real danger occurs as I said earlier, is when the regional blocks come back like a bad cabbage roll and start the trouble boiling over again.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjemTyTqAfd9wqa4kZmmkHBk_mgWW1QcIERgqe4DlMD1pAdiYqr_8zJ3pW39L1SL7tEaJa1tZWwpOde-pPYDujVvplEEpbPuVMI60xgEzvmBMyNeTZycKU8o3lbg4lBMSlGgw6kjGybYyk/s1600/RussiaLatestChineseWallLOC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjemTyTqAfd9wqa4kZmmkHBk_mgWW1QcIERgqe4DlMD1pAdiYqr_8zJ3pW39L1SL7tEaJa1tZWwpOde-pPYDujVvplEEpbPuVMI60xgEzvmBMyNeTZycKU8o3lbg4lBMSlGgw6kjGybYyk/s1600/RussiaLatestChineseWallLOC.jpg" height="200" width="320" /></a></div>
Poland and other other nations that have adopted democratic and western models want this revolution to succeed, they want it so badly they will do what they have to to keep Ukraine such as it is in the sphere of Europe. Central Europe, the historical Central Europe, wants to recreate the buffer zone of safe, non belligerent nations to their East that used to exist. We will never be rid of the threat of Russian expansionism I suspect, but to ratchet down by several degrees to a point of mild constant irritation is something we can all live with. Russia's direct neighbours, Poland included , (cos who's kidding who, until Belarus rids itself of the last Stalinist dictator in Europe, it is the de facto Russian border with the rest of Europe) will always feel nervous when it comes to Russia. Unlike Germany, Austria , France ,Turkey or Rome, the Imperial appetite in Moscow hasn't at all gotten smaller or measurably subtler in any way.<br />
<br />
On the one hand the Russian finance minister tells the IMF and the EU to take up the challenge and <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1EHvMMoqvNClgP8nLTO_Lo7qOD8Hle0bfNeMjxsUFN4_AFzghtQt1la6kbgr7vzVYopECUibC469Jx9CdxxxO0UTQp6JJlXSq9Awqmj4wQDBNszytE6pOuJVl5viTWxfPqMz2O4bgYo/s1600/lavrov.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX1EHvMMoqvNClgP8nLTO_Lo7qOD8Hle0bfNeMjxsUFN4_AFzghtQt1la6kbgr7vzVYopECUibC469Jx9CdxxxO0UTQp6JJlXSq9Awqmj4wQDBNszytE6pOuJVl5viTWxfPqMz2O4bgYo/s1600/lavrov.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lavrov</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Lavrov the foreign minister says they should not interfere just as Russia will not interfere. Allow me a moment to laugh nervously and make incredibly rude gestures at the thought of a lie detector at that very moment trying not to dissolve from the deep suspension of disbelief required to stay intact. . The interim Ukrainian government, including protesters, elements of the left , the right and even sadly some anti Semitic, Anti Polish ultra nationalists, have their ofjary....martyrs. They are doing what they can to cobble together a stable civil society that can withstand the pressures of the massive Russian self defence knee jerk reaction that is even now moving to crush them.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXbRK9-J2a9vY5uhEc_Hru9boYGSEdsEi8iwoWS9DPI7erz9A1g7jQdGP6fHjfGbTsTXK5WhBUDRGTJ_EdjKLvqs6cQwKr4LFy5YvUKTlC2BkHZOUBxkGMvWANYbpmKMshsjZtHGK8ao/s1600/maidan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtXbRK9-J2a9vY5uhEc_Hru9boYGSEdsEi8iwoWS9DPI7erz9A1g7jQdGP6fHjfGbTsTXK5WhBUDRGTJ_EdjKLvqs6cQwKr4LFy5YvUKTlC2BkHZOUBxkGMvWANYbpmKMshsjZtHGK8ao/s1600/maidan.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
Why is it important that we help the Maidan and Rada survive? It's simple, this is the way it should have been in Syria, but people held back, people allowed a dictator and his outside support enough air to breathe and stay standing. Fewer than 300 died that we know of, a few thousand are injured some, terribly, but nothing like the numbers in Syria precisely because the neighbours gave a damn. Poland Germany and France headed the EU response and made sure Russia and Yanukovich blinked first ( see link below). Massive bloodshed and destruction of infrastructure has been avoided by direct and early interference by outside powers in what is technically an internal conflict. Because of this, the previously mentioned fascist, anti Jewish, anti Polish, anti Russian militias will have no air, no place to expand or to grip onto. Already the acceptable face of Ukraine is making sure these elements have to give back to proper civilian government controlled forces and offices, the power to keep the peace, prosecute, and carry out the orders of the new legitimate government. It will take time, but unlike Syria, there is no massive schism that has led to more bloodshed, there are no outside agencies infiltrating the struggle. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyD3bu8UBGBu0oHWR_r6Q6uW1nzh1YM7_ketFwOwts7XSBfF6u-5k5ih16-RcOTCqMSjMU-54DphARIgmr5Hx0qu7L30a0ydcW0g-G7KFAsOdGiYiyKXu0WBMXteRm11bNED7YaK1wXTg/s1600/eu+flag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyD3bu8UBGBu0oHWR_r6Q6uW1nzh1YM7_ketFwOwts7XSBfF6u-5k5ih16-RcOTCqMSjMU-54DphARIgmr5Hx0qu7L30a0ydcW0g-G7KFAsOdGiYiyKXu0WBMXteRm11bNED7YaK1wXTg/s1600/eu+flag.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
The larger point of course is that for all the right reasons and for some of the wrong ones, finally, Europe and more to the point the European Union stepped in and said to a people who crave to take their rightful place in the greater European family .... Yes , we'll have you. There are stories in the news today that Iceland has angered it's own people by withdrawing from it's electorate the right to vote on joining or not the EU. While currently the polls are not so strong in favour of the EU in Iceland, it is clear that in the long run, the EU is the structure that is keeping Europe from stumbling into WW 1(redux), furthermore, the greater the success of EU diplomats in such conflicts as the current Ukraine crisis, the better the EU looks to most people, especially those wondering how long before Russia once again casts a hungry eye westwards. In addition the EU with a dynamic Ukraine included, has to find a way to heat and power the great beast that is European industry and general infrastructures. Only a strong EU will achieve this. Being a part of the solution affords us ( those in the UK included) and others, a voice in how this will be resolved.<br />
<br />
Lastly I ask you to listen to the voices of the people on <a href="http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/b6723-Maidan-Live-UKR-Urkaine.htm">Maidan online</a>, these are not the voices of <br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9vpKaghTQjg3ezB2P7b-0jzXvCGVaOqC1t6tZjBmauKOPPxgNvoHMSIBmHMJSNsyRdJdVrQNWJMg-Cu1VFLM8WoZ0nKw-1-9_gOU3PjDYYE45_03MYxiNIJE8TPmtOvthyphenhypheni1KmOqPxw/s1600/maidan+live.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs9vpKaghTQjg3ezB2P7b-0jzXvCGVaOqC1t6tZjBmauKOPPxgNvoHMSIBmHMJSNsyRdJdVrQNWJMg-Cu1VFLM8WoZ0nKw-1-9_gOU3PjDYYE45_03MYxiNIJE8TPmtOvthyphenhypheni1KmOqPxw/s1600/maidan+live.PNG" height="196" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Vitali Klitschko speaking to the Maidan live as I wrote this </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
extremists, or of armed revolutionaries bent on destroying all around them. They are the people who live there, who are asking us to allow them the same thing we take so much for granted, that some of my own educated acquaintances speak with derision of democracy, not knowing just how much they would miss even the unethical, cold hearted tories and their banker friends if they had to swap out living in Putin or Yanukovich land. We have an election in 2015, and it can't come soon enough, we will vote the bums out, these people have not had that kind of luxury. Nobody is telling us we belong to America, Russia , England ,France or China, and yet in 2014 we allow precisely this sort of dialogue to inform our decisions about faceless, powerless people who think what we have is something worth cherishing.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdSsKgmlR0q-6acyNPsSJ0qMR6uag6hPvUqme00t8fGOaqKZUCWFSkO98NSkyiE84YDemLBvANkRc5Q9RiSnLGed7YUwWba873TpezVOlyGOGBvsKD-J7qSf2MyMaUD0POLxvBNTjZkh0/s1600/conflict+map.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdSsKgmlR0q-6acyNPsSJ0qMR6uag6hPvUqme00t8fGOaqKZUCWFSkO98NSkyiE84YDemLBvANkRc5Q9RiSnLGed7YUwWba873TpezVOlyGOGBvsKD-J7qSf2MyMaUD0POLxvBNTjZkh0/s1600/conflict+map.PNG" height="163" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.g-base.com/sk/mapbox/ukraina/conflict.html">View the interactive map </a><br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Breaking news from the various Polish and Ukrainian feeds we've been following: The general feeling among those interviewed was that there was a pressing need to sort which army units were loyal to the revolution; ordinary people need to be trained and armed for the defence against the Russian tanks that are inevitably headed towards Kiyov. If you paid attention when I explained how Slavs think and particularly Slavs under threat of loss of life limb and liberty, you'll see how perfectly sensible this thinking is. And be assured they will be ready. I hope it doesn't come to that, but if it's right, we'll know soon enough, and that my friends is how we think.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/26/uk-ukraine-idUKBREA1H0EM20140226">Edit 18:00 26/02 Russia calls war games claims it's nothing to do with unrest in Ukraine</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/EuroMaidanEnglish?fref=ts">Support the EuroMaidan online </a><br />
<a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/25/uk-ukraine-crisis-hero-insight-idUKBREA1O0JL20140225"><br /></a>
<a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/25/uk-ukraine-crisis-hero-insight-idUKBREA1O0JL20140225">Why Yanukovic fled</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/24/uk-ukraine-crisis-poland-idUKBREA1N1BY20140224">How Poland came of age in the Crisis</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/23/uk-ukraine-crisis-future-analysis-idUKBREA1M0HY20140223">The job that has been left to the West in rescuing the Ukrainian economy</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfjHJneVonE">The sort of act I expect from a less uptight Ukraine at Eurovision</a><br />
<br />
Next.... How Poland has reacted to the crisis from the ordinary person right through to the media and Government. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-86186262901779687022014-01-27T15:47:00.000+00:002014-01-28T10:21:25.609+00:00The Holocaust: Views of the children of survivors<span class="userContent"><span class="userContent">On Holocaust memorial day we should remember
the relatives and friends who died or were permanently affected and
those who would have lived had the others not been murdered. The
Holocaust affected not just Jews, but Gypsies, other Poles and<span class="text_exposed_show">
the generally viewed as useless or different by the Nazis. We must
never forget, we must never stop being vigilant to racism and hatred in
general, be it social or government sponsored. If we do stop, it will happen
again and again and again. The official numbers put the toll at between
11 and 12 million, but the truth is closer to 15 to 20 million.</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="userContent"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> The
Holocaust wasn't just another genocide, it was the the consequence of
forgetting about or ignoring the Armenian genocide. </span></span></span><span class="userContent"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span class="userContent"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">It happened because Hitler saw the world pretend the Armenian genocide never happened. </span></span></span>NEVER FORGET, NEVER
IGNORE, NEVER DENY. </span></span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<b><span class="userContent"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show">And yet there is more to the day than just that sentiment .</span></span> </span></b><br />
<br />
<b><span class="userContent">There is a permanent black spot on the heart
of every Armenian regardless of where they live now. It affects
generations who otherwise grew up like anybody else, much like my
family who have those who died in Katyn, Siberia, the camps or right
where they stood. We'll never be quite the same and sometimes it seems
like we're the only ones who see the ghosts and what could have been. </span></b><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">You'll note I said <b>have</b> not <b>had</b>; in dying in the manner they did, those people became permanent individual black marks on the hearts of millions of people. They live still in the moment they died and in the lives they led and in the lives they would have led. The children they would have had, the words and actions they would have given us had they lived. Where some of you see ruins and anonymous bodies or piles of shoes and suitcases or just an empty space, we see the people, the villages and towns, the homes, the churches and synagogues and shops and schools that were forever wiped out. We hear them talking to themselves, to us. They tell us to live like nothing is impossible, they tell us to beware of the signs of danger and treachery but to never stop being kind, never stop protecting the weak and to never stop laughing. Because when we stop laughing and caring, Hitler and Stalin and all the other haters win. </span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">They tell us to never stop trying to succeed, never stop learning, never stop living, because in doing so.... they too still live. You may not see them, but they are there and every time somebody acts like none of it mattered, they kick us in the shins and we try harder still. </span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">Every family has a roll call of the dead brought up at supper, in school, while making breakfast, when we have a moan about having to wait for something or not having our way NOWWWW. </span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">There are survivors of the Holocaust: Jews of every European nation, Gypsies, Polish Catholics, political prisoners etc, survivors, anonymous faceless historic figures, we called them Father, Mother, Uncle, Auntie, Babcia, Zaydie. To us they are our relatives. Some have tattoos with a number, some have a triangle, some have nothing, but all of them played a role in raising us. Guilting us, teaching us, making us who we are, and in turn we have passed this on to our own children. The effects of the Holocaust did not end when the last camp closed or when the last bullet was pumped into an innocent brain, it is a scar on humanity that keeps on affecting generations for decades after the event. </span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">Some of the signs are the ability we have acquired to spot bullshit when it takes ages for others to see it. Our fight or flight instinct is more acute and we are far less innocent than the doe eyed prophets of love and mushiness. As well, we cannot and will not tolerate the kind of political expediency that sweeps under the rug the building blocks of fascism and hatred up to and including when it's done by our own kind, be they Catholic, Jewish or some kind of patriot speaking for the good of the nation, regardless of how they frame the nation. </span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">You'll find we're also a lot less tolerant of ambivalent overly emotional reactions. We are blunt, life is short and cruel and if we stop to waffle about so as not to offend somebody, we waste precious time. We don't have time to debate when the truth is plain, we don't have the patience or the ability to wait for cooling off periods if that means something bad will happen like it has in Syria or just in our own neighbourhood. </span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">As for the act of mourning, unlike those who have never had to have the complete and unadulterated effects of total war and genocide personally delivered on them and their families and communities, we don't cry nearly as much as accepted social norms require of us. We don't break down in quite the same way other people do. We bottle, we don't do emotion, we don't feel that dying at the age of 87 or 90 is a great tragedy for which we need to tear our shirts and weep bitter tears. For us it's a chance to celebrate that this person didn't die of natural causes like the rest of his or her generation did. They lived long enough to have children, to laugh , to cry, to teach and not die from a bullet between the eyes or the back of the skull or worse. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span class="userContent">In my family, my step mother who finished the war in Ravensbruck, witnessed appalling horrors as a 12 year old, I know because she told me. As a catholic girl she was taken to the walls of the Warsaw ghetto and forced to watch as they slaughtered babies, old people and dangled the dead from windows as dogs ate them. If anybody flinched, they were shot on the spot or arrested. 90 % of the people in my parish who survived the war were in the camps or lost somebody in the camps and the firing squads and the Soviet Horror that is Katyn, I know because I was told by the time I was 7. The fact that my father views the time he spent in Siberia and the subsequent death march of the Poles to Iran where 80 % died on the way as "being lucky", speaks volumes. My wife's grandfather was given a full crucifixion by Ukrainian partisans for being Jewish but somehow survived, survived three separate firing squads, was interned but escaped Treblinka, was the only person to survive his village untill we learned thatt some of his siblings were saved by the catholic church. Uncle Abie shovelled corpses into the furnaces. Her Bubbie was in Bergen Belsen and was so desperate to die by the end she punched out in SS Guard in order to be guarantee a quick death, as her two older brothers had been killed earlier in the war, after being arrested for blowing up train tracks in the village so the Germans couldn't transport munitions or people to the camps, and were thanked by being sent to Warsaw to brick up the Jewish ghetto, when that finished ,each received a bullet in the brain. One aunt was sterilized in the camps so she could never have children, another was implanted with cancerous cells and died in the early 1950s from the disease. Another uncle was saved by being arrested by the soviets first and sent to Gulag in Siberia instead of a death camp. I could go on and on but the crimes are gruesome and not for the faint of heart. </span><br />
<span class="userContent"> </span><br />
<span class="userContent">These people long after the war, found coping mechanisms and habits we take for granted but you would find odd and strange. These people gave us a sense of humour and irony that you just don't get. These people have taught us that nothing is ever as bad as it seems if you're still breathing the next day. These people taught us to not waste the time we have on Earth as it may end tomorrow and we should not be an afterthought but something that stands out as special , important and relevant. To never forget that it's a fucking miracle some of us were even born at all. </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx0d5c2Ji_aQSYXPXc5drjsHa-dKV2Lyx1wh_Kc9uUUjTRzoiznlhw8v3NK4bhBjMimRGTnA-LP7ZqBiHJ1nOU5Vmfz43BwcgugaQKyuIFwL2y76v8gXOKtUnvgxyklVgju847jssVST4/s1600/CIMG6372.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx0d5c2Ji_aQSYXPXc5drjsHa-dKV2Lyx1wh_Kc9uUUjTRzoiznlhw8v3NK4bhBjMimRGTnA-LP7ZqBiHJ1nOU5Vmfz43BwcgugaQKyuIFwL2y76v8gXOKtUnvgxyklVgju847jssVST4/s1600/CIMG6372.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">Of course that makes us a bit fucked up too, and that is the point, we are not like you, we will never be. That's why when you go to the ceremonies today and in the next few days you'll see the survivors, the children and the grand children up front. Not because they are somehow more important than the dignitaries or the rabbi or the priest or the organizer, but because they will react in ways that are nothing like the rest of the room. Where you think we're covering our faces in sorrow, we're actually hiding the fact we've heard these stories before, we're sometimes smirking, laughing, we are immune to the emotional button pushing of the words and take comfort in the company of others like ourselves. It makes us feel 8 years old again and we're being scolded for wanting to skip on our veg or something. And the fact is that what you will hear is nothing compared to what we heard at home or read in the books readily available on the shelves of the house library. Through books and testimony we see the Europe that was erased, we understand why we were scattered all over the planet and Poland emptied of it's jews, aristocrats, intellectuals, scientists, merchants, it's political and mercantile classes. In fact , some of us even create the lie that our families were humble farmers back in Poland when in fact we were all of those things and the loss is too much to bear or think about and maybe also the knowledge that we are here and not others is down to some survivors having had to sell their souls or bribe others to live another day. Country by country, you can do this if you make the effort, or you can just pretend that no lasting effect aside from a few million dead ever happened. You'll never know of the courageous gentiles ( priests, policemen, teachers, neighbours) who saved hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives and paid for it with their own, you'll forget that being one of those unwanted people worthy of being exterminated was good enough for Hitler. It didn't matter what you thought you were, in fact that holds true today even, of all intolerant racist xenophobic fascist scum. </span><br />
<span class="userContent"></span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">There is a further poisonous legacy that I have seen with my own eyes and saddens me deeply. There are some small but vocal parts of the Orthodox Jewish communities that have decided they and they alone can determine who and and what is a Jew. There was a boy, raised catholic at a thing we attended last week. He had Pearlmans and Bergs and others as relatives who'd died in the camps. Why was this boy who in the US or Canada would have been proudly Jewish and incredibly modern, a Catholic? Because his parents drifted away from a faith structure that was too specific in it's definitions and was not open to the massive wave of reform that still defines 90% of Jews in North America. Where the Catholic Church seeks to bring people home from wandering away through pope Francis, and Chabad and other brands of Judaism welcome home and educate lost Jews, here the leadership has closed the doors. My friend the Catholic, who's parents are Jewish, who is married to a Jewish woman , A Cohen no less, and wants to become educated in the ways of his lost faith is forced to wander in ignorance and joins millions of Jews in the UK who are not counted as such and so are allowed to drift away from a culture and faith that gave humanity so much. The survivor at our event is not an orthodox Jew and so by some, not a Jew. Both that boy and my friend are the children of survivors, they know where the still missing mass graves are, but are not good enough Jews for some. In this small sad way, Hitler has won. </span><br />
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtel6a7Jr99Or7H_3U2X-in4Xe3RjaHxEeWh-FuSV7MAZWCOwDtNpFJ8ItnHrHmm4bIy6he7uGmSvtOQDvc09sL2kc2rWb1GrNlsHm9PIXHXMP4RNWOMBpIKvWWuQ8tOXO76sotuomCyQ/s1600/CIMG6267.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtel6a7Jr99Or7H_3U2X-in4Xe3RjaHxEeWh-FuSV7MAZWCOwDtNpFJ8ItnHrHmm4bIy6he7uGmSvtOQDvc09sL2kc2rWb1GrNlsHm9PIXHXMP4RNWOMBpIKvWWuQ8tOXO76sotuomCyQ/s1600/CIMG6267.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eugene Black - Survivor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent">When the last survivor dies in the next ten years or fifteen years, there will only be us left to carry on the message. And if you are smart, you'll listen to us, we are them, we speak for them, they speak through us, the 15 to 20 million dead speak through us. And wherever we are in the world, events like those of today will not be complete or true if they ignore the reasons why the Holocaust happened or what it did to us as people and to the shape of humanity today.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXdyQamyhQX6BfDBd-99ALM9v9MpPkznHI4WG_UtRil77xVercNEE4FqS09yM78bvrZ9boOibwFn_aEQfy9csrmuXoXt7afBTMG429x3tId7OBywd5lUnBI5QKecqcMaBxAk5IqnoZdl8/s1600/Holocaust-memorial-day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXdyQamyhQX6BfDBd-99ALM9v9MpPkznHI4WG_UtRil77xVercNEE4FqS09yM78bvrZ9boOibwFn_aEQfy9csrmuXoXt7afBTMG429x3tId7OBywd5lUnBI5QKecqcMaBxAk5IqnoZdl8/s1600/Holocaust-memorial-day.jpg" height="223" width="320" /></a></div>
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>
<span class="userContent"><br /></span>Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-11807018838676833872014-01-06T23:47:00.003+00:002014-01-07T00:04:33.661+00:00Sherlock: The sign of three<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYYMeEvxa3c9JTJszchao6KOWMa7L0afpboFVzmr7FvU-pEkNEvBCEIxdVqNvKboVSmTaSfQ9BH_s6RJNEkl85g1it_oCa6Hdx-rrhku4WPtAlLAjcm2TNupfkJ5MD84s6vEyMGzefSpU/s1600/bbc-sherlock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYYMeEvxa3c9JTJszchao6KOWMa7L0afpboFVzmr7FvU-pEkNEvBCEIxdVqNvKboVSmTaSfQ9BH_s6RJNEkl85g1it_oCa6Hdx-rrhku4WPtAlLAjcm2TNupfkJ5MD84s6vEyMGzefSpU/s1600/bbc-sherlock.jpg" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">My
wife and I were not in the least bit happy with last night's Sherlock. I
say this to point out that despite the strong and negative reaction
this ep has elicited from some quarters, these opinions are being
rejected out of hand by certain people on the grounds that we are not
the show maker, we don't know what we're talking about, what do you mean
you didn't like Sherlock? it was brilliant?! We<span class="text_exposed_show">
have not allowed our inner child to be more free and unchain the
character from the genre. Apparently only other official script writers
are allowed to point out that for a 90 minute script there sure was an
awful lot of filler, at least three writers help coble this together and
linked up poorly and that it took 25 minutes for any kind of mystery to
occur and the final solution to the bleeding obvious puzzle made no sense. If you even allow for 15 minutes to elapse before you tune out
of boredom, frustration or indifference, that's still 10 minutes longer
than the most patient person would of watched. <br /> <br /> </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKt7lQ5cdY2tNQrCB5yNwTh73fFu6nl15Ex43dlZDAOPFb1rwGeFii9x_XAiCdiR0glkAdAn0v7PW-uXMZrBSBPw2fIvHzlti7nSHvE_7gSRozXzsyp8Na4lmMcUUDeShIRcMHHaCUuNI/s1600/cin2010_120.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKt7lQ5cdY2tNQrCB5yNwTh73fFu6nl15Ex43dlZDAOPFb1rwGeFii9x_XAiCdiR0glkAdAn0v7PW-uXMZrBSBPw2fIvHzlti7nSHvE_7gSRozXzsyp8Na4lmMcUUDeShIRcMHHaCUuNI/s1600/cin2010_120.gif" /></a></div>
What then
unfolded was a Children in need special (that's telethon filler for those not from the UK) that ran long enough to cover 5
years of Terry Wogan taking cheques from runners for Pudsy. I know
Gattis and Moffatt and that guy they were covering for were trying to be
clever. And it was , in bits, but not for a full 90 minutes. In fact
one of the biggest reasons those of us that hated it were unhappy was
that despite at least staying somewhat in character, the ep was in the
time slot that normally is reserved for Sherlock the Mystery drama
thriller. I might have been ready to forgive even this if the story ,
such as it was, wasn't so disjointed and incoherent in it's dipping from
one genre to the next, at one point becoming a BBC3 drunken youths
special revelling in intoxication past the point even Packet of crisps
would have gone. If you spent most of the film going WTF and hoping it
might start eventually being something, it was for about 5 minutes then
went back to utter confusion despite a brilliant portrayal of a socially
awkward genius that would have worked if you had wanted to watch Big
Bang doing the long awaited Penny Leonard wedding. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnvZ_NqWUDsoJmX2F85PPMZsg0Is_mL9fmJgTpWOg31do7ixWa_zldUcnmQrbbawkmwt1PSnrtWyHJZl0VXu1MpNEOgzrfgwwn4AvMDnkFnAtnUO-TI0w2NzY5V-D6YJKGYtjeon4gJJc/s1600/gene_hunt_new_460x300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnvZ_NqWUDsoJmX2F85PPMZsg0Is_mL9fmJgTpWOg31do7ixWa_zldUcnmQrbbawkmwt1PSnrtWyHJZl0VXu1MpNEOgzrfgwwn4AvMDnkFnAtnUO-TI0w2NzY5V-D6YJKGYtjeon4gJJc/s1600/gene_hunt_new_460x300.jpg" height="208" width="320" /></a></div>
I would even have forgiven it even if it was shit if it was one of 6 or even 12. The fact
there is but one more ep left in this series means that there is a 50 50
chance the next one will be as bad or worse or marginally better or
effing brilliant. I don't like those odds when deciding to choose
something to watch. To mention a mates comment, three slots a year are too valuable to waste on fluff like this. We chose it to avoid all the comedies on the air at
the time, we wanted drama, there had been no particular warning that it
would be anything but a drama only to become a Colin Firth spectacular
available on DVD for free in next weekends Daily Mail. Of course we were
going to be confused and eventually angry. But just try saying that in
front of some people....<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYyCIZKjfD53gJvuZCgE9VdGwCol9j0CaT-ctG_pRoJOzSdoF-ktQdtq-24X7r3t5UKueZ21Wf2ucmIE70NN7tQPrAyX8nxOB5qqmALfpL7J-meFX7d7qx_1eVZVh0FOmzAfXnOO3M1OA/s1600/god_satan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYyCIZKjfD53gJvuZCgE9VdGwCol9j0CaT-ctG_pRoJOzSdoF-ktQdtq-24X7r3t5UKueZ21Wf2ucmIE70NN7tQPrAyX8nxOB5qqmALfpL7J-meFX7d7qx_1eVZVh0FOmzAfXnOO3M1OA/s1600/god_satan.jpg" /></a></div>
And what kind of people are we that we deserve censure? The
kind of people that watch a wide range of programmes and cultural
content, we consider ourselves relatively open minded and intelligent
only to be routinely treated to a hyperbole of terms regularly
used to suppress any difference of opinion that doesn't show due
deference to his holiness The Lord Thy God Steven Moffat. How often have we or even you, yes you been right all along, totally fact based, completely sure of your information only to be told by these wise things that they were sure you're wrong and anyway they know better. This happened several times to my wife with Doctor Who and the keepers of the faith. When rumbled by the Who docufilm confirming my wife's assertions, these people just pretended like they knew it all along, enough to make you scream. <br />
<br />
A prime example is this most recent quote from a Who blogger that has more than once pushed his weight around talking long enough to insure nobody else gets a word in edge wise lest he be proved at fault. <i> But, and this is really important, this blogger thought
it was great. And he, also, thinks that anyone that didn't think it was
great is bloody stupid. Not just a little bit stupid but
what-little-brains-they-have-d</i><wbr></wbr><i><span class="word_break"></span>ribbling-out-of-their-ears
stupid. And, I don't want to talk to them. I mean, there are, of
course, also people who believe NASA faked the moon landings and the
world is run by giants lizards. They're also quite vocal on the
Internet, I've noticed. And, are also worth ignoring. </i><br />
<br />
I bet
even Moffat has been heard uttering the words "I don't think it was that
good" or "I might have done this better if ...." , "Boss I need more time to fix this awful script". But with people like
the above rapping the fingers of those of us who do in fact know, have
information and are used to a certain level of quality, we are either
rendered mute to avoid offence or pretend to be overjoyed just to keep the peace.
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdNUiKu9IreaF7LlVr-MNAYkHLE0KB9aSL3AYIQD8l0sebUIh3miWWYGZEfv1_fGsXcJuC7O-81wSMvRT8a8b9YNpcWaCZLc6F0WqSj0N4W2NXZ-J431zcj3VWb8tzPxkE6X5qeXMjFE/s1600/epic+win.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmdNUiKu9IreaF7LlVr-MNAYkHLE0KB9aSL3AYIQD8l0sebUIh3miWWYGZEfv1_fGsXcJuC7O-81wSMvRT8a8b9YNpcWaCZLc6F0WqSj0N4W2NXZ-J431zcj3VWb8tzPxkE6X5qeXMjFE/s1600/epic+win.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
The fact is that even producers of big shows with big ratings
can and do get it wrong, these people are doing a job, for big money,
but if they do it less well than they did it last week, we may not watch
next week. And if enough people don't watch next week and the week
after, programmes get cancelled. That's why those of us who watch and
have opinions matter, and why those of us who write for those who watch,
must pay heed to those opinions. Treating the big shots like they are
infallible, leads to massive egos and even bigger divergences from the
norm, whatever the norm is. By setting the bar as high as Gatiss and
Moffat did with the first three eps, they opened themselves up to us
saying " That sucked, I hated it because.." and they have to listen. <br />
<br />
There is another big lie out there. Calling somebody a creator when
they have only taken over an existing project that has a history and
reasonable expectations, justifies them making wholesale changes to
something and expecting the fan base, the network and the advertisers to
go along with what ever personal project they have. Add to that the
real risk that when you take on another giant like Sherlock and try to
make two quality programmes at the same time, you will likely start to
get sloppy on both and confuse the two shows for the same thing when
they are not. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<br />
This has now occurred and some of us have had
the temerity to say so. I love Doctor Who, I love Sherlock, but if this
is the future, we should prepare ourselves for the time when both are
gone for good. I for one will no longer bother with Sherlock , we can only pray the combination of Peter Capaldi and a more focused Who crew will produce something that vaguely resembles a story as they aren't now saddled with nearly as much work.<br />
<br />
Oh and Happy 160th Birthday Sherlock Holmes, I was hoping for a better present but there wasn't anything nice in the shops so I got you this Tardis usb hub, hope you like it. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFk8PMQ6JJzTlrPWi4qXRPeKy1LhEd1UrdSm52Tg4Ton0zWzUCDtiaJ9zwU-8HYd1tUhmNlrqcQlotkKmLpFw3EIoxDbpW_hSqI0-Dd0HsNDiS3AD4jlZq8G-WlYtLvat2QFZ7X7YMI8U/s1600/110315-dr+who+tardis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFk8PMQ6JJzTlrPWi4qXRPeKy1LhEd1UrdSm52Tg4Ton0zWzUCDtiaJ9zwU-8HYd1tUhmNlrqcQlotkKmLpFw3EIoxDbpW_hSqI0-Dd0HsNDiS3AD4jlZq8G-WlYtLvat2QFZ7X7YMI8U/s1600/110315-dr+who+tardis.jpg" /></a></div>
Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-13992073769893110692013-10-05T17:22:00.000+01:002013-10-05T17:22:00.840+01:00The new Bridge Tavern rises from the dust of the old Newcastle Arms<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoyPeaAti-TphufbZAFxibGOEk6ajZ3Oo2arIna3NFc26U7Br2lLooQx1IMd__T1CtP5rxWu1HeRgwVKEc_5AbswxFiwUZNIxqkc7qTIheCwx8b0i_wn14pk4o9i93vHRf9UxUWD4k8M/s1600/newcastle+arms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoyPeaAti-TphufbZAFxibGOEk6ajZ3Oo2arIna3NFc26U7Br2lLooQx1IMd__T1CtP5rxWu1HeRgwVKEc_5AbswxFiwUZNIxqkc7qTIheCwx8b0i_wn14pk4o9i93vHRf9UxUWD4k8M/s200/newcastle+arms.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Once a spot more looked at and mourned from a distance, avoided as you would a dead much beloved relative, the old Newcastle Arms, nestled between the protective arms of the Tyne Bridge is now the <a href="http://www.thebridgetavern.com/index.html"><b>Bridge Tavern</b></a>. Boasting it's own micro brewery and staff who tend it, the Bridge Tavern also has all to itself a chef who used to work not so long ago at the Broad Chare. This combination alone is enough to make you want to come and visit, but if you wanted more reasons, you'd get them in spades as soon as you walked in past the front door.<br />
<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJHAxBwQMZ9xMrWKCgjPzJbXCExzoFeS2lseLj-TZXTTF1ZDDWlgeOoKXf08esTVcApBDf-KEnb3R6BcPHJ0vyixmKcts4_o_zKgMYAts9wy4xLRR31mpmsKlyDANj2j-fcyjhE7p5M-E/s1600/Keith+Crombie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJHAxBwQMZ9xMrWKCgjPzJbXCExzoFeS2lseLj-TZXTTF1ZDDWlgeOoKXf08esTVcApBDf-KEnb3R6BcPHJ0vyixmKcts4_o_zKgMYAts9wy4xLRR31mpmsKlyDANj2j-fcyjhE7p5M-E/s320/Keith+Crombie.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keith Crombie</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Before <b>Tony Renwick's food</b> gets you the decor will, several original green Bauhaus lamps hang from the ceiling lighting a central table that invites your guests to sit down and wait while you get the drinks in. If however you're more of a corner person, the entire ground flour is wrapped in a collection of cosy large soft seats that will easily host up to 8 people at a time. The walls are partially lined with books leading to Keith's corner, a magnificent area complete with large tables and the books of recently passed Newcastle Jazz legend <a href="http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/group-tribute-arts-loving-jazz-cafe-2596992">Keith Crombie</a>. Willed to the place, not for sale, but for reading, The Bridge wants you to have a browse through Keith's legacy.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnw8h7sDLza8BxMrxUjOcSIHg6wkJE2qv4lqvHWJSCPfQYcRKBqSHgJDPwj0mTB9uCvuw73UVPU4QKX-g_3LbwsYy0i61U9jeFI3jumRt4ikEFE9yy64hN_1F4xSK2-r5X-q4TJZ5e43A/s1600/CIMG5683.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnw8h7sDLza8BxMrxUjOcSIHg6wkJE2qv4lqvHWJSCPfQYcRKBqSHgJDPwj0mTB9uCvuw73UVPU4QKX-g_3LbwsYy0i61U9jeFI3jumRt4ikEFE9yy64hN_1F4xSK2-r5X-q4TJZ5e43A/s320/CIMG5683.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Keith's corner</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDAL5SV3nRn8AOyeXYxPhAPgItBF0jZx45tMpW_7pQaliSlosrYS-8XaLdW2xLsRHjGtRkbU9dcrcS4P9__cPdGbcoUCVSiNDvDNcSM1Y3Kz0BfFA_6SitACNTTOV7bu-GZ8y0189sNE4/s1600/CIMG5673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDAL5SV3nRn8AOyeXYxPhAPgItBF0jZx45tMpW_7pQaliSlosrYS-8XaLdW2xLsRHjGtRkbU9dcrcS4P9__cPdGbcoUCVSiNDvDNcSM1Y3Kz0BfFA_6SitACNTTOV7bu-GZ8y0189sNE4/s320/CIMG5673.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
Nestled in the back you'll find a number of brewing vats lined against the wall and producing any number of fab local brews on any given day. I had the pleasure of drinking 10 10 28 named after the date the Tyne Bridge opened. A lovely feast on the tongue and the nose designed to engage the pallet rather than get you shitfaced in three easy steps, and that of course is the point of the Bridge Tavern. Like other fine drinking establishments in Newcastle, the friendly bar staff will be happy to walk you through a galaxy of unassuming local tipple designed to keep you coming back for something different every time or to drink that special something you can't get in the 50p a shot boozers or stuck in the same limited list places that seem to litter Dean Street.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP2HWQJqrQw0XETdRVJIIcUlN0ogJYvSOu4ta9rhO3WTpGicQJvnrpsk8xpUXKL5SljYcrueJOGlyEXbDc-auovw2DS9H0nh8nSj07WLXU5etFas-TZxOdC4JcmW_1-kLdbhtYHxP1n5A/s1600/CIMG5685.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP2HWQJqrQw0XETdRVJIIcUlN0ogJYvSOu4ta9rhO3WTpGicQJvnrpsk8xpUXKL5SljYcrueJOGlyEXbDc-auovw2DS9H0nh8nSj07WLXU5etFas-TZxOdC4JcmW_1-kLdbhtYHxP1n5A/s200/CIMG5685.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the brewers</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy-isoGUHcCr5CPTERfL58WhcmbjZuUCYQxdMNPyX0-knSfR_coDNJ89ukukr-DoaI4NZdI0nrfw5KUcOyluluRgJ9gAMdERzt8A92jzACCM1sGaaF6k8wlFO-hJCZkkPo89gSR6ZUurs/s1600/CIMG5655.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy-isoGUHcCr5CPTERfL58WhcmbjZuUCYQxdMNPyX0-knSfR_coDNJ89ukukr-DoaI4NZdI0nrfw5KUcOyluluRgJ9gAMdERzt8A92jzACCM1sGaaF6k8wlFO-hJCZkkPo89gSR6ZUurs/s200/CIMG5655.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Local art upstairs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Off to the right of Keith's corner you'll find the ground floor outside terrace or up the stairs, the Tiki bar like lounge complete with standing lamps that heat and light the guests under the canopy, for those nights you want to take in the big city atmosphere I used to take for granted in Montreal and New York. <br />
<br />
Unlike the Brew Dog which is a raucous place for live rock and punk music ( also with fine ales, do try it) , The Bridge provides through it's sound system a musical atmosphere that is more relaxing and friendly. The sort of place you'd go to if you were after an intimate conversation or just a bit of craic with your 5 or 6 best mates.<br />
<br />
Which brings me to the food and the <a href="https://twitter.com/TonyRenwick">Chef. <b>Tony Renwick</b> </a>brings his reputation and deft hand to a <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzgO8w1uHeSZikP0zAdW7rrFtZ4dppQ3Sot8mYFrJ9ZehiWOERut_W6JAuN7vMF6SZrzPCLUot8q8yQU_vjfnrx1LGndhQ5gaZtNaLYZB9vPj5I_n9Wl_2d6c92_zwnc_48Q358KenHOw/s1600/tony+renwick.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzgO8w1uHeSZikP0zAdW7rrFtZ4dppQ3Sot8mYFrJ9ZehiWOERut_W6JAuN7vMF6SZrzPCLUot8q8yQU_vjfnrx1LGndhQ5gaZtNaLYZB9vPj5I_n9Wl_2d6c92_zwnc_48Q358KenHOw/s200/tony+renwick.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
menu which I'm promised by owner <b>Dave Stone</b> will be seasonal and change often. Prices too will be something you'll find easy on the eye. From the Bar bait to the sharing planks, the cost is not going to put your budget into shock. <i>Inclusive prices Dave called it, I call it "please come again" prices.</i><br />
<br />
On opening night we were treated to a wide array of bar bait loveliness in batter with dipping sauces. Lamb, oysters, pork , mushrooms and prawns in an assortment of marinades and spicing that makes love to your tongue without a drop of that ubiquitous Newcastle hot sauce. Speaking of things missing... not a chip in sight (well hardly any). Who needs chips when you have food that good? This menu is the sort of thing you will look forward to if you consider yourself a foodie. Not for the lager lout, the menu of the Bridge Tavern joins the select eateries not trying burn your face off but educating the pallet and reminding your taste buds there is more to life than bland or hot.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixmfH9LqnlgHqxXivtt9u9YCeJZJL4XwFLXlNQ1xTjVjGA45YfKtKNYAprepfEBitEkmPk83SrV4msgG5UN4OUfkdyN30h5cSWXX-RuuvuJoOmCc6RvGO8B_MYa2zN3fpZSQ4lUdD75lU/s1600/001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixmfH9LqnlgHqxXivtt9u9YCeJZJL4XwFLXlNQ1xTjVjGA45YfKtKNYAprepfEBitEkmPk83SrV4msgG5UN4OUfkdyN30h5cSWXX-RuuvuJoOmCc6RvGO8B_MYa2zN3fpZSQ4lUdD75lU/s320/001.jpg" width="232" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzg00DtRE50FBxMQy38Zej5twlVkplwytxsACdcjuqDHIx9g2_8Mmt0g57VvilOKeSONLX540goK2KkfwMrSydHXkongTSPpwBtBU_Bl_F4zBdXnm9JyH1IiZvN9VuB9b6w9_W9r2lftM/s1600/002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzg00DtRE50FBxMQy38Zej5twlVkplwytxsACdcjuqDHIx9g2_8Mmt0g57VvilOKeSONLX540goK2KkfwMrSydHXkongTSPpwBtBU_Bl_F4zBdXnm9JyH1IiZvN9VuB9b6w9_W9r2lftM/s320/002.jpg" width="232" /></a></div>
<br />
<a href="http://www.thebridgetavern.com/index.html"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.thebridgetavern.com/index.html"><b>The Bridge Tavern</b></a> is a treat for the eyes, the ears and the tongue. Bring your apetite and your camera. Soak in the history, the food and the fine micro brewed on site product. Located right under the Tyne Bridge, you can't miss it. <br />
<br />
<div>
<b style="letter-spacing: 0px;">Opening hours </b></div>
<div>
Monday - Thursday 12pm to midnight </div>
<div>
Friday and Saturday 12pm to 1am </div>
<div>
Sundays - 12pm to 11pm </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Fairly well behaved Children and extremely well behaved dogs welcome until 7pm<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicVgWC1Zr7GsIFDIbUZmrIAtGr-aHD_3azhSi9WGeZiJaO9MAExHlPLpArwsixOT75fVi8ZXozGwFjuCm4WKhcv_pYMEhjSOQDfm2ThxbQIOBV_4jZug0BShEN72cenTdIZ91KqesVWzg/s1600/CIMG5669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicVgWC1Zr7GsIFDIbUZmrIAtGr-aHD_3azhSi9WGeZiJaO9MAExHlPLpArwsixOT75fVi8ZXozGwFjuCm4WKhcv_pYMEhjSOQDfm2ThxbQIOBV_4jZug0BShEN72cenTdIZ91KqesVWzg/s320/CIMG5669.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
</div>
Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-23053756202163195332013-09-25T21:20:00.000+01:002013-09-27T19:11:15.496+01:00I wandered hungry like a cloud, the smell of garlic smoothly liedMaybe the location should of been a warning and maybe the name should of leapt out at me in large glaring warning klaxons, even it's inviting Greek music on the tanoy distracted me from the final nail in the coffin.... "Authentic Greek Cuisine" but I got taken in long enough to order food in the Bigg Market's Greek Taverna... optimistically called <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=simply+greek+taverna#lrd=lrd">Simply Greek Tavern</a> ( <span> 2-4 Bigg Market)</span>. In fact for an eatery that serves authentic Greek cuisine, there wasn't a lot of Greeks in the place or Greek on the menu, we had to translate backwards to know what we were ordering. <br />
<br />
In my defence, by the time I knew I had made an error it was too late to get away. The lovely slavic waitress and the genuinely Greek manager had both been around a few times to see if we were "aright" and hoped it was lovely. In typical English deference we nodded politely first few times then I had to say something about the alleged Greek Salad ( more on that later). Our first warning sign should of been when I asked our waitress if the tzadziki was proper garlicky or not. She said rather honestly that it depended on the day. I know , I know, but we were already sat down and hoping to be fed in short order. As it turns out the tzadziki was a fine medium strength, but not nearly as strong as I like it.<br />
<br />
What really upset me was the downward slide of the experience from the moment we entered the place. It started well enough, the smell of garlic in the air, the sound of current top 40 Greek tunes wafting through the air, sufficiently Greek decor of the 70's kind abounded. Surely these were signs that our hosts had spent more money on the food than the dinning room. Our first course arrived and proceeded to underwhelm us. Consisting of a plate of Spanakopita, or as the menu helpfully told us...spinach pie, with a Greek salad and side order of Tzadziki and bread , the items in question were ok to passable to what the hell is this. Beginning with the best bits, the tzadziki was properly thick, well blended with garlic, olive oil salt and dill, though mint does just as well. It could have been stronger and there should have been on offer a medium or a strong, but as I said, acceptable to someone who has had the stuff prepared by "genuine Greeks". As for the Spanakopita, it was ok, a bit mild, it was missing a few signature touches but not so much that a hungry person could not forgive the leaving out of larger doses of Feta or Ricotta cheese. The seasoning was passable and the finished product as served while a bit thin was well baked and ticked enough of the boxes to make it an acceptable though hardly awe inspiring starter.<br />
<br />
Where the meal fell apart was the main. We were told it was Geordie portions and so only ordered the one of the Souvlaki chicken platter and split it. Did we want rice or chips with that? Again with the bloody chips! Of course we wanted the rice, and it came with a Greek salad. Let's first tell you what each component is supposed to look like and prepared properly.<br />
<br />
The meat on sticks kebab part on offer (lamb is the real stuff but you know) is supposed to have chicken bits marinated for at least a few hours if not overnight in a combination of garlic, yoghurt, olive oil, oregano or some other herb, as well a few other not so secret ingredients. This is then grilled and served all lovingly and gloriously smothered in tzadziki that waits on the side for dipping in. What we got was something I would get in a Polish kitchen if my Gran had roasted a chicken in the oven after having hacked it to bits and skewered it. Tender, juicy and tasting of nothing but chicken fat. If that was Greek I'm Prince Phillip.<br />
<br />
Moving along to the salad also purporting itself to be Greek, we firmly expected a healthy portion of onions, tomato, feta cheese, olives, more herbs and spices and olive oil etc.... What we got could only be described as a miserly tiny, shallow bowl of unmixed veg that might one day when it grew up be a French salad of some sort with a totally un required single hot pepper. <br />
<br />
Lastly, the rice we were promised should have been a heaping spread of flavoured rice cooked in chicken broth and drizzled with the juices of the above mentioned Souvlaki mixed further with a few bits of chopped savory through it. Yum, I couldn't wait.... I'm still waiting, what sat there instead in a small pile dumped from a bowl shape off Masterchef, was a small perfectly cooked cup of white steamed rice any Chinese chef would be proud of. Besides being not nearly enough, this was in no way Greek, not even vaguely Mediterranean and it was bland. <br />
<br />
If you are like some people, you want to dip your roast Polish Chicken in Tzadziki sauce, it was there but hardly enough to even stain two skewers worth.<br />
<br />
Can you tell what I think happens here? Sure you do, in fact you might have guessed by now. The Spanakopita is made somewhere else and heated up, can't screw that up. The sauce is made on the spot sometimes and there is no quality control, seems we got lucky on the day. Lastly the chicken takes 20 minutes to make we were told, I expect that's 10 to 15 minutes to marinate in what ever they think they can fool us with then another 10 minutes in the oven. What no frying first to seal in the flavours????<br />
<br />
This alleged genuine Greek Taverna is nothing but a place where locals with no tastebuds come to brave Continental food. If you've ever eaten anywhere in Greece, in a Greek home or lived in a Greek area in any major urban centre, you would, like the lone other poor bastard in the place, sat with his ill informed mates who swore blind this was the best in town, have through the meal wondered how it could have gone so terribly wrong. He was the lucky one as he seemed to not have to pay for his erm ... meal. We being honest souls accepted that some sort of food had been brought to us, it was cooked sufficiently to not harm us and if we pretended it wasn't Greek, it might be something my wife's Jewish Grandmother in Brooklyn might have cooked for the high holydays. On these grounds and these grounds alone, I consented to pay the grossly overpriced addition of £26.70.<br />
<br />
I told the front of house man that his ancestors were weeping and that was never in a million years Greek, or even mock Mediterranean. His body language was that of a man rumbled for selling his soul to the "you want chips with that" Gods. I suspect he doesn't eat off the menu or take his Mother there, that alone would kill her and she'd never speak to him again. I'd be embarrassed too, but if you are prepared to throw out basic standards to make a bit of money, it's a sort of business model I suppose. <br />
<br />
If you want authentic Greek cuisine... go to fecking Greece, or London or Paris. Save your money and reputation. I may one day find real Greek food in Newcastle, but not today. Stay away from this so called Bouzouki palace, life is too short and money too valuable to throw away on confused soulless bistros that put bechamel sauce in moussaka, Oh G-d I think I'm going to be ill. <br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-19412519884748749472013-09-14T15:17:00.000+01:002013-09-14T18:26:24.789+01:00Yom Kippur: It's ok to laugh you know, in fact I command it. Part 1<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdqvyUd36rdRGmk6NZjpoI2McdQRUy7oH2GIp6RledAFZJFpGZpPpp71UMhSr8kTp-apjNRCmtF6FypFAZDawjxvHThg-p_LAV6H0giB1yPPh7BJ4WkipCQBF9Qoxx38NFGPYuG_sPTE/s1600/CIMG0401.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWdqvyUd36rdRGmk6NZjpoI2McdQRUy7oH2GIp6RledAFZJFpGZpPpp71UMhSr8kTp-apjNRCmtF6FypFAZDawjxvHThg-p_LAV6H0giB1yPPh7BJ4WkipCQBF9Qoxx38NFGPYuG_sPTE/s320/CIMG0401.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I command it</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Gut Yontiff on this the most holy of all days in Judaism. Yom Kippur unlike certain holy days is a deeply dour and incredibly introspective day. It is thinking about what you have done with your life and how you can be less of a shmuck. Even the least observant try to make an effort for this one. What G-d wants you to do is fix yourself and mean it. Having had to sit through a few sessions of self examination and watched a few others going at it over the last two weeks, I can see something that does need to change, we need to laugh, we need to be less easily offended and shocked and appalled at things , so much so that we miss the point the humorist is trying to make. We miss the target of the mirth, the not so hapless victim of the larger or smaller needle aimed squarely at the deeply offending attitude, act or person or personages. This form of humour serves to shame and belittle the offender, it satirizes and soothes the victims, it frees the sufferer in the telling by showing that there is a moment however brief and private where they to have a bit of freedom and can fight back and never forget. By denying them and those who pass on the stories the right to tell them or feel ok about telling them, you say that laughter, humour, even gallows humour is not allowed and serves no purpose in dealing with pain, suffering or hardship. <br />
<br />
By the way before I forget.... To those of you reading this or anything else I have written, to those who know me personally, I apologize with deep sincerity and great regret for anything I may have said, not said or allegedly said to offend you. How was I supposed to know you were the self appointed arbiter of taste and protector of infirm East Namibian honey badger farmers? How could I guess that my personal choice of food or faith or clothing was going make the humourless radar go off and make me the unwanted centre of attention of the tut tut brigade in the middle of an otherwise enjoyable occasion. Oh and sorry Jerry, I will even pay the fine for that book you took out for me, so sorry, just didn't have time to finish it. <br />
<br />
Gallows humour, ironic humour, self deprecating humour, biting scathing cutting humour, like sarcasm, is wielded as a weapon and protects the teller from the very people and institutions that would quietly and effectively subjugate and isolate them all the while hoping the victims/targets don't grow a spine or fight back. Righteous indignation is like war, the last resort because all else fails. Talking failed, shaming failed, satirizing failed, politeness failed, turning the other cheek failed, being tolerant failed, so you turn to anger, indignation and petitions followed by the age old .... you can't say that, that's a biased opinion, you're generalising and how can you assume and the classic, even it it's true you can't say that as it might make them feel bad. Awww didummms, so pointing out to a nasty piece of work that they are nasty is something we ought not do, we should wait for them to feel bad about it themselves and change , say sorry and do an act of contrition unbidden. I would point you in the direction of many martyrs over the millennia who even today inspire but prove that ultimately nothing is ever changed until it is either shamed or ridiculed into non existence. <br />
<br />
What's off limits? Death? atrocities? mass murder? ethnic cleansing or demonization through laws? Well let me tell you something, survivors of the concentration camps and the gulags of Stalin laughed, they laughed in the camps, they laughed in the line to trains, in the trains, off the trains, digging holes, putting bodies of dead relatives and friends into said holes, they laughed to remind themselves they were human. Whatever it is they suffered on the inside even years after, the humour in our homes was always dark, always sharp and served to remind us, the children and the children's children , to never forget , to never let it happen it again, to never do it again ourselves. And those who went on to live through or observe the depravities of other later dictators, other modern day demagogues who would save nations; used the same wit , humour and fatalism to stick a pin into the pompous and the stupid before they could get to anything as bad as Hitler or Stalin. That many would not listen till it was too late is not important, what is important is that these people knew when to spot BULLSHIT, when to point it out and when to feel like they themselves suffered for nothing when they see their own who have forgotten the lessons of even the most recent history and go on to commit the same crimes. Step by step washing away the universal justification against evil for their own narrow purposes. They and their children tell these stories to keep us, and the generations who follow but will not read the histories, from repeating the mistakes so often visited on ourselves. These cautionary tales are designed to make us see in others, blacks, gays, the poor, people of all nations, even Palestinians as fellow sufferers.<br />
<br />
The jokes. the stories of the survivors, if you just go quiet and let them talk as if you're not there, would make your hair curl if you are of a deeply sensetive nature. They first of all think the alleged shocking material is tame and will tell you far funnier and starker stories , sharper and wittier things that would make Oscar Wilde ( also someone who was oppressed in his own way ) smile knowingly. Which brings me to the nub of the matter.... We remember Oscar Wilde, we remember his stories and we laugh at his victims and in so doing insure we never again do those things with full intent and malice. But do we remember the countless angry denunciatory speeches? the reams of indignant pamphlets on any subject be it voting, health care, tolerance of other people? Oh some can point to dust covered collections of political philosophy seldom read but highly prized omnibus of editorials, but most of us will still recall with fresh and vivid attention Gilbert & Sulivan's "I've got a little list" or the self deprecating Chelmo stories. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/sep/13/russell-brand-gq-awards-hugo-boss">Most recently Russell Brand</a> .These stories serve to hit us quickly , sharply and with effect to remind us that we are ourselves on the verge of doing unto others what we ourselves would not like, especially when it's been done to us. <br />
<br />
So next time somebody tells you a story that is funny and yet sends up bad behavior or points out suffering in a sarcastic or self deprecating manner.... do us a favour..... laugh for G-d's sake...... the teller wanted you to, the now dead or incredibly old relative of the teller who told it first wanted you to. They told much worse to survive... show some respect...laugh. The ones who suffered laughed, the survivors laughed to survive, the survivors remembered so we could remember and keep the reality the pathos, the humanity amid the inhumanity alive. By being so damned serious, we deny their experiences and deny humour as a tool we can use to fight every kind of societal ill and evil. Please please please buy yourself a sense of humour and take that stick you've got up your backside out. Smile man....smell the flowers and laugh at the jokes. If you do, the bad guys won't win, the bad guys won't find it so easy to pull the wool over your eyes. Humour is the shorthand, the Index at the back of the book of civilization. Humour is like early science fiction , it serves to do what others cannot , will not or fear to do. When enough people have understood the shorthand, the real awful, nasty unpleasant things can be rolled back or stopped in their tracks. <br />
<br />
So what am I asking you today regardless of your faith or lack thereof? Take this one aspect of your life, give it a shake, learn to laugh. Be comfortable with your desire to laugh, it's not going to kill you and it will more often than not, bridge otherwise unbridgeable diferences. <br />
<br />
It's at this point I need to remind some of you that I'm not Jewish, I'm a Catholic. My wife is Jewish and like me, Polish. We both have families that suffered in the concentration camps, we both have family and friends that were sent to Siberia or the killing fields of Katyn and countless other killing fields in Poland and Russia. My wife's maternal grandfather was the only survivor of the mass extermination of his village by playing dead , my father and grandfather avoided death at Katyn by being arrested two weeks later than the rest, then along with almost every Pole, Jewish or Catholic in then Eastern Poland that wasn't killed on the spot, sent to Siberia followed by the long deadly march to freedom and Persia. My father's 2nd wife, as a 12 year old, was held in Ravensbruck concentration camp and saw most of her friend's and family murdered. All this to say that while we are both engaged politically and take life incredibly seriously when we need to, we are still first and foremost humorists. We are humorists because our relatives are, because the people who raised us and went through Hell were humorists. And it is for them we prefer to laugh than to cry.<br />
<br />
Tomorrow in part 2 my wife will tell in uncensored detail, the anecdotes and attitudes of survivors who settled in New York, Brooklyn, Midwood. The same place and people who created Mel Brooks and moulded Woody Allen to name but a few. <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA11wazhNN1wG4D-JoMPQ3OylN2lHckQXcnPg5tINIGuzIf5oMBh6ddlV-kDb-m3L9BkbyCeU1Idjcsxbx1dD3kP54iSjZ3e36mL5QkNtDz1ZNUvymO-UeyLnVgevznbtBLCvU2RX3LeA/s1600/yom+kippur.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA11wazhNN1wG4D-JoMPQ3OylN2lHckQXcnPg5tINIGuzIf5oMBh6ddlV-kDb-m3L9BkbyCeU1Idjcsxbx1dD3kP54iSjZ3e36mL5QkNtDz1ZNUvymO-UeyLnVgevznbtBLCvU2RX3LeA/s320/yom+kippur.gif" width="219" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-86842624245265906692013-09-04T16:43:00.001+01:002013-09-23T20:27:33.277+01:00Mr Drayton's Dinner date at the Stand<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWPrTW8OzE_clMcn3hSValzZE62cFPWGjjvgmeHp2kWJQMfxM2W2EoD_1ezjl4_ioV7MUm6MTlWzzxP99iM3ShldNHVsLZKxPxIDNqAnrKQqlBmq_wyySZucjBBfUiYqR6ZDqG4i54g4M/s1600/CIMG5578.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWPrTW8OzE_clMcn3hSValzZE62cFPWGjjvgmeHp2kWJQMfxM2W2EoD_1ezjl4_ioV7MUm6MTlWzzxP99iM3ShldNHVsLZKxPxIDNqAnrKQqlBmq_wyySZucjBBfUiYqR6ZDqG4i54g4M/s320/CIMG5578.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.gigglebeats.co.uk/2013/08/mr-draytons-dinner-date-win-tickets-and-a-slap-up-meal-at-the-stand/">Mr Drayton's Dinner date</a> at <a href="http://www.thestand.co.uk/newcastle.aspx">the Stand</a> series one episode one, occurred this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0uXdyLX6BE&feature=youtu.be">last Saturday</a>. Being the first of it's kind one went with wild expectations of all sorts of things happening, but in the end it went so well that even <a href="http://www.alexcollier.co.uk/">Alex Collier</a>, who's brain child this was, had little reason to worry. By the way, since we are in the desolate North, dinner does in fact mean meal we eat in the middle of the day and so it was that the event ran from 1pm to 3pm, which I'm sure came as a slight shock to some people. I myself having just ate, chose to have a pint of the fine local stout sold by the Stand's bar. Which brings me to the other point, it was billed as a diner date that cost £3 to get in but if you wanted to eat, which I assure you should want to, it would be £15. I can tell you that if anybody was put off by this, I didn't hear any complaints, in fact I would say most people ordered the meal that consisted of a lovely large salad, followed by a choice of kangaroo burger or a vegetarian option that closely resembled the kangaroo burger, then strawberries with a sorbet drizzled liberally with champagne, finished off by coffee or tea. Well worth the price of entry and every reason to skip that two for a tenner special on Dean street.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqg7ppMIIhXIVW8mtnEZ71jLlLoTs2tT6Vc29E4JCK8P4UFVjyx5a3d1aasovn5y6RrjmyBH9urOHMkKbyvqNpywQqjyhl8E7hY9GtxJT905AWO_I0XUvw_i8Y2befU_7Xi3tAWHq3LY/s1600/CIMG5590.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkqg7ppMIIhXIVW8mtnEZ71jLlLoTs2tT6Vc29E4JCK8P4UFVjyx5a3d1aasovn5y6RrjmyBH9urOHMkKbyvqNpywQqjyhl8E7hY9GtxJT905AWO_I0XUvw_i8Y2befU_7Xi3tAWHq3LY/s320/CIMG5590.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
Was it funny? Was it worth two hours in the middle of the day you might have normally spent at the <br />
Grainger Market or the Byker Morrison's or even walking up and down the Shields road popping into one small shop after another ? Well for one you won't often find Steve Drayton on the Shields road, then again, I have bumped into him there more often than I have in front of RPM, but I digress, if you do want see Steve, he's best seen doing what he does best, being funny. Steve Drayton's Dinner date is one of those times.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4C_CRwy0z7SZZ07KG6jJw6yYWwpnmxSC5B234maGbFCvlD2Ez0MxjeXjDG9Yn-9iNvuJpx8728Hvnizb4sPFcXAbL5RHLByw6XorSEyuQoRSmQfasg7NBmCQnG2FEnuQMeAF2OYyoeQ/s1600/CIMG5584.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgM4C_CRwy0z7SZZ07KG6jJw6yYWwpnmxSC5B234maGbFCvlD2Ez0MxjeXjDG9Yn-9iNvuJpx8728Hvnizb4sPFcXAbL5RHLByw6XorSEyuQoRSmQfasg7NBmCQnG2FEnuQMeAF2OYyoeQ/s320/CIMG5584.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andy the Chef</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The premise is mostly nothing new, a genial host sits down and talks to two colleagues from the comedy world about what makes them tick. You never know what will come up or who'll show up, and by that I mean in the crowd as well. If you think some of the people there act like they think they're comedians, it's because they probably are. What's new of course is that we now get to interview victims like Andy the Chef, who judging by his reactions was not expecting to be <i>grilled</i> about sauces "through it" as he brought out each course. As it happens he managed well enough in the presence of three princes of puns.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9jRSXLubW5kIA7iH-pq1Up0kKjB6qqOMv2_xyPxzw0mAmHPRUQDhljq7n5UrUbscEIVKRXbhRGfsVhXi_Ozcq4rX7O_c3MRcdc4DJqTxlX7BQ7jioKkzP5AizAqWFTsjBg0W5lQqFfb0/s1600/CIMG5581.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9jRSXLubW5kIA7iH-pq1Up0kKjB6qqOMv2_xyPxzw0mAmHPRUQDhljq7n5UrUbscEIVKRXbhRGfsVhXi_Ozcq4rX7O_c3MRcdc4DJqTxlX7BQ7jioKkzP5AizAqWFTsjBg0W5lQqFfb0/s320/CIMG5581.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
The new bit was the introduction of the thing that makes it a dinner date. Who would you invite to a meal at your table, living, dead, fictitious and why. As a continuing premise it should work as long as the quality of the comics is maintained. Based on the suggestions of each comic a series of pub quiz like questions were asked with answers that didn't necessarily come close to what was being asked. At times it took on a Qi feel with the panel and the audience getting into personal anecdotes, some deeply IMDB moments and other times gags that depended more on good timing than good taste. For pudding, Uncle Steve chose from a selection of audience choices for dinner companions which led to more insightful answers, banter about not knowing who that was, English embarrassment, more jokes, and of course throughout we got to vote on which of the living, dead and fictitious guests would be allowed to come, more on that later. Oh and the points don't matter. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8LraShcUPoRWfyd_bZ6AxoXgvQDfB9SmRz9PEx2qc41K-FcsaJGS13yaBPAf14WM7xAFhzekrGJGNZ2dihfsvPHrSpy_msC68SzKYgemcN8VqbwBsDQ4rivOwtgGLgXSNbh2VYXUrJXk/s1600/CIMG5587.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8LraShcUPoRWfyd_bZ6AxoXgvQDfB9SmRz9PEx2qc41K-FcsaJGS13yaBPAf14WM7xAFhzekrGJGNZ2dihfsvPHrSpy_msC68SzKYgemcN8VqbwBsDQ4rivOwtgGLgXSNbh2VYXUrJXk/s320/CIMG5587.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Damian Clark</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On the bill were <a href="http://www.damianclark.com/">Damian Clark</a> & <a href="http://chrisstokes.blogspot.co.uk/">Chris Stokes</a> both fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe. Damian the more in your face Australian comic being the polar opposite of the Woody Allen like Chris, who's personal life was taken out for an airing despite numerous protestations that seemed at least at times genuine, but not so genuine it didn't stop him from answering. Sensitivity was not invited and if you are easily offended by the slightest bit of controversy and mild discomfort I suggest you stay away. I had told Steve before the show that my wife and I were ok with a bit of personal abuse, but he assured me that it would be a clean show with no abuse of paying guests. Clearly he had a different definition of clean to say... that of Rev Paisley, but it wasn't your standard comedy night of pick on the people brave enough sit in front. There were a few blue bits and that's why it's fun to be an adult that's old enough to vote and drink.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXuKamfVN2rF744IurXhA9-gzUYuim8d37zEfQvVfmcvzf3zYkhUUy2pA0Tf8vYEmCmqj-yOlUyfkmAAwd_gckLBIaAoNHMJ5kLbEuWeYWJc1GDsggNIHFafJHiUuM9uiu4xYUv3ga2k/s1600/CIMG5588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDXuKamfVN2rF744IurXhA9-gzUYuim8d37zEfQvVfmcvzf3zYkhUUy2pA0Tf8vYEmCmqj-yOlUyfkmAAwd_gckLBIaAoNHMJ5kLbEuWeYWJc1GDsggNIHFafJHiUuM9uiu4xYUv3ga2k/s320/CIMG5588.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chris Stokes</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
First up was the Bill Murray v <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Sedaris">David Sedaris</a> debate with the witty New Yorker decisively beating the apparently less than pleasant in real life and notorious difficult person Bill Murray. 1-0 to Chris so far. Next up we got the very dead Richard Pryor and even more dead John Keats, during which we learned that comedians get thirsty too. So thirsty in fact that in the absence of a bottle of water which everybody else got, Damian Clark kindly poured some of the water from the vase of flowers into a few glasses that waited forlornly for something suitable to pour into them and made sure Chris was well lubricated. I think Richard Pryor won that one ( it was close), but as I said before, points don't matter. Lastly we got the fictional round that got the creative juices going..... Father Christmas v Hannibal Lecter. Father Christmas had a lot going for him and was responsible for some of the more interesting improv, but Hannibal Lecter described as "not a role model as such" but "Urbane and witty" prompted a debate about the ethics of inviting somebody over who might eat you for afters. This round too was close and frankly I can't recall the result, but for the sheer danger and adrenaline of talking to a maniac and hoping he considers you good enough to live, Father Christmas may have won. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMCAIjLmATiRdt_heKbLZ9zESoPUds5U7iIqIjmBDOx3g-AGUmGPe8l3WdXm0CsrfR94i5rVxXk8Xd6TeRxBXK2XjvrNSrIW4uAULyRoQ-X0lv76SgI1rQkm8d4MNnN4ZHcF-E9WZZIg/s1600/CIMG5593.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkMCAIjLmATiRdt_heKbLZ9zESoPUds5U7iIqIjmBDOx3g-AGUmGPe8l3WdXm0CsrfR94i5rVxXk8Xd6TeRxBXK2XjvrNSrIW4uAULyRoQ-X0lv76SgI1rQkm8d4MNnN4ZHcF-E9WZZIg/s320/CIMG5593.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
If I have any criticism of the event, it's minor and it's just that all things considered, it's hard to interview people with a mouthful of food half the time and I'm sure more than a few bits of spontaneous wit were swallowed along with the veggie burger or Kangaroo. Next time I'm sure that bit of logistics will have been dealt with. On the whole, a great concept and well worth the price of entry. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0uXdyLX6BE&feature=youtu.be">Watch the edited highlights</a>, please ignore the man taking notes at the front, I have no idea who he is, any resemblance to me is pure coincidence. Next show <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151973426990348&set=gm.601064633265771&type=1&theater">28th of September at the Stand Newcastle. </a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfrEjiSLVMCUkHMrAg8ZXIDOplo-fL9Qc1Eq9Bdkq7xtAc9iirDSZ9WuAYoZKOnY7I2_GpQu4ik2ar4OCpxNPw0VGsa2YdzoVEz12u4uJMJI3XNAaK7Nus7saInjvE8zOWk5Jn5YEdAG8/s1600/mr+drayton%27s+record+player.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfrEjiSLVMCUkHMrAg8ZXIDOplo-fL9Qc1Eq9Bdkq7xtAc9iirDSZ9WuAYoZKOnY7I2_GpQu4ik2ar4OCpxNPw0VGsa2YdzoVEz12u4uJMJI3XNAaK7Nus7saInjvE8zOWk5Jn5YEdAG8/s1600/mr+drayton's+record+player.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Next show I'm informed will be in about a month and you should follow Steve Drayton's blog for more details. In the mean time his regular Thursday night floating party of the frostiest people in Newcastle continues with the return of the latest series of <a href="http://meladdo.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/what-world-is-waiting-for.html">Record Player events</a>. <br />
<br />
THU 12 SEPTEMBER - Paul Simon – Graceland<br />
Fri 20 SEPTEMBER - Blondie – Parallel Lines plus special blockbuster quiz<br />
THU 26 SEPTEMBER - New Order – Low-Life vs The Pet Shop Boys – Actually<br />
Starts 19:15 (doors 18:45) Digital Lounge. <b>Strictly no entry after 19:15.</b> <br />
Tickets: £5<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5855366915234716879.post-11520159294133217432013-08-21T13:52:00.001+01:002013-08-21T15:26:03.846+01:00Come to an art exhibit opening<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPtrXfdmLnZOQBcdCtrD0QD47vpCYgm1UT2WkXb3r6g6CcMlnsXZygDABpjkOX56wde4hMifAuNGvVeHslxCIKUCr0zzWfm768wy7JZLDvqS8M-RJw6qOs-3ndB6Ddi4EHt8ksi2JXM4o/s1600/CIMG4794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPtrXfdmLnZOQBcdCtrD0QD47vpCYgm1UT2WkXb3r6g6CcMlnsXZygDABpjkOX56wde4hMifAuNGvVeHslxCIKUCr0zzWfm768wy7JZLDvqS8M-RJw6qOs-3ndB6Ddi4EHt8ksi2JXM4o/s320/CIMG4794.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">image by M Padowicz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><a href="http://sanctuaryartspace.org/">Sanctuary Artspace</a> at St Edmund's chapel in Gateshead and The Newcastle Gateshead art collective present<br />
A retrospective of graffiti and street art<br />
</span></span></h5>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"></span></span></h5>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"></span></span></h5>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFizyIA2aj1itW6jlEydoTYx8HIhksCrA-fg4YNZsZnvWQjkmkRe3cOTjWROnlgI5uqMhcZUeDwTLBifXNbSZMtBpRGhd2M3gQs_SwlXjlhBpVdcvZCvo8L8Pcwb6dGmHdbvDZWJFiUY/s1600/CIMG5465.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFizyIA2aj1itW6jlEydoTYx8HIhksCrA-fg4YNZsZnvWQjkmkRe3cOTjWROnlgI5uqMhcZUeDwTLBifXNbSZMtBpRGhd2M3gQs_SwlXjlhBpVdcvZCvo8L8Pcwb6dGmHdbvDZWJFiUY/s1600/CIMG5465.JPG" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFizyIA2aj1itW6jlEydoTYx8HIhksCrA-fg4YNZsZnvWQjkmkRe3cOTjWROnlgI5uqMhcZUeDwTLBifXNbSZMtBpRGhd2M3gQs_SwlXjlhBpVdcvZCvo8L8Pcwb6dGmHdbvDZWJFiUY/s320/CIMG5465.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">M. Padowicz</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
</h5>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
</h5>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent">St. Edmunds Chapel, High Street, Gateshead , NE8 1EP (Across from the new Tesco)</span></span></h5>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
</h5>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><span style="color: #674ea7;">Opening
night vernissage will be 2nd of September from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm,</span>
entertainment will include live music, the sartorial and comedic
splendour of at least one BBC radio funny man in the persona of the one the only .... Steve Drayton, one fire eater who might
be joined on the day by sword swallowers and jugglers. Drinks courtesy
of a local brewery and food lovingly made by a trained tandoori chef
and other niblies.</span></span></span></h5>
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent">
<span class="text_exposed_show">
2nd-26th Sept, opening hours Mon-Thurs 12-4.. The exhibit features photos of modern street art and murals along with a multi media presentation of contextual images. Graffiti and street art has morphed into acceptable murals and open expression of a media based culture that sometimes seems to forget about struggle and politics in favour of novel or not so novel ways to reflect back what people have experienced and grown to love. It is a mixture of commercialism, civic art and independent efforts that blur the lines between rebellion and filling empty spaces with something thought provoking.<br />
</span></span></span><span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"><br />
All art on display for sale, orders taken from opening night and throughout the duration of the exhibit. Framing and size of delivered image will determine final price.<br />
<br />
Featured artists<br />
<br />
Mietek Padowicz: From the North East, of Polish origin, Mietek's work focuses on the visible and less visible traces of Newcastle/Gateshead street art in all it's various incarnations.<br />
<br />
Richard Clatworthy : Most recently of India and London, brings a taste of the subcontinent and abandoned sites most of us would not get into.</span></span></span></h5>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="uiGrid _51mz mvm"><tbody>
<tr class="_51mx"><td class="_51m- vTop"><br /></td><td class="_51m- vTop _51mw"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<h5 class="uiStreamMessage userContentWrapper" data-ft="{"type":1,"tn":"K"}">
<span class="messageBody" data-ft="{"type":3}"><span class="userContent"><span class="text_exposed_show"> </span></span></span></h5>
Mietek Padowiczhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15817244770926056222noreply@blogger.com1