Identity crisis?

When I was a child my father's father lived in our house with us, so when the phone rang and someone asked to speak to "Mr. Burrard" I had to ask "which Mr. Burrard, please?". Today, long after both my grandfather and my father have gone to a better place, I have to stop myself from asking the same question when people phone me and ask for "Mr Burrard" - I can't imagine that it could possibly be me that they want to talk to!

I've been a bad blogger

I stop posting for a couple of days, and suddenly, it's nearly a month. What a bad blogger I am. Sorry everyone. Sorry Bronwyn, and thanks for your comments.

I must be dreaming

Arik Sharon has just made a speech to the UN calling for Palestinian statehood. Arik Sharon? Incredible! Arik Sharon has just called for tolerance and reconciliation in the Middle East. Arik Sharon? Astonishing! The BBC News web site has given a favourable report of Arik Sharon's speech. Now that really is unbelievable!

Yep, Arik Sharon. After years of being the darling of the Israeli Right, this macho general-turned-politician is using words and phrases that some on the Israeli left hesitate to use. For the first time in a great many years, world leaders and the world media are actually expressing their satisfaction with Israeli actions, and their expectations of decisive actions by the Palestinians to restore order within Gaza, and to respond favourably to Sharon's speech.

This state of affairs is extremely rare, and we all know it isn't going to last. Not once people realise that Sharon's ulterior motive for relinquishing Gaza is an attempt to keep much of the West Bank. So let's just enjoy it while it lasts.

How we see people - a word about the aftermath of the hurricane

The disaster of Hurricane Katrina, compounded by the disastrous way in which local, state, and federal agencies failed to respond to the crisis, has devastated many lives. It has also affected those of us who are far away from the tragedy, because it has changed the way we see other people. If the first image we have of a person is seeing them shocked, injured, and bedraggled, waiting, who knows for what, in a makeshift rescue centre with thousands of others, then we are liable to completely unjustified conclusions about their lives.

This is what a friend of mine in the US whose family have been badly affected by Hurricane Katrina wrote:

It's funny, I've never thought of my family 
as anything other than good people 
who are rich in love and have huge 
giving hearts. I learned the true meaning 
of family from them. Now, the world sees
them as poor, black folks. 
That makes me so sad.

38 wasted years

Israel's military occupation of the Gaza strip has finally ended. For 38 years, Israel devoted valuable resources to administering a territory for whose residents it failed to take responsibility. All of its efforts were a total waste of time, money, and lives. Now even Shimon Peres admits that that occupying Gaza was a historic error. How tragic it is for both Palestinians and Israelis that it has taken 38 years to reach this conclusion.
People who have the best interests of Israel at heart, as well as those who want to see progress and prosperity for the Palestinians, should now breathe a sigh of relief.

Homeopathy is Bunk -official

I am sure this is going to upset a lot of people, but a study published in The Lancet today claims that there are no benefits from homeopathic medicines other than placebo effects.

I have always been a bit sceptical. On the one hand, a complementary practitioner provided very valuable dietary and other advice which helped alleviate my son's repeated bronchial problems when he was small, after conventional treatments had failed. But he described himself as a "naturopath" rather than a "homeopath". On the other hand, the idea of homeopathy that a substance could diluted thousands of times, and then thousands of times again, and that the molecules of water used for dilution would still "remember" the essence of the substance, has always seemed to me to be a bit fanciful.

There is a detailed report on the BBC news website.

Whose victory?

Someone asked me why I was so pleased about the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, since Hamas were claiming it as a victory for their tactics, and as a defeat for Israel. Surely, they asked, since you are a supporter of Israel, you should be upset by this defeat? Surely, they asked, allowing Hamas to taste victory means that there will be more terrorist attacks against Israel, and that means that peace in the Middle East is even further away.

I disagree. The Israeli withdrawal from Gaza is not about victory or defeat. It's about doing the right thing. It is so clearly the right thing for 6,000 Jewish civilians to move out of a territory inhabited by 1.5 million Palestinians. It is the right thing to do, ethically, morally and politically. By being an occupying power for 35 years Israel has not only caused great hardship and suffering to the Palestinians, it has also corrupted itself. Leaving Gaza proves that Israel can survive without huge chunks of the territories occupied since 1967, and I hope that eventually it will show the people of Israel that their state can survive without most of the West Bank as well.

The settler rump forcibly removed by the Israeli Army this week represented a messianic fundamentalist Judaism which has a small but vociferous following. It is very significant that their view of the future of the Middle East has been dealt such a serious blow. Most Israelis. like most Palestinians, just want to get on with their lives in peace. The disengagement has very wide support across all sectors of the community in Israel, except of course, amongst the settlers themselves. They had dictated the agenda for far too long. Now it is time to move forward without the messianic baggage.

I am not a romantc who believes that the end to the occupation will bring an end to terrorism against Israel. But it should make it much easier for the moderate, pragmatic Palestinians (who I believe constitutue the vast majority) to reach an accord with Israel that brings hope for the future. I am more hopeful this week than I have been for a long time. If the withdrawal from Gaza is a victory for anyone or anything, it is a victory for optimism.

Low tech gizmo

I've just got a Cool Laptop Stand - not only does it raise the screen to a more ergonomically-correct height, but it frees up some of my desktop space as well. As I am currently using a very small desk, this is a big bonus.
I am amazed at what a simple low-tech idea this laptop stand is - when I phoned the company to check shipping details they told me they had shipped 4,000 units since January of this year. Now, when am I going to have an equally simple-but-brilliant idea, I wonder?

JB challenges BBC on M&S

I have had a small taste of publicity this week. I submitted some comments on the BBC's extensive coverage of the fortunes of Marks and Spencers which were used in their NewsWatch programme (on BBC News 24 and BBC 2) and reported on the NewsWatch web site.
My voice was heard on international television!

Blair knows best

Blair's "we know best" style of government had two more outings this week. First, Ruth Kelly ignores an education reform report that her own department commissioned, and then the man himself gets all in a tizzy because some senior MPs and Lords dare to criticise Charles Clarke's new anti-terror proposals.

Council tax must go

Michael Howard announced today that if elected, the Conservatives would introduce discounts on Council Tax for pensioners.
Talk about second-hand and second-rate initiatives.
The Lib-Dems have been advocating the aboliton of Council Tax for ages (pdf file - see page 5). The Lib-Dems would replace the Council tax with a local income tax, so pensioners would automatically pay much less. So would the low-paid. Middle income earners would pay more, but it would be a far more equitable system than one based on arbitrary, and out of date property valuations. I would pay a bit more, now when I am working, but I would pay a lot less when I retire (or if I became unemployed).
A local income tax would also force central government to allocate resources more fairly to the councils that needed them most- the councils where low-income families live. Part of New Labour's spin has been to allocate local government support with more reference to politics than to need. While they have introduced legislation forcing councils to provide new services, they have not provided funding. (An example was the increase in teacher's pensions that local councils had to pay, but for which no increased grant was allocated.) This has allowed Blair and Co. to criticise Conservative and Lib-Dem local councils that have been forced to raise council tax, when in fact the tax was being raised to fund a central government - that is, a New Labour - policy.

The devil in the details

There's a new university course at a Vatican-linked university in Rome, according to an AP report in the Washington Times. It's a course on Satanism, black magic, and exorcism.
Now I wonder if Education Secretary Ruth Kelly would be keen on seeing that sort of course in a British University?

Some sense at last

I have long believed that the expression "military intelligence" was a contradiction in terms, especially when applied to the senior echelons of the Israeli Army. Imagine my surprise when I read in today's Ha'aretz newspaper that an Israeli military committee have concluded that demolishing the family homes of terrorist suspects causes Israel more harm than good.
According to the report, the committee has found that

the damage to Israel caused by the demolitions was greater than the benefits because the deterrence, limited if at all, paled in comparison to the hatred and hostility toward Israel that the demolitions provoked among the Palestinians

I am astounded. What will they think of next?

Told you so

The other day I commented that Ken Livingstone's refusal to apologise over his tasteles remarks to a Jewish journalist might gain him plaudits from quarters whose support he doesn't usually enjoy.
And today, my prediction has come true: Boris Johnson thinks he shouldn't apologise!

"I'm not a racist"

Ken Livingstone refuses to apologise for comparing a newspaper reporter to a concentration camp guard (see The Guardian, 16th February 2005)

The comparison would be odious in any circumstances - clearly not everyone who defends themselves by saying they are only doing their job is totally devoid of all morals, as Mr. Livingstone would have us believe. It is particularly odious as the journalist in question happens to be Jewish, and when he pointed this out, Mr Livingstone persisted in his analogy. The fact that the journalist works for a newspaper that Mr. Livingstone detests is also no excuse.

The most serious aspect of Mr. Livingstone's refusal to withdraw his remark is that he is giving succour to the real racists and anti-semitic bigots. Comparing Jews to Nazis is part of the standard repertoire of extreme right-wing propganda. It is racial stereotyping of the worst kind. The exact nature of the stereotype is unimportant (Jews may equally identified as Nazis, Commies, or Capitalists), but the message is clear. The Jews are villainous outsiders, and not to be trusted or even tolerated.

By refusing to recognise the implications of his remarks, Mr Livingstone risks alienating liberal-minded voters and attracting the support of those very racists whose thoughts and actions he claimns to abhor.

"Tories are terrorists"

I've just read the article "Tories are terrorists" on the anti-Blair website BackingBlair. I certainly agree with the analysis in this article. It is clearly true that Blair's favourite rhetorical device is the "false dichotomy". This is the idea that there can only ever be two sides to any argument. If you disagree with me, you are obviously wrong and obviously support my enemies. If you disagree with the war in Iraq, you clearly want Saddam back in power. If you don't support Blair, you are a Tory. If you don't support Blair's reforms of public services, you are part of "the forces of conservatism" and so on. So, the article goes on, if the terrorists are against Blair, and the Tories are against Blair, the Tories are terrorists.
Of course, the Tories and terrorists are alike in one respect - I can't stand either of them!