WHAT HAS BEEN HAPPENING

Where to start, and this is only what readily comes to mind at the end of this week :


Bulgaria, I am told by a Bulgarian,, has recently had two earthquakes not far from the capital, Sofia. they were about 5.6 and 4.5 on the Richter scale;


Bulgaria, a bus with Israeli holidaymakers is sabotaged by a bomber, people are dead and severely injured.


Syria; what is looking more and more like civil war, continues to wage, killing and maiming many innocent people in its train. 

Afghanistan is still unsettled and people are hurt and people die.


Aurora, Colorado, USA. A Gunman fires a gun at people in a cinema at a late night film show.  Twelve people are said to be dead.

A father and his three children are found dead in a wood in Southern England. No one else is being sought for the deaths.

An Avalanche on Mont Blanc took the lives of nine people last week, fourteen others were injured at the time  Another two deaths are reported this week on the France-Italy Border of the mountain.


The recession continues to make headlines in particular, how it affects European nations and what it means in terms of austerity here at home in the U.K. The Chinese and American economies come in for  some scrutiny too.


A  Metropolitan policeman caught on video assaulting a newspaper seller on his way home, (who was not in, and had not been in the midst of a demonstration nearby) who collapsed and died close to the site of the assault,  is found not guilty of killing the man. Information indicating  nine previous complaints about the police officer's  behaviour, was not offered to the Court by the employing police authority.


The security of the Olympic games venues in Britain has been creating headlines because the contracted out services could not be achieved by the company, G4S, holding the contract.  The Armed Services and Police will fill the breach.  In Scotland, the police will take the lead role in providing security at the Football venues.

Trains In The Central Belt of Scotland are derailed through the affects of excessive rain. Passengers and staff are okay.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of recent news, it is, however, a lot to absorb.

AN ART IN DIPLOMACY

I clearly remember watching the present Queen's Coronation on a small black and white television. Those early ones were a great lump of furniture, some with very attractive wood grain that had a small screen set in them. Many televisions were ordered and bought especially for the spectacle. This was the first time that a Coronation was going to be screened live into vast numbers of peoples' households. While I cannot honestly say I understood everything that occurred, I was very aware that something unusual and different was about to happen. And, for this day, lots of people were having a day at home. We were invited to a friend's house along with the rest of the family.

Owning a television or renting one, had not been commonplace. This Coronation was an event, not just for its uniqueness, but also, it was a major event I can say I saw through a grainy screen. I have clear memories of the canopy being set in place at the ceremonial point of anointing; Zadok The Priest, a musical flare that I stored in my memory; the crown being held aloft and placed on the head of the new Monarch; her, trailing down the aisle at Westminster with the crown balanced on her head, (it looked a bit big) her ladies-in-waiting managing the purple train, which was edged in ermine; finally, there are moments of memory of the Golden Coach journey, smartly dressed footmen, like those in fairy stories, and the horses hooves clattering their way back to the Palace.

A relative who died a few years ago, related to me memories of two coronations. For one she had received an invitation, not to attend inside Westminster Abbey, but to be seated outside in stands constructed specially for the day, on the route that the new King, (George VI) would take in his coach back to Buckingham Palace. Her dad, a tailor, had designed and made her a beautiful long skirted heavy dress coat from tapestry cloth, for the occasion. The ticket holders had to arrive several hours earlier than the scheduled time for the grand parade. Negotiating with the policemen to leave the stands to visit the toilet, she said, was an art in diplomacy.

BEING FLY

If it was April first, (all fools day) I would have been highly suspicious of this bit of news. 

The Chinese, demonstrating the need to improve public hygiene, have decreed that there must not be more than two flies at any one time in public toilets. Not being familiar with Chinese public toilets I am unable to assess what improvements this might make, apart, of course, there being a limited number of flies bothering any one individual who feels the urge to relieve themselves. 

Thinking about how a reduction in flying flies might be achieved is another mind boggling aspect, which was not touched upon in the announcement. Would this health and hygiene requirement provide extra employment? Perhaps training for fly swatters is taking place across the many miles of China as I write. The swatting hordes could descend where needed at any given time.

The simplest way to execute most flies, in all probability, is to install equipment like glue boards, or 'Insectocuters', like those we see in restaurants and kitchens. They spit every time they score a success. I would guess that the Chinese make the technology for export. But would they employ it for their own services?

BRITAIN'S RESPONSE TO RESCUING PEOPLE

When British and other Nationals were advised to leave Egypt, the advice to them was the same, (when you could obtain information) as people have been receiving in Libya. The means of getting to an airport (or other exit point) was up to the individual. This guidance is very limited at the 'best' of times, and hardly works for for people who are stuck in the centre of bombarded areas (like war zones in or near Tripoli)or marooned in a desert or anywhere else construed to be the middle of nowhere.

The word has got to the British media by various means, that the response of the British Government to helping our citizens and anyone else, is woefully inadequate, indeed it is pathetic. While other countries have been getting their citizens and other nationals out of the danger zones, where they can, under media pressure, the very best Britain could offer, and very late in the proceedings, was one plane which got stuck on the tarmac for 10 hours going nowhere. Meanwhile, in television interviews, the Foreign Secretary of State, William Hague, sat in a high-backed winged leather armchair, looking serious and important, making disingenuous statements about Government concerns and rescue activities.

While the revolutionary turmoil continues apace in the Middle East, cut backs have been announced in the maintaining of, and staffing of British foreign embassies and legations. We will be told, no doubt, that the services given, (I think we now need to know what they are)can be offered in a more progressive,(which means radical) and efficient manner. If a large number of countries take the same view, there will be no-one to merge with, no country on which we can piggyback minimal services, or ask to act on our behalf for British nationals abroad. What value is Britannia, when she is internationally sinking into an abyss.

RAOUL MOAT: A MAN WHO KILLED AND WOUNDED

Raoul Moat. The person who had this name, in a very short space of time enjoyed a certain level of notoriety in the U.K.  He engineered, by his behaviour, a large and expensive manhunt, a necessary hunt.  Remember, we will all have to pay for it. 

Moat's state of mind and his personality can be analysed to kingdom come, where presumably he now rests along with the dead victim of his actions. To do what he did, there was some pre-planning, there were accomplices who looked after him, and in all likelihood, supplied Moat with his lethal tools. Once Moat started the roller-coaster of destruction, it was unlikely he would be able to stop it. He had probably worked out beforehand in his own mind, how the brakes would be slammed on. 

It should not be forgotten, this man left many victims. His own children, will no doubt, learn to survive their father, I hope they do it well. Then, there is one policeman and an ex-girlfriend who have been shot and injured by him. In addition, there are the families and friends of these people. They all hurt and grieve. Moat has a brother and an uncle that we have heard from, they will experience emotional turmoil too.

Due to the media playing the angles and distortions game here, anything to keep the story going, sell papers, gain or keep audiences, with absolutely no care as to the effects on others who have been hurt, Moat is suddenly sparking a posthumous persona as a victim of every control structure in society. Lest we forget, this man worked as a bouncer; he was not averse to using power and controlling others. 

The spree killings in Cumbria, ( in the North of England)  a very recent one day horror, has not, as far as I know, resulted in the perpetrator being venerated as a victim. Setting up Moat to be a heroic victim in his end, is a distorted, vainglorious coup de grace.

IS THINKING,COMPARISON AND ANALYSIS ALLOWED?

This week I have heard 'news'........  So what?

At the beginning of the week BBC Radio 4's flagship news programme, A.M. announced that the mayor of a town in Thuringen, Germany, had the novel idea of selling pot holes.  You can pay about £45 for a 'good' pot hole.  From the discussion it sounded like some of the pot holes were deep enough to abseil down!  Your donation would allow your very own dedication to lie over the repaired hole in the road.

Yesterday, Wednesday 10th March 2010, there was  general news reporting and sharp analysis on the domestic banking reports.  It was balanced off with a brief review of how this news sat with global financial developments. To my chagrin, I was unable to keep the channel tuned because of the location I was in.

Not being able to continue to listen  to BBC Radio 4,  I tuned in to Radio Scotland, who present a morning news round, meant I think to offer quality analysis with news, but with the specific Scottish  elements or focus.   I was surprised to hear again, about the pot holes in Germany, by now, well past being fresh news, followed by the banking news of the day, which had huge gaps,  missing very important information and thereby, changing the character of the report beyond recognition. 

Radio Scotland, sadly, presented old news  to fill a space, I should think, although they could have produced in the time, a better and broader and more honest analysis of the banking feature.  What I heard on Scottish news was so bereft of vital elements, which, had I not known about from its sister news broadcast on Radio 4, (which comes from London) would have skewed the news to the point of being disingenuous, at the least, inexpert at best.

There are plenty of  snappy  sound-bite magazine programmes on radio and TV channels, there is also plenty of shallow provision in the tabloid media.  Unfortunately, the  broadsheets, (they were once quality papers to read and study) are dumbing down and going in the same sound-bite direction.  I am not naive about newspaper slants, but amongst their articles there could always be found interesting features and analysis from more than one point of view.  Thinking, comparing and analysis was allowed!!

Scotland's main Radio station has got to be better than any of this.  It is not.  I found it very disappointing indeed.

WHAT A RAG BAG

We were informed on the front page of the midweek local paper that the expected national budget cuts would undoubtedly affect local cultural organisations. This was juxtaposed next to a day of lectures last weekend in celebration of Darwin. As we don't have oodles of funding for our local cultural life, we're not hearing anything new. The local community will still pull the occasional bunny out of the hat, it always has.

I valiantly continued to digest the highlights of our twice weekly local rag, (it was a newspaper once upon a time). Thinking about the level of the subjects covered on the inner pages,you'd have thought we lived in the Wild West..... junior version.

Reading on, there was a feature on the failure of a chiller system in one of the grocery stores, leading to there being some empty shelves.

 WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO WORLD NEWS?

One of the things I look forward to when I travel, is obtaining a more global view on news. Many establishments have access to a number world  news channels I don't normally see or hear.  There is a certain ease in becoming myopic, focussing on ones own British navel, when home.  This time, I was really disappointed with the subscriptions that were available. 

Fox News.  Listening to one political analysis which was undisguised extreme right wing bilge, it struck me that the 'senior reporter' would not have passed a tertiary college exam with it.  Then I hear that Mrs Palin, ex- vice presidential candidate in the last U.S. elections,  is being employed by Fox............right, that puts the thinking and knowledge levels in perspective.

CBBC International - fine if you want repeats of the Teletubbies.

NBC news or discussion programmes not available - no longer being subscribed to, however, there was;

BNBC - a business arm which did give some global enlightenment.  It was presented quite well but when it came to specific smaller business successes for 2009,  I began to wonder who had what financial payback from whom.

BBC International News.  There was more of an international flavour to the the headlines and discussion, such as it was.  I soon longed for the World Service where, it was, and still is possible to read through the lines.

Sky News.  Okay for keeping up- to- date with UK news. A reporter at the Blair Atholl garage, not that far from Perth in Scotland, spoke of the A9 trunk road being difficult to negotiate.  It would be, as would the B roads and the usual little side roads that remained little attended to.  A woman was interviewed who said she could not get out and no-one could get to her, yet, the intrepid TV crew managed to 'get to her' and interview her outside.  Of course, the general point was not lost, that is there were people who were virtually housebound by the Arctic conditions. 

Then, to cap it all we were asked to watch how slowly the dial on the fuel pumps functioned at the garage, because of the low temperatures.  Did they perform for the camera, did they hell.........the dials revolved  sweetly and at a speed you would usually expect them to work at.  And still the camera focussed on the dials!

The Sky TV sports analysis..." There are two teams, it is certain that there will be a winner today, without a doubt by the end of the day, there will be a winner".