2075Beethoven's Symphony number 9 , two other films and the visit of the President of the United States

Last night, 25^th May 2011, I watched a film about the last years of the life of Ludvig van Beethoven centering on the completion and performance of the 9th Symphony and his writing of the Grosse Fugue. I was reminded once more of the occasion of first hearing a live performance during my first and only season of attending promenade concerts at the Royal Albert Hall with a half season ticket.

I was reminded that whenever I heard The Symphony No 9 in D minor, Op 125 "Choral" (1824) my soul revels in an ecstasy of emotion and memory at the wonder of my own experiences and at the capacity of talented and inspired human beings to create for the enjoyment and betterment of everyone and anyone willing to listen.

I went to my collection to CD’s and was shocked to find that I do not posses a copy and I was immediately too lazy to transfer the record player console from next door to this room, or sit next door listening. Fortunately I live in this increasingly wondrous but also horrific technological era when it is possible within seconds to conjure a full version of the Symphony via the Internet. In this instance a Live Performance on 17^th May 1956 with Otto Klemperer conducting the Concertgebouw Orchestra. The sound reproduction via the internet speakers of this 50 year old recording was not good but nevertheless bought back my reactions to the film and previous listening.

Afterwards I decided that it was stupid to keep the present location of the audio player next door because I rarely, if ever, go just to listen so the next task was reorganise which involved a dusting and move the player to the small table behind me placed against a middle wall of the building so what while the sound will fill this room it will have less of an impact on neighbours. I have a pair of large Sony speakers which have to be attached by wire to the back of the unit with patient skill but once connected they produce a rich deep enveloping sound which underlines the limitations of the Internet and TV reproductions. I am listening to the 5^th Symphony - bon bon bon, and the sixth, known as the Pastoral. I did find my copy of the 9^th but the crackle was such to confirm that I do need one of those Internet connect units which removes the surface noise. I have the noble intention of converting all my video film, tape recordings to the CD and DVD as part of the artwork project, as well as reading all the books and then making written notes. At present I lack the physical strength and the will to complete all the tasks I have set myself as well as continue to experience “new” experience, but listening to the great Master composer I am fired with the fresh determination.

This was also the basic theme of the fictitious films called Copying Beethoven, and MGM 2006 production with Ed Harris giving an excellent performance of the aggressively deaf Beethoven and Diane Kruger as the female composer who persuades her father to allow her to go on her own to Vienna to study at the conservatoire and live at a local convent. She is a fictional character and the convent aspect is a gesture to the reality of the times 1824 1827 when apart from courtesans and the proletariat an educated middle/upper class woman would not be allowed to travel unaccompanied. The other concession to modernity is that she has a boyfriend and although kiss is a chaste one this again would not have been permitted.

The purpose of this fictional character is to expose the temperamental genius of the Maestro who was totally deaf and could not hear the music he was creating and communicated mainly by notepads. And the theme? The nature of creative genius and the inspiration which the young woman experiences by undertake work for Beethoven and which at one point he declares “you want to me.”

In the film story the young woman knows/studies/is related to the man who acts as copyist and assistant to Beethoven who because of illness asks her to step in for a session and she grasps the opportunity and sticks with the position despite the dust and chaos in which he lives, including rats. He is attracted, in a nice way, to her individuality recognising a fellow spirit whose creative abilities need to be unlocked from the conventional upbringings of the day.

In the build up to the completion of the ninth Symphony there are two sub stories. The first is the relationship between Beethoven and a nephew who has gambling debts and comes to Beethoven for financial help. Beethoven adores the young man and wants him to become a concert pianist but the young man knows he has no talent and wants to become an officer in the military. The second story is that of the relationship between the young copyist and her engineer boyfriend who has designed a bridge for a competitive selection contest. The bridge is a great disappointment to the girl who pretends otherwise but Beethoven who attends smashes the work with his stick because it has no soul, something when pressed the young woman agrees. The boyfriend issues an ultimatum that she must have no contact with Beethoven or lose him and she chooses Beethoven because in her the creative drive dominates all others.

.The highlight of the film is the first performance of the Symphony where the Director has skillfully fused the opening of the work with opening of the choral fourth movement. Beethoven officially conducted but in reality the Orchestra was required to follow the directions of another, in a less conspicuous location and ignore those of Beethoven. He had male assistants on the platform giving him the tempo so he could attempt to synchronies his hand movements with the orchestral sounds. In the film the young woman is placed among the musicians enabling him to give a perfect rendering. Her boyfriend is in the audience and responds to the situation with a mixture of admiration and jealousy. Also in the audience is the nephew who is emotionally affected and appears to be remorseful for his recent behaviour.

What is authentic is that the Viennese high society was ecstatic in their appreciation of the new work. In fact the response of the audience was such as to cause concern because it exceeded what was permitted by the conventions of the day.

This reminds of the different reactions in the USA and the UK to when Tony Blair was invited to address the joint House of the State and President Obama’s address to the joint Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall. His speech to Congress as with the Presidential State of the Union speech there are prolonged applause interruptions, up to a score of occasions. The addresses at Westminster Hall, the previous being Nelson Mandela, The Pope and Her Majesty the Queen are greeted in respectful silence with prolonged applause at the end. Yesterday there was one unscheduled interruption when he referred to the own background and becoming the President. Whether he had intended or not at the end of the speech instead of quickly departing he moved into the long hall and made a slow walk shaking the hands with as many people as he could including a surprised and joyous Nicholas Soames, the grandson to Winston Churchill to whom the President referred in his speech several times. I will comment more on the speech and the visit later.

Returning to the film there were two other aspects worth recording. The first is the reaction of Beethoven to the first musical composition presented by the young woman which ridicules. He makes amends later by commenting favourably having made generalizations about the death of female composers who have made it in the past an observations which remains valid, although this has as much to do with the musical establishment and with any lack of abilities.

This brings me to the other subject of the film, we mostly if not all, end our lives in a sense of failure, and in his instance the Grosse Fuge, the Grand Fuge, which was one the last works he created as a single work for a string quartet without a break for individual movements and is a combination of “dissonance and contrapuntal complexity.” In the film the audience walks out to a man and woman leaving him alone with the young woman who also admits she also does not understand the music. Ivor Stravinsky declared the work an absolute contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary for ever. Along with the Ninth considered by many to be one of the greatest symphonic works of all time, the Fuge is regarded as one of his greatest works, and as with all genius the work is often so ahead of its time to be unappreciated and even ridiculed in the day. I followed the Symphonies with a recording of the sound track of the film about the life if Jacqueline Du Pres which ends with a full performance of the Elgar Concerto in E Minor for Cello and Orchestra and which ended just in time for the commencement of the third day’s play at Edgbaston only to find the start was delayed because of rain. Similarly the first Test Match is delayed because of rain. This is the first day the season when matches have been affected by the weather generally. Durham are in an excellent position as Warwickshire have only one first innings wicket left are over 400 runs in areas so there is still prospect of a great win..

I break off to arrange the MOT of my car and manage to do so for 9am tomorrow morning which is excellent at the short notice. Sadly what used to be a dedicated A A garage , then taken over by Nationwide and now by Halford’s to which the centre is attached, here is no longer a discount for A A Member although I have been offered 10% off the standard £54 fee.

I have watched two other films over past couple of days staying up longer that I needed or wanted to do so. The first was the 1974 thriller (!) with Michael Caine called The Black Windmill. I have a family interest in Windmills and the work of Society for the Preservation of Ancient Buildings in this respect.

Michael Caine plays Michael Caine as an individualistic law unto himself MI6 operative working to uncover an international arms syndicate known to be providing terrorists with weapons in Northern Ireland. His contact is a woman who is believed to be associated with the head of the organization. Caine is required by his boss, played by Donald Pleasance, to attend a meeting of the intelligence committee at the county house home of the head of service Sir Edward Julyan to give a progress report on his mission. While there he is contacted by his wife from whom he is separated to say that their son is missing from school with another boy and she is has been contacted by someone who will wring back that afternoon and expressed a wish to have phone contact with him.

The film has commenced with the two boys flying a model plane given by Caine as a present. The location is an abandoned base when they are taken into custody by two men in RAF uniform. When the kidnapper contacts, under the name of Drable the presence of Caine’s immediate boss is requested and in the subsequent conversation the kidnapper shows knowledge of the acquisition of half a million pounds of uncut diamonds which is demanded as ransom for release of the son. This information known only to Pleasance and other members of the Intelligence committee indicates inside information and the service understandably suspects Caine, a major flaw in the story because in the film Caine only learns of the purchase of the diamonds when attending the meeting at which he is notified of the disappearance of his son.

He subsequently contacted and told to take the diamonds to Paris and wait at a café where he will be contacted. He is also contacted when Pleasance is present and although Caine is again told to take the diamonds to Paris the location is a different one. This does not make any difference because the head of service has already told Pleasance that the government will not allow the diamonds to be used in this way. Pleasance then appears to allow Caine to obtain the deposit key from his office during lunchtime and Caine imitates the voice of his boss to get the bank to give him access to the box at the bank. In the meantime Caine has been framed for the kidnapping with false passports and a photograph of the woman contact of her naked on the bed of his bachelor flat.

In Paris he is met by the same woman who demands that he hands over the diamonds and tells him that when he has done the boy will be released from the Black Windmill location in England. Caine manages to get the woman to return to where her boss is waiting but his plan to force the first release his son backfires literally. Earlier Pleasance, with Bond films in mind, is seen at the special weapons development centre with a leather brief case which contains a once firing weapon without affecting any contents. Caine takes one of these cases from the office of his boss to transport the diamonds to Paris and to force the kidnap boss to reveal his son but the plan is thwarted and the boss escapes leaving Caine unconscious and to wake up in the same room as the murdered female contact who has served her purpose. Pleasance goes to Paris with other British security and Police to bring Caine back to the UK but the vehicle is hijacked with an attempt made to kill Caine, who escapes, returns to the UK and makes contact with his wife meeting up at the Dominion Theatre in the Tottenham Court Road where he arranges for her to try and locate the whereabouts of the Black Windmill, hence the visit to the offices of SPAB. Having done this, Caine contacts all the members of the Intelligence Committee, pretending to be Drable, announcing that he has escaped and on his way to the Windmill. Caine lies in wait and finds that the traitor is the head of the service who is retiring on official pension and with a wife with expensive tastes, cooked up the kidnap plot to add to his retirement fund. Caine rescues his son and make his way to wife with whom he has become reconciled. His wife is played by the actor Janet Suzman. As with several Caine films of this era it never rises above that of a B picture.

I have experienced the third film before, in theatre and through the original British Television series. State of Play is an expertly crafted political, media, thriller with a good end twist.

Russell Crowe is an excellent choice to play the award winning do it my way or not at all newspaper man of a major newspaper recently taken over by a media corporation who decides to investigate the death of man carrying a brief case in Washington DC who also shoots a Pizza delivery man who is a witness and left in a coma. This is a side show to the main event which occurs when a prominent crusading Congressman breaks down at an open hearing investigation into the activities of an international arms manufacturer and security firm. His research assistant appears to have committed suicide by falling under a train a Metro station platform. The media immediate correctly suggests that the married Congressman was having an affair with the assistant much too understandable shock horror of his wife. This is where Crowe has he conflict of interest because he roomed with Congressman at college and dated the wife before. It is the Congressman who first turns to Crow for help in providing a refuge after his wife refuses to talk to him and the media assemble outside the family home. The wife also approaches Crowe expressing the view hat she had made the wrong decision but Crow has become sufficiently worldly to recognise there is no going back.

Crowe has been required to work with a young female journalist who provides the online news service at the behest of the Editor played by Helen Mirren and who is torn between the commercial requirements of the new masters and the journalistic standards of inquiry and independence which brought her to the position she now holds. Over the course of the film Crowe and Rachel McAdams untangle what appears to be a major conspiracy by the Defence contractor Points Corp. It emerges that they financed the young research assistant to provide information on the work of the Congressman and the Committee. Moreover she was placed with the help of a senior member of the Political party of which Ben Affleck the crusading Congressman is a member. The affair between the two became serious and the girl decided not to go through with her role, particularly when she became pregnant although she had not disclosed this to Affleck sacred at his reaction when he found out the truth of how they came together. It is believed she was killed because she refused to assist further and those involved were afraid of what she would reveal in the new situation.

It also emerges that the Corporation has been winning almost all the $40 billion of new domestic defence contracts under the Government’s new policy of out sourcing security operations in the homeland. It has done this by a series of shell companies and bribery of politicians. However just before the story is about to be printed Crowe works out that the killer is someone arranged by Affleck who had suspected and then found out that the young woman was a spy. Understandably he is shattered when discovering that she was pregnant. The killer is an ex soldier who owed his life to Affleck while serving in the military. He nearly kills Affleck at the end of the film but is shot dead by the police after refusing to surrender. On the final moment of the film the story is printed under the name of the young female reporter with Crowe in effect her assistant. The two go off hand in hand suggesting a serious romance is in the offing. Affleck’s screen wife is played by Robin Wright Penn the now divorced wife of Sean Penn.

I have been disappointed by the performance of Barrack Obama in terms of his World role particular the failure to make progress in the conflict between Israel, Palestine and some of her Muslim neighbours. I have appreciated that domestically he has been handicapped by his party losing control of Congress and the Senate and the effective campaign waged by those on the right against any progressive policy. The lead has been taken by Fox News which is so prejudiced against the President that it virtually ignored his visit to Europe preferring to give attention to the continuing environmental catastrophes that is causing many deaths and much destruction of property out through the Mid West states.

It is also debateable if anything will be achieved by the State visit that will not have been already agreed through the ongoing contacts between the governments of the two countries. The purpose of the visit is primarily one of good will and to enhance the status of the two leaders in their own countries and in the world at large. This was clearly achieved on the part of the President and those I wonder what he and his wife, together with other invited USA dignitaries made of the State banquet in which the former Prime Ministers and their spouses together with current members of the cabinet and opposition joined Members of the extended Royal family, members of the court and a few Anglo USA celebrities in a three course, five wine meal for 400 with a single set of gold cutlery, glassware and dining service. I wonder how many of those attending really enjoyed the experience although the honour of being invited is of course something most people will wish for.

The decision to invite members of the armed forces who have performed exceptional service to their respective to a barbecue at in the garden of number ten was another good aspect of the visit and the film opportunity of both men serving the food would have carried more weight had they done so for everyone for the meal.

I also thought the speech which the President made to both House of Parliament showed an appreciation of British history and role in the world and of the relationship which developed through our respective involvements in two World Wars, in Korea, in Bosnia, in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the fight against Terrorism. He was also honest about the danger of hypocrisy in highlighting common interests in advancing freedom from and to, given the respective history of both countries towards indigenous people, slavery and racism, the friendly association with dictators and governments who suppress civil rights and have no regard for the rule of law, or enable the development of corporations who sell arms regardless of their potential use or exploit the indigenous population of other nations by paying minimum wages or in the provision of inferior or defective or dangerous goods and services. On the credit side there is the extent of positive intervention and assistance given to help economies develop and in tackling natural disasters and in advancing health provision and education. The President was also honest about the mutual need of both countries to protect national interest as well as the interests of others in addition to recognising the changing nature of the world following the emergence of the Chinese, Indian and Brazilian economies.

One of the media commentators made the point that it was evident from the response of those attending the event that the President has a charisma which transcends the realities and limitations of his ability to change things within the USA and that perhaps he ahs recognised as most leaders do in time that they can more effective in their international role and in developing bonds with those who are in a similar position to themselves

2074 Dr Karen Woo remembered

On Tuesday morning 23rd May 20011, after returning from a good swim session I decided to watch the recording of an ITV programme on the life of Dr Karen Woo who was executed on 5th August last year with nine others in a remote part of Afghanistan during a medical and social help mission. The programme was sub titled Life and Loss, advisedly, as this was of those gut wrenching experiences which has left me in a mixture of anger, frustration and tears for the rest of day.

By any standards she was a remarkable women brought up with her two brothers in Stevenage, Hertfordshire and who decided at the age of sixteen years that it was time to leave normal schooling, suburban life with her family in 1990 to join a contemporary dance school in London- The Place. After graduation she joined the London Contemporary Dance Theatre and participated in the farewell tour in 1994 and its last ever season at Sadler’s Wells for which the company received the Lawrence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance.

In the programme her father said he had been opposed to his teenage daughter going on her own to London but yielded to the counsel of his wife who had warned that to have tried to prevent her was likely to lead to a permanent break in relationships. Thus from an early age Karen showed a determination to follow her heart and her inclinations from which no one could dissuade her. Her parents communicated themselves as an intelligent and loving couple who understood the spirit, the nature and the drive of their daughter and what was to be their and her gift to the rest of us.

This need for adventure and need to feel she was contributing to those around her was again brought out by senior members of the London Dance School and Theatre and the Richard Alston Dance which became the Place in the same year that when she decided to do something more with life there was no persuading her, despite her talent as a dancer.

I can do no better than include the words of some of those who knew as dance student and then as a dancer. Robert Cohan CBE, founding Artistic Director of The Place, said t "The death of anyone as generous and caring as Karen is hard enough to bear, but her uniquely brilliant qualities of intelligence, skill and beauty make her loss even more painful for all those who knew her."

Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp OBE, Chief Executive of The Place, writes: "I am sitting here in my office still trying coming to terms with the news and reading the card Karen wrote to me on the day that London Contemporary Dance Theatre gave its final ever performance, at the Marlowe Theatre Canterbury on Saturday 25 June 1994, a performance in which Karen and I both danced as members of LCDT, Karen being one of the youngest and me, one of the eldest. Needless to say Karen writes with such warmth and hope for the future; it says much about the beautiful person she was.

I have always been full of admiration for the way Karen carved out a new career in medicine. It is hard to believe that only a few months ago, she was here at The Place for the LCDS alumni reunion, happily reuniting with former friends and colleagues and talking with such passion and enthusiasm about her work in Afghanistan and the film she was making with another LCDS alumnus, James Barnard. Her deep empathy for the human condition and her extraordinary selfless courage are so evident in the work she was undertaking in Afghanistan and remain as an inspiration to all of us. The sense of loss is tremendous. Our heartfelt condolences extend to Karen’s family, her fiancé and to all those who knew and loved her."

Richard Alston, Artistic Director of The Place, writes: "I have just returned from France where I was visiting Robert Cohan, the Founding Artistic Director of the Place. Janet Eager, ‘Mop’ to the countless dancers she looked after (including Karen), was also there.
We were all three of us so deeply upset to hear of Karen’s shocking death and Bob, Mop and I wanted to add our voices to the great wave of strong feeling there is about this brave young woman.

Seventeen years ago, I had the great pleasure of choreographing for Karen and I remember so well that as a young dancer she already had something special. Karen was still a student at the Place when I made a dance to Britten’s setting of poems by Rimbaud. One poem was entitled ‘Being Beauteous’ - inevitably I chose Karen for that part, and I still think of her whenever we revive that piece, as indeed we did earlier this Summer.

As a performer she not only danced articulately and musically, she had a natural special presence, what we often call charisma. Karen had charisma by the bucketful - she shone on stage, she glowed, and audience members always asked who she was - “the beautiful girl, the one with the smile”. Given a step, she made it totally, touchingly, her own. Watching videos now of the young Karen, one can see that her dancing is light, energetic and clear, and again and again that inner warmth of hers bursts into a huge unsuppressible smile.

Dear Karen, we remember you and your remarkable life-embracing spirit with immense fondness; no brute with a mindless gun can take that away from us, no they truly cannot. We wish you peace."

Among the gifts she left was her filmed interviews and filing and her Blog writing and in the ITV programme she admits it was quite something to give up something she was good at to go off and try and become a doctor having left school with A levels.

According to The Life of Karen Woo as part of the Karen Woo Foundation Internet site her desire to explore the world led her to undertake travels to Trinidad and Tobago, Australia and Papua New Guinea as part of her training as a doctor which she commenced at the age of 24, She then took a Masters degree in Surgical Education at Imperial College London. Having made the visit to Papua New Guinea she returned to organise the provision of medical supplies

Another perspective is provide by Ray King the Chief Executive of Bupa which Karen joined in 2008 as an associate director and from where she made a visit to Afghanistan that same year and immediately found what she had needed, a cause to command all her attention in which she felt she was making a valuable contribution. Before the year with the organisation had ended she had commenced to collect medical supplies from UK health organisations to send out to Kabul.

Karen was one of a kind. Dr Andrew Vallance-Owen out group Medical Director, who worked closely with Karen remembers her how infectious enthusiasm impressed everyone she met, Andrew said of her, “ She loved teaching and engagement at the front end of clinical medicine and I know she loved her work in Afghanistan. I admired her and I was very proud of her when she took up that role. Her death at such a young age takes from us a lovely woman who has so much more to give.

A personal perspective is provided by Camilla Schickova. She begins her interview article which tool place just the day before she returned to Afghanistan

“Karen was intimidating and inspiring in equal measure. Those who met her have shared feelings of awe from having been in her presence. Some had even given up jobs that were making them unhappy to finally pursue careers that now fulfil them. As such, Karen was a constant reminder that happiness could only be reached if you make the most of who you are. People would also always comment on how stunning she was. Intelligence and looks are a combination all too often assumed to be nauseating. But with Karen I found out quickly that this would never grow tiring. I learnt from a close mutual friend that Karen’s beauty was in fact bridled alongside a strong, brave and determined mind passionate about life and work, and never failing to captivate friends and dazzle strangers with an unbeatable energy and contagious enthusiasm within everything she did. Altogether Karen was truly, inside and out, a rare gem in a still hostile world.”

So why was she executed with the others? Nothing has been established thus emphasising the limitations of the Western might in this arid desert country ruled by monster warlords with whom we do dirty business and unscrupulous politicians stealing billions of Western aid into accounts and properties in other parts of the world recognising that the Taliban the warlords will gain control and boot them out once the allies tire of the constant shedding of blood. We will need to maintain a substantial military presence to able to cross easily into Pakistan to gain control of their musical and weapons of mass destruction should the Muslim fundamentalist, drug barons and self interested politicians the ascendancy. More of the rant in a moment, something which it is evident that Karen would probably agree with what I have said especially as the outcome will be further suppression of the women and girls and continuing exposure of children to illness, illiteracy, disability and starvation.

When the executions were first established the Taliban claimed responsibility claiming that the mission was spying and promoting Christianity but later they admitted the group was bona fide aid workers, condemned the killings as murder and offered their condolences to the families promising they would deal with whoever was responsible when identified. For those of us to tend to see dark conspiracies and official cover up the reality is likely to have been a group of ruthless bandits.

According to Wikipedia the area where the group were ambushed had not been controlled by the Taliban when they were in power and therefore remained an area of lawlessness. However the Taliban was known to be responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian death in the country with some 1325 over the year to the ambush according to the African Human Rights Commission. However the commission did add that 28% had been caused by the allies which still totals several hundreds. While the group sponsoring the mission is Christian based they had scrupulously avoided getting involved in religious and political issues over the forty years of operation in the country covering the eras of Russian and Taliban control as well as the USA and UK and allies. The mission had been on the way back to Kabul after providing eye care to villages and had chosen the route because it was deemed safer. When the bodies were recovered all their possessions has been taken thus suggesting a motive but according to the one survivor who had chanted the Koran the killings had been methodical over a few minutes.

In addition to Karen (1) murdered was Daniela Beyer(2) a linguist from Germany and Cheryl Beckett(3) from the USA who also translated as well as providing aid. Thomas Grams (4) was a dental specialist from the USA and Glen Lapp (5) a nurse and executive assistant from the USA. Tom Little (6) 62 was an optometrist from the USA while Dan Terry (7) the eldest at 63 from the USA was experienced in liaison with local communities as well as aid organisations and government, Brian Cardereli the Videographer from the USA together with Mahram Ali a watchman from Afghanistan and the mission cook also from Afghanistan who also helped with the dispensing of glasses. There were in fact two survivors from the mission who had left the a few days before returning to Kabul by another route. There is no information as to why he left and his role and what inquiries were made about him and the other survivor to eliminate any complicit in the ambush. It would be surprising if they were not screened given the immediate involvement of the FBI and the worldwide condemnation from leaders throughout the world including the United Nations General Secretary. My one remaining concern is that nothing has been found of their possessions.

The British press also expressed horror and puzzlement at what had happened as well as describing Karen and her life and quoting her fiancée and family members. From these I learned that Karen father had been a television engineer and that her mother was a nurse. There is photo of the family attending the university graduation of one of their two sons. That this ordinary family and caring family had produced such a remarkable woman only to experience the shock and prolonged grief of her loss upset me as much as the anger and sadness at Karen’s death. In the TV programme her mother expressed her plight of all those who lose a child that she had had recovered and was getting on with life able to laugh and do things of interest and pleasure but it is all as if she is inhabiting a parallel universe with the heart and soul locked into another with the constant void of where her daughter had been and should be. Just as painful was the expression of father with that unremitting sadness in his eyes.

The programme and the media at the time of the killing also made reference to the plight of her fiancée Mark, Paddy Smith who had served in the army and was then a security adviser in Afghanistan, The two had become a couple quickly and soul mates for life. Karen was shown on camera saying that she had several relationships beforehand which had never lived up to what she been seeking but Paddy had immediately. She had a great love of cats and Mark had taken her to Russia to see a Cat circus. She wanted to have children something which Mark also expressed his wish to make both their lives complete. They and their families were looking forward to the marriage planned within a matter of days. The couple planned to remain in the UK and start a family. Then he had the responsibility of identifying Karen’s body and this evident brave man was constantly reduced to tears in a programme which he felt he owed to Karen’s memory and what she stood for, to help make.

The Daily Mail published extracts from her on line Blog. Sunday July 2011 “This is a very different place from England. The upsides are the generosity, the subtleties like the terrible driving but lack of road rage and the lack of food, space and money, but the offer to share nonetheless. The downsides are the rigidity of the system, the safety in conformity and therefore the lack of courage to break the mould by being an individual.”

“ Afghanistan has the highest rate of infant and maternal mortality in the world, one in five children does before the age of one” “ The communities who live in these remote areas get no medical care so we are hoping to be able to make a really big difference to their lives”

This is the best argument why the rest of the world should not walk away. I have mentioned before that in 1963 early on when attending the child care training course at the University of Birmingham I met someone in training to be a doctor from Kabul in the student union restaurant which had been opened on Sundays to cater for those on post graduate courses who lives in digs around the city. About the only place open in the centre of Birmingham on Sundays in those days was the city Library. I was sitting at a table with a Sunday paper and my meal when he came over and asked if she could join me and we stayed talked about our respective countries and interests for about an hour. He gave me his card with the home address saying that if ever I was in his part of the world I should contact. I kept the card for years although when after 9.11 the allies invaded Afghanistan I searched in vain.

The programme was shown only a few days after another emotional documentary this time on the community that is Wootton Basset in Wilshire, a short distance from RAF Lyneham where the bodies of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and from the M4 and a Travel Lodge where I stayed on my two visits undertaking family history at Calne, at the county Family History centre and on visits to places of family interest in the county. I must have passed through the market town village with a population of 11000, as well as the RAF station over a dozen times before the decision was taken for the families of the bereaved to gather in the town centre and stand with the local population and other visitors as the hearse arrived. Over the 100 men have passed this way.

The tolling of the Church bell and showing fo respect happened only because of changes being made at Brize Norton Oxfordshire which led to the transfer of the planes bring home the bodies to Lyneham. Lyneham closes in 2012 so the planes will go back Brize Norton and from which there is no need to pass through any town on the way to the hospital in the City of Oxford which undertakes the official post mortems. Wootton Bassett will become a Royal Borough to mark the contribution of the local population. A small garden of remembrance has been created in the town and the present Mayor, who lost a brother in the Korean War, keeps a record of messages of condolences in an album as a record for future generations. What struck me about this programme is the youth of the majority of those lives sacrificed in that trouble land.

The Brize Norton link also resonates with me as I know the area well with my first job as a child care officer in Oxfordshire and appointed to an area which included Carterton village which borders the base and where I and colleagues helped single parents with children. I once visited the base in a professional capacity leaving my car at the entrance gate and being driven to the officer of the Commanding officer to interview someone. Several hundred young women from the wider area had married GI’s and gone to live in the USA with their families forming an association. However there were those who returned for various reasons and those who never made it and were left to bring up children in the caravans and inexpensive homes in one of four caravan sites in the village.

The combination of reading about the life of Karen and experiencing the programme about Wootton Basset left feeling that the time had come to for us to get out a lad where there appears to be no gratitude from those in charge of the sacrifices being made. However the increasing evidence of the existence of Al-Qaeda in Pakistan and of fundamentalist anti West sympathies among the army and its intelligence services means the necessity of maintaining a powerful presence that can intervene in the event of any known threat either the existence of a command network or the risk of the weapons of mass destruction getting into the hands of the extremists.

2073 Sporting Sunday in May, some TV catch up and the force of nature

Sunday 22nd May 2011 commenced in sunshine but then clouded with a light rain while at 14.00 there was a clear blue sky which lasted all of a couple second before the wind blue clouds from west to east. Gale force winds were warned for later.

I enjoyed half a prepared chicken breast with mini sausages and stuffing balls, with roast potatoes for lunch followed by a chocolate mint whip, after a light breakfast of cereal. I have completed 135 sets in the artwork project so far this month with the intention to increase to 200 a month over the rest of the year. I will commence to convert press cutting relating to child care matters, local and national, later today having earlier completed a writing and published on Google but ran into problems on MySpace.

For the rest of the day there was sport with the Spanish Formula I with Vettel set fair for yes another victory over Hamilton and Button unless something goes wrong with tyre selection, pit stops or use of the extras which have been developed to make racing more competitive and not just resting on who can engineer the quickest car through sheer speed. It did not and that is how the race finished although much closer than everyone anticipated.

Durham played in a one day game against Warwickshire at Edgbaston which I have only visited once for one day of a Test Match en route home from a stay in Wiltshire. They did not started well losing two early wickets. Then Stokes settle in scoring some giant sixes and wondrous four reaching over 150 runs before the end of the innings with Durham on a massive 180 plus runs. However Warwickshire set off at a fantastic rate of ten runs an over which the weakened Durham bowling side was unable to control and they achieve the required runs with overs and wickets to spare. This effectively ends the chance of the 40 40 final unless they can beat Surrey twice and Northants once with Surrey also beating Northants or someone else is able to stop the two runaways in their tracks. Warwickshire has not joined Durham so the league is divided between the strong and the weak.

The most interesting events is the last day of the Premiership football with five clubs trying to avoid relegation and separated by only one point, I wanted Blackpool to survive and for a time it looked as if they would after equalizing a Man U goal and then taking the lead, but they lack the defensive strength and staying power. I failed to pick up the Blackpool taunting of Ryan Giggs. On Monday it emerged that Ryan is the football named in the High Court super confidentiality order. His photo and name were revealed in a Scottish newspaper and then revealed through a question in the House of Commons. It this shows that if the people with some Parliamentary support witch they will thwart the rule of Law which suggest the rule of Law needs to keep closer in touch with the will of Parliament and the people although this could do also prove a very slippery slope down to mob rule.

By 6pm Blackpool was doomed but the surprising club to go down with them was Birmingham but to the delight of Aston Villa and other Midland Clubs. The surprising survivors were Wigan who had been at the bottom for most of the season. They cam back to win at West Ham who have become woeful and this was underlined as Sunderland had a great win there to move into the top after of the Premier table at 10th. Newcastle who were above them and took a 3.0 lead at home, conceded 3 goal to finish with a draw and therefore below the Mackems. Both clubs having poor seasons overall although Newcastle could be said to have done better having re-established themselves in the top flight league of all top flights in Europe.

I caught up writing on some TV shows experienced recently commencing with the lurid Spartacus. To recap in this version Spartacus is motivated to become an effective gladiator to regain his wife who has been sold as a slave when they were both captured. In episode three the main aspect is the man’s arrogance and stupidity thinking he can defy and knows better than the trainer at the Gladiator school, resulting in him being sent down into the shit hole to learn the error of his ways.

The other development, anticipated from previous episodes is the attendance at gladiatorial games by the wife of the Roman general responsible for the plight of Spartacus and his wife. We are led to believe that protected by her husband from visiting gladiatorial schools or the social events attached to gladiatorial contests she was ignorant of their sexual abilities and availability until being groomed by the wife of the gladiator school master. So far in we have learned that that the wife and husband use slaves to get them aroused before they indulge in matrimonial hanky panky and in this episode we learn that she is also partial to private sessions with principal gladiator Crixus. She notes Viva Bianca’s interest in her man and takes her away to witness Varro, the Roman citizen who sold himself to the arena in order to win money to get his family out of debt, service a slave twice in succession before other guests at the reception.

The low point of the episode for Spartacus occurs when after provoking Crixus into a brawl at the reception the two are chosen to fight the main bout at the end of the gladiatorial contest. Spartacus is soundly beaten by Crixus and with the crowd and principal guests baying for blood he begs for his life which is granted by Lentulous the Training school master and contest entrepreneur. However there is a price to pay for this which Lentulous exerts at the commencement of the fourth episode on Monday evening which I viewed on early rising on Monday. Having lost favour with the crowd he is sent to fight in the pit which is a kind of semi legal games fought to the death for lower classes but which is also subject of betting by others, Lentulous pressed by his creditors decides to speculate in favour of Spartacus and forcing him to kill several men over a few days while the odds are favourable.

Whereas the third episode is well described as lurid with the now obligatory nudity and sexual athleticism obligatory the fourth episode was dominated by blood lust. There was time for Crixus to serve his mistress and express his affection for her principal slave woman but as with the previous episode it is evident that the story is being padded out with gore and bore which after the initial wow losses all appeal.

This is not so for the Sopranos with the second episode of the second series Do not Resuscitate. This has Tony visiting Uncle Junior in prison and advising that he will still have some income but that he taking over most of his earning activities. Junior is released because of his heart condition but under restrictions. Junior tries to convince Tony that his mother was not responsible for the attempt on his life and that the owner of the nursing home is saying that Tony attempted to kill his mother. The owner is dealt with.

Tony’s sister visits her mother in hospital and a nurse asks if they should attempt to resuscitate if Livia needs to be kept alive artificially. A J, Tony’s son, hears Janice discussing this with Tony who offers Janice the opportunity to use her mother’s home to look after her if she wishes. Meadow, Tony daughter has passed the driving test and seeks permission to take a family car to visit her grandmother with A J. This is a pretext to meet someone leaving A J to visit his grandmother on his own. He asks her about DNR and if it anything similar to DNA. This convinces Livia she is in danger from her family and Janice in particular, and she reacts negatively when Janice announces she is going to look after her in her family home. Junior slips in the bath room and badly injures himself and calls one of his officers who in turn alerts Tony who carries his uncle to the car to take to the hospital emergency.

There is also a secondary story about the extent which construction workers and their union are part of the mob business. One of the firms is having problem by employing only whites and Tony is involved in breaking up the demonstrations against this by making a financial deal with a local civil rights campaigner who appears to be strengthening the protest but is turning a blind when the demonstration is broken up by violence.

The main development of the episode is the revelation that Pussy Bonpensiero has been working for the FBI for sometime but feeding them false information.

The latest episode of Blue Bloods covered the perils of communicating on line and the arranging to meet someone with whom one has established an emotional attachment. The action commences at an international upper class social event where debutante dressed in white evening gowns dance with eligible young men before being officially presented. One of the 50 girls jokes with her partner that none of them are virgins and suggests they go outside to get high on a smoke which she has in her purse. Outside in the back yard of the hotel they find the body of a young girl who cannot be identified as she has not been reported missing and there is no other record to help. Eventually by some clever detective work, of course, she is identified as the daughter of a responsible couple who believed she was on some official activity.

From her lap top they work out that she appears to have been in communication and making an arrangement to meet with one of the young men attending the debutants ball. Although he and his father are obnoxious and uncooperative it becomes evident that neither was involved and that the culprit was the tutor of the young man.

The are two sub stories, The daughter of the assistant DA is having meal with her uncle talking about her interest in joining the force when she older while getting him to tell her stories as part of a school project. She then persuades him to let her go in the car to the crime scene and gets out to see what is appending only to traumatise by the sight of the dead girl. Understandably this upset her mother but the main worry for the teenager is that she is not tough enough to become a cop. A talk with her grandfather persuades her that if she wants a career when she is older the reality of the work is something which she will be tough enough to cope with.

The Mayor wants to make Regan, the Commissioner of a Police, into a media hero to help his re-election campaign but he is resistant although his father and other members FO the family suggest it is an opportunity to move from the past and enjoy himself with the attention.

In a third secondary story, the youngest son and his senior partner are summoned to look at the shutter of a city centre store which has been decorated with caricature of the shop owner. The work is signed and they are able to identify the individual responsible and where he is lives and discover he is a talented young artist on his way to college. The Sergeant shows he has a good heart in deciding not to prosecute the offender on the basis they are not called out to deal with a complaint about his work again. A short time afterwards they are again called by the owner of the store to see the handiwork of the artist. This time there is a full size coloured mural showing the police men with a giant slogan, Thanks. Both are thrilled.

Monday was a mixture fo a day with a good swim first thing and then the decision to experience a documentary on the life and loss of Dr Woo the remarkable 36 year old mysteriously executed in Afghanistan along with nine others from the USA and Europe who were on a medical and social education and help mission to a border area in August of last year when they were all killed. The programme upset me greatly and later I devoted the afternoon to reading about her life from material available on the Internet. I will devote my next writing to her.

With visiting various parts of the house attending to the art work project last week I noted that the property is in desperate need of a good clean and yesterday morning I concentrated on the kitchen with good effect. Later I commenced to view recorded episodes of the Game of Thrones which I will continue if time is available during to day although my primary attention will be on the first day of the game between Durham and Warwickshire at Edgbaston. I made a quick shop at Morrison’s on the way home from the swim buying a kipper which enjoyed this morning, three jars of curry, a medium salad made up from a good selection of high value items that were available, feta cheese, black olives, spicy salami , some prawns and some ham pieces as well as lashings of coleslaw. The main purpose of the visit was to buy a stir fry to accompany the remains fo the chicken breast from yesterday’s lunch and which I enjoyed in the evening after a lunch of the second made chicken and bacon layered pasta salad, I also could not resists a few crackers with jam from little pots given at Christmas.

The day ended without being affected by the storm force winds which had swept from the west across Scotland felling some trees and causing the death of one woman driving her car as a consequence. In the USA a freak Tornado of sudden great force devastated a town with its half a mile wide force, killing some thirty people. The scene afterwards was similar to that of a Tsunami, earthquake or bomb. Nature rules.

2072 Men behaving badly with women, cricket and superheroes

I do not like to feel the pressure of things I want to do but have not done and a seizing up computer does not help. Still if everyday was perfect then perfection would quickly become commonplace and lose its meaningfulness.

Today I enjoyed a good swim and then did a quick shop at Asda decided on a chicken breast dinner for Sunday lunch with a chicken curry to day, with salads for the other meal of the day although I enjoyed a hearty breakfast again of a small inexpensive breakfast platter with a cereal bowl and coffee, plus a prolonged read of the Telegraph weekend newspaper courtesy of the Marriot Hotel Sunderland Leisure facility.

The main news item is that the USA has provided confirmation that those arrested in the UK over a proposed Terrorist bombing plot to blow up Manchester City Landmarks at Easter 2009 were indeed working for Osama bin Laden’s Al Qaeda although there was insufficient evidence to bring about convictions at the time and there was considerable concern expressed on the part of some groups about the decision to arrest and hold without charges. The information is part of the goodwill build up to the visit of the USA President next. Amazingly as with several recent USA Presidents he has very distant relations in Ireland with the consequence of the Presidential visit to Eire, no doubt with one eye on the Irish vote in the elections next year.

The Liberal Democrat Coalition continues to suffer media displeasure no doubt orchestrated by Tory hardliners with news that the party leader has been told he can have a private meeting with the Vice President while the President will have a private meeting with the Official Leader of the opposition. The private lives of public figures continues to dominate with Minister Huhne into the double firing line with allegation of having had another extra marital affair as well as the issue of driving penalty points, The main story concerns the use of High Court Confidentiality Orders. A member of the House of Commons, a Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament used Parliamentary Privilege to disclose that the former Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland had obtained an order and this has led to accusations that that his lover within the organisation was promoted twice which led for various politicians to call for a formal inquiry only to be told that such an inquiry was already under discussion between the bank and the regulating authority. The other story is that of a footballer who is alleged to have had a relationship with a Big Brother contestant whose picture is all over the papers and who is being prevented from telling her story by an injunction with the footballer being named in Twitter. This has led the footballer getting an injunction against Twitter to provide information about those who had disclosed his name. However as Twitter is USA registered it will be necessary for legal action to be taken in the USA where this is less than likely, Meanwhile one woman has come to defence of former IMF chief Strauss Kahn while Tristane Banon 31, Aurelie Filioetti 37 and Piroska Nagy 50 have gone to press about their involvements and references to a general predatory sexuality continue.

These stories tend to be given prominence over the negative reaction of Israel’s Prime Minister to the President Obama‘s call for a two state Middle East settlement based on the pre 1967 borders. I thought the call was unrealistic and hiding the failure of the USA to exert meaningful influence over Israel because of the Jewish constituency among Presidential voters. Among other news I noted the death of the singer Kathy Kirby who was my age. The Queen returned from Eire and her son Andrew returned from his official visit to China and the Far East on behalf of British Trade while Prince Charles was in Bucharest and the Duke of Gloucester for Greece, Athens and then Crete.

The main interest from other sections of newspapers is the opening of a Barbara Hepworth Gallery at Wakefield where I have lived for several months before moving to a home between the city and Leeds to continue working for the West Riding County Council with its offices in the City 1969-1971. There Is also an article about Barbara Hepworth in the weekend review section?

I must also visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park which is also in the Wakefield area and I break off to check the continuing availability of £19 Travel Lodge Rooms and find that I will have no problem in planning a two day visit with an overnight stop over.

I then turned to the arts and TV review where there is reference to Bob Dylan turning 70 this year. There is a full two feature on Lady Gaga, you may well say who. She is an exhibitionist with no talent other than as an exhibitionist. The best way to view her work is a creative contemporary artist. I would like to see Anita Dobson and Greta Cache in a play about the lives of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, presently in a limited season until 25th June. I am not sure I could cope with the 20 young naked dancers who are to perform at Sadler’s Wells in new work for 18’s and labelled explicit adult material. The bonus with the paper is a full 7 day TV and Radio Listing and I must see How to Train Your Dragon which has a Sky premier next Friday and I might take a peek at Iron Man 2 this afternoon. However there is a surfeit of sport dominating the weekend on Television and the Internet. There was also an idle look over the sections on holidays with cruises to the Greek Islands and a full mastered sailing ship cruise to the West Indies added to the list things to do if I win a major lottery prize. The same applied to the property section with London and Gibraltar Flats and a Tyneside area Mansion to convert


Durham is performing significantly better than anticipated. Last Sunday I braved a very cold and overcast day to sit in the open air to watch the 40 over innings game against struggling Hampshire. I went to the Member’s room and on to the balcony on arrival as until reaching the Riverside I had driven with continuous rain spots on the car windscreen. The wicket had been prepared in the far distance so there was no alternative but brave the weather and I took the seat booked for the 20 20 innings series which begins next month. This has the advantage of an under cover tier just behind.

Hampshire won the toss and decided to bat a mistake in these games and with the total 59 for four wickets my initial reaction was proved right. Rushworth, Onions and Claydon did the damage with Claydon having his best match of the season taking three wickets for 16 runs in in 6.2 overs. The inconsistent Ben Stokes also had a good match taking 4 wickets for 29 from 7. There was a temporary stay of execution when Howell was joined by Dawson but when Dawson went at 127 one knew the Hampshire side were not going to last 40 overs and wickets then fell at 145,152,159 and 161, twice. Durham did not start their innings well because of the return of Dimitri Mascarenhas who had Mustard, Stokes and Coetzer out by 37. But that was that and Muchall 67 and Benkenstein saw the home side win with overs to spare.

Durham then played on the Monday against Scotland in Edinburgh. Unfortunately there was no live commentary so I had to rely on ESPN cricket information. This is a brilliant service with ball by ball information on one of three screen with the first covering all the matches being played on the day, the second a summary of the favoured match ands their the full scorecard which is updated. In addition to showing the current batsmen and bowlers, the summary shows every ball of the last half dozen overs which together with information on the overall run rate and that of the last ten overs provides a very effective way of keeping in touch with what is happening A fourth screen provides statistics on all the players in the game for the current season todate. It is therefore possible to listen to the a commentary while also showing the favoured scoreboard in domestic comfort, either giving full attention or working on other things or even have the TV on showing sport in silence as I am doing now writing this on the desk top, keeping one eye on the scoreboard of the game between Yorkshire and Lancashire at Liverpool and also the other eye on the TV showing that Wakefield and Castleford are 6.6 in a fifth round Rugby League Cup game on BBC 1.

In a delayed reaction I remembered I had not watched This Week and turned to the I player and was rewarded first with the appearance of Kate Hoey on the sofa with Michael Portillo, someone who should be there every week and then the gorgeous Kay Burley although I often disagree with the interview approach. The programme dealt with several of the subjects already covered including the visit of Queen Elizabeth where Fergal Keane plus Andrew, Kate and Michael shared in the view that this marked a remarkable historical event in relations between the Republic and UK but also marked a significant development in the role of the Queen Elizabeth who demonstrated with remarkable sensitivity the value of a head of stated without a party political affiliation. It confirmed my support for her but did not reduce concerns about the situation upon her death or decision to retire.

Kay Burley was present in part to publicise a fiction work about a Prime Minister and his two lovers but also to talk about the interaction between powerful men and women. I was impressed with what she had to say and with the level of discussion as should be said for the full programme.

This is a long detour from the 40 40 game on Monday in which Scotland wisely chose to field after winning the toss. It looked a good move when Mustard went for 5 with the total 9 but then Coetzer got his head down and carried his bat to end the innings 110 runs not out. He was supported by Stokes with 35 and then Muchall again with 63. There was also a dramatic slog at the end by Breese with 4 sixes and 3 fours who took the game beyond Scotland’s reach as Durham ends on 278 for 4. Scotland never looked as if they had a chance of reaching this total with wickets falling at 28 45 60 61 129 145 161 188 197 and 198. All Durham’s bowlers got between 1 and 2 wickets. The consequence of this is that Durham are now second in the table with 8 points as has Surrey above and Northants below but these two have played a game less. Durham at Warwick to morrow and it is essential that they win this game before break for the 20 20 series and they host Surrey in a Sky televised game on July 17th. I visited Worcester for the last game of the season at that club in a sub lit September staying at a Travel Lodge South of Birmingham. The game was a draw after Durham scored a mountain of runs

Durham then moved to Worcester for the County Championship game. I attended the game at the end of the 2009 season where Durham were declared championship winners during the game and Worcestershire went on to be relegated. Durham scored a mountain of runs with Chanderpaul scoring one of the slowest hundreds of all times. During several emails with the commentators I mentioned this and the explanation came back that the Durham players had been out celebrating and were in no mood field so they advised Chanderpaul to stay out there for as long as possible.

Durham won the toss and decided to bat in a first day rain affected day. They scored a massive 587 before declaring the innings on the second day with 3 wickets left. Gordon Muchall continued his exceptional form making a total of 175 supported by Ian Blackwell with 134 and captain Mustard who has had a torrid time especially in the one day games but added 101 to the innings. Borthwick added 67 in a stand of over 150 with Mustard. Faced with the total no one expected the comparatively new Worcestershire team to do well and this was so with no one reaching 50 they were all out for 217 over 200 runs short of avoiding the follow on. They put up a better fight the second time around with Solanki 58, temporary captain Ali 63, Andrew 50 and Scott 73, respectable scores in most circumstances with a team total of 345 but still 20 runs short of Durham needing to bat again. The match saw the return of Steve Harmison who only bowled 2 balls before injury in the first match of the season. His total figures of 7 for 151 are an excellent start. Graham Onions was recalled to the England A team playing the tourists at Derby, He is not having a good match out for 1 in the mammoth England first innings in which Owen Morgan made 193 and struggling to take wickets in a Sri collapse to 263 to the 493 with 3 for 138 as the touring team reached 392 for 6 at the end of the third day.

Durham should have ended the day equal top with Warwickshire on 91 points as the Roses game between Lancs and Yorks was set for a draw, Yorks collapsed after tea this afternoon leaving Lancs to get 121 in 20 or so overs. They got them in 14 with the loss of 4. As a consequence they now head the table by 5 points and a game in hand on the other two. Notts with two defeats in succession have fallen away. It makes next’s weeks game against Warwickshire at Edgbaston interesting!

For a break I watched Iron Man 2. As with Superman and Spider man, Iron Man the superhero has adversaries who prove challenging rivals and as with other in the genre the superhero suddenly finds his powers lost, taken or in abeyance and loses confidence and self respect. In this instance Iron Man was told that each time he used the power generation within his body he was slowly killing himself. Because there is no alternative source of energy he makes plans to hand over his technology to the Government and his company to his faithful assistant while he gets drunk and awaits his fate.

In this instance there are two adversaries, the alternative super villain and an alternative arms manufacturer with political ambitions. The arms manufacturer does a deal with the government to provide robotic soldiers wearing iron man type suits however they are programmed and armed in such a way to enable the super villain to take control. He has assumed that Iron Man was out of action or inferior in abilities to his creations. In the meantime Iron man is approached by the super organisation headed by Samuel L Jackson who provides him with a video which demonstrates that Iron Man’s father cared about his son and believed that he would find a way to solve the problem of the defective power source and defend the world against all comers. Of course he does this in full firework finale.

Robert Downey Junior plays Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow who is his assistant and who he makes company CEO and where the relationship became romantic at the very end- wow who would have guessed that. Scarlett Johansson plays a superwoman who works for Samuel Jackson but who is placed with Iron Man and his assistant to assess his potential for further work. Mickey Rourke plays the super villain and Sam Rockwell and Don Cheadle are other members of the all star cast. Great fun for early Saturday evening and immediately forgettable.

2071 Historical Hindsight and contrasting films

It was a beautiful morning yesterday with the sun glistening on the sea since the dawn. I had a swim after an absence of two days and eat a hearty breakfast. It was a struggle to complete the 50 lengths. On the homeward journey I considered abandoning the plan for the day to make the most of the weather. However I was uncertain if my right big toe is just badly bruised or has a break as it is still painful if knocked which I continue to do several times a day whether I wear shoes or not.

Having worked hard and well so far this week I decided to continue the good work and returned home for the breakfast of a prepared cooked platter of bacon sausages beans, egg and tiny potato cubes, followed be a bowl of cereal and coffee. I then became tired and dozed in front of the telly with the second season second episode of Sopranos and the latest episode of Blue Bloods. In the queue are two episodes of Game of Thrones plus reading and the third episode of the lurid episode of Spartacus. Films still to write about are Tempesta and Saints and Soldiers. There was a biting wind cold day at cricket on Sunday followed by keep abreast with the score of the one day game against Scotland on Monday via the ESPN cricket live site, which has been used over the past two days for the championship game at Worcester.

The major event of the week has been the first visit of a British reigning Monarch to Eire since independence was bitterly fought one just under 100 years ago. The executive head of the International Monetary Fund has been forced to resign after being charged with attempted rape and other charges while visiting New York. There is mounting pressure on a leading Liberal Democrat Member Chris Hulne of the British Cabinet where there appears to be an accusation that he evaded a potential driving ban many tears ago before be became a Member of Parliament. The Justice Minister Ken Clark, cricket lover and whisky drinker also got into hot water by suggesting that there is need to approach the juridical proceedings involving rape in a new way in order to raise the percentage of convictions.

Having reached 10000 completed sets I decided I needed to make better progress by converting existing material most records into sets with the easiest and quickest material that is content confidential and with the files already available in a cabinet I have made good progress with child care issues, completing 90 sets over four days. I will continue to make 20 to 30 sets over the next couple of weeks until all the records have been transferred. From previous experience I will take a short break but then continue.

I also decided it was time to continue with the reorganisation and recording of the location of the work commencing with the second floor and the smallest of the three rooms where I commenced the task last year.

I took a couple of hours on Monday to get prepared and found that I am unable to use my main lap top with wireless. Decided not to waste time sorting this out and am using the other which I sorted the previous week. I can listen to BBC radio cricket with the screen showing the full scoreboard while I use the other lap to record the locations. I had hoped to also undertake printing using the second Brother DCP 125 but it requires a service as paper jam warning continues although appears clear of paper. I will decide on my next venture upstairs if I will take up my other printer which is full works larger and where I am yet to find inexpensive cartridges.

I enjoyed seeing the Italian made film Tempesta again. An America art appraiser, Patrick Donovan arrives in Venice to evaluate three paintings at the historic Galleries deli Academia. The part is played by Scot Williams. This aspect of the film is interesting because of the insight into the present technology available to establish the validity of paintings. He appraises two and finds them genuine but shortly before he is to begin work on Tempesta, the Giorgione Painting it is stolen with the Gallery Director attacked. Before this Patrick has met the adopted daughter of the Gallery Chiara who he appears to connect with given her work as an art restorer and physical attractiveness. His USA Insurers ask him to say on in Venice to and try and locate the painting offering to in effect pay a ransom for its return before the official company representative arrives to deal with the insurance claim.

Against the back cloth of the sights of Venice at Carnival time Patrick finds a very dark world of which he appears amazingly innocent. He finds that Chiara works for a remarkable forger and dealer for some of the most famous paintings in the world (played by Malcolm McDowell). He eventually discoverers a secret art gallery below the man’s work place which contained the most important paintings in the world with his clever forgeries in their place in the galleries throughout the world. The man is killed stabbed through one of eye with a stiletto during Carnival. Chiara is also discovered to having had a sexual relationship with the man and with her adopted father. He also meets a well known private collector who asks him to privately appraise a couple of works one of which is a fake and sold to him by McDowell. He eventually finds both the stolen picture which was a fake to avoid detection before the insurance valuation and the original which is returned to the gallery to. He keeps a record of his investigation on a hand held recorder which contributes to his downfall, He finds that the assassin is Chiara who shoots him dumping us body in the a canal, one more unsolved murder in the city. The film has its charm, the momentary realization of loss of innocence before the young man is murdered. There is no happy ending for him.
The film reminded of the Thomas Crown Affair which was coincidentally being shown, until I realised that it was the Pierce Brosnan 1999 version which centred on the stealing of a major art work the San Giorgio Maggiore at dusk by Monet valued at $100 million and not 1968 version with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway which I prefer because of the glorious iconic scenes, the meal at the unbuilt beach house, the rowing on the river and the overall adult sophistication, but which involves bank robbery rather than art theft.

The other film which impressed me greatly was Saints and Soldiers and which begins with three soldiers escaping from the Malmedy Massacre where dropped USA parachutists were captured and then shot. They are joined by a fourth, an English pilot whose plane was shot down before he could return to base and report the disposition of the as yet undetected German advance. He persuades the three others to help in breaking through the German advance to warn the allies of the situation. The basic plot story provides the opportunity to explore aspects of the nature of combat for those involved on both sides. The key member of the quartet used to be a missionary working in Berlin which he says was the happiest time in his life. He speaks German and becomes essential in getting the group through the Germany lines. He is in an emotional state with hallucinations because returning fire he had entered what he believed was a building used by the enemy only to find that he had killed two women and six children. He is protected by the Sergeant and the third USA soldier who is a member of the medical corps. He is also helped by the kindness of a Belgium French speaking woman and her daughter who provides temporary shelter and food and who he then rescues from being raped by two German soldiers, one is killed and the other runs off.

Before this incident the English Pilot had set off in the freezing weather conditions to make an immediate attempt to reach allied lines while the others remained in the shelter overnight knowing that he faced certain death because of the cold. Fortunately he encounters the escaping German soldier who turns out to be the son of a household with whom he stayed when a missionary. Deacon allows the German soldier to leave in exchange for information how to get through to the allies and the location of a Jeep being used by the Germans with the bonnet covered in a German flag to protect it from friendly fire. Later the soldier does not give them away when they are going through a German encampment.

Because they forget to remove the German Flag they are nearly blown up by the allies but two of them are successful, the British Airman and the Medical corps soldier so the information is handed over. Deacon carried with a small book which we are never told what it is but the suggestion it is a Bible. Later after Deacon has sacrificed his life to help the others reach the allies, the man in the medical corps who has expressed a lack of belief in anything after death takes the book and seeing a wounded German officer in captivity provides the man with first aid. The Sergeant also dies in the service of the greater good. We also learn that Deacon originated from Snowflake a town founded and populated by those of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. This low budget film around $.75 million was made by a LDS company. The film was given a restricted rating because having established a relationship with each of the four characters two die a violent death which young people would find upsetting.

The need for reconciliation was the basis of the historical state visit on Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II to Eire during four days of this week. It is said that Queen Elizabeth has wanted to make such a symbolic visit during her lifetime and asked about doing so soon after the Good Friday agreement was signed a decade and a half ago. However the conditions for making such a visit in safety were not established until recently when it was agreed that the devolved joint Northern Ireland government should take control of policing and Catholic were recruited to the police in numbers for the first time. There were a number of an important visual statements of reconciliations with on the first day the Queen visiting the memorial Garden in Dublin created for those who died in the fight to obtain independence from the British Crown. She also made a visit to the famous Croke Park Stadium built where the first Bloody Sunday massacre of 19 civilians by British forces took place 91 years ago. This had become a stadium for Gaelic Sports. Although the major stadium in Eire International sports such as football and rugby were not played there by British Teams until recently because of the issue of the British National Anthem, The anthem was played several times during the State visit.

The private lunch on the first day was attended by David Trimble one the architects of the Peace agreement on behalf of the Unionists. Sinn Fein declined an invitation but their leader Gerry Adams now a Member of the Irish Parliament who had argued that the time was not yet right for the visit appeared more conciliatory as the visit progressed, Certainly he would not have expected the extent to her majesty alluded to the past at the State dinner held on the second evening.

She commenced her speech with a greeting in Gaelic and expressed recognition of the sad and regrettable reality “ that through history our islands have experienced more than their fair share of heartache, turbulence and loss. These events have touched us all, many of us personally, and are a painful legacy. We can never forget those who have died or been injured and their families. To all those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy. With the Benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all”.

In response the President of Ireland said she was proud of Ireland’s difficult journey to national sovereignty and a republic which asserted religious and civil liberty. She was particularly proud of her Island’s peacemakers who having experienced first hand the appalling toxic harvest of failing to resolve old hatreds and political differences, rejected the perennial culture of conflict and compromised enough to let a new future in.”

There was a small demonstration outside the location of the dinner as there were at other places visited, kept away from the President and her guests. The streets of journeys were kept clear of vehicles and pedestrians, The visit was not one I anticipated happening during my lifetime.

2070 Rape

It is going to become another beautiful morning here on the North East coast of England at South Shields on my hill overlooking the mouth of the river Tyne at 6.45 am Friday 20th May 2011, and I have reached the point, some 75 minutes after waking to the alarm, when I am ready for breakfast and engaging my brain in a prolonged period of applied thinking and writing.

I return to my desk for a couple of minutes while a Manx kipper cooks in the microwave. I prefer the prepare kipper in a microwaveable bag which avoids the necessity of the cleaning the microwave but today I cook eat and wash up, resisting my natural inclination to laziness and switching off the grey cells, and begin to write

The more expensive version of the kipper with head and bones included also avoids the excessive colouring of the prepared varieties but I suspect the quantity of preservatives and additives is the same. We all like things to be dressed up to please us and protect us from the uncomfortable. Take rape for example.

The Justice Minister, the affable Kenneth Clark, cricket lover and whisky drinker has been telling it as it is resulting the official opposition calling for his resignation together with sections of the mass media. He was then forced to make a public apology even though what he said in the first place was true and his purpose was to bring greater justice to women who have been raped and reported the matter to the police. Mr Clark was forced to apologise albeit for the reaction orchestrated by others because of understandable male guilt and female frustration.

Men force themselves on women, including girls and children and on other men, boys and children who they do not know, as part of blood conflicts, tribal warring, sexual frustration, male importance and impotence, mental disturbance and uncomplicated lust. For centuries these horrific acts of violence on the part of one human being against another went unpunished, considered the spoils of warfare and rights of passage, and frequently if reported to the authorities the victim was made to feel responsible because of their social position, the colour of their skin, what they wore or did not wear.

Knowing the reality of predatory sexuality, Muslims organise their lives by doing all they can to protect the females closest to them by insisting their bodies are fully covered when in the presence of other males. Such measures are frequently condemned by the mass media which turned on the Minister while displaying images of scantily dressed women on other pages. I have sympathy for those who argue that teenage girls wearing micro skirts which reveal the wearing of thongs because of their shortness or bare midriffs, and with bra showing tops with open cleavages, are taking avoidable risks in public, but I also sympathise with the young women who want to express their sense of growing independence, individuality and personal freedom without unsolicited attention. I remain a believer in freedom to as well as freedom from.

The problem, Kenneth Clark, and the government was seeking to, is that less that ten percent of reported rapes result in a conviction leading to imprisonment because of the legal difficulties of proving the offence in situations where there has been consent in the relationship short of vaginal or anal penetration. Mr Clark and the government were raising the possibility of a plea bargain for a reduced sentence upon admission in court saving the victim the ordeal of a court appearance and consequential publicity, the expenses of a contested trial and an overall improvement in conviction rates. He was not suggesting that rape in any form was not a serious offence or that the victim did not suffer for the rest of their lives. For most victims of most crimes the consequences are life long and often life changing for the worse.

I have been in the same position as Ken Clark. I once was asked about a matter and replied accurately but this was interpreted as an attack on the questioner and their ability to make a political point. In fact they were making a personal attack which I was able to contest and demonstrate the lack of validity in what was being said. However the matter was pressed and I provided a report which explained why what I had said was accurate but in introducing the matter apologised to the individual and others who a had joined in the attack by saying I was not questioning their right to raise and press the matter and apologised if I had given that impression which was sufficient to placate and lance the momentum that was building for my blood.

The minefield of the subject was also demonstrated in a recent two part made for television film very loosely based made on a true event in 1930’s Hawaii. I saw the first part of Blood and Orchids a couple of week’s back and could not immediately find the concluding part until this week when I recorded a late night showing of the film which had a good cast with Kris Kristofferson, Jane Alexander, Madeleine Stowe and Jose Ferrer.

The film is set in what is now the USA state of Hawaii but was then a fictional private fiefdom of one family holding absolute power over the government and institutions, treating the indigenous population with contempt as has always been the situation in the reality when entrepreneurs and their armies taker over a country with available space and other forms of natural wealth. The married daughter of the matriarch leaves a country club social event for an assignation with her lover, the best friend of her husband who serves together as naval officer. He is horrified when after they have had sex she tells him she is pregnant and that this means the matter can be brought into the open and they can be together. He beats up the woman and she is left for dead.

Unfortunately for them four local youths who haven out drinking come across the body and seeing that she is alive one insists they take her to hospital where they leave before being questioned. Under pressure from her mother the woman alleges that she was raped by the four Hawaiian youths who are arrested and charged with rape and attempted murder. The daughter also agrees to an abortion performed by a local doctor under the supervision of the white consultant covering up that in fact the child was three months alive and not the consequence of the rape. Worse is to follow because the husband kills the young man who persuaded his friends to take the woman to the hospital during an open court session and then several of his ship mates try to torture the remaining three young men into confessions when they are release during the period of mistrial and the decision to first hold the trial of the husband where the matriarch employs one the best mainland lawyers, played by Jose Ferrer, to defend the murderer of an innocent man.

The willingness of the system with public support in Hawaii and the United States from the white supremacy is underlined in two ways. There is an Island Princess who is now living in seclusion away from the main island who is persuaded by a young local lawyer appointed by the court as his first case to give help to free the men unjustly and conspiratorially accused. The attorney begins a relationship with the sister of the main accused who is then murdered for pressing his innocence. She, her family, the three other young men have become the real victims of the alleged rape and will be adversely affected for the rest of their lives.

The greater part of the film is devoted to the local policeman assigned to bring the four young men to justice realising that they are being set up and his attempts to expose the conspiracy of individuals and the system Eventually he is able to do so because the adulterous women breaks down at the trial of her husband and blurts out that the four young men are not guilty and that her husband killed an innocent man. Eventually he gets the proof when the consultant and the doctor who performed the abortion admit that the child was three months of age within the womb. The officer’s best friend is arrested. His shipmates are arrested. The husband has to live with the knowledge that he murdered an innocent man and that his wife and best friend betrayed him and his wife then commits suicide. The matriarch is to be prosecuted for her part in the conspiracy and has to live with finding the body of her daughter, that she engineered the killing of her only grand child and that her actions led to the beginning of he end of white supremacy on the Island (I wish). The nice policeman has a holiday romance with the wife of the defence attorney to add to the impression that this is story of romance, passion and honour gone wrong.

The film is very loosely based on real events and in several respects is a travesty of truth and justice and which in turn underlines the often complexity of rape cases to which Kenneth Clarke alluded.

The actual case did involve the wife of a naval officer in 1932. The woman’s mother was Grace Hubbard Fortescue the grand daughter of Gardiner Greene Hubbard the first President of the National Geographical Society. She had married Major Granville Fortescue one of the sons of Robert Barnwell Roosevelt and although not a wealthy family she and her daughter Thalia lived an upper class lifestyle.

Thalia married a naval Lieutenant, Thomas Masie who was stationed at Pearl Harbour and because of the way she had been raised Thalia considered herself superior to the other officer wives and kept herself apart and was generally disliked by them as a consequence. The marriage was not successful and there were public fights as well as heavy drinking. On September 12th 1931 the couple attended an event at a nightclub in Waikiki and during the evening Mrs Massie got into an argument with another officer, slapping his face and walking out of the club. Her husband not seeing the incident assumed she had became tired and had gone home.

When Lieutenant Massie contacted home to check his wife had arrived safely he found she was in a state so he returned and she said she had been raped by several Hawaiian men. What later emerged is that she had been found by the roadside by a Mrs Bellinger at 1 am who had wanted to take her to hospital but Thalia insisted she should be taken to her home. She also did not want the husband to involve the police but her had insisted on this allegedly after finding that his wife’s jaw was broken. At first she said it was too dark to identify any of the men or their car.

Horace Ida had been d riving the car of his sister that night with Joseph Kawakawa a well known local prize fighter and three others. Their vehicle was nearly hit by that driven by a couple, Mr and Mrs Peebles, and following an argument Joseph hit the woman in the face. She reported what happened to the police giving a time and location which made it unlikely to impossible these young men could have been involved in the alleged rape of Thalia.

So when the police arrested him Joseph thought it was for the incident and was shocked to be charged with the rape. The previous incident was not mentioned. It subsequently became evident that some of the police involved that because a black man had hit a white woman they should charge with the greater offence of rape and Thalia was coached by the police with the descriptions and an almost accurate car number plate

Rear Admiral Yates Stirling Commandant of the US Navy District is recorded as saying that he was minded to collect several naval men, hunt down the gang and string them up, while a newspaper described Thalia as a white woman of refinement and culture reminding of the judge when referring to the wife of an international writer and deputy chairman of the Tory Party when he was accused of perjury or the judge in the High Court case in which I was involved who initially mistook me for the plaintiff because I was in court wearing a suit collar and tie and he was not and changed his manner accordingly.

It became evident that given the location of the altercation it was difficult or impossible for the vehicle to have been in the part of the island where the alleged rape took place and that there were witnesses who saw Thalia being followed by a white man as she left the night club and that the policed had planted information with these matter not being mention in court. The police were in fact divided and the speculation grew some of which appeared in the local media ranging from the Thalia having had a relationship with one of the five to the allegation that she was having an affair with one of her husband’s shipmates and he had returned home to find them together and her beat her up.

It was only at this point that Thalia’s mother Grace Fortescue arrived on the island and commenced to organise the defence of her daughter’s good name. Admiral Stirling became anxious about the situation reaching the mainland media to reveal his lack of control as racial tension on the island mounted. Every effort was made to keep the story off the mainland and in court after three weeks the jury could not reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared.
It was at this point that the matriarch talked her son in law into kidnapping Joseph , who happened to be the darkest skinned of the defendants, and with the help of two others the man was tortured and then shot and his body dumped. Fortunately the kidnapping was reported and a police stopped the car in which Grace, Thomas and the two others were travelling because the blinds were drawn and all four were arrested and the charged with murder.

The story reached the mainland and given white supremacy throughout most of the United States at the time, the emphasis was on the lawlessness of the natives despite the admissions that the white four had collectively kidnapped, tortured and murdered

Clarence Darrow, the most famous attorney of the day dropped his current case to travel Hawaii to defend the four for a then princely sum of $40000. He was socially connected to the Fortescues and the Roosevelts. In revealing the true sign of the times although Thalia became angry in court and stormed out when shown to be the nasty lying woman she was, the rest of the white filled court room is said to have erupted in applause. Instead of murder the juryt returned a verdict of manslaughter fuelling the anger among the white supremacists that the four had not been acquitted and among the suppressed people at the continuing perversion of justice. Worse was to follow as the 10 year sentence was commuted to one hour served in in the office of the Governor and the four left the island. Thalia and her husband divorced in 1934 and she committed suicide in 1963. Grace died in 1979, the husband in 1987 after the CBS TV production was released. Charges against the four remaining defendants to the rape charge were also dropped.

The film is therefore yet another injustice upon the original injustice because it ignored the police involvement in the framing and persecution of the Hawaiians and the extent of white supremacist extremism that was extensively widespread in USA society and which remains but less so to this day.

The Hawaiian Convention centre in Waikiki was built on the site of the night club. In 2006 the American Bar Association met there and among the events of the events they held a rerun of the trial of the alleged rapists and found them not guilty, mainly because there was no way they could have been at the two places within the times given.

This only serves to emphasises how understandably emotive the subject of rape has always been, that the law itself had always been involved in manipulations and at times perversion of justice and injustice. I was conceived as the consequence of an effective rape of my mother by a Catholic priest so I know what I am talking about.