Gertsamtkunstwerk

Photos

I'm getting there. As of 2255 I have done all but the ones from this evening's demo - the biggest weekday demo ever in Britain.

You can find them at Bush Visits London

Update: I'm now really exhausted. I'm trying to get around the blogroll, and I haven't edited the demo photos, and I really ought to get to bed.

*Sigh*

March!

I stood on the corner of Parliament Street and Bridge Street, in the shadow of what's commonly, if incorrectly, known as Big Ben, for half an hour. An awful lot of people can pass by in half an hour. I have no idea of how many more passed before I even arrived.

The atmosphere was fantastic. The section that were due to pass as I arrived were led by a percussive band. A deep bass keeping an incessant rhythm, coupled with whistles and klaxons got the adrenaline flowing. Throughout that time, my friend the helicopter hovered over my head.

The crowd was a wonderful cross-section of the British public. Although the majority were white, there were plenty of black and Asian. Quite a few people were Mediterranean/Latino; I heard three groups of American accents. Obviously, there were lots of students, but also many 30-50s in their suits, having come from work, many many pensioners, numerous nuclearfamilies, with children ranging from a few months, through the primary school age, to a large group of raucous teenagers. Most of the placards were Socialist Worker standard issue, but many more were home-made. Some worked, some didn't. Many Labour Party, Union, CND, and Church groups brought their banners. A whole group travelled in rickshaws, another group dressed as clowns. A few effigies of Bush and many pretzels were carried.

It was tremendously good natured - it seems that the fringe extremists bent on destruction forgot to turn up and sent the ordinary people instead. The police were clearly enjoying themselves, laughing and joking with the marchers and hangers-on (myself included).

I suppose that the calls of the protestors have fallen on deaf ears, and no doubt the Murdochian press will be portraying the marchers as marginal, but it is so important to demonstrate - literally, 'to show'. Not because we're 'lucky' to have free speech, but because centuries of Radicals have fought for these rights, and will continue to do so.

Tomorrow, Bush is off to Sedgefield, and I'm off to Councillor Steve's 40th. But if you, or another blogger you know, is going to Sedgefield, do drop a comment...

Now, I've got to do some photo-editing...

Whitehall

Lunchtime and a stroll down to Trafalgar Square. As I emerged from the office, the bells at Westminster Abbey rang out and continued to ring out throughout my break. As I circled Parliament Square I passed the statue of Abraham Lincoln, and reflected how he had been assassinated at the hands of a relative of Mrs Blair. I was not permitted to walk up the left hand side of Whitehall – people with offices on that side were required to show their photo passes.
It was fairly slow going along the right side of Whitehall – it was not possible to stop directly opposite Downing Street and photograph - a policeman did ask me to keep moving. Opposite the Treasury I assaulted a policeman; he didn’t seem to mind. Perhaps he noted a stray elbow as I slung my camera round my neck to protect it from the crowds rather than over my left shoulder to protect the blisters on my right neck.

A party was underway in Trafalgar Square, with some funky Arabic pop music blaring over the sound system. A giant screen displayed greetings from far afield, and pictures of giant Pretzels. I mooched around, looking at the variety of folks gathered – old and young, scruffy, casual and smart, a variety of races, different group affiliations.

I was there at approximately one o’clock. There was a sense of something in the air, but not, at this stage the most exciting. Writing now and monitoring the webcam, the crowd has grown significantly. This is before the arrival of the march. Who knows what numbers will assemble?

At the end of the Mall, near Admiralty Arch were a number of low loaders containing concrete barriers.

Meanwhile, my manager went over to the colour printer and found this. Shit! I thought, I wasn’t sure whether or not I had pressed print, but it certainly hadn’t come out on the b/w printer. He proceeded to pass it round the office to considerable guffaws from all and sundry. He guessed I was responsible…

Reporters' log

The reporters' log has changed its url for a new day: Bush in Britain

The Beeb needs to learn about static urls, I think!

Oh, and Chasing Bush is back after DoS attacks by, presumably a small minority of people who are so lacking in confidence in their views, views formed by swallowing shallow propaganda whole, that, rather than actually enter into debate about the actual issues, they just throw xenophobic abuse and burn books.

I don't suppose there is much purpose saying this here, because I can't imagine those headtheballs would read it, or if they did, they would be able to understand it. Everyone is entitled to their views. Sometimes those views may disagree with yours. Sometimes, if you listen to those opposing views, you may hear something which sheds a different light on something, makes you question, if you are capable, what you hold be true. If not you would wish to persuade people of your point of view. It seems elementary, but you rarely persuade people by yelling at them, and are more likely to do so by listening to thier views, empathising, and responding to the facts in a civilised way.

Maybe I'm just getting old...

Paranoia

I'm beginning to understand how psychological warfare works. Of course, rationally, I know it's not about me. But when you've had that thing whirring its noisy engines/rotor above your desk for seven hours, you really do start to get delusional. I went out for a cigarette, and it just hovered, above the pub opposite. I started yelling at it: I'm only having a cigarette! One colleague has mentioned surface-to-air missiles, another Vietnam, it's driving us all mad. I'm sure it will be making noises in my head when I get home.

Tomorrow will be fun...

Circus

Or at least, that what it felt like outside Buck House. The crowds circled the Victoria memorial and crowded on the corner where Constitution Hill meets The Mall by Green Park. I guess the crowd was 20% pro, 20% against and 60% lunchtimers/tourists/bloggers. It was boring hanging around waiting. I have never realised how kitcsh the Vic Mem is.

A veteran of drive-pasts, I knew that something was going to happen when a policeman held up the traffic, and a couple of police vans with flashing blue lights led a ridiculous willy-waving convoy of machisto vehicles, all overlarge, many with the windows blacked-out. There were actually two different convoys, so god only knows which one contained Bush. To be honest, I don't really care. Although, looking at the photos, I did get a picture of a hand waving from the front car of the first convoy. I'll analyse it more closely when I get home and can load it onto the PC. Still, I got a squirrel to pose for me in St James Park. "Fotogenica!" said an Italian woman.

A small heavily escorted procession of shouting and whistling cyclists has just passed below the window.

And that fucking helicopter hovering up above is doing my head in.

As it happens...

The BBC has a Reporters' log: Bush in Britain

Meanwhile, from my prime position in the heart of the Free Speech Zone, I can report that the Royal Standard over the Palace has grown to impressively ginormous standards, and a military band is currently playing. It might be our usual boys down below but I see no sign of them on the Parade Ground, so I assume it's from Buck House. If I recognised the tune, I'd tell you.

Oh, and in the coffee shop this morning, I spotted a man wearing a dark suit, with an earpiece dangling from his ear, so I presume he's one of those protestors pretending to be a Secret Service Agent.

On the way in, the Tube was swarming with teenagers. Judging by their conversation, I'm assuming it's Schoolies' Protest Day

Drama!

In which our intrepid reporter is forcibly removed from the main gate at Buckingham Palace:

(Police officer: Could you stand back please, Ma'am
Gert: nod and nervous smile, stands back)

Just a normal lunchtime, really. Wander through the park onto The Mall. A lone sandwich-boarded-and-placarded protestor strolls slowly along, sloganning for a free Palestine. A tanker sucks water from the drain. the lampposts are festooned with Union flags and Stars-and-Stripes. Police presence is evident, but relaxed.

A tented village with satellite dishes is erected in Green Park. The Victoria Memorial is boarded. A crowd of a couple of hundred - tourists and lunchtimers with cameras - mill around. The traffic is stopped by a police outrider; another police bike shepherds through the Prime Minister's Rover, coming east down Constitution Hill. Gert lingers freely on the Spur Road in front of the Palace. Down Buckingham Gate comes the Queen's Rolls Royce, with Royal Standard on the front, and an elderly woman in the back. No visible police escort, mingleing freely in the moderate traffic. A few minutes later, as I stand taking photos, I see the Roller again, this time no Royal Standard, no elderly occupant. This time I manage a photo as it waits at the Pedestrian crossing. Within a few minutes I was in range (theoretical, of course - I failed even to shoot a photo) of being able to assassinate the Head of State and Head of Government.

Welcome to Britain, Shrub.

Act 1 Scene 1

As the first battalion of the Irish Guards go through the motions of their normal Tuesday morning practice, the crowds begin to gather desultorily round the Palace forecourt. A police van, with bright orange stripe, and riot shield at the ready crawls incongruously through St James Park. Outside, as I sneak a quick cigarette, the street is alive with the lunchtime bustle of office workers. And the Czech Ambassador's car drives by...

Prelude

Situated as I am in the heart of London's Westminster village, a mere spit from Westminster Abbey, I shall try, to the best of my ability, and without compromise to my personal safety, to blog my impressions of what is happening.

At the moment, all is quiet. The Union flag flies over Buck House; a hideous marquee, perhaps in Stars and Stripes, or, maybe the Texan flag, has been erected out front. A steady stream of vehicles enters and leaves the Palace, but otherwise, all is calm.

Meanwhile, rumours are rife: the park is closed, or will be closed, all people will be X-rayed and their bags searched, or perhaps only as they approach the Mall.

Questions remained unanswered - how will we be affected when he visits Westminister Abbey? What Tube stations will be closed?

If you need any - reasonable - matters investigated, just leave a comment

Rules of engagement

John has left a comment regarding GWB's forthcoming visit to Britain, which has shocked me. I do very much welcome such contributions - articulate and reasoned, calm and courteous, even where there's clearly a difference of opinion.

Not even a difference of opinion, more an arguing from different premises. I am absolutely not advocating a flame war - far from it, I want to encourage erudite debate.

Why do I feel deeply uncomfortable about a police force from another country having some powers to operate in my country; is my discomfort different from my cheery acceptance of (and use for General Knowledge quiz) that the French police have some powers to operate in and around Waterloo Station? Isi t merely because of my visceral dislike of GWB and his puppet masters, a visceral dslike shared by a large proportion of the UK population. Or would I feel the same if it was, say, Helen Clark of New Zealand or Lula of Brazil visiting?

Speechless

Yard fury over Bush visit

Read this article very carefully, especially para 2 and the final para.

This is quite possibly the most outrageous thing I have read in a newspaper in a very long time.

So, it was for oil...

Bush rejects Saddam 9/11 link says the BBC.

It's not in the NYT headlines as I write.

It must have been those Weapons of Mass Destruction.

So, why was there war in Iraq?

State sponsored terrorism

This article on the coup in Chile on this day in 1973 serves as a reminder of the extent of terrorism perpetrated by the US government through the decades- Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Two 9/11s, one story

It doesn't mention the role played by the Bush administration in the coup against Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

Thank you Tony

I'll probably have my Labour Party membership card confiscated* (ooh, never had that threatened before...) but go on kids, you know you really want to leave a message at ThankYouTony.com: A site to thank Prime Minister Tony Blair for his support of the American actions in Iraq.

* if I still had one, but it was nicked when I was burgled.

Continents and populations

How many continents are there? I'm sure, at primary school we were taught five -Europe, Africa, Asia, North America, South America.

At secondary school, the problem of Australia (or Australasia, or Oceania) and Antarctica raised their heads. And Central America was added to the equation.

Harwich for the Continent, they said, (and Frinton for the incontinent).

Alternatively, there are but two main continents - Eurasia/Africa and America. Oh, and Australia and Antarctica.

But how many of the world's population live in island states>

• Indonesia 210 million
• Japan 127 million
• Phillipines 85 million
• UK 60 million
• Caribbean nations and territories 38 million
• Madagascar 16 million
• New Zealand 4 million
• Ireland 4 million
• Mauritius 1.2 million
• plus Hong Kong's 7 million, whose sovereign status I don't fully understand

Also, there are dozens of nations and territories with populations in the tens and hundreds of thousands. And Pitcairn with its population of 44.

This indicates that some 600 million, one tenth of the world's population, lives in island nations or territories. This does not include those who live in the island regions of continental countries, such as Spain and USA.

- stats from Foreign Office

State building

This started off as a response to the Admiral's comment below, but grew, so I promoted it to 'post' status.

Not wrong. I will be honest and say that altruism would be very low on my list of motivations.

However, I do think that we have a role to play in State-building, whether it's done under the aegis of UKGov, EU, or UN. In the long months leading up to Illegal Invasion. I read many concerns - which I shared - that the US would go in, destroy, and frank bough out, leaving others to pick up the pieces. You and I opposed the war. Unfortunately, that doesn't alter the reality that it happened.

I happen to believe that the best way to ensure that Iraq is rebuilt as a peaceful, prosperous, democratic nation is to work towards establishing the rule of law. I was being flippant about the need for auditors. In my real view, democracy is about the freedom to vote in open, free elections, with a freedom of speech and assembly etc, but is also about the way that civic society operates.

Paddy Ashdown was on the radio in his capacity as Commissioner for Bosnia, and talking about how they had established an efficient and non-corrupt police force, but their effectiveness was compromised by the willingness of judges to take bribes.

If I can contribute to establishing a (relatively) uncorrupt rule of law, I'll have no qualms of playing a small role. If done wrongly, it will be imperialist, but if done sensitively should be no more imperialist than the work of DfID in developing countries.

(Which may well be a whole different debate, but one in which my views are informed by superficial information.)

Nice to have you on board, BTW. I know you've been lurking a while, and I've been lurking back!

Road to Damascus

These Guardian articles - Bush vetoes Syria war plan and US rattles the sabre but prepares for peace persuade me.

Especially,

It will take many months for the US to rebuild its arsenals of cruise missiles and satellite-guided smart bombs, the principal weapons used in the opening stages of the air war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

For now.

I found Jack Straw's "Syria isn't next on the list" chilling. Shouldn't that have been "What list?"

In the build-up to the Iraqi invasion, some people (disingenuously) drew parallels with Munich and the failure to protect Czechoslovakia from Hitler. Certainly, although I was - and remain - opposed to the war, I do acknowledge that the rule of Saddam Hussein in Iraq was, to my knowledge, significantly more brutal than its closest contemporary comparators. It was, however, a false analogy with Hitler, because, let's be brutal, Britain did not go to war to protect the human rights of oppressed German residents. And the US most certainly didn't.

It would be infantile to compare the US, UK, Australian and Polish invasion of Iraq with the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. However, the Powers failed to stop the Anschluss, and failed to stop the German bombing of Civil War Spain, and failed to stop the invasion of Czechoslovakia.

It was established at Nuremberg that it is illegal to invade a sovereign nation except when that has already invaded another. Therefore Gulf War I was justified on this criterion, although may have been prevented if George Bush I's State Department hadn't - allegedly - given Saddam the go-ahead to invade Kuwait. This current adventure isn't, although history shows that the victors are not tried for War Crimes.

If the US and a coalition of the willing invade Syria, would that be in any way equivalent to Poland?

There is a part of my brain that computes a logic in the reasons for invading Syria: WMD, funding of terrorists, repressive regime.

But my brain is bigger. Assad is said to be 'not as bad as his father'. He seems quite open to dialogue with the West - it was a canny diplomatic move to invite him for tea at Buck House - he trained as an ophthalmologist in London. His wife describes herself I am British and I am an Arab.

The time will come when once again the Anti-War people will be forced to articulate why they are Anti-war. In the meantime, let's not allow the Rumsfeld/Cheney axis and their puppets Bush/Powell issue their vicious threats. Perhaps a bit more diplomacy, boys? And when there is a war every single warmongering bastard amongst will have to stand up and explain exactly what he did to prevent war.

I have read so much recently about the ideology of the neo-cons in the US - the Wolshowitz/Perle/Feith/Cheney/Rumsfeld brigade. I have read how this combines with the idiotChristianity of the idiotBush. I find it incredible that their ideology/theology is about removing Islam, Islamism and Arabs (between which they appear not to be able to differentiate) from the Middle East to fulfil a theological destiny whereby Christians are poised to be in the right place come the Armageddon, with Jews acting as the useful-but-dispensable foot-soldiers, or alternatively, the more practical ideology of lebensraum, perhaps in act of atonement for inherited cultural collective guilt for letting the Holocaust happen.

Perhaps that man who has reappeared outside the Tube, decrying, "Repent, for these are the last days" is right.

Loss

Read this post at Making Light, read the eloquence of the comments and reflect on the Barbarism which has been allowed to happen.

Only three months ago I spent a day in Cairo, barely touching the surface, but seeing the Great Pyramids, the Sphinx and the remains from Tutankhamen's tomb. Treasures that are three thousand years old. Our guide for the day was an Egyptologist, Hannan, and she described the centuries of looting that had removed precious artefacts from such a historic place. Three thousand years ago, the Egyptians were creating this spendour. Two thousand years before this was the Sumerian civilisation.

Destroyed in a day.

How can this be compared to the loss of human life? It can't. But what are we without civilisation?

Utterly uncivilized.

When history has forgotten Geworge Bush and Saddam Hussain, and Jennifer Lopez and whatever counts as culture today, history will remember the desecration of civilisation.

From the comments ' Donald Rumsfeld quipped,

"The images you are seeing on television you are seeing over, and over, and over, and it's the same picture of some person walking out of some building with a vase, and you see it 20 times, and you think, 'My goodness, were there that many vases? Is it possible that there were that many vases in the whole country?'"

War is over?

Okay, I know that there are no claims as such. There were some interesting pictures on the telly news. Sorry I didn't watch them all day, but I had some vital audits to produce an annual report on, and others to plan. I know this is not earth shattering stuff, but like so many of us, I have a job which has little global significance. Ah well, it pays the bills.

The fall of Saddam Hussein is A Good Thing. Now is the time for the difficult part to begin. I hope that I can look back on this in a year's time and say, "Yes, it really was an unqualified success and I was wrong to oppose the war."

We - we being the International Community, whatever that is - have now to assist and empower the Iraqi population in building a civil society with a rule of good law. We have to ensure that the infrastructure of Iraq is rebuilt. We have to oppose any attempt by the fundamentalist warmongers of Washington to move on into Iran and Syria, we have to ensure that Israel is no longer supplied with the weapons to destroy Palestine.

And there are other issues from which we have averted our gaze. Frizzy Logic has raised the issue of the war in DR Congo which is barely getting a whisper.

Possibly I speak only for myself, but I know very little of what is happening in Afghanistan now, or Kosovo, or Bosnia. War makes good telly, but what comes afterwards is less interesting. As a student, a copy of a Labour Party Election Poster of 1945 adorned my wall - I now have the mug. It reads "Now Win the Peace". I hope to come back and read this in a year and say, "Yes, the peace was won."

Blogging etiquette, Part 2

I'm never sure quite how long one should carry on an argument in someone else's comments box. So I thought I would conclude it here.

Kim wrote:

everyone needs to put their feelings aside and support our boys: they are out there prepared to die for your freedom.

I wrote:

Is that an order, Kim? How, exactly, will 'our boys' protect our freedoms by bombing Baghdad.

Would that include the freedom of free speech and free thought. Or 'feelings' as you call them.

Can I suggest you start exercising the freedom of thought - rather than parroting some trite expression from a tabloid newspaper?

Could you also consider how many people with a military background are opposed to the war? And ponder and reflect why.

Kim responded:

i do not read tabloids
i do have free thought: i believe the war is the right thing to do
i am not of a military background
when i have observed anti-war protests, the only people there have been kids skiving off school, hippies and people with an iq too low to actually understand why we need to go to war.
please do not make assumptions about me when u dont even know me: would u have the guts to go and fight for your country?

Three more people with differing views argued their case. Then Kim said

...also, in commenting on the kids and hippies, it was merely an objective observation. again, dont insult my intelligence when you dont even know who i am.
blair has different objectives for this war than bush. i dont support america but i do support britain.

I think I decided not to respond, because 26 Spicy Brains are quite a lot. So, here is my response:

Our boys is a very tabloid expression. Perhaps you don't read tabloids, but you certainly don't read real newspapers and magazines, either, or you would know what a cliché 'our boys' is. Especially when quite a few of them are 'our girls'. You are completely entitled to your views; so am I, and please don't tell me what to think. I didn't say you were of a military background - I merely alluded that quite a number of military types are opposed to the war, and are able to deal with the non-contradiction of also hoping that casualties are zero (or as close to as possible). You can't have observed any protests, even on the TV, to notice that the protesters were extraordinarily diverse. Into which of the categories does Miss Dynamite fit? Or a middle-aged, middle-class former Tory Parliamentary candidate of my acquaintance? Not to mention a good number of bloggers? You haven't actually explained why we need to go to war. Or how bombing Baghdad actually protects our freedoms.

I made no assumptions about you. If you believe that Blair has different objectives - which is not wholly inaccurate - why don't you question why he is happy to go along with George Bush. How can you say you support Britain but not America? In this specific circumstance they are indivisible. It's not really like supporting your nation at football, where blind devotion is customary. Asking me whether I would have the guts to go and fight for my country is a clever question. I've never had to make that choice and I doubt they would have me. I suspect that if it were necessary for me to fight for my country I would do so, but not out of guts, out of sheer necessity and the survival instant. Meanwhile, who exactly is fighting for this country right now? With the greatest respect, it is not the British forces. they're fighting for Iraq, which is quite a different country altogether. I am not aware of any occasion when Iraq has ever attacked Britain, nor do I believe that they have the capability of so doing. The previous Gulf War was a fight for Kuwait; the Falklands was arguably a fight for our country, or, at least for what was then known as a Dependent Territory, and now an Overseas territory. I will fully admit I was almost totally wrong to oppose that - although I still think Maggie gloried in slaughter, and I still believe it was wrong to torpedo the Belgrano.

The observation on kids and hippies was a bit more subjective than objective, I would say. Those word things - difficult, aren't they? No, I don't know you, and I think it would be wrong to comment on your intelligence - merely your use of words. And your obvious inability to answer the points put to you.

That makes me feel better!

City life

I find it depressing that there have been so many British casualties as a result of 'accidents' and 'friendly fire'. But I won't say more because I don't have any knowledge to make any sensible comments.

Today was our second attempt to spend a day in Richmond. We got up at a reasonable time and were on a bus to London well before twelve. It was pretty hairy walking across Westminster Bridge. Bloody tourists.

We went to Westminster Pier but realised to our disappointment that there are no boat trips to Richmond in the winter. Winter? This is spring. I tried the Tfl wap site for information but it was useless on boats. I really need to get my mobile internetting sorted.

I suggested we went to Waterloo Station to get a train to Richmond; Jimmy suggested checking out the boats at Waterloo Pier. We strolled along Victoria Embankment, which was surprisingly deserted. We crossed by Hungerford Bridge, which I haven't been across since it was rebuilt. Being a blogger I stopped from time to time to take photos which may turn out really arty or really crap.

We found that there were no boats to Richmond from Waterloo, either, so we kind of abandoned the idea and went for a walk instead.

We strolled along the South Bank, something we haven't done since last year. It was a lovely day for a riverside stroll. Around the London Eye is very touristy, with a lot of people from overseas and out of town, but from Hungerford to Blackfriars is mainly Londoners. We lunched in the Doggett by Blackfriars Bridge, then onwards to the Millennium Bridge. We agreed that on one rainy Sunday we'll do Tate Modern.

We crossed the Millennium Bridge pausing to admire the architecture developing there - with the new bridges, and Ken's Palace, and the Gherkin (which I recently discovered is visible from Brixton Hill) - it brings an exciting contrast with the splendid classical form of St Paul’s.

We went in St Paul’s - neither of us has ever been in our life. Being a Sunday, it wasn't great for site-seeing, but we stayed for a bit of Evensong. As we sat on the steps outside I reflected on the numbers of people down the centuries who had come to this church, or its predecessors, to pray for peace in time of war.

When we were bored with Evensong we strolled through the deserted streets of the City to Postman's Park. I am trying to recall which blogger drew this to my attention just before the Blogmeet. I will post photos in due course, hopefully before the end of the month.

We travelled back from Barbican via Moorgate and change at Aldgate East for a District Line train, bound for...Richmond. But we got off at Embankment for coffee, and went home. We will get to Richmond this year, I promise. Or die trying.

How dare he...

As a member of the Labour Party I am fully signed up to receiving a weekly email from my Party. During the Main and Spring conferences this becomes a daily one. On big days eg Budget Day, I get a bonus one. And I like it, it's a way to get an idea of what the party thinks is important without the filtering of the media who may have a separate agenda. It always come from The Labour Party, and is generally sent on a bcc basis. The General Secretary sent one on Wednesday saying that he was responding to Party members who had contacted him wanting briefings on Iraq. Which I think is good.

Today, I received an email from "Tony Blair" - I've included the full text below in case you're interested. I don't know if I object more to the "Dear Colleague" salutation, or the standard but meaningless "This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed." Or mayb ethat it was personally emailed to my email address.

I recall canvassing in the 1998 council elections and an elderly woman promised she would vote for me because I'm Irish (I'm not but if she wants to believe that...) , and because Tony Blair's Irish, and because he's gorgeous.

In the 1999 European Elections I was leafletting. The leaflet contained a photo of the ten candidates in Greater London, and, on the front page, a photo of Our Tone looking boyish yet Prime Ministerial. Another elderly woman said with what I believe to be all sincerity "Ooh, I'll put this under my pillow!"

I don't think the personal email from Tony will have quite the same effect, you know. And I think there's a disingenuity in sending it out. It's like some apparatchik at Millbank wants us to support the war because Tony's basically a nice bloke who plays the guitar. It doesn't work like that.

Last night's telly

I realised with some horror last night that I had over ten hours of taped TV building up. So I settled down for a viewing. I started with Episode Three of the Great War, from ten days ago. Episode 4 wasn't shown last weekend, because of sport, or something, but judging from the Radio Times, it won't be shown next week either. I suppose the Beeb have pulled it out of sensitivity to the current situation, a logical decision, but in my opinion, a wholly inappropriate logic.

I then watched "This Little Life". David Morrissey was in this, and, as his sister had the impossible task of teaching me netball, I always try to watch stuff he's in. The "I knew his sister" has been overtaken by a realisation that not only is he generally in fine dramas, but is a rather fine actor. This was a terrifyingly weepy drama. Not sentimental-schmaltzy, but haunting.

I then watched the last two episodes of Cold Feet, the death of Rachel. Again, extraordinarily weepy. Although I know these are only fiction, watching such things, especially late at night, does affect me emotionally. They rather affected my inability to sleep (perhaps not helped by the hour's nap I had taken earlier in the bath - not exactly quality sleep).

So to wake up to this morning's news, no less shocking for its predictable inevitability, has left me rather melancholy. When I was younger, wars (or, indeed, illegitimate invasions) used to make me angry and passionate in my railing against the international patriarchal-capitalist conspiracy. Now it makes me sad and despairing.

I think a good bit of escapist catching up on four episodes of Grange Hill will do me good tonight. I know I should be protesting in Whitehall, but, I feel powerless.

(And Jon, I've only just spotted your comemnt - I would very much appreciate taking you up on your video offer and will email you later!)

Cook's speech

BBC NEWS | Politics | Cook's resignation speech - I'm doing a few posts over the next few days which are really just a way of recording a few things in my journal for future reference - he received a standing ovation and even applause for an electrifying delivery of a dignified speech about why he was resigning over the imminent war with Iraq. Lord Hunt and John Denham have also resigned. Clare Short decided to stay pit: the media analysis is that her credibility is in tatters.

Tory resigns

It's only scrolling across the BBC News Front Page at the moment but my old -adversary? - John Baron has resigned from the Tory front bench over Iraq.

I have tremendous respect for John. We fought against each other in the 1994 council elections, and were school governors together. We also connected on our shared love of Manchester United. A decent man, who unwittingly let onto me that the 1997 election was in the bag when he implied he didn't stand a chance in Basildon. He also took the then Town Hall branch out of Streatham Conservative Association in protest at the inexorable rightwards drift charge. When asked to provide 'background' on him, this was the only negative I could come up with. I regret not congratulating him on becoming MP for Billericay - a safe safe safe Tory seat.

I wonder if his Guards background influenced his decision.

Update The Guardian has a resignation roll-of-honour.

In the pub

I think I ought to reproduce almost verbatim my monologue in the pub yesterday. I say almost, because it could probably do without all the "f*!&>ng"s.

I am sick and tired of all this rubbish about a special relationship with the US. What exactly do we owe them? Over the last sixty years, they've screwed us and screwed us and screwed us, never supported us, and we have to go and fight their bloody wars - for what...

In the Second World War they made a packet out of Lend Lease - fair enough, we were desperate, and the price goes up to desperate people, but they stipulated that if Britain be occupied by the Axis powers the entire Royal Navy had to surrender ...to the USA; while we were fighting, they took our export markets, again, a reasonable result of the free market; they only entered the war when Pearl Harbour was attacked.

We passed them our nuclear secrets in the spirit of co-operation, they used our secrets to progress their research and didn't share the knowledge back; our troops fought alongside them in Korea, all that did was to give Attlee a route to talk to Truman, but no veto over nuclear weaponry, and no veto over an invasion of China; in Suez (which I believe was a very wrong policy by the British Government, but it was British and French policy), they refused to support us; in the Falklands, not only did they not help us, but, John Nott, Thatcher's Defence Secretary, believes that Al Haig leaked our military secrets to the Argentinians, causing death and injury to many British troops; in 1984 they invaded a country, Grenada, of which the Queen is Head of State, without informing the Foreign Office (Thatcher was incandescent); and in Gulf War 1, their amphetamine (speed)-fuelled pilots killed too many British troops.

Remind me, why should we be fighting George Bush's war?

Apropos of this conversation, I asked an acquaintance of mine how he would react if he were called up - he said he was too old, I said I went to his fortieth so I knew he was under forty five, he said he would go. I was shocked; then I remembered that he had previously been not only a Conservative Party member but actually working in Central office, until he realised that their electoral hopes were desperate, at which point he switched parties.

Some people won't let principles get in the way of their careers; perhaps because they don't have any principles.

Oh God, I can feel my blood pressure rising. And that is not like me.

Iraq

I'm trying to avoid going on about this god awful war too much, but I just want to express my admiration for Donald Rumsfeld. Some of us have known for long enough that the Americans don't need British troops to fight their war.

So Blair and Hoon, WTF is going on? Don't get involved in their dirty war. I want to hold my head up high and say "Proud to be English", not have to pretend to be Irish when travelling the world.

Call it off, boys, remember, it's schools and hospitals that will win the next election. And while you're about it, ask how many public servants /reservists (including a teacher friend of mine, possibly) are going to be called up and what effect that will have upon schools and hospitals. And Delivery Delivery Delivery on key election pledges.

Call it off.

They have racism in Ireland, too

This came to my attention when I was flipping through the headlines on O2 WAP. As well as the threatening to ban 'coloured people' from shopping centres, the same judge in a different case had pronounced that all the people driving in Ireland without a licence (and, therefore, without insurance) were Nigerian.

First of all, I would like to say that I do not in any way condone generalisations about people based on their race.

However, I will make some observations. When I was in Sixth Form, there was universal horror that one of our friends was driving unaccompanied without having passed her driving test. She could not see that it was a problem. She happened to be Irish.

Some years later there was a report on the TV about the shortage of driving examiners in Ireland and the long waits for driving tests. They came up with a statistic that something like half a million people in Ireland drive without having passed their test (which is roughly the same as in the UK, but out of a population less than a tenth).

So all the Nigerian-Irish driving round without licences have obviously gone native.

We heart Lithuania

I just heard the most amazing piece of arrogance on the Today programme. (And no, I don't mean the Peter Mandelson/Michael Portillo discussion).

Apropos of the NATO row, they interviewed some Congressman from the US, called Pete King. He stated that France and Germany (and Belgium) were of no consequence, that Germany started two world wars, that France has no aircraft carriers (the French Ambassador to NATO said that wasn't true) and their only use in Iraq would be to show the Iraqis how to surrender. Jim Naughtie said that consequence is not merely about military might. This snivelling little toad said with utter contempt in his voice, "Oh sure the French have culture." Naughtie suggested that France and Germany are a driving force in the European Union, which is a rather powerful bloc. This King bloke then asserted, "Oh the EU's changing. The countries that matter are Poland and Lithuania."

There was something fundamentally nasty about this man, that Norman Tebbitt seemed possibly sweet in comparison. Not only nasty, but deeply dishonest. Why not just say: "The strategic foreign policy of the government of the USA is to ensure that our dominance is maintained, and, in fact, increased exponentially. We accept that there are some well established nations whose governments will challenge our world view. Therefore, we'll cultivate the weaker nations so that they'll be on our side, and then we'll meet down the bus station after school and my gang will be bigger than yours ner ner ner ner ner and anyway you smell, and your mother, oh look I can stick my tongue out. Eugh eugh eugh eugh eugh you like girls."

Quite apart from the aggressive and destructive foreign policy pursued by the US government, I detest the sheer tone of sneering contempt coming from too many of their politicians. Rumsfeld is the absolute epitome but this bloke on the radio indicates that it's more than a personal arrogance coming from Rumsfeld - it's a vein through the body politic.