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Pity Her Maj - she's less powerful than the head of ebay.

Friday, August 31, 2007
At least according to one of those deeply silly power lists that business magazines are so fond of filling their pages with.

The Forbes list has Angela Merkel at the top, with Cynthia Carroll of Anglo American apparently the top British woman at 7th. However, Anglo American refers to her as 'an American citizen' on its website.... So much for fact checking, eh? Which takes us to Marjorie Scardino of Pearson, who also hails from the Land of the Free and is naturalised British. Mrs Windsor rates 23rd behind Meg Whitman of ebay.

No one from our own dear Labour Party makes the cut, fortunately.

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Don't expect any help from our man, or woman, in Moscow

The Moscow Times has an item about the fairly stiff penalties that the Russian authorities inflict for taking medals and the like out of the country:

"...medals granted for personal merits should not be sold, because the state has the sole right to hand them out. "They must not be traded or taken out of the country. Even if found in a roadside ditch, they must be returned [to the original owner or to the state]"... The wrongful acquisition of state awards can result in a fine of up to 80,000 roubles ($3,100), while smuggling carries a potential prison sentence of up to seven years".

So, should one be tempted to 'become' a Hero of the Soviet Union, resist the temptation. The Russians argue that ignorance of the law is no defence, with that a standard piece of jurisprudence the world over, but it is the boneheaded complacency of the heroically anonymous bod at the British Embassy - which publishes no warnings about this law - that takes not just the biscuit, but the packet, the shelf in the supermarket and quite possibly the wheat field:

"Of course, travellers should be aware of the laws wherever and whenever they go".

So that's all right then.

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What *is* a general to wear?

Thursday, August 30, 2007
I ask, because this headline at the National Post makes it sound as though Musharraf is having a wardrobe crisis, and quite possibly a bad hair day too:

"Pakistan's Musharraf 'yet to decide on uniform'".

The story is rather less camp than the headline suggests.

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Walking back, possibly to happiness, but definitely to Bratislava

And the somewhat pointless Euro press releases just keep on coming. Brussels has decided to revisit 2002 and 2005 surveys on physical activity.

Asked 'In the last 7 days how many times did you walk for at least 10 minutes?', the Slovaks made the greatest use of Shanks' pony (or else felt the greatest need to exaggerate), claiming 137.3 minutes walking time per week, whereas Cypriot, Maltese and Portuguese pavements are the least battered at 28.6 minutes per week.

While, to quote Steven Wright, everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time, the Maltese do seem a tad slovenly given that one could get from Valetta to anywhere else on the island without covering more than about 12 miles.

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Euro Thunderbirds Are Go!


(Image courtesy of the outrageously talented, highly generous and all round good egg, Theo Spark)


Not content with having a president of the commission who looks like a Thunderbird puppet rejected by Gerry Anderson for being insufficiently lifelike, the EU has had another one of its great ideas - International Rescue, EU-style:

"The European Union is considering setting up permanent reaction teams to better deal with natural disasters like the current devastating forest fires in Greece.... EU Environment spokesperson Barbara Helfferich said the European Commission had started developing the idea of setting up response units, and hoped to present plans later this year. These civil protection units would consist of readily-deployable, highly-trained personnel backed up with specialized equipment. One of the so-called "response modules" already identified as a key need is a forest fire-fighting unit".

Much though I sympathise with the Hellenes, bilateral arrangements with its neighbours appear to have been fairly successful, and this looks like a classic Euro exercise in empire building, with the scope for spats over which country gets priority where there are multiple disasters going one too obvious to be worth spelling out.


I wonder where the Tracey Island would be....

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The TUC discovers Facebook....

And has written a half way sensible 'Briefing on online social networking and Human Resources', available here.

Savour, however, this Q&A:

"Should I accept a Facebook friend request from my boss?"

"This is going to become one of the big battlegrounds of office etiquette, and there’s no universal answer to it".

The correct response, to quote a friend, to that question would be 'Are you on crack?'

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French, or going to France sometime soon?

Wednesday, August 29, 2007
If so, I commend this rather useful map that Le Monde has knocked up, with 'pins' for summer universities and the like being held by the various French political parties.

Highlights include the infestation of Loire Atlantique by the Left - Fouras, La Rochelle and Segoville Melle all have Socialist bun fights, and Paris and thereabouts has Socialists, Communists and the Nouveau Centre, whatever that is.

Elsewhere the blameless former French capital city (1) of Quimper played host to the great unwashed in the form of Les Verts, which scored a grand total of 2.32% in the first round of the presidential election in that city, making the folk of Cornouaille a tad more naive than the national average of 1.57%.



(1). I'm not making this up. Quimper was the capital for 24 hours, before Vichy was chosen instead. I cannot lay hands on a fuller reference, but apparently the Prime Minister's mistress took umbrage at the prospect of being somewhere so 'unfashionable'. So, the fortunate Quimperois/e do not have to suffer the good name of their city being a synonym for collaboration.

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When the youth of today grow up, they want to be....

Teachers. Yes, really.

I have been thumbing through the Trendence UK School-Leaver Review 2007 Corporate Edition (downloadable here), and some 28.5% of female school leavers fancy a career at the chalkface, and about 18 or so per cent of male school leavers.

For those under 17 at time of questioning, 'science' is the next favourite at about 22%, but this plummets to 14% for over 18s, with meeja etc rising from 15 to 20%.

Away from the general, the list of preferred employers is a bit depressing - three of the top five are in the public sector - and the numero uno preferred employer at 16.4% is Microsoft. The Army comes in at 13th, the Royal Navy at 33rd, and while the RAF does not feature in the top 50 at all, air traffic control does. Strikes me as rather sad that the youth of today would rather direct aeroplanes than fly them.

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What is *a* Governor to do?

Consider the terrible plight of Rick Perry, Governor of Texas:

He presides over a state where support for the death penalty runs at just under 70%, judging from recent polls, and one 'Johnny Ray Conner, 32, has just (23/8) been put to death by lethal injection for the 1998 fatal shooting of a grocery store clerk.' Source

Meanwhile, the EU has a position on this, and showing its usual timeliness and competence has just published a call for halt to the execution. The EU presumes to lecture Texas thus: "The European Union is unreservedly opposed to the use of capital punishment under all circumstances and has consistently called for the universal abolition of this punishment. We believe that elimination of the death penalty is fundamental to the protection of human dignity, and to the progressive development of human rights".

So, in the light of this statement also being supported by that beacon of 'human dignity', Turkey, the Governor must find himself in a terrible quandary.



Update.

I am indebted to Mr Eugenides for digging up Rick Perry's response:

"“230 years ago, our forefathers fought a war to throw off the yoke of a European monarch and gain the freedom of self-determination. Texans long ago decided that the death penalty is a just and appropriate punishment for the most horrible crimes committed against our citizens. While we respect our friends in Europe, welcome their investment in our state and appreciate their interest in our laws, Texans are doing just fine governing Texas.”


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The Green Eye of the Little Yellow God?

Tuesday, August 28, 2007
...'to the north of Khatmandu'.

Possibly, as an Indian politician has just declared that "Some of our neighbours are jealous of India's progress and they keep hatching conspiracies to disrupt harmony in the country". Source.

Perhaps we should count our blessings in that the Quai d'Orsay and the Irish Foreign Affairs office appear to judge we are not worth the effort.

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Not Spain's most popular submarine

The USS San Juan, a rather sizeable Los Angeles class submarine has docked in Gib, and oh how Spanish nationalists and tree-huggers are upset about it, judging from a report in El Pais:

"The general secretary of the Andalusian Popular Party, Antonio Sanz, described the docking of the USS San Juan as a “mockery and a bad joke”.

And here it is, c/o a doughboy who posted it on Flickr:



They are a bit sensitive, aren't they? Last time I checked Spain was part of NATO, there was a US/Spanish naval base at Rota, and Spain has nuclear power stations, if neither nuclear powered submarines nor nuclear powered aircraft carriers. Rather splendidly, the Spanish Navy is more properly called the Armada Española, or Spanish Armada. Yes, really.

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The country with a 15% growth rate

Is Artsakh, better known in these parts as Nagorno-Karabakh.

And here it is:

The Moscow Times has an interesting piece about Artsakh, noting its 15% growth rate fuelled by the Armenian diaspora, a diaspora impressively ready to put its collective money where its collective mouth is, and as a result of investments made out of sentiment has ended up serving the motherland and making money. So it's all good.

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Lockerbie revisited

Monday, August 27, 2007
I cannot see any reference in the English language media to this bombshell in Le Figaro, so here is a minor filetting of the article:

Swiss engineer Ulrich Lumpert has admitted lying in his testimony made to the court in the trial of Abdelbasset al-Megrahi, currently in the Glasgow big house for involvement in the bomb that detonated on PanAm 103 over Lockerbie in 1988. He has added a claim that he stole a timer from his employer, Swiss company Mebo and to have then given it a Scottish police officer involved in the investigation. Translating directly from Le Figaro, "This assertion accredits a thesis maintained by many people - journalists, lawyers and even parents of victims: there had been a "manipulation" in the investigation to incriminate Libya, whereas the first suspicions pointed out to a pro-Syrian Palestinian faction".

Mebo had sold timers to Libya in the past, but has always maintained that the timer in question had not been sold by it to the Libyans.

I recall there being much shaking of heads over the suspicion of Syrian involvement being ruled out at the time - when they were seen as being on our side during Gulf War I - and without claiming to have studied the whole affair to any great depth felt that something was not entirely right in the apparently over-neat fingering of Libya to the exclusion of Damascus and its various cat's paws.

Meanwhile, al-Megrahi was granted leave to appeal in June, although that was prior to this business with the timer....

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"What's best about Britain..."

Hands up anyone whose first reaction was 'the strength and cohesion provided by people getting involved in communities and voluntary groups, including unions'. Source.

Because that is the answer given by the deputy general secretary of the TUC . The idea of an October bank holiday has been floated again, as clearly no-one paid any heed in May when it was first mooted (and I mocked).

Rather amusingly, there looks to be a severe lack of communication between the various tentacles of the Left, as the ippr wants a bank holiday for essentially the same reason in November. I think the TUC shows a greater sense of taste, as unlike the ippr, it does not attempt to conflate military courage and sacrifice with helping old ladies across the road and the like:

"[The ippr] has called on Gordon Brown to create an extra bank holiday in November to help boost national identity and thank community 'heroes'. The Institute for Public Policy Research said that the new bank holiday - which should fall on the Monday after Remembrance Sunday - would serve as a national "thank you" and encourage people to give something back".

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A 99% pay cut for John Terry.

Saturday, August 25, 2007
That, judging from a yougov poll for the Fabians, is what the British public would like to inflict on the Chelsea player, reckoned to be the top division's highest earner. He currently trousers around £135,000 a week, while the poll suggests that top players should make no more than £62,000 a year. So, he would be in line for something like a 99% pay cut. And it is not just a handful of players making a good living. Last year The Independent calculated that the average income in the top division is £676,000 PA.

Having spent a fruitless 15 minutes playing hunt the quote, I will have to rely on this half remembered effort of mine from last year:

"I forget whether it was Friedman or Hayek who observed that while there is plenty of envy directed at wealthy businessmen, there is very little for pop stars, bullfighters and so forth. Or, in our times, lottery winners. Perhaps following the 'logic' of these merry little class warriors, there should be a cap on salaries for footballers, Warner Brothers should restrict the number of Madonna CDs it presses and Tom Cruise should only be allowed to make a film every five years for fear that 'hard working families and ordinary people' might take offence".

Whether I judge Terry's contribution to Chelsea's success is worth the bagatelle of £7m a year is utterly irrelevant. His employers clearly do, and as with any employment contract, no employer will pay anyone more than the value that they create for the employer. Should that urge for a deadly procrustean equality held by some of my fellow countrymen and women ever kick in, the following will happen:

The likes of Terry will sell their services to higher bidders outside this country or retire, the standards of the English game will fall and English teams will get slaughtered in the Champions League and the like. Gate receipts will fall, English TV rights will sell for less while UK rights for Spanish, French, US etc games or wherever our top talent are playing will rise. Meanwhile, the Exchequer will lose the money they take from the players, less money will circulate in the economy and things will be altogether worse....

Still, it is not all bad, the public want to cut Broon's salary by about 28%.

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A novel approach to foreign policy, national debt etc

The Russians and the Finns fought a comparatively little known war in 1939-1940, notable for the Finns inventing the Molotov Cocktail and giving the Red Army a remarkably bloody nose, although eventually giving up the unequal struggle and signing a peace deal that saw substantial chunks of Finland passed over to the USSR, per the map below.



So much for the history lesson. The more immediately interesting thing is that the Finns are falling over themselves to deny that there were talks twist Helsinki and Moscow in the early 90s over the USSR selling Karelia to Finland for what looks to be the bargain price of €10 billion. That figure is considerably less than the cost of the wretched outdoor steroid abuse fest London will have to suffer in 2012.

Some years back the idea of Yakutia ('Siberia') being sold by the Russian Federation to the US, Alaska-style was floated, so maybe this is a way forward. I think we should make the French an offer for Gascony.

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Operation Bold Avenger

Friday, August 24, 2007
While sniffing around my bookmarks I found that a NATO air exercise in Norway next month is to be called Bold Avenger.

Pretty feeble namewise, I reckon, and fortunately at least one of those rather amusing operation codename generators is still live.

The creator is clearly a decent sort, as he notes, "I'm sure there will be more operations, and the US military will have to spend lots of precious hours to come up with sound codenames for those. I thought I could take a bit of load off the hard working men and women at the Pentagon by creating this codename generator".

What is more, one can specify a country/ region and the type of operation.

So, with the best match for an air exercise in Norway being 'Air Strike', 'Central & Western Europe', it offered up the following:

Operation Vigilant Bat
Operation Silver Response
Operation Proud Sword

And not that I think it would be a particularly good idea, it offers up Operation Noble Thunder for a nuclear strike on Iran.

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What the TUC will be talking about at its conference

Given that we are spared round the clock broadcasting of every last cough from the TUC these days, praise the Lord, here are some motions:

Trade Union Freedom Bill
Congress re-affirms its support for the Trade Union Freedom Bill, which is to be placed before Parliament for a second reading on 19 October 2007. Congress agrees that the lack of progress made to date on the repealing of the anti-trade union laws introduced by the Tory government is totally unacceptable. Action must be taken without further delay to restore the rights of the worker in the workplace. Congress therefore agrees to step up the campaign for the repeal of all anti- trade union laws and gives full support to a lobby of Parliament in support of the Trade Union Freedom Bill tabled by John McDonnell MP." NUM

Sub-paragraph vii), after “Trade Union Freedom Bill” insert: “, including provisions in line with this year's request to the UK Government by the ILO Committee of Experts to amend legislation to allow workers 'to participate in sympathy strikes, provided the initial strike they are supporting is lawful';” Unite

Secondary action? Yup, that's what they want. Wouldn't that be good for the economy, eh?

Trade union rights for prison officers

Congress reaffirms its policy to insist that prison officers have returned to them full trade union rights, including the right to restrict and withdraw their Labour – these rights being no different from those enjoyed by other public and emergency service representative bodies. POA
Striking prison officers. What a great idea.

There's a whole lot more, and I will be returning to this, I think.

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Out

Nothing from me until later as I am off to hear kaddish said for the father of my friend, and sometime poster, Mr R.

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How to lie with statistics?

Thursday, August 23, 2007
Note the chart above. How would a reasonable person describe the trend? Upwards, as Dizzy did when posed the question, or if being really liberal, plateauing?

Not at the BBC site they do not: "But at the same time, the trend in gun crime overall has been going down". Yes they do, right there in the fourth paragraph.

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Oh that La Serenissima ruled London....

Because the City Council of Venice has set up an Urban Decorum office, with volunteers dishing out on the spot fines for '"indecorous behaviour' among tourists, which the city has decided includes sitting on the [pavement], eating sandwiches there or going bare-chested". More here.

Failing that, more power to The Chap magazine's 'Civilise the City' Manifesto:

"Pleasantness and civility are being discarded as the worthless ephemera of a bygone age - an age when men doffed their hats to the ladies, and small children could be counted upon to mind one's Jack Russell while one took a mild and bitter in the local hostelry....

The Chap proposes to take a stand against this culture of vulgarity. We must show our children that the things worth fighting for are not the latest plastic plimsolls but a shiny pair of brogues. We must wean them off their alcopops and teach them how to mix martinis. Let the young not be ashamed of their flabby paunches, which they try to hide in their nylon tracksuits - we shall show them how a well-tailored suit can disguise the most ruined of bodies. Finally, let us capitalise on youth's love of peculiar argot only replace their pidgin ghetto-speak with fruity bons mots and dry witticisms".


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Even worse than giving your home town as Pratt's Bottom....

..is living in the municipal area containing Durban, known these days as eThekwini.

This, apparently, translates from the Zulu as 'a pair of bull's testicles', and the Mayor of Durban thinks that "KwaKhangela, which translates as 'Watch Out' (for attackers) in Zulu" would be a better bet.

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Resigning because the powers that be will not do one out of a job

That is the rather curious position of the head of the Swedish National Board of Film Classification, Gunnel Arrbäck. She wants to end all film censorship for adults, as do her colleagues, but because the Swedish government will not change the law she has resigned. Source.

Erm, didn't this amount to 'sack me or I'll resign'? For most folk in employment, avoiding the Spanish Archer is a major pre-occupation, but I suppose I should sigh wistfully wishing that this nation's quangocrats and the like would see the light and call for an end to their wretched organisations.

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Jacqui Smith talking out of her, erm, hat

"No government took any action on anti-social behaviour until the Labour government". Source

Because the criminal law did not exist before 1997, did it? Interesting that she damns MacDonald (snigger), Attlee, Wilson and Callaghan, and one does wonder whether given the year zero approach of Broon that she was wise to extend a degree of unspoken credit to Blair.

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Of headlesss chickens, shot foxes and other additions to the gaiety of the French nation

Wednesday, August 22, 2007
It looks ever more likely that Sarkozy has played an absolute blinder in backing Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the European candidate for the head of the IMF. In June I asked the following:

"Sarko is backing French Socialist Dominique Strauss-Kahn candidacy for the leadership of the IMF, commenting, "Could I deprive France of his candidacy just because he's a socialist?". Yes, Nicky, vieux haricot, of course you should.

Admittedly DSK is less neanderthal than some of the French Left, and perhaps Sarko is being a tad smart and trying to remove one of the French socialists with the greatest prospects of dragging the Socialist party into the 2oth 21st century".

The interesting bit is that Libé has asked the French people 'Who would be the best leader of the Left in the years to come?', and among the overall population, DSK leads the way at 30%, with Sego trailing at a frankly dismal 15%, followed by Trotskyite Besancenot on 8%. The contest is rather closer among leftist sympathisers, at 24% apiece for DSK and Sego, with Sego leading among Socialists at 31 to 27 . I am presuming that Gaulists and so on back DSK for reasons other than sheer devilment, otherwise presumably they would be lining up behind one of the 57 varieties of Trots, tankies, greens or other figureheads of the extreme left.

The mouche in the ointment is that Russia is backing a Czech banker as head of the IMF, thus wrecking the united front among we European types. The Czechs themselves are not best pleased and are backing DSK.

From what I can discover about Tošovský, he looks preferable to DSK as an IMF candidate, claims of past collaboration with the Czechoslovak secret police notwithstanding, so perhaps the ideal result is that DSK and Tošovský engage in some manner of fight to the near death which the Czech wins, but leaves DSK so hopelessly compromised that he can never hope to participate in French domestic politics.


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Great subbing errors of our time?


The photo above appears in the Moscow Times in an article about the MAKS 2007 Air Show, and is labelled "A delegation of Pakistani military officials visiting MAKS 2007 on Tuesday".

They do look a bit young to be in the market for serious military hardware, and lack military bearing and the distinctive moustaches so popular with the Pakistani top brass.

And now with a screenshot care of someone more technically able:

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Oh the indignity of bearing the name Max

Max, or in its long form, Maximilian, has struck me as a decent enough forename, but Wall, Bygraves and a former Emperor of Mexico, inter alia, now have to cope with the indignity of Max being the most popular name for insured dogs and cats in the US, for the fifth successive year. (More here, registration required).

Apparently, "The continuing popularity of Max is largely due to the fact that it is monosyllabic and simple for people and pets to remember, yet easy to distinguish from common commands," said Dr. Carol McConnell, vice president and chief veterinary officer for VPI. "Plus, it's a fitting name for an active, energetic pet".

Active and energetic? I suppose going for a stroll in Central Park, or come to that MacArthur Park, must be a tad awkward for any human bearers of that name, what with all the cries of 'Max, fetch', 'Max, sit' etc etc. Elsewhere, the other leading mutt names were Molly, Buddy, Bella and Lucy, with the feline top five including Chloe, Lucy, Tigger and Tiger.

Way back lost in the mists of time I was having a conversation with a philosophy graduate about which would be the most suitable philosopher to name a pet rat after (don't ask...), and he reckoned it was Schopenhauer, this probably being related to the tale of Schopenhauer praising the concept of suicide when pleasantly replete after dinner.

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The Justice Minister with a smack-dealing brother

Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Is Rachida Dati, the French ministre de la Justice. Her brother, Jamal, has just been sent to la grande maison for a year for possession and dealing in heroin. More at Libé.

Makes the problem relatives of Jimmy Carter, Jack Straw, and Mr Tony (remember him?) seem quite minor, do they not?

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Great publicity stunts of our time

Insurance against being attacked by the Loch Ness Monster. Yes, really.

This has been cooked up by the organisers of a duathlon, this unholy beast being conducted in kilometres (bah...) around the edge of the loch. Although not in it.

The downside to this is that Alistair Campbell is a participant, and I would not be best chuffed if the extended family Campbell coined it from his being digested whole by a miffed plesiosaur or whatever the monster is reckoned to be this week.

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How long is 'ever'?

All the way back to the Big Bang, the emergence of Homo Sapiens, the earliest literate civilization, or being really generous, a human life span?

Well, by Tony McNulty's opinion, 'ever' is thirteen years:

'The number of people applying for asylum in the UK fell by over 2,000 in 2006 to its lowest level since 1993, according to statistics published by the Home Office today.....Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said..."There are now fewer people than ever coming to Britain and making claims for asylum"'.

Well did you evah....


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Something is rotten in the state of Denmark

(To say that I am pleased that I have found an excuse to use that headline is an understatement).

Councillors from the Danish city of Sønderborg have seen fit to pay for their attendance at a Michael Moore film and lecture out of public funds, at a total of DKK112000 (£20277.7), reckoning that it "can be ‘inspirational’ for the city’s businesses and government". Source. Said municipality is run by Socialist International participants, the Socialdemokraterne.

Given that Sønderborg's tribunes were not allowed to pillage the public purse to see Pavarotti in concert last year, one does wonder about the Danes if an agitprop film about the US healthcare system is more 'inspirational' to them than one of the world's great tenors.

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You too can vote in the Norwegian election. Ish

Monday, August 20, 2007
Or at least answer a raft of questions to find out which party best suits one's views. Here is the Valgomat test, which the lovely people at Aftenpost have made available in English.

And my electoral date is with the Progress Party, "The Party advocates free market economics and deregulation of the economy, stricter limits on immigration, especially from immigrants who break the law, closer cooperation with NATO, United States and also Israel in foreign policy, a more controlled state aid to developing countries, social and cultural conservatism, the decentralization of government."

Sounds fairly promising, doesn't it?

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The poor darlings

The PCS is appalled to discover that " that one in 20 officials were breaking the working time regulation limit by working more than 49 hours a week. Nearly 2,000 civil servants took part in the survey, published on Monday, with 45.8 per cent of them admitting that they worked between 40 and 48 hours a week". Source

We in the private sector rarely rack up more than five hours in the office a day during our three-day weeks, and most of that is spent drinking coffee and sending joke e-mails.

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The anaconda - cute?

Sunday, August 19, 2007
Yes it is. It is there along with the rather more predictable lemur, orang utan, panda and dolphin in its list of 40, viewable here. The WWF requests that website readers should "Select your five favorite animals from the list of 40 below, and we'll keep score of the ones that receive the most votes. Then, come back on September 1, and vote for your favorite finalist as it competes for the title of World's Cutest Animal!"

Other left field candidates include the great white shark, dugong and and the walrus. I deem it remarkably gutless of them not to have included the adonis that is the naked mole rat...

I am sorely tempted to attempt to kick start a campaign in favour of the anaconda, but one has to register to vote, and doubtless that would precipitate an avalanche of begging e-mails.

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Petition o' the day

Friday, August 17, 2007
" We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Use the UK military to help protect endangered wildlife across the globe".

I am NOT making this up.

So, perhaps every panda could have a team of bodyguards, and maybe razor wire, klieg lights and minefields should surround the rarer orchids. After all, the British armed forces have little to do beyond play cards, drink and stare out of their barrack windows at the moment.

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Quote of the year

"Elvis posed a dilemma for capitalism, but it was not an insurmountable one".

Straight from this week's Socialist Worker. And they are referring to that Elvis.

Submissions in a similar vein would be very welcome.

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Nonsense upon stilts

I am not a big fan of Bentham, but his terming of 'human rights' as 'nonsense upon stilts' seems quite extraordinarily apt in the case of those deemed to apply to protesters in Ottawa.

Bush, Calderon and Harper are having a summit meeting in Ottawa next month, and doubtless it will prove a fairly pointless exercise, in common with G8 meetings and the like. Why they can't do a bit of video conferencing is beyond me.

Anyway, politicians cannot hope to meet up anywhere without there being a rag bag of lefties, greens, and 57 varieties of other loons following the baggage train, and so it will be in Ottawa. Doubtless politicians everywhere regard the camp followers as just one more pain in the backside, but which can be shut out once inside the summit venue. Not, however, this time:

"There will be a video feed of the protests inside the buildings," a senior official said at a media briefing on the summit. "People have a legitimate right to protest."

The government said the decision to stream footage of the protests in view of the three world leaders is consistent with the protesters' human rights and assertions in courts that protesters have a right to be seen and heard".

Right. So it is not enough that one has the right to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech, but rather Ottawa falls just short of supplying the venue, soap boxes and bullhorns. Having once started on this folly, where will it all end, and might Bush, Calderon and Harper decide that they want to exercise their freedom of speech by having their bon mots relayed to the crowd by speakers mounted on Chinooks or somesuch?


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If this lot are shaping our future, I'd rather be living in the past.

Thursday, August 16, 2007
The World Economic Forum runs a dull if essentially worthy website, and it has just made this breathless announcement:

"More than 250 young leaders from 61 countries will participate in the third Annual Young Global Leaders summit in Dalian on 4-8 September. They will be looking to define the future of leadership during their three-day meeting, held prior to the Inaugural Annual Meeting of the New Champions. The Young Global Leaders will participate in an intense workshop where they will discuss what will be required to be a truly effective global leader in the face of emerging trends and new challenges and will then be tasked with creating a new leadership model for the future".

Who could these young leaders be? Well, Ed Balls and Yvette Cooper, who might be prepared to share a room and save us all some money. And Justin Forsyth, who "advises Prime Minister Tony Blair". Time to update the site chaps? Elsewhere, a slew of bankers, bean counters, asset managers - none of whom are household names bar Stelios 'easy' Haji-Ioannou - a Dutch Princess (not that her biog at the WEF 'fesses up that) and one Hilary Cottam. Her blog is a corker: "Welcome to my blog. Watch this space for more…" That was dated 4/10/6. And no list of 'the Great and the Good' could possibly be complete without Ellen 'whine, whine, whine' / "[there] are a lot of people in the professional sailing contingent who wouldn't sail across the Solent with her" MacArthur.

I have skimmed the rogues' gallery for France, Oz, Canada and the US, inter alia, and their young turks are equally depressing. And the three from Israel are an MK from a marginal left wing party, a singer / song writer and a professor.

"I've seen the future, and it smirks". (With apologies to Simon Hoggart fort stealing his line)

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Israel in expansionist mode again.

Regrettably it is not going to make the day of numerous Arabs and give Gaza direct rule from Jerusalem, but rather there is talk of building an airport on reclaimed land off the coast of TA.

Sounds like it would be quite a feat of engineering: "Our sea is not calm," Danny Kaiser, who was Tel Aviv's city engineer from 2000 to 2005, told the Post. The Mediterranean coast experiences high winds and waves, and reaches great depths, he said. "To build an artificial island, one must have a very good reason".

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Fun with stats

Care of a new American gameshow called 'The Power of 10':

"48% of Americans said people who don't speak English annoy them". Erm, including non-Americans? Seems a bit harsh.

"41% of American women said they prefer chocolate to sex". Yes, I'm going to make that joke: How unfortunate for American women who have sex with other Americans....

"37% of Americans said when they wake up in the morning, they do not look forward to going to work". I'm way more concerned about the 63% who do not think the Curse of Cain is that bad.

"32% of Americans have kissed a dog on the mouth". Any connection to the sex / chocolate figures?

"7% of Americans think professional wrestling matches are real". Figures for those Americans who think that the Bishop of Rome is a Seventh Day Adventist and that Ursus arctos horribilis habitually uses restaurant rest rooms are not yet available.

"42% of Americans think girls should be allowed to try out for and play on the boys' football team". But how many male Americans....

"10% of Americans said they have shaken hands with a U.S. President". 30 million odd? Yeah, right.

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