28th May 2011

The Bad Shepherds played Ireby.

Ireby, Nr Wigton in Cumbria has plenty of shepherds who wrestle a living out of raising sheep despite the vagiaries of Cumbrian weather, the current economic climate and the price of Diesel. But last night they hosted Adrian Edmondson and the self  proclaimed Bad Shepherds play punk songs on folk instruments and were the headline act at the opening night of the Ireby Festival.

They went down a storm in the middle of a storm that had threatened to wash the Festival away.

Fusion is of course the flavour of the month.

Whether it is food or music or politics. Recipes and whole Menus constructed around bringing unusual culinary bedfellows together in the same meal. Sometimes suprising, sometimes conflicting, sometimes hugely successful, setting our taste buds zinging as we munch on the usual suspects of lemon grass, Thai red or green spice, Polenta and celeriac.

Politically of course we are experiencing a fusion government, a coalition of unlikely bed-fellows driven by whatever motivation drives politicians to make their deals. So we have a Tory led Government imbued with Liberal principles which frustrates the right wing of the Tory Party and equally frustrates the left wing of the Liberal Democrats.

The coalition is variously described and you can tell where people's sympathy's lie when they use phrases like, Tory Led or Con-Dem.

The coalition is a year old. Four years to go, unless for any reason (and any reason will do), an election is called earlier.

But it is clear that so much that it is essential to a civilised society is being eroded or diminished by policies which contradict the rhetoric of 'We're all in this together', 'Social Mobility', 'Fairness', 'Protecting the NHS'.

Clearly there are problems to be addressed but where is the evidence that the policies currently being produced in any shape or form assist the poorest or the least able in society to improve their situation?

And where is the evidence that the culture which was responsible for the problems that the last labour administration was addressing are being addressed any better by the con-dem coalition?

Debt is the best form of social control and was woven into the social fabric by earlier Tory adminstrations. We have all seen the wording on the bottom of the Mortgage offer about your home being at risk if you fail to pay. Last month my mortgage was not paid, not through a banking error but because it transpires that the the mortgage company have a manual system and there was an 'administrative error' but imagine what anybody's first thought would be when you realise that suddenly you are in, that dreaded word, 'arrears'.

The Bad Shepherds set started badly with the sound system proving somewhat unsound and Ade Edmondson walking off having roundly abused the sound desk.

Ten minutes later the rousing opening Uillean Pipe Drone with Edmondsons wild and aggressive Mandolin playing (it was that kind of night really) led into the opening song Anarchy in the UK managing to drown out the sound of the rain on the Marquee roof.

There was a certain delicious irony in a former member of The Young Ones celebrating anarchy having rounded on the sound desk for causing anarchy of their own by plugging various leads into various instruments presumably in an anarchic fashion, given that no sound came out.

But once the sound anarchy had been banished and real anarchy celebrated in song, it was on into a feast of Sex (Pistols), Clash, Jam, Talking Heads, XTC (apparently no Damned Songs) and Stranglers, played on a fiddle, two Mandolins (but never at the same time) and whistles, flutes, pipes and a balalaika. The set included two of my favourite Punk Anthems, dear old Wreckless Eric (I'd go the) Whole Wide World, whilst it must be said that nostalgia is not what it used to be, this was wonderful and was matched with a marvellous version of Have You Ever fallen in Love (with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with?) giving the Buzzcocks a well deserved name check.

The set ended with White Riot, originally a Clash song.

It was fascinating to see this largely middle class, largely northern audience, with their cans of lager and plastic beakers of red and white wine, with their young families next to them, mouthing Joe Strummers words:

All the power's in the hands / Of people rich enough to buy it / While we walk the street
Too chicken to even try it / Everybody's doing / Just what they're told to / Nobody wants / To go to jail!

White riot - I wanna riot / White riot - a riot of my own

Not sure whether it was the fusion music or the fusion food, Thai Green Curry with Sweet Potato and Chickpea, or Cumberland Sausage on Ciabetta Bread or the rain, or maybe, just maybe they were making another connection entirely ........

26th May 2011

The grandchildren had a dressing up day at school on Wednesday.

They were invited to dress up as their favourite Mr Man. There are plenty to choose from Mr Tickle burst on to an unsuspecting world in 1971 and thirty two years and many characters later came Mr Good.

We didn't get to see the various characters but doubtless there will be photographs in due course.

I wonder how many of each character there were and whether the two twins decided to be original and go as Mr Why and Mr Why Not?

But if Mr Why didn't go to school at least we now know what happened to him.

In order to render him less efective than he had been covering the floor of the Turbine Hall with ceramic sun-flower seeds he was made a Member of the House of Lords and put in charge of the big society.

Now he has resigned.

So what now, Which of the many characters can be brought in to help the big society in its fourth incarnation?

It could be like the dwarfs in Snow White, Mr Happy when things are looking up, Mr Grumpy when they're not.

Or Mr Daydream imagining how the big society will help everyone get over the cuts or Mr Muddle realising what a muddle he has created.

Mr Greedy and Mr Lazy of course will get no help from the big society.

Only Mr Strong and Mr Brave will be included.

Faced with the fourth launch of the flag ship project the commentariat were not overly impressed and the Labour Party were scathing, according to Tessa Jowell, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, the big society is descending into farce.

That will delight Mr Nonsense.

Perhaps we need another barbeque with Mr Cameron flipping burgers and serving them to members of the big societies flagship charities, you know the WRVS or The Scouts or The Samaritans or Barnardos whilst getting them to swallow the bitter pill that their grants are being reduced and the big society will only be big in name because it will have a smaller budget year on year it could even be linked to inflation, every 1/2 point increase in inflation meaning a 1/2 point reduction in the big society budget.

President Obama gave a moving and encouraging speech to both Houses in the Great Hall in Westminster. It ended with a highly personal note about his great grandfather a cook in the British Army contrasted with his being invited to address Parliament as The President of the USA.

But like any speech it was more interesting for what was not said than what was.

So no mention of deficit reductions or even big societies just the quiet but emphatic reminder that whilst it was possible for the Great Grandson of an Army Cook to become President of the USA in the UK it clearly helped to have been at Public School.

The big society is here to stay it seems. For whatever reason Mr Cameron is staying with this defining project of the coalition. I must confess that I don't get it.

I was born into a small society: Crossland Road, Droylsden. Over the years from 1945 to 1960 cautiously then from 1960 more rapidly and confidently, my society and my world grew and enlarged.

This enlarging of society was a social project related entirely to the post war Labour Governments, Bevan and the NHS, Beveridge and the welfare state, Harold Wilson and the Open University these were all big society visions now rejected as socialist extravagances.

Now we have budget reductions, a lowering of take home pay and a reduction in the standard of living. Last night on the news on TV a young mother from Gateshead was wiping the tears from her eyes as she described the closure of the nursery her disabled daughter depended on.

Big society?

It was not a Mr Men title but all I can say is Mr Bah Humbug!

22nd May 2011

What are we missing now we are back in the UK?

The Accordian player in Corvetto.

Italian Coffee.

Ice Cream.

The weather.

The wonderful congregation at the Church of the Holy Ghost in Piazza Marsala.

Our friend in Corvetto with whom we always exchanged a Ciao as we passed.

It was never clear where he slept or whether he was actually homeless, our Italian and his English made for hard communication but the more times we passed him on his bench in Corvetto the more friendly his greeting.

So Ciao my friend I hope you are well.

This morning as I greeted the congregation in Cumbria I had to make it clear that however warm their greeting it was in the mid eighties in Genova, at which point the rain swept horizontally past the windows driven by a cold wind off the Irish Sea.

Welcome home.

Every single day in Genova I watched the motorcycles and thought, 'When I get home', but I am home, the weather has meant that the Harley is still stuck in the shed whilst I remain inside shivering and wondering why.

But it has been lovely to catch up with the family see the grandchildren and cuddle the latest addition to the dynasty we are creating.

The big society is currently being promoted by an American member of the commentariat, apparently he is the toast of Downing Street, I have read the reviews of his opinions.

The usual Tosh really.

Made me reflect on the times I arrived, passport in hand to present myself at the gates of Downing Street. My message then was the same message. The big society is the society in which people look out for their neighbours and break bread together, whether it is street parties, dinner parties, pot luck (or faith) suppers or communion.

It is of course all there in the New Testament.

Love your neighbour as yourself (which means loving yourself too of course!) and do this i.e. Break Bread in remembrance of me.

The founder of my charity knew that all too well when he went into the trenches in 1914 -1918 with communion for the young soldiers who were being sacrificed on the altar of internecine monarchical rivalries. After 1918 he promoted a vision of international friendship a big, big society, in which he proposed that the members of the charity loved widely, built bravely, thought fairly and witnessed humbly.

So much is said and written and so many royalties generated but these simple but profound four points of what were known as a compass sum  it up pretty well.

Even if you are made uneasy by the christian sentiment implied by loving neighbours and breaking bread the idea of loving, building, thinking and witnessing is intrinsic to a society at ease with itself, a society that is truly big and healthy when the rough sleeper can greet the lady in the wheelchair with a Ciao in greeting as she passes.

I hope that my Italian friend can find a way of watching the Big Match on Saturday.

The match between Real Madrid and Barcelona didn't exhibit too many signs of loving, building, thinking or witnessing what with Barcelona players falling over a lot and clutching their nether regions and Madrid players appearing to have been imbued with a strong sense that attrition was the only way forward, but on the 28th we can look forward to the beautiful game being imbued with a sense of genuine beauty.

Of course Man U are destined to win, but even if the unthinkable happens, it will still be beautiful to watch the  two foremost teams in Europe play the beautiful game with skill and courage.

The real winner will be football.

Before that Bradford and Curry, Another Birthday party and collect the puppy,  then Ireby Festival and Ade Edmondson and the Bad Shepherds and if the weather forecast is to be believed the sound of that V Twin fired up and ready to cruise the 66, that's the A66 rather than Route 66 but hey, a man can dream ...................

20th May 2011

Apparently the big society is being reviewed, the suggestion is that it should be called the big deal, so what's the big deal?

It used to be considered part of the social contract between the Government and the public at large.

Now it's to do with we'll be fair if you play by the rules.

But who sets the rules?

Aah, there's the catch.

At present quite a few new ideas are being dreamt up that were not in either of the coalition parties manifesto's, as health workers and students are discovering.

But if you are elected on a manifesto it seems reasonable to expect that you will govern according to that manifesto.

Changes are currently justified on a number of accounts, not least that the Labour Party spent all the money.

I have recently read in a couple of newspapers a suggestion that road charging is long overdue. Apparently it is an idea whose time has come. Well call me dim but I thought we were charged for using the roads.

I have just paid  my road fund licence on line. The clue is right there in the name - road fund. A fund for the road, so that when I am driving around Cumbria on my bike I don't hit a pot hole and fall off the bike or worse into the hole (in Cumbria there are some big pot holes!). A fund for the road implies that the road will be maintained out of the road fund licence money or am I missing something?

So why should I pay twice?

Or even three times because I also pay an enormous amount of tax everytime I buy fuel. Where does that money go?

So, if we decide to start charging to use the road however much per mile can we expect to see the usage charge replace the road fund licence fee and the fuel tax?

It's essentially the difference between capitalism and socialism.

In socialism we all pay tax, the road is maintained, highway robbery is kept to a minimum and  you can go about your business happily and safely and everyone is happy

Then there is Capitalism.

The capitalists own the road and we all pay to use it. If you look carefully you will see at various points on the roads cottages called Toll Bar or simply Toll or Toll something. That is a reference to when we payed to use the road. The modern equivalent of course, is the Toll Road North of Birmingham but that is an exception because you have a choice of driving freely and quickly past Birmingham or staying in the Traffic Jam at Junction 9 of the M6.

Public or private no matter as you drove along you were in effect driving on a road which belonged to somebody and you were charged to use it.

Over the years that system gave way to a better one and we paid for the roads by means of  a road fund licence. Now the brilliant new proposal is to revert to a system that generally worked badly in the C17th and C18th and no doubt a modern day Dick Turpin is dusting off his blunderbuss as I write.

And its not just the highway. The super high way is rapidly replacing Toll Free with Toll Charges. Apple and the App. represent the new monetised super information highway. Then there is the encouragement to bloggers to monetise their Blogs through advertising (see the side bar). Or the rather odd discussion about super fast broad band in rural areas introduced as a commercial service not a public service but the rhetoric implying a public good being achieved.

Now apparently with so many people opting to replace their landline with a mobile the 'phone companies are saying that they will have to increase their prices to offset the fact that their services are losing their cost effectiveness.

That clearly can lead in one direction and one direction only.

The pot holes in the superhighway will become more and more dangerous as we trip and slip our way through the web and the future will start to rumble to the sound of the motorcycles of the inter galactic wild ones as they swerve round the pot holes and draw closer and you can hear the menacing words - your money or your life.

18th May 2011

Most have my writing over the years has tended toward the didactic and hectoring.

A friend once described a talk I had given as 'a fine example of Geoff Smiths apocalyptic rhetoric'.

In starting this blog I set myself a challenge of remaining whimsical, offering a wry look at matters that might fall broadly under the heading of whatever is meant by the big society. I want to be serious in this enterprise but not so serious that I alienate whoever is kind enough to log in and read what I have written.

All that nearly changed yesterday. Because yesterday I had to take a commercial flight.

There was nothing wrong with the flight, I am a huge fan of the carrier and nothing but praise for the kindness shown to us by the cabin crew, we left on schedule arrived on schedule and were offered a professional and courteous service.

It was not the airline. It was the airport. More specifically it was the ridiculous rules that now govern what happens when you choose to fly and indeed how those rules are interpreted and applied by the security teams.

I am only doing my job. But there are ways of doing your job. Ways that diminish people and ways that respect them.

And if you cannot take more than a 100 litres of liquid in you hand luggage, why can you buy litres of Gin and Whisky and what ever in duty free. Could it be that duty free is a major revenue contributor to airports bottom line?

When Mr Cameron flew from Stanstead I wonder did he have to remove his braces or belt and shuffle through the security gate in his stocking feet and have his Marmite confiscated?

I would love to know.

I am of course aware that it is in the interests of my own safety or at least that is the justification given for treating me as a suspect but when I am travelling with my wife who now uses a wheelchair for her mobility and when we are searched and frisked because we happen to be wearing our wedding rings and when asked to raise your arms your unbraced trousers start to respond to Newton's law so you reach down to hoist them up again and well you know how it is really because all of us, even possibly Mr and Mrs Cameron will have shared this experience of being reduced to the status of suspects in the case of the airports generally against the public at large.

Even Mr Strauss-Kahn managed to get through all the security before being hauled out of his first class seat by New York's finest.

The journey started really well at six in the morning when we left by bus for the airport.

The driver was extremely professional and assisted us on and off the Bus, rather than face two trains and the airport shuttle bus and all the hassle of being 'assisted' on and off the trains and the connections we were encouraged to take the bus little knowing that it would be the easiest part of the journey, we were not frisked, our luggage was put in the hold and we were able to keep our trousers on, brilliant.

After that it went downhill until our flight was called and we reset our watches.

Despite being four stones in weight lighter than I was when my passport photograph was taken and having amended my facial identity, which now flaunts a moustache of which I have become quite proud, I even managed to ease my way though passport control just by removing my sunglasses, thankfully I was allowed to keep my braces on.

The airport bus and the railway station were a great success too, both the bus driver and the disabled assistance staff at the station, had obviously recently gained distinctions in recent 'making visitors to the UK welcome' courses.

It was nice to be back home.

But the best was yet to come when our son-in-law met us at the station in our car and I was able to drive home without being suspected or frisked and still wearing my braces.

At one time there was a travel option, heavily advertised called the fly-drive,  well, after my most recent experience I would always take the drive option over the flying option any day, as Janis Joplin sang: Oh Lord give me a Mercedes Benz.

16th May 2011

From ghoulies and ghosties. And long-leggedy beasties. And things that go bump in the night.

Good Lord, deliver us.

To which I might add:  From Governments that want to improve our well being.

Good Lord Deliver us.

Well-being or Human flourishing has become the newest flavour to hit the public, from books, articles and Prime Ministerial speechifying.

It is the latest conceit of the Tory led coalition that having effectively reduced average household incomes by, depending on which definition you use, anything up to £1000 a year, returning the buying power of the average family income to the level of four or five years ago it has now decided that it is qualified to promote the 'well-being' of people in society.

Well-being is a well established ethical and philosophical proposition and any one of a number of names are associated with it, including that of John Rawls who argued that humans need liberty and freedom to pursue their interests as long as they do not harm others.

People accomplish happiness by freely pursuing interests within a supportive society.

Well being is defined by the Farlex On-line Dictionary as: The state of being healthy, happy, or prosperous; welfare.

But surely such a definition offers the Tory led coalition a dilemma?

Our health?  Is affected by the state of the NHS and its ability to promote better health across the nation but the NHS is clearly a target for the coalition. The changes are on hold whilst ministers 'listen' but the fear remains that the changes proposed will lead inevitably to a US style insurance scheme. Having attended an out of hours clinic in the UK with american friends and an american hospital emergency room with british friends I know who was most impressed by what they saw.

The NHS was the hands down winner of that contrast and compare excercise.

But how will our well-being fare if or when the proposals for 'reform' are put back on the table?

Happy? how can any one tell, happiness is totally subjective, apparently 70% of of responses to happiness questionaires are totally dependent on how you are feeling on the day you answer the questions. 

Bad day at the office? Row with your partner? Argument with your children? Bad commute? or of course the reverse, a compliment at work or better still a pay rise? Lunch with your girl friend/boy friend? Compliment from the grandchildren? Went to work on your Harley Davidson on a sunny day?

I guess it all depends on who asks and when as to whether we score well in that index.

Prosperous? well if family  incomes are falling, inflation is rising, interests rates go up meaning more expensive mortgages or it costs £150 to fill your cars tank with diesel, then not only will you not feel prosperous, you will not be prosperous.

Welfare? Or farewell child benefit, pensions, tax credits and public services, hello privatisation?

Two examples from the speech on well-being were thinly veiled attacks on Labour Policies, on immigration and on cheap alcohol.

According to the Guardian Report of Mr Cameron's speech, 'the "immigration free-for-all" ..... had been justified as being good for growth but there had been "little thought" about its impact on social cohesion and public services 'the same report included the view that 'a cheap booze free-for-all ..... justified on the argument that it was good for growth' was intorduced 'with little thought about the impact on law and order' tell that to the supermarkets.

Well-Being has a long and respectable philosophical history, I helped organise a conference on that subject over twenty years ago, but I cannot see how a Government that is pursuing the policies of this coalition can even consider that a well-being project will be taken seriously until, as John Rawles argued, justice is put back on the political agenda.

Along with the big society this is slogan politics, politics in soft focus, we need to seee a sharper image so that we can better examine the details.

14th May 2011

So Manchester United have won their nineteeth premiership title by a score draw and a penalty.

In fact the team that turned up at Blackburn was the team that doesn't travel well. They appeared to be jet lagged after a forty minute coach trip up the M66.

For the last six minutes they played keep ball and Blackburn appeared to be content with that as their draw gives them a valuable point in their fight to avoid relegation.

But for the first seventy three minutes I wished that I had been wearing my Jean Paul Sartre philosophy football T Shirt. www.footballphilosophy.com

"In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team".

Which it had been for seventy three minutes.

Nevertheless, despite the last six minutes, I am sure that the Blackburn Manager had a bottle of red wine already opened to breathe ready to offer Sir Alex and toast the nineteeth premiership win of a quite remarkable and inspirational career.

Even though Champagne, Cava or Prosecco are more usually offered when celebrations are in order, red wine is the perfect drink to celebrate the Red's victory over the blue of Blackburn and Chelsea.

Apparently Kingsley Amis once described the most depressing words in the English Language as, 'Shall we go straight in?' closely followed by 'Red or White?'.

I am sure that amongst the very few things that Sir Alex and I have in common, apart from a love of Manchester United, is that we have both from time to time, taken drinks at Westminster.

Kingsley Amis' views notwithstanding, I have always opted for the Red Wine over the White, although I was once offered a very palatable Sancerre on an occasion when the Red appeared to have all been drunk, although it re-appeared later in the evening, much to everyone's relief as by then the Sancerre had been all but drunk. 

Wine is the talk of Westminster at the moment as the Tories have decided to
make the cellars self financing, quite how something becomes self-financing when it largely served at receptions for which no-one pays, I don't know?

But the best wines are to be sold at auction, and in future averagely priced bottles at three or four pounds a bottle will be served in their place.

It is already a standing joke, apparently, that the Reds will be the first to go.

As there is no Blue or Orange wine the coalition is relatively safe from wine related jokes at their expense.

But as far as other alcoholic drinks are concerned, it might be noted that Orange is a mixer in various Cocktails.

Just like the liberals in the coalition?

And for a blue Alcoholic drink I have read that a mix of Vodka, Rum, Tequila, Gin and Blue Curacao with 7-Up has quite a kick and rejoices in a name shortened apparently to AMF.

Apparently the A stands for Adios.

To which of course I would be happy to propose a toast to this Tory led coalition.

Although it was never offered at either a Westminster or a Downing Street Reception, at least when I was present.

The next alcoholic challenge is what to drink whilst watching the Champions League Final, I imagine that if you have bought a ticket for Wembley then a flask of tea or coffee or a hip flask or a bottle of water, will be all you can afford.

But my mind goes back to watching a Manchester United game in the headquarters of the Manchester United Supporters Club, Barcelona Branch, aka Paddy's Bar, in 2008 when I watched a ragged Manchester United play a difficult game away to Lyon.

That was a two pints of Guiness per half, kind of match with much cheering when United levelled the score just before Full -Time, including from the Barcelona fans who were watching their team on another huge screen.

This afternoons score draw at Blackburn, Sir Alex' achievement and the team's performance will be celebrated in Genova by a stirring performance of Handel's Messiah in the Church of the Holy Ghost followed by a glass of Barbera.

Hallelujah.

12th May 2011

Somehow between them, the Tory led coalition and the Labout Party leadership have made politics just a tad boring as we head into summer and Wimbledon and Scottish Strawberries.

I read the other day that when Mr Clegg played tennis against Mr Cameron at Chequers he was suprised at how competitive he was.

May be he should have played Chequers at Chequers?

And the Chancellor has all but slipped off the radar.

I have been looking out for a sighting on the grand yachts that have been tying up in Genova recently, just in case a Rothschild or some other wealthy ex Bullingdon Clubber is in town, but so far no sighting.

But equally no sightings in the news either, despite the savage cuts which affect the poorest most, there has been no calling to account by the commentariat just a mild form of tut tutting when people mention the reductions in benefits, after all it wouldn't do to become too associated with benefit fraudsters, even though there are far fewer benefit fraudsters than tax dodgers.

The coalition is trying to stitch its coalition coat together after its recent shredding in the referendum, just hope my vote counted and it wasn't lost  in the post.

But the big issues are there as we get drawn ever deeper into Libya, at least until Gaddaffi decides to get over himself and move on without killing any more of his fellow country men by dropping bombs on them from helicopters painted with a Red Cross.

Another case for the Navy Seals?

But the changes that have been introduced, the economic illiteracy displayed by the false narrative of Labours' irresponsible spending and the inexorable collapse in public sector jobs with no evidence of private sector jobs being created to take up the economic slack, none of this is being challenged strongly or effectively by the labour leadership, raising suspicions about what actual policies they may have introduced if they had won the election.

The big society called for an increase in social responsibility, from whom, business?, the financial services sector? the Church?

Social responsibility was my business for nine years, well in fact for forty three years but from 1978 up to and including 1987, it was also my job title, amusingly punned on one occasion by a conservative member of the church in Newcastle as, the officer for Socialist Irresponsibility.

What he was referring to I can't now recall, it may have been when I asked for support for a community job creation scheme on one of the Cities outer estates, it may have been when I mounted a debate in support of Church Action on Poverty, of which I was a founder member, it may have been the Meadowell Project which is now over twenty five years old, which I started in association with a friend and colleague from North Tyneside Social Services.

Whichever piece of socialist irresponsibility it was, it was almost inevitably concerned with addressing the three problems most urgently facing Tyneside at that time, defined by the local authority spokesman to the Faith in the City Commission as Poverty, Poverty and Poverty.

Well if that is socialist irresponsibility it would be good to see some socialist irresponsibility being proposed by the current Labour leadership and a good old set to in Parliament and on the hustings, if only to liven things up a bit.

In Scotland the voters made a resounding statement, which was equally a judgement on the Labour Party and the Tory led coalition, even managing to overturn the built in corrective of AV which apparently was  intended to ensure that there was never an overall majority at Holyrood.

Well now there is and it will be interesting to see where the SNP head next.

David Cameron is against breakin gup the Union and clearly, with all that is happening in Europe this is not a great time to become a peripheral nation in a centralising Europe, but at least it gives the rest of us an opportunity to watch an interesting match on Westminsters' centre court between the competitive Mr Cameron and Mr Salmond, the serial winner.   

10th May 2011

The big society should be an open access society and accessibility becomes even more important when you rely on a wheelchair for mobility.

Travelling by public transport is difficult at the best of times. getting the luggage to the train/and or airport, boarding the plane and then the 'onward' journey and always fraught by delays and  missed connections.

I much prefer travelling by car, door to door without changes, although that has it problems with traffic jams and what the Italians call 'Traffico Intenso'.

We met Allessi at  a cafe in Genova, he is a wheelchair user and he told us that he backpacked to South America alone in his wheelchair. That must have been a fantastic trip but also a physically demanding one getting yourself onto and off trains and buses and airplanes and just getting around, cobbles, high kerbs, traffic and other pavement users.

We detect various responses to the wheelchair, Pity, Oh you poor dear, followed by lots of Scusi's, Prego's, and Can I assist's? along with, to other pedestrians, Please stand back, make way, let the lady past.

It can be, at times, embarrassing and occasionally seem patronising, but essentially it is just a way of empathising with the predicament you are dealing with, and it makes it clear that you have a mobility problem.

The service at the airport has by now, in our experience, become exemplary, with assistance on and off the airplane, and escorts through  the airport to ensure a pleasant and comfortable  journey, trains are better too, although they have a bit of catching up to do, the weak link we find is Bus and Metro.

Buses are often inaccesible, although the newer buses are better, in Paris we used the buses because the Metro was effectively out of bounds, in Genova the new Metro is accessible as are many of the buses, but passengers and drivers can be a bit impatient.

But in our own City because the rural bus services use older coaches hand me downs from other companies and areas that  have upgraded we simply cannot access the local bus and so rarely use our subsidised bus passes.

Barcelona was the most accessible place we have stayed, a legacy of the Olympics.

But once there.

Whatever your destination, it is evident on peoples faces as you try to get around that apart from pity, there is the nuisance factor, usually as a direct result of the individual in question talking on a mobile, staring into shop windows and with his/her mind completely in Neutral and then looking down to see first the wheelchair and then the pusher of said wheelchair and trying to get out of the way before impact.

And the testy, OK so you are in a wheelchair, doesn't that mean that you shouldn't go out? What are you doing cluttering up the streets and slowing me down and reminding me ... of what?

And there is the, Oh my gosh, I hope whatever it is it's not catching reaction. Ensuring that children steer a wide birth around you, the wheelchair and whoever is pushing it, making you wonder if you need a bell?

Finally, children themselves, it is amazing seeing a  young child, wide eyed, in his/her pushchair, staring and obviously thinking: I hope they don't keep me in this blooming thing until I'm old.

I want to get out and run off as soon as I can.

And finally of course, the cracks in the pavements, the cobbles, the high kerbs and the dog poo, all to be avoided.

But saving the best to last, the Liguria via Mare boat service to Portofino runs on Saturday and Sunday in April and May, last week we took the boat,somewhat anxious about boarding and disembarking.

Enquiring at the ticket office we were assured that the Signora would be helped to get on and off the boat and she was, the inaccessible was  made accessible with a mix of ingenuity and human kindness. The Crew were exceptionally helpful and kind and courteous and helped us on and off by opening an access route at the stern.

They also made us coffee, that expression of kindness probably made that our  best day in Genova, and as Allessi had recommended, we sat on the harbour side in Portofino and enjoyed an ice cream.

8th May 2011

Of Cities and Dogs.

Working dogs have a well defined role in their relationship with humans.

They have a job to do, are trained for that job and are rewarded when they do the job well. They are excercised and fed and, usually sleep in a kennel rather than the house.

The US Navy seals, took a dog with them when they set out to capture Osama bin Laden. Apparently military dogs were often put down at the end of their 'service' but increasingly are being given over to adoption if they can make the transition from a working dog to a house dog and a pet.

Our last dog developed Canine Dementia and had to be put down and we found ourselves experiencing loss, he had become part of our family and spent his days with us and vice versa it was a relationship of mutual affection and respect.

We began to search for a new dog and decided that on balance, rescue or adoption was the best way forward, on one occasion we saw a lovely, yellow lab in the local pet rescue centre and were hoping to adopt but were told that she had been selected for training and was going to be a Police Dog.

She had no say in the matter so would never really know, when she was busy sniffing for drugs or weapons or terrorists, that she could have been sitting back enjoying a relaxed life with walks, regular food and grandchildren to play with. interesting to wonder which she would have chosen.

I have always enjoyed the story about the insomniac, agnostic with dyslexia who lay awake all night wondering if there was a 'dog'.

There is no doubting that there are dogs in Genoa.

You have to be careful where you step.

But that's the owners not the dogs. In the park here the children have their play area and there is a designated dog run how civilized is that?

And dogs in the City are quieter, more sedentary I suppose, bark less and generally are extremely well behaved, but then they are allowed into restaurants, shops, there was even a dog in Zara in  XX Septembre the other day and Zara doesn't even sell things for dogs.

But dogs in Cities clearly fulfill as crucial a role for their owners as working dogs do for theirs. They don't hunt, track, point, retrieve or round up sheep but they do offer company, engagement, affection and trust.

Indeed in a recent report. evidence was presented, suggesting that Paris, the City with the most dogs per head of (human) population, is in fact a City of lonely people with a high proportion of the residents living alone and needing companionship.

That dogs provide the comfort and companionship humans need is not in question but what is suprising is that the dog in all its shapes and forms is so central to human existence.

On holiday recently I read Jack London's wonderful book, White Fang, in which he digs deeply into the psyche of both dog and human being.

When we get home we will be delighted to see our family and our wonderful grandchildren, but we will also be pleased to resume our relationship with our small but affctionate mongrelly companion, our Heinz 57, Ruby, aka Muttley ...... 

6th May 2011

A week of disquieting events and a week of disquieting jokes.

I have to confess at a sense of unease at the pictures of President Obama sittng with his senior staff watching the video images of the capture and death of bin Laden as though it was some form of video game called, perhaps, Gotcha.

Clearly there were boots on the ground and genuine engagement, but perhaps in the way children now play killing games as though the on screen deaths are not real, it seemed that with the exception of Hilary Clinton, most people in the room were watching emotionlessly as the drama reached its, some would say, inevitable conclusion.

Almost as bizarre was the claim in some newspapers that bin Laden's favourite food was Kentucky Fried Chicken, really? and his favourite drink, Coca Cola.

So bin Laden is no more and we wait for the almost inevitable reaction to his death.

Whilst I supported the invasion of Iraq and the strategy of regime change pursued by Blair and Bush I remain disquieted by the execution of Saddam Hussain.

It seemed to me that somewhere in the mix leading up to and after his capture, that Western values might have been invoked in dealing with his 'crimes' and that a trial in The Hague might have been a more appropriate response rather than public nature of his trial and execution broadcast on TV.

But then again maybe this is just a disquieted liberal conscience at work and the public trial and execution brought some form of closure for the thousands of victims of his atrocities against communities and  individuals.

This notion of a big society must be called into question when dramatic events can be viewed in real time anywhere, anytime, as indeed those awful images of the Twin Towers burning and the replayed images of the planes crashing into the towers again and again, were themselves projected  in real time into communities from Gaza to Greenland.

Terrorism is the strategy of striking terror into the hearts and minds of men and women so that they become paralysed with the fear that they personally will be caught up in the violence threatened by the terrorist.

bin Laden was a terrorist not so much because of what he did (terrible though that was) but because of what he threatened and the ideas he promoted and his death does not especially reduce the power of those threats or those ideas, terrible and misguided though they are.

The events of this week remind us that we no longer live in a big society, with hiding places where soft drinks and fried chicken are freely available, we live in a small, tight society, as Marshall McLuhan had it in the sixties, it is a 'Global Village'.

So who goes out onto the village green to announce  the news?

Who shares the event and its consequences in the public square and who takes the debate forward.

Apparently the death of bin Laden will not be shown on TV and neither will there be photographs of his body published in the papers, conspiracy theories are beginning to run and who knows where this debate will end if it ever does.

Humour seems to be the way that we deal with what Donald Rumsfeld called the unknowns, either known or unknown it doesn't matter, what we do know is that the world just got smaller, that American influence and dominance continues to prevail and that there are few places which are much more than a helicopter flight or a video link from the reach of the US Marshall and that should make us feel more secure.

As Superman put it it's all about Truth, Justice and the American Way or as the Manchester band The Tunes replayed it: (and as in some ways I have to admit preferring) Truth, Justice and the Mancunian Way ..............

4th May 2011

How big is a big society?

Is our society big enough?

Should it be larger? Could it be smaller? Is our society big enough to be a big society on its own or should we invite some other folk along to make it even bigger? More varied and (probably) more scary.

Well, as it happens, we are.

The whole Northern shore of the Mediterranean is now the point of destination of young men from Africa seeking a foothold in the West.

Arrive in Spain or Italy, aquire papers and by virtue of the Schengen Agreement the whole of Europe is open until you reach the English Channel, or if you happen to be Libyan and displaced by NATO bombing and are entering France from Italy, Ventimiglia.

In the 18th and 19th Centuries all the traffic was the other way.  European adventurers, explorers and straight forward pirates, travelled the world from Britain and Europe and conquered and colonised Africa, South America, Asia and the Pacific Region.

Today in most European countries museums are stuffed full with the heirlooms (Booty) of this adventuring.

In January we visited The Wonders of Africa exhibition in Genoa in The Palazzo Ducale, the exhibition features a large number of outstanding traditional African works of art including masks, altarpieces, “fetishes”, funerary posts, ritual objects and items from daily life loaned by and on display courtesy of  'Italian private collectors'.

Last week we visited the Museum of World Cultures in Genova, it is based in the Castello di Albertis and houses the other part of this exhibition, essentially a collection of indigenous art and artefacts brought back to Italy from Africa and especially Papua New Guinea.

It includes a huge collection of African and Shamanistic dolls and representative figures arranged to 'encourage a reflection on the concepts of “purity” and “contamination" that underlie our wishes and fears'.
Make no mistake it is a great collection and well worth a visit in fact we are planning to return to see both exhibitions again before we leave.

But as I went round I found myself being troubled about something and I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was.

I had the same feeling when I first visited Cragside in Northumberland, the home of Lord Armstrong, inventor of the Vickers Gun, until I realised that, somewhere at the back of my mind, whilst admiring the furniture, the architecture and the hydro-electric lighting system, I could hear the crunching of machine gun bullets underfoot.

Castello di Albertis is situated on one of the highest points in Genoa, and was designed in the nineteenth century by Captain Enrico Alberto D'Albertis, who gave it, together with his ethnographic and archaeological collection, to the city of Genoa when he died.

According to its web-site: The museum takes visitors to faraway lands, to the very places to which the captain himself travelled, through collections of artefacts ranging from the pre-Columbian civilisations of Central and South America to Native North Americans and, finally, the civilisations of Oceania and Africa.

Particularly impressive are the African weapons, Chinese spears and European halberds, as well as the Mayan volcanic tuff fragments from the Copán acropolis in Honduras and the Mexican and Aztec ornaments'.
What was troubling me I realised was the image I had of the young men on the quayside in the Porto Antico selling their designer knock offs from large white sheets, which could be quickly folded up and carried away whenever the Policia Fiscale made a tour of the quayside.

On the one hand these once proud people with their ancient traditions, from what Bronowski called the 'Cradle of Civilization', reduced to selling poor copies of European designer, bags, trousers, jackets, sunglasses and watches, whilst keeping one eye open for the next visit from the police. On the other their history and traditions ransacked and their religion, music and culture on display in the museum.

Somehow it seems that, in order to make our society bigger, we had to make theirs smaller?

The exhibitions remind us of the richness of culture, of the variety of cultures and the many ways in which individuals seek to understand themselves and their place in society by means of religious rituals and traditions.

But if the only way we have to make difference 'safe' is by collecting it and displaying it in a museum then surely that is a reflection on the shallowness of our own culture and belief system.

I doubt if you could visit Africa or India or China and find European artefacts collected in the museums ......... apart probably from the Morris Oxford/Ambassador and the Royal Enfield but even then not in a museum ..........

2nd May 2011

I don't seem to have much luck smooth talking waitresses.

I was in a Restaurant some time ago, with my newly shaven head, very Yul Brynner I thought; with a recently trimmed moustach a la Charles Bronston (the film star!) and a pair of glasses very John Lennon in his round NHS glasses days.

The waitress made a friendly comment to my companion and I responded, the conversation went on to looks and so I enquired, teasingly I thought, as to which of my three possible looks she would notice.

'You', she replied, 'look like Alf Garnett!'.

I was left feeling less like Brynner or Bronson in the Magnificent Seven and more like 'an old git'.

A recent article in my newspaper has provoked a response in The Letters section of the same paper.

Should older people have the vote taken from them and should their votes be given to children, to balance the supposed selfishness of individuals voting instincts?

Apparently this is being tried in Hungary, where the childrens' vote is being given to the mother.

It made me ask myself, do I vote selfishly?

I have just voted by postal ballot because I am currently in Genova and can't vote in person. I thought I was being responsible rather than selfish but then I suppose that is the first stumbling block, the generation of which I am a part, so called baby boomers, can afford to do what I am doing, living abroad for a while with flights paid for by the heating allowance.

How selfish is that?

With the whole raft of generous welfare support, final salary pensions and other benefits life in our mid sixties seems altogether more luxurious than it was in the mid sixties, permissiveness notwithstanding.

But there is another side to this argument over the fifty years between starting work at sixteen on £4 1shilling a week, far and away the most responsible job I ever had because I was a tyre fitter and if I didn't get my job right peoples lives were at stake, and early retirement, my average earnings as a clergyman and as director of a charity were consistently below the national average for earnings per capita.

At the same time we had to play our part as economically active citizens, bring up our family and pay our taxes. So two months in Genoa seem scant reward for the twelve hour days, the camping holidays and years of budgeting and the sleepless nights wondering how to fit in the remaining days of the month after the money had gone.

It also should be noted that part of my selfishness is a concern for my grandchildren and their future well being.

I refuse to believe, and having read both their books, haven't changed my mind, that the fiscal crisis was the responsiblity of either Labour Leaders or their policies, which always seemed to me in terms of youth employment, Academies and welfare were right on the money.

I also don't believe that the coalition Governments policies are necessary or inevitable. The fact is that we know who ate the pies, who pocketed the bonuses and who made personally favourable tax arrangements.

It is interesting to read the bitter comments posted on the internet about the ommission of  Brown and Blair from the guest list for last Fridays wedding.

So if I am allowed to keep my vote, I hereby promise my Grandchildren to continue to vote in the interests of them and their generation, to use my vote wisely in seeking a fair future not only for this country but for the wider Europe of which we are a part and which now that i am retired I can now discover more about.

It is still a compliment to describe someone as having an old head on young shoulders, so I can't see why it is so wrong to have an old head on old shoulders, wisdom comes in all shapes and forms and what is crucial is that we continue to cast our votes wisely in order to seek a better future for the next generation, a future in which there is shared prosperity, clean air, clean water and satisfying work for all.

I still shave my head, I still have a moustache, although in Genova I tend to wear dark Ray Ban shades with prescription lenses, so hopefully I look reasonably cool and less of an old git with a postal vote.