In several ways normal service resumed yesterday 11th January 2011.I awoke early and went for a swim, the first time in a couple of weeks and overall only the second instance since before Christmas and the New Year. It went well although I reduced the target distances to 40 length and 600 metres, an approach which will continues until I begin to lose weight by undertaking additional exercise and reducing the size of the portions of food as well as cutting out some far gaining extras.
The return enabled a look at the Times and Telegraph and three stories attracted my attention. In Australia while the Test, 20 20 and One Day matches continue a priority interest the dominating news is that a large area the size of France and Germany combined has been flooded with thousands of homes destroyed or badly damaged with a death toll of under 100, although nothing like the catastrophe that hit Haiti a year ago and where an estimated million people were made homeless and hundreds of thousands are still living in disease and mud ridden camps as large parts of the country remains in ruins and where the death toll was originally over 200000 and the injured over 300000 with thousands of others later dying from disease. Such numbers become meaningless until translated into the what happens to individual human beings. In the UK there is a major virus epidemic of influenza including the lethal Swine flu which has costs the lives of children under five and of pregnant women in particular. Yesterday I heard one upsetting story of a 29 year old mother who is not in a coma not expected to recover although the baby survives weighing only 2 lbs as do her husband and three other children. Then in the evening there was news of the murder on honeymoon in Mauritius of the well known daughter of an Irish national celebrity sportsman thus emphasising the perils of attempting to find Paradise hideaways
The second news story is the failure of the Coalition to prevent major bonuses being paid to the bankers and those engaged in the final services estimated to be of the order of £3 to £7 billion on top of situations where the basic income paid has risen up to 20% over the past year. Outrageous given that this is the year when government measures to control the national debt will have their effect leading to loss of jobs and reductions in public services as local authorities are required to make major reductions in expenditure. Howver one has to place these figures in perspective as the government will immediately take half through income tax and another percentage national insurance where the ceiling has been removed which limited the maximum which the very rich paid. In addition they will pay 20% on subsequent expenditure VAT so in reality the government will take about 75% of the amount paid out. However this does mean that an individual getting a payment of £1 million will still receive £250000 of real extra value to their lives.
The third story of particular interest to me was the collapse of a prosecution against a number of environmentalists after the defence announced they were being assisted by a former under cover policeman who had infiltrated the extreme direct action movement for some seven years. He has now resigned his position some ago and is said to be living abroad with a female environmentalist. There has been some shock horror at first the decision for a policeman who be placed undercover for such a long period. In fact the government announced they were establishing a special unit in 1990 following a spate of violent attacks from animal rights protests and some major environmental protests preventing new roadwork’s. From my perspective this is a natural responsibility of government and those engaged in direct action should anticipate this kind of monitoring of their activities, especially if they are committed to non violent action based on openness, persuasion and self sacrifice. Where I agree with others who have expressed concern is when in order to gain information the individual takes office within the organisation and in effect organises individual actions and solicits people to join in. In the particular case the authorities knew that activists were being invited to a location but they were not told the purpose of the action until they arrived. There the assumption that they intended to break the law simply by their presence is not a valid one.
The action intended to occupy and close a coal fired power station in Nottinghamshire. The police arrived and arrested everyone charging them with conspiracy to commit a crime, however the recent trial was stopped because the former uncover policeman proposed to give evidence confirming that those on the indictment had indicated at the meeting that they did not want to participate in the action once they had been informed of its nature. The emergence of the role of the undercover man now raises the prospects of appeals against the finding of guilt against others whose cases have been tried. In on the morning papers. In the Times or Telegraph there was an informed article by a former senior officer with responsibilities for this kind of operation. He made the point that placing police men and women in deep cover had risks for the officers involved and hence the activity require close monitoring, mentioning one officer who had become a class A drug addict in an operation targeting drug criminals. I recall that the Daily Mail reporter embedded with London Holy Loch march established a great relationship with the marchers arising from sharing in the experience over a number of weeks. This project and the Liverpool to Hull matches over two weeks in which I participated involving and small group core of under 50, walking to together 10 to 15 miles a day in all weathers, bedding in sleeping bags on wooden floors and with only each other’s company for entertainment creates bonds that can last a lifetime.
I decided against going to the cinema to watch the 2009 version of Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr Watson. my impression at the time that this was a version set in contemporary London designed to appeal to the teenage 20 something weekend cinema audience. I should have given the matter better attention then having enjoyed watching the film on HD TV twice over the past week. True the film is angled at the weekend audience with a tale of black magic and virgin sacrifice and much fast moving action, dramatic moments and such like rather than the fastidious thoughtfulness as Holmes observes and analyses, and then unveils his conclusions to the police and Dr Watson. However I shall remember this version because of one haunting image and incomplete Tower Bridge seen at distance as well as at close up with the main span yet to meet at the centre.
The story is of Holmes and Watson rescuing a young girl who is about to be sacrificed for the pleasure of one Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), just before Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsden) arrives with his force to complete the capture. Blackwood is found guilty of other similar crimes and is sentenced to death. Three months later there is evidence of Blackwood breaking out of the tomb in which he was buried. Holmes is summoned to a meeting with the Home Secretary, the Chief Justice and an Ambassador at what appears to be a Masonic Temple and these prominent men ask for help because Blackwood was a former member of a society that explored the world of magic. The Ambassador is then killed by what appears to be a demonstration of supernatural powers and Blackwood then becomes head of the secret Order saying he has a scheme to take over the British Government and in the United States and bring control over the whole world.
There are two sub story interests. Watson is moving out of Baker Street to his own accommodation as a prelude to marriage. Holmes who prior to the involvement with the Blackwood and the Order was going through a bad patch behaves badly when invited to meet the fiancée and is challenged by Watson’s new relationship and the consequences for their own. Holmes also as a female interest, a former attractive female adversary Irene Adler played by Rachel McAdams who asks him to help her find a missing man named Reordan. When Holmes and Watson investigate and find where the man was living there is evidence of much dubious and potentially criminal work using substances. Men arrive evidently intended to remove all trace of the man by burning/blowing up the residence and they are protected by a giant man which involves a prolonged fight involving a ship years which leads to half completed vessel sinking in the Thames.
The two men are held in custody until their release by Lestrade. They discover that the missing man has taken the place of Blackwood in the Tomb. Holmes has noted that Blackwood has a great resemblance to the Lord Chief Justice and is in fact his son, The Lord Chief Justice is then killed by his son and we learn that the Home Secretary has been working with Blackwood to implement his plan. Holmes is then able to trick The Home Secretary to reveal the plan to kill all the Members of British Parliament who refuse to accept the new world order but not how. I cannot member how she becomes actively involved in the next sequence but Holmes, Watson and the woman make their way to the Houses of Parliament via the river and the underground workings and discover a machine which will release gas into the chambers where the Parliamentarians have been assembled. Blackwood appears, still pretending, that he has been brought back from the dead and has supernatural powers seeking their support or their death. They are unaware that supporters have been given an antidote to the gas, When it is evident that the plot fails because of the intervention of the trio, Blackwood escapes and Adler also runs off with part of the device which relates to a new radio mechanism which Blackwood had intended to set off the lethal machine pumping gas in the ventilation system of Parliament. It is at this point that all three meet on the top part of under construction Tower Bridge. In the struggle between Holmes and Blackwood, the villain gets caught up with ropes and is hung to death from the workings. We also learn that Adler is working for Professor Moriarty and was after the radio aspect of the device all along. This provides for a sequel adventure. As the film progresses Holmes is able to reveal to Watson and the police how all the supernatural events have been clever tricks. This includes how with an accomplice Blackwood was not hung but had the appearance of being hung and was given a prepared potion which also gave the impression of a lifeless body. The family tomb has also been prepared so that it would collapse in such a way to give the impression of being broken out of from within. This enabled the man who had provided much of the technology and devices to be placed in the Tomb and then for Blackwood to appear out at an opportune moment to ensure his presence was witnessed and reported.
I also discovered why I had the impression that the film had a contemporary setting. This is more to do with the portrayal of Homes as artistic and bohemians or as I have often described a creative genius, an individual apart from others who connects the dots differently from the average individual. The supernatural aspect was also influenced by the life and work of Aleister Rowley who worked and wrote about the use of black magic, the summoning of demons and devils into the natural world.. The film opened the same weekend and Avatar but still managed to make half a billion dollars at the box office with a budget of under 100 million.
I am trying to have more balanced days as I attempt to return to fitness and lose weight. I continue to watch films and other TV, to write and to work on the art project. At present I am working on the basis of 3 to 4 sets a day with 100 a month, achieved over past six months with the exception of December. My approach is also not to let project work accumulate half completed in the downstairs work room which is amazingly clear and tidy at present. I have also commenced work on cleaning and keeping tidy the rest of the house with the kitchen in good order although I need to work on the top oven of the cooker and also on the surfaces. I am running down the freezer prior to a defrost in about two weeks. I will wash the day room floor before the week is out. I would like to have a sort out and tidy of the rear yard but the weather will have to improve. It turned much colder again in the afternoon and early evening than I had anticipated.
The return enabled a look at the Times and Telegraph and three stories attracted my attention. In Australia while the Test, 20 20 and One Day matches continue a priority interest the dominating news is that a large area the size of France and Germany combined has been flooded with thousands of homes destroyed or badly damaged with a death toll of under 100, although nothing like the catastrophe that hit Haiti a year ago and where an estimated million people were made homeless and hundreds of thousands are still living in disease and mud ridden camps as large parts of the country remains in ruins and where the death toll was originally over 200000 and the injured over 300000 with thousands of others later dying from disease. Such numbers become meaningless until translated into the what happens to individual human beings. In the UK there is a major virus epidemic of influenza including the lethal Swine flu which has costs the lives of children under five and of pregnant women in particular. Yesterday I heard one upsetting story of a 29 year old mother who is not in a coma not expected to recover although the baby survives weighing only 2 lbs as do her husband and three other children. Then in the evening there was news of the murder on honeymoon in Mauritius of the well known daughter of an Irish national celebrity sportsman thus emphasising the perils of attempting to find Paradise hideaways
The second news story is the failure of the Coalition to prevent major bonuses being paid to the bankers and those engaged in the final services estimated to be of the order of £3 to £7 billion on top of situations where the basic income paid has risen up to 20% over the past year. Outrageous given that this is the year when government measures to control the national debt will have their effect leading to loss of jobs and reductions in public services as local authorities are required to make major reductions in expenditure. Howver one has to place these figures in perspective as the government will immediately take half through income tax and another percentage national insurance where the ceiling has been removed which limited the maximum which the very rich paid. In addition they will pay 20% on subsequent expenditure VAT so in reality the government will take about 75% of the amount paid out. However this does mean that an individual getting a payment of £1 million will still receive £250000 of real extra value to their lives.
The third story of particular interest to me was the collapse of a prosecution against a number of environmentalists after the defence announced they were being assisted by a former under cover policeman who had infiltrated the extreme direct action movement for some seven years. He has now resigned his position some ago and is said to be living abroad with a female environmentalist. There has been some shock horror at first the decision for a policeman who be placed undercover for such a long period. In fact the government announced they were establishing a special unit in 1990 following a spate of violent attacks from animal rights protests and some major environmental protests preventing new roadwork’s. From my perspective this is a natural responsibility of government and those engaged in direct action should anticipate this kind of monitoring of their activities, especially if they are committed to non violent action based on openness, persuasion and self sacrifice. Where I agree with others who have expressed concern is when in order to gain information the individual takes office within the organisation and in effect organises individual actions and solicits people to join in. In the particular case the authorities knew that activists were being invited to a location but they were not told the purpose of the action until they arrived. There the assumption that they intended to break the law simply by their presence is not a valid one.
The action intended to occupy and close a coal fired power station in Nottinghamshire. The police arrived and arrested everyone charging them with conspiracy to commit a crime, however the recent trial was stopped because the former uncover policeman proposed to give evidence confirming that those on the indictment had indicated at the meeting that they did not want to participate in the action once they had been informed of its nature. The emergence of the role of the undercover man now raises the prospects of appeals against the finding of guilt against others whose cases have been tried. In on the morning papers. In the Times or Telegraph there was an informed article by a former senior officer with responsibilities for this kind of operation. He made the point that placing police men and women in deep cover had risks for the officers involved and hence the activity require close monitoring, mentioning one officer who had become a class A drug addict in an operation targeting drug criminals. I recall that the Daily Mail reporter embedded with London Holy Loch march established a great relationship with the marchers arising from sharing in the experience over a number of weeks. This project and the Liverpool to Hull matches over two weeks in which I participated involving and small group core of under 50, walking to together 10 to 15 miles a day in all weathers, bedding in sleeping bags on wooden floors and with only each other’s company for entertainment creates bonds that can last a lifetime.
I decided against going to the cinema to watch the 2009 version of Sherlock Holmes with Robert Downey as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr Watson. my impression at the time that this was a version set in contemporary London designed to appeal to the teenage 20 something weekend cinema audience. I should have given the matter better attention then having enjoyed watching the film on HD TV twice over the past week. True the film is angled at the weekend audience with a tale of black magic and virgin sacrifice and much fast moving action, dramatic moments and such like rather than the fastidious thoughtfulness as Holmes observes and analyses, and then unveils his conclusions to the police and Dr Watson. However I shall remember this version because of one haunting image and incomplete Tower Bridge seen at distance as well as at close up with the main span yet to meet at the centre.
The story is of Holmes and Watson rescuing a young girl who is about to be sacrificed for the pleasure of one Lord Blackwood (Mark Strong), just before Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsden) arrives with his force to complete the capture. Blackwood is found guilty of other similar crimes and is sentenced to death. Three months later there is evidence of Blackwood breaking out of the tomb in which he was buried. Holmes is summoned to a meeting with the Home Secretary, the Chief Justice and an Ambassador at what appears to be a Masonic Temple and these prominent men ask for help because Blackwood was a former member of a society that explored the world of magic. The Ambassador is then killed by what appears to be a demonstration of supernatural powers and Blackwood then becomes head of the secret Order saying he has a scheme to take over the British Government and in the United States and bring control over the whole world.
There are two sub story interests. Watson is moving out of Baker Street to his own accommodation as a prelude to marriage. Holmes who prior to the involvement with the Blackwood and the Order was going through a bad patch behaves badly when invited to meet the fiancée and is challenged by Watson’s new relationship and the consequences for their own. Holmes also as a female interest, a former attractive female adversary Irene Adler played by Rachel McAdams who asks him to help her find a missing man named Reordan. When Holmes and Watson investigate and find where the man was living there is evidence of much dubious and potentially criminal work using substances. Men arrive evidently intended to remove all trace of the man by burning/blowing up the residence and they are protected by a giant man which involves a prolonged fight involving a ship years which leads to half completed vessel sinking in the Thames.
The two men are held in custody until their release by Lestrade. They discover that the missing man has taken the place of Blackwood in the Tomb. Holmes has noted that Blackwood has a great resemblance to the Lord Chief Justice and is in fact his son, The Lord Chief Justice is then killed by his son and we learn that the Home Secretary has been working with Blackwood to implement his plan. Holmes is then able to trick The Home Secretary to reveal the plan to kill all the Members of British Parliament who refuse to accept the new world order but not how. I cannot member how she becomes actively involved in the next sequence but Holmes, Watson and the woman make their way to the Houses of Parliament via the river and the underground workings and discover a machine which will release gas into the chambers where the Parliamentarians have been assembled. Blackwood appears, still pretending, that he has been brought back from the dead and has supernatural powers seeking their support or their death. They are unaware that supporters have been given an antidote to the gas, When it is evident that the plot fails because of the intervention of the trio, Blackwood escapes and Adler also runs off with part of the device which relates to a new radio mechanism which Blackwood had intended to set off the lethal machine pumping gas in the ventilation system of Parliament. It is at this point that all three meet on the top part of under construction Tower Bridge. In the struggle between Holmes and Blackwood, the villain gets caught up with ropes and is hung to death from the workings. We also learn that Adler is working for Professor Moriarty and was after the radio aspect of the device all along. This provides for a sequel adventure. As the film progresses Holmes is able to reveal to Watson and the police how all the supernatural events have been clever tricks. This includes how with an accomplice Blackwood was not hung but had the appearance of being hung and was given a prepared potion which also gave the impression of a lifeless body. The family tomb has also been prepared so that it would collapse in such a way to give the impression of being broken out of from within. This enabled the man who had provided much of the technology and devices to be placed in the Tomb and then for Blackwood to appear out at an opportune moment to ensure his presence was witnessed and reported.
I also discovered why I had the impression that the film had a contemporary setting. This is more to do with the portrayal of Homes as artistic and bohemians or as I have often described a creative genius, an individual apart from others who connects the dots differently from the average individual. The supernatural aspect was also influenced by the life and work of Aleister Rowley who worked and wrote about the use of black magic, the summoning of demons and devils into the natural world.. The film opened the same weekend and Avatar but still managed to make half a billion dollars at the box office with a budget of under 100 million.
I am trying to have more balanced days as I attempt to return to fitness and lose weight. I continue to watch films and other TV, to write and to work on the art project. At present I am working on the basis of 3 to 4 sets a day with 100 a month, achieved over past six months with the exception of December. My approach is also not to let project work accumulate half completed in the downstairs work room which is amazingly clear and tidy at present. I have also commenced work on cleaning and keeping tidy the rest of the house with the kitchen in good order although I need to work on the top oven of the cooker and also on the surfaces. I am running down the freezer prior to a defrost in about two weeks. I will wash the day room floor before the week is out. I would like to have a sort out and tidy of the rear yard but the weather will have to improve. It turned much colder again in the afternoon and early evening than I had anticipated.
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