Monday 27 September 2010
Nouvelle Marché
The new farmers' market at Elephant & Castle surely is an enrichment to quality of London living. Not far from the mega-mall where I love to hang out at anyway, it provides a welcome array of fresh fruit within my rollerblading radius. So I spent £36 on fruit and berries, something like a 'house-warming' gift to the newly established place, amongst the produce I bought were four baskets of golden(!) raspberries. I had to get used to the colour, but once put on top of some raspberry and lemon sorbet, it was even pleasant to look at. All gone, before you ask... lol
Survey
For the politically adroit there's a survey (please submit by 30 September):
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=IfE_2fypwrA_2fI_2b20eDn1aBOA_3d_3d
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=IfE_2fypwrA_2fI_2b20eDn1aBOA_3d_3d
Saturday 25 September 2010
Itinerary note
Brussels,
Sep 29-30
Birmingham,
October 3-6
York,
Oct 9+10
Cape Town,
Oct 18-28 (preliminary dates)
Sep 29-30
Birmingham,
October 3-6
York,
Oct 9+10
Cape Town,
Oct 18-28 (preliminary dates)
Monday 20 September 2010
In thoughts...
The Prime Minister said today that "our troops did not die in vain" in their mission in Afghanistan. I know the good spirit in which such hollow words are spoken, and I understand why the PM has to say them publicly.
According to Tony Blair's book "A Journey" I also understand much better the circumstances that preceed such phrases. Sitting comfortably in an armchair near a cozy fireplace, brandy, whiskey or red wine in one hand, telephone receiver with a link to Washington in the other, the stark images of 'our' troops being torn to pieces, stabbed or hacked to death, shot or blown to bits by roadside bombs, all become blurry and abstract.
I do believe that the final judgement, whether a young person in his and her prime has died in a remote and desolate corner of the world not in vain, should rest with the family of the deceased. I am sure that, if given the chance, the victims would also slightly differ with politicians, who so graciously and with great grandeur, praise them for their unsuspected and usually unexpected fatal demise. Silence seems to be the most appropriate way to commemorate those who have fallen far from home and next of kin.
According to Tony Blair's book "A Journey" I also understand much better the circumstances that preceed such phrases. Sitting comfortably in an armchair near a cozy fireplace, brandy, whiskey or red wine in one hand, telephone receiver with a link to Washington in the other, the stark images of 'our' troops being torn to pieces, stabbed or hacked to death, shot or blown to bits by roadside bombs, all become blurry and abstract.
I do believe that the final judgement, whether a young person in his and her prime has died in a remote and desolate corner of the world not in vain, should rest with the family of the deceased. I am sure that, if given the chance, the victims would also slightly differ with politicians, who so graciously and with great grandeur, praise them for their unsuspected and usually unexpected fatal demise. Silence seems to be the most appropriate way to commemorate those who have fallen far from home and next of kin.
Thursday 16 September 2010
Sarkozy - Lost in Translation
Immigrant Sarkozy in Roma Deportation row
Even the EU Commission scolds the president
Politicians usually look most ridiculous when they are pushed into the defensive to grapple with proven accusations, and when they base their defence on made-up, worse accusations nobody has accused them of to begin with. Point in case: France's infamy of swooping onto Roma and Travellers' dwellings, round up the occupants, finger-print, strip-search and load them into busses in early morning raids. The alikeness of GESTAPO attacks on civilians under Nazi occupation did not escape the EU Commission, and the EU Commissioner of Justice Viviane Reding spoke up this week, clearly fed up with the lies and excuses vented from the French government.
Ms Reding referred to a leaked document from the French Interior Ministry in which local authorities are asked to specifically target Roma and Travellers - most of them French citizens - in a crackdown aimed to deport members of that ethnic group as expediently and secretly as possible. The commissioner lambasted the French leadership and condemned the fact that its members lied to the commission previously.
"This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War," she said. I didn't either. But France's Europe Minister Pierre Lellouche lamely responded that a plane ticket back to Romania or Bulgaria is not the same thing as death trains and gas chambers. Nobody said that, Mr Lellouche; but the valid parallel which was pointed out by Ms Reding was that once again an ethnic group has been singled out for mass persecution, ill treatment and deportation, just because they belonged to the "wrong" and unpleasant" and undesired ethnicity.
Mr Sarkozy, born as Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa in Budapest and only to become French citizen in 1970 after 20 years as a stateless vagabond merely by virtue of past service in the French Legion, also waffled on about the inappropriateness to compare one wave of deportations with earlier ones in France. He then finished his tirade against the EU by mocking the Luxembourger Reding to open the tiny grand-duchy for the next wave of Roma refugees.
The crux of the matter is that around 14,000 Roma and Travellers have arrived in France since Romania and Bulgaria had to open their borders to ascend to the European Union. The ethnic minority is brutally surpressed and deprived of meaningful income in these countries and the flow of migrants intensified in recent years, mainly to Italy, France and Spain. The respective governments, in violation of EU law, continue the practice to deny members of the Roma and Travellers community with work permits despite the fact that they are European citizens as much as the Hungarian refugee Nicholas Sarkozy who, by a freak of coincidence, ended up as resident inside the Elysee Palace.
The state-sponsored discrimination and persecution of Roma and Travellers, who are French citizens mostly, needs to stop - even according to the EU commission at last. It would be helpful if the commission stepped up its cruisade for justice also in Spain, Italy, Hungary and Slovakia, where Gypsies are equally mistreated and deported to areas of Europe that remain to this day desolate, dilapitated, derelict and outright dangerous.
Even the EU Commission scolds the president
Politicians usually look most ridiculous when they are pushed into the defensive to grapple with proven accusations, and when they base their defence on made-up, worse accusations nobody has accused them of to begin with. Point in case: France's infamy of swooping onto Roma and Travellers' dwellings, round up the occupants, finger-print, strip-search and load them into busses in early morning raids. The alikeness of GESTAPO attacks on civilians under Nazi occupation did not escape the EU Commission, and the EU Commissioner of Justice Viviane Reding spoke up this week, clearly fed up with the lies and excuses vented from the French government.
Ms Reding referred to a leaked document from the French Interior Ministry in which local authorities are asked to specifically target Roma and Travellers - most of them French citizens - in a crackdown aimed to deport members of that ethnic group as expediently and secretly as possible. The commissioner lambasted the French leadership and condemned the fact that its members lied to the commission previously.
"This is a situation I had thought Europe would not have to witness again after the Second World War," she said. I didn't either. But France's Europe Minister Pierre Lellouche lamely responded that a plane ticket back to Romania or Bulgaria is not the same thing as death trains and gas chambers. Nobody said that, Mr Lellouche; but the valid parallel which was pointed out by Ms Reding was that once again an ethnic group has been singled out for mass persecution, ill treatment and deportation, just because they belonged to the "wrong" and unpleasant" and undesired ethnicity.
Mr Sarkozy, born as Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa in Budapest and only to become French citizen in 1970 after 20 years as a stateless vagabond merely by virtue of past service in the French Legion, also waffled on about the inappropriateness to compare one wave of deportations with earlier ones in France. He then finished his tirade against the EU by mocking the Luxembourger Reding to open the tiny grand-duchy for the next wave of Roma refugees.
The crux of the matter is that around 14,000 Roma and Travellers have arrived in France since Romania and Bulgaria had to open their borders to ascend to the European Union. The ethnic minority is brutally surpressed and deprived of meaningful income in these countries and the flow of migrants intensified in recent years, mainly to Italy, France and Spain. The respective governments, in violation of EU law, continue the practice to deny members of the Roma and Travellers community with work permits despite the fact that they are European citizens as much as the Hungarian refugee Nicholas Sarkozy who, by a freak of coincidence, ended up as resident inside the Elysee Palace.
The state-sponsored discrimination and persecution of Roma and Travellers, who are French citizens mostly, needs to stop - even according to the EU commission at last. It would be helpful if the commission stepped up its cruisade for justice also in Spain, Italy, Hungary and Slovakia, where Gypsies are equally mistreated and deported to areas of Europe that remain to this day desolate, dilapitated, derelict and outright dangerous.
Friday 10 September 2010
On the eve of destruction
Spoiling the purity of honouring the many victims of Islamist terrorism is a little obscure man who leads a small sect of 15 members which only in the US would be recognised as a church.
The little hate-mongering man intends to burn copies of the Koran, in a rather idiotic and irrational demonstration of inarticulate protest over plans to build a mosque at the site of the 9-11 atrocity.
I am disappointed that neither President Obama nor his cabinet and military leaders cannot condemn outright this vitriolic act by an obscure buffoon in sunny Florida. They should not be concerned about the publicity fiasco and the heightened danger to US servicemen abroad, but chastise the act of a dimwitted renegade anarchist, a criminal by intent, a self-described pastor of the Christian Right, as an outrageously wrong and sinister and vile act. Not the least because it soils and tramples on the respect we pay to the many victims of 9-11.
I oppose the erection of the mosque in New York, but I also deny that the intended criminal act by a Florida pastor to be a legitimate form of protest. It is immoral and blasphemic, and a collective insult of 1.5 Billion people who chose Islam as their vocation for redemption.
As an agnostic I find any violent act in the name of a god a very earthly criminal offence. Burning books invokes memories of a dictatorial regime that started burning books and ended up burning people. I expect representatives of the US to apprehend and neutralise now this miserable cretin in sunny Florida.
Posted via Blackberry
BJ for London
Boris Johnson declared this morning that he will run again for the nation's most powerful position after that of prime minister. It was the main prerequisite for me to quit banking and shift to City Hall. Now that the cat is out of the sack it means to devote the next few months to the re-election campaign to make London the best city in the world and to assure a smooth run of the 2012 Olympic Games.
Good move from there...
Boris pinned the Conservatives' top brass against the wall in arduous budget talks in the past few weeks, leaving all major projects for London's future intact and - more importantly - fully funded. With nearly £35 Billion at stake, Chancellor George Osborne had to grind his teeth and grudgingly sign off on the transfers to our coffers. Cough cough...
... to here:
Posted via Blackberry
Thursday 9 September 2010
Thames Festival
The Thames Festival in London
This weekend the Thames Festival takes place in London, with main events along the river from noon to 10pm between Westminster Bridge and Tower Bridge, on or beside the river.
Cleverly turning the fact that shorter, darker, colder days will be our lot for months to come into a convincing cause for celebration, the festival will culminate on Sunday for a night carnival, and concludes with a firework display from a barge on the river between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. I will be there on both evenings.
Classic vessels with a connection to the river and its arteries, including Thames barges and an oyster smack, are moored in St Katharine Docks for this vintage boat show, with dockside entertainment, nautical games such as a 'Row of War' and boat-building demonstrations. I will be at the Thistles Saturday night.
Cleverly turning the fact that shorter, darker, colder days will be our lot for months to come into a convincing cause for celebration, the festival will culminate on Sunday for a night carnival, and concludes with a firework display from a barge on the river between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. I will be there on both evenings.
Classic vessels with a connection to the river and its arteries, including Thames barges and an oyster smack, are moored in St Katharine Docks for this vintage boat show, with dockside entertainment, nautical games such as a 'Row of War' and boat-building demonstrations. I will be at the Thistles Saturday night.
Wednesday 8 September 2010
To hell with the euro
Leave Europe while you can -
'Leaders' begin to look for scapegoats
Ten years ago navel-gazing EU officials boasted to the world that a new currency will emerge within a decade to become the new global reserve currency of choice, replacing the Greenback. Reminiscent to German leaders in the past, these premature boasts of a "Thousand Year Currency Reich" imploded merely 12 years later: the European Union, especially the eurozone, is a clique of defunct and disillusioned national entities, adrift without vision, legitimacy or plan. The sinkhole of ever rising debt, uncontrolled public spending, mass unemployment and virtually bankrupt, Europeans begin to look for scapegoats, with minorities taking the brunt of the inarticulate rancour of neo-fascists, from Hungary to France, and Germany to the southern tip of Italy.
But the fact is that the obsessive introduction of the euro, which was heaped on unsuspecting and duped citizens by their respective fuehrers - regardless whether they were bunkered in Berlin or Paris - is to blame for the doomsday scenario today. As eurozone members drown in debt, caused by the wrong belief that "together we are too strong to fail" it becomes clear that this theory went out the window fast, once reality hit. When Greece hit the headlines in late Spring that its $530 billion debt put the nation within hours of a declaration of bankruptcy, hastily arranged credit lines from fellow members saved the day. Quick credit checks within the European Union revealed that six other member states are in similar conditions of disrepair. Credit lines thrown in by supposedly wealthier states had the opposite effect as intended: instead of soothing jittery markets, the mere revelation of the extent of the dire financial state caused panic and grave concern, as creditors are now threatened to be dragged down by the sheer size of the mountain of debt accumulated by irresponsible regimes in Athens, Rome, Madrid, Brussels, Budapest and Lisbon in the past.
It leaves a populace in Europe dumbfounded today. How could leaders be elected who deliberately and methodically hauled the continent into a financial desaster similar to the (monetary) cost of World War II: capital and wealth of $1.4 Trillion has been destroyed since the introduction of the euro as common currency. At least one generation - like the one in post-war Europe - will suffer and repay for the poor decisions of the preceeding ten years. In Britain the situation is so bleak that towns begin to turn off the lights at night in order to "save money." The real state of affairs could not be demonstrated in any starker terms.
Europe is - literally - a dying continent. The demoscopics show that for more than 20 years more of its citizens die than are born. The mortality gap, which
bodes catastrophic for securing pensions in 25 years from now, is only partly cushioned by outside immigration. The endemic xenophobia and open hostility towards foreigners make European countries already a dangerous and life-threatening option for migrant workers. But this openly flagrant racism does not even stop towards its own citizens, as the forced state-sponsored expatriation of hundreds of Roma from France has shown. Had France observed some simple Gypsy rules, namely not to spend fortunes that haven't been earned yet, France would not be in such demise, unable to provide for its pensioners. The expelled Roma, who were rounded up at night in brutal police raids and evicted from their homes in the process, were whisked to the airport and hurridly shipped out against their will to Romania where they await more brutality and dangers. The fate of the Gypsies, Europeans and often more French citizens than the Hungarian refugee-become-president Sarkozy, is a showcase for European racism and firmly engrained prejudice.
It is curious to hear Europeans muse over "American arrogance, pride before the fall of an empire," while they are already halfway on the slide to hell.
France condemned by EU Parliament
EU Commission accused of conspiracy to discriminate Roma
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11243923
'Leaders' begin to look for scapegoats
Ten years ago navel-gazing EU officials boasted to the world that a new currency will emerge within a decade to become the new global reserve currency of choice, replacing the Greenback. Reminiscent to German leaders in the past, these premature boasts of a "Thousand Year Currency Reich" imploded merely 12 years later: the European Union, especially the eurozone, is a clique of defunct and disillusioned national entities, adrift without vision, legitimacy or plan. The sinkhole of ever rising debt, uncontrolled public spending, mass unemployment and virtually bankrupt, Europeans begin to look for scapegoats, with minorities taking the brunt of the inarticulate rancour of neo-fascists, from Hungary to France, and Germany to the southern tip of Italy.
But the fact is that the obsessive introduction of the euro, which was heaped on unsuspecting and duped citizens by their respective fuehrers - regardless whether they were bunkered in Berlin or Paris - is to blame for the doomsday scenario today. As eurozone members drown in debt, caused by the wrong belief that "together we are too strong to fail" it becomes clear that this theory went out the window fast, once reality hit. When Greece hit the headlines in late Spring that its $530 billion debt put the nation within hours of a declaration of bankruptcy, hastily arranged credit lines from fellow members saved the day. Quick credit checks within the European Union revealed that six other member states are in similar conditions of disrepair. Credit lines thrown in by supposedly wealthier states had the opposite effect as intended: instead of soothing jittery markets, the mere revelation of the extent of the dire financial state caused panic and grave concern, as creditors are now threatened to be dragged down by the sheer size of the mountain of debt accumulated by irresponsible regimes in Athens, Rome, Madrid, Brussels, Budapest and Lisbon in the past.
It leaves a populace in Europe dumbfounded today. How could leaders be elected who deliberately and methodically hauled the continent into a financial desaster similar to the (monetary) cost of World War II: capital and wealth of $1.4 Trillion has been destroyed since the introduction of the euro as common currency. At least one generation - like the one in post-war Europe - will suffer and repay for the poor decisions of the preceeding ten years. In Britain the situation is so bleak that towns begin to turn off the lights at night in order to "save money." The real state of affairs could not be demonstrated in any starker terms.
Europe is - literally - a dying continent. The demoscopics show that for more than 20 years more of its citizens die than are born. The mortality gap, which
bodes catastrophic for securing pensions in 25 years from now, is only partly cushioned by outside immigration. The endemic xenophobia and open hostility towards foreigners make European countries already a dangerous and life-threatening option for migrant workers. But this openly flagrant racism does not even stop towards its own citizens, as the forced state-sponsored expatriation of hundreds of Roma from France has shown. Had France observed some simple Gypsy rules, namely not to spend fortunes that haven't been earned yet, France would not be in such demise, unable to provide for its pensioners. The expelled Roma, who were rounded up at night in brutal police raids and evicted from their homes in the process, were whisked to the airport and hurridly shipped out against their will to Romania where they await more brutality and dangers. The fate of the Gypsies, Europeans and often more French citizens than the Hungarian refugee-become-president Sarkozy, is a showcase for European racism and firmly engrained prejudice.
It is curious to hear Europeans muse over "American arrogance, pride before the fall of an empire," while they are already halfway on the slide to hell.
EU Commission accused of conspiracy to discriminate Roma
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11243923
Condolences
Sadly, Mr Ian Cameron has died today after suffering a stroke this morning. Our office was informed at 9 this morning that the Prime Minister has left for southern France to be at his father's bedside.
My condolences to David and his family; we were keenly aware of the towering and inspirational role his father has played in the PM's life, and the physical handicaps he had to endure in life, which did not stop Ian Cameron to become a wealthy and successful stockbroker.
Posted via Blackberry
My condolences to David and his family; we were keenly aware of the towering and inspirational role his father has played in the PM's life, and the physical handicaps he had to endure in life, which did not stop Ian Cameron to become a wealthy and successful stockbroker.
Posted via Blackberry
Tuesday 7 September 2010
Poop on Pope
The strike is on, the tube(s) are clamped. Naturally my line is most affected, so I left an hour early and went home by cab. I strongly believe that strikers of London Transport should be shot or hanged with piano wires; their walk-out is frivolous and crippling the city. Bastardos to the gallows!
Another gullible topic is the pending visit of the pope here.
The first ever papal state visit to Britain will commence on September 16. An online poll of 2,005 people, published this week also on BBC, found that 79% had "no personal interest" in the visit. The survey by think tank Theos also found 77% thought that taxpayers should not help pay for it. Count me in on that number.
The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has now said it is right that UK taxpayers should help pay for the Pope's trip to Britain. Critics are angry that up to £12m is to come from the public purse. But Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols told the BBC it would be a "sad day" when the UK "closes its doors and says we can't afford state visits". He muses that "It was right the taxpayer and the Church shared the bill because the Pope was coming at the invitation of the government. It is a state visit, and the day that this country closes its doors and says we can't afford state visits is a very sad day because it would be a real gesture of isolationism," he said.
That logic in mind I support dispursing of public funds for the state visit of His Wholeness of Vatican State; but with not one Dime beyond what London has paid for heads of state of similar proportions, such as Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein.
Current Music (Spotify enhanced): Dirty Stop Out – Tie Me Up
Another gullible topic is the pending visit of the pope here.
The first ever papal state visit to Britain will commence on September 16. An online poll of 2,005 people, published this week also on BBC, found that 79% had "no personal interest" in the visit. The survey by think tank Theos also found 77% thought that taxpayers should not help pay for it. Count me in on that number.
The head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales has now said it is right that UK taxpayers should help pay for the Pope's trip to Britain. Critics are angry that up to £12m is to come from the public purse. But Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols told the BBC it would be a "sad day" when the UK "closes its doors and says we can't afford state visits". He muses that "It was right the taxpayer and the Church shared the bill because the Pope was coming at the invitation of the government. It is a state visit, and the day that this country closes its doors and says we can't afford state visits is a very sad day because it would be a real gesture of isolationism," he said.
That logic in mind I support dispursing of public funds for the state visit of His Wholeness of Vatican State; but with not one Dime beyond what London has paid for heads of state of similar proportions, such as Andorra, Monaco and Liechtenstein.
Current Music (Spotify enhanced): Dirty Stop Out – Tie Me Up
Sunday 5 September 2010
Sleepy Eyes
OMG! Did I need sleep or not: After my return from 7 weeks of vacation including visits to three continents, and the start of my new job, I succumbed to a chronical sleep deficit by simply hibernating through the weekend! I had the wisdom to order all that's necessary to re-stock my fridge with goodies delivered by M&S Saturday morning. But from that point onwards it meant basically to spend 36 hours non-stop between bed, tub and kitchen.
Too much said already; back to bed with me...
Too much said already; back to bed with me...
Friday 3 September 2010
Concert
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conductor Sir Simon Rattle
1) Beethoven's 4th Symphony
2) Mahler's Symphony #1
Changing for the occasion and dashing out the door...
Current Music: April March – Triggers
Thursday 2 September 2010
Serge Gainsbourg
I am a total sucker for anything the late French actor/author/songwriter/singer/ all-round genius Serge Gainsbourg concocted in his lifetime. Until recently I had to limit my passionate fanship to his music and books. But now, eleven years after his death, a film depicts this champion of affluent bourgoisie as accurately as possible, short of digging him up.
I have seen trailers of the film in French, but it is the kind of film you don't want to miss a single word. So I will opt for the English version soon. There's quite a bit in this vie héroïque that reminds me of my own restless past.
I have seen trailers of the film in French, but it is the kind of film you don't want to miss a single word. So I will opt for the English version soon. There's quite a bit in this vie héroïque that reminds me of my own restless past.
"A Journey"
It's brilliant read, especially where the vile characteristics of Scots are being described.
One question though: How long will it take before HE...
... will start calling Blair "that bigoted woman?"
Wednesday 1 September 2010
Blair's book booked
I decided to buy Tony Blair's memoirs, the first socialist book since I have read Servan-Schreiber's "The American Challenge" in the 1980's, for a number of reasons, listed by their priority:
Blair calls Gordon Brown as "maddening and with zero emotional intelligence" - words applicable to Scots in general;
Blair recounts the valid reasons for chasing Saddam Hussein into a hole in the ground and eventually to the gallows;
Blair donates the £4 million upfront fee to a worthy cause: rehab of wounded military;
Blair proves that drinking on the job is just fine as long as it doesn't involve beer, the prime toxicant for the lower class;
Because I refuse to buy the book from the buffoon Mandelson;
Blair gives tacit support for the coalition government;
Blair describes Brown as a strange guy, impossible to work with; anyone who works with Scots knows that;
Blair tells us that Brown lacks all political instinct at gut level, ruthlessly pursuing merely political calculations;
I recommend the book for anyone who is still daft enough to oppose what needed to be done in and with Iraq.
OFF TO WORK FOR ME, ON DAY-1 OF THE POST-BANKING CAREER!
Blair calls Gordon Brown as "maddening and with zero emotional intelligence" - words applicable to Scots in general;
Blair recounts the valid reasons for chasing Saddam Hussein into a hole in the ground and eventually to the gallows;
Blair donates the £4 million upfront fee to a worthy cause: rehab of wounded military;
Blair proves that drinking on the job is just fine as long as it doesn't involve beer, the prime toxicant for the lower class;
Because I refuse to buy the book from the buffoon Mandelson;
Blair gives tacit support for the coalition government;
Blair describes Brown as a strange guy, impossible to work with; anyone who works with Scots knows that;
Blair tells us that Brown lacks all political instinct at gut level, ruthlessly pursuing merely political calculations;
I recommend the book for anyone who is still daft enough to oppose what needed to be done in and with Iraq.
OFF TO WORK FOR ME, ON DAY-1 OF THE POST-BANKING CAREER!
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