Sorry about the gap

 Once again, I changed computers and lost the link to this blog.  I have written a few posts on a blog in a different place - see if this works for you.

 

https://simonw10.wixsite.com/simonh?fbclid=IwAR3Sw0CoNQvkF2-1--nnTcAJk94ACJ_qFM5gNT6QPfS98b3JJ6LnYmdhHiE

A bientot!

Me Too

The latest meme to catch hold in Facebook is one from women reporting that they have at some time in their past had to suffer from inappropriate attention from men.

The first thought that comes to me is this - how can we have lived in our society for so long without having acknowledged publicly the scale of the problem?  If we think it is bad in Western society, there is an item on the BBC News website that estimates that up to 9 out of every 10 women in Delhi have had to face unacceptable behaviour (or the threat thereof) while using public transport. Is this a cultural thing that some men find it acceptable to act in this way?

I vividly recall visiting a middle-eastern country in the mid 1970s with my then English girlfriend.  She was dressed in a way that was perfectly acceptable at home in the UK; she was walking along a crowded street with me - and yet some lowlife local male decided it was OK to touch her. He got rather a shock when I chased after him and confronted him. Only a language barrier stopped me telling him what I thought, though my stance was enough to make him stop and shrink back.  At that time, some local women dressed in the Western style, but many didn't. That surely did not justify his approach. I am guessing that he thought he could get away with it with a foreigner.

At that time, British TV featured Benny Hill cavorting with scantily-dressed women in ways now thought unacceptable. And yet it is still apparently perfectly acceptable for advertisers to feature attractive women in all sorts of outfits and poses. There are still people in public life who boast about what they have done.

So, is the problem one of culture or of education? Is it that boys growing up simply don't have adequate role models and teaching to say what is acceptable? Is it that some of their role models are in fact morally corrupt?  (I think here of criminal cases recently of grooming rings that include older men and younger men - apprentices?) Or is it the media (and especially movies and video games) that promote all kinds of extreme behaviour that entice boys away from a reasonable, civilised approach to girls and then to women?

For as long as I can remember, there have been stories of casting couches in Hollywood (and perhaps elsewhere) and yet no-one seems to have stood up and said Stop. Or is it that someone saying stop was not news-worthy until now?

It is clear that some people in powerful positions have wanted to take advantage of their position and abuse women they meet. This is nothing new - I think back to stories from many centuries ago of "droit de seigneur" - but time and precedent do not make it acceptable.

So, how do we go forward?  The Me Too hash tag is a start.  It needs to be backed up by people saying not only "yes, it happened to me", but also "it is still happening" and "it wasn't just a one-off when I was (insert age here)".  It needs public awareness of what a civilised society expects.  It needs education, starting young and continuing.  It needs acceptance that every interaction between people (and here I open it up to cover ALL forms of harassment) is subject to rules of what is acceptable.

No society can call itself truly civilised without handling this.

Brexit - the movie

Just been watching a video made by WAG TV about the British membership of the EU and why we should leave.  https://vimeo.com/166378572

Some of it made sense; parts were irritating; some of it was an interesting spin. Here's my thoughts as I watched it.

Someone accused the EU of wrecking the British fishing industry by restricting British fleets while allowing other European boats in. No-one mentioned the rampant over-fishing of European waters as a cause for cutbacks; no political mileage in that.

What really came over was the ignorance about the EU - not just in the person in the street, but also in some of the talking heads featured in the film. The theme was "who are the faceless unelected bureaucrats who take decisions?"

It was interesting to hear about the way Germany, under the leadership of Ludwig Erhard, recovered from the Second World War destruction of its industry and infrastructure by deregulating and getting rid of government control (in contrast with the control held in the UK). What wasn't explained was why Germany then allowed itself to be part of an EU that is now seen as over-controlling.

One recurring theme was "oh these things are bad in the EU" - lobbyists, protectionism and so on. It seemed the filmmakers want us to believe that there is nothing like that in the UK. There is! And the US is far worse.

The film suggested that we should free up the market for steel - but the implication was that cheap Chinese imports would be fine - quietly forgetting that it would be the end for British steelmaking at Scunthorpe and Port Talbot.

There was a piece saying how wonderful things are in Switzerland. Some things are good, but the statistics were misleading. The reason wages are higher than in the UK is largely because of the much higher cost of living. A recent survey showed that consumer prices in Switzerland are 58% higher than in the UK (groceries are 93% higher).  It was claimed that Swiss unemployment is much lower than in the EU - but despite the stats in the film, it is currently 4.5%, compared with 5.1% in the UK. The main reason for that is that the Swiss severely restrict who can live and work in Switzerland, though the film claimed it is purely because of how successful Swiss industry is and the lack of EU control.

The worst bits? The racial stereotyping of foreign competitors (verging on comedy racism); Kelvin Mackenzie claiming to be the voice of the working man (not in Liverpool, he isn't, and many others despise him); the concern about growing right-wing nationalism across Europe (does UKIP not recognise that many see it in that same light?).

The most positive aspects?  The World Trade Organisation is seen as a positive force in breaking down trade barriers - better than the EU. The discussion about world trade gave the feeling that maybe Britain would be better off outside the EU. Much was made of how small the impact is of EU trade deals compared with those of other countries.

The missing bits? No mention of easy travel within the EU, the ability to live anywhere, the facility to get free health care across the EU. Again, no mileage there, perhaps.

Sad times?

Once upon a time, there was a small country that didn't have much power or influence. It got invaded by the Romans and the Vikings and the Normans and in between was filled up by Angles and Saxons and other migrants. Now and then, it found ways of getting back at the French, though that didn't last more than a few centuries - just in time to get threatened by the Spanish and the Catholics. Eventually it figured out how to make a success of having a navy and adventurers and a worldwide empire followed. But, like all empires before it, the empire declined and its influence dried up.

Some people still dream of that empire; some dream of having an independent status that does not rely on anyone else. And then there are some who look back with nostalgia to times when the racial mix seemed so much simpler.

It was probably ever thus; there was probably a time when those who had done well out of the Romans were sad when they left; another when those who had got on well with the Normans found their influence declining. There were certainly times when being a Royalist was dangerous to one's health, wealth and continued existence, just as it had been to be Catholic at others.

Wars have come and gone; trading partnerships have flourished and then faded. Industries have grown, only to decline when other countries found out how to do the same things quicker or cheaper (or both). Markets have vanished for a myriad reasons.

And now we have the internet, so those with leanings in one political direction or another can express themselves freely. It used to be that people who disagreed could switch off the radio or the TV, or avoid buying a particular paper or magazine. The internet has given everyone the chance to have their say.

The result? We have websites galore that allow comments; talk radio to allow whoever wants to dial in or click on a link to chip in. We have the facility to share material without having to check if it is true or appropriate or timely. Old stories get dug up again and again, long after they were discredited, but without the criticism that buried them before.

Friendships have always been susceptible to differing opinions. The same is true now.  So what do people do to keep some sort of balance? They look at pictures of pets; share videos of funny things; listen to music. But so few get up and meet people, walk and talk. What is the world coming to? The spaceship from Wall-E in which people lose the ability to walk? In which they are fed food, drink and "news" edited by machines?

Caution - men at work

I am looking at ways of getting the poetry and photos back online. Nothing specific yet, but working on it.

What is going on???

In the USA we have the strange situation of a self-publicist and the wife of a former president trying to become their respective party's nominee for the presidential elections.  Many people outside the US cringe at the thought of the White House becoming Trump Towers II and wonder how such a raving loudmouth could get such air time and so much attention from the "I hate the federal government" crowd.

I was watching a series of programmes recently about the Obama years in the White House. Most of them were dominated by the sight of Republicans persistently ignoring the needs of the American people and instead trying to shoot down anything a Democrat president wanted to do. My favourite moment came when someone (a Senator I think) was asked by a member of the public during a town hall meeting "if she was going to keep the government out of her Medicare".  The senator wisely chose to say yes, rather than expose the ignorance of the questioner. Maybe that wonderfully aware person supports Trump?

Over here we have a ragbag of people who want us to vote to leave the EU. One of them is known to be supporting that campaign only so that he can position himself to be the next Prime Minister. Funny that he is the one with the loud mouth, the crazy hair and the penchant for saying daft things in front of a microphone... Those who care about the world are even more nervous that one day PM Johnson will be talking to President Trump. Utter chaos that way lies.

A spokesman for the "leave" campaign has just said that the leader of the opposition "doesn't actually mean it" when he announced that leaving would threaten many of the state benefits the country relies on - basically because if it were left to a Tory government, they would scrap all human rights and benefits currently in force because of being part of the EU. Let's hope sense prevails.

I spent several years working outside the UK.  Some of that time was spent in Luxembourg, working for the European Commission, which is where a lot of EU policies and legislation start. I saw at first hand the job that "those faceless European bureaucrats" do.  I also worked for several years with civil servants in UK government departments, and a shorter period working with UN staff in Geneva. I know that actually most of them DO care about improving the lot of European citizens - they don't just impose standards for the sake of it.  However, there are times when it is almost as bad trying to handle the needs of multiple countries as it is to herd cats.

One thing I noticed was that after a while, I didn't care much about the local British politics and concerns. I also noticed how irrelevant and out of touch most British newspapers were, when viewed from a European viewpoint. I felt European - yes, I was proud to be able to say I was born in Britain, and I knew I would return after a while - but it felt much freer and more stable somehow to take the wider view. My friends and neighbours were the same - we were all Europeans, no matter where we came from.

Let's hope that something positive will come out of all this hot air.

Back again!

It's been four years since I wrote anything in this blog. The last couple of years I thought I'd lost the access to it because I'm using a different computer and had somehow lost the access path.  This morning I was looking at someone else's blog and suddenly noticed that the blog site seemed to know who I was. I clicked on a button or two and suddenly here was my old blog site from way back.

So, what has been happening?  Well, firstly I have been working a lot - and getting paid for it. That makes a change and it's been worth it (mostly). I say mostly because it kept me alert mentally and socially - I have met a lot of people I would not otherwise have found - and I have proved to myself and others that I can still function in a business environment and be effective. The cost was my time and energy and some of my contacts.

But now it's time for a change again. I finished the freelance contract at the end of November 2015 and I have not looked for another one. Why? Because I had spent far long enough getting up early five days a week, slogging into work and spending all day (and all my energy) at work in offices. Time for some other ways of spending my time.

It has meant that I have had more time for singing and for organising aspects of our chorus. It has meant more choice over what I do when.  But there is a cost this way, too - I have not had the daily exercise of walking round the building to talk to people - and the lunchtime walks in the park are not as easy (no parks round here and the paths are muddier).

So what else is going on?  I have discovered a new aspect to photography - the use of micro four thirds cameras and lenses. If you don't recognise that term, it's essentially a smaller and lighter format of camera that has the size of a pocket camera with the artistic controls of an SLR.

But it is also a strange time politically. The US presidential nomination campaign has thrown up some stuff that is both wierd and frightening. And now in the UK we have the campaigns for the EU referendum. Plus of course we have a Tory government that seems hell-bent on destroying most of what we hold dear in terms of public services.

What joy.