Not with a bang but with a whimper

No run for a couple of days due to a badly timed head cold. The British news is still full of reviews and predictions and, today, reports of that ludicrous & outdated institution by which the UK government continues to award knighthoods and membership of the British empire* (no, it’s true) to people they deem worthy (ref). Personally, I’d rather get a book token. One of the more incisive summaries of the past year seemed to be that by Polly Toynbee, writing in the Guardian (ref), achieving an impressive Force 9 on the Anti-Cameron Scale.

*That’s the empire which, at its peak, screwed and subjugated one fifth of the world's population, and now consists of a few rocky outcrops in the southern hemisphere.

Predictions for next year

Two more good woodland runs in the last 3 days, cold and wet respectively, as the year draws to a dreary end.

On a not especially brighter note, here are some of my predictions for what will be big in 2012:

• Further financial recession (but maybe less materialism ?)
• but more right-wing extremism (as the going gets tough, liberalism gets flabby).
• US presidency (nail-biting choice between the disappointing and the appalling).
• UK republican movement - (have you seen that barge ? ).
• Scottish independence (ref) (but Alex, lose some weight – we need you healthy).
• Global warming & climate change (it’s only going to get worse).
• More self-destructive squabbling within the UK coalition government, & dithering by Labour, creating opportunities for the Greens as well as the SNP.

Xmas message

Two good runs and a sand-blasting beach walk over the last 3 days.

Today we listened to the Queen’s annual message to her loyal subjects. Clearly written by government spin doctors, it was notable for three distinct pieces of propaganda. The first was a brief eulogy about the allegedly happy and mutually supportive family which is the crumbling remnants of the British empire – probably in anticipation of some posturing about Malvinas oil reserves off the coast of Argentina. Second was stressing the benefits of sport. She seemed mainly to be referring to polo and the recreational slaughter of animals, but the sub-text was unmistakable, at a time when her loyal subjects are about to host the hugely expensive Olympics in the teeth of a double-dip recession.  And finally, echoing some recent waffling by David Cameron about Britain being a Christian country, she was bigging up the role of forgiveness in modern life. Cameron was obviously trying to appease some of his red-neck supporters, but the Queen's motive was less clear although, when that message comes from such a privileged and socially-insulated mouth, Marx’s opium of the masses springs immediately to mind.

Yule break

Back to the city, and a chilly woodland run.

The UK media is mainly full of Christmas nonsense and reviews of the year, so my news analyst takes the opportunity for a rest to recharge his laser-like forensic faculties, leaving only a skeleton staff for the vital running reports.

Business as usual

A mild, breezy & damp morning for a brisk & early loch-side run. My first geography teacher used the memorable phrase "warm, wet, westerly, winds in winter" to characterise the UK climate, which in that respect hasn't yet changed, 45 years later.

Reassuringly, whilst cutting the subsidy for photovoltaic panels (per se a sensible move), the UK government have done it in a way which is both incompetent and illegal (ref). Reassuring, that is, for the rapid restoration of normality. What’s more, their own advisors are advising them that their “flagship” programme to improve the energy efficiency of 14 million homes is just so much piss & wind. I’m sorry, I’ll retype that….. is going to fail and only reach 2-3 million homes (ref). Which probably isn’t of huge interest to people outwith the UK, except perhaps as yet another instance of the failure of the so-called democratic process to deliver honest and effective governance, particularly when there is very little fundamental difference between the political parties.

Merry Beltane & a peaceful new year

A damp, dark, and murky run today, with a stoic audience of sheep grazing on the loch shore.

Here in the northern hemisphere the winter solstice occurred this morning at 05.30 GMT/UTC  (ref), so now the real new year begins, the days start getting longer again, and there actually is something to celebrate amongst all the bollox.

Trial & error

Another hazardously icy morning, so coffee in bed instead of a run, for safety reasons. Life is tough sometimes.

On the whole in this blog I’ve tried to avoid discussing the internal affairs of other countries unless they impinge on the wider global community. The trial of Bradley Manning seems to fall into that second category because the US is so universally generous with its hegemony. 

Regardless of whether passing the information to WikiLeaks was morally justifiable or not, if the reports from Manning's trial are true, then he was evidentially unsuitable for having access to that confidential material, and the fault lies with his inadequate supervisor, who didn’t notice or act on that evidence.  To make Manning himself the scapegoat for a failed system would be a shameful travesty of justice - but, sadly, that's unlikely to affect the outcome. 

Seasonal cheer

Yesterday was a stunningly beautiful morning for a loch side run, but today was too slippery. 

Talking of which,  being in agreement with anything this UK government does is a very disorientating experience, but life is full of surprises. Until recently they (ie the UK tax payer) have been subsidising the installation of expensive photovoltaic panels to the extent that installers would effectively receive a 10% return on their capital investment, regardless of whether they use their volts efficiently, or whether they use the subsidy to fund their gas-guzzling 4x4. Last week the subsidy was cut by half, amid howls of outrage from much of the green community and, more crucially, from the prosperous carpet baggers who thought they had found a way to get a load of cash and some eco brownie-points at the same time. Which just goes to show that, if you wait long enough, even Conservatives will eventually stumble onto a good outcome.

Yo ho ho

A delightful run this morning along the frosty loch-side, with snow gleaming on the hills opposite.

Last night I watched a thought provoking documentary about making orchestral instruments almost entirely from scrap materials. Thought provoking not so much because of the obvious ingenuity that the instrument makers employed (and they were very ingenious) but more because re-use of scrap materials is such a novelty in our decadent and wasteful culture that it warrants a 90 minute television documentary. We should be ashamed. 

Board game from Tanzania

Warning - contains plot spoiler

A quick woodland run before heading back up to the Highlands.

Last night we watched the final episode of the BBC’s excellent series Frozen Planet- that's the episode that several countries have declined to purchase, mentioning no names, but the US & Canada know who I mean. This was also the episode which showed, with beautiful clarity, the accelerating consequences of global warming in the Arctic and Antarctic. As more ice melts, so more heat is absorbed, so more ice melts – and all the while sea levels rise. And climates change. And more droughts occur. And more people starve.

Bad Canada

A blustery run through very soggy woods.

Under the Kyoto protocol, Canada should have cut its carbon emissions by 6% by 2012. Instead, their emissions have risen by a third and, to avoid a financial penalty, they have withdrawn from the protocol – the first country so to do, significantly undermining global efforts to slow climate change (ref). To put their emissions into context, they rank 7^th out of 216 in total per country, and 15^th in total per capita, and 1^st equal in selfishness.

By jingo !

A blustery woodland run as gales return to the UK.

One notable feature of the wider troubles in the EU is the resurgence of jingoistic nationalism, as old grievances emerge from the woodwork, both in the media and in popular opinion. And not just in Britain. One of my special correspondents has just returned from the Netherlands and Germany, where the same tendency is also evident. This return to a 19^th century politic of strutting and blaming, combined with the growing pockets of right-wing extremism in many European countries (ref), is a worrying and toxic combination. 

Through a glass half full

A fine pre-dawn run through the moonlit woods, then back to the dispiriting prospect of endless media coverage of David Cameron whoring after another champion of democracy, the King of Bahrain (ref), and then posturing in front of his euro-sceptic cronies in parliament. There is plenty to be sceptical about with regard to the European Union, but these braying xenophobic yahoos* protecting their overpaid speculator chums in the City give scepticism a bad name. On the other hand, looking on the bright side, Scotland suddenly seems even closer to Scandinavia.

*Editor's note: that's a reference to the unpleasant creatures encountered by Gulliver whilst travelling on a gap year, not to a search engine.

Just not good enough

A long muddy walk in place of a run today.

In Durban the climate conference has ended, with similar last-minute excitement to the EU conference in Brussels. However, because David Cameron wasn't there, agreement was eventually reached, to extend the Kyoto protocol, and to spend the next 9 years talking about a new, more comprehensive, protocol. Johannes Beck, writing from Durban for Deutsche Welle, summarises the outcome as good, but nowhere good enough to make a difference, especially given the spectacular lack of commitment by some of the biggest polluters: USA, India, China, & Russia, as well as the equally spectacular arrogance of Canada & New Zealand (ref).

Inglourious basterd

A damp and chilly run through the woods

The news is inevitably still full of discussion about Cameron, Britain and the EU. Some of the more convincing comments suggest that the outcome was mainly due to Cameron’s personal weakness, lack of political skill and  failure to secure any European allies (ref 1, ref 2). Yesterday evening, with all the media attention on Brussels, he also took the opportunity for a sly release of information about his direct involvement with the unlovely Rupert Murdoch (ref).
Memo to Alex Salmond: today would be a very good day for the referendum about making Scotland wholly independent. 

Storm damage

A calm morning and a brisk run through the gale-damaged woods.

Disconcertingly, the left-leaning Guardian and right-leaning Daily Telegraph carry almost identical headlines today, about Prime Minister Cameron having placed Britain in a very isolated and vulnerable position in the midst of the euro-storm. To be fair, der Spiegel says something similar about Chancellor Merkel, although without the vulnerability part.

Meanwhile, another of my elite analysts has reported that, in Scotland, there are now more giant pandas (2)  than there are Conservative members of the UK Parliament (1), and suggested that the latter should also be conserved in a zoo as an endangered species. Personally, I would go for full extinction.

Pantomime season

No run yesterday or today, for reasons of travelling and tempest, respectively.

The latest news from the Durban Climate Summit pantomime is that India now seems to have taken on the role of arch-villain for being most uncompromising in placing economic growth as a higher priority than trying to stop global warming (ref). And, excitingly, next year’s UN climate summit will apparently be hosted in Qatar. That’s the Qatar which has easily the highest carbon emission level per person on the entire planet, suggesting that the 2012 theatrical farce will be even more spectacular, and probably performed on ice.

Meanwhile, back at home

A brisk and chilly run this morning, with the frozen hills looking utterly beautiful in the clear light.

And a cautiously optimistic statement by the Scottish National Party, reported appropriately in the Independent (ref). They are suggesting that, in the event of a successful referendum for independence from the UK, Scotland would actively seek stronger ties with Scandinavia, to redress the more southerly bias which has prevailed since the Act of Union in 1707. That union has always been more of an arranged marriage than a love-match and, by looking north and eastwards the SNP are reflecting the greater geographic and ethnographic compatibilities between Scotland and, say, Norway. Bring it on !

Looking ahead

A beautiful run this morning in the early light along the snow-covered loch-side.

I may have mentioned that Barak Obama seems to have failed to live up to the admittedly somewhat unrealistic expectations that he carried as successor to GW Bush. One of the main worries has been that he would stumble after one term of office and unleash another Republican government, at a time when the world needs restraint and intelligence from the US. Much can change in the months leading up to next year's election, but for now at least there is some comfort to be found in der Spiegel, which has a damning assessment of the main Republican presidential contenders. Comforting, that is, if the majority of US voters feel the same way. 

The opposite of Green is......Red ? Blue ?

A delayed-run morning, for reasons of heavy sleet.

Josh Garman of Greenpeace has written an excellent summary of the three main sticking points at the Durban summit – Kyoto, the Green Climate Fund, and signing of the next agreement. Progress on all three issues is being blocked, most spectacularly and influentially by the Obama administration, despite his green rhetoric. They have until December 9^th to avoid another fiasco.

Meanwhile, back in the UK, “Snake Oil” Cameron, who also wooed the voters with promises of the greenest government ever, is accused of leading the coalition on a path to becoming the most environmentally destructive government to hold power in this country since the modern environmental movement was born (ref). Actually, that’s not quite true. He is accused of being led down that path by the odious George Osborne, which is probably worse.

Durban Summit List of Shame: Day 5

• Canada - again !!! - for mocking the response to their performance in Durban. What is it with Canada ? They used to be so nice & polite. Can a whole country be stolen by the fairies & replaced with a grotesque simalcrum ?
• Brazil, Turkey and New Zealand also featured (ref).

Gloomy Saturday

A brisk & chilly run by the loch and then a full day so only now the chance to trawl the news. And what news ! Where does one start ? The Durban Climate Change Summit is grinding to a halt because the rich nations can't be arsed with the troubles faced by anywhere that's not a prospective trading partner (ref). Bellicose posturing by vote-hungry governments of US & Iran seems to be bringing yet another unwinnable war closer by the day (ref). And so on and so on. One small glimmer of hope is the UK Labour Party's shadow business secretary, Chuka Umunna (ref), who seems to be intelligent, calm, and principled. He's also been referred to as a British Barak Obama, but we can only hope that he will be less of a disappointment.

George Osborne is a secret Trotskyist ?

Another chilly run along the saturated loch-side, in between the showers of sleet.

Talking of showers of sleet, two days ago George Osborne, denizen of the British aristocracy, heir to a wallpaper fortune, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and senior prefect to young David Cameron (ref), made his Autumn Statement about the UK’s financial position. According to the Institute of Fiscal Studies, this statement can be summarised as: the poor will become poorer and the rich richer whilst Osborne is at the wheel (ref). Finding something positive in such a scenario is quite a challenge but, if he outrages enough people, maybe he will single-handedly revive Socialism as a political force in the UK. On reflection, maybe he is really an agent provocateur planted by left-wing extremists to discredit the Conservatives. Don’t tell anyone – we don’t want to blow his cover.

Durban Summit List of Shame: Day 3

• Poland: for promoting coal in preference to cleaner fuels.
• Canada (yet again !!!): for denying that that those who did the most to cause this problem should act first and fastest to clean up the mess they made.

Between the devil and the deep blue sea

A cold, wet run beside the loch this morning, as the snow line creeps down from the hilltops.

The UK news is dominated by today’s national strike by an estimated 2 million public sector workers over planned changes to pensions. Whilst few people could dispute the need for some change, the proposals include what is in effect a pay reduction, which will have a serious impact on the many workers in the sector already receiving low levels of pay. Our affluent and privileged government leaders seem to relish the prospect of the strike as a distraction from their vicious and clumsy handling of the economic crisis and, more crucially, as justification for further dismantling of the nation’s public services. Polly Toynbee provides an excellent and succinct summary in today's Guardian (ref).

Durban Summit List of Shame: Day 2

• Canada (again): for procrastinating.
• USA: for trying to use smoke & mirrors to conceal its own culpability.

It's come to this !

After a night of incessant and loud rain on the cold tin roof,  today is deemed a no-run day.

Meanwhile, as the world cracks and crumbles, and as a billion people face starvation, we have reached a new landmark in our 200,000 year evolution – the world’s first urine controlled games console and advertising space for men (ref). Someone has apparently calculated that the average man spends 9 months of his life standing in front of a urinal, staring fixedly at the wall in front of him. As a fairly average man I would dispute the 9 months bit, but what do I know ? Anyway, this hitherto unproductive time has been targeted for advertising purposes and, to engage the man’s attention, he is invited to direct the stream of urine as a “joystick” to interact with the “gaming console” as he pees. Ye gods !

Durban Summit List of Shame: Day 1

• Canada: for formally withdrawing from Kyoto protocol, and for proposing to play "hardball" with developing countries.
• UK: for the "greenest government ever" lobbying the EU to reduce restrictions on oil from Canadian tar sands.

(Ref)

Job vacancy

A good blustery run through the woods before returning to the Highlands.

In Spiegel Online last week, veteran philosopher Jürgen Habermas spoke of his anger at our politicians who have long been incapable of aspiring to anything whatsoever other than being re-elected. They have no political substance whatsoever, no conviction (ref). These same politicians are now simultaneously meddling with two of the consequences of decades of short-sighted selfishness - financial insecurity in an unsustainable capitalist culture, and escalating carbon emissions in a warming climate. So much for democracy. Does anyone know a really smart and benign dictator ?

Freedom and responsibility

Briefly back to the gale-swept city, and an invigorating run through the muddy woods.

Last night we watched a short debate about the Leveson Inquiry into the role and behaviour of the UK press (ref). Much of the UK press seems for a long time to have been internationally famous for its invasive prurience and obsession with class, privilege, & celebrity. And now for its illegal methods of procuring, or inventing, information. The consensus of the debate was that the law should be firmly upheld with regard to those illegal methods, but that trying to legislate against being obsessed with the private lives of celebrities and victims is neither feasible nor desirable. The solution lies with us, the UK public. After all, the media reflect their audience, and for as long as there is a demand for this loathsome tittle tattle in place of actual news, then so will there be a supply.

We're the 1% too.

A chilly morning, with snow on the hill tops, and a fast run by the loch during a brief break in the rain.

Next Monday the international conference on climate change opens in Durban, and promises to be quite lively. Climate change, when manifested in rising sea levels and droughts, has a particular impact on poorer countries in Asia, Africa & South America – ie those countries that don’t count for much in a world driven by corporate trading. In a predictable but shameful pre-emptive move last week (ref) most of the world’s wealthier countries have agreed to delay any binding treaties on the reduction of carbon emissions until at least 2020, despite the potentially disastrous environmental consequences, in order to protect their economic “recovery”. Outraged by this lack of urgency, the poorer countries are contemplating taking direct action along the lines of Occupy Wall Street (ref), and quite right too.

Something positive

A pre-dawn loch-side run in a partially successful race against incoming rain.

The “debate” about human contribution to global warming, reduction of energy consumption, and sustainable  energy sources is rife with corporate vested interests, prejudice, mis-information, and inconsistency. So, nothing new there then. However, in a sincere and generous attempt to clarify at least the issues regarding sustainable energy, David MacKay, Professor of Natural Philosophy at Cambridge University, has written, and made available online, an excellent and wide-ranging analysis, Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air. Whilst his data is mainly focussed on the UK, many of the conclusions appear to be more widely applicable, and should make interesting reading for anyone who cares about the future of the planet.

Health matters

Back to the Highlands again for a very wet loch-side run. In fact we might as well have been running in the loch, rather than beside it.

The National Health Service in the UK was established in 1948 to deliver health care to all, funded by taxation, rather than paid for at the point of use. In other words delivered according to need, and paid for according to means. This was a remarkable achievement of fairness, good sense and practical socialism. Inevitably, with the shifting political culture of the last 25 years, this service has been steadily privatised and eroded, covertly and overtly, in the name of “efficiency savings”, to the point where the current government are presiding over a service which is so efficient it is deemed to be breaching the human rights of elderly people being cared for (ref).

Ironically, 1948 was also the year in which George Orwell wrote his brilliant dystopian novel 1984. The recent bizarre introduction of a continuous video loop of Health Secretary Lansley asking patients to thank their nursing staff for their care (unless they pay £5 to turn it off) would have fitted seamlessly into Orwell’s vision (ref).

To be fair, many aspects of the NHS remain excellent, despite the predations of financial managers and market-driven politicians, but the prognosis is not good. 

A tiger ate my husband

Another brisk pre-dawn run through the murky woods.

There is almost certainly nothing new about the salacious, carrion-seeking tendency of the media in the UK, as they pursue gobbets of extreme feeling, of the how upset were you when the tiger ate your husband ? variety, as a substitute for actual news.  What is relatively new is the endless repetition, throughout the day and even, for people with particularly short concentration spans, within each bulletin. When the story is actually about the impact of media intrusion into private matters, such as News International’s phone hacking (ref), the outcome can escalate beyond the ironic into the surreal, but not in a good way.

Brief reflections

A brisk run through the dark woods, partly reflecting on my diminishing speed and competitiveness, compared to a few years ago, and partly on the weekend’s rather more important events in Tahrir Square.

The courage and resilience of the revolutionaries in Egypt and Syria, as well as that of individuals such as Aung San Suu Kyi seems genuinely humbling and inspiring. They also provide a stark reminder of how pampered, selfish and decadent so many of us have become in the last few decades.

Party games

A fine & muddy woodland run. There is great joy to be had in splashing through puddles.

In Britain there is a children’s party game called Pass the Parcel, in which a parcel is handed from one child to another, with a layer of wrapping being removed by each child. Western governments seem to be engaged in a variation called Pass the Blame Parcel with regard to their financial difficulties. In this game the parcel is transferred from the Lehman brothers to the wider US financial markets to the European banks, to the Euro, to Iceland, Spain, Greece, Germany, Britain, China, etc etc. All the while it seems that the real issue is being overlooked – that, by aggressive policies of privatisation, successive governments have acceded the real power to market-driven corporations who represent their shareholders, not the electorate. In the space of about 25 years, Western democracy has become a farce, with even more politicians reduced to the level of ventriloquist’s dummies.  Which is precisely why the Occupy protests are so important and mustn’t be allowed to evaporate.

PS The UK faction of Blame Game is nicely described in today's Observer (ref).

Peace in our time

A damp but enjoyable run through the woods this morning.

Someone has been arrested after an amateurish attempt to shoot Barak Obama. Whilst Obama has certainly been a big disappointment, that’s maybe taking criticism a bit too far. However, as recipient of a rather premature Nobel Peace Prize, he may like to reflect on the futile war in Afghanistan having so far cost the US $460 billion (ref), whilst  some 2.5 million Afghanis are currently facing serious food shortage as a result of drought, failed crops and, critically, unaffordable food prices (ref). 

Oh BBC, what are you doing ?

A good early woodland run in the dawn moonlight.

To continue the chilly theme, the lack of economic growth is giving many Western governments and their corporate puppet masters the opportunity to let global warming become a lesser priority. And it’s not just governments. The BBC is currently broadcasting an excellent series of documentary programmes, Frozen Planet, about life in the Arctic & Antarctic. The series is due to culminate with an episode about the human contribution to climate change but, in a shameless piece of unprincipled profiteering worthy of David “Snake Oil” Cameron, the BBC has apparently been selling the series to other countries with that last episode as an optional extra, in order to improve sales (ref). Which, as Greenpeace said, would be rather like screening a film about the Titanic but missing out the bit with the iceberg.

Keeping warm in winter

A fine loch-side run yesterday morning and this morning, back in the city, a good frosty run through the woods.

The Occupy movement is reaching a challenging time. Sixty days after occupying Zuccotti Park in New York, the protestors have now been banned from erecting tents or staying over night. In London, similar legal proceedings have been restarted. The challenge will be to keep the focus of the protest on capitalist greed and the global wealth gap, rather than letting it shift to a debate about camping. A quick scan of today’s headlines suggests there is no shortage of fuel to keep the anger burning:

Guardian: vulture funds

Spiegel Online: speculators bet against Spain, Belgium & France

Independent: Cameron trying to block financial transaction tax 

21st century imperialism

Briefly back in the Highlands, and a beautiful dawn run along the loch-side.

Less beautifully, the leading story in this morning’s Independent is a shocking report of big Western pharmaceutical companies ( AstraZeneca, Pfizer, and Merck) carrying out their drug tests on people in countries such as China, Thailand, Indonesia and, particularly, India, where safety regulations and ethical restrictions are much less onerous than in the West, and the profit margins therefore much greater. In India alone, since 2005, over 150,000 people have been involved in some 1,600 clinical trials, often without those people understanding what they have signed up for. Exploitative, neo-colonial, capitalism doesn’t  get much more blatant & shameless than this.

Doublespeak 2

Re-reading yesterday's post, its conclusion now seems pompous bollox, and that the BBC's warning was just a ludicrous example of British prudishness after all.

Doublespeak

Back in the city, with a fine clear morning and a good run through the woods.

Last night we watched the movie The Name of the Rose on the BBC. For anyone unfamiliar with it, this is a complex story set in a 14^th century Italian abbey, featuring graphic portrayals of violent murder, torture, insanity, depravity, sadism, burning at the stake and religious zealotry. And a brief interlude of very poignant love making between two young people. The BBC felt it necessary to warn parents of young children about this last interlude, but not about the other activities which are apparently legitimate entertainment. Now, obviously, this could be written off as just another instance of British prudishness about sexual matters but, looking around at current world conflicts, somehow it seems to have a wider significance as a metaphor for moral inconsistency.

Small is still beautiful

A fine breezy morning and a brisk run by the loch.

Perhaps it was just me, but the 1970s seemed a decade of contradictory ideas, with style vying with substance in a confusing tangle. As a student of architecture this was made manifest in a curriculum which tried to combine the grandiose, the mechanistic, the mass-produced, and the modest & hand-knitted, in an incoherent stew with occasional highlights of excellence, such as E F Schumacher’s prophetic book.

Thirty five years later, the Occupy protests are re-setting the agenda of challenging global and corporate capitalism in all its de-humanising forms, and it is good to see the book in the spotlight again (ref). Maybe this time more people will listen. 

Bastards and whores

A cool grey morning but a fast and heated run. One of the penalties of following the news on a regular basis is the number of times there is reason to be depressed or angry, and today is angry’s turn.

For several years, despite an otherwise bellicose foreign policy, the UK has been active in supporting a global ban of cluster bombs. Until, that is, the current government under the leadership of the Right Honourable David Cameron who, in a characteristically shameful lickspittle u-turn, is now supporting the inexplicable US bid to allow them, so long as they were manufactured in the last 30 years (ref). The age of the bombs which indiscriminately kill & maim civilians on an industrial scale being, apparently, key to their humanitarian qualities and overall acceptability. Why, Obama, why ?

And that’s not all. Within  2 weeks of Muammar Gaddafi  being tortured and executed, that same honourable UK government is already planning to renew weapon sales to Libya – not so much to show support for a democratic and peaceful new regime in its precarious and volatile early stages, but more in the indecent rush to get their money back after the vainglorious and expensive bombing campaign (ref). 

Thank you Lord Sugar

A good early run along the still dark loch-side

In an oddly mesmerising reality TV series, Young Apprentice, the BBC are showing 12 of Britain’s allegedly “brightest and best young entrepreneurs” as they compete for the patronage of a rich lord. Yes, it is the 21^st century, but remember that parts of Britain are still locked into the Middle Ages. Anyway, at a time when the ethics of corporate business are finally being challenged, the sight of psychotically competitive 16 year olds being criticised because they only looked for a 100% profit margin when selling a bunch of hot-house flowers, instead of a possible 200%, seems comprehensively to sum up what is wrong with capitalism.

To believe the right wing press in the UK is to believe that the BBC is a cauldron of crypto-socialism, so possibly they are being deliberately subversive here, but more likely just cynically exploiting their audience’s appetite for watching people being nasty to each other.

The one percent

A frosty and beautiful run along the loch-side this morning, as the stars faded in the early light.

Yesterday the Guardian carried an excellent essay by George Monbiot in which he highlights the clinically psychopathic characteristics of senior managers and chief executives, and the feudal way in which they claim their rewards, reminiscent of medieval dukes. He also quotes Daniel Kahneman’s study of Wall Street fund managers, which found that their massively renumerated performance was “no better than that of a chimpanzee flipping a coin”. And meanwhile, over the last 30 years, the gap between the richest and poorest has been increasing, keeping pace with the ever-greater trashing of the planet in the name of economic growth. World leaders have failed spectacularly to make a difference, so maybe it's time to try the chimpanzees.

Destruction Incorporated

A clear calm morning and a good run along the loch-side, as a late skein of geese head for their winter haven.

Two inter-linked and very gloomy reports stand out from this morning’s papers. The first is that global CO2 rose by 6% last year, despite or perhaps because of the economic slump. The UK, with its self-proclaimed “greenest government ever”, bravely contributed to this with the first increase in emissions since 1996, lagging behind only Brazil and Saudi Arabia as the dirtiest G20 economy, but obviously nowhere near the two main villains, US & China.. The second is about an estimate that by the end of this century, 50% of all animal species will have been rendered extinct by our environmental carnage, as we accelerate towards what is only the sixth great extinction event in the history of the planet.  No doubt extinction-deniers will soon be as well resourced and orchestrated as climate change-deniers.

All relative

Again back to the Highlands, a fine cold morning and a welcome run along the forestry track. 

As the eyes of the West watch anxiously the operatic tribulations and dramas within the Eurozone, and as the global population passes 7 billion, the Independent is carrying a small report about daily life in Burkina Faso. In common with many sub-Saharan African countries, the population growth is outstripping their natural resources, forests are being decimated for use as fuel for cooking, and consequentially the land eroded and made even less productive, sketching out a future of famine, disease, and war. All of which is a timely reminder of the relativity of problems.

Alternative reality

A good fast woodland run yesterday and this morning.

On the radio Bob Diamond, CEO of Barclays Bank & allegedly the highest paid UK bank executive, was smoothly, confidently, & utterly predictably, reiterating the mantra that economic growth is good and is the way out of the current difficulties. What was more interesting though was his use of the term “compensation”. In my naïve way I have always thought of compensation as a payment to make amends following some kind of personal damage, whereas if you do a job you get paid for it or, if you are lucky, you receive a salary. However, on Planet Bank & Planet Big Business, apparently the top executives are compensated for doing their job (however badly, in most cases) with massive salary & bonus packages, which is a little ironic since it’s the rest of us who should be compensated for what they have been doing.

A poem instead

A fine fast run through the woods this morning and then back for a respite from the endless carousel of the news media. So, instead, a poem & a wee drawing:

Going without Saying

(i.m. Joe Flynn)

by Bernard O’Donoghue

It is a great pity we don’t know

When the dead are going to die

So that, over a companionable

Drink, we could tell them

How much we liked them.

Happy the man who, dying, can 

place his hand on his heart and say:

“At least I didn’t forget to tell

The thrush how beautifully she sings”

Thanks, Donald.

Ubuntu

A fine clear morning an a good long run through the woods.

To continue the theme of the protest camps, two clergymen on the radio this morning were highlighting that one of the essential differences between these protests and many others is the peaceful co-operativeness & respect with which they are being conducted. This is possibly the strongest message to all the cynics who are missing the point by scorning the lack of clear manifestos amongst the protesters. A link on the Occupy Glasgow Facebook page points to the African philosophy of Ubuntu, which has been translated as "I am what I am because of who we all are." (ref) and which articulates beautifully a long established alternative to  capitalism and greed predicated on the Western model of individualism and ego-centricity. 

Support your local protest !

A fine woodland run on Saturday immediately followed by a trip to Newcastle, and then this morning back in Glasgow for a run around a 19^th century park, which makes an excellent running track, complete with swans and ducks.

The anti-capitalism camps are reaching a difficult time in the UK, as they have done elsewhere. The patrician authorities, like indulgent parents finally running out of patience, are essentially saying “You’ve made your point. Now run along and let’s get back to normal before I lose my temper”. Admittedly, the effectiveness of a permanent camp as a means of maintaining public focus on the issues is questionable. Probably, regular demonstrations would be better, being less prone to being dismissed as the antics of a handful of under-employed camping enthusiasts. On reflection though, both would be better still !

The critical matter is that the protests continue. As a timely reminder of what they are about, not only have the salaries of the top 100 CEOs in UK risen by an unbelievable 50% in the last 12 months of austerity and job loss, but the Queen’s eldest son has now been shown to be protecting his £18m private annual income by influencing government legislation that might affect his business interests (ref).

Killer whales 1 Humans 0

Back to the city, and a good woodland run on a clear chilly morning.

Last night we watched an excellent documentary film about life in the even chillier Arctic & Antarctic. One of the most dramatic scenes was of a group of orca preying on seals in a very synchronised and intelligent way, almost to Olympic standards. The villainous and cruel orca were shown in contrast to the poor helpless seal with its big brown eyes and cute whiskers. Except that, before the orca arrived, the seal was sitting on an ice flow with blood on its own muzzle, clearly having recently preyed on some other hapless creature further down the food chain. And both deaths will have been relatively quick and painless compared to that of the millions of fish and crustaceans trawled from the sea in vast nets for human consumption, or indeed that of those prisoners of war abused and tortured to death by their captors.

Blank

After two hard days of roof-top weight lifting (don't ask), a gentle dawn run along the loch-side this morning. Maybe I'm weary or maybe the news is particularly grey and dull today, but nothing has leapt out demanding comment.

Murkier and murkier

A calm, dry, and beautiful morning for once, and a fine run along the forestry track.

As the hypocrisy continues regarding Gaddafi's death, one of my elite team of intelligence agents has highlighted  a convincing proposition (ref) that the NATO involvement was not so much to do with maintaining control of the oil fields and more with maintaining the supremacy of the dollar, pound, and french franc as the currencies of choice. Gaddafi had been actively promoting the gold dinar as a pan-African currency, which would have given African states much greater financial autonomy. Saddam Hussein had similar plans just before the farago of lies about weapons of mass destruction. At first this sounded like conspiracy-theory fantasising but googling "gold dinar & dollar" brings up a substantial amount of corroboration. 

All in the name of humanity

A windy morning and an exhilarating pre-dawn run.

After 6 months of NATO assistance, Colonel Gaddafi has finally been found and killed. Accounts of what actually happened are predictably contradictory and confusing. Much of the Western media are bravely managing to illustrate their censorious comments about his inhumane death with endless images of his corpse, so we can see repeatedly just how inhumane it was. And the US government has joined demands for further details of how he was killed, according to a report in the NYT. That’s the same US government that, having watched the summary execution of Osama bin Laden live on video, went on to issue contradictory and confusing accounts of what happened to him too (ref), so it's clearly a big issue for them.

I'm a Celebrity Climate Scientist - Get Me Out of Here

A postponed run this morning in the hope of a break in the rain. Aye right.

Conflicting reports today regarding global warming. The Guardian refers to a report published by Berkeley, looking at data for the last 200 years and concluding that yes, the planet really is warming up (ref). On the other hand, the Independent recently quoted a leading climate scientist as saying that the climate sceptics are still convincing the public despite the scientific evidence, as a result of powerful lobbying by the business-as-usual sector (ref).  

Scientific evidence has always had a rough ride, especially when it comes to uncomfortable truths. Admittedly, heretics are no longer burnt at the stake but, rationality-wise, we really don’t seem to have moved very far since the Spanish Inquisition. Except that, now, reality TV shows are very popular, which they weren’t in the 15^th century, so maybe therein lies the solution.

Beware conservatives bearing concessions

An exciting run this morning up the forestry track where the dogs & I encountered 10 red deer - either rutting or demonstrating against corporate greed.

In the Independent this morning the editor is comparing the spreading protests to the revolutionary movement in Europe in 1848 - a movement which did manage to achieve some permanent changes for the better, but which overall has been regarded as a failure. His final point is probably his most cogent - that to create real change takes both clarity of purpose and endurance. And that must surely include enduring establishment obfuscation and compromise as well as enduring outright opposition and hostility. Even conservatives are now conceding that there might be some justification to what is happening, which could be seen as a vital breakthrough by common sense, or as a potential kiss of death to radicalism.

Never mind the evidence

A brisky dawn run along the chilly loch-side at last.

In the last couple of days of admittedly Noah-style rainfall I have chatted politely with two respectable ladies who calmly denied the existence of evolution because it’s not in the Bible, and  I’ve also been accused of being wicked in a Daily Telegraph comment forum. The latter narrative was even harder to follow than that of the two ladies, but I think it because I suggested that there is justification in the global protest against corporate greed. Maybe the Enlightenment was just a dream, and we are still in the Middle Ages after all.

Capitalists - look away now

Back in the Highlands, and another night of loud rain & hail on the tin roof, so today has been designated a no-run day for reasons of energy conservation.

Meanwhile, the global protests against corporate greed and the consequential “austerity measures” seem to be spreading with encouraging speed and vigour, although the media coverage seems interestingly muted. A high proportion of what comment there is seems to be focussed on the apparent lack of clear goals, action plans, strategy documents & mission statements amongst the protesters. On the whole this is probably a good thing, because the more firmly rooted the protests can become before they are taken seriously by the 1%, the greater the chances of real change. The Trojans had a similar action plan with their wooden horse. 

Happy day

A good long run this morning through the autumn woods.

And the most cheering news headlines for a long time: Protests against corporate greed and government cutbacks have been held in cities around the world.

Having made the mistake of googling the Bullingdon Club (try it, if you have a strong stomach...) and been haunted by images of the supercilious bastards at the heart of the UK government, this is a real antidote ! 

Not a good time to become old

A murky morning and a slightly slow run - possibly because I'm a year older than I was 2 days ago.

The UK news this morning is dominated by a shocking and depressing report which highlights the poor quality of care for elderly people in many state-run hospitals (ref). The fundamental cause seems to be a combination of under-funding which leads to the employment of too many under-qualified, under-trained healthcare assistants, and a management regime which is simply too remote from caring for people. No doubt Cameron’s government will use this as further justification for dismantling and privatising the National Health Service, although there are many indications that standards of care in much of the profit-driven private sector are even worse.

The shy & retiring BP are at it again

A very wet and brisk run this morning, as the poor weather in Scotland continues. Not that the weather is stopping BP from preparing to drill a 1,290m deep oil well off the stormy coast of Shetland. Apparently this time their disaster-contingency plan allows for a record-breaking leak of 75,000 barrels of oil per day for 140 days – twice that which they managed to spill last year at the Deepwater Horizon well (ref).

BP allegedly held a public consultation about the project, although their definition of “public” seems to be such that there has not been a single response. Perhaps nobody in Scotland cares about potential damage to one of the most sensitive parts of its coastline or, just maybe, BP didn't try very hard to tell people about it. Let’s  hope that their safety team is more effective than their consultation team !

Meanwhile, down in the forest....

Back to the city again, and a fast dawn run through the rain-soaked woods.

The Independent yesterday carried a revealing piece about deforestation. The carbon emissions from just one day of rainforest clearance is equivalent to 8 million people flying from London to New York (ref). Now, 60% of rainforest clearance is for agriculture – mainly due to “shifting cultivators”, which is a euphemism for people driven off their land by the international agri-business of producing coffee, sugar, and cattle for the rich, developed nations (ref).These displaced people need to clear the forest to grow food to survive, while we worry about the loss of rainforest over a coffee & Danish and conveniently forget about the deforestation of Europe which allowed us to get rich in the first place.

Rooting for change

Another wet morning and, in a brief struggle between duvet & damp running gear, the duvet won.

After 3 weeks the Occupy Wall Street protests are continuing, and spreading, in the US. Not in huge numbers, and still heavily policed, they seem to be successfully tapping in to widespread dissatisfaction with the direction in which US society is being steered (ref).

Meanwhile in Europe, a group of 150 anti-capitalist Indignants have marched to Brussels from Spain, France and the Netherlands to set up an alternative parliament during the forthcoming EU summit on the debt crisis (ref). And in London 2,000 people gather to protest against the UK government's attacks on the National Health Service (ref).

Maybe it's too optimistic but, if anything is ever going to change for the better in this world driven by global capitalism, it will probably start with exactly this type of protest, quietly taking root and spreading - preferably without violence, so it can't be demonised as "terrorism". Of course we've been here before, but that was before the internet, and when all the movers & shakers were too stoned to follow it through !

Face to face

Another damp grey morning and an inwards looking run, although the drizzle did have a certain silvery beauty.

In an interesting analysis of the media reaction to the recently acquitted Amanda Knox, the Guardian refers to the illusion of asymmetric insight. Proposed by a Princeton psychologist, Emily Pronin, this suggests that, when you meet someone, you will always be more conscious of your thoughts and their face than they are, leading to a misleading assumption that whilst your own thoughts are complex & subtle, theirs can be easily read from their facial expression.
Probably not the most world-changing news item today but nevertheless a potentially useful reference point in our increasingly twittery, socially networky world of superficial intimacy. And a very pleasingly neat parcel of a theory.

Hit & myth

Another cool grey morning, and a fast run along the loch-side, trying to avoid the showers.

The death of Steve Jobs has been followed by what seems to have been unprecedented coverage in the media, as well as by elegiac statements by heads of government. We might have been witnessing the passing of a global statesman or spiritual leader, rather than a talented and successful business executive. And of course spiritual leader is what he was, in the religion of stylish and profoundly addictive consumerism. An analysis on the BBC makes the point that by buying an Apple product one is buying into the myth of boundary-shifting creativity, in much the same way as touching the garment of a religious leader brings additional sanctity. By owning an i-product one is a step closer to writing the novel or making the hit recording, so the myth has it, just as the medieval Catholic church promised its followers a place in heaven. Myth-making made the Vatican obscenely rich, as they promised salvation to the poor. And the Apple myth-making has been so successful that, this year, the corporation had more cash than the US government. 

Close your eyes and think of the money

A recent combination of other activities and unfeasibly bad weather has interrupted the smooth rhythm of running & blogging. Today, as the rain batters loudly on the tin roof, is a blog-but-no-run day.

Bahrain has an appalling human rights record (ref), the latest manifestation of which has been the lengthy jail sentences imposed on medical staff who treated people injured during the brutal suppression of protesters earlier this year. Even the Bahraini government has been embarrassed by this, and has ordered a re-trial (ref). Meanwhile it is unsurprising that the UK government, currently intent on diluting its own human rights legislation, is whoring after the Bahraini oil wealth with undiminished enthusiasm. Last month Bahrainis came to yet another London arms fair; this month they are coming to a Bahrain/UK sales conference. Next month King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah will take over George Osborne’s second home*. I made the last one up, but it's only a matter of time.
*That's the second home in London that Osborne lied about to avoid paying tax (ref).

Bring it on

No run today for energy-conservation reasons, but an invigoratingly blustery day.

There's been an interestingly underwhelming media response to the Occupy Wall Street protests in the US, as various groups take Arab Spring-inspired action to protest against corporate greed, and over 1,000 protesters have already been arrested. 

The US, like the UK, often seems to exist in a spectacularly complacent bubble and, whilst sadly unlikely to escalate to regime change, any such signs of dissent are to be warmly welcomed.

Winter of discontent

A fast run by a rather misty and autumnal loch.

As Britain prepares for another long cold winter, and as fuel costs continue to rise, Cameron’s government demonstrates again its grasp of social need by cutting the winter fuel allowance. The WFA is something of an anachronism, like many of the benefits for older people in the UK, because it is awarded (and cut) regardless of individual need for it. There seems to be an unwillingness to means-test people – maybe because such intimate questioning is just too un-British. All old people receive state benefits whether they are rich or poor. Probably even the Queen is entitled to free bus travel. As a predictable result there isn’t enough money to go round so the allowances have to be cut even for the people that actually rely on them to keep warm.

Hasty post

Two fine runs along the lochside over the last 2 days, but no time to digest the news. However it does seem that George W. Obama is overstepping the mark in his personal war on terror, regardless of whether his actions stem from a deeply held belief in the legitimacy of bombing individuals in foreign countries, or from a more cynical need to defeat the Republicans next year.

Letting go

A moist morning and a brisk run to the river before returning to the Highlands later today.

The news seems particularly dreary this morning and letting it wash away seems the only sensible option. Non-attachment is one of the central tenets of Buddhism, aiming to de-tach and step back from the combination of desire and hatred that causes so much human suffering. Good, and bad, things – behaviours, situations, objects – can and should be recognised for what they are, and should be encouraged or discouraged appropriately, but at the same time their (and our) transience should also be recognised. In these turbulent and interesting times, even for us non-Buddhists, such an approach offers a rare hope of contentment and serenity.

Great Britain ?

Another fine run. Early Sunday morning has always been a good time to enjoy the fabric of a city.

Last week the Guardian had a series of thoughtful interviews with Scottish writers on the topic of Scottish independence (ref). Today the Independent is carrying an eye-catching article about Prime Minister Cameron and his acolytes preparing to do battle with the Scottish National Party (ref).

Three hundred years ago Scotland lost its independence in a shameful process which had more to do with bribery than democracy. Now we finally have a democratically elected pro-independence government in Scotland, and it is a wee bit inconsistent of Cameron, so strident about the value of democracy in the Middle East and anywhere else with trade potential, to oppose its outcome on his own doorstep.

A short history of economics and religion

Another good run down to the river, with  dawn breaking over the city. Glasgow is a beautiful city, albeit one built on the profits of slave-fuelled cotton, tobacco, and sugar trading in the 18^th & 19^th centuries.

Slavery and colonisation has been with us at least since the Egyptians of 4000BC, as dominant societies have vied with each other to live beyond their means. Even now, despite being universally illegal, there are apparently an estimated 12-25 million people being forcibly exploited – ie in slavery (ref). Overt colonisation is being replaced by globalised free trading, but the model is still based on the insane myth that we all should aspire to economic growth.

Throughout history the message of many religions has often been “never mind your miserable life here & now – help the church and you will be rewarded in heaven”. Now, with consumerism as a prevailing religion, the message seems to be changing to “never mind what misery you are causing elsewhere – buy into the myth and you will be rewarded with an i-pad”.

Goodbye to all that

Another early run down to the river, whilst the roads are still quiet and the air still fresh(ish) even in the heart of the city.

One of the enduring principles of Hegelian and Marxist political theories has been the dialectic model of social progress. Society comprises innate contradictions and gradual changes, leading to crises & failures through which one side or another then dominates, and the whole advances (or recedes) in a helical pattern.

In an outstandingly good collection of short essays on the BBC today, several people seek to answer the question of whether Western capitalism is now failing in the same way that communism collapsed 20 years ago. Tellingly, the economist and banking contributors say  "oh no it isn't", but two, Chandran Nair, founder of Global Institute for Tomorrow and Tim Jackson, Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey (and the clue is in the job titles) are rather more convincingly saying "oh yes it is".

Ecological Debt Day

Back to the city again, dog-less, so an urban run for a change this morning, with the highlight of meeting a fox by the River Clyde, picking over the trash amongst all the apartment blocks and car parks.

The notion of humanity consuming at an unsustainable rate is not new. Today, the Independent is quoting a report from the Global Footprint Network which places the start of our over-spending of planetary resources at some time in the 1970s, although Wikipedia is more precise with 1986. Measured from January 1st each year, the day when we overshoot our annual ecological budget, (dubbed, logically, Earth Overshoot Day or Ecological Debt Day) has generally been moving forward, from December 19th in 1987 to August 21st in 2010. Counter-intuitively, this year's date has been calculated as September 27th, which probably has more to do with the big consumers having less money than a recognition of our need to consume less, but if that's what it takes, bring on the recession !

Us and Them - again

A showery morning, and the usual running route is occupied by frisky Highland cattle, so we continue up the loch-side, past the place where a local farmer has blocked access to the shore to stop the tinkers from camping.

Travelling people are proving to be a challenging  test to the ethical values of rooted communities across Europe. In the Czech Republic there have been violent clashes between Roma incomers and neo-Nazi groups (ref). In England, the attempted eviction of the Dale Farm residents has been more bureaucratic (ref), although the right-wing press have been keeping up such a barrage of self-righteous outrage that the potential for similar racist clashes is probably not far below the surface (ref).

Michael White, writing in the Guardian (ref), makes the interesting point that such nomads are an important remnant of what used to be the norm in human society, and as such should be protected.

Of course, our current laws and values are based on a different, more static norm than those of the travellers, so tensions and transgressions are unavoidable.  But, transgressions and tensions are not the real issue here. Many motorists break the law on a daily basis, and the recent transgressions of bankers and pension fund managers have been exposed many times – but none of these people face eviction or violence in the same way.

Cycling dystopia

Another non-running day, for reasons of resistance-training, or turf shifting to be more precise.

Spiegel International carried an interesting series of articles (ref), describing the increasing aggression of cyclists in Germany as they fight for a share of very limited space on the roads. This is particularly disappointing because Germany has long been one of the exemplars of intelligently planned cycle routes and mutual respect between motorists, cyclists & pedestrians, unlike for example the UK, where provision has always been bad and aggression a necessary survival tactic.

Cycling is rightly being seen more and more as not only healthy (if collisions can be avoided) but clean and sustainable, and the challenge to the supremacy of motor vehicles is long overdue. A review of road protocols, perhaps backed up with mandatory cycling licences, and improved separation of road users would seem to be the best way to resolve the current conflicts between the two modes of transport. However the root of the problem is almost certainly the growing density of traffic on the roads, and the parallel growth of defensive/aggressive selfishness as not only cyclists but more & more road users of all kinds travel around in what appears to be an impregnable bubble which cuts them off from the needs of those around them. A cycling utopia is a seductive vision but still a long way from reality.

The Land of the Free

A leisurely cup of coffee in bed instead of a run today. 

Leisurely but not relaxed, because Spiegel International is carrying a frankly terrifying report on the attitude of up to half the people in the US towards Muslims. Terrifying because what is generally regarded as the most powerful nation on the planet will probably soon elect a government which fails to differentiate between the religion of 23% of the world's population and the actions of a small group of extremists.
As the economic centre of gravity shifts away from the West and we have to confront reduced affluence and influence, the conservatives (literally those who wish to conserve the status quo and to deny the movement of our societal tectonic plates) in the US and Europe will be flailing around looking for scapegoats to blame - and who better than an easily identified group of "foreign" people, a tiny faction of whom had the temerity to attack the US. History is full of such pogroms, and of people standing aside to let them happen, and there is little indication that we've changed much since medieval times, let alone since the 1930s.

The glass is also half full as well as half empty though and there are apparently just as many people in the US and Europe who do not share this childish over-simplification. We can only hope that we find both the courage to expose the prejudice, and the stamina to keep doing so.

Yuck

A beautiful bright morning after a dire few days, and a very enjoyable run.

As cracks appear across the Eurozone, and mad Republicans begin to fly in circles around Obama, some good news is very welcome: research is underway to create viable human food from insects (ref). Actually, this isn't news at all - it's been going on for ages, but it is becoming increasingly important. 

Crickets and locusts are already well recognised in some parts of the world as being highly nutritious and even the humble mealworm has great potential. Unlike beef, with its notorious fodder conversion factor of 1:10, insects are much more efficient at around 1:1.5. Crucially, at least some insects also have the ability to convert organic waste into edible food, which could be a massive contribution to sustainable food production.

The yuck factor is being taken seriously for the pampered & infantile Western consumers, so when the 1^st insect-derived products arrive in supermarkets in an estimated 5 years time it’s unlikely that the particular species will be identified, at least until we can learn to appreciate the subtle tasting notes of free-range organic roaches/maggots/midges.

The other side.

An exhilaratingly windy run this morning, as we catch the skirts of Hurricane Katia.

Meanwhile, the Guardian has published an excellent analysis of the situation in Somalia, by Madeleine Bunting, which is another part of the context in which to view what happened on 9/11.

The prevailing narrative in the western media is that the current famine is the latest misfortune to hit this unstable country, where the best efforts by international aid organisations are stymied by hostile extremists such as al-Shabaab. A potential death toll of 750,000 is currently being predicted, but hey, what can we do in the face of such intransigence? And anyway it's only Africa, and they don't even have any oil.

Well - it would appear that one thing we could do is to understand that, like any conflict, neither side has a monopoly of truth or justification. A major factor which has destabilised the region for the last 10 years has been the disastrous "war on terror" waged, in this case covertly, by the US, which is precisely why there is such hostility to, and mistrust of, western intervention. Until that is recognised, and respected, the carnage seems likely to continue.

In memoriam

A wet morning but an enjoyable run.

This will be my last post until next week, so there is really only one topic - 9/11. 

Without making judgements, two facts seem to stand out.

On 11 September 2001, 2,996 people were killed as a result of what was undoubtedly an act of war – the first on US territory for a long time, and consequentially very shocking and very well documented.

As a result of the less well documented "war on terror" which followed, primarily at the instigation of the US & UK,  estimates range between 73,530 & 1,173,600 (that's an uncertainty factor, or apathy factor, of 15) as the number of people so far killed in Iraq & Afghanistan (ref).

Economical truths

There is much discussion in the UK media about whether the taxes paid by the 320,000 wealthiest people should be reduced (ref). The given reason for tax reduction is to help the UK economy by encouraging foreign investors and “talented workers” to come here. The high tax rate applies to earnings above £150,000 ($240,000) per year, so they must be pretty talented. Twenty leading economists have published a letter in the Financial Times to say that this tax is harming the economy.

Let’s give those twenty economists the benefit of the doubt and assume that they had no role in the financial disasters of the last few years. Even so, the question of whether the UK is better or worse for having these high earners seems more one of logic & morality than economics. The tax only applies to earnings over £150k. So, only people earning considerably more than £150k will be significantly affected. That’s people earning not just 15 times the minimum wage but maybe 150 times the minimum wage.

Whether we view recent economic events as a blip to be recovered from or as the long-overdue bursting of a bubble, a policy of encouraging such a large gap between rich & poor at least deserves wide ranging public debate, preferably involving moral philosophers and unemployed people as well as career politicians and economists, to examine whether the UK would be better off or worse off as a tax-enhanced haven for people who want to make huge amounts of cash.  

Meat & veg

A blustery morning and a vigorous run.

The Observer this week carried a small piece on the ethics of food production which managed to point out two anomalies in our collective thinking about what we are prepared to eat.

The first is the familiar but nevertheless extraordinary inconsistency which allows the slaughter and consumption of some animals but which extends a sentimental protective shield over others. Often the differentiation is one of age rather than species. The genetic nurturing instinct towards the very young of any species seems to extend to a prospective meal too.

The second is the notion that meat-based agriculture is an environmental disaster whilst vegetarian agriculture is sustainable. The author, Lucy Siegle, very sensibly observes that any large scale monoculture is environmentally disastrous – and not least the production of soya (ref). Sorry, tofu-eaters.

The issue is another version of the energy question - not only should the "developed" world consume a lot less, but we have to become a lot more discerning about where it comes from, and do what we can to generate our own.

Shock Doctrine

A very misty morning, and a slightly mysterious run.

Less mysteriously, Chancellor George Osborne has added his dulcet support to the government’s move to “simplify planning laws” as a way of helping economic recovery. This lovely piece of double-speak clearly means “watering down planning laws to encourage private developments at the expense of the environment, using the financial crisis as an excuse for driving through more & more extreme measures of capitalism”.

Simultaneously, the Guardian reports that the government is in discussion with Helios, a German multinational private hospital chain, to take over some NHS acute services – a “market” (sic) worth £8bn (ref). Presumably this is to "simplify" the health service too.

Possibly the only glimmer of light just now is the BBC carrying an article suggesting that maybe Marx was right about capitalism after all.

The glass is 22% full

Another dark & damp morning but an enjoyable run.

Today the Independent is carrying a report about a survey of global attitudes to eco-friendly products. Apparently 83% of consumers across the planet believe that companies and corporations should have "environmental programmes" but only 22% of us are willing to pay more for them. So, by implication, 61% of us believe that the cost of environmental protection should be borne by either the manufacturer (yeah, right) or the labour force at the production end. Or, 61% of us aren't connecting the two factors.

However, today is Saturday, and the endorphins from running are a great help to positive thinking, so let's acknowledge that almost a quarter of global consumers say they are willing to pay more to protect the environment !

Poor David Cameron

A damp and rather gloomy run this morning, musing about a revealing interview on the BBC, as the UK representative of Libya’s National Transitional Council was asked whether Britain & France would get preferential treatment in the awarding of contracts to repair the damage to this oil-rich country after the last 6 months of military action, compared to others such as Germany who had been less enthusiastic about sending in the bombers. The NTC representative, Guma El-Gamaty, showed great restraint & dignity as he explained that such bias would hardly be consistent with the transparent democratic process that they now aspire to.

Meanwhile another veil drops as it emerges that the oil company Vitol, a major source of funds for the UK Conservative party, was mysteriously given exclusive rights to trade with the Libyan rebels during the conflict (ref).

All of this must come as a shock to David Cameron who, by his own admission, had simply been doing what was morally right, rather than cynically manipulating a conflict for the sake of financial benefit. Now he's putting on a brave face, strutting around like a bantam cock, but inwardly the poor chap is probably contemplating resignation on ethical grounds !