Thursday, April 29, 2010

Oh Dear !

Yesterday Prime Minister Gordon Brown saw his election campaign wagon derailed by a pensioner, Mrs Gillian Duffy, on her way to fetch a loaf of bread. The fault of course wasn't Mrs Duffy who asked very pertinent questions, largely about state pensions and benefits relating to herself, though she later asked, in one sentence 'Where are all these East Europeans flocking from?'

The Prime Minister handled the conversation very well, answering all her questions and basically his chat ended with the life long labour voter concluding she would again vote labour. Good television indeed you'd think.

So, Mr Brown should have been pleased, he should have got in his car and thought 'chalk that one up as a success in front of the cameras but sadly he decided to call her 'A bigot'. Personally I didn't see anything bigot related in the exchange, she questioned a relevant issue that people feel affected by. Instead though, Mr Brown wasn't pleased, he asked who picked the woman for him to chat too and claimed she was a bigot, all caught on microphone. Oh dear!

Now, we all say things like that, especially in the workplace, we vent our opinions of others after certain events, it's only human to release stress or frustration in such a way, so I don't think Mr Brown was being nasty or vindictive, though it did raise questions, many questions.

The main one being, how much is the Prime Minister in touch with 'real' people and issues? For years labour have been avoiding issues on immigration, admitting they haven't monitored figures and many other issues I could dredge up. When I've seen Labour minister Phil Woolas interviewed in the past he has often avoided many pressing issues seemingly, it's almost like the immigration issue is taboo at times.

Personally my opinion of immigration has softened, I ask myself what direct harm has it done to me?, and the answer is none at all. For the last few months I have worked with immigrants at a homeless centre in Nottingham and this has given me more of an open viewpoint into things. Also I've made a couple of friends nearer to home, Polish and Hungarian which has been rewarding and insightful. This all said, I still feel immigration needs tighter controls and monitoring. Whilst I can see why people use the centre in Nottingham, and the benefit it gives them, I can't help thinking they'd be better in their own country with support and family, as we don't have an extended structure here to deal with homeless immigrants, plus we have many of our own sadly. As a human being though I will help anyone, and that is how I see my work, helping a fellow human being, so I put any political issues aside, that is for the politicians to deal with.

A friend of mine raised the good point of what if someone from the BNP or UKIP parties said something similar to Mrs Duffy on camera, then they would be labelled 'bigots' immediately, and he is right. But, many people support those parties, and so would disagree with him, saying any comment was relevant. The difference is that people expect challenging comments from the BNP et al, it's expected, it's what they do. They are parties with direct goals, that appeal to certain people within this nation, Mrs Duffy, as a pensioner was more bothered about her pension payments and benefits than immigrants, she made a comment, and in truth who hasn't seen a change in communities because of immigration, it doesn't mean to say (as we are generally tolerant as a country) that we dislike them.

I suspect the whole immigration thing will come full circle in time, look at history from the middle ages onwards, Norman Barons, Flemish weavers, Jewish money lenders, later you had Irish after the famine, the commonwealth influx when we had labour shortages in the 50s, and so on. Now we have the east Europeans, seemingly in waves, the Polish came, many are going back, some have settled. Next it seems to be the Romanians and Hungarians, I suspect the pattern will be the same. What the above all have in common though, is when things are bad on the home front (which they are), is that we blame the minority, as we have done in history. That I suspect is why Mrs Duffy made her comment, but we have to consider that change doesn't come easy for some and there are issues regarding immigration.

Getting back to Mr Browns silly comment, well he did the decent thing, he apologised (like he had any choice?) and said he misunderstood Mrs Duffy, which is complete rubbish. It raises earlier questions about his temperament within the press, and to be clear here, Mr Brown did say later on BBC radio 2 that he thought the question was 'annoying'. Though I said earlier we all make mistakes like that in life, we often have the time to make amends, Mr Brown unfortunately doesn't have that time in the run up to the election.

The press of course have made a big deal about it, the Murdoch press will do anyway, but they should also be addressing Mrs Duffy's other conversation items other than immigration which was ironically the least mentioned.

The press were also eager to report Boris Johnson talking to 'chaotic' crowds yesterday, talking to all and sundry and even speaking Polish to impress immigrants, which is always going to look good, though talking to the public on camera is always a gamble I guess, you just have to have the savvy, which sadly I feel Mr Brown lacks.

The press have slowly crucified Mr Brown since he's been in office, and we can't squarely blame him for the financial mess, it's a world affair. I've always voted Labour, had socialist ideals but now we mainly have central politics over direct left and right, political parties look more generic than ever and it is more about personality than party these days, but then look at great leaders of the semi recent past, and its often individuals that have the more profound impact. I'm still not sure who to vote for, and the last debate is almost upon us, can Brown swing it around?

And for the pendantics and a bit of fun, the definition and history of 'bigot'

bigotn bigot [ˈbigət]a person who constantly and stubbornly holds a particular point of view etc (nothing constant or stubborn about what Mrs Duffy said).

History ....

Bigots may have more in common with God than one might think. Legend has it that Rollo, the first duke of Normandy, refused to kiss the foot of the French king Charles III, uttering the phrase bi got, his borrowing of the assumed Old English equivalent of our expression by God. Although this story is almost surely apocryphal, it is true that bigot was used by the French as a term of abuse for the Normans, but not in a religious sense. Later, however, the word, or very possibly a homonym, was used abusively in French for the Beguines, members of a Roman Catholic lay sisterhood. From the 15th century on Old French bigot meant "an excessively devoted or hypocritical person." Bigot is first recorded in English in 1598 with the sense "a superstitious hypocrite."

Monday, April 26, 2010

Centurion



So, it was off to Nottingham today, to Cineworld, a cinema in the city centre I'd never visited before to see Neil Marshall's new movie 'Centurion'. Having loved Mr Marshall's past movie 'Doomsday' and the period of history Centurion was set in, it's fair to say I was looking forward to the event.

Was I let down? Hell no, it was an amazing Romano/British period romp, lashings of action, a simple story and great actors that didn't ham it up. I like Michael Fassbender and Dominic West anyway, but the supporting cast were all damn good. Without any spoilers the story is simple, it's the story of the Roman 9th Legion (legendary handy dudes) that go up into Scotland (Or Pictland as it was then) to kick arse, and basically have their fortunes reversed, leaving a handful of desperate survivors to get back behind their own lines, and safety.

The plot is simple, there's no complicated sub plots which just let's you sit back and enjoy what is a solid little movie, with some amazing visuals, and some very scary (yet sexy) Scots in pursuit of the survivors. It's not often I enthuse about movies these days but this one is bloody good, 'bloody' being a descriptive word for the film. It's all filmed outdoors and no green screen stuff techno stuff, and I believe it was all filmed on location in the north of England/Scotland.

What vexes me is that my local cinema advertised it (Reel Cinema) then it vanished off their playlist for the following week. It also wasn't on locally at Mansfield or Lincoln either, so why are we not promoting great British films? My local cinema would rather have the now jaded Alice in Wonderland on for another week, surely it can't be taking any money by now?! It just doesn't add up, had they shown this 'Centurion' for a week, I am sure they being a multi screen affair would have made on it.

Anyway, great movie, story, cast - and thanks Neil Marshall for another great film.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Sleaford

These photos are about 3 weeks old now, so still look a bit wintery, though the day was actually quite nice. Been past Sleaford many a time on my way to the coast but never actually stopped off to have a nosey around. It's a nice little place so I will drive over there in the near future again to explore further.







Tuesday, April 06, 2010

And so, The Election

So Gordon Brown has gone to see Lizzy (that's the Queen by the way) and got parliament dissolved for a May 6th election. I'm undecided at the point who to vote for, traditionally I have always voted Labour, however this time I am not so sure. Politics seems very generic these days with little distinction between right and left, it's all very moderate and about personalities.

One things for sure, it'll be interesting, so the stage is set, the die is cast, let the mummers enact their destiny.

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Proud

Last night I attended the charity night for remembering Russell Speed (Big Russ) and raising money for MacMillan cancer support. At the time of writing this blog I am unaware how much was raised exactly but the last I'd heard it was over £1,000.

It was an excellent evening, two great bands and a packed pub. There was a real sense of community, throngs of laughter and heaps of generosity.

I've had friends pass away before but none have been so fondly and fittingly remembered as Big Russ was last night.

The staff of the Fox and Crown deserve a special mention, they worked tirelessly all night to make it such a great evening, it's a fantastic pub with genuine people both friends and staff alike.

Everyone concerned should be proud of themselves for raising money and honouring Big Russ!