Spring in Ursynow

So the sun came out the other day. Time to get the shorts on, and go for a walk, while it lasts: Easter is coming so with my luck the weather is bound to change, turn cooler and (probably) wet.  I'm not called The Rain Man in my family for nothing.....   I didn't go far.  There is a small but pleasant park close to my block, Park Jana Pawla II, named for the Polish Pope, so I wandered out to it.

We used to go there frequently, whatever the weather, because there is a very good kids' play area with see-saws, climbing frames, swings, a roundabout and similar equipment that can cause damage to under 5's if you're not watching them like a hawk.  But not the floor: it's covered with a kind of slip-free rubber material that offers good grip (so no home-made slides in icy winter) and is relatively soft to fall on (from gear that is much smaller than the stuff when I was a kid).  In those far off 1950s days, the slide and swing frames were a good 15 feet high, and the roundabout a primitive wood and steel affair that could carry at least 20 kids round and round at breakneck speeds - and all of it bolted onto a concrete and shingle area that could shred knees as well as trousers if you fell off, and break young bones like matchsticks.  And frequently did......ah, happy days!

So anyway, the playground was full of laughing and screaming kids, and anxious parents jabbering into mobile phones or reading newspapers - a normal sunny afternoon in fact.  Everyone was having a fine old time ignoring each other (at least the adults; the kids were playing together as kids always do, whether siblings or perfect strangers.  It's a shame a kind of reserve, a shyness, creeps in with puberty and teenage zits that puts up barriers that the really young don't have).

The grassy areas between budding bushes were full of slightly older kids kicking footballs around or talking or gaming on mobile phones, and squatting dogs on the end of long leashes held by uncomfortable owners, scrabbling around in pockets for  plastic bags or something to clean up.  Other kids were cycling or skateboarding around on the clean and well tended pathways between the lawns, and old age pensioners sat together on freshly cleaned and painted benches with ornate iron armrests, gossiping, complaining or laughing together in a grey haired and toothless companionship that, despite my advancing years I will not join (even though on age grounds I am eminently qualified)  This is another advantage in lacking Polish language skills.

I found a bench to myself, and sat down in the sunshine.  For a while I watched the kids chasing straggly pigeons on the flower bed surrounded grass area across the path from me.  It's an occupation that always make me smile.  No matter how quiet and careful the kids are (and "quiet and careful" are not words that usually sit well with the typical 4 year old), the pigeon, no matter how old or infirm, will always avoid the attack.  The bird will flutter a few feet, then settle down to forage again, its back carelessly turned on the advancing kid......and again....and again....until bird or child gets bored with the game and buggers off.

I decided to read a bit more of my book.  Currently I'm wading through Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" and frankly it's doing my head in.  Now I know all about the book - how it upset the Muslim community to such an extent that the Ayatollah Khomeini (then Supreme Leader in Iran) issued a fatwa against Rushdie, who was forced into hiding and 24/7 surveillance and private protection at a cost of millions of pounds - part funded by the UK Government who were understandably reluctant to allow a British citizen to be slaughtered over a book.  I know he was always a bit of a controversial author, and a bit of a media darling, partly because of his writing and partly because in his ad agency days, pre-"Midnight's Children" (his Booker Prize winner - and indeed recently voted the Booker of Bookers) he came up with the immortal "Naughty - But Nice" slogan to advertise cream cakes on the telly.

Now I've read "Midnight's Children", plus a short story of his called "The Prophet's Hair"  - both of which, along with "Verses" show him to be anIndian and probably lapsed Muslim himself - and I can see they are very imaginative and surreal stories, full of fantastical imagery and a twisted sense of  humour......and I can certainly see why any devout Muslim would be offended by some of his prose and ideas.  But to kill the bloke for it seems a bit harsh, because above all else I find the writing is so......I guess turgid is the word.  It's written with many Indian English phrases and slang, and a sing-song metre that makes it hard to understand.  Having worked with Indians a lot over the past 20 odd years I can get that more easily perhaps, and given his nationality this of course is quite natural for him.  But any book that contains convoluted sentences that run to a full page or more with odd punctuation and mixing proper English with Hinglish is going to be tricky, no matter how clever and convoluted the plot.  I had the same problem with Melville's "Moby Dick"   But I will finish the damned thing eventually....I'm stubborn like that.  Can't say I'm enjoying it much though.

Anyway, I read it for 20 minutes or so (a couple of paragraphs) and then gave it up as a bad job.  I wandered off around the edge of the park to the football and basketball area.  It's fenced off, and is a small sided astroturf (sorry, 4G) surface with smaller goals and a couple of hoops courts running across the pitch, one in each half.  There are many of these scattered around the city (I think probably every park of any size has one) and they are always in use either by one of the many football schools, local clubs or public schools, or simply by groups of people having a bit of fun.  I watched a half dozen teenagers having a kick-about and I have to say the pitch looked and played a lot better than the ones that Sutton and Maidstone use in the the English National League (the fifth tier in the English game's pyramid structure).  "Plastic pitches" are widely hated by most of the game back home, apart from the clubs that use them, and there is a continuing debate amongst both the game's governing bodies, players and supporters, as to whether they should be banned outright.  I've played on the older versions myself, many moons ago, and they were passable but not as good as they were made out so be.  The newer ones, like this one, look much much better and I would think must be a pleasure to use.  God only knows what Maidstone and Sutton are doing on the threadbare front room carpets they call pitches.

Jusr around the corner from the pitch, round another path winding between well tended and colourful flower beds, is our local church.  Like all city churches (and many village ones), it's huge, and in our case relatively new - our entire suburb itself is less than 50 years old I think.  In front of the main entrance (served of course by wheelchair ramps) is a big paved area that acts as an over-spill when there is a particularly important Mass - Easter or Christmas, say, or weddings and First Communions - and the church itself can't hold everyone.  There are speakers mounted on the wall by the doors and the Mass is broadcast to the celebrants who perform all the usual devotions outside.  Sometimes too a kind of fair is set up there - on Palm Sunday for instance (another decent sunny day, though cooler) there were perhaps twenty stalls, covered by gaily coloured striped awnings, selling the traditional palms for Mass (plus another couple selling home-made smoked cheese and honey - delicious).  There is also an area, sunk perhaps three feet lower than the surrounding square, that contains 20 or so fountains that play in a kind of synchronised pattern - very pleasant on hot days, when kids use them to cool off.  Along either side of the square are ranges of small shops - a chemists, a second hand clothes shop, one selling dash-cams, others.  There is also a rather excellent ice-cream parlour (the only place I know that sells beer flavoured ice-cream, and very nice it is too), and on the opposite side of the square another small cafe that sells coffee and tea, a selection of pastries and cakes and, er, ice cream.  I bought a coffee and sat in the sunshine for a while drinking it and just watching the world go by.

 

 

Then I simply headed home for dinner, as the temperature started its retreat from the balmy 20C, and the sun dipped below the apartment blocks between home and the airport in a beautiful sunset (red sky at night and all that stuff).  As I walked past another street cafe, just across from my block (KillBill's - must try it sometime), I reflected that I was in a good place.  I've worked hard for nearly 50 years, and now retired, with my health intact.  While not wealthy, I have a lovely family and a warm, comfortable home in a pleasant and safe neighbourhood.  I finally, for the first time I can remember, have next to no stress in my life (beyond the normal worries any family man has).  I'm fit and healthy (touch wood!) for my age, and very very happy.

I'm doing ok.

Postscript:  I started writing this on Wednesday evening, but what with Easter prep, shopping and suchlike I've only just around to finishing and publishing.  It's now Easter Saturday, and remarkably the weather remains good - sunny still and the temperature consistently hitting 20C.   And not a cloud in the sky or spot of moisture anywhere.  The Rain Man, for once, seems to have missed a trick.  Happy days!

Assange - not Britain's problem?

So Julian Assange has exchanged the relative comforts of his own room at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for the more spartan shared accommodation offered to residents at Her Majesty's pleasure. I suspect the prospect of having company in his cell will not necessarily be an improvement on the 7 years of his self enforced solitary confinement – but if things pan out as widely expected it's something he will simply have to get used to, either in the UK, in Sweden or (the stuff of his nightmares) the good ole US of A.

He is clearly a strange, even disturbed, individual. If the truth is being told by his former hosts, he is a deeply unpleasant man. Ignoring the rules imposed by the Ecuadorian government on his stay, such as using a non-declared mobile phone, hacking into the Embassy security system and files, installing (allegedly for his own protection) security cameras in his room are all somewhat rude things to do but given his evident paranoia perhaps understandable. Not cleaning your bathroom or showering for weeks on end is not simply lazy, it's filthy. Extreme goat breath and dental problems because you haven't cleaned your teeth for God knows how long is also questionable. Best not to consider the state the contents of his laundry basket (on the allegedly rare occasions it was emptied) must have been in. And as for the most shocking allegation – smearing shit on the apartment walls in some kind of deluded “dirty protest” - well, that is beyond the pale, not at all the sort of thing any normal self-respecting house guest would do, and it's quite understandable that he has been kicked out.

He has certainly gone down-hill during the years of his incarceration. When he walked into the place back in 2012 he was quite a smart, well dressed and – er – clean individual. White shirt, tie, suit, smart haircut – the debonair businessman rather than spy, enemy of the state or alleged sex offender. The appearance changed gradually over the years, and the smart suit and ties morphed into tee shirts, jeans and rather tacky mock-leather jackets. The hair grew whiter and more unkempt. By the time he was dragged, kicking and screaming (still seemingly craving the attention of the assembled press and tv crews) down the steps yesterday, he looked like a tramp. Bushy and untrimmed white beard. Dirty looking white hair slicked straight back and with a laughably small and stupid samurai bun thing at the back. Scruffy and probably dirty clothes. I've seen smarter guys dossing under cardboard boxes.

Dear, oh dear.

I remember when he first came to prominence with his WikiLeaks web site (the one Mr.Trump praised something like 164 times on his Presidential Campaign trail, as it dished the dirt on Hillary, but yesterday denied all knowledge of (“it's not my thing....”). I read a report then in I think Newsweek about his activities, and was broadly supportive. This was in 2010 and all the fuss about the whistleblower Edward Snowden was all over the news, and of course WikiLeaks (as well as the Guardian and other outlets who had used the the purloined information) was heavily mentioned. It seemed to me then, as it does now, that nobody should be above the law, whether individual citizen or government agency. Shining a spotlight, no matter how unwelcome, on the FBI, CIA, GCHQ or whoever was transgressing and ignoring the law to questionable ends seemed a good thing and still does. This is particularly so when the activities are sanctioned by a government. The fact that huge organisations like Google, Facebook and so on were doing very similar things – essentially data harvesting and selling without the owner's permission (and how exactly you define the precise “ownership” of online data is a legal question that continues to exercise legal minds still – and probably will for years to come) – did not enter the argument. I don't even remember it being mentioned.

Then came the Bradley (Chelsea) Manning Leak – the dumping of hundreds of thousands of pieces of information – text messages, e-mails, reports, and – most damaging of all – audio and video files that showed incontrovertibly that US forces were carrying out, with dreadful regularity and without a shred of regret or shame, atrocities that were clearly war crimes. And the US government, probably with the connivance of its allies (including the UK) was covering it all up. I was working in Trinidad at the time with a team of Americans, and they were apoplectic. In their view, without actually seeing any of the stuff – on principal they were not prepared to look at the evidence that was there for all to see – both Manning and Assange were traitors, spies, devils incarnate..... You name an unfavourable epithet and it was applied. Pretty much all of them were openly calling for the firing squad (except one who suggested solitary confinement in Leavenworth for the rest of his life). I had a look at WikiLeaks myself, and the information there was shocking – but none of my colleagues were interested. I thought he was actually doing a public service, although his methods were questionable.

Subsequent interviews shed some light on his activities. He was a hacker, pure and simple, and had been for years. His insistence that he was no more than a “publisher” - people passed the information to him, he and his team vetted it and published it when satisfied of its veracity – seemed a little contrived but he didn't seem to be doing anything different to investigative journalists the world over, just using more modern methods to achieve the same results. Grub Street moving into the 21^st century – and nothing at all wrong with that.

I've dipped into the site from time to time since then, but truth be told it's turgid, unless you are in the intelligence community or an investigative journalist yourself – which I am not. A lot of the content is not in English, for a start – WikiLeaks has a global reach and seeks its content accordingly. There is also just so much stuff there – picking your way through to find the odd nugget (and without doubt there are many) is a full-time job and needs a specific mentality that I simply do not possess. It continues to provide its service still, with or without Assange in day to day control.

But it was not the WikiLeaks spy stuff that sent him scurrying up the steps of the Ecuadorian Embassy seven years ago. It was something more simple, more basic than that. He was a fugitive from the Swedish Justice system, and fearing that the UK authorities were going to arrest him and put him on the next available flight to Stockholm, he did his runner.

He had been accused by a pair of Swedish women of some sexual shenanigans in Gothenburg. One woman pointed the finger at him for sexual assault – basically a bit of unwanted fumbling in a nightclub somewhere: offensive and completely unacceptable in this day and age, and deserving of the Swedish police force's attention. The other charge was much more serious – the woman claimed to have been raped in a hotel room by Assange. It was mainly for this allegation that the Swedish authorities requested he travel to Stockholm for an interview – no charges had been brought against him for either charge (and still haven't) - , “helping police with their enquiries”, as the press would normally report it.

Assange basically hit the panic button. Fearing arrest and deportation to the States, where it was made clear a warrant for his arrest on espionage charges relating to the Manning Dump was being prepared, he denied everything and holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he was granted political asylum.

Which is where we are today. He is now in British police custody and has 9 weeks to prepare his defence, because the Americans, clearly pre-warned by either Britain or Ecuador (or both) has issued an extradition request on a quite minor charge of unauthorised accessing of a government computer. More charges, more serious, are expected to follow, once they've got their grubby little mitts on him. The Swedish authorities have also stated they are considering applying for extradition to them: although the assault claim has expired under a 5 year statute of limitations, while he was holed up in his Embassy retreat, the more serious rape allegation remains in force, and its statute of limitation expires next year. To be clear: at this point, no charge has ever been brought against him for this.

I am not outraged by any of these goings on – except for his appalling behaviour in the Embassy for all these years. I can't get upset about his assistance in the Manning Dump because I seriously believe what he did was intended to be in the public interest. The American troops' behaviour that he highlighted was disgusting and unforgivable – and if anyone should be on trial it should perhaps be any identifiable individual who gave the order to take out innocent women and kids or neutral journalists doing their job and then laughed as the order was carried out, or the guys who pulled the trigger and cheered. They are the murderers, not the guys who revealed their crimes to the world at large.

I should probably be more upset about the sex-pest allegations, because the offences – sexual assault and rape – are clearly unacceptable, just wrong on so many levels. But right now they are simply that: allegations. No arrest has been made, as far as is public knowledge no evidence or proof has come to light, and Assange is wanted in Sweden simply for interview and if then needed, charge. Legally (if you accept the usual innocent until proven guilty position) the bloke hasn't done anything wrong. That is for the Swedish police and justice system to prove. If they do so, they must throw the book at him and bang him up for a long time. Then, I will get outraged.

But now? Frankly, I'm ambivalent. I have a definite problem with extraditing him to the States, because there is no way he will ever get a fair trial there – not under the current regime, anyway. It would also set a nasty precedence that would allow the Americans to demand the head of any investigative journalist who does his job properly and exposes something that the administration of the time disagrees with and wants covered up. Cover up is never acceptable, no matter which country or administration is involved.

So send him to Sweden then? That seems to me the best answer: he's essentially been on the run from their justice system rather than our own, the alleged rape took place in Sweden and hence should be punished in Sweden – if proven. Assange's fear remains that Sweden will merely pass him over to America, and this might happen quickly (if charges are not brought for this case) or at the end of his prison sentence (should it be proven and he serve jail-time). It's a valid fear, I think. However he ends up in America, he will likely face and quite probably (guilty or not) serve years in the pen, maximum security.

But he has clearly brought this entire situation onto himself, and seems to be a very unpleasant and manipulative individual, with a gift (and need) for self-publicity. A bit of Marmite character – he has many high profile supporters (Lady Gaga and Pamela Anderson were regular visitors to the Embassy, and of course Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott have already made their pitches in Parliament and on Twitter to stop a US extradition. They should be more focused on Brexit!) but most people either dislike him or like me don't really care too much.

At the end of the day, it should not be Britain's problem – we have far more important things to take care of than the future of Julian Assange.

BREXIT - another Summit, another fudge

Brexit will be the death of me. Another month, another emergency summit in Brussels, as an incompetent British Prime Minister tries to rescue her beloved deal (that has already been roundly rejected by the House with record Nay votes multiple times) and force it through an incoherent and terminally damaged Parliament that seems to be able to agree on only one things - May's deal is crap.

So. Hallowe'en then. Terrific - another 6 months. Now I voted Remain, and still think that leaving is a huge mistake, but I am sick and tired of all these arrogant and dogmatic scumbags in Parliament holding the entire country to ransom. If we're going to Leave, then let's get on with it. So here is my wish list:


1. May shows some backbone for once in her life, and makes it clear to the House that this is the Last Chance Saloon. She MUST also listen to what MPs on all sides are saying - not just Corbyn's lot but EVERYONE, on whatever side of the argument and no matter how small their party's representation. They have still been elected to serve the wishes of their constituents and have a right to be heard. This is NOT and should NEVER be, a Tory Brexit. If she is not prepared to do that, she should go now. Today.

2. Corbyn must get off the fence and stop wheedling for an Election that he probably won't win anyway. He has to embrace one of two opposing arguments - either we Leave now, in which case co-operate with the Nasty Party to deliver, or we have another referendum, People's Vote or whatever you want to call it, in which case he must push for that with 100% commitment. Bleating on about negotiating an alternative agreement with the EU, "under a Labour government" is pie-in-the-sky nonsense - if he doesn't understand now that the EU will NEVER re-open negotiations on the deal, no matter who is in power (I use that word tongue in cheek) then he never will. Jezza, stop behaving like a two year old, throwing your toys out of the pram every 10 minutes, and show some balls and political leadership. If you are not capable of doing so then you should say so, and go now. Today.

3. Above all, May must tell the ERG and the DUP bigots that they do NOT own this negotiation. They have held the country to ransom for far too long, and must now come into line. The ERG must support a cross-party solution (assuming one can be found) and compromise their dogma or else resign the whip and leave the Tory party today (the same message should be put to other Tory Brexiters who are not in the ERG). The DUP must be told that while the border issue is important to its relatively small support, it is NOT more important than the combined futures of England, Scotland, Wales and the majority of Northern Irish voters (who accept the need for the Backstop). The Border issue MUST then be first priority in the Future Relationship discussions that can't even start until we've left.

4. The Easter and Summer Parliamentary recesses should be cancelled today. Our elected representatives have far too much critical stuff to do between now and Hallowe'en to go swanning off on holiday for three or four weeks at a time. Leaving it all up to their departments, advisors, secretaries and civil servants is not acceptable this time. They should be working at Westminster to sort out this unholy mess that their political games and personal vested interests have dragged my country into, against its will (no matter which way we voted three years ago, we did NOT vote for this shambles). Arguably, 17.4 million citizens voted in favour of something they had no idea was going to happen - because nobody had a clue what Brexit really meant. Not even that plank Cameron, who called the Referendum and mis-worded the (way too simple) question.

5. Finally, May and her Cabinet MUST abide by any solutions that can be reached in the cross-party discussions and that can carry a majority in the House - even if that solution means revoking A50 and staying in, remaining in some kind of customs union, or holding a further referendum to validate Parliament's preference. They cannot continue to ignore the voices of everybody else. If they really and truly believe in the democratic process (as certain Members are continually insisting is the case), then our voices simply MUST be heard. A second vote (in reality the third or fourth on this entire European question) is in no way a betrayal of democracy. People have the right to change their minds and register that change in this just as in any General Election. The Government has spent the last four months twisting arms and cutting deals in order to persuade dissenting Members to change their minds, and yet are reluctant to allow members of the public electorate to register their change of mind. That seems to me rather less democratic than granting a further public vote.


Do I think any of that will happen? No - but there's nowt wrong in hoping. I suspect, come the middle of September, we will be in an even bigger mess and pleading with the EU for yet more extensions...... God forbid!