Happy New Year! Athbhliain Faoi Mhaise!

Posted on January 3, 2012 by fitzjameshorse

Athbhliain faoi shéan is faoi mhaise daoibh!

Happy New Year!

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Year Of The Dragon……Year Of The Bus Pass

Posted on December 31, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

So the year 2012 begins in 24 Hours. This is the last day of 2011. And by common consent, a very bad year. I have attended NINE funerals this year,including two in my extended family and the funeral of James Kelly, the journalist who died at the age of ONE HUNDRED. A friend of my late father, Jimmy Kelly’s passing went unreported on the alleged leading Norn Iron website………which managed to recognise the passing of other journalists not fit to lace Jimmy’s shoes. Perhaps Jimmy just wasn’t accepted in the wider freemasonry of journalism.

Yet economically it has been a bad year. People are actually more depressed than I can recall. Or maybe I have forgotten the darkest years of The Troubles in the 1970s when just surviving seemed like an achievement.

So in 2012 begins in 24 Hours. And in a few weeks it will be the Year of the Dragon……as it was in 1952, when I was born. So incredibly my seventh decade will begin in May. SEVEN DECADES!!!! Even a Rosary only has five decades.

Yet the Good News (and I bet it will be subject to Budgetary Cuts) is…….that I qualify for a Bus Pass in 130 Days. This means I will be able to travel thru-out Norn Iron on a bus or train. I dont even have to tell the driver where I am going. Just scan my card and I can travel to anywhere (within Norn Iron) for FREE. So on a good day in sunny June or sunnier July, I can go to a beach in Bangor, County Down or Portrush, County Antrim or Portstewart, County Derry. All for Free. FREE.

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The British “New Years Honours” Choreography in Norn Iron.

Posted on December 30, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

We all know someone who has a MBE or OBE. Occasionally they actually deserve it (with the proviso that I dont like the System at all).

Yet there is a choreography. ……certainly at the lowest levels.The Cabinet Office controls the system and sends out feelers to Sports Organisations, Civil Service Departments, Education Boards, Charities etc to put forward names in confidence.

Having considered the nominations, a fancy letter is sent out stating that “HM the Queen is graciously minded to award you a Member of the British Empire for your services to……………..please reply as soon as possible” And this is supposed to be confidential and I believe sent out in October. I have actually seen two of these letters……ironically one sent to a royalist/unionist who was so proud she nearly had a heart attack………the other sent to a republican/nationalist who was so offended he nearly had a heart attack.

So the letter goes back to London. In one case accepting. Or in another case “I am an Irish citizen and I object to 700 years of oppression, the Great Famine of 1847 and I hereby set out 200 reasons why I cant accept this outrage of a MBE”. Not that the Cabinet Office in London cares but that is the kind of letter I want to write. Many sleepless nights, I have spent composing that letter in my head.

Of course all this has to be kept secret from Family, Friends and Work Colleagues but in my experience it is never a total secret. After Big Ben chimes in the New Year, the BBC and Sky News announce the headline makers in the Honours List. And even have pre-recorded interviews with some of the better known people. So it is not “secret” to the News Media………merely it is embargoed………not to be published before the official announcement.

If I was a betting man……I would speculate that footballer David Beckham………already “David Beckham OBE” might become “Sir David Beckham” and there might well be a pre-recorded interview, where he talks about being humbled by it all. And Ronnie Corbett OBE, the much loved 81 year old comedian might become “Sir Ronnie”. Or a comedy double with “Sir” Ken Dodd but Doddy (OBE and 84) has kinda blotted his copybook with his unique way of avoiding paying Income Tax.

Awards tend to reflect Public Mood. There might be recognition for phone-hacking victims such as Mr & Mrs Dowler or Gerry & Kate McCann. And of course awards are “topical” so that several policemen, civilians involved in the London Riots in August will receive awards for gallantry. And if not already honoured in the “Birthday Honours” (June), people associated with the “Royal Wedding” will be honoured.

Norn Iron is of course a place apart. Typically around sixty people will find themselves honoured but ensuring a balanced list of “Protestants” (supportive of British institutions) and “Catholics” (largely indifferent or even hostile) is a neat trick. Of course many Catholic social workers, charity workers would happily accept an honour………for themselves or for the broader reason of recognition for the work they do. But there is an undoubted feeling that the bar is set lower for Catholics.

So Predictions. Well in Political terms the only stand out “unionist” is former Strangford DUP MP, Iris Robinson who resigned nearly two years ago over the “Toyboy” scandal. Her husband Peter Robinson is of course the First Minister in the Executive. Yet I think he would prefer her to have a low profile. At best, Unionism can expect two or three MBEs OBEs for long serving councillors.

Of course Sinn Féin do not take seats in the British Parliament so any honour from the “British Queen” is out of the question. Undoubtedly SDLP retired politicians such as John Hume, Seamus Mallon, Joe Hendron, Bríd Rodgers will have been offered Honours but will have turned them down. Retired South Down MP is perhaps a possibility as he is the man who gave us Margaret Ritchie, the recently ousted SDLP leader, who went too far along the “letsget alongerist” road.

Memorably Margaret Ritchie stated “I am not afriad of use the words… Northern Ireland”  and of course she very publicly wore a poppy last year. She is still MP for South Down but I still think it would be political suicide for her (as well as an issue of principle) for her to accept an honour.

Perhaps one long-serving  SDLP councillor somewhere might accept. There is a former councillor in South Belfast who is a MBE (possibly for non political work) and perhaps another ex-councillor in Cookstown but I think a SDLP politician would feel a backlash in the Party if accepting an honour. “Congratulations” might be muttered thru clenched teeth but it just isnt done in nationalist parties.

“Lets Get alongerists” are a different matter. Former Leader of the Alliance Party, Sean Neeson stood down at the last Assembly Election. He is a “possibility”. And in the broader “Lets Get Alongerist” Golden Halo there might be honours for Duncan Morrow or Quintin Oliver.

The “Queens visit” to Ireland will likely result in a “foreign” (honoury OBE) to some people in Dublin.

For years I have been predicting that a senior figure from the Catholic Church in England (retired Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor or possibly the current Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols) might be appointed to the House of Lords. Twenty-four Bishops from the Church of England sit ex officio in the House of Lords. A few years ago the Chief Rabbi was appointed to the Lords. And Ive often thought this was actually a prelude to bringing more “people of faith” into the Chamber. I have confidently predicted this for years and sooner or later……I will be right.

Yet the bulk of the sixty honours will be low ranking civil servants, social workers, school dinner ladies, local charity fundraisers…….totemic rather than personal.

Of course the Choreography of the Honours does not actually end with the announcements. Congratualtions messages will flood in from friends and colleagues…….in the case of nationalists thru “gritted teeth” .

And during the course of several months there will be ceremonies where the actual medals are handed out.

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The British “New Years Honours” Explained

Posted on December 30, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

Those dull days between Christmas and New Year can be brightened by idle speculation on the New Years Honours List.

Twice a year…….on her “official” birthday and New Year the “Queen” awards honours to her subjects. Of course these “honours” are actually decided by a department of the Civil Service…..to be precise it is one of the responsibilities of the Cabinet Secretariat. Britain is a society based on hierarchy. The Monarch is at the Head……there are “royal” Princes Dukes, Earls, Viscounts….. and hereditary peers who sit in the House of Lords. As the name implies these titles are passed on from father to eldest son. To take an example at random, the current Lord Onslow is the eighth to hold the title. It is a title created (per Wikipedia) in 1801.

The current Duke of Wellington is also the eighth to hold the title. The original Duke of Wellington, victor over Napolean at Waterloo in 1815 is of course the famous one.

To this day, the successors of the first Lord Onslow and first Duke of Wellington sit in the House of Lords. ..the second “Chamber” in the British political system. Although recent constitutional changes (enacted in the last ten years) have curtailed the numbers of hereditary peers entitled to vote in the House of Lords, the absurdity still exists that sitting in a House of Legislature is a right of birth.

Of the current House of Lords membership (795), around 90 are hereditary. Another  25  are Bishops of the established Church of England eg the Bishop of Liverpool and the Bishop of Manchester. But the bulk are “life peers”, around 680, appointed to sit in the House of Lords, only so long as they are alive.

The key thing is that these are appointees, in the gift of the Government of the Day. Many are political appointments. A recognition of long service for a retiring or defeated Member of Parliament. So long as it is capable of influencing legislation then the British Labour Party must make appointments to the House of Lords. Its defenders will say that it has a high standard of debate…for example on a debate on Foreign Affairs, the debate will likely involve elder statesmen, including former Foreign Secretaries of both major parties who can bring an experience and politeness to a debate.

Yet it remains a traditional and socially and politically “conservative”. Hereditary peers (total 90)…..Conservative 49, Labour 4, Liberal Democrat 4, UKIP 1 and “crossbencher” (Independent) 31……..Life Peers (total 680)…….Conservative 170, Labour 238, Liberal Democrat 88, UKIP 2, Plaid Cymru (the Welsh Nationalists) 1, Crossbenchers 153. There are 4 UUP (Ulster Unionists) and 4 DUP (Democratic Unionists) from Norn Iron.

Plaid Cymru…..which of course seeks Independence for Wales………is perhaps surprisingly represented by a retired former Leader. Perhaps not surprisingly there are no Nationalists from Scotland and Norn Iron in the House of Lords. A former Leader of the SDLP (Gerry Fitt) did take a seat but it should be noted this was after he had resigned from the Party.

Notoriously in the early 1920’s Prime Minister David Lloyd George sold peerages and knighthoods to those who contributed to “party funds”. And a vague whiff of scandal has hung over the System ever since. Of course in the “golden” age of the Stuart Monarchy, “King” Charles II and his brother “King” James II awarded titles to their several illegitimate children and/or  the cuckolded husbands of their mistresses.

A “knighthood” entitles the recipient to describe himself/herself as “Sir” or “Dame” but has no real effect in “political” terms. Yet the chief awards seem to be a matter of “entitlement” ……they come with the territory of the jobs they have. Thus a leading businessman Alan Sugar is actually “Lord” Sugar. The Chief Executive of a Bank, a major business, the chief civil servant at a Government Department, or University Chancellor can at least expect to be a knight……such as “Sir” Peter Gregson (Queens University).

There is a growing tendency to give knighthoods to Entertainers and Sports people…..”Dame” Helen Mirren (actress), “Sir” Elton John (singer), “Sir” Bruce Forsyth (TV Entertainer), “Sir” Alex” Ferguson (Manchester United manager). Yet these seem increasingly like sops to the masses…….fig leaves which recognise achievement and popularity and allow the alleged trade in “honours” to carry on as before.

Yet Peerages and Knighthoods are only part of the Hierarchy. It is Pyramid-shaped. Underneath this is a series of awards such as Members of the British Empire (MBE) or Order of the British Empire (OBE). Occasionally these are awarded to local councillors and minor political figures. The more “deserving” are of course the (typically) Scottish midwife who has braved Highland blizzards for forty years or the (typically) charity shop manager in Bedfordshire or the (typically) underpaid social worker who has worked several years in inner city Liverpool.

Yet these awards to the midwife, charity shop worker and social worker are essentially totemic. It is impossible to “honour” everyone. They are merely a representative sample and act as a fig leaf to the cutting edge of the “Honours System”.

Of course as a social egalitarian…..a political republican….as a constitutional Irish nationalist, I dont like this system. I dont like the fact that it awards people by essentially sucking them into an outdated, possibly corrupt system which is anti-democratic.

Of course Republics have “honours”. France awards Legion d’Honeur. United States has its Congressional Medal of Honour. Ireland has no such award. But of course quite properly every nation rewards gallantry, heroism, life saving etc.

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Racism And Football. Two Cases.

Posted on December 23, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

I am an Anti-Racist. Thats how I am.

I like to claim that I was a member of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in the 1970s and 1980s. The reality is that I was only a member for about seven or eight years maximum. Sometimes I let my membership lapse.

Being a member of the Anti-Apartheid Movement always seemed the right thing for me to do. But here in Ireland, it was mostly totemic or academic, a chance to make my feelings clear about issues like South Africa and broader issues of Race.

It became less academic after 1978. My sister in London is married to a man from Asia. She has three children, my neices and (all) Godchildren. They are of mixed race and I have seen the attitude of some (white) Londonders as I held their hands as very young children. I was anti-racist even before my sister told me about the dog shit smeared on her front door and the scorch marks where lighted newspapers had been put thru the letterbox.

Yet I strugggle with the issue of Race. I want to be clearly seen as anti-racist. And I need it known that this is how I was before the issue became very personal for me and my family. I am sensitive to the words I hear…and even more sensitive to the words I use…….a constant nervousness that nothing I can say will be insensitive. For example, in my previous paragraph I used the phrase “mixed race” which is of course much better than the offensive terminology I have heard directed, knowingly or unknowingly at my beautiful neices. But two years ago, I was in London and saw an advertisement looking for foster parents for children of “shared heritage”. Now that is simply a beautiful and positive phrase……”shared heritage” which deserves to be better known.

So for me……..Anti-Racism is an article of faith. …a totemic manifestation of who I am as a “liberal” and “right on guy” …as well as being personal to my family. One of those issues which defines me as a person.

I am also a football fan. The most tribal of all games. And it depresses me to see two high profile cases emerge this week which are about Racism in Football.

Take Luis Saurez. He is Liverpool FCs best player and an international from Uruguay. When I watched Liverpool defeat Manchester United FC  (my team)on TV  a few months back, it was obvious that Saurez and Patrice Evra were involved in a series of heated incidents. Saurez was laughing a lot and Evra, who is French was getting increasingly agitated.

After the match, Evra gave an interview in a French newspaper claiming that Saurez had racially abused him on several occasions during the match. Evra is black. Saurez is white. Surprisingly perhaps, Luis Saurez did not deny the allegations. Rather he claimed that in his native Uruguay, it was normal for people to comment on the colour of people or indeed other physical characteristics and to give them nicknames, which were affectionate or nasty, depending on tone. He even claimed that some of Evra’s team mates (presumably South Americans) were using the same “name” that he called Evra.

European Football has a problem with Racism. Black players are routinely abused by crowds in Spain, Italy and in Eastern Europe. The English Football authorities want strong action from UEFA and FIFA, Football’s European and World governing bodies. English Football claims a high moral ground because the routine racial abuse of the very few black players actually playing football in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s has largely been stopped thru a campaign “Kick Racism Out”. It was routine for football crowds to make monkey noises and throw bananas at black players.

Certainly I remember the “Letters” page in a football magazine in the 1960s. People used to send in fantasy football teams based perhaps on only using occupations such as “Farmer”, “Cook”, “Archer” or perhaps players whose names were “Green”, “Brown”, “White”, “Black”. Harmless but once someone sent in a letter and it was duly published. A team made up of BLACK people. In those days it was so unusual that the writer had to scour the ninety two teams in English football to come up with ELEVEN names.

Of course three things have changed since the bad old days. First off, about thirty per cent of all English football teams are black. There are over fifty nationalities represented in the twenty teams in the English Premiership. These include players from Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Togo etc but also second and third generation English-born players. Secondly, the major stadia are all-seater. Secondly, there is no terracing where gangs of like-minded thugs can stand together and shout obscenities. Thirdly, although black faces are still under-represented in football crowds, they are more visible than before. Lastly, the climate (in public at least) is different and the tolerance levels for racists is lower. People can get banned from football matches or face criminal charges.

Which brings me back to Luis Saurez. The English Football authorities dithered about the Saurez-Evra incident for too long and eventually held a disciplinary hearing this week. Suarez has been banned for eight matches and fined £40,000 (he earns £80,000 per week). Seemingly there was no hard evidence…..only Evra’s allegation and the Saurez admission. Perhaps they also dithered in giving due/undue consideration to the mitigation…that it was customary in Uruguay.

Perhaps English Football HAD to act. They have accused UEFA and FIFA of being less than whole-hearted in condemning racism in Spanish football grounds. It would have been a double standard to have excused Spanish-speaking Saurez. Sepp Blatter, the German who is in charge of World Football was ridiculed in the English media for saying that most of these “racist” incidents on the field of play should be settled with a handshake at the end of the game.

Blatter was effectively saying that what happens on the Sports field should stay on the sports field. Having ridicule Blatter, English Football would have much preferred if Saurez had simply denied the charge against him as there was no real proof against him.

Liverpool FC are annoyed at what they see as the unfair treatment meted out to Saurez. But they have taken their sense of injustice too far. On Wednesday night, Liverpool played at Wigan Athletic FC. During the warm up before the game, Liverpool players (and their manager) wore Tshirts “Saurez #7”, a clear gesture of support. During last nights game Liverpool fans were cheering every time Saurez touched the ball. More depressing was that Wigan fans booed every time that Saurez touched the ball. We should not draw the conclusion that Liverpool fans were supporting Racism. Or that Wigan fans were taking a stance against Racism. Rather this was shabby Tribalism. At the very moment that Football fans should be pulling together ….they are polarised.

The second case is that of John Terry…….captain of Chelsea FC and captain of England, who play in next years European Championship in Poland and Ukraine. Terry is loved by his own fans, loathed by others. At one level he is the tough “sergeant” and his men will follow him out of the trenches. He epitomises for some the British “bulldog spirit” . But on another level, he epitomises everything wrong with “modern” Football. He earns over £100,000 per week and acts accordingly…fast cars, women, incidents in night clubs. Shortly after 9/11 he was one of a group of Chelsea players reprimanded for hurling abuse at American tourists. Two years ago it was revealed he had slept with the girlfriend of a Chelsea team-mate and lost the captaincy of England for a short time.

Seemingly re-habilitated and restored to the England captaincy, John Terry was involved in an incident during a match at Queens Park Rangers FC. Cameras showed him launch a verbal tirade on Anton Ferdinand, a black player. Eagle-eyed deaf viewers who know how to lip-read reported a racist dimension. Terry denied this vehemently.

Although the incident was months ago, the London Police and “Crown Prosecution Service” have reviewed the video evidence and charged Terry with racially abusing Ferdinand. Note that this is a criminal charge, not a disciplinary matter within Football.John Terry will appear in a London court in February and if convicted faces a fine of up to £2,500.

Last night Terry played for Chelsea against Tottenham Hotspur FC. And depressingly every time he touched the ball, he was cheered by his own fans and roundly booed by the Spurs’ fans. Again Tribalism trumped Racism.

But he has given English Football a dilemna. He vehemently denies the charge and naturally he is innocent until proven guilty. But for the moment, England’s captain is charged with racist abuse. English Football cannot “sack” him. Nor is Terry willing to stand aside.

But I think it is naive for anyone to believe that “innocent until proven guilty” necessarily means that there is no need for the issue to be addressed. A man charged with murder is innocent until proven guilty…..but his life changes..he might well be remanded in custody. If this example seems extreme consider the case of ………..say……….a High School teacher charged with racial abuse in his school. He is likely to be asked to stay away from the school until his court case is heard and he is free to resume his duties.

So I think that John Terry must stand aside as England captain. Failing that he should be compelled to do so.

Yet the stakes are high. A “Guilty” verdict for John Terry would surely be the end of his football career.

 

 

 

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The Leveson Inquiry…Witnesses Week 5 (Tuesday)

Posted on December 22, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

Steve Turner, General Secretary of the British Union of Journalists gives evidence of a bullying culture at News Of The World. Turner blames two factors….falling circulations and a profit based industry leading journalists to take risks. Phoney allegations were made against journalists by Management leading journalists to cave in to pressure.  It was not uncommon for journalists to suffer breakdowns.

Sharon Marshall is a former tabloid journalist, now working in television. She has written a book “Tabloid Girl” which chronicles the excesses of tabloid journalists and is semi-autobigraphical. She herself left The News Of The World because she would not co-operate in a story she knew to be untrue. Ms Marshall spends most of her time in the witness box distancing herself from her own book. She was “writing a comedy not a legal document”. She describes her book as shaggy dog stories told by old hacks “pub talk”. She claims not to know whether the stories are true only that they were told to her.

Chris Johnson (Mercury Press) and Matthew Bell (Ferrari News Agency) give evidence together. Johnson likens the public reaction to journalists and phone hacking as the same as public reaction to Catholic priests and paedophilia.

Piers Morgan gives evidence via satellite link from United States, where he now hosts a chat show/celebrity interview show on CNN. Morgan has edited both The News Of The World and The Daily Mirror. Prior to being an editor, he was a show biz reporter. He has also authored a book “The Insider”. He believes that he is ethical. He denies his staff at The Daily Mirror was involved in phone hacking “but we know The Guardian was”.

He has already acknowledged elsewhere that he was shown how to use the code for breaking into voice mails but can’t recall who told him about the trick. Likewise he has already described Clive Goodman as a “scapegoat” as phone hacking was common-place. In the witness box he claims this statement was based on the Fleet Street rumour mill, rather than hard evidence.

Morgan is asked about listening to a message left  for Helen Mills (by then husband Paul McCartney). He can’t state that it was a voice mail…only a recording. Leveson intervenes to state that only Ms Mills (and those to whom she gives permission) had a right to listen to messages. Morgan wont talk about the source but pointedly recalls that McCartney has suggested that Mills recorded conversations to play to journalists. A frustrated Leveson suggests calling Mills to give evidence.

Morgan is dismissive of allegations by James Hipwell, jailed for “insider trading” while employed by The Daily Mirror. Hipwell is a “convicted criminal”. Morgan bought £67,000 worth of shares I a company tipped by Hipwell. The Press Complaints Commission were  told that the amount invested was £20,000. Morgan does not know why this was.

Morgan has little sympathy with celebrities who use the Press to advance their careers and complain about invasion of privacy.

Yet the parallel with the earlier evidence of Sharon Marshall is striking.

Marshall spent a lot of time distancing herself from “Tabloid Girl” (her own book). Piers Morgan was not able to recall much about the anecdotes in his own book “The Insider”.

Both books were written in the wake of Operation Motorman and it had appeared that the Press had been let off the hook by the Police Investigation, now seen to be inadequate. But the Press seemed anxious to move on. I think Marshall and Morgan tapped into that Zeitgest….where the Public wanted to know more about the “dark arts” in tabloid journalism. Tabloid journalists were treated as “wide boys” who walked a narrow ethical line.

Of course the Zeitgest is now different. Tabloid Journalism is now seen as more sinister. Marshall and Morgan were more guarded than the revelatory nature of their books.

 

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The Leveson Inquiry…Witnesses Week 5 (Monday)

Posted on December 20, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

Stuart Hoare, brother of Sean Hoare (the whistle-blower who told about the dark arts at “The News Of The World”) who died of an overdose some months ago. The brothers often talked about phone hacking.

James Hanning, Deputy Editor of “The Independent” also gave evidence. He had planned writing a book with Sean Hoare, who had actually turned down money for telling his story. The Public Interest is discussed…celebrities living a lie must expect scrutiny. There are three issues…blagging, phone hacking and payments to people in public office.

Matthew Driscoll is a former News Of The World sports journalist who received a payment of £800,000, compensation for bullying and discrimination (he is disabled) from the newspaper. Mr Driscoll was aware of phone hacking in news and features stories but questions their value in sports reporting, much of which is “face to face”. Driscoll suffered Depression after internal disciplinary procedures. He contrasts the way he was treated with the treatment of Neville Thurlbeck.

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British Comedy Awards 2011…and Armando Iannucci

Posted on December 18, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

It was nice to see Armando Iannucci take the Writers Guild Award at the British Comedy Awards this week. Iannucci, a Scot with a Italian father is in fact much more than a writer….as a producer, director and indeed performer he leads a time of writers and actors……Steve Coogan, Rebecca Front, Chris Morris and David Schneider among them. Shows like “Brass Eye”, “The Alan Partridge Show”., “Friday Night Armistice” and the brilliant political satire “The Thick Of It” have his stamp.

There always seems to be a lot of nepotism in TV Comedy. Margaret Thatcher broke up the monopoly of BBC and ITV and now it is much more common for independent production companies to sell ideas, formats to (notably) BBC. This has effectively meant that these production companies use their own crew and cast, which leads I think to the likes of Tiger Aspect and Hat Trick Productions and Iannucci using their own stock company.

I’d question now if these production companies have a monopoly. Checking the family ties between TV comedy shows is interesting.

Yet there was something in Iannucci’s acceptance speech which resonated. He said that basically……..in the family, at school, at university and at work he liked….LAUGHING. He enjoyed being with people that are laughing.

Maybe I have always felt this way myself. More likely……growing older liberates me from the tyranny of the work place or allows me to appreciate that only a handful of issues are really serious. The majority of “issues” are actually things at which we should laugh.

I don’t usually like award shows. But last night there was a recognisable feeling that there wasa new comedy hierarchy. Miranda Hart and Sarah Millican were among those who took awards. Indeed Miranda has retained her Comedy Actress award and has added to her standing. There was a feeling that the torch was being passed on. That the people at whom we had laughed at in the 1990s, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Rowan Atkinson had gone into a kind of semi-retirement of sorts.

Twenty years ago, Comedy was heralded as the new Rock and Roll. Maybe it is all about Fashion and Trends rather than something more meaningful. Certainly I remember 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s comedy and I think the “new” comedians and shows are absorbed into the mainstream or fall by the wayside.

In a way Stand-Up Comedy is something that most comedians only seem comfortable with for a while. No less than the way in which 1920s and 1930s acts could travel around Britain’s music halls (vaudeville) doing the ten minute or twenty minute act (depending on their place on the bill) there is only so many times a 21st century headliner like Michael McIntyre can do the sell-out stadium tour with DVD for the Christmas market. At best that can only work on four occasions…with some TV work in between. Sooner or later, the audience finds it ……….just more of the same.

Ultimately the modern comedian needs to diversify. Rowan Atkinson is now a movie star. Stephen Fry hosts panel shows like QI (itself with a rota of comedians to fill the four other chairs) and make documentaries on Language, Depression and the United States. Ben Miller appears in comedy drama such as “Murder in Paradise”, while his comedy partner Alexander Armstrong hosts “Pointless”, a quiz show. Lee Mack is versatile enough to be a stand-up, an actor in sit-com “Not Going Out” and a regular panellist on “Would I Lie To You?” and so on……

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US Presidential Election 2012…Fux News, Conservatives And Insanity

Posted on December 17, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

The default position of 95% of Europeans including myself is that American Republicans are insane….we simply dont speak the same political language. But Obama has disappointed most Europeans and a considerable number of his own American supporters so how is it that on his approval ratings of 40%, he is heading for an easy victory. The answer is ……his opponent. Whoever it is……will be beaten. Because he/she will be handpicked by Fux News.. All the problems in the GOP can be laid at the door of BillO’Reilly,Shaun Hannity,Glen Beck,Ann Coulter,Neil Cavuto. It is that simple.

Its not just me who says it. Or David Frum. Dick Morris a Fux contributor said it…..on Fux News. “You dont need to win in Iowa….you need to win on Fux”, a rebuke from a Fux contributor to his own employer. Morris….like Frum is a political professional ….or as his co-pundits on Fux might say sneeringly……a political “insider”. Even Herman Cain was popular on Fux. He had no political experience. That actually was deemed a “plus”. Fux sneers at any form of “compromise” and “compromise” is what successful American politics is about. Fux viewers and Tea Party activists dont do “compromise”. Fux will endorse a true believer……a conservative on issues a real politician would consider off the wall or avoid as being things a pragmatic politician would avoid…….stem cell research, abortion, school prayer, mosques within a thousand miles of Ground Zero, gun control, same sex “marriages”. Not to mention real political issues like health care. Would a serious Republican politician actually want that hassle?. John McCain was not a true believer. But people like Huckabee, Gingrich are or….pander enough to be one. A Republican candidate has no room to make policy ….with O’Reilly and the rest watching for deviation. Frum has said as much……the Party tried to harness the power of Fux News and it has backfired . As Frum would say “The Republican Party thought that Fux News worked for it…….actually its the Republican Party that is in the grasp of Fux News”. Or as we say here…if you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas.

The irony of course is that no candidate endorsed by Fux News can win the Presidency. In Europe we might regard American conservatives as insane but luckily most Americans are as sane as I am. Hmmm. Or more sane.

It is entirely counter-productive. On the other hand Fux can probably influence races for the Senate and the House. And thus gridlock is guaranteed. But without Fux News………the Republicans could actually defeat Obama. He is not as brilliant as we thought in Europe.

Mitt Romney remains a voice of reason. The only person who can beat Obama but……..will Fux actually endorse him? I doubt it…………..and I think the prime reason is that Romney is a Mormon. As “unAmerican” as Kennedy’s Catholicism half a century ago. For the stereotype persists that Mormons are not quite like the rest of Americans. “They believe in polygamy” is the whispered charge…..but Romney is a blameless once married man. Unlike Huckabee. Unlike McCain. Unlike Cain. Unlike Gingrich. But Fux will continue along the lines of being Rich People endorsing other Rich People to encourage Middle Class People to blame eveything on Poor People.

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The Olympic Spirit? London 2012

Posted on December 17, 2011 by fitzjameshorse

I am a big sports fan. In the 1970s I used to travel around Ireland to watch sports events… Football, Hurling, Gaelic Football, Athletics, Boxing, Horse Sport…….it was a break in the routine from life in Belfast. And of course I was a single man in those days.

In mid 1979, I signed up to go to see the Olympic Games in Moscow. Moscow had been a controversial choice of course and for over a decade, the Olympic Games had become ever more controversial.

In Mexico City (1968) tens of student protestors had been shot dead by Police. In Munich (1972) seventeen people, including several Israeli athletes and coaches were killed in a terrorist raid by Palestinians. In Montreal (1976) nearly thirty countries boycotted the Olympics to protest that the New Zealand Rugby team had toured South Africa.

So……Moscow. Even for a single guy, Moscow was an expensive trip. I signed up to travel with about 250 other Irish folks. I was in Moscow for the Opening Ceremony and first ten days or so of the Games. I could not afford the entire twenty days. And those of us who returned after ten days were replaced by a fresh consignment of Irish people.

Although going behind The Iron Curtain was a big deal in 1980, it did not seem likely that anything untoward would happen…..even in the dying embers of the old Soviet Union, a nuclear war breaking out was unlikely.

I have blogged elsewhere about the trip on several levels………but specifically on the Olympics, the trip was ruined long before I ever left Dublin Airport in July 1980. I went to Dublin in December 1979 and paid off the final installment. After Christmas, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan……..and within days the United States was leading a boycott of the Games. And as it turned out over sixty countries boycotted the Games……including USA, (West) Germany, Japan, China, Kenya and Canada. Of course this not only meant that athletes from these countries did not go to Moscow, it meant that there were very few spectators from these countries at the Games. Additionally there was pressure from some countries……..including Margaret Thatcher’s Britain ……on their Olympic committees not to attend. The British mostly went. Likewise Ireland………but some sports competitions were further devalued by national federations in (for example) Equestrianism and (field) Hockey refusing to participate. Most “western” Olympic committees (including Ireland and Britain) did not have athletes at the Opening Ceremony ……and there few flags of “western” nations. All flew the Olympic Flag and (as I recall) an Olympic “hymn” was played when a “western” nation won an event.

So attending that Opening Ceremony and seeing a clearly aging Leonid Brezhnev open the Games, the overall feeling was that I should not have made the trip. It was not the spectacle for which I had paid. Of course it was obvious even then that the Soviet Union would lead a boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The Olympics are highly political………and with money, commercialism and drug cheating………a sham.

In July 2005, London was selected as the venue for the 2012 Olympics. It is of course great to be able to watch the Games on TV when it is in the same (more or less) time  zone. Much better that it is London, Paris, Berlin……than Tokyo, Los Angeles or Sydney.

But the very day after the Games were awarded to London, the city was bombed (7th July 2005) and frankly it set off alarm bells that something nasty could happen. Rampant commercialism, spiralling costs as well as the London Riots (earlier this year) and a simmering resentment at the cost of living……mean that I detect little good feeling about the Games. Of course TV and the Media will whip a kind of genuine national pride and a less worthy jingoism which will make the Games a roaring success………….Or not.

Frankly I am worried. A lot of people (already rich) are going to get (more) rich from these Games…..but I suspect that a lot of people will feel less happy…….notably inconvenienced Londoners and local taxpayers in London. It is one of the great ironies that the Games Organisers (none of whom will be impoverished) are recruiting an army of unpaid volunteers to make the Games a success.

But more so the announcement that 13,000 British troops will be deployed at Olympic venues in London and other sites in Britain is a clear sign that the Government themselves are anxious. I suspect its internal dissent (summer riots) which will tie up police numbers rather than any overt “terrorism”.

But as I noted several student protestors were shot dead in Mexico City in 1968. It couldnt happen in London in 2012? Could it?

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