It may not quite top the list, but when it comes to things I really don't feel like thinking or talking about, Iraq is definitely up there.
I've just had it up to here with it.
I'd had it up to here with Iraq days after it began, when gigs were getting cancelled, shortly before the whole world went mental. A grossly unsatisfactory situation redeemed only by the novelty of being able to throw the word "war" around in a current context. And the obscene flippancy isn't quite so lost on me today.
So I did sit through that special edition of question time, on the occasion of the fourth anniversary, and listened to the whole thing. Only just. It featured, of course, the token pro-war american diplomat, the fiercely anti-war Tony Benn, some idiot from the conservative party, and the former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, a less obvious choice perhaps, but I felt she spoke the most sense out of any of them. Tony Benn is of course my hero for life, I've heard him speak in person at a conference I went to last year, and it was fantastically inspiring, however in this situation his rhetoric was just a bit too caricatured I felt, and instead of being involved in the argument most of the panel (especially the yank) just ignored him.
Even more interesting, however, and more harrowing also, was the input of the audience, which included iraqis, people of other middle-eastern nationalities, and people who's lost friends and relatives in the war such as one woman whose son was killed while serving.
Her comment, "I'm proud of my son but ashamed of my gouvernment for sending him to Iraq," struck me as bizarre. This sounds like something an American would say. I'm not being funny, and I hate to generalise, but I remember after Lewinsky-gate americans saying things like "I feel ashamed of our president" as if he was a close relative or something, and it sounded odd to me then and still does now. English people, on the other hand, generally don't tend to feel ashamed of their politicians - they hammer them into the ground, they jump down their throats and are the first to condemn them, they don't stand beside them and accept partial responsability for their idiocy! Which, if you ask me, is a far healthier approach.
Isn't that the whole point behind the opposition, the anti-war coalitions, the mass demonstrations and the endless outrage - that are all summed up in the seminal dictum - Not in our name.
I don't think the Brits have any call to feel ashamed for the actions of their government, anymore than Iraqis do for the those of Saddam Hussein.
Why the association? Why the apologism? Whence the shared responsibility? To whom is this misguided loyalty felt to be owed and why? I am not "ashamed" of Tony Blair for supporting Bush and sending troops to Iraq, I'm not ashamed of Bertie Ahern and the Irish government for letting american planes land in Shannon, I'm not ashamed of the people who defend them, who advocate imperialistic regime change and who continue to justify the whole wretched process. I'm outraged and incensed by it. I was outraged 4 years ago, and I'm still outraged today.
Watch last Thursday's edition of Question Time
Tony Benn's Stop the War coalition
Because I will never have recommended it enough, Baghdad Burning.
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Thanksgiving
A gold star for the BBC for not being on a complete downer about the Treaty of Rome anniversary, & coming up with a list of ten things the EU has done for you. And one which, furthermore, professes to transcend from the europhile-eurosceptic bickerings, and stick to the cold, hard incontestable facts. So not only is it positive - it's positive and neutral! Surely not. Anyway, I won't list them all here for you, but here are my top 3, in descending order. If you look closely you might notice a theme running through it.
3. Easy travel "In the old days, travellers in Europe had to put up with different currencies, regular border crossings and customs checks, and even trains of different gauges... Now one currency, the euro, suffices for most European countries and border posts have been abandoned between the 15 countries that have implemented the Schengen accords"
2. Cheap Flights "Between 1992 and 2000 prices at the cheaper end of the market fell by 40%. At the same time, consumers benefited from a wider choice of both carriers and destinations, the number of routes linking EU member states increasing by nearly 50%"
1. Foreign Study "Thousands of students take part in foreign exchanges ever year under the EU's Erasmus programme. The programme helps students learn foreign language, gain experience of another culture, and profit from the host country's expertise in their field of study."
No surprises then, that I'm primarily grateful to the EU because it's the reason I've been to 8 countries so far this year (9 if you count Luxembourg, but who counts Luxembourg) and most of them more than once, extremely cheaply and with a minimum of currency, passport & security hassle. Because it's the reason I'm able to to do this Erasmus lark. And of course, because it puts money in in my bank account every month for the pleasure of faffing around the Parliament.
Cheers, the EU. Have a good one.
We'll talk about the protectionism, eurojargon & democratic deficit when the party's over.
I'm from Barcelona
So mission Spain-averse reverse got off to a good start, Barcelona turns out to be surprisingly enchanting, and enchantingly surprising. Myself and Marg did all the usual required things one would expect, consumed inordinate amounts of tapas & sangria, visited the melting church & various other trippy bits & pieces of Gaudi architecture, & smoked inside excessively because we could, as well as some slightly less conventional things aswell, like drinking Starbucks coffee for breakfast by the port, and downing several rounds of baby guinnesses on St Paddy's night. I blame the taking of such cultural liberties on the her being a yank factor.
It's black & white Italian cinema fortnight at Odyssey, which I'm possibly even more excited about than I was during the Fin film or Gypsy themed sessions. On tuesday went to see "Ladri di Biciclette" with a small crew from my science-po de l'europe class, and tomorrow I'm hoping to get to "La Strada" because it just doesn't do never to have seen a Fellini film, does it?
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Press release
Rather eventful session this week, am now on first-name terms with all the security staff following an epic battle against bureacracy in order to get an expired pass renewed. Myself and Rafaele also interviewed Pierre Moscovici, which was rather traumatic as it involved getting to the apparently non-existant 12th floor of the tower, which is located in a parallel universe we were eventually able to find with the help of none other than Mr Anti-Europe himself & leader of the UK Europe-haters contingent - Nigel Farage, who was entirely amiable and extremely helpful, so my opinion of him has been radically reconsidered. Somewhat.
Anyway, a lot of things came up but the rest of it will have to wait as am in Barcelona ce weekend, attempting to stamp out the last remnants of my Anti-Span policy, which things like Dali, the institution of a Socialist gouvernment led by a valiant pro-European, and not hating the Spanish language nearly so much as I used to - have all contributed to gradually remedying.
As for that military coup I mentioned, the state of affairs appears to be even worse than I first thought, as calls for an early election & demonstrations of collective action, with protests leading impressive numbers out onto the streets to condemn Zapatero's political decisions and even his "illegitimate" regime, prove that it isn't just the officers who are grumbling. I suppose mobilisation is good thing in itself, even if they're mobilising in the wrong direction. Aie aie aie, non me gusta.
Anyway, a lot of things came up but the rest of it will have to wait as am in Barcelona ce weekend, attempting to stamp out the last remnants of my Anti-Span policy, which things like Dali, the institution of a Socialist gouvernment led by a valiant pro-European, and not hating the Spanish language nearly so much as I used to - have all contributed to gradually remedying.
As for that military coup I mentioned, the state of affairs appears to be even worse than I first thought, as calls for an early election & demonstrations of collective action, with protests leading impressive numbers out onto the streets to condemn Zapatero's political decisions and even his "illegitimate" regime, prove that it isn't just the officers who are grumbling. I suppose mobilisation is good thing in itself, even if they're mobilising in the wrong direction. Aie aie aie, non me gusta.
How will you spend yours?
Normally I don't condone making fun of the EU, it's too easy a target, although I will share with you part of an article by Roger Boyes suggesting ways to celebrate the EU's 50th birthday on the 25th of March, just in case you were at a bit of a loss for ideas...
Organise a street party The families at number 25 and 27 will insist that it was all their idea and you have diluted the fun by inviting the whole street. Don’t forget to ask the Turkish family at No 72, then change your mind and ask for the invitation back. You can’t stop the Romanians from the council houses at the end of the road coming, though. Set a date for the party, then argue about the buffet until midnight the day before. Call it a success, whatever happens
Birthday song Gather the neighbours to sing Ode to Joy. In 40 languages. Simultaneously
Family fun Consult everybody about the sort of celebrations they want. If they don’t want your own favourites ask again until they wearily agree with you
Put out more flags Festoon the lampposts with flags of all EU nations. Under Flag Display Parity of Esteem regulation 24, section vi, paragraph 6a, all the flags must be regulation size. Only the Union Jack will adhere to this, however. None of the neighbours will take any notice of the rule. Take down the Union Jack after the Health and Safety regulation 6,124 deems it a hazard to birds. The other flags continue flying
The birthday cake Cut the cake into 27 pieces. Argue about who put what into it and who should get which slice until it goes stale. Eat it anyway. Complain about the extra bit the Jones’s took and ask who ate all the raisins
Celebrate peace Make a speech pointing out that no-one in the street has attacked a neighbour for 50 years. Try not to look at the nice couple who work at the Deutsche Bank as you say it
I think I'll be going for the third option.
Organise a street party The families at number 25 and 27 will insist that it was all their idea and you have diluted the fun by inviting the whole street. Don’t forget to ask the Turkish family at No 72, then change your mind and ask for the invitation back. You can’t stop the Romanians from the council houses at the end of the road coming, though. Set a date for the party, then argue about the buffet until midnight the day before. Call it a success, whatever happens
Birthday song Gather the neighbours to sing Ode to Joy. In 40 languages. Simultaneously
Family fun Consult everybody about the sort of celebrations they want. If they don’t want your own favourites ask again until they wearily agree with you
Put out more flags Festoon the lampposts with flags of all EU nations. Under Flag Display Parity of Esteem regulation 24, section vi, paragraph 6a, all the flags must be regulation size. Only the Union Jack will adhere to this, however. None of the neighbours will take any notice of the rule. Take down the Union Jack after the Health and Safety regulation 6,124 deems it a hazard to birds. The other flags continue flying
The birthday cake Cut the cake into 27 pieces. Argue about who put what into it and who should get which slice until it goes stale. Eat it anyway. Complain about the extra bit the Jones’s took and ask who ate all the raisins
Celebrate peace Make a speech pointing out that no-one in the street has attacked a neighbour for 50 years. Try not to look at the nice couple who work at the Deutsche Bank as you say it
I think I'll be going for the third option.
Grow up, democracy
Despite my general opinion of Piers Morgan as something of a Banker with a W, as they say, I have to admit I was very amused by the little anecdote he contributed to Question Time last thursday. Along the lines of, "I once had lunch with a Lord... he fell asleep into his soup" as if this clearly justifies the notion of an all-elected House of Lords, perhaps based on the argument that appointed Lords are inevitably a bunch of narcoleptics? Or just old, conservative and senile? I thought it was cash for honours and Blair cronies factor people found most offensive.
A certain MEP was this week the unfortunate victim of a rather caustic attack from one of the Lords, via the intermediary of a UKIP member, after merely making a few helpful suggestions about acheiving reform and improving democratic performance. He didn't take it too well. I would love to quote it, but it might get me into trouble. I'm terrible with sensitive information, like when my MEP goes "...if the Press gets hold of this all hell will break loose." Which is really the wrong thing to say to someone who's the child of two journalists.
Anyway, the point is the exchange clearly testified to the rather sensitive & volatile nature of the whole debacle, and this poor unsuspecting chap just happened to fall fowl of the obviously nervy & highly irritable current disposition of one amongst many other Lords, I imagine, perhaps to be taken as an indication that they feel they're on shaky ground.
However, I don't think this particular Lord (whose reponse contained some rather offensive not to mention unoriginal accusations about the EU - oh because we've never heard the one about "a country called Europe" before) or indeed any of his colleagues need to be losing any sleep over this. To me it seems more like a palliative measure, going through the motions of adressing the question.
Stranger things have happened, but let's be honest the UK isn't exactly famous for radically renovating its more archaic institutions. All this business about needing a "mature" democracy might be rationally coherent, but against the hefty weight of institutional pomp, precedent & tradition, I don't think it has a prayer.
MPs back all-elected house of Lords - BBC News
A certain MEP was this week the unfortunate victim of a rather caustic attack from one of the Lords, via the intermediary of a UKIP member, after merely making a few helpful suggestions about acheiving reform and improving democratic performance. He didn't take it too well. I would love to quote it, but it might get me into trouble. I'm terrible with sensitive information, like when my MEP goes "...if the Press gets hold of this all hell will break loose." Which is really the wrong thing to say to someone who's the child of two journalists.
Anyway, the point is the exchange clearly testified to the rather sensitive & volatile nature of the whole debacle, and this poor unsuspecting chap just happened to fall fowl of the obviously nervy & highly irritable current disposition of one amongst many other Lords, I imagine, perhaps to be taken as an indication that they feel they're on shaky ground.
However, I don't think this particular Lord (whose reponse contained some rather offensive not to mention unoriginal accusations about the EU - oh because we've never heard the one about "a country called Europe" before) or indeed any of his colleagues need to be losing any sleep over this. To me it seems more like a palliative measure, going through the motions of adressing the question.
Stranger things have happened, but let's be honest the UK isn't exactly famous for radically renovating its more archaic institutions. All this business about needing a "mature" democracy might be rationally coherent, but against the hefty weight of institutional pomp, precedent & tradition, I don't think it has a prayer.
MPs back all-elected house of Lords - BBC News
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
How's your relationship with death?
Only the french could mourn the passing of indoor smoking with quite such melodrama, in quite such romantic terms and to quite such an extent. And mourning it they are. I did however, find myself rather taken in by the contribution of a certain nameless reader in Liberation last week (and I'm not translating because I like the phrasing too much):
And I suppose it is rather offensive, not to mention futile, this paternalistic hounding of the smoker who knows exactly what they're doing, as if they were genuinely expected to be convinced by the incredibly naive suggestion that the practice of actively harming oneself in the name of some form of gratification were somehow novel, somehow deviant, or in any way exceptional.
Perhaps in one of my "wholesome" bouts of carrot-munching jogging teetotalism (infrequent as they are) I might be quick to dismiss the elegant prose & to condemn point blank the unsavoury and rationally indefensible practice of polluting others' & one's own lungs. Today however, and with the frame of mind I'm in for most of the time, I'm certainly far more disposed to accept the realities of what I've come to realise is the universal tendancy towards a kind of self-destruction. These "pulsions de mort" as our madame puts it, that are in no way pathological."Cette propagande-maladie met a nu le secret du fumeur, son intime souffrance, un aspect visible de son rapport a la mort... cette espece de paradoxe de devoir envers soi-meme, imposé de l'exterieur, moi ca me rend tres sombre, cette infantilisation... franchement, je ressens comme une tragédie qu'on essaie de s'opposer a mes pulsions de mort. La clope compulsive est toujours noire, du coté de l'incinération, des cendres, de la destruction par le feu."
And I suppose it is rather offensive, not to mention futile, this paternalistic hounding of the smoker who knows exactly what they're doing, as if they were genuinely expected to be convinced by the incredibly naive suggestion that the practice of actively harming oneself in the name of some form of gratification were somehow novel, somehow deviant, or in any way exceptional.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Oh, wow.
I don't actually have access to TV currently, but thanks to the glorious invention of Youtube, podcasts and "watch again" features on various channel websites, it's sometimes difficult to notice.
One of the things I've been able to watch, with only a slight delay vis-a-vis its broadcasting schedule, is E4's much hyped "Skins".
Actually what really got me turned onto it was a feature on a recent episode of Screenwipe, where Stewart Lee deplores the modern depiction of teenagers in television - "selfish, avaricious but also confident, sassy and cool, and really at home with sex and drugs". Versus the portrayal of teenagers in the 70s - "terrified of the world, uncomfortable, alienated and alone" and according to him, "much truer to what it's like to be a teenager."
It raises the question of whether so-called "aspirational" television is ultimately quite destructive because it distorts people's image of real life, and what they ought to expect from it. And also because it leads people to feel "left out". While images of teenagers wandering around on their own and feeling highly alienated is presumably a great comfort. I'm not convinced.
I think Lee's assessment was essentially based on the first episode and that trailer (watch), which are quite consistent with his description as quoted above, and admittedly are perhaps a touch over-the-top and excessive, a bit cartoon-ish even, not to say ridiculous or obnoxious. The follow-up episodes seem to attempt to explore the characters and their problems with slightly more subtlety and depth. And they begin with Cassie, who is one of the most delightful & compelling characters I think I've ever come across on television. She's essentially an awfully tragic figure who's entirely disconnected from reality and at the same time somehow appears as a shining beacon of sense and reason among the insanity & frivolity of the world surrounding her. Unfortunately Cassie was made for another planet, and we all know what happens to people like that, who dont fit or play the game - they end up in mental institutions.
Suddenly it doesn't seem quite so aspirational. Then again, I think there's certain kind of "aspirational ambivalence" - one can aspire to a certain kind of suffering, perhaps not so much Cassie's, maybe more like Harry Potter's. There is such a thing as suffering with style, in addition the the implicit premise that after hardship comes triumph, and reward.
So the characters might be a smidge excessive, a bit "type" and lacking in dimensions to make up the full trio. But maybe its ok for them to be exaggerated, and can be justified in the name of producing characters to really get one's teeth into, in short - Characters, as opposed to human beings. Because that's what reality TV is for.
This is Cassie, by the way.
Watch Stewart Lee arguing his case, as featured in a recent episode of Screenwipe, about 2/3rds of the way in, and all the others while you're at it, since you certainly won't be watching any Skins, as at time of going to press all online episodes had been culled.
One of the things I've been able to watch, with only a slight delay vis-a-vis its broadcasting schedule, is E4's much hyped "Skins".
Actually what really got me turned onto it was a feature on a recent episode of Screenwipe, where Stewart Lee deplores the modern depiction of teenagers in television - "selfish, avaricious but also confident, sassy and cool, and really at home with sex and drugs". Versus the portrayal of teenagers in the 70s - "terrified of the world, uncomfortable, alienated and alone" and according to him, "much truer to what it's like to be a teenager."
It raises the question of whether so-called "aspirational" television is ultimately quite destructive because it distorts people's image of real life, and what they ought to expect from it. And also because it leads people to feel "left out". While images of teenagers wandering around on their own and feeling highly alienated is presumably a great comfort. I'm not convinced.
I think Lee's assessment was essentially based on the first episode and that trailer (watch), which are quite consistent with his description as quoted above, and admittedly are perhaps a touch over-the-top and excessive, a bit cartoon-ish even, not to say ridiculous or obnoxious. The follow-up episodes seem to attempt to explore the characters and their problems with slightly more subtlety and depth. And they begin with Cassie, who is one of the most delightful & compelling characters I think I've ever come across on television. She's essentially an awfully tragic figure who's entirely disconnected from reality and at the same time somehow appears as a shining beacon of sense and reason among the insanity & frivolity of the world surrounding her. Unfortunately Cassie was made for another planet, and we all know what happens to people like that, who dont fit or play the game - they end up in mental institutions.
Suddenly it doesn't seem quite so aspirational. Then again, I think there's certain kind of "aspirational ambivalence" - one can aspire to a certain kind of suffering, perhaps not so much Cassie's, maybe more like Harry Potter's. There is such a thing as suffering with style, in addition the the implicit premise that after hardship comes triumph, and reward.
So the characters might be a smidge excessive, a bit "type" and lacking in dimensions to make up the full trio. But maybe its ok for them to be exaggerated, and can be justified in the name of producing characters to really get one's teeth into, in short - Characters, as opposed to human beings. Because that's what reality TV is for.
This is Cassie, by the way.
Watch Stewart Lee arguing his case, as featured in a recent episode of Screenwipe, about 2/3rds of the way in, and all the others while you're at it, since you certainly won't be watching any Skins, as at time of going to press all online episodes had been culled.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Serge July always rounds off his little "La Semaine Politique" radio segment with some good news and some bad news, so today I thought I'd follow that scheme, and our subject matter for today is Ségolene Royal, who I've been meaning to write about for ages, and consequently the following isn't exactly hot off the press.
The good news
It was quite a few weeks ago that I decided it was time to push my passive support of Ségolene Royal past "in theory" & towards concrete and evidence-supported. It was a speech she delivered in Toulon which I chose to deconstruct, or attempt to. It all started off a bit weak I felt, a bit airy-fairy and banal. Enunciating principles - core principles, not even relating to socialism but to democracy at its most basic - giving people "back" a voice and this sort of general nonsense. So far so general consensus. Then it veers disturbingly towards something Sarkozy could have written. Proclaiming herself "la condidate de la morale de l'action" - moral?? could we sound a bit more centre-right please?
Thankfully she quickly steps it up, denouncing such things as the outrage of poverty in a rich country (encore que...) inequality, precarity, social insecurity, violence, fear - all for which the Right are exclusively responsible. (That's better, now we sound like Socialists!) And then recalling everyone's favourite buzzwords of the Republic: Egalité, Liberté, Fraternité - but it's not gratuitous, as she emphasises the need to give these words back meaning they seem to have lost. "Rendre le sens aux valeurs". This sounds more like practical socialism, which - even under a right-wing gouvernment, is easily observable in France, collective action is so routine nobody bats an eyelid, somehow no matter how many people are on strike everything still manages to function almost as normal.
And then she's championing young people. And not just for the sake of it, it isn't just a gimick (although maybe quoting Diam's was), it actually sounds like common sense, it actually sounds like a plan.
Vas-y Ségo!
The bad news
Ségo is clearly not infallible, as the series of high-profile gaffes on the international scene testify.
And I DO wish she'd take a strong positive stance on the EU, instead of hiding behind the results of potential future referanda, the outcomes of which are faits accomplis unless somebody mobilises some support - you can't just leave people alone to make up their own minds, that's not how political opinions are formed. Or at least, certainly not when it comes to the EU. Heads of state ignoring the EU isn't allowing the population to come to their own conclusions, au contraire - it's sending them a very distinct message.
"Il faudra beaucoup de travail pour que les francais repondent positivement" - obviously work she has no intention of putting in herself. Instead, she is adopting a very laissez-faire approach, preoccupied with being a good socialist on home ground, the rest is up to the good people of France to yay or nay any EU proposals. Europe can do its own work to win them over. Oh wait, no it can't, it doesn't have the means nor the access.
She should take a leaf out of Zapatero's book, toiling away admirably to convince his citizens of the Union's virtues. Then again, a certain MEP recently hinted that there might just be a military coup in the works. Typical.
But even beyond the euro-niverse, Ségo has alledgedly displayed "une incompétence, une légereté et un manque de gravité" vis-a-vis her diplomatic duties - a carelessness, a seeming indifference.
One almost feels she could learn a thing or two from Condoleeza Rice's dealings when it comes to putting on the "serious face" for diplomacy abroad, something Rice is particularly good at. Nobody seems to have less of a sense of humour when it comes to foreign policy. Ségo, on the other hand, seems so concerned not to put a foot wong in France & seems to compensate for it by getting a bit too relaxed overseas.
The good news
It was quite a few weeks ago that I decided it was time to push my passive support of Ségolene Royal past "in theory" & towards concrete and evidence-supported. It was a speech she delivered in Toulon which I chose to deconstruct, or attempt to. It all started off a bit weak I felt, a bit airy-fairy and banal. Enunciating principles - core principles, not even relating to socialism but to democracy at its most basic - giving people "back" a voice and this sort of general nonsense. So far so general consensus. Then it veers disturbingly towards something Sarkozy could have written. Proclaiming herself "la condidate de la morale de l'action" - moral?? could we sound a bit more centre-right please?
Thankfully she quickly steps it up, denouncing such things as the outrage of poverty in a rich country (encore que...) inequality, precarity, social insecurity, violence, fear - all for which the Right are exclusively responsible. (That's better, now we sound like Socialists!) And then recalling everyone's favourite buzzwords of the Republic: Egalité, Liberté, Fraternité - but it's not gratuitous, as she emphasises the need to give these words back meaning they seem to have lost. "Rendre le sens aux valeurs". This sounds more like practical socialism, which - even under a right-wing gouvernment, is easily observable in France, collective action is so routine nobody bats an eyelid, somehow no matter how many people are on strike everything still manages to function almost as normal.
And then she's championing young people. And not just for the sake of it, it isn't just a gimick (although maybe quoting Diam's was), it actually sounds like common sense, it actually sounds like a plan.
"Et je vous le dis ici car cela sera au cœur de mon projet présidentiel : pas un jeune ne restera au chômage pendant plus de 6 mois. Les jeunes auront un droit d'accès au premier emploi ou au premier stage rémunéré. Il seront remis en formation professionnelle si leur chômage est dû à une formation inadaptée au marché du travail. Il n'y aura plus de jeunes étudiants dans des situations de paupérisation parce que nous ferons l'allocation d'économie pour les jeunes. Je veux que les jeunes retrouvent la dignité dans notre pays et qu'ils y trouvent toute leur place parce que c'est pour eux que nous construisons la société de demain." Ségolene Royal
Vas-y Ségo!
The bad news
Ségo is clearly not infallible, as the series of high-profile gaffes on the international scene testify.
And I DO wish she'd take a strong positive stance on the EU, instead of hiding behind the results of potential future referanda, the outcomes of which are faits accomplis unless somebody mobilises some support - you can't just leave people alone to make up their own minds, that's not how political opinions are formed. Or at least, certainly not when it comes to the EU. Heads of state ignoring the EU isn't allowing the population to come to their own conclusions, au contraire - it's sending them a very distinct message.
"Il faudra beaucoup de travail pour que les francais repondent positivement" - obviously work she has no intention of putting in herself. Instead, she is adopting a very laissez-faire approach, preoccupied with being a good socialist on home ground, the rest is up to the good people of France to yay or nay any EU proposals. Europe can do its own work to win them over. Oh wait, no it can't, it doesn't have the means nor the access.
She should take a leaf out of Zapatero's book, toiling away admirably to convince his citizens of the Union's virtues. Then again, a certain MEP recently hinted that there might just be a military coup in the works. Typical.
But even beyond the euro-niverse, Ségo has alledgedly displayed "une incompétence, une légereté et un manque de gravité" vis-a-vis her diplomatic duties - a carelessness, a seeming indifference.
One almost feels she could learn a thing or two from Condoleeza Rice's dealings when it comes to putting on the "serious face" for diplomacy abroad, something Rice is particularly good at. Nobody seems to have less of a sense of humour when it comes to foreign policy. Ségo, on the other hand, seems so concerned not to put a foot wong in France & seems to compensate for it by getting a bit too relaxed overseas.
"Ce qui plombe Segolene, c'est son absence de maitrise a l'international."
Libération
Ok, so maybe they've been a bit harsh. And tricking her into saying opinionated things about the US & various other places hardly seems fair. Nor does criticising her for displaying apparent "Blairism" following a grudging admissal of progress during his term. Of course, her case isn't helped by the attempts of her n.1 rival to turn the situation to his advantage by making it all into the biggest possible deal he can. But it all just becomes entirely comedic when Sarkozy puts on his serious face to gravely announce that, "I don't find Corsica funny".
Sego's speech at Toulon (17/01/07)Friday, March 09, 2007
They aren't interested, they just don't care for it.
So I was a bit out of it last Session, which is why you're escaping some ill-informed rebound opinion on the follow-up resolution to the Lisbon strategy.
The deterioration continues, as we depart from the realm of harmless nonsense and descend to the level of offensive cartoons. Surely there's no such thing as a 24 hour intellectual. Although I know my Human Rights lecturer would probably take exception to that ("and don't be watching mindless TV programmes, towards the knowledge - always be going towards the knowledge! Mediocrity is not acceptable, etc.")
Anyone who's familiar with the genial Screenwipe hosted by the relentlessly sardonic and utterly wonderful Charlie Brooker (late night BBC4 might be described as "niche" in televisual terms but apparently it's developped a cult following, as well it should) will by now be familiar with the work of Dave Firth of fat-pie.com, whose off-the-wall creations have been repeatedly featured on the programme.
As a result of the heavy plugging, I eventually caved in and visited this Dave character's website. I have to say some of it is fairly innocuous and some has you shuddering and feeling distinctly queazy. His cartoons intrigue me though, and increasingly so the more I watch them. I especially like the fact that many are inspired from dreams (a good example), I'm big on people who work from their dreams, like Salvador Dali & the surrealists. Sounds like a band. Anyway, this one in particular rings familiar with me, as I'm sure it will with many people, after all who hasn't had the recurring "Russian laughter room" dream? Exactly.
Strange, disconcerting and downright disturbing on occasion, I recommend a visit, just don't hold me responsible for the questionable content. Still, if Charlie likes it, there must be some merit there.
Fat-pie.com
The deterioration continues, as we depart from the realm of harmless nonsense and descend to the level of offensive cartoons. Surely there's no such thing as a 24 hour intellectual. Although I know my Human Rights lecturer would probably take exception to that ("and don't be watching mindless TV programmes, towards the knowledge - always be going towards the knowledge! Mediocrity is not acceptable, etc.")
Anyone who's familiar with the genial Screenwipe hosted by the relentlessly sardonic and utterly wonderful Charlie Brooker (late night BBC4 might be described as "niche" in televisual terms but apparently it's developped a cult following, as well it should) will by now be familiar with the work of Dave Firth of fat-pie.com, whose off-the-wall creations have been repeatedly featured on the programme.
As a result of the heavy plugging, I eventually caved in and visited this Dave character's website. I have to say some of it is fairly innocuous and some has you shuddering and feeling distinctly queazy. His cartoons intrigue me though, and increasingly so the more I watch them. I especially like the fact that many are inspired from dreams (a good example), I'm big on people who work from their dreams, like Salvador Dali & the surrealists. Sounds like a band. Anyway, this one in particular rings familiar with me, as I'm sure it will with many people, after all who hasn't had the recurring "Russian laughter room" dream? Exactly.
Strange, disconcerting and downright disturbing on occasion, I recommend a visit, just don't hold me responsible for the questionable content. Still, if Charlie likes it, there must be some merit there.
Fat-pie.com
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