More 'bendies' replaced

One of the most annoying forms of mass transportation in London is the "Bendy-Bus."

The Mayor pledged to get rid of the monsters by the time of re-election. Route 149 is the fourth line to see the 'bendies' withdrawn, and the plan is to have all replaced with double-decker buses by November 2011.

The bendies are only popular with chavvy fare evaders, usually on lines serving the London ghettos. Once you board a bendy you are being thrown around while the bus is in motion, so poorly is the bus built (Made in Britain). To phase out the dangerous creatures will save the City nearly £2 million a year. These monstrous vehicles also have become a grave danger to roller-bladers (...), cyclists and pedestrians, either by snapping around the victims or hitting people with the swerving rear end in a fashion similar to a body check from ice-hockey cracks.

It is also estimated that moving from having bendy buses with open boarding to double-deck buses will save £550,000 a year from fare evasion on the busy route. The Mayor addressed the slum rodents that make it into the City: "The fare evaders who duck and dive their way around these hulking great monsters without fear of having to put their hand in their pocket are finding that on our replacement double-deck buses there is nowhere to hide."

Boris Johnson added: "These monoliths of the road were never appropriate for the narrow streets of London and I'm delighted we've now sent over 100 of them packing."

Good riddance, bravo BJ!

On the mend

The intense pain has gone, but with an arm in a cast and some numbness in my right leg I can't say things are back to normal yet. I will be back at work tomorrow, having the luxury of a project- and result-oriented employer which allows for choosing the work hours and total hours in the office.

That means I am not taking off for SA as planned tomorrow. BA showed flexibility in re-scheduling the flight now for December 21st free of charge; had they not done so I would have shown even greater flexibility in switching to South African Airways (something I will seriously consider in the future). I mean, this is my third trip to SA this year alone, and if BA had insisted to be anal retentive about re-booking I would have told several people that also fly routinely this long haul, to leave BA for good and cut up their Frequent Flier membership (on my card are 142,000 bonus miles, for example).

Typing is a bit cumbersome these days, using only the right hand (the left is good for nothing except to press the key to switch to upper case. Four more weeks of operating under diminished capability. The culprit of the Sunday crash has been charged by the Met police, just a prelude to what I intend to do: sue the hell out of the fucker.

Current Music (Spotify enhanced): Najoua Belyzel – L'âme Exilée

Blasted

I don't know what's worse: being condemned to stationary idledom, sweetened by my never failing new Kindle, or the pain whenever I make an effort to 'jump' - OK, it's more like a slide - out of bed. Alone I couldn't manage, but the helping hands actually add a degree of pleasure in this miserable position. For instance, months of training her how to cook pay off royally.

When I went out on Sunday I followed a familiar path that I have enjoyed in London for so long now. At 7 in the morning the Capital is still asleep, and barely traffic as I criss-cross the Royal Borough from The Churchill Arms south on Kensington Church St, turning left at the T-intersection into Hyde Park Gate, turning right into Palace Gate and proceeding south on Gloucester Rd. Often, like on Sunday, I meet up with 2 friends on Wetherby Gardens, and continue south to the Chelsea Embankment through little tranquil residential streets. We became aware of the commotion at 76 Gledhow Gardens, with several fire trucks, ambulance and police cars attending to a victim lying on the sidewalk. Only hours later, when I found myself in the same hospital as that victim, did we learn that the sister of the singer Mika has fallen from the 4th floor of her home, landing on the fence in front and impaled on 3 spikes.

My mishap ended relatively less dramatic. Going full speed on rollerblades we tried to cross the Battersea Bridge along the Embankment when a car driver attempted the totally illegal maneuvre to back onto our path to make a U-turn! Frank and Miriam managed to swerve around the car into the road. I was not so fortunate and hit the car at the rear fender and became airborne. I crashed against the wall that stood between me and a 30ft fall to the bed of River Thames. The impact broke my left arm, as well as bruised ribs and legs and a concussion. Bless my helmet... By 8:30 I was in the emergency room.

It looks like I will miss work for the whole week and - much more regrettable - I will not leave for South Africa on Sunday. The haggling with British Airways for a refund has begun...

Accident

Had a crash this morning, with broken arm, lacerations and bruises; oh, and certainly planning to sue the fucking idiot. Anyway, 3-4 days off work as a result, and in some need of a nurse. And that's been taken care of too.

Birmingham Conference & I / 3

A terrific Party Conference concluded today with a fitting speech from PM David Cameron. Free of unrealistic promises we have become so accustomed to from the past 13 years of Labour conferences, the PM outlined somberly the consequences of the need to undo catastrophic damage on the British economy and society during the premierships of a Brown & Blair.

The final day also saw William Hague speak about UK foreign policy, maintaining the global role of Great Britain and accentuating the distance between the elected British Government and the incoherently imposed Brussels regime. No more rights will be transferred from London to the EU, and past transfers could be become subject to reversals after referenda in the future. British sovereignty will be enshrined in UK Law and a referendum lock introduced.

It must send shockwaves throughout the EU that the people will decide on the future course of our EU policies, not boiler room hagglings in the corridors of Brussels. Imagine that: the people decide!

Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox lambasted Labour for the inheritence it has bequeathed him at the MoD, virtually undermining British ability to defend herself, and for leaving behind a vast hole of £38 billion as a result of a spending spree that was unprecedented in the history of this country by the sheer size of wasted taxpayers'  funds, the miniscule value for money spent and the brazeness with which Labour governments have squandered public funds for Labour projects. Most importantly, Liam Fox reiterated that the Trident nuclear submarines will be replaced, the British nuclear deterrent to stay. This comes as a great relief and reassurance to this Blog.

Dealing with the greates challenges at hand in 50 years, the Party Conference has successfully provided for a realistic snapshot of the dire state of the country, put forward a strategy to roll back deficits and to focus on changes back to old values in society: no family on welfare should earn more than working families, housing allowances and child support cut or reduced, and has intruduced new incentives for creating and expanding small businesses. Prisoners ought to work 40 hours a week, illegal immigrants deported swiftly, legal immigration curtailed, parasital families forced to abandon high priced areas such as London by sharply reducing housing allowances, more and better teachers to change an education system that was completely mismanaged under Labour, and to force increased bank lending to small and medium business in Britain.

I walked away from this conference in awe over the substance of themes and policies put forward, and of the absence of the irrational exhuberance one could witness in the past 13 years at Labour conferences.

The Conference prepares the nation for the publishing of the stark figures of the prolonged Labour assault on Britain in the past 13 years: October 20th, when Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne will present the COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING REVIEW.

Birmingham Conference & I / 2

Boris Johnson brought down the house, and the delegates to their feet with a thundering broadside at unions trying to cripple London today with a wildcat Tube strike, holding working Londoners hostage. Alternate ridicule and sarcasm applied, the Mayor captured the audience with a speech peppered with wit and humour.

(Click "Read More" for transcript of speech "Keep the UK Motor Going")

Then came George Osborne, who ripped apart Labour's 13-year legacy of record debt, reckless spending of money borrowed from future generations, incompetence and indiscipline. We all know that Labour brought Britain to the brink, faced with a national downgrade - the first in Britain's history - and a daily(!) debt interest payment burden of £120 million on average; that's £1 Billion in interests every 9 days. That does not even reduce the overall debt yet. The financial effect of Labour on Britain is worse than WW2 had!

The Chancellor praised the courage and foresight of PM Cameron to depart from past government forming and to invite the LibDems to govern Britain in a coalition. Osborne's praise also included the leadership of the LibDems.



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Birmingham Conference & I

Conservative Party Conference 2010 -
Events planner for: La Chateau Euro
Sunday 3 October

18.00 ConservativeHome and the Canary Wharf Group
The ICC : Hall 1   -   Rally For Boris
Speakers : Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

Refreshments available
19.30 CER, BNE & Open Europe
The ICC : Hall 8A  -  Is The Channel Wider Than The Atlantic?

Speakers : Gideon Rachman, Chief Foreign Affairs Columnist - Financial Times (Chair); Carl Bildt, Swedish Foreign Minister; John Bruton, Former Irish Prime Minister; Vicky Ford MEP, Member, East of England - European Parliament; Daniel Hannan MEP, Member, South East Region - European Parliament
Refreshments available
19.30 Social Market Foundation 
Hyatt Regency : Soprano  -  Whose recovery is it anyway? Public vs private sector jobs

Speakers : Ian Mulheirn, Director - Social Market Foundation (Chair); Rt Hon Danny Alexander MP, Chief Secretary to the Treasury; Oliver Letwin MP, Minister of State, Cabinet Office; Brendan Barber, General Secretary - TUC
Refreshments available

21.30 European Commission Rep in the UK
The ICC : Hall 7  -  European Commission in the UK - Reception
Speakers : Jonathan Scheele, Head of Representation - European Commission Rep in the UK
Refreshments available

William Hague raps Labour record

In a rousing speech to the opening session of the Conservative Conference in Birmingham, the Foreign Secretary and First Secretary of State tore into the Blair/Brown administrations and their legacy of economic incompetence, Whitehall chaos, and nationwide demoralisation.


William Hague: "New Labour Is Dead" (Watch and read the speech):

Brummi

Off to Birmingham shortly, as part of a group of 16 delegates from London.

The highlight of the 4-day event is this evening at six: Boris Johnson speaks to us in Hall 1 at the ICC.

Books Re-Kindled

Hooray for Amazon!

Just before I left for Brussels I ordered my Kindle + nifty burgundy coloured protective cover. Just after my Saturday routine - lecturing and diagnosing some dimwits on AOL's Anglochat forum - I received the items by special delivery. At £198.00 it is 60% more expensive than in the US, but so worth it. Up to 3,500 books to download, and to be read anywhere, anytime; even on freshly polished and painted parkbenches. LOL

I am besides myself, digging my virtual heels into my latest gadget, which I will surely show off in the coming days in Brummi-Town. Why? Because I can! 

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

Itinerary note

Brussels,
Sep 29-30

Birmingham,
October 3-6

York,
Oct 9+10

Cape Town,
Oct 18-28 (preliminary dates)

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.

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. 

On the eve of destruction

It is the eve of commemorating the monstrosity of 9-11-2001.

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.  

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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:

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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.

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

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.

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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

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...

Concert

At a concert this evening, and it's a real gem:
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

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.

"A Journey"

The Blair Ditch project to diss Brown is fantastic read. In his memoirs Tony also quotes US president Bush - commonly known for his confuddling one-liners - with this trueism: "You got the Belgians running Europe?" Even Dubya noticed...


The Blair Brown Ditch Project
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?"