Pollution and the Easter Bunny

So as the proletariat celebrate the nailing to a tree of a pacifist with the pagan symbol of the March hare and chocolate eggs I am left wondering at the state of things.

Its not the commercialisation of everything from Halloween (another Pagan Festival) to Guy Fawkes Night, which incidentally is the only date on the calendar that I actually look forward to its just the rubbish that comes with it.

Easter in the UK is the coldest since records began 100 or so years ago, which as the climate change deniers will state with absolute confidence is prooof that we are not warming.

If only they read more. Climate change will bring more rain, more heat and cold weather. There.

I do despair at times when reading about poverty, urbanisation, slums, exploitation, disparity of wealth and pollution.

It is a held belief of mine that our biggest mistake was leaving the tribe. But then life expectancy was around 35 and death was usually long and painful. So its an ideal. But then isn't everything. Isn't the celebration of a religious figure with chocolate eggs just that?

I am off to the Alps for a bit of R&R soon. It cannot be colder than here. Of course none of this is comparable to my three month tour of Siberia.

But i digress..

So when does it all stop?

Things appeared a lot simpler when we didn't know everything about everything and when we didn't have instant access to machines that know everything about everything.

When an event happened it took a long time to filter and work out what it meant. Now something will happen and it will be everywhere instantly and everyone will have considered it from every angle and have an opinion on it.

And sometimes everyone having an opinion on something will mean that something will get challenged all the time.

And nothing gets done and people get frustrated.

Don't get me wrong, challenging things is healthy, but we don't have to challenge everything, not all the time. Its tiring. Cant we just say "oh yeah, whatever...", or perhaps we do, which is why so many people are obese and no one is rioting in the streets when they should be because the UK is screwed and desperate and failing.

Apathy for the UK is the new song of rebellion.

The Internet stops

In 2010 it was reported that a computer virus had surreptitiously attacked Iran's nuclear facilities and it was of USA & Israel making.

In the 1990's when the Internet was a mere child and wasn't owned by Google / Facebook / Twitter & Youtube this would have been the headline in a Sci-Fi novel.

Today the biggest cyber attack in history was launched against a group called Spamhaus.. and this is where everyone turns off and searches for pictures of funny cats or triangle shaped flapjacks.

Its is interesting to note the inherent flaw with the Internet, everyone has an address, everything is traceable, even hackers, even the darknet has a digital footprint.

Its all well and good as long as these geeks wage war against each other but it becomes scary when the very same geeks are employed by the US, Russia, China, North Korea or Israel.

Where to then, in this safe cyber world of information?

If email systems can be stopped (and lets hope Hotmail & GMail have good fire walls) then all hell will break lose.

An old friend of mine who unfortunately will have to remain nameless and went 'under cover' permanently always told me to never leave a trace of who you are. A warning I didn't heed when I set up this blog.

Also today Dave (not Ed) Millipede leaves politics, Abu Qatada stays in North London much to the irritant of everyone and Cyprus floats ever nearer to the abyss

I need a holiday, Baxter and I will be hitting the Austrian Alps next week. Long may it snow.

A nation of opinionated hole pickers

Today I entered the cultural bear pit that is the BBC's Have Your Say and I haven't seen so much bile and drivel punctuated by occasional sense since the debate about whether the mad man in the desert had WMD's.

The subject was climate change, an emotive subject for a Monday morning, and as with such issues such as this and Migration it is those that have the worst uneducated opinions that shout them the loudest

And the problem now with the Internet is that not only do people have opinions they think they have a platform for them without retribution as an example I cite these words of wisdom;

"So-called Man Made Climate Change gives the government the perfect excuse for putting up fuel taxes. To paraphrase Al Gore it's a Convenient Lie."

Or how about;

I suppose that man was responsible for the end of the last iceage.

I did enter the banter and was told I was stupid from somebody with a PhD in physics to which I congratulated them.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21357520

Stupidity doesn't amaze me anymore what concerns me is that arguments are created in boxes containing 300 letters. No evidence, no data, no facts just playground opinions, I'm right, your wrong.

It amazes me a simple thing like "increased carbon in the atmosphere creates warming of the atmosphere which leads to climate change" can be so difficult to grasp

And all these words will be kept for prosperity. Scary.

Beware the Ides of March

Its not been a good March as the UK experiences weather that is more at home in Siberia and comes to its fourth standstill in as many months

Cyprus, long been compared to the EU's Casino is deciding whether to cash in all their chips and call it a day or decide to tax its bank accounts which, lets face it, are mostly owned by Russians and Germans.

After Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal Cyprus sits in the unenviable position of being the first to leave the EU (or get kicked out)

On another note I received a letter at the weekend from Nigel Falange, UKIP's comedy politician who is getting more votes from Daily Mail readers telling me that the UK is just about to be invaded by 500 million Bulgarians with the resultant collapse of the NHS and welfare state.

And Boy George, who had his day on TV, unleashed his Domesday budget which gives more tax breaks to the rich from second homes to reductions in corporation tax and raising the tax threshold and chastising the poor even more.

And today I learn about the untimely death of Beresovsky, and when Oligarchs bemoan life and all its ills we know we are in trouble.

Maybe its me, maybe I seek out the gloom but since Mrs FT left I have a sharper eye on the negative.

The War in Iraq

So it was 10 years ago that Bush/Blair decided to wage war on a relatively peaceful Iraq.

And where are they now? Blair is in his self delusional paradise telling everyone that it was the right thing to do (shame the rest of the UK thought different) and Dubya has gone into hiding in Texas painting nude pictures of himself and his dogs.

I have fought in many a war and they are dirty, nasty and frightening affairs and should be avoided at any costs.Its a shame politicians don't because then they wouldn't start any more.

Ten years ago I was harangued as a leftist sympathiser and a beatnik pacifist (and they are just the names I can print) for being against this war. I posted on HYS and was berated by those that were convinced that it was right and that we were all in danger of imminent death. I was published in the press and berated for being a loony Marxist.

But the thing is, I knew it was a lie, there were no WMD's, the war was illegal and the dossiers were 'sexed up'. Even now the press are blaming it on rogue Iraqi spies who fed us wrong information.

Did we not learn anything from the Cold War about propaganda.

And as I type this people in Iraq are still getting blown to bits. We have achieved zero.

I watched Argo at the weekend, a brilliant film if not a little pro CIA, even in 1979 we were dabbling with things we have no idea over. (and wearing very big ties and strange hair)

And so on this 10th Anniversary what is there to learn...

RIP

Google + Facebook = Internet

The Internet was a brilliant idea. To enable computers to talk to each other in the event of a nuclear holocaust (as with most things the best inventions come out of war)

The tech geeks got hold of it once the military let go and invented HTML, Java, C++ and ways that computers could talk as one. Websites began to appear.

Web 2.0 happened and websites became personalised and individual and people could share music and films and news and pornography without paying for any of it.

Then governments became concerned that ideas that could spark revolution and could be shared worldwide at an instant. Then corporations clicked that Data would be the next currency and what better way to harvest it than to let people give it away free.

And then Facebook became a database of people of Orwellian proportions, Google became a database of peoples desires and Twitter became a database of peoples thoughts and words

And now it starts to scare people, what has been given away so free is now in the hands of the very people that don't deserve to have it in the first place.

Suddenly people start deleting accounts, internet footprints, email accounts, photos, purchase records and learn Linux and Ubuntu and how to remove software from smart phones

And then realise its all too late...

Crossrail & HS2 revisited

And so the Judges have decided that the Government acted correctly in deciding to waste £33 billion on a train link that will be redundant before it is opened and overcrowded from day one by those who still think train commuting is a good idea

HS2 is a complete white elephant that wont begin construction until 2018 by then it will be nearer the £100 billion mark and will be so contested by NIMBY's and the great unwashed who haven't had a decent protest since Twyford Down and the Newbury by pass that the Government will want to cancel it quicker than anyone can say "my wife was driving"

But Crossrail trundles on unearthing plague pits and all manner of archaeological wonders at a cost of £16 billion to which no one has batted an eyelid. Bits of London disappear (like The Astoria) and bits are revamped so that East can be linked with West

And it will be complete just in time to start building Boris Airport in the Thames Estuary. As anyone who has flown into Heathrow knows London is in severe need of a new airport and there is nothing like boosting the economy and getting Lord Foster excited as a new airport.

And on a day where Dave Millipede and Nice Nick agree on something that Honest Dave doesn't regarding legislating the Media I have to say that I agree with Dave, legislation isn't the way forward

As Winston Churchill once said "Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm"

From Tesco to the Pope

Once upon a time we bought food from shops. Now we buy into an homogenized conglomerate lifestyle where everything is owned by "The Company" in some Kafkaesque nightmare and we are branded, categorised and studied like battery hens and indoctrinated into "Club Card" culture and believing them when they say "Every Little Helps."

When the supply chain is bullied into coercion and competitive prices and all our fruit starts to look like wax models and supermarkets sell everything from petrol to CD's we know its all gone too far.

Still, not as bad as Walmart on the other side of the pond who censor CD's and sell guns.

But as Tesco buy one of our favourite independent food chains to ensure that we eat our way into their lifestyle choice I cant help but be distracted by the goings on at the Vatican.

So we have our first Latin American Pope and a positive youngster at 76 he sure will be setting the place on fire with radical new ideas and drag the Catholic Church screaming back into the 19th Century.

And as Mr & ex Mrs Hune spend their second night in Jail and try to mingle with the inmates Honest Dave does yet another U Turn on the issue of cheap booze. And lets face it, if booze becomes too expensive the needy will only start turning to cheaper ways of getting high, like anti freeze and heroin.

The masses need their Opium to misquote a genius

China, the dragon awakens...

I was waiting for Baxter in town today and picked up a book about China's massive economic development over the last 30 years. Well, since the early 1980's when it was decided that rabid capitalism could live along side communism.

And so I learnt the following facts;

China is home to 1 in 5 of the worlds population

The economy has grown, on average, 10% every year since the 1980's

16 of China's cities feature in the World Banks global list of the 20 most polluted cities in the world

Two thirds of China's cities have insufficient water

Between 1980 and 2000, over 250 million people migrated from the countryside to the cities, this is the biggest migration of people, ever

in 2006 there were 6000 registered Environmental Groups

According to the world bank between 1981 and 2007 1/4 billion people were lifted out of poverty

And if you type Tiananmen Square into Google in China the secret police come round to your house in the night and take you away. (Actually I made that bit up)

So what price progress?

Time at HM's pleasure

So Mr & ex Mrs Hune are off to prison for a while to contemplate such things as why it is illegal to palm off speeding points to your wife and why it isn't a good idea to sell the story to the newspapers for revenge.

Nothing better than lying politicians to irk the public and now everyone's tax money gets to pay for their keep. And lets face it they wont be in Bellmarsh or Holloway, they will be at some 'open' prison like that irksome Archer fellow was.

And in the same week the catholic church are having their celebrity pope-a-thon and cursing any mention of abuse claims, Britain becomes Siberia like and we are told antibiotics are useless.

Which is a bonus to the pharma companies as they can develop and patent more drugs and increase their coffers. Why everyone picks on bankers when the real wealth lies in the drug and mining industries I'll never know...

But I digress...

Killing hostages

Today some lunatics have murdered some hostages. This is nothing but cowardice and cold blooded killing and has nothing to do with Islam, extremism, terrorism, fundamentalism or revenge.

The people killed were workers and not involved in any political, tribal or civil war, were not spies, mercenaries, freedom fighters or soldiers. They were simply some people doing a job and nobody deserves to die in this way.

And what next? We send special forces to take out the kidnappers? And then some new radical faction will avenge this by more kidnapping.

As M said in the latest Bond film, "we don't even know who the enemy is any more"

And we don't, these people are lunatics or psychopaths or brainwashed or perhaps all three. And it scares me for it presumes anyone is game.

I know Nigeria well and money goes along way to solve problems. But how can anything be resolved if people are murdered in this way?

This year is proving worse than last year.

When there's no news

It is a real problem when there is no news. The 24hr news channels have to pad the gaps with something. Anything.

I was looking forward to the Coulson & Wade court case but that appears to have been adjourned. If ever a pair deserve some R&R at her Majesty's pleasure its those two.

Even the freezing of relationships between North & South Korea doesn't appear to be newsworthy. Apart from some very strange footage of Kim Jong Odd in a boat being pursued by his followers in some religious rapture.

The disagreement between Honest Dave and the OFT doesn't appear to take up much space.

The prospect of two pandas mating in a zoo in Scotland in their annual 2 day window seems to have been overlooked too. And face it pandas are pretty pathetic, if they weren't so odd looking they would have been left to die out years ago. Why the WWF chose to adopt it as their logo i have no idea.

But then again what do the WWF actually do?

I am out with my property developer friend this eve, he is investing largely in areas of South London that have been 'up and coming' for a while. We are eating Michelin then drinking in one of my favourite private clubs. And that's news.

Addio Berlusconi

And so Mr Berlusconi is to spend a year at the pleasure of Italy's penal system for illegal wire tapping.

And then he has to face the tax / fraud conviction and sex with an underage prostitute thing.

Quite a fitting end for such a charismatic and colourful leader, who thought himself so above the law that he re wrote the law to cover his time in office and thus placing himself in impunity.

In a week where we have decided to send guns, sorry, vehicles to the rebel alliance and their war with Darth Vader and when Manchester United show the world how to lose in style and what a childish tantrum really looks like.

The UK Is heading for is 4th recession in and a row and Blair remains a free man for taking a country to war who didn't want to go.

I have a frightful head today, mid week drinking in town with my old Hedgie Friend, watching the Bankers cry over their reduced bonuses and the proles throw themselves in front of Buses in desperation.

Farewell Senor Chavez

Adios Mr Chavez, beloved of the people, working class hero and perennial thorn in the side of the USA. It is sad to see someone go who was so charismatic and so young.

Another colourful character in turbulent history of Latin America. Part of the 'Pink Tide' of presidents along with Correo in Ecuador, Morales in Bolivia and Ortega in Nicaragua.

And erstwhile friend of the other perennial thorn, Castro (although the Colombians never saw eye to eye with him)

He will never be forgotten for comparing George Bush to a donkey and for that alone I salute him.

He will now doubt be sharing a Cohiba in heaven with El Che and comparing notes on western imperialism.

The world is a dimmer place without him.

Binge drinking and the USA

AS the UK is declared one of the unhealthiest countries in Europe it is time to take a reflective side stand and ponder the question why?

Ever since we discovered the USofA we have tried to emulate them, we wanted bigger cars and now have 8Litre four by fours clogging up the streets of Chelsea and killing cyclists.

We wanted fast food, now our malls and high streets (well those that are still open) are full of low nutrition / high fat food feeding pens and now over 50% of our population is obese.

We wanted celebrity, and lots of TV channels, now our TV channels are awash with drivel and shows about oneupmanship and vacuous life styles.

We wanted guns. Actually we didn't, we hate guns, it goes against our beliefs.

So can we blame the Americans for our unhealthy lifestyle? Partly but not entirely, we are unhealthy because we are bored, we live sedentary pen like lifestyles, aspiring to own gadgets we have no need for. We cant smoke so we eat, we have lots of debt so we drink, and we drink to forget.

If we want to study to better our chances we will expect to be in £40k debt at the end of it. We cant drive because insurance and fuel costs are too much. We don't join the Gym because people at them smell and membership isn't free.

We are told every day how pathetic we are and how puny our salaries are and how everything could be so much better if we were rich and wealthy.

And people drink to forget and boy do we know how to drink...

Why so lonely Mr Mugabe?

Talking of dictatorships, civil wars, civilian deaths, general oppression and bad mustaches, it was Robert Mugabe's 89th birthday recently and he has admitted to the British Press that he is feeling a little lonely.

Probably as lonely as all those relatives who's family members were killed in years of pointless in fighting.

On another note is Assad and Mugabe who Kim Jong Odd aspires to be like? And with Nuclear Weapons should we all pack our bags now?

I was stationed in Africa for a number of years, great place although they don't do Governments very well.

Bob like Nelson was a political prisoner and freedom fighter (or terrorist, the labels interchangeable) and he also has a stupid number of Degrees. Somewhere along the line his ideology went a bit skew whiff and his views slightly more racist, homophobic and generally more insane.

The west has largely left Bob to his own secret state and corruption and death squads probably due to the absence of oil, or Lithium.

Talking of Lithium, Bolivia has half the worlds Lithium supply. Lithium is the new wonder battery that everything uses and soon to be used to fuel cars. Which means the USA should be installing an American Friendly dictator in Bolivia right about now...

What to do with Assad

So Britain has been accused of bullying and being naive in dealing with the 'issues' in Syria.

An uprising which was buoyed up by the Arab Spring that failed to oust its benign dictator and has now turned into a civil war killing in excess of 70,000 of its own people.

There is no world police or international law to deal with such countries and so the politicians dabble. UK / USA for intervention and Russia / China against. And so nothing is done and people die.

And nobody understands the situation, atrocities are committed by both sides so taking sides is fraught with problems. So we send in a peace keeping force (because that worked in Yugoslavia) or the worst option we do nothing. Like Rwanda. Like Cambodia. Like Zimbabwe.

So Assad, once the regions golden boy and educated in blighty sits overlooking a civil war wondering where it all went wrong and hoping that there isn't a Gaddafi type ending for him.

Or perhaps we will do what the west usually does. We will arm them. In untraceable deals for Agricultural equipment. We will sell them the means to their own resolution or destruction.

And some people will make alot of money and alot of people will needlessly be murdered.