Egypt, Uprisings, Demonstrations, Chaos, Political Change and Legitimate Grievances

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It seemed somehow right that the origins of these North African uprisings should have begun in the area formerly known as Carthage - the ancient civilisation of Tunisia.

It's even more appropriate that the uprisings have moved on to Egypt. The people of Egypt are demanding the restoration of their human rights and the restoration of a civilised society. It's also the country where Barack Obama chose to make his major speech about Middle East peace, justice and civilisation.

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I've been very impressed by the reportage on the AlJazeera website, including its live TV that's been on the air continuously with video feeds from Egypt -

http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/

"The ruling class of Egypt don't want to see major change because then their privileges would come under attack."

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Snippets from the Guardian's 'Live Blog' yesterday:

Time magazine talks to "a minister in the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," and reports that Israel appears to be backing the Mubarak regime:

With a deep investment in the status quo, Israel is watching what a senior official calls "an earthquake in the Middle East" with growing concern. The official says the Jewish state has faith in the security apparatus of its most formidable Arab neighbor, Egypt, to suppress the street demonstrations that threaten the dictatorial rule of President Hosni Mubarak. The harder question is what comes next.

But this was the most eye-catching quote from the unidentified minister:

    "I'm not sure the time is right for the Arab region to go through the democratic process."

So that's confirmation then, as if it were needed, that in the view of Israel, the whole of the 'Arab region' ought to remain undemocratic and run by dictatorial cliques who are supported, propped up and funded by Israel and the USA. Egypt gets 1.3 BILLION dollars a year from the USA in "military aid".

An interesting new word  -  "Tunisianisation"

"A huge population that has been crushed by the Mubarak regimefor many years has said, 'We've had enough!'"

"The legitimate grievances that have festered for quite some time in Egypt have to be addressed by the Egyptian government immediately," says White House spokesman Gibbs.

What can the president do? Gibbs is asked. "First and foremost, this is a situation that will be solved by the people in Egypt," says Gibbs. "We will be reviewing our assistance posture based on events in the coming days" – that's a reference to the US's $1.5bn in aid to Egypt, as mentioned earlier.

"The situation should be addressed through concrete reforms, that is what the people of Egypt demand, that's what they deserve," he says.

Asked if the government had condemned the house arrest of Mohamed ElBaradei, Gibbs will only say: "Obviously, this goes into into our concern about expression, association and assembly."

CAMERON - "I think what we want to see is reform in Egypt. It's in all interests that there's democracy."

He thinks? Reform?

"It's a new era in the Middle East! And Egypt is the key!"

Reuters are reporting that "Egyptian medical sources" estimate there have been 1,030 people wounded today in today's protests.

Live blog: Twitter

9.09pm.  If you're not following CNN's Ben Wedeman @bencnn on Twitter then you should. Here are three tweets he has posted in the last 10 minutes:

Teenager showed me teargas canister "made in USA". Saw the same thing in Tunisia. Time to reconsider US exports?

One man said he graduated from college 4 years ago, hasn't worked a day since. Has been in streets since Tuesday protesting.

Saw boys with massive seal of the republic looted from State TV. If this isn't the end, it certainly looks and smells like it.

Robert Gibbs's White House briefing has wrapped up after an hour.

The most noteworthy points to come out:

• Gibbs pointedly refused to take up an offer to say the administration stood by Mubarak

• Gibbs also repeated that the "people of Egypt" would decide events – suggesting that the White House has cut the Mubarak regime loose, calling their grievances "legitimate"

• The White House confirmed that it was prepared to withhold aid from Egypt's government

But the tone of the administration suggests the White House has been left stranded by the swift pace of events on the ground.

It's possible, of course, that the party headquarters were deliberately set on fire by the party itself - to destroy any incriminating documents.

The rulers of Kuwait have decided to give wads of money to its citizens - to buy off any dissent? A novel solution? But not for a country like Egypt with a population of 80 million.

7.56pm GMT: CNN's Ben Wedeman – who has been doing an excellent job all day – is asked why things have calmed down in Cairo. "Jim, things have calmed down because there is no government here," saying that police and army had disappeared.

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More on Ed Miliband

http://jimjay.blogspot.com/2011/01/ed-miliband-cleverest-man-in-politics.html

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OU on the BBC: Justice Season

http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/whats-on/ou-on-the-bbc-justice-season

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Egypt: Latest Updates

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Things are happening very fast in Egypt, and also Jordan, it seems. Follow developments instantly on the Guardian's live blog -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2011/jan/28/egypt-protests-live-updates

Protests in Egypt - live updates

• Muslim Brotherhood leaders arrested after march pledge
• Mohamed ElBaradei plans to join today's march
• Authorities restrict internet access as part of crackdown

A teacher, told [us] that "hunger and poverty" had bought protesters out on to the streets. "We are not looking for an Islamic revolution" he said, "we want a citizen's government."

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Egyptian government on last legs, says ElBaradei

Exclusive: Mohamed ElBaradei says he is sending a message 'to the Guardian and to the world'

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/egyptian-government-last-legs-elbaradei

The Egyptian dissident Mohamed ElBaradei warned President Hosni Mubarak today that his regime is on its last legs, as tens of thousands of people prepared to take to the streets for a fourth day of anti-government protests.

The Nobel peace prize winner's comments to the Guardian represented his strongest intervention against the country's authoritarian government since he announced his intention to return to Egypt to join the protests. "I'm sending a message to the Guardian and to the world that Egypt is being isolated by a regime on its last legs," he said.

His words marked an escalation of the language he used on arrival in Cairo last night, when he merely urged the Mubarak government to "listen to the people" and not to use violence.

In an apparent bid to scupper the protests, the Egyptian authorities have cut off almost all access to the internet from inside and outside the country. ElBaradei said the move was proof the government was in "a state of panic".

"Egypt today is in a pre-information age," he said. "The Egyptians are in solitary confinement – that's how unstable and uncomfortable the regime is. Being able to communicate is the first of our human rights and it's being taken away from us. I haven't seen this in any other country before."

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Egypt cuts off internet access

Most of the major internet service providers in Egypt are offline following week-long protests

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jan/28/egypt-cuts-off-internet-access

Egypt appears to have cut off almost all access to the internet from inside and outside the country from late on Thursday night, in a move that has concerned observers of the protests that have been building in strength through the week.

"According to our analysis, 88% of the 'Egyptian internet' has fallen off the internet," said Andree Toonk at BGPmon, a monitoring site that checks connectivity of countries and networks.

"What's different in this case as compared to other 'similar' cases is that all of the major ISP's seem to be almost completely offline. Whereas in other cases, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter were typically blocked, in this case the government seems to be taking a shotgun approach by ordering ISPs to stop routing all networks."

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Protests signal the end of Egypt's 'Pharaoh complex'

Questioning the authority of President Mubarak – once portrayed as a faultless deity – was for a long time unthinkable

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/28/protests-end-egypt-pharoah-complex

by Riham Ibrahim

The Egyptian people's demonstrations have not only broken the barrier of silence but have also driven the first nail into the coffin of the "Pharaoh complex" deeply rooted within the Egyptian psyche.

We Egyptians have always seen our ruler as a faultless deity – or as the late President Anwar al-Sadat described himself, a Pharaoh. We have long thought it was inevitable that Hosni Mubarak would rule for life. At school, we had to write essays about the achievements of our beloved president and how his was an era of prolific development. It was a recurring question in Arabic composition. There was always only one right answer: there could be no one better than him to be in power and shoulder the responsibility.

For the first time, we see protesters demanding that Mubarak not run for the presidency again. The more daring are demanding that he step down and leave the country right now. Over the past three decades, no one has dared to make these demands. We could never have imagined protests like these.

Young Egyptians have decided that the time for change has arrived. And for that change to be complete it has to be extended to the head of state. So, when they cheer against the president they are doing so out of a great conviction. The time is up for the traditional Egyptian way of thinking. The Pharaoh complex is no more.

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Egypt protests: 'Something has changed in the Egyptian psyche '

The demonstrations this week against the Mubarak regime have gripped Egypt – while the world has looked on. We asked local bloggers and photographers for their frontline reports

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/egypt-protests-frontline-reports-cairo

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Layer 432 . . . Egypt: Latest Updates

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Things are happening very fast in Egypt, and also Jordan, it seems. Follow developments instantly on the Guardian's live blog -

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2011/jan/28/egypt-protests-live-updates

Protests in Egypt - live updates

• Muslim Brotherhood leaders arrested after march pledge
• Mohamed ElBaradei plans to join today's march
• Authorities restrict internet access as part of crackdown

A teacher, told [us] that "hunger and poverty" had bought protesters out on to the streets. "We are not looking for an Islamic revolution" he said, "we want a citizen's government."

..............................

Egyptian government on last legs, says ElBaradei

Exclusive: Mohamed ElBaradei says he is sending a message 'to the Guardian and to the world'

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/egyptian-government-last-legs-elbaradei

The Egyptian dissident Mohamed ElBaradei warned President Hosni Mubarak today that his regime is on its last legs, as tens of thousands of people prepared to take to the streets for a fourth day of anti-government protests.

The Nobel peace prize winner's comments to the Guardian represented his strongest intervention against the country's authoritarian government since he announced his intention to return to Egypt to join the protests. "I'm sending a message to the Guardian and to the world that Egypt is being isolated by a regime on its last legs," he said.

His words marked an escalation of the language he used on arrival in Cairo last night, when he merely urged the Mubarak government to "listen to the people" and not to use violence.

In an apparent bid to scupper the protests, the Egyptian authorities have cut off almost all access to the internet from inside and outside the country. ElBaradei said the move was proof the government was in "a state of panic".

"Egypt today is in a pre-information age," he said. "The Egyptians are in solitary confinement – that's how unstable and uncomfortable the regime is. Being able to communicate is the first of our human rights and it's being taken away from us. I haven't seen this in any other country before."

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Egypt cuts off internet access

Most of the major internet service providers in Egypt are offline following week-long protests

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jan/28/egypt-cuts-off-internet-access

Egypt appears to have cut off almost all access to the internet from inside and outside the country from late on Thursday night, in a move that has concerned observers of the protests that have been building in strength through the week.

"According to our analysis, 88% of the 'Egyptian internet' has fallen off the internet," said Andree Toonk at BGPmon, a monitoring site that checks connectivity of countries and networks.

"What's different in this case as compared to other 'similar' cases is that all of the major ISP's seem to be almost completely offline. Whereas in other cases, social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter were typically blocked, in this case the government seems to be taking a shotgun approach by ordering ISPs to stop routing all networks."

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Protests signal the end of Egypt's 'Pharaoh complex'

Questioning the authority of President Mubarak – once portrayed as a faultless deity – was for a long time unthinkable

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/28/protests-end-egypt-pharoah-complex

by Riham Ibrahim

The Egyptian people's demonstrations have not only broken the barrier of silence but have also driven the first nail into the coffin of the "Pharaoh complex" deeply rooted within the Egyptian psyche.

We Egyptians have always seen our ruler as a faultless deity – or as the late President Anwar al-Sadat described himself, a Pharaoh. We have long thought it was inevitable that Hosni Mubarak would rule for life. At school, we had to write essays about the achievements of our beloved president and how his was an era of prolific development. It was a recurring question in Arabic composition. There was always only one right answer: there could be no one better than him to be in power and shoulder the responsibility.

For the first time, we see protesters demanding that Mubarak not run for the presidency again. The more daring are demanding that he step down and leave the country right now. Over the past three decades, no one has dared to make these demands. We could never have imagined protests like these.

Young Egyptians have decided that the time for change has arrived. And for that change to be complete it has to be extended to the head of state. So, when they cheer against the president they are doing so out of a great conviction. The time is up for the traditional Egyptian way of thinking. The Pharaoh complex is no more.

.......................................

Egypt protests: 'Something has changed in the Egyptian psyche '

The demonstrations this week against the Mubarak regime have gripped Egypt – while the world has looked on. We asked local bloggers and photographers for their frontline reports

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/28/egypt-protests-frontline-reports-cairo

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Layer 431 . . . Meditation, Mindfulness, Miliband, Zen, Soros, Davos, Bankers, Bonuses, Boris, Posh Rock and Egypt

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It's interesting to observe the awesomely mega-rich as they go about their everyday business, especially if they owe their wealth and status to their own intellectual and creative efforts and not to inheritance, theft, corruption or the corporate gravy train.

Bill and Melinda Gates, for example, these days spend all their time and energy running the Gates Foundation and handing out their billions to good causes - most of them working on health issues in the poorest parts of the planet. Bill is a clever, lucky and somewhat enlightened individual who happened to find himself in the right place at the right time at the birth of the (micro)computer age. He's clearly a decent as well as a powerful man who has no need to connive or talk bullshit with anyone.

You can say pretty much the same thing about George Soros, the billionaire financier.

George Soros is a Hungarian-American financier, businessman and notable philanthropist focused on supporting liberal ideals and causes. He became known as "the Man Who Broke the Bank of England" after he made a reported $1 billion during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crises. Soros correctly anticipated that the British government would have to devalue the pound sterling. - Wikipedia

When Soros says something on the subject of finance and economics we do well to listen. He's been speaking about British monetary policy.

George Soros tells David Cameron: change direction or face recession

Mix of tax increases and spending cuts unsustainable, speculator says, as World Economic Forum gets under way

by Larry Elliott

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/26/george-soros-david-cameron-recession

The international speculator George Soros warned David Cameron tonight that the government would push the British economy back into recession unless it modified its hardline austerity package.

Speaking in Davos, Switzerland, the hedge fund owner who famously wrecked the reputation for financial competence of the last Conservative administration on Black Wednesday said the mix of tax increases and spending cuts planned by the coalition was unsustainable.

Soros's suggestion that the UK needed a plan B came only hours after Cameron insisted in fierce Commons exchanges with the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, that there would be no change of government policy following the unexpected news yesterday that the economy contracted by 0.5% in the final three months of 2010.

"They will have to modify it when the effects are felt," Soros said. "I don't think it can possibly be implemented without pushing the economy into a recession." Noting that the initial market reaction to the government's tough stance had been positive, Soros added: "We will have to see it unfold. My expectation is that it will prove to be unsustainable."

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Meditation
It's interesting how the use of meditation is becoming more and more mainstream. The Guardian's guide is worth looking at.

An introduction to easy meditation

These three short animations by Headspace will introduce you to the concept
of 'mindful' meditation.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/video/2011/jan/20/health-and-wellbeing-fitness

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How to meditate: Overcoming potential obstacles

Everyone who learns to meditate encounters obstacles. Here are some of the most common ones and a few tips on how to deal with them

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/22/how-to-meditate-tips-overcoming-obstacles

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The Headspace meditation podcasts: Day-to-day mindfulness - audio

First of a series of podcasts explaining how to use meditation and mindfulness to reduce stress and increase concentration

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/audio/2011/jan/24/headspace-mindfulness

Have you ever wondered how you could live your life with a greater sense of calm and clarity? Perhaps a greater sense of emotional stability?

When it comes to practicing the skill of mindfulness it's all about repetition and being familiar with what it means to be in the present moment.

This short exercise from Headspace will show you how you can use everyday activities to help learn this invaluable skill.

It's all very well using meditation as a means of relaxation, to increase concentration, to decrease stress, to improve emotional stability, etc, but there's no sense here, in these articles, that the ultimate purpose of meditation, or Zen, is to move the individual towards states of greater spiritual awareness and intelligence, and towards experiences of satori and enlightenment.

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Is He A Zen Master?

Ed Miliband is right to keep silent

There are good reasons for Miliband to step back and work on renewing Labour – rather than seek a high profile

by Sunny Hundal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/27/ed-miliband-labour

A frenzy of speculation surrounds Labour leader Ed Miliband. Is his brother coming back? Is Ed Balls planning to move in for the kill? Is he moving too much – or not enough – to the left? Why don't voters rate him more highly?

Lefties complain he isn't doing enough to oppose the government's ruinous agenda, while on the Labour right the usual voices say he isn't doing enough to occupy Tory territory. Is he a Zen master? Does he need more spinners and strategists?

It's absurd. There are at least five good reasons why he should stick to playing the long, waiting game . . .

As I was saying yesterday,

People are starting to understand that we don't want government to be our rulers - we should expect them to do things on our behalf. But first we have to articulate what we really want. It's stupid to just vote for parties on the basis of what they offer in their manifestos. WE have to make demands and expect our elected representatives to act on our behalf.

Sunny Hundal says,

This is the important point. The fightback against the Conservative agenda doesn't necessarily need to be led by Labour . . .

If you're angry about the Tory cuts, as I am, then get organised and mobilise ordinary people to fight back. That will grab attention and will force government ministers to listen, especially if the coalition against the cuts is broad enough (worth noting that the high profile campaign to save UK forests is partly run by Boris's sister Rachel Johnson). There is no reason why the fight against the government's cuts has to be led by Labour; it would be better led by local people from across the country. Don't get angry, get organised.

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Egypt

In North Africa the people have begun to take to the streets to make their needs and demands clearly known. These are 'popular' movements - and nothing to do with organised political parties or religious groups.

Egypt's Day of Rage goes on. Is the world watching?

The scale of protests in Egypt has shaken a regime that has long relied on citizens' passivity to retain power

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/27/egypt-protests-regime-citizens

Tens of thousands of Egyptian demonstrators took to the streets on 25 January, young and old, Muslim and Christian, rich and poor, educated and not so-educated. They all chanted "Long live Egypt", "Life, liberty and human dignity" and "Down with the Mubarak regime".

The day marked for the celebration of Police Day was dubbed the Day of Rage. The protests, which continued through a second day in almost every part of the country, are showing no signs of abating on the third day, with a million-strong march scheduled for Friday. These demonstrations are sending shivers down the spine not only of the regime but of its friends and allies as well.

For three decades now, Egyptians have been kept on a tight leash, fed more with promises than with bread. They were cajoled into compliance by a media that has the interests of the regime at heart and a religious establishment that owes its allegiance and existence to the state, but were often threatened into submission by the force of the baton if they refused to comply.

Egyptian grievances are numerous. They have seen neither the fruits of peace nor of the huge economic growth that Egypt is reported to be making in international economic indices. What they experience on a daily basis is endless queuing for inedible bread and suffocating traffic congestion as the police force is increasingly burdened with the task of protecting the regime and its men.

There were also demonstrations last month calling for a minimum monthly wage of 1,200 Egyptian pounds (roughly £130). Too much, said the government. It could only promise to institute a minimum wage of 400LE (£43). This is hardly surprising from a government made up of businesspeople who no doubt have a vested interest in keeping wages as low as possible. The spokesmen of the regime shamelessly argued that it was a fair wage to expect.

For some years now, the Mubarak regime has been heading for disaster. With rampant unemployment, soaring prices and a 30-year long state of emergency, its popularity has dropped to an all-time low. But more importantly, it has repeatedly shown its total disregard for public opinion, a disregard that would have amounted to political suicide under any other system.

An obvious example is the rigged parliamentary elections of November 2010, which were perhaps the worst in Egypt's history. The ruling National Democratic party had the audacity to announce that these elections were one of the fairest in Egypt's history. Ahmed Ezz, the iron-tycoon-turned-politician and one of the new guard at the NDP, who is known to have masterminded the electoral operation, triumphantly announced the results. He stated that the landslide victory that secured 98% of the parliamentary seats for the ruling party was the result of its popularity on the streets and the fruit of the hard work of its members.

The initial call for the Day of Rage was made by young Facebook activists inspired by the success of Tunisians in overthrowing Ben Ali. The Facebook invitation for the protests received 95,000 positive responses. Other forces and opposition groups later responded to the call, including the Muslim Brotherhood, whose participation has so far been quite low-key.

For the first time in decades, Egyptian protesters went out in unprecedented numbers across the whole country with one slogan: "People want the regime to fall". They made their demands clear. Mubarak should step down, the illegal parliament be dissolved and emergency law be suspended. The call was for the whole country to rally and unite, and there were no religious chants or slogans.

The reaction of the regime to the protests so far has been pathetically inadequate. It shows that this regime is still in denial. While Mubarak kept his silence, the interior ministry took on the task of communicating with the people, in the only way it knows how to. As it cracked down on demonstrators, it issued statements, banning any further protests and repeating the same old excuses. It blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for what it called riots on the streets and blamed their members for infiltrating the crowds in order to wreak havoc. This is supposed to do the trick of scaring the world about the propsect of an imminent Islamist takeover of Egypt – a fear that the regime has painstakingly been fostering. The interior ministry also blamed the ill-defined but frequently invoked "foreign hands" that are always bent on fomenting trouble and inciting people against their loving and God-fearing rulers. 

I found myself wondering yesterday whether there's a whiff of '68 in the air. It's been a long time since there were worldwide popular protests led by workers, young people and students - primarily against corrupt power elites, warmongering and injustice.

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Davos Watch

It's time for the annual gathering of international the power elites in Switzerland. The whole world's watching, as they said in Chicago, all those years ago. Even more so in the age of 24 hour satellite TV, the Internet and mobile phones.

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Boris

Having gone in for a fair bit of Tory-bashing recently (!) I have to draw attention to some of Boris's opinions about bankers' bonuses.

Boris Johnson plans bank message at World Economic Forum

http://www.docklands24.co.uk/news/boris_johnson_plans_bank_message_at_world_economic_forum_1_784549

LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson says he will remind banks of their responsibilities when he meets leaders at this week’s World Economic Forum.

“Last year I told them it was time for the masters of the universe to become servants of the people. That is absolutely right and it’s a message I will be repeating this year,” he said.

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Cut 'excessive' bonuses, Boris Johnson tells bank chiefs

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23796385-cut-excessive-bonuses-boris-johnson-tells-bank-chiefs.do

Boris Johnson today wrote to global banking chiefs urging them to scale back “excessive” bankers' bonuses.

The Mayor said he was “shocked and baffled” the banks had failed to acknowledge public outrage over the multi-billion-pound payouts.

In his strongest criticism to date, he urged the bank chiefs to show “much stronger leadership” on the issue. He told the Standard: “Nobody can possibly defend the huge sums of bonuses being awarded. The banks should not be paying out huge bonuses as though it was business as usual. They have to show they recognise the game changed when the taxpayer bailed them out.”

Mr Johnson suggested the banks should skim money off bonuses to set up a fund to help small and medium-sized businesses in the capital.

“In order for me to champion and support successful financial services, it is crucial that the sector itself demonstrates much stronger leadership.

“Collectively, financial services firms must take much greater account of public opinion and set justifiable remuneration packages accordingly, in the light of the unprecedented support given to the financial system over the last two years.”

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Rock's Gone Posh
There was a feature on R4 this morning about most pop and rock musicians these days having had a private school or stage school education. Very different to the rock rebels of yesteryear. Rick Wakeman spoke about a 'snobbish culture'.

See Layer 367 re Clegg, Cameron and Radiohead.

http://oxzen.blogspot.com/search/label/Radiohead

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Layer 430 . . . Posh and Posher, Public Schools, Grammar Schools, Government, People Power and Spy Power

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Working class men and women used to be in Parliament, but not any more. These days you need to be something like the son or daughter of a church minister, preferably with a first class degree in politics, philosophy and economics, or law; preferably from Oxbridge.

So said Oxzen in Layer 428.

Andrew Neil presented an interesting and serious programme on politics this week -

Posh and Posher: Why Public School Boys Run Britain

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00y37gk

David Cameron and Nick Clegg seem made for each other: Eton and Oxford meets Westminster School and Cambridge. But does the return of public school boys to the top of our politics say something worrying about the decline of social mobility in Britain?

Andrew Neil goes on a journey from the Scottish council house he grew up in to the corridors of power to ask if we will ever again see a prime minister emerge from an ordinary background like his.

In this provocative film Andrew seeks to find out why politicians from all parties appear to be drawn from an ever smaller social pool - and why it matters to us all.

Dear Andrew! What a wanker.

Just like the public schoolboys he interviewed for the programme he thinks life is all about "competition", and getting to "the top". Therefore his answer to increasing 'social mobility' is to create more and more highly selective grammar schools.

You can't fault his logic, really. Bring back selection, hot-house more of the working classes and middle classes, get more of them into Oxbridge, get more of them studying PPE, and get more of them into Parliament. Brilliant. What's more, (ex-working class) wanker Tony Parsons agrees with him. Such a pity their logic is based on false premises.

Their thesis seems to be that you can't change the system - and what's more all the main parties will continue to want MPs who have been to Oxbridge, studied PPE or law, moved on to being "special advisors" for MPs, and put themselves up for selection for safe seats. Therefore we need to create more confident, more academically successful young people from 'ordinary' backgrounds (ie non-public school) who can 'compete' for the right to go down that route.

These dopey fuckers don't even realise the many contradictions in what they're proposing. They don't approve of Parliament being full of elite toffs who know nothing about real people - therefore they say we should use selection at the age of 11 to create a non fee paying elite of 'ordinary' people who will go to Oxbridge and go forward to become our political elite - who then may or may not identify with the communities they came from, and may or may not represent their interests adequately.

These guys can't even conceive of a Labour party (let alone a Tory party) that chooses people for safe seats on the basis of being rounded, experienced, enlightened human beings who are in touch with the real world, and have a decent value system, rather than arrogant Oxbridge graduates with PPE degrees.

All credit to Neil for questioning the existence of a Parliament full of toffs, millionaires, ex-public schoolkids  and Oxbridgeites - but null points for wanting a Parliament full of grammar school educated Oxbridgeites.

Next thing you know these people will be recommending selective breeding as well. Fucking working class Tories.

Interesting that Parsons dropped out of his Essex grammar school when he was 16, according to Wikipedia. Maybe he got bored with it, or frustrated with academia. Maybe he just needed to earn a living. Or maybe he just saw himself as a bit of a rebel, fancied a bit of a rock & roll lifestyle, and fancied his chances as a self-styled "hip, young gunslinger".

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Katharine Hamnett CBE was on Newsnight last night, arguing that our forests should stay in public ownership.

"Why do you want the government to own the forests?" asked the presenter.

Hamnet shot back, "NOT the government! The forests are OURS! They're not the property of the Labour Party or the Conservative Party - they're ours!"

The presenter looked gobsmacked. But this is the real point. People are starting to understand that we don't want government to be our rulers - we should expect them to do things on our behalf. But first we have to articulate what we really want. It's stupid to just vote for parties on the basis of what they offer in their manifestos. WE have to make demands and expect our elected representatives to act on our behalf.

People argue that the banks, for example, shouldn't be nationalised, on the grounds that governments are crap at running banks. More false logic. We don't want the government to run the banks - we simply want and need the banks to belong to we, the people, and it's then down to us, by whatever means necessary, to appoint the right people to run them. If the banks are now too big to fail, which they clearly are (as Robert Peston has shown), and far too powerful for governments to control, then we need to take control of them, and make them work for the long term benefit of the country as a whole, and not just their shareholders.

As for governments doing the bidding of their people, events in Tunisia and now Egypt are showing what can happen even in the most repressive of societies when people start to stand up and make demands. It was the same in Eastern Europe some time ago. Non-violent people power can cause massive political and social change, when governments are seen to be illegitimate.

Nobody asked for our country to be run by a load of toffs and bankers. It's now up to David Cameron, who I still think would ideally like to be a One-Nation Tory, to demonstrate that his is a government of the people, and for the people, even if it isn't by the people.

.......................................

The News Corps phone hacking scandal is hotting up. We now have police officers investigating why other police officers failed to investigate the hackers and the hackers' paymasters properly. They will also have to look into whether police officers were receiving money from journalists and newspaper groups. The stench of corruption hangs heavy in the cold winter air. Rupert Murdoch has even cancelled his Davos jaunt in order to direct strategic operations aimed at salvaging the image of News Corps, such as it is.

..................................

Curb the banks? The government has propped them up at every opportunity

Here's the story of how Cameron and Osborne secretly tried and failed to kill tougher European rules on bankers' bonuses

by George Monbiot

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/24/curb-the-banks-government-propped-them-up

It's bonus season, the time of year when bankers show us what they really believe. As soon as they get their money, they spend much of it on land and houses. They know that these are safer investments than the assets in which they trade. If they trash the economy again, they at least will survive.

This year the frenzy will be almost as bad as ever. But it could have been worse. Here is the story, revealed by a leaked document, of how our government covertly tried – and failed – to kill tougher European rules on bankers' bonuses, and how the chancellor of the exchequer appears to have misled parliament.

The prime minister and the chancellor have been playing a double game. They claimed they wanted to tame the banks. In reality, they were protecting them. They never meant to address the economic polarisation of this country, or to check the incentives which caused the last crash. Their intention was always to pamper the rich and to make the poor pay for their follies. As the leaked document shows, the Conservatives are ready to risk the whole economy to help the filthy rich get richer.

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Layer 429 . . . Comedy, Justice, Miranda, Jonathan Ross, Michael Sandel, Fairness and Cruelty

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I had a debate with my son on Saturday about whether Jonathan Ross is the right presenter for the British Comedy Awards. Ross still seems to have an image that's supposed to be cool, edgy, sharp, dangerous, alternative, hip, rebellious, sexy, post-modern and cynical - which are all deemed to be rather a good thing, apparently.

This is in contrast to someone like Miranda Hart who's persona suggests bumbling, unsexy, out of touch, foolish, uncoordinated, hopeless, unattractive, naive, desperate to be popular and distinctly uncool.

I put it to my son that there's at least a score of British comedians who would be a better presenter of the awards than Woss. The evening, was, after all, a celebration of the amazing talent we have in this country - some incredibly funny people. I could reel off the names of two dozen comedians and comic actors that I would gladly pay money to see.

In the event, Ross was pathetic. I kept half an eye on my son, and he was no more amused by Ross's schtick than I was - and I didn't so much as smirk or snigger at ANY of it. Not at all funny. Not even clever or vaguely amusing. In fact it would be true to say he was downright unfunny.

Whereas Miranda Hart carried off three of the major awards, and did so with aplomb. I admired her for the way in which received the awards too - since she seemed to do it whilst deliberately NOT being chummy or interactive with Ross, and in fact ignoring his foppish and unattractive presence as best she could.

Personally I couldn't give a damn about the outcry regarding Ross shooting himself in the foot by trying to outdo the brilliant Russell Brand in the Sachsgate non-scandal. Brand is still a genius. Ross isn't. He can't even get laughs from people who say they actually like him, such as my son. And it's to my son's credit that he didn't laugh at Ross's rubbish.

Obviously a lot of comedy is dependent on writers rather than witty improvisers. The lifetime achievement award went to Roy Clarke OBE - the  writer of shows including Last of the Summer Wine, Keeping Up Appearances and Open All Hours. These are not necessarily the kinds of programmes I'd watch myself, but I'd much rather watch Clarke's style of gentle, character-based comedy than watch any of Ross's preening, self-regarding , vastly overpaid wisecracking efforts. His radio programme was particularly bad since it was done with a sidekick whose role was to fawn and chuckle over each and every one of Ross's so-called witicisms.

It was good to see Simon Amstel's show, Grandma's House, getting some honourable mentions, and one award. In fact all of the awards were well merited. Just a pity about the man presenting the show itself. Will he still be doing it next year?

......................................

Earlier in the day I'd been reading a piece in the Guardian about comedians who try to get laughs from being deliberately cutting and cruel. People like the man Boyle, whose act seems to consist of picking on members of his audience and mercilessly taking the piss out of them. You might say his audience deserve whatever he dishes out, since they presumably enjoy it when he does it to others on TV, but that's a crap justification for a deeply unattractive individual.

Is comedy getting too cruel?

Was Ricky Gervais's Golden Globes turn funny, or just mean? Is comedy getting too cruel? Comedians Steve Punt and Shappi Khorsandi debate what is a joke too far

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/22/cruel-comedy-gervais-golden-globes

Some newspapers continued their campaign this week to have the controversial comedian Frankie Boyle purged from our screens for ever, and even suggested he has been snubbed by the British Comedy awards tonight. Are comedians really more offensive than ever?

SP: Television is driven by viewing figures. If really offensive comedy pulled huge audiences, they would continue to make it. The fact is, it doesn't; it pulls huge column inches and debate, but the shows people watch are Harry Hill and Michael McIntyre's Roadshow. What is comedy for? Is it designed to make you rush to the phone and dial Channel 4 in disgust, or designed to make you laugh? You don't want comedy to be bland and safe, but there's no reason why inoffensive should be bland.

....................................

Justice
This is a subject that's very close to my own heart. Michael Sandel's first programme on 'Justice' was on BBC4 last night. The two key themes were 'fairness' and 'the meaning of the Big Society'. Sandel is a terrific tutor, a professor of justice, and a skilled practitioner of this kind of interactive discussion. Unfortunately for him, and for this type of format, the contributions from the audience were leaden and plodding. You felt like you wanted Sandel to just speak to camera and cut out all the waffle from the Small Society in the studio. Most of it was standard boring waffle that you could hear on any studio discussion. Sandel was disappointingly low-key and indirect. The man's an absolute star, but he was guilty of being too democratic and too teacherly by allowing run of the mill comments from Joe Public to have equal time with his own contributions. The whole thing became too slow and too meandering.

Now it's fine for teachers to take this approach in the classroom, and in fact it's important to tease out from any group what they think about the issues before you can begin to move the majority of them forward. The problem is, this doesn't make for particularly riveting television, especially if the group you're working with is - what shall we say? - less than inspiring. Less than intellectually sparkling.

At the rate he was going it was likely to take several months before a lot of the people in the audience could be moved towards an enlightened attitude to social justice, fair pay, etc. This was a striking example of why it's so important, and why it's so necessary but also so difficult even for good teachers to differentiate for different learning needs and abilities - if you don't want to alienate individuals at both ends of the spectrum of understanding.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/tv/seasons/justiceseason/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xyzg7

Justice - A Citizen's Guide

Beginning in January 2011, BBC Four is hosting a wide-ranging debate on the state of justice in Britain and the world today.

Today (Monday)

A specially-commissioned documentary in which renowned Harvard professor Michael Sandel looks at the philosophy of justice.

Is it acceptable to torture a terrorist in order to discover where a bomb has been hidden? Should wearing the burka in public be banned in Europe, if the majority of citizens disapprove? Should beggars be cleared off the streets of London?

Sandel goes in search of Jeremy Bentham, Immanuel Kant and Aristotle, three philosophers whose ideas inform much contemporary thinking on justice, and tests their theories against a range of contemporary problems.

Filmed in Berlin, Boston, Athens and London, this thought-provoking film includes interviews with the world's great philosophers, modern day politicians and thinkers from all around the globe.

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More Under The Covers Cops

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/22/undercover-police-cleared-sex-activists

Mounting anger among women protesters will see female activists converge on Scotland Yard (today) to demand that the Met disclose the true extent of undercover policing. The demonstration is also, according to organisers, designed to express "solidarity with all the women who have been exploited by men they thought they could trust".

[A] former SDS officer claims a lack of guidelines meant sex was an ideal way to maintain cover. He admitted sleeping with at least two of his female targets as a way of obtaining intelligence.

"When you are on an undercover unit you were not given a set of instructions saying you could or couldn't do the following. They didn't say to you that you couldn't go out and drink because technically you're a police officer, that you shouldn't go out and get involved in violent confrontations, you shouldn't take recreational drugs.

"As regards being with women in very, very, very promiscuous groups such as the eco-wing, environmental movement, leftwing, or the Animal Liberation Front – it's an extremely promiscuous lifestyle and you cannot not be promiscuous in there.

"Among fellow undercover officers, there is not really any kudos in the fact that you are shagging other people while deployed. Basically it's just regarded as part of the job. It'd be highly unlikely that you were not [having sex].

"When you are using the tool of sex to maintain your cover or maybe to glean more intelligence – because they certainly talk a lot more, pillow talk – you would be ready to move on if you felt an attachment growing.

"The best way of stopping any liaison getting too heavy was to shag somebody else. It's amazing how women don't like you going to bed with someone else," said the officer, whose undercover deployment infiltrating anti-racist groups lasted from 1993 to 1997.

Amazing. But what's really amazing is that public money was spent on infiltrating anti-racist groups. That would be like Hitler using public funds to infiltrate anti-Nazi groups. You'd have to be a Nazi to want to do it.

The former SDS officer, who has now left the Met, said one stipulation by senior commanders was that undercover officers should be married, so that they had something to return to. He said the move was introduced when a spy never returned after five years undercover.

Some "thing" to return to?

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Layer 428 . . . Forbidden Love, Sex on the Job, Rough Trade, Politics, Wee Dougie Alexander, and Adele

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Douglas Alexander has been chosen by Ed Miliband to become his shadow foreign secretary. This raises very serious questions about Brother Ed's ability to build a winning team. He's never actually managed an organisation in real life, and he's making a complete nonsense of the most important aspect of management - recruiting the right people to fill the key roles.

He totally messed up with his appointment of Alan Johnson to be his shadow chancellor - which also makes you wonder how much Ed himself knows about economics. Now that Johnson's resigned he's brought into his senior management team one of the dullest, most right-wing, most conservative, most careerist, most New Labourist little shits he could possibly have found.

The boy Alexander is an appalling choice. He's the ultimate machine politician. He's a revolting little toad of an arselicking, conniving, over-ambitious, political pillock. What's more, his speaking voice, his delivery and his language are so boring he's impossible to even listen to, let alone understand and appreciate.

He has no ideology, no principles, no regard for Labour traditions. He's the classic managerialist. He has no passion for equality and social justice whatsoever. He'll go along with whatever Ed Mili says is current policy, and he'll do whatever he's asked to do in order to keep his nose clean(ish) and further his career in politics.

This whining prat was in charge of DAVID Miliband's leadership campaign. What's that tell us about his effectiveness - he couldn't even get the hot favourite for the leadership to be first past the winning post. Brother David must be cringing in disbelief.

Voting record (from PublicWhip)

How Douglas Alexander voted on key issues since 2001:
   
    * Voted very strongly for the Iraq war.
    * Voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq war.
    * Voted strongly for Labour's anti-terrorism laws.
    * Voted moderately for replacing Trident.
    * Voted very strongly for introducing foundation hospitals.
    * Voted strongly for introducing ID cards.
    * Voted moderately against greater autonomy for schools.

This man was a bugler in the Boys Brigade, he's the son of a Church of Scotland minister, he was a speechwriter and a researcher for Gordon Brown, he was a solicitor for precisely six months, he supported Blair on the abolition of Clause 4, and he's done fuck all of any real use - ever.  He's typical lobby fodder.

Make your own mind up.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Alexander

PS There's no point anyone saying that Alexander was/is a decent constituency MP. Even if that were the case - so what? There are lots of us who could be hard-working MPs, given half a chance. Those Labour politicians who hold the senior posts in politics ought to be those who have a track record of fighting for the principles of equality, social justice and solidarity which the Labour party was created to fight for. Alexander is a third-rate apparachik and a lickspittle who supports illegal wars, supports a police state, supports nuclear weapons, supported the most right-wing leadership the Labour party has ever had, and hasn't a single radical thought in his head.

.................................

People on the political programmes this morning were all talking about politics being a 'rough trade' - as they were discussing the resignations of Coulson and Johnson, the promotion of Balls, the competence of the police, the further questions about Blair being a war criminal, etc.

Presumably the word 'trade' is supposed to differentiate politics from proper professions, for which you need academic qualifications - as distinct from trades such as building, carpentry, plumbing, electrical contracting, etc . . . for which you also need proper qualifications. Plus practical skills, rather than academic theory.

The professions are for the middle classes. Trades are for the working classes.

Working class men and women used to be in Parliament, but not any more. These days you need to be something like the son or daughter of a church minister, preferably with a first class degree in politics, philosophy and economics, or law; preferably from Oxbridge. There are lots of lawyers in Westminster and Washington.

By 'rough', they mean that if you're a politician you become an object for abuse, condemnation, ridicule and hatred. Which is true. I'm happy to give my fair share of abuse, whilst also trying to reasonable, accurate and honest.

If you put yourself up to be a representative for people's needs and aspirations, and you then fail to say or do anything of significance to challenge or change the status quo, and you fail utterly to improve the lives of the poorest sections of society (if you happen to be a Labour politician), then you thoroughly deserve to be despised and verbally roughed up.

People are going crazy with frustration, living in poverty, living with no hope of a decent job, let alone a career or a decent pension, whilst fat cats get ever fatter, thanks to the complacency, indolence and self-serving smugness of unprincipled, visionless bastards like Douglas Alexander. What the hell do they expect?

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Ello, Ello, Ello, Goodbye.

Undercover police officers are apparently allowed to have sex with those they're spying on, but they're not allowed to fall in love with anyone they're trying to bang up, so to speak. Sounds about right.

It would look very strange if some needy activist says to her environmentalist-activist 'colleague' - "I'm gagging for a damn good bonk, old mate - let's go back to my place and get jiggy," and he - who's apparently a healthy heterosexual male then turns round and says, "No thanks".

What kind of collegiality and solidarity would that show? That would blow his cover instantly. The 'activist' would immediately realise that she was in the company of of an undercover plod who's under orders not to do normal human things - like having sex.

On the issue of falling in love - well, what can one say? Falling in love is NEVER a good idea. Admittedly it can sometimes take half a lifetime for people to learn NOT to "fall in love" (and just as quickly fall out again) and to realise that the love drug is just as dangerous and  as addictive as crack and heroin. This can be a very hard lesson to learn, especially when someone's bloodstream is full of the endorphins produced by great sex with an attractive partner and they feel BRILLIANT!

There's a world of difference between wanting to be with someone whose company and whose sexuality makes you feel fully alive, and mistaking your desire for that person for enduring love.

Loving someone involves a hell of a lot more than desiring someone, wanting to be with someone, feeling good when you're with someone. There are thousands of books and films about people who fall in and out of love. Mills and Boon created an industry out of people's desire for romantic love. People might want it, but that doesn't make it desirable. It can seriously mess up your life. Especially if you're an undercover cop.

.............................................

There's a brilliant song about crazy love released this week by a young English singer called Adele. She and her band performed it last night on the Alan Carr show. It's a rocking and rolling soulful groove called Rolling in the Deep. Catch it here:

http://www.adele.tv/videos/179/rolling-in-the-deep-official-video

http://www.metrolyrics.com/rolling-in-the-deep-lyrics-adele.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3gkoU7KtG4&feature=fvsr

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lazyDlfaptM&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8slyQBbZFgc&feature=related

Great pounding rhythms, great voice, great backing vocals.

Very interesting how different her second album (21) sounds compared to her first album (19). Apparently the experience of touring in the USA and listening to soul and blues music had a huge impact on Adele, as she'd not really paid attention to these types of music previously.

The first single (from ("21")is a revenge tune "Rolling in the Deep". Adele described it as a "dark bluesy gospel disco tune."  -  Wiki

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adele_%28singer%29

The fact that Adele had a huge hit with Bob Dylan's "Make You Feel My Love" (which was on her first album) also speaks volumes about her excellent taste and musical sensibilities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0put0_a--Ng&feature=related

http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/make-you-feel-my-love

http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/adele/make_you_feel_my_love.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fnn9JlqqTE4

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Sex Was A Tool

Undercover police cleared 'to have sex with activists'

Promiscuity 'regularly used as tactic', says former officer, contradicting claims from Acpo

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jan/22/undercover-police-cleared-sex-activists

Undercover police officers routinely adopted a tactic of "promiscuity" with the blessing of senior commanders, according to a former agent who worked in a secretive unit of the Metropolitan police for four years.

The former undercover policeman claims that sexual relationships with activists were sanctioned for both men and women officers infiltrating anarchist, leftwing and environmental groups.

Sex was a tool to help officers blend in, the officer claimed, and was widely used as a technique to glean intelligence. His comments contradict claims last week from the Association of Chief Police Officers that operatives were absolutely forbidden to sleep with activists.

The one stipulation, according to the officer from the Special Demonstration Squad (SDS), a secret unit formed to prevent violent disorder on the streets of London, was that falling in love was considered highly unprofessional because it might compromise an investigation. He said undercover officers, particularly those infiltrating environmental and leftwing groups, viewed having sex with a large number of partners "as part of the job".

"Everybody knew it was a very promiscuous lifestyle," said the former officer, who first revealed his life as an undercover agent to the Observer last year. "You cannot not be promiscuous in those groups. Otherwise you'll stand out straightaway."

Well, of course - we all know these promiscuous activist anarchists are all bonking like bunnies. Especially the women. Mad, bad and dangerous to know. OK to shag though, if you really need to.

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Layer 427 . . . Coulson, Laughing Policemen, Rotating Politicians and Educational Revolutions

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The thing about the Today programme on Radio 4 is that it's often far more entertaining than the so-called light entertainment programmes. In between the dour and dull bits about politics and current events there are lots of amazing, disturbing and brilliantly funny bits.

..............................

When I was young, my dad's favourite record, and one of the nation's favourite records, was  The Laughing Policeman. This was a ditty about a  policeman who couldn't stop laughing, even when he was arresting people. The vocal bit was basically - Ah - ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha . . .  ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha HA!  At least that's the bit we remembered. Brilliant.

In the news this week we've been hearing tales of policemen who can't stop shagging. Policemen who are sent to spy on environmental activists and end up shagging them. Policemen who are supposed to give 'protection' to politicians' wives and end up shagging them. All together now for the Shagging Policeman -

Ah  . . . ah . . . ah . . . ah ah ah ah . . . aah aah aah aah aah aah . . . oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh
AAAAH!

Time for an update on the rest of the lyrics?

http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/t/thelaughingpoliceman.shtml

He's too ......... for a policeman
He's never known to ......... 
And everybody says
He's the ........iest man in town!.  

He ......... upon .......... duty 
He .......... upon his ...........
He .......... everybody
When he's ............ in the street. 

He never can stop ...........
He says he's never tried.
But once he did .......... a man
And ............ until he cried!  


..................................................

Alex Salmond said on Desert Island Discs this week, "Political spouses have got the roughest end of everything." Hmmmmm.

I forgot to mention in my comments about Alex Salmond that he's keen on horseracing and golf, and he's a lifelong fan of Star Trek. These Capricorn guys . . . eh? What are they like?

I've just got round to looking up the definition of the verb 'to haver' - an activity engaged in by The Proclaimers, according to them. It means 'to talk nonsense'. Sounds about right.

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Chinese Revolution

"New models of learning are emerging from countries like China." So said the man from Pearson Education, which has just paid a small fortune to acquire an Indian on-line tutoring  company.

http://www.sify.com/news/Pearson-gets-control-over-TutorVista-for-Rs-577-crore-news-National-lbtaOhaejfg.html

How interesting that he focuses on China - a country that has gone to great trouble and great expense to re-train its entire teaching force on the principles and practice of The New Learning Revolution. A few years ago the Chinese leadership became convinced that it was important to abandon 'traditional' forms of schooling - Gradgrindism, Goveism, cramming 'facts' and 'knowledge' for high-stakes examinations, etc, - and they began to design forms of learning that maximise the benefits of the pupils' own motivation to learn, maximise access to the Internet, promote collaborative peer learning, formative assessment, creativity, and so on.

It strikes me as ironic that someone from the private sector apparently understands far better than our Gove-led coalition government that the Chinese are not only the greatest innovators and world leaders in manufacturing processes - having learnt from the best they could find around the world how to make things more efficiently - they are also set to show the rest of the world how to educate people, using the best educational practices they could find. Education that prepares people for life as well as work. Education for creativity, innovation and imagination. Education that inspires people to become self-directed, self-motivated lifelong learners.

There was a programme on TV last night which showed an interview with a group of Chinese students who were talking about world affairs and the Chinese political system - and a very bright, confident, well-informed and thoughtful group they were. Totally fluent in English, of course.

http://oxzen.blogspot.com/2009/12/layer-234-new-learning-revolution-and.htm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/New-Learning-Revolution-education-schooling/dp/185539183X 

http://www.thelearningweb.net/page011.html 

http://www.thelearningweb.net/page011summ.html 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9367000/9367626.stm 

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Keeping Ourselves Informed

Aaron Sorkin - the creator of The West Wing and writer of The Social Network - said on R4 this morning that there's nothing more important to a democracy than a well-informed electorate. Which is why the ratings-chasing news channels in the USA are so fucking dumb. Or words to that effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Sorkin 

...................................


New Balls Please
I can't abide Ed Balls as a human being, and he was an appalling Minister of Education, but I suppose putting an economist like Ed B in charge of education was like putting a non-economist like Alan Johnson in charge of the economics brief. It was never going to work out well.

Thanks to The Shagging Policeman our poor Mr Johnson has now resigned and Ed B has finally become the shadow chancellor. One thing you can say about Edward is that he seems to have a proper understanding of Keynesian (ie enlightened) economics, and he also seems to have learned lessons from the demise of the neo-liberal Chicago school of (voodoo) economics.

A Brownite he may be. A New Labourite he may be. But if he gives George Osborne a good kicking every so often, and if he manages to forcefully make the case for a more enlightened approach to running the economy and cutting the deficit,  then I'll be first in line to congratulate him. Sadly for Ed Miliband, Alan Johnson was never going to do either of those things.

They may look and sound pretty callow and uncharismatic right now, but in 4 years time Miliband, Balls and Cooper could have the appearance of a winning team - if they manage to properly gel and really take the fight to the coalition.

That's if the coalition manages to last another 4 years. On Question Time last night a very impressive George Galloway, who made mincemeat of Alastair Campbell, predicted that if the Scottish elections go badly for the LibDems, as predicted, then they will pretty swiftly find a reason to bale out and force a new general election.


............................


And Finally . . . 

Coulson has resigned. Fucking good riddance. Bad luck on Cameron, who would have liked today's news to stay focused on the Johnson/Balls saga. Serves him right for appointing a scumbag in the first place. Pity he didn't learn from his role model's mistake in appointing the likes of Campbell as his spinmeister.

Stand by for the return of Blair to the Iraq enquiry today . . .


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Layer 426 . . . Tunisia, Martyrs, Markets, Mohammed Bouazizi, Democracy, Councils, Bureaucrats and Activists

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A Jasmine Revolution?

The Tunisian market trader who killed himself by setting himself alight in a public street was the 'martyr' who  began the recent Tunisian people's uprising or revolution. This was a man who'd had more than he could take from corrupt, stupid and incompetent officals and officers of the local town council.

http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=15;t=003943

by IronLion

Mohammed Bouazizi: The Muurish Tunisian Martyr Who Toppled the Tunisian Government

Since a young man named Mohamed Bouazizi poured petrol over himself on December 17 and set himself alight in front of the office of the Governor of his region, life turned upside down in Tunisia and the fires that he lit has burned until it engulfed the entire country from town to town.

Mr Bouazizi an indigent, indigenous, black Tunisian university graduate had no job in what was suppposedly an enlightened and prosperous African country. He could not find employment anywhere, much as he tried, and he had body and soul and family to cater for.

His plight echoed the hapless fate of so many thousands and thousands of young Tunisians, seduced by the promises of western education, yet frustrated and thwarted by a visionless, un-productive, corrupt power structure which dominated the country and suffocated creativity and innovation.

The power-elites of Tunisia are indeed guardians and door keepers for the elites of the vampires of the western society. They manage the plantation on behalf of the absentee landlords who own the bonds, the shares and the all other wealth generating resources.

So Mohammed Bouazizi became an itinerant vegetable and fruit vendor in order to keep body and soul together without resorting to criminality. This was despite his university degree. That is like working as a flea-market trader after graduating with an M.B.A. from an elite university.

But the powers of the vampire system entrenched in Tunisia would not let him be. The law demanded that he needed a license in order to pursue even so lowly a livelihood. He could not hawk fruits and vegetables to keep body and soul together unless he was able to pay a ridiculous sum of money to corrupt city officials as administrative fees for the license he was required to have.

All that sounds good and fine until one asks where the supposedly indigent, unemployed, penniless university graduate was supposed find this money for this license. A Catch-22 situation.

So he took a chance, and began hawking his wares which he had bought on credit from kindly neighbours. He had also taken out loans from his friends and family to buy the used fruit-cart that was to serve as his place of business. He might have hoped perhaps to begin paying down his loans as well as the license fees after making some sales and saving up cash.

Alas that was not to be. The police accosted him on his first day out working. He was told that even that business outlet he was hoping on, was denied to him as he did not have a vendor’s licence. He begged for time from those officials but they laughed after him.

They then took all his wares, and took down his cart and hauled everything away. The fruits would be shared by the Police thugs, the cart would be kept until reclaimed upon the payment of a penalty as well as the license fee. Bouaziz stood there and watched his livelihood destroyed in a twinkle of an eye.

And they slapped him and beat him up when he bothered to voice his protest. Maybe because they thought he was just another faceless black Tunisian.

And they took his cart away. What was he to do, in the land of his birth, the home of his Muurish ancestors? No food, no job, no buying or selling without the license of the beast, just hunger, cold and despondence. Of course there was always the prison, with its violation of the human spirit waiting for those youths who dared to turn into criminality.

Then the angel of judgement who had been watching this whole incident possessed the heart of Mohammed Bouaziz. And outrage became incensed, and a fire was kindled in his heart. A fire so strong it would burn down everything….

So Mohammed went home and got a gallon of gas. And he went and stood in front of the sumptious mansion of the rich, fat governor of his home region, he doused himself with petrol gas and set himself on fire.

And passerbys captured the image of this young man burning in a raging fire of mental and spiritual frustration. It was on Youtube and Tweeter, Google and ten thousand blogs. And the world saw the unseen fires, daily destroying the youths of Tunisia and Africa as a whole. Mohammed incidentally did not die in the fire. After suffering thrid degree burns to 98% of his body, he survived another gruesome three weeks in hospital before succumbing to his wounds.

And the youths of the world were enraged. But the youths of Tunisia got caught by the blaze set by Mohammed Bouaziz. The fires lit by Mohammed began to grow.

At first the youths of his home town protested in rage and began burining cars and tyres and buildings. The police tried to stop them.

Then Mohammed finally died an agonizing death after three weeks in the hospital.

During his burial in his home town of Sidi Bouzid, the youths chanted chants of war and vengeance. Ths government shook, the fire kept on burning. There were more protests.

During Bouazizi’s funeral, it was reported that marchers chanted “Farewell, Mohamed, we will avenge you. We weep for you today, we will make those who caused your death weep.”

Riots:

The fires began to blaze much more intense after his burial.

At first, protests overtook his home town, Sidi Bouzid, a town in the
agricultural interior that had clearly not benefited from Tunisia’s economic growth, created by tourism, foreign investment and a small reserve of oil.

Then it spread to other cities and towns of Tunisia.

Soon they grew closer to the capital.

By this week, students were openly burning posters showing the face of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the president and chief gate-keeper of Tunisia. A venal self-promoting little man, this politician had been in the thick of Tunisian government for more than 50 years. He had been president for 23 years achieving nothing for his country but deeper enslavement in IMF and western financial bondage.

The police had killed 23 by their own account, at least 66 by Thursday morning by that of International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, a France-based group.

The students then resorted to the use of fire bombs, and sometimes small arms. Chaos was spreading . . . the fire set by Mohammed kept on burning.

Then Mr Ben Ali began getting criticisms from the nervous absentee landlords in Europe watching the going ons in the plantation.

Then Mr Ben Ali blamed and fired Mr. Rafik Belhaj Kacem as interior minister – the position he himself held when he seized power for overreaction to the protests.

Mr Ben Ali also announced that all protesters who were not guilty of crimes would be freed.

But by then students were no more afraid of the police and other security agencies. Police curfews were routinely ignored, and the shooting.

On Thursday night, outraged citizenry of Tunisia all across the demographic spectrum came out and moved to the centre of the capital demanding the resignation of the government and the presidency.

It appeared that the entire regime, was under direct threat. The power-elite made a quick concession. The chief front man Ben Ali president of the republic was to be sacrificed . . . as an effort to control the fires that Mohammed Bouaziz first lit.

On January 14, President Ben Ali fled the country amid escalating violence and opposition . . .

The entire Africa and middle east is taken by surprise. Strong men and presidents are quietly sweating it out and considering their counter strategy. The commentators say this fire has the potential of blazing outside the borders of Tunisia as it moves like a forest firestorm to burn down the oppressive power structures of Africa and Middle East.

Rasta Livewire will keep you posted as this fire blazes on . . .

Oguejiofo Annu
January 15 2011

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Coincidentally this week I went to a public meeting organised by the Chatsworth Road Traders and Residents Association. The officers of the association fed back to a packed hall the latest news on the campaign to run a regular market in Chatsworth Road.

Following the successful 'trial' markets on three Sundays before Christmas, more than 40 traders are now keen to run stalls. It seems nine local councillors are all very much in favour of a regular market. We heard The Council's Cabinet Member responsible for markets says she's in favour of a regular market. The Mayor apparently goes along with his Cabinet colleague.

So why the negative, frustrated, gloomy tone at the start of the meeting? We kept hearing that "the Council" is dragging its feet. "The Council" is stalling on arranging a meeting with the pro-marketeers. "The Council" doesn't really want a new market.

How so? The Council surely consists of the elected members, who are clearly all in favour of a new market.

The problem, of course, lies not with the elected members of the council but with its paid bureaucrats, its so-called officers, its departmental managers, and so on. Possibly a problem with its chief officers as well - right up to Director and Assistant Director level.

There are broadly two types of people who work for local authorities - who work for US - we, the people. The good ones see themselves as public servants, and work hard - often too damned hard - to provide effective services for the public.

The bad ones are lazy, selfish, unimaginative, bureaucratic, dull, time-serving, self-serving dimwits. These are the local civil servants who drive the rest of us crazy. These are the ones who bore everyone to the point of being comatose in meetings. These are the ones who talk in jargon and gobbledegook, and deliberately mislead and confuse good people who are trying to do good things. The are the ones who drive good people crazy - even to the point of giving up altogether, and in the end . . . suicide.

We all need to wake up and give such bureaucrats no more credibility and respect than they deserve. We should make formal complaints about them more often - whenever necessary. We should demand respect from them. Plus clear language, positive intent and positive effort.

We'll get the public servants we deserve if we don't force them to be better. They work for US. We need groups of citizens to get together, decide what they want and need, and demand to have those things. Not just sit back and let bureaucrats tell us what we're going to get. Or even let local councillors, who are often led by the nose by their 'officers', tell us what we're going to get.

It's brilliant when local groups of people, like this one,  work together on behalf of their communities to encourage citizenship, activism, cultural enrichment, better facilities, better provision, etc.

It's not good when someone has to kill himself in order to protest about local authority civil servants who are corrupt and/or failing in their duties. In that sense, Mohammed Bouazizi was indeed a martyr. The flames he lit illuminated a whole corrupt system that reached all the way up to the president of his country. His fellow citizens rose up in anger and said they'd had more than enough.

Our own government says it's committed to localism, and wants to see more activists creating a 'big society'. We shall see. The ball's in our court.

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Here's a little thing for Gove to consider:

The Devastation of Facts

Mr. Gradgrind’s oldest children Louisa and Tom are raised strictly by Facts. As they grow older, it becomes evident that their childhood was deficient. Tom becomes a lazy hedonist. Louisa finds herself incapable of normal human emotion. Without human emotions, life becomes nearly unbearable for Louisa.

 http://www.suite101.com/content/important-themes-in-hard-times-a112950
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Layer 425 . . . Education, Facts, Knowledge, Feelings, Gove, Gradgrind, Idiocy, Pedagogy, Ritalin, Curriculum, Intelligences, Zen and Lifelong Learning.

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"Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!"

Thomas Gradgrind-Gove - Hard Times

http://www.fidnet.com/~dap1955/dickens/hardtimes.html

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Prescriptions of Ritalin as a controlling drug for UK children are currently running at 600,000 per year. A pundit on the Today (R4) programme thought that there's no problem with this -  if the end result is that there's an "increase in educational performance". No need to discuss what we mean by "educational performance" of course - we all know and agree that it simply means improved test and exam results in pursuit of arbitrary targets and league table scores.

So there we have it - there's no need to concern ourselves with moral, ethical, social and psychological issues - just focus on the child's ability and willingness to "settle down", become more passive, submit to traditional schooling and cramming for tests, and just say alleluyah for hitting the test and exam targets.

The presenters on our flagship news programmes allow their pet pundits to get away with this stuff. No wonder we're such a fucking dumb nation.

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Confirmation, finally - as if it were needed - that Michael Gove is completely and utterly stupid. He's also an elitist and an evil bastard. He's demanding that the National Curriculum be reduced to a focus on "facts and knowledge".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_9367000/9367626.stm

This man presumably has access to the huge body of work which tells us that Gradgrindism ("Teach these boys and girls nothing but facts") is not only futile, not only alienating, not only pointless, not only ridiculous - it's also counterproductive in the 21st Century in a huge number of ways. He's either not read about, or doesn't understand, the need for a New Learning Revolution.

The sole point of Gradgrindism is to sort out the academic goats from the non-academic sheep, and determine which of our children will go to university (if indeed that's what they want to do) and which of them will go to the elite universities. It has no other purpose.

It doesn't serve the needs of commerce and industry, which need individuals with imagination and creativity, and people with their social and emotional intelligences working effectively. 

It doesn't meet the needs of society in general, which also needs all of the above.

It doesn't meet the needs of individuals - to become rounded people who are capable of reaching their full potential, to become lifelong learners who enjoy learning for its own sake, to become active citizens, to become fully evolved human beings, etc.

It's profoundly depressing that an arrogant and ignorant little jerk like Gove is now calling all the shots in English education.

http://oxzen.blogspot.com/2008/04/layer-20-fully-evolved-humans.html

http://oxzen.blogspot.com/2008/05/layer-44-eyes-and-ears-of-community.html

http://oxzen.blogspot.com/2008/05/layer-48-eevnin-stannad-standards-evil.html

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Chapter II — Murdering The Innocents

THOMAS GRADGRIND, sir. A man of realities. A man of facts and calculations. A man who proceeds upon the principle that two and two are four, and nothing over, and who is not to be talked into allowing for anything over. Thomas Gradgrind, sir — peremptorily Thomas — Thomas Gradgrind. With a rule and a pair of scales, and the multiplication table always in his pocket, sir, ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you exactly what it comes to. It is a mere question of figures, a case of simple arithmetic. You might hope to get some other nonsensical belief into the head of George Gradgrind, or Augustus Gradgrind, or John Gradgrind, or Joseph Gradgrind (all supposititious, non-existent persons), but into the head of Thomas Gradgrind - no, sir!

In such terms Mr Gradgrind always mentally introduced himself, whether to his private circle of acquaintance, or to the public in general. In such terms, no doubt, substituting the words ‘boys and girls,’ for ‘sir,’ Thomas Gradgrind now presented Thomas Gradgrind to the little pitchers before him, who were to be filled so full of facts.

Indeed, as he eagerly sparkled at them from the cellarage before mentioned, he seemed a kind of cannon loaded to the muzzle with facts, and prepared to blow them clean out of the regions of childhood at one discharge. He seemed a galvanizing apparatus, too, charged with a grim mechanical substitute for the tender young imaginations that were to be stormed away.

‘Girl number twenty,’ said Mr Gradgrind, squarely pointing with his square forefinger, ‘I don’t know that girl. Who is that girl?’

‘Sissy Jupe, sir,’ explained number twenty, blushing, standing up, and curtseying.

‘Sissy is not a name,’ said Mr Gradgrind. ‘Don’t call yourself Sissy. Call yourself Cecilia.’

http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/hardtimes/2/

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I had an interesting chat with my son. He's very certain that when it comes to decisions and actions we should always trust our instincts. He's very against doing what anyone else suggests or advises.

He thinks we should all be in touch with our instincts, and prioritise them above the demands and wishes of those around us - our families, our society and the prevailing culture.

Leonard Cohen, of course, said, "I don't trust my inner feelings . . . Inner feelings come and go."

To this, my son says - when your feelings change, you should change with them. And deal with the consequences. (I'm sure Len would agree with him about that - his essential point about not trusting inner feelings was to do with the impermanence of the things we associate with 'love'.)

I think I know what my son's getting at. Ultimately we all need to develop a Zen attitude of spontaneity, authenticity, acting-without-acting, living without fear or anxiety, seeing each life experience as a positive from which we can learn something and from which we can continue to develop ourselves. Ultimately we must look within ourselves for our direction and our decisions, and not allow ourselves to be directed by others or by the prevailing culture - as long as our decisions and our actions don't harm others unnecessarily and inappropriately.

Where I disagree with him is in his referring to what I'd call a Zen attitude and a Zen life as simply 'following our feelings' or 'trusting our instincts'. This blog has discussed at length, in previous Layers, the importance of developing a distinctive 'instinctual intelligence', and also the need to become, through meditation, fully aware of our true selves - our personal intelligence. It's also focused on the need to develop other intelligences, which I've referred to as 'spiritual intelligence' (intuition, etc) and 'social intelligence' (empathy, etc.) If all of those intelligences are working well and working collaboratively, together with our intellect, then we can also become 'emotionally intelligent' and become more able to control our destructive emotions.

It's not mere pedantry or a matter of semantics to clarify and separate out these various intelligences, and to see 'instinctual intelligence' as simply a component of our whole psyche, so that someone who acts 'spontaneously' solely on the basis of 'instinct' is seen to be acting without the benefit and input of all of his/her intelligences. In essence our hard-wired instinctual intelligence just prepares us for flight, fight, freeze and sex. (Although various skills, such as driving and playing a musical instrument, can also become more or less 'instinctual'.)

Words matter. Concepts matter. Intelligences matters. Developing (and using) all of our intelligences matters very much indeed. But don't expect Michael Gove and the coalition government to understand any of that.

What a pity that their pal Anthony Seldon can't help them to see the uselessness of an Education Secretary and an education system that value "largely worthless pieces of paper" and very little else.


Charles Dickens satirised the living daylights out of a school system that killed children's curiosity and reduced children to being passive memorisers of so-called facts and knowledge - and that was way back in the 19th Century, before computers and the Internet were even imagined. The ridiculous Gove still doesn't, and won't ever, get it. The man is an absolute joke.
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