tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6126565017028851412024-03-13T12:12:53.130-07:00Reluctant IrishmanReluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.comBlogger78125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-58904738273408425272012-11-07T22:01:00.004-08:002012-11-07T22:01:37.287-08:00Bullet dodged<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I’ve looked forward to writing this blog posting. It was
never a sure thing that I would get the opportunity but at last it has come to
pass. Obama and Biden have been re-elected
and the American people have seen through the prejudice and lies of
those that contested the election.</div>
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I have already written of how Obama proved a disappointment
in many respects. Back in 2008, after eight years of the worst President in
living memory, it was easy to be swayed by his high-flown rhetoric and to believe
that this relatively young, energetic orator would lead America and the world
to a land of milk and honey.</div>
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In fact, he failed to right many of the wrongs of his
predecessor, and even added some new ones on occasion. Nevertheless, he did
break the downward slide of the economy, while Obamacare is a historic
achievement. In any event, faced with the alternative of Romney-Ryan, it was
easy to swallow the disappointments and rally behind the incumbent. </div>
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It was plain from the outset that Romney saw the White House
as the only fitting pinnacle to a career of self enrichment and self
aggrandisement, and that it didn’t matter what he had to do or say in order to
get there. In order to court the conservative Tea Party wing of his party, he
quickly abandoned the moderate approach of his Governorship of Massachusetts on
issues like healthcare and abortion. He engaged in reckless sabre-rattling
against Iran. And he even characterised FEMA as immoral.</div>
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Then, when it was clear he was losing ground after the mask
had slipped when he made the notorious forty-seven percent remark, he
re-invented himself yet again. No, he
would not lead America into war, he said. And – after Hurricane Sandy – no, he
would after all see that FEMA was adequately funded. It was the classic incarnation
of the Groucho Marx line; that these are my principles but if you don’t like
them I have other ones.</div>
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That same forty-seven percent gaffe, together with his career in gutting viable businesses to send the jobs
abroad, his casual references to wealth that most could only dream of, and his
unwillingness to furnish tax returns past two years ago all contributed to the
image of an acquisitive man, out of touch with the cares of everyday Americans.</div>
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Romney is a narcissistic jerk but he cannot compete for
sheer nastiness with his Vice-Presidential running mate. Ryan’s worship of
greed and wealth make Gordon gecko look positively benign, while his bigotry
and misogyny are positively poisonous.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The plausible middle ground defence of the Romney-Ryan
ticket articulated in the <i>Daily Telegraph</i>
and elsewhere required one to believe some statements that were outright lies.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The first lie was that the Republicans had nothing to do
with the current budget deficit. That was hard to sustain, given that George W
Bush inherited a surplus and left a massive deficit. So the defence was to
avoid mentioning Bush entirely and to dissociate the current candidates from
his deeds. This might have cut some ice were it not for the fact that Romney’s
team included a number of Bush’s advisors.</div>
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<br /></div>
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The second lie was that Republicans only sought to achieve
the perfectly reasonable goal of wiping out the deficit. Ruth Dudley Edwards,
in the Daily Telegraph and Irish Independent, criticised an article in the New
York Times attacking Ryan, saying that this was all that Ryan was trying to do.
In fact, Ryan and Romney were not primarily interested in this aim, and Romney
eventually postponed its achievement until 2020 (despite still criticising
Obama for not achieving it in four years). No, this rhetoric about the deficit
was simply a smokescreen to hide the aim of deepening the inequities in an
already inequitable tax regime that blatantly favours the super-wealthy at the
expense of the middle class. In order to give the impression that they were
doing credible arithmetic (which they weren’t) , and in order to show that they
could “kick ass” they advocated swingeing cuts to America’s public services
targeting the most vulnerable in society.</div>
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The same defective arithmetic was apparent in Romney’s
energy policy. Despite the avowed aim of achieving energy independence by 2020
(an aim that is unachievable as long as the Americans fail to cure their energy
obesity), Romney’s plan was just about giving the keys of America’s
wildernesses to the oil and coal barons that back the Republican Party so that
they could produce greenhouse gas-generating fuel more expensively and less
efficiently than it could be produced elsewhere.</div>
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Oh yes, while I am about it, perhaps the most fantastical
notion is that the media were skewing the race in favour of Obama. This might have
been true had the Americans relied on European media but, since Fox News is the
most widely watched “news” channel in the USA, it is hard to see how even the
most brass-necked Republican can expect us to believe such nonsense. </div>
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While it is disappointing, therefore, that Republicans still
hold control of the House of Representatives, it is heartening to see them
failing to wrest either the Senate or the White House from the Democrats. It is
also heartening to see that their lies about the economy were not believed;
most of those dissatisfied with the economy voted for Obama. The poor showing by extreme right-wingers is
also good news, with the drubbing of Richard Mourdock (pregnancy from rape is
God’s will) and Todd Akin (a woman’s body can shut down to stop pregnancy from
legitimate rape) is the icing on the cake.</div>
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There is still a lot to worry about. Although the ghoulish,
racist, woman hating, creationist, climate change-denying wing of the
Republican Party (the one that says science is a conspiracy to confuse people)
didn’t do well electorally, they are still a force to be reckoned with and I
don’t see that Obama has either the strength in Congress or the strength of
character to face them down. However, the demographics are against them. This
group of aging, white, mostly male and, yes, mostly less well-educated voters
opted for Romney en masse. But they are a dying breed, that will be outvoted
increasingly by the young, women, and Hispanics.</div>
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So I say to John Boehner and Sean Hannity who vowed to make Obama
a one-term President; I say to people like Carol Coulter, that adulterous
libertine, Rush Limbaugh; I say to the commentators in the Daily Telegraph and
elsewhere that should have known better:</div>
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You’ve LOST! Now get over it!</div>
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Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-62672826436542150982012-10-24T06:31:00.003-07:002012-10-24T06:31:21.069-07:00A unique institution<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Last weekend we made a short trip to Burgundy (the region of France, not the much larger medieval duchy, which extended up into Flanders and which is the backdrop for my soon to be published novel). We were able to visit a building which is both an architectural treasure and the embodiment of a great institution.<br />
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In 1443, Burgundy was still ravaged by the Hundred Years War and the lawlessness which followed it and the people of Beaune were destitute. Against that background, Nicolas Rolin, chancellor to Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, and his wife, Guigone de Salins, decided to set up a hospital for the sick that would admit patients free of charge. The project would be financed by a small number of wealthy paying patients, who would have their own rooms,, and - more importantly - by a grant of land. Located in one of the most prestigious wine-growing regions in Europe, this land - and the wine it produces - remains the main source of funding to this day and renders the institution self-financing.<br />
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The Hotel-Dieu, as it was then know, turned out to be a masterpiece of design and engineering. Rolin was anxious to create a building that would be pleasing to the eye and what resulted is still a delight to behold. The interior courtyard roof, decorated with patterns of coloured glazed tiles, is especially spectacular (it was restored in the early 20th century). The Room of the Poor , where the non-paying patients were housed (restored in the 19th century), and the chapel are the most outstanding elements of the interior. Rolin insisted that it be built over a river - in order to have access to running water - and this greatly complicated the construction of the foundations. Nevertheless, despite financial troubles and other complications, the hospital admitted its first patient on 1452.<br />
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Over the centuries the institution suffered many vicissitudes. The Revolution led to the temporary expulsion of the nuns and the destruction of most of the statuary in the chapel. The greatest artistic treasure of all, the polyptych over the altar painted by the Flemish artist, Rogier van der Weyden, depicting the lat Judgement, was safely hidden at the time and is now back on proud display. At the time the name of the institution was changed to the Hospices de Beaune.<br />
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Nowadays, the building no longer functions as a hospital, that role having been taken over by a custom-built building on the outskirts of Beaune (it is still financed by the proceeds of the annual wine auction). Instead, visitors can come and admire its beauty and learn about how medicine was practised down the centuries.<br />
<br />
It is one of France's must-sees!<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ETyK9STHo9A/UIftDIpVVzI/AAAAAAAABTg/2FyaamuBGKY/s1600/hospice1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ETyK9STHo9A/UIftDIpVVzI/AAAAAAAABTg/2FyaamuBGKY/s320/hospice1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The courtyard</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SStk1fScLS8/UIftLZFP1gI/AAAAAAAABTo/eE5dwertxUo/s1600/Hospice2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SStk1fScLS8/UIftLZFP1gI/AAAAAAAABTo/eE5dwertxUo/s320/Hospice2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The room of the poor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gfey5tHQcww/UIftQZQGpZI/AAAAAAAABTw/267tmbPlkBw/s1600/Hospice3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gfey5tHQcww/UIftQZQGpZI/AAAAAAAABTw/267tmbPlkBw/s320/Hospice3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pharmacy</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-31871296638292407302012-10-02T04:22:00.001-07:002012-10-02T04:22:52.260-07:00The perfect roast spud<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
People are generally complementary about my roast potatoes, although to me the quality varies a little from one dinner to the next. So what are the things that contribute to getting it right?<br />
<br />
Well, as usual I start with Delia Smith's recipe (<a href="http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/perfect-roast-potatoes.html">http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/perfect-roast-potatoes.html</a>) but I've modified it over the years.<br />
<br />
Firstly, the variety is important. This varies from country to country so you can't go by her specification of Desiree potatoes. Records work well in Ireland. In Belgium I used Francelines. In Switzerland and France I look for a variety which is specified as being good for puree or boiled potatoes.<br />
<br />
The potatoes should all be about the same size, which means that larger ones should be cut in half - or even in three. I<br />
<br />
Then parboiling is essential. You can do potato wedges or cubed roast potatoes with garlic and rosemary without parboiling but the traditional roast spud needs to be parboiled. Having misread Delia's recipe the first time, instead of pouring boiling water over the potatoes and simmering them for 10 minutes, I put them in cold water, brought it to the boil and then simmered it for 10 minutes. That turned the potatoes to mush - not surprisingly, with hindsight (so I mashed them!). After that, I reduced the simmering time to 5 minutes and that generally works. So either bring to the boil from cold and simmer for 5, or add boiling water and simmer for 10. The idea is to soften the outside of the potato but not to cook it right through. Delia suggests testing the outside with a skewer, which is a good idea because otherwise the next step might not work as intended.<br />
<br />
The next stage is to drain them, of course. The, holding the pan and lid tight, you give it a good shake - hard enough for the potatoes to bounce around. If you've done everything right this will roughen up the edges, making them floury, and result at the end in a crust that is crisp without being greasy.<br />
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What fat to use? Well, goose fat or duck fat are the best, while olive oil or sunflower oil are the healthiest. In general, you would use the fat from the roast meat - if you are serving them with roast meat. Whatever you do, it's essential that you get the fat sizzling hot by allowing it to melt in the oven before you add the potatoes. When you add them you make sure they get evenly coated with the fat before putting them into the oven.<br />
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Oven temperature for roast spuds, at about 220 degrees Celsius (200 for a fan oven, gas mark 7) is higher than that for roast meat. In practice, though, if you follow Delia's recipe to the letter you have to start the roasting before you take the meat out, even allowing for the fact that you need time for the meat to rest whereas the potatoes can't be done far ahead of time. Whenever I had a second oven I used that but if you don't have one you can still juggle. One trick is to use the oven grill combination with shorter cooking time. Ovens vary so I can't be more specific.<br />
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I disagree, though, that you don't need to turn them halfway through the roasting time. if you don't do that, you risk the side that is in contact with the tin getting leathery. I think you get a better overall finish if you turn them.<br />
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Finally, although they can't be done far ahead of time - and can't be taken out to "rest" the way the meat should - you do have wriggle-room to keep them warm for a short time if you're running late - by turning the oven right down.<br />
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Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-74565086337248706372012-09-19T02:54:00.001-07:002012-09-19T02:54:36.852-07:00Standing Alone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
My last post, over two weeks ago, was written in the aftermath of the rejection by an Israeli court of a lawsuit by Rachel Corrie's parents over her death at the hands of the Israeli Defence Forces.<br />
<br />
I've since read her book, <i>Let me Stand Alone</i>, which I advertised at the time. Here's the link again, by the way:<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Let-Me-Stand-Alone-Journals/dp/0393333906/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348046970&sr=1-3&keywords=Rachel+Corrie">http://www.amazon.com/Let-Me-Stand-Alone-Journals/dp/0393333906/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348046970&sr=1-3&keywords=Rachel+Corrie</a>.<br />
<br />
The book is a compilation of letters, journal writings, press reports, poems and other fragments, starting in Rachel's childhood and going up to the day before her death. The shortcomings arise from the fact that her parents had to put this together after her death, with only limited information about the precise dates of some of the pieces. Inevitably, therefore, it is fragmentary and hard sometimes to fit into the chronology of her life, despite the notes at the back. This is neither their fault nor hers; if anybody is to blame it is the thugs in uniform who took her young life.<br />
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In spite of this limitation - and allowing for the fact that I was predisposed to admire her - as a writer I was genuinely taken aback by the quality of the writing; her powers of observation, her descriptive skills and her perception. Before that I was already humbled by her courage and her willingness to undergo hardship; now I am humbled by her talent.<br />
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Most of the book is a touching account of a normal, if sensitive, teenager growing up in America. Even then, it is heartbreaking to read it knowing that this young life has been cut short, with the loss of so much talent that might otherwise have blossomed. The last section, which describes her short time in Gaza, reminds one just how bad things were at that time; they are even worse now. As such, it makes me very angry but also very humble and ashamed that I have never followed my beliefs through in the way that she did.<br />
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I recall that the late Mick Doyle, an Irish rugby player, said once that he read <i>The Great Hunger</i>, Cecil Woodham Smith's classic and moving account of the Irish potato famine, the night before his first international match against England. He remarked that it made him want to go out and murder anyone in a white (English) jersey. Having read Rachel's book, I have to resist the urge to react in a similar fashion. It would not be true to her memory, nor to the many decent Israelis who are ashamed at the behaviour of their country. However, I won't be buying Israeli products any time soon.<br />
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This book is a must-read, heartbreaking as it is.<br />
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Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-45364717938816980942012-08-29T08:13:00.000-07:002012-08-29T08:13:34.776-07:00A peculiar mindset<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I am writing this piece the day after the news broke that an Israeli court rejected the negligence suit lodged by the parents of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old American woman who was killed by an Israeli Defence Forces bulldozer on 16 March 2003.<br />
<br />
The verdict was not surprising. Taken overall, it would have to be acknowledged that Israel's tolerance and its capacity for official self-criticism is considerably greater than that of its Arab neighbours, even after the Arab Spring. However, as the Guardian points out today, even when it comes to internal political issues, such as the recent cost-of-living protests, tolerance and freedom of expression are coming under increasing threat. And in matters pertaining to the activities of the military, there has never been serious judicial oversight. In these circumstances, I would have fallen over backwards if the court had ruled in favour of the Corries and I anticipate, sadly, that the appeal will go the same way.<br />
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In fact, it could be argued that the Israeli military is as arbitrary as that of any tinpot dictatorship. Rarely have the courts or the leadership of Israel been prepared to criticise them and they have pretty much a free hand to do whatever they like. The circumstances that gave rise to Rachel Corrie's homicide illustrate this. It happened because she was trying to prevent the demolition of the home of a Palestinian pharmacist and his family. Israel justifies such demolitions by arguing that these are the homes of terrorists but there is no due process to establish this. Moreover, it is contrary to humanitarian law; indeed, even if there was a prior judicial process, it could not be justified. In circumstances where an Israeli murderers his fellow-citizens (and organised crime is rife in Israel, by the way), I doubt if the public at large would consider it proportionate for the authorities to drive the man's family, including his children, from their home.<br />
<br />
Home demolition is by no means the worst abuse, nor the only one that can be carried out with impunity. Even leaving aside those killed by bombing and shelling, numerous Palestinian civilians have been shot by Israeli military. In one case, a 13-year-old girl had an entire magazine emptied into her; the soldier who did it said afterwards that he would have done the same had she been three years old - yet he was cleared by an Israeli court. In another infamous case that pre-dated Rachel's death, a complaint lodged by the Israeli human rights organisation B'Tselem about the shooting of an 11-year old boy, was rejected by the Judge Avocate general's office but the office made the mistake of appending the report of its own confidential investigation which, in fact, substantiated the complaint.<br />
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Rachel Corrie's case bears many resemblances to that of Sophie Scholl (see my post of May 4 2011). Most obviously, both of them have garnered more limelight because they were young women, compared to the greater number of young male activists who lost their lives in similar fashion (Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst were executed together with Sophie Scholl; James Miller, Tom Hurndall and Ian Hook were a journalist, a photographer/ activist and a UN worker respectively murdered by Israeili military on separate occasions). In Rachel's case, also, she is one of a tiny number of non-Arab victims of Israeli state-sponsored violence; a drop in the ocean compared to the thousands of Palestinian civilians who lost their lives. It is sad that, in both cases, it takes the image of talented young women being cut off in their prime to really fire our indignation - and white women at that. I am sure neither of them would have wanted it that way.<br />
<br />
It may seem harsh on the Israeli authorities to juxtapose these two cases. Indeed, I acknowledge that simplistic comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany are gratuitously insulting, considering the historical circumstances. However, the former regime has one thing in common with the latter; it's increasing intolerance of peaceful protest. Supporters of Israel argue that peaceful protest movements, such as the international Solidarity Movement of which Rachel was a member, are equivocal about violence. Well, in their day, the British Authorities said the same about Gandhi and the Americans about Martin Luther King.<br />
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We should, nevertheless, salute the courage and integrity of organisations like B'Tselem and the fact that, despite an increasingly difficult climate, they are still operating within Israel. Moreover, despite the stridently partisan pro-Israeli stance adopted by some Jewish-born public figures outside Israel - such as the actress Maureen Lippmann in the UK or Ireland's cabinet minister Alan Shatter - there are numerous Jews that oppose Israel's policies to varying degrees and are even ashamed of them. This should be a warning - if, indeed, such a warning is needed - not to confuse the official policy with either the nationality or the race. It also gives the lie to those, such as Tea-Party radio host Mike Graham in the US, that equate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism. In recent days, after a 2010 on-air shredding of Graham by Michael D Higgins, now Ireland's President, went viral, Graham tweeted "if opposing Arab terrorists and supporting Israel's right to self-defence still means I'm a w**ker, nothing's changed."<br />
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This tweet epitomises the mindset that has impeded fair and rational discussion of the Israeli question in the mainstream media in the US and elsewhere. It smacks of George W Bush's infamous "if you're not with us you're against us" quote. If it doesn't equate Arabs with terrorists it certainly equates criticism of Israel with support for terrorism; exactly the insult that prompted Michael D's use of the "W" word. Moreover, it encapsulates the view that Israel is unique in the global community of nations in that it just has to assert its right to self-defence in order to place itself beyond scrutiny for any alleged atrocities, however brutal, arbitrary or disproportionate.<br />
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So yes, Mr Graham, I'm afraid you are a w**ker!<br />
<br />
Rachel Corrie's writings are available now as a book, entitled <i>Let me stand alone</i>.<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Rachel+Corrie">http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Rachel+Corrie</a>
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Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-82262180797002150892012-08-20T05:31:00.001-07:002012-08-20T05:31:10.687-07:00It's been a while<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted anything. How lazy is that?<br />
<br />
Well, I do have some mitigating excuses. At the time of my last post (July 17) I was in the thick of preparations for the 2012 meeting of the CITES Standing Committee, the body that governs the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in between meetings of the Conference of the Parties (CoP). It was my busiest such meeting to date (I've been to six week-long ones and several one-day meetings in all told), with WWF issuing a rather provocative report in advance criticising some key countries' compliance with CITES rules on rhinos, tigers and elephants. Along with other members of the species team, I had to field media interviews for radio and print media (one here at <a href="http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/switzerland/how-vietnamese-parties-and-endangered-species-are-.shtml?31667#.UA_LIFV_KvQ.facebook">http://worldradio.ch/wrs/news/switzerland/how-vietnamese-parties-and-endangered-species-are-.shtml?31667#.UA_LIFV_KvQ.facebook</a>) and to lobby to get our key demands adopted at the meeting (with some success, though not 100%). The meeting was also an opportunity to catch up with friends from the National parks and Wildlife Service; the weekend before one such friend joined Magdalena and myself, first for a concert at the Paleo festival in Nyon and then for a hike in the Juras.<br />
<br />
From there I went on a flying visit to Krakow to attend a wedding of one of Magdalena's cousins and i quickly realised that nobody can do weddings like the Poles can, especially when it comes to food and drink. Despite the weather being insufferably hot during the day, we had a great time. The next day we visited the Schindler factory, now a museum of the German occupation of Krakow; one, moreover, like its sister museum on the Warsaw uprising in that city, is heartbreakingly sad.<br />
<br />
From Krakow, it was back to Switzerland for a few days of tidying up and brain-dumping in the office, as well as trying to prepare for my flat move. Then, the following Saturday I was off to the US - again! (having never been there until this year I've now been there twice and I have to admit I like it!). There I attended a meeting in the offices of the Pew Environment Group to prepare a lobbying strategy to get more shark species listed on CITES at the next CoP next year. Then from there, almost directly, to Edinburgh, to see my daughter, who is working for the Fringe Festival. We saw some outstanding Fringe shows, including <i>Outland</i>, about Lewis carroll, and a grimly eerie adaptation of 4 Edgar Allen Poe stories. We also visited the Elephant House Café, where JK Rowling wrote the early Harry Potter books; the most interesting thing there was the graffitti in the loo.<br />
<br />
After that, it was the flat move proper, which still isn't quite over, though at least the boxes are unpacked. I've had an exhausting week of unpacking boxes and assembling furniture.<br />
<br />
BUT....<br />
<br />
The best news of all is that my Brussels novel has been taken on by MuseItUp publishing, initially as an e-book and will emerge next March, hopefully. The title isn't confirmed yet but I will be using the pen-name Philip Coleman. So I will have to re-think my online identity and the future of this blog...<br />
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Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-63449600031002560912012-07-17T05:04:00.001-07:002012-07-17T06:37:17.082-07:00A sensitive subject.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of my favourite memoirs is David Thomson's <i>Woodbrook</i>, a beautifully written, but ultimately sad and wistful account of the period in theScottish-born author's life when, as a young man in the 1930s, he worked as a tutor for the Kirkwood family in Woodbrook House, Co. Roscommon. It's rich in descriptions of local rural life, the Woodbrook estate and the eccentric Kirkwood family, as well as very sympathetic reflections on Irish histroy and the injustices of British rule there. Central to the book, however, is Thompson's undeclared love for the eldest Kirkwood daughter, Phoebe, who was only 13 to 14 years old at the time.<br />
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Even though one gets the impression that Phoebe's mother noticed enough to be worried, there are plenty of reasons for concluding that there was probably nothing too inappropriate in Thompson's feelings. While Phoebe is portrayed as a beautiful and vivacious specimen of girlhood, one must also remember that Thompson wrote the book in his sixties and that his nostalgia for those apparently innocent and idyillic times is heightened by the fact that Phoebe does not survive the end of the book, dying tragically of an unexpected illness in her early teens. Nevertheless, I know people who have been brought up sharp by this aspect of the book and I myself wasn't entirely comfortable with it.<br />
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Similar things are said about Charles Dodgson, a.k.a. Lewis Carroll. Everyone knows that he was uncomfortable around grown-ups and boys, but was almost obsessed by young girls, even to the extent of taking nude photos of them. Such behaviour would be entirely inappropriate today, and should have been even then. However, whereas nowadays we would be aware that we were already crossing a line at that point, that awareness would not necessarily have been widespread <span style="background-color: white;">in repressed Victorian society</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">because sex was such a taboo subject that no rational discussion of behavioural boundaries could take place</span><span style="background-color: white;">. This doesn't necessarily mean, however, that Dodgson engaged in any more physical forms of misbehaviour. All the indications are that he was disgusted by any kind of physicality and that his admiration for the juvenile female form, although inappropriate, stayed at the platonic stage. He may even, as Jonathan Miller suggests, have been a repressed homosexual. Yet people often get five from adding two and two, and jump to the conclusion that he was a pedophile.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">There are other instances where art and our modern sensitivity around the sexual exploitation of children clash. May people are uncomfortable with Balthus's paintings of young girls, for example, even though I for one consider them well-observed and not the least bit erotic. However, the best-known and most controversial case is that of Vladimir Nabokov's <i>Lolita - </i>both the book and the subsequent realisations in film.</span><br />
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I have to say I simply loved this book. And I say this as someone who gave up on reading the rest of Nabokov's works because I found them tedious. Of course <i>Lolita</i> is deeply disturbing - even shocking. It is certainly not suitable for children. And there are valid concerns around the films, especially the later Adrian Lyne version, which is the one that is closer to the book, in terms of the effect that it had on the very vulnerable lead actress.<br />
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Nevertheless it offers unique insights into many profound questions. These include loss of innocence (both that of boys and girls, but in different ways); the predatory element in male sexual behaviour that exults in the conquering of the vulnerable and defenceless; and the uncertain boundary between admiration of the physical beauty of children and their exploitation as objects of pleasure (a topic that Victorian society fought shy of and one that, for different reasons, we seem unable to treat maturely today). It also presents a satirical portrait of modern society - American society in particular - that is as true today as it was over 50 years ago when the book was written (<i>Lolita </i>could never have been written before WWII because the suburban society it describes is very much a product of the post-WWII boom).<br />
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Nevertheless, there are those, even outside ultra-orthodox Christian, Jewish or Moslem circles, who regard the book as disgusting, and its author as depraved. Many of these people assume that Nabokov must have been a pedophile because his portrayal of Humbert Humbert is so believable. I've never had the opportunity to consult an expert as to whether or not it is an accurate portrayal of a pedophile (I suspect not) but I find it incongruous that, despite the numerous instances where writers of fiction have convincingly entered the mind of a murderer, no-one assumes that all these authors have been murderers in real life.<br />
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Exploitation of children as objects of sexual pleasure is cruel, disgusting, and profoundly disgusting. However, it seems to me that <i>Lolita</i>, rather than being a manifesto for such behaviour, is a sensitive examination of the issues around it.<br />
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What I take from the three examples I've addressed in this piece is that the protection of children is not served by prurience.<br />
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<br /></div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-22689426349192383182012-07-09T05:29:00.000-07:002012-07-09T05:29:48.838-07:00Back from the Vendée<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
For the last two weeks in June - including the time when I posted my rant about the Vatican, Magdalena and I were in the Vendée, on the west coast of France, courtesy of my brother, who lent us an apartment there.<br />
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I had been there once before with Miriam and the children, when they were much younger. We had previously spent a week in the Loire Valley and then drove up to a campsite near Les Sables d'Olonne. On that occasion, we were diappointed. We had loved the charm of the Loire valley; there was so much to see and my children were still at the age where the campsite there wasn't too quiet for them. The campsite at Les Sables, by contrast, was big and noisy and there was far less to see. We regretted not staying in the Loire for the two weeks.<br />
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On this occasion, we were in an apartment village and we were there before the school term ended so it was quieter. And, since we had both been busy with work, we weren't looking for an event-filled holiday like that we had had in the USA (in fact, we both had to work while we were there). All these factors allowed us to appreciate the positive sides of the region more. <br />
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As I said, the Loire valley it ain't but that doesn't mean it's devoid of historical interest. It has several spectacular menhirs and dolmens. The Chateau of Talmont Saint Hilaire, which was very near us, has strong associations with Richard the Lionheart. However, the big historical moment for the region came in 1793, when the populace rebelled against the revolutionary regime in paris. Class differences had always been less acute in the Vendée than in other parts of France and the people remained loyal to the Catholic Church, resenting the persecution inflicted on it by the new Government. So, when an attempt was made to levy men for the national army the region revolted. After some initial successes, however, the revolt was brutally suppressed, with tens of thousands of civilians murdered. <span style="background-color: white;">To this day, the region remains more conservative and Catholic than most parts of France and, the way the revolt is portrayed in some of the commemorative sites, you would almost be forgiven for thinking it hadn't failed (to be fair, they did secure concessions on property and freedom of worship).</span><br />
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On the more pleasant side, the region is noteworthy for its coast (inland scenery is generally flat and unexciting), with the associated benefits of shellfish farming and salt production. There are two famous islands off the coast, the Ile d'Yeu and the Ile de Noirmoutier. We only visited the latter, which is accessible by causeway at low tide (the Passage du Gois) but also by bridge.Just to the south, in the neighbouring <i>département </i>of Charantes-Maritime, lies the beautiful Ile de Ré, where the terrain and local produce is similar. It's accessible by toll bridge from La Rochelle and we visited it towards the end of our holiday.<br />
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Of course we partook of the oysters, as well as mussels and - best of all - freshly-caught lemon sole cooked simply in a restaurant on the Ile de Ré. The local salt is used in butter; you can buy delicious better with crystals of salt in it. More importantly, the butter is then used to make delicious caramel, which is wonderful in a pancake, or as a sauce with duck. The extensive saltmarshes of the region offer the opportunity to pick salicornia, which is delicious when wilted in hot water and served with lots of butter. Its flavour is often compared to asparagus and it's rich in vitamin sea. We picked our own but if you're too lazy you can buy it in the shops.<br />
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Here are some pictures of our trip:<br />
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The Menhir du Plessis</div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">The Dolmen de la Frébouchère</span></div>
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Shell murals in the Ile Penotte, Les Sables d'Olonne</div>
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The historic <i>Phare des Baleines</i> (lighthouse of the whales, from the days when the region was important for whaling) on the Ile de Ré</div>
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Inside the <i>Phare des Baleines</i></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: left;">Also from the Ile de Ré, a homage to Albrecht Dürer</span></div>
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The Passage du Gois (the slightly raised paved road close to the horizon), leading to the Ile de Noirmoutier</div>
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The Chateau de Noirmoutier</div>
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The remains of a snack</div>
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Sun, sea and cloud.</div>
<br /></div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-88844548536067140252012-06-27T02:23:00.002-07:002012-06-27T08:01:19.058-07:00The Vatican Rag<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The title is from the hilarious song by Tom Lehrer:<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f72CTDe4-0">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f72CTDe4-0</a>
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It must be over 10 years ago - certainly after revelations physical and sexual abuse by clerics in Ireland started to emerge but equally before the full extent of such abuses became apparent - that I recall hearing journalist Jim Duffy, tell a story on a Sunday radio chat show about a priest who ventured into the classroom of his parish school seeking volunteer altar boys. Following his recruitment pitch, a number of boys put up their hands. Pleased with the response, the priest said that all that was necessary was that they get notes of permission from their parents. What happened, though, was that, without exception, all the parents concerned sent back notes the next day telling the priest to keep his hands off their children.<br />
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Jim Duffy wasn't suggesting that the parents knew something about the priest that he didn't. Nor was he defending the church. He was simply telling the story to indicate the extent of the mistrust that had arisen towards clerics and the way that apparently innocent clerics became victims of this.<br />
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The story stayed in my memory. Over the previous three decades, I had disagreed strongly with the church on homosexuality, contraception, divorce and (latterly) abortion. I was angry with them for the way they held up progress on these issues in Irish society and even (though this was before my time) blocked a universal health care scheme for mothers and young children. During those years, on an almost weekly basis there would be media stories of people - mostly women - who were hounded by the church or by the wider conservative society that supported it. Although I was never a victim of abuse, I did meet some clerics who were arrogant, bigoted or otherwise nasty. And, of course, although I did go through a phase of trying to practice catholicism, I lost my religion by the time I was about 21.<br />
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On the other hand, I also knew priests, nuns, brothers and novices who were decent people. Of course, I had difficulty reconciling this with some of their views but, after all, I had strong views on Northern Ireland, the Middle East and other issues that weren't shared by all my friends. None of us can find friends that we agree with on everything all of the time and some of the points of disagreement are on very serious issues.<br />
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One priest that I knew slightly from my student days was, ultimately, a casualty of the abuse scandals. That was Father Donal Moriarty, an exceptionally gentle and diffident man who was head chaplain for a time in University College Dublin. He rose afterwards to the rank of bishop of Kildare but in 2009 he was criticised by an independent enquiry for failing to pursue adequately allegations that were made against certain priests in Dublin when he was an auxilliary bishop there. He resigned, ackowledging that he had "failed to challenge the prevailing culture". However, l<span style="background-color: white;">ooking at what happened to priests who did challenge culture, one has to acknowledge that it would have taken exceptional courage to do so. Priests were transferred to remote isolated postings or even silenced for showing such courage. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The Vatican accepted Bishop Moriarty's resignation and that of one other bishop at the time. It declined two more, while a fifth bishop that dug in his heels and refused to resign was not forced out. Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin, one of the few senior members of the hierarchy who comes out of these scandals with an enhanced reputation, had pushed for these resignations and was left high and dry by the Vatican's lack of support.</span><br />
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That was three years ago. In the last few months, Ireland's cardinal was implicated in the abuse scandals, when it emerged that, as long ago as the 1970s, he knew of abuses by the notorious Father Brendan Smith (whose subsequent conviction in Northern ireland the early nineties really opened the floodgates, after it emerged that the then Attorney General in Dublin had stonewalled on efforts to exstradite him to that jurisdiction). Not only did Brady allow himself be fobbed off by the leadership of Father Smith's Norbertine order (who, in the meantime, silenced another priest for trying to expose Father Smith) but he made the child victims swear an oath of secrecy. <span style="background-color: white;">Cardinal Brady has refused to resign and the Vatican is not pushing him (partly because, according to observers, they don't see any suitable replcement on the horizon). </span><br />
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One might think that, with all of this egg on its face (not to mention leaks and scandals on the ongoing power games at the top), the Vatican might have learned to be less cocksure of itself in terms of laying down the law regarding the old chestnuts of divorce, contraception and homosexuality. The pope and his advisors might have realised that, whatever status their beliefs confer on their institution, they are still human and can fail, so they should not judge others. If that were the case they would think twice about trying to bully priests who, they believe, are deviating from approved teaching on controversial issues such as contraception.<br />
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Not a bit of it, though. While failing to deal effectively with abuse scandals in Ireland - and even facilitating tmoves by the Unitied States hierachy to put its assets beyond reach of litigation - the Vatican has had no problem about censuring American nuns for paying too much attention to social issues and not enough to Catholic doctrine on homosexuality and contraception. In Ireland, Father Brian Darcy, a gentle and well-liked priest who makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and writes for a Sunday newspaper, has been instructed to pass all of his public utterances to Rome for prior clearance.<br />
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What this points to is the fact that, whatever the Bible or Catholic teaching says, the Church has an <i>à la carte </i>approach about which rules it will enforce to the hillt and which ones it will equivocate over. This shouldn't be surprising; it has been the same over much bigger political and moral issues.<br />
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In the past, the Vatican has claimed credit for being a strong voice against communism. It didn't hesitate to condemn the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956, which resulted in persecution of its clergy (nor should it have). The previous pope is given some of the credit for the collapse of communism, first in his native Poland and then elsewhere in Europe (how much credit he deserves is a matter of debate but he certainly had influence). All of this would redound to its credit, were it not for the fact that the Vatican has been much more equivocal about right-wing tyrannies. Going back to its Faustian pact with Mussolini, its silence towards the Nazi regime (despite its clerics being persecuted there too) and its support for Franco and Salazar, it has taken an approach of either strong support, silence or, at best, muted condemnation, towards right-wing tyrannies that is at odds with its grandstanding over commmunism and over sexual morality. In Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s clerics protesting against murderous juntas, such as Archbishop Romero in El Salvador, received little hierarchical support even when many - including Romero - were murdered. Meanwhile, a church that routinely refused communion to remarried couples had no problem about giving it to murderers like Pinochet. When a brutal military regime took power in Haiti, the Vatican had the distinction of being the <i>only country in the world </i>to recognise it. <br />
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Another instance of these routine double standards was when the present pope beatified hundreds of clerics who were murdered by Republicans in the Spanish Civil War but did not extend the same honour to the priests and other religious - mainly in the Basque Country - who were murdrered by Franco's forces. The previous pope even considered beatifying Queen Isabella of Spain but at least he had the wisdom to desist in the face of protests from Moslems and Sephardic Jews, who have not forgotten her crimes against their co-religionists. <br />
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Religious observance among baptised Catholics is plummeting, parish incomes are drying up, priests face undeserved insults and slights in their day-to-day work, churches are vandalised or lie empty. And yet the corrupt leadership in Rome carries on exactly as it did when it had a much larger following that could bring much more weight to bear in the national politics of its respective countries.<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">The sad thing, returning to the story of the priest at recruiting altar boys, is that most rank and file clerics are decent men and women who are trying to do the right thing by themselves and others. They are as much the victims of this rotten institution as anyone else.</span><br />
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<br /></div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-77004094429540127922012-06-05T04:07:00.001-07:002012-06-05T04:07:36.524-07:00Cartoons in words<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Back in February, I was taking a break during a work meeting when a colleague asked me what I was doing for Dickens's birthday. I replied that, coincidentally, I happened to be reading <i>Nicholas Nickleby</i> for the first time. As you might guess, his response was that he had just been making small talk and hadn't really expected a serious answer.<br />
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Nevertheless, Dickens's 200 birthday this year was a big event, with much coverage in the media and the production of a new dramatization of his last, unfinished novel, <i>The Mystery of Edwin Drood</i>, by the BBC.<br />
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Important anniversaries of deceased artistic figures are often occasions for adulatory and uncritical traetment of their legacies. This is particularly the case when, despite some astounding achievements, they also created much that was second-rate or their careers were controversial for other reasons. I recall the same with the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth (that's for another day).<br />
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In this regard, people (especially the English) have an affection for Dickens as a father figure in a way that they do not have for, say, George Eliot or Thomas Hardy. Equally, though, he has his detractors. His novels are often criticised for being poorly structured and sentimental.<br />
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There are grounds for both of these criticisms. In this respect, the above-mentioned <i>Nicholas Nickleby </i>is a case in point. The story wanders up numerous blind alleys and it is, at times, insufferably mawkish. Smike, in particular, is hard for a modern reader to sympathise with (I breathed a sigh of relief when he croaked it!). The excuse, moreover, that it was an early work, ignores the fasc that his first novel, The <i>Pickwick Papers</i>, remains one of his best. Of course it also has structural weaknesses - indeed, it highlights a problem with all of the novels; that they were first written as serials.<br />
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One thing that Nicholas Nickleby did achieve, however, was the highlighting of the appalling conditions that prevailed in many private schools - in Yorkshire in particular. All of Dickens's books, to a greater or lesser extent, address social ills and were instrumental in remedying some of them - including public executions and debtors' prisons. This might not be a reason for reading them now (if anything it dates them).<br />
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However, the best of the books of his that I have read (and I have read 10 so far) display other fine qualities. They can be very funny, with the humour ranging from verbal slapstick to biting satire. But above all, it's Dickens's characters - or, rather, one might say "caricatures" - that really make the best of his books stand out. Micawber and Mister Dick in David Copperfield, Fagin in Oliver Twist, are well-know enxamples. However, my favourites are Inspector Bucket, the canny policeman of <i>Bleak House</i> (ably played in the BBC adaptation by Alun Armstrong), the open-hearted Noddy Boffin,in <i>Our Mutual Friend</i>, who proves to be nobody's fool (brought to life for the BBC again by Peter Vaughan), Sam Weller (of course!) in <i>The Pickwick Papers</i> who, likewise, hides a formidable brain behind a clownish exterior, and, above all, the loathsome but hilarious Seth Pecksniff in <i>Martin Chuzzlewit</i> (again, Tom Wilkinson gave the performance of his life in this role for the BBC). None of these characters are realistic portrayals, though they all contain elements of real people. Rather, they are grotesques, caricatures or, as I would like to think, cartoons in words.<br />
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No other English writer combined Dickens's comic gift with his ability to create such memorable caricatures. One has to go to America (Mark Twain) or Russia (Nikolai Gogol) to find anything like the same humour combined with caricature and a sense of the picturesque. And for this Dickens deserves to be remembered.<br />
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<br /></div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-81435619263070058572012-05-23T08:16:00.002-07:002012-05-23T08:16:58.962-07:00Stateside Part 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Our US trip finished in New York, where we discovered that the city really never sleeps. It is such a jumble of memories and impressions that it defies a written account. Among the things that stand out for me are Ground Zero (a profoundly moving experience), the High Line, Central Park and the buzz of the city at night. Of the five evenings we were there we spent three at shows. We saw Gore Vidal's "The Best Man" with James Earl Jones chewing up the scenery, a dazzling musical adaptation of "Mary Poppins" and, on the last evening, a superb production of Benjamin Britten's sombre opera, "Billy Budd", at the Met.<br />
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Otherwise, all I can do to give some idea of the kaleidoscopic, "larger than live" experience is to present these miscellaneous photos.<br />
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<br /></div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-46158460142855028492012-05-16T07:57:00.001-07:002012-05-16T07:57:11.754-07:00Stateside, part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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After the official leg of my US visit ended in
Shepherdstown, Magdalena and I returned to Washington and enjoyed three days of
hospitality from our hosts, Sue and Helen. We used the time to engage in
intensive sightseeing.</div>
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We started with Arlington cemetery, where a visit to the
graves of the Kennedy brothers was obligatory, even though I have mixed
feelings about that family. The father (who, of course, is not buried there)
was a nasty man whose suffering late in life seems like poetic justice. JFK
always seems to me to be more form that substance but I could accept that
overall his intentions were good and that his tragically short Presidency did
reinvigorate American politics. Bobbie is the one I have the most regard for
and his untimely murder was the biggest tragedy of all. In the end, none of
them were saints but the three brothers deserve to be remembered more for good
than bad reasons. Arlington was also, of course, the home of Robert E Lee, a
man of decency and integrity who, if he backed the wrong side in the Civil War,
did it for the best of motives.</div>
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Crossing back into Washington, the Mall features memorials
to four of the giants of the US Presidential Pantheon: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln
and Franklin Roosevelt. Washington is the one I find hardest to like. His
military leadership was mediocre; ultimately, the war was lost by the British
rather than won by the Americans. However, he can be justifiably admired, in
the wake of the end of the war, for resisting the urge to become a dictator (a
role some of his peers would have been happy to see him fill); holding out
instead for agreement on a constitution. We can thank Jefferson for much of the
thinking that inspired the best elements of the Revolution and the
Constitution, and that still remains something of a break on the worst
tendencies in American politics. Lincoln is my favourite President. He certainly
showed himself to be ruthless on occasion but one has to admire the formidable
intellect and courage of this man who really did start out with so many disadvantages,
and who was initially dismissed by many in the Washington elite as a provincial
hack. And, finally, Roosevelt did so much for America and, once again, embodies
the compassion and sense of decency that is the best side of the national character.
The more one reads history the more problematic the idea of historical heroes
appears; all of these men on occasion made mistakes and shabby compromises but
they are all great men.</div>
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One great man for whom the term “hero” is less problematic,
and who is also deservedly commemorated on the Mall, is Martin Luther King. He can be remembered for his courage, his moral integrity,his moving oratory (unlike Lincoln, we are fortunate enough to have his voice to listen to) and his unswerving adherence to non-violence.</div>
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(As an aside, I am old enough to remember the deaths of John and Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King)</div>
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Mall also features a memorial to the men of World War II, and memorials to the
men and women of the Vietnam war. We
were privileged to meet a veteran of the latter war at the memorial, whose
willingness to talk about his experience to children and passers by (having
lost four of his closest friends) was especially moving.</div>
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In terms of the musems we visited, we did not have time to
see the National Gallery in any detail but we did make a brief visit there, as
well as longer visits to the Museum of American Art, the Air and Space Museum
(take the guided tour – it’s excellent), the Natural History Museum, the Museum
of American History (perhaps my favourite) and the Museum of the American
Indian (go there for the food in the canteen, if nothing else!). </div>
</div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-26116379137182907942012-05-10T08:48:00.003-07:002012-05-10T08:48:58.027-07:00The EU's fiscal treaty<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Down the years, in my various roles in the EU and now in WWF, I have had a lot of dealings with representatives of the German Government. They have a high standard of achievement in terms of their scientific, legal and enforcement expertise on wildlife trade matters and I always listen to what they have to say. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Most but not all of my colleagues were already working for the West German Government in the pre-unification days. After unification, the Government acquired a whole new batch of civil servants from the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany). </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">One has to sympathise with the latter. They were treated as second-division players from day one. The former West Germans would often sneer about them (and still do, behind their backs, of course), caricaturing them as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">plodding pedants with too much focus on petty details and a complete inability to see the wider picture.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Like all caricatures, this one is cruel and simplistic but it also has a grain of truth. T</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">he fact was that they came from a culture that didn't encourage independent or creative thinking (to put it mildly!).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"> So the only way for them to be conscientious was to absorb themselves in detail, to the point that they became pettifogging bureaucrats.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In many way, however, Angela Merkel, herself a former citizen of the DDR, is the archetype of this caricature. It is not surprising, therefore, that her response to the Euro crisis has been plodding; too little to late. One wonders what the giants of German leadership - men like Konrad Adenauer, Willi Brandt or even Helmut Kohl, would have done in similar circumstances (and I don't choose three men all of whom I agree with on everything but three who were men of stature).</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">Merkel's response, however, was the fiscal treaty. Having press-ganged the shallow-minded and narcissistic (and now former) President Sarkozy into going along with it, the two then tried to impose it on the rest of Europe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">In the context of a single currency, there is nothing wrong in principle with imposing strict disciplines on member States. In fact, such rules have been in place all along but it is instructive that Germany and France were the first to break them. When that happened, however, the EU collectively were too timid to take those countries to court.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">On the other hand, the countries that are most in trouble now never showed on the radar of the fiscal rules and, were the situation to re-occur now they still would not show. Ireland is the clasic example. Despite profligate spending by individuals - borrowing not only for their homes but for second homes, new cars, furniture, holidays and other consumer products (mostly imported, with consequences for the balance of payments) Ireland appeared all along to meet the criteria. In fact, there was a black hole of debt but it was below-the-line private debt, fuelled by cheap and reckless lending of surplus funds from
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The treaty fails to address the deep structural imbalances created by the Euro, and the role that Germany played in the melt-down. It is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">born of the unwillingness of that country to accept any responsibility
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In short, it is the timid, pedantic response one would expect from a stereotypic DDR official. </span></div>
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</div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-21830664602767482082012-05-10T03:54:00.000-07:002012-05-10T03:54:13.943-07:00Stateside, part 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Despite having previously been to numerous countries on five continents, until a few weeks ago I had never been to the United States, much to my regret. That lack has now been rectified.<br />
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I had to attend a meeting in the US Fish and Wildlife Service's National Conservation Training Centre, a complex of classrooms and accommodation facilities nestling in the woods outside Shepherdstown, a pretty little historic town at the south-east corner of West Virginia, near the Virginia and Maryland borders. Here are some pictures of the town and of the Potomac river, at the point where it flows past the training centre.<br />
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The centre is also located near to Harper's Ferry, where John Brown's raid on the armoury in October 1959, with a view to starting a slave uprising, foreshadowed the outbreak of the American Civil War eighteen months later. I didn't have time to see that well-preserved town due to work commitments but I did get to see the battlefield site of Antietam; the battle which, on 17 September 1862, accounted for the biggest number of casualties from a single day in American military history. Lee's Confederate forces fought McLellan's Union forces to a draw but had to leave the field, owing to lack of men, so it is counted as a stragic victory for the Union, which had been losing most battles up until then. The Union forces included an Irish brigade, led by Thomas Francis Meagher, a veteran of an ill-judged uprising in Ireland in 1848 who had subsequently escaped to the US from Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) in 1852. He is credited with the design of the current irish flag, based on the French tricolour; he returned from a visit to Paris with the first such flag, made by French women sympathetic to the Irish cause; (however, that first flag had the orange on the left, nearest the pole, as Ivory Coast does now).<br />
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The pictures below show the sunken road at the battlefield, where the brigade suffered heavy losses, and Meagher's memorial.<br />
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<br /></div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-58737450019840523972012-04-19T10:54:00.000-07:002012-04-19T10:54:55.511-07:00Is he mad?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I have been following the trial of Anders Behring Breivik over the last few days, against a background of opposing professional opinions as to his sanity.<br />
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Of course, I am not a psychiatrist. And, in one sense it doesn't matter. Either way, he will probably be locked up for the rest of his life, or at least that period during which he will be physically active. In fact, if he is not really insane but deemed so, that will be the worst possible outcome from his perception - and he will have to live with it for a long time. I kind of like that!<br />
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But personally I don't think he is insane. Looking at at his behaviour during the trial, at the accounts of his manifesto, his meticulous grooming, the cult of himself he has built up with those ghastly photos in dress uniform or action gear, I think he is just a nasty, narcissistic, attention-seeking man.<br />
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As with many of the Nazis, the emphasis on Nordic purity is just a manifestation of his narcissism. He has to see himself as an archetype, so that he can look down on others; those who do not approximate to the archetype. By extension, his avowed Christianity and conservatism reinforce this cult of himself; he is trying to represent himself as the inheritor of a great tradition, based on the cult of the warrior.<br />
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In the end, he is just a coward, who could only kill those that had no means of defending themselves. Some of his victims were as young as 14.<br />
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I hope those left behind - wither those who survived or the families of the deceased - achieve some measure of closure. But I also hope that Breivik suffers - a lot!</div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-65440027565703396012012-04-16T03:57:00.000-07:002012-04-16T03:57:07.985-07:00Operatic cake<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
A seventeen-year old count is having an affair with an older woman, the bored and lonely wife of a noble field-marshal. Meanwhile, the woman's oafish baron cousin, has just got engaged to a fifteen-year old girl. While he makes it quite clear that he doesn't see this marriage curtailing his lecherous exploits, he consider's that he is doing the girl's (very rich) family a favour as they have only just been elevated to the nobility. Accordingly, he expects to be well compensated. When he consults the field-marshal's wife on the choice of a young nobleman to perform the customary office of presenting a silver rose to his fiancée he sets rolling a drama that will be funny, romantic and sad, all at the same time.<br />
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Richard Strauss's <i>Der Rosenkavalier</i> (the knight of the rose) is like a serving of Viennese <i>Sachertorte</i>. It has the bittersweet flavours of the dark chocolate and apricot, combined with the sweetness of the chocolate sponge and the richness of the accompanying whipped cream. Set in 18th-century Vienna, the music is fundamentally late romantic but with lots of nods to the Viennese waltz, and to the music of the era in which the story is set (i.e. the music of Mozart and Haydn). Properly staged, it is a feast for the eyes as well as the ears, offering the opportunity for lavish sets and costumes.<br />
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The production we saw last night ticked all these boxes. Coming to Geneva from the Bavarian State Orchestra, the first act's set (in the bedroom of the field-marshal's wife) incorporated huge elaboratly painted, wall panels and a bed set discreetly intoa recess with an overhanging canopy. The second act, in the house of the young girl's father, was a spectacular creation of glass and gilt (the third act, set in a dingy inn, doesn't offer the same scope for spectacle but was well done).<br />
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Normally when we go to the opera we can expect to hear fine music. We may even see a production that is pleasing and clever (though that is far from guaranteed - some can be downright tasteless). What is special about so many of Strauss's operas is that we can also expect a story that is subtle and clever. This is thanks to the composer's long partnership with his librettist, Hugo von Hoffmansthall; Der Rosenkavalier was their second collaboration. No other composer-librettist partnership has been so fruitful, with the possible exception of that between Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte, which gave us <i>Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovani </i>and <i>Cosi fan tutte. </i>However, the latter partnership was much sorter in duration; da Ponte collaborated with numerous composers and, when he wrote his autobiography after fleeing to the United States to escape debt, he never even mentioned Mozart. By contrast, Strauss and von Hoffmansthall gave us<i> Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier, Aiadne auf Naxos, Arabella </i>and <i>Die Frau ohne Schatten</i>, in a partnership that lasted nearly 3 decades - up to von Hoffmansthall's death.<br />
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You can see pictures from the production here:<br />
<i> </i><a href="http://www.geneveopera.com/production_9">http://www.geneveopera.com/production_9</a></div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-58266972600775804132012-04-03T09:42:00.002-07:002012-04-03T09:42:32.840-07:00Better than the book<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Being an aspiring writer of young adult fiction, I naturally read the <i>Hunger Games</i> trilogy. I don't think I need to explain what this is, unless you're reading this blog having just landed from Mars (in which case there are better things you could be doing). Since it was so successful - and highly acclaimed - I naturally wanted to see what the fuss was about.<br />
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I have to say I wasn't as nuts about it as its fan base clearly is. In fact, I considered quitting after the end of the first book. However, I decided to persevere and I think the books do improve.<br />
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My biggest quibble is with the use of present tense. There are some circumstances where this can work (e.g. <i>Miss Smilla's feeling for Snow</i>, where it adds to the sense of mystery and bewilderment). However, it is being used increasingly as a lazy gimmick - as Philip Pullman said, like hand-held camera. I don't think it adds anything to this trilogy; quite the opposite. Some of the pacing was off, with some episodes being rushed and others being dragged out. And, especially in the first book, I found the lead character (Katniss Everdeen) difficult to like; her agonising over her torn feelings for her game partner (Peeta) and her friend since childhood (Gale) were especially irritating.<br />
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On the other hand, the movie turned out to be spectacular. Yes, you could argue that it's a blockbuster that somewhat lacks soul but it's production values are excellent. Of course, even reading the book, I could imagine how making the movie would be a designer's dream (the costumes, the depictions of the poverty-stricken District 12 and the contrasting opulence of the Capitol, the games arena). However, while there was plenty of scope for getting it wrong, the movie looks fantastic!<br />
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The movie took the story out of the jerky present tense and, indeed, out of the first person narrative, with some excellent cameo scenes where Katniss doesn't appear at all. I particularly liked the control room of the arena, where technicians coldly created lethal hazards for the children in the arena to face.<br />
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The casting, too, is spot-on and the actors deliver their roles superbly. Those worth a mention include Woody Harrelson as the disillusioned and drunken mentor, and the lovely Amandla Stenberg as the impish and feisty (but doomed) Rue. Sadly, the casting of an African American in the latter role has provoked a lot of racist comments on Twitter and elsewhere.<br />
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Nevertheless, the cast member who runs away with the movie is, of course, Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss. I first saw her in <i>Winter's Bone</i>, for which she earned a well-merited Oscar nomination. The gritty, courageous character she plays in that movie is very similar to Katniss (raised in poverty, father absent, mother ill, siblings to look after, facing violence etc.). Therefore, while I regret other talented actresses (like Saoirse Ronan and Hailee Steinfeld) being passed over, I can see why Lawrence was chosen. She rises to the occasion admirably. </div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-65754614935510920442012-04-03T09:15:00.002-07:002012-04-03T09:15:46.712-07:00An old textbook updated for the 21st century<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of the first things you have to do when training as a field botanist is to learn to use identification keys. Plant identification guides that rely on colour illustrations have their limitations, even for those species that have conspicuous flowers. So, while the illustrations are a useful back-up, serious ID guides dispense with them (or just use them to illustrate points of detail) and rely instead on using what are called dichotomous keys, whereby you narrow down the possibilities through a series of choices - e.g. "leaves round, go to (2); leaves oblong, go to (21)"; then (2) and (21) narrow down the choices further until you arrive at an identification so species level (Latin name, of course). You then test this by reading the description in the text and if it doesn't seem right you have to go through the key again. It's painful at first but, as you get to know the more common species you can tell a lot of them on sight, or you know which features to check. <br />
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Anyway, the textbook that most of us botany students in Ireland used for decades was that prepared by the late David Webb, a colourful and eccentric man who was Professor of Botany in Trinity College Dublin for many years. This was first published in 1943 and went through numerous editions subsequently, the last (until now) being prepared in collaboration with Dr John Parnell and Dr Declan Doogue in 1996. That last edition, while it had many new features (including new drawings), suffered because of a lot of mistakes that appeared in the printed text.<br />
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However, it has now been largely rewritten by Dr John Parnell again, with my very dear friend, Tom Curtis, the person with the best botanical eye and memory for detail of anyone I know. The new edition, published by Cork University Press, with colour diagrams this time, was launched last week. I attended the event, in Trinity College, and it was an occasion for meeting many friends and colleagues from the Irish botanical mafia, some of whom I hadn't seen for many years (for some reason, many of them had aged considerably in that time - I can't think why!).<br />
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So, if you are interested in learning about botany, I encourage you to get out on field trips with people who have experience in plant identification. And if you live in Ireland, buy a copy of the book.<br />
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Unfortunately, in Switzerland there are lots of new species to learn...<br />
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Here are some photos from the launch, including one of the authors (John Parnell at the podium and Tom on his right). There is also a picture of Professor Webb. You will see what I mean about eccentric - this was taken on a good day!<br />
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</div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-78176478395769956592012-04-03T08:53:00.002-07:002012-04-03T08:53:45.680-07:00In Dublin again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I haven't posted on this blog for a while as I've been incredibly busy with meetings, both down the road in Geneva and then abroad. As you know, I work on wildlife trade issues and the two main bodies that provide the scientific input to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) are the Animals and Plants Committees of that Convention.<br />
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The Geneva meeting of the Animals Committee ran from 15 to 20 March (with just the Sunday off) and discussed (among other things) trade in marine species, especially sharks. This is something I've talked about before on this blog (if I recall!) and will return to again. Then, on 21 March, most of the people who attended the Geneva meeting got on a plane to Dublin. I had never seen so many CITES experts on one plane so thankfully it didn't crash! From 22 to 24 March there was a joint meeting of the Animals and Plants Committees, in the Convention Centre on Spencer Dock, Dublin. Then, after another free Sunday, the Plants Committee met for five days in Dublin Castle.<br />
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It was weird being at a CITES meeting in Dublin. Here I was, circulating with colleagues that I normally meet in in Geneva, Brussels or more exotic locations (Bangkok, Doha, Johannesburg, Windhoek, San José or Santiago, Chile). In the meantime, I hear Irish accents in the background and walk out into familiar Dublin Streets. It was like the collision of two parallel universes.<br />
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However, while Dublin is neither my favourite city nor my favourite part of Ireland, I was pleased that most people liked it - a lot, in fact. Granted, most of them were staying in one of the nicer parts, near the Powerscourt Centre, and the weather was glorious. However, the raved about the food, how friendly people were and how cheap everything was (well, a lot of them had come straight from Geneva). On the food and the good value for money, my experiences too were positive. I also have to put in a word for my good friend Karen Gaynor who, with help from other colleagues in the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of Public Works, did a super job on organising the meeting.<br />
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Speaking of positive experiences in Dublin, on recent visits I myself have been impressed about how much the buses have improved. many bus stops offer real time information; most routes are frequent and many cross the centre to the other side, instead of stopping in the centre as they used to. Of course, the real time information isn't always accurate and Magdalena did have to wait 40 minutes for a bus when she was coming into town (she joined me last Friday) but still the service has come a long way from the abysmal level that I remember for decades on end.<br />
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I was fortunate in getting out to Howth twice and enjoying good seafood on both occasions, as well as glorious weather. So here are a few pictures from those trips.
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<br /></div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-91086645302066716172012-03-08T03:20:00.001-08:002012-03-08T03:20:02.906-08:00The dragon and the elephant<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not a week has gone by when I haven’t been in an aeroplane
at least once. I wrote previously about my impressions regarding the ivory
trade in Thailand and the rhino horn trade in Vietnam, following a meeting with
WWF staff from both countries in Bangkok. From there I travelled to Beijing;
the second time I have visited that fascinating city.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the last occasion I had a little time to see some of the
sights: the Badaling stretch of the Great Wall and the Forbidden City. Which was just as well because on this
occasion I never got beyond the narrow district which comprised my hotel and
the WWF Office. I consoled myself with the thought that, whereas it was summer
on the last occasion, this time I would have had to endure biting winds and
sub-zero temperatures if I had wanted to visit these magnificent places.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am always struck by how much wealth and conspicuous
consumption is visible in China. Shops offering designer clothing and jewellery
are doing a roaring trade, despite a hefty luxury tax on these goods. The same
drive to gain standing and “face” is the biggest headache for us in WWF at the
moment in terms of what it means for many endangered species.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We all know about the use of rhino horn and tiger bone in
traditional Chinese medicine. In fact, they were both removed from the Chinese
Pharmacopeia in 1993 and their use as medicine has declined. However, their
rarity makes them sought after simply as status symbols. Rhino horn is more in
demand in the form of carvings (often libation cups) than as powdered horn; it
is often offered as a gift to sweeten a business deal. Similarly, tiger bone
wine is popular as a conspicuous gift, more than as a tonic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we come to ivory, which – of course – was always a
prestige commodity rather than a medicinal one. China has probably the finest
ivory carving tradition in the world so it can justifiably be regarded as part
of their cultural heritage, rather than simply a source of raw material for
vulgar trinkets (as some commentators supply). Nevertheless, the current level
of demand is unsustainable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Government runs what is pretty much a “state of the art”
chain of custody system for regulating ivory stockpiles (that either preceded
the 1989 ban or were derived from a legal auction in 2008). However, in the
last year or two outlets have sprung up that are simply by-passing the legal
system, by failing to provide certificates to their buyers or by providing
bogus ones. Such ivory products are almost certainly illegally sourced and
China is failing to take adequate steps to shut them down.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I said previously, China is not the sole offender;
Thailand has a large market too that is completely unregulated. Moreover, China
is doing more to stop entry f illegal ivory into the country than almost any other
importing country. However, the scale of the demand is such that its
enforcement efforts are failing to keep pace with the sheer volume of raw ivory
coming in – and this is before we consider ivory products being purchased
illegally by Chinese nationals in Thailand and in Africa.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The chief victims of this demand are the forest elephants of
central Africa, whose numbers are plummeting as a result of poaching and
illegal domestic trade, facilitated by rampant poaching in the relevant
countries.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was actually tasked with running a workshop on corruption
last week in the UK, bringing together staff from the regions most affected
(Latin America, Africa and Asia). It was no surprise that the problems in all
three continents are very similar; however, while it was useful to share
experience, it was clear that there is no silver bullet to solve the problem.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Stay positive! </span></div>
</div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-16044006501732112012-02-20T13:15:00.000-08:002012-02-20T13:15:31.814-08:00Rhinos and cancer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
My last post talked about Thailand and ivory but, as I said, we were also in Bangkok to meet our WWF Viet Nam colleagues.<br />
<br />
In Viet Nam the current issue is rhinos. Viet Nam lost its last indigenous rhino in 2010 - the last of a separate subspecies of the Javan rhino, found in Cat Tien National Park (now there are less than 50 Javan rhinos left in the world, in a tiny population on Java itself). While the last specimen was lost to poachers, the primary reason for the extinction - over the period since the remnant population was discovered in 1988 - was loss of habitat. Unauthorised clearance, followed by cashew plantations, chipped away at the area occupied by the small population to the point that the poacher's gun was just the <i>coup de grace</i>.<br />
<br />
Tragic as this loss is, it seems to have galvanised conservationists in Viet Nam. With the extinction - or near extinction - of several other species in that country (including tigers) they have a lot on their plate. However, Viet Nam is on the centre of the International stage when it comes to rhino conservation because it is the main destination for rhino horn poached from South Africa.<br />
<br />
South Africa was long a success story when it came to rhinos. At one point the Southern White Rhino was thought to be extinct, until a population of 100m individuals was discovered in 1895. Today the population numbers over 20,000 and the subspecies has been reintroduced to neighbouring countries. That success is now threatened.<br />
<br />
Of course, it happened at a time in South Africa's history that is not one to be proud of - to put it mildly. So one might expect that the current situation is in part a result of the post-apartheid regime. However, the preliminary evidence gives indications that wealthy white syndicates are - at least in part - the drivers behind the current poaching crisis. Whatever the truth in this, the statistics are grim. In 2007, 13 rhinos were poached in South Africa - a negligible figure against the size of the population. That rose to 83 in 2008 and 122 in 2009. At that time, Zimbabwe was the main concern when it came to poaching (it has subsided there subsequently, largely because the remaining herds are "too hard to get"). In 2010, the figure in South Africa shot up to 333, rising to 448 in 2011.Most of this poaching is not happening in privately owned herds but in the large flagship rhino herd in Kruger National Park.<br />
<br />
The traditional destination for rhino horn was China but that country has banned trade in rhino horn since 1993 and, while there are debates about how strictly the ban is enforced, it would be hard to account for the scale of the poaching in terms of the potential Chinese market. In fact, the recent surge in poaching arises from rumours in Viet Nam that it cures cancer - a claim that was never made for it in either traditional Chinese or Vietnamese medicine. Unfortunately, the end result is that the horn is on sale openly in the cities. Even though the trade is illegal, no-one has been arrested. In fact, Government officials are now taking it as a designer drug, a cure for hangovers after late night banquets.<br />
<br />
As far as the cancer myth goes, we heard that at least some of the high profile people - such as wives of high Party officials - who had taken the horn as a cancer treatment had died anyway. There were also heartrending anecdotes of families selling everything they had to buy rhino horn for an ailing relative and then spending hours every day grinding it down, only to have the victim die in the end. The problem is that cancer is one disease that drives its sufferers - and their loved ones - to try any remedy, even whentheir brain tells them there is no reason to believe it will work.<br />
<br />
This was poignantly illustrated when, in the midst of our discussions, one of the staff in our office offered her personal experience. Her father has cancer and she told us that she had been under pressure from family members - including her husband - to try rhino horn as a remedy. The implication was that a good daughter would try anything that had a chance - however remote - of curing her father. And this is the problem. The science tells us that there is no evidence that it cures cancer but when it's you or your relative that is the patient, reason goes out the window and you are prepared to try anything. In fact, she had to say to her husband "Please don't ask me again because if you do I'll say yes."<br />
<br />
So the end consumers aren't the villains. No, the villains are those who are exploiting vulnerable people, and contributing to the loss of an iconic animal in the process.<br />
<br />
<br /></div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-29230239920738968062012-02-20T12:03:00.000-08:002012-02-20T12:03:25.496-08:00Elephants and tourists<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I haven't posted here for over two weeks as I have been travelling in Asia, helping my indefatigable colleagues, Lis McLellan and Wendy Elliott (assisted also by other colleagues from our office) to lay the groundwork for a campaign that WWF will (hopefully) launch this summer on illegal international wildlife trade.<br />
<br />
Our first stop was Thailand, where we had assembled staff from our offices in that country and in Viet Nam (I prefer the two-word spelling). The issue with Thailand itself is ivory. Thanks to a legislative loophole that has been identified a number of years ago - but not yet fixed - it is legal to sell ivory from domestic elephants. Fair enough, you might say, except that there is no paperwork or chain of custody to distinguish such ivory from ivory of wild elephants, meaning that there's a no-brainer means available for laundering illegally obtained ivory. This illegal ivory does not come from Asian elephants (because the supply there is limited, since the females don't bear tusks and selective hunting in the past favours males that inherit only small tusks). Instead, it comes from Africa, and mostly from Central Africa at that. Both the export from Central Africa and the import to Thailand is entirely illegal but the ivory is rarely stopped on the way out. Once it reaches Thailand, if it gets past customs (or leaks subsequently from Government warehouses) it is "home free" on the streets. There is a cottage industry of carvers who make trinkets, mostly for the tourist market. It is illegal to buy this ivory and take it home but tourists are not necessarily made aware of this. Indeed, they must succeed as often as not in getting it home or the market would have dried up.<br />
<br />
In exploring this issue with our Thai colleagues in WWF, I was struck - as always - by the impulsive enthusiasm of Thai people. They just needed the spur of a meeting like this and they were up in arms, ready to engage the public in a bid to rectify this situation.<br />
<br />
However, the situation is urgent. Central Africa's elephants are bleeding. While we were on our trip, news was breaking of militia who had encroached into Camerooners from Chad and Sudan, killing over 200 elephants. The elephant populations in the region are in freefall (as are the hippos - and the region has already lost all its rhinos).<br />
<br />
<br /></div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-46042794407110322402012-02-02T03:28:00.000-08:002012-02-03T05:45:17.712-08:00On a number of levels<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There is one incident in that
gloriously irreverent TV satire,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>The
Thick of It</i>, when Jamie, who is just as foul-mouthed as his better-known
colleague, fellow-Scot Malcolm Tucker, says to a female civil servant: </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">"...</span></i><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">we're having here is a secret conversation and I'm hoping
that this time you can keep the fucking secret, because normally you're about
as secure as a hymen in a south London comprehensive!"</span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">To which she
replies:</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">"Yep,
well done. That's offensive on a number of levels in a very concise way." </span></i></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Likewise, a
few weeks ago, right-wing Irish journalist Ruth Dudley-Edwards (a columnist
with the Irish<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>Sunday
Independent</i>) made a comment that was offensive on a number of levels when
she complained of Republican candidates like Herman Cain and Rick Perry being
mocked by an "urban elite".</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At one level, this is
offensive, to rural Americans because it implies that they are just to naive -
or even too stupid - to remark on the gaffs by these and other gaff-prone Republican
candidates. It the implication is that urban people are too decent and
wholesome to make fun of the crass stupidity exhibited by these candidates
while urban people are snide and malicious, then that is both patronising and
offensive at the same time.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We see this thread of thought
taken a bit further by Dudley-Edwards' less intellectually able colleague Eilis
O'Hanlon, who argued a couple of weeks later that Obama was so unpopular that
he would be unelectable this November, were it not for the way in which
"the media" denigrate his potential opponents.In doing so, of course,
she ignores the hate-filled invective vomited out by Fox News, the most popular
news network in the USA, against not only Obabma but any vaguely liberal point
of view - even going so far as to implicate the Muppets in a left-wing
conspiracy.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What is most offensive, though,
about the views of both columnists is that they make excuses for
anti-intellectualism. They almost imply that it is a sin to be clever,
discerning, sceptical or analytical if that leads to dismissal of Presidential
candidates who are both nasty and crass. As Isaac Asimov put it, </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #181818; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its
way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that
democracy means that <em>'my
ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'</em>”</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #181818; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One of the
more pathetic arguments advanced by supporters of such poltroons as Cain and
Perry (and, indeed, Gingrich) is that they don't need to be acutely
intellectual because they will have access to advice from smart people (this
was also George W Bush's defence). In fact, what tends to happen is that these
men are often manipulated by the smart people they hire to supposedly
advise them. Moreover, if this really is the case, why not vote for the
organ-grinder, rather than the monkey?</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; color: #181818; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Thankfully, at
least Cain and Perry are out of the race now. And the Irish Times had an
unintentionally amusing by-line on the latter's withdrawal:</span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Perry quits US
Presidential Race: Texas Governor has suspended his campaign and offered his
back to Newt Gingrich</span></i><o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Now, do I qualify as a member
of the urban elite too? Perhaps not if I live in a town with a population of
less than 20,000</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-52055581580946728042012-01-25T06:58:00.001-08:002012-01-25T06:58:36.310-08:00Making marmalade<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of my other posts have dealt with seasonal food topics,
such as wild garlic, elderflowers and game. Well, January and the beginning of
February is the time when Seville or marmalade oranges are in season – only for
about five weeks.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The word “marmalade” originally referred to quince preserve.
In fact, the association of the word with citrus preserves is a more recent English
phenomenon and is not linguistically correct in many other European languages.
The popular myth is that James Keillor of Dundee invented marmalade in 1797
when he was confronted with an unwanted cargo of Seville oranges. However,
there are recorded instances of Seville oranges being referred to as marmalade
oranges before that. Nevertheless, Dundee is associated with marmalade (and
almond-topped fruit cake) in British culture.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Seville oranges are almost impossible to get in either in
Switzerland – where I now live – or in Brussels, where I used to live. Even in
Britain it can be hit and miss finding them during the short season, since few people
are bothered making marmalade from scratch any more (you can buy tinned kits
which are a lot less work and the result taste fine; it’s just that I like
chunky peel in my marmalade and even the kits that are labelled “coarse cut”
aren’t nearly chunky enough for me). </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the first time since I last left Ireland in 2008, I was
in London at exactly the right time last weekend and I spent all of Saturday
looking for a market that would sell Seville oranges, without success. Then,
having given up, I was on my way to the cinema with my son and daughter when we
stopped at a supermarket for goodies and there my son found them. I bought two kilos, which I brought home to
Switzerland the next day.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On Monday evening, when I got home from a long day at work,
I started to make the marmalade. I follow Delia Smith’s basic recipe (<a href="http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/traditional-seville-orange-marmalade.html">http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/traditional-seville-orange-marmalade.html</a>)
but it was a few years since I had last made a batch and I realised early on
that I was breaking a few rules. First of all, I was working with double the
quantity that she recommended as being the most you could make at once if you
wanted it to set properly. I’d multiplied it by 1.5 before without coming to
harm but doubling? Of course, I could have split the oranges and frozen half
but I wanted to get all the messiness over and done with (you’ll see why). More
importantly, I realised that I’d forgotten to buy lemons; ideally I should have
had two (you use the juice and seeds but not the peel) so I didn’t know if that
would also affect the likelihood of the mixture setting.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, I proceeded with juicing the oranges, my chapped
fingers getting raw from the sharp juice, and then chopping the peel. That took
about an hour and a half. I saved all the seeds and extraneous pith in a muslin
bag. Then I had to put the juice and peel into a saucepan with 4 litres of
water (a little less that Delia specified but I was afraid that using the full
amount would be another complication when it came to setting point). I tied the
muslin bag to the handle of the pot so that it was suspended in the liquid (the
seeds and pith are the main source of pectin that allows the marmalade to set) and
cooked the peel for about 2 hours. By then it was time for bed (after I had
cleaned all the kitchen surfaces, which were sticky with orange juice).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first thing to do on Tuesday evening was to squeeze any
residual pectin out of the muslin bag. You get this sticky orange goo that you
have to scrape off the bag (and your hands) with a spoon. Messy! Then I had to
warm the sugar a little in the oven (4 kilos of it) and put it into the pot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now the decision to double the quantities came back to haunt
me. The liquid was too near the rim of the pot for my liking and I had visions
of it boiling over and making an unholy mess. So I transferred it to a pot that
was twice the size. However, I couldn’t get it to a fast boil, after an hour of
trying, so I had to transfer it back. By then it had concentrated a bit but I
had to watch it when it came to a fast boil as it started splattering
everywhere. Still, after the prescribed 15 minutes of fast boil, when I tested
it on a saucer that I’d put in the freezer, it had set. It was time then to stir
in a knob of butter to clarify the mixture, put the jars in the oven to warm,
and wait 15 minutes for the peel to settle.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’ve never succeeded in getting jam or marmalade into jars
without making a mess. It goes everywhere. It was on my face, the seat of my
trousers, the cooker, the worktop, the floor, the tiling. I’m sure I’ll still
find some more tonight, even though I tried to clean up.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, I now have 11 pots of delicious chunky marmalade.
It’s a little sweeter than my usual effort, probably thanks to the absence of
lemon and the concentration of the liquid. But it has set beautifully.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the reasons why it’s so important to have good
marmalade is in order to be able to follow another Delia Smith recipe:
marmalade bread and butter pudding. It’s divine – and very easy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/chunky-marmalade-bread-and-butter-pudding.html">http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/cuisine/european/english/chunky-marmalade-bread-and-butter-pudding.html</a></div>
</div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-612656501702885141.post-26306943143215930632012-01-18T09:36:00.000-08:002012-01-18T09:36:24.289-08:00A sickeningly low point<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There were many good reasons why the British Army wasn't popular in working class Catholic districts of Belfast in 1972. Nevertheless, the impulse to go to the aid of a wounded soldier was a natural and humane one. It was an impulse, however, that had tragic consequences for one Belfast family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jean McConville was a protestant from East Belfast (Belfast was - and still is - largely divided along religious lines between the protestant East and the Catholic West). When she married Arthur McConville, a Catholic, she herself converted to Catholicism. That didn't save the couple from persecution by both communities and the family had to move on a number of occasions, ending up on the Falls Road, West Belfast. By the time Arthur died of cancer in 1971, the family had 10 children.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was only a few months later that Jean was allegedly seen going to the aid of a wounded soldier. That led to her being beaten up in a bingo hall. The following day a gang of masked men and women burst through the front door of the house. Years later, her son, Archie, who was 16 at the time, recalled how they told his mother to put on her coat and took her away. They waited all night for her return - and the next night too. Helen, who was 15, tried to look after the younger siblings, including 6-year-old twin brothers. After three weeks of waiting, and by now hungry as well as frightened, they were visited by a stranger who gave them their mother's purse, with 52 pence inside it, and her three rings. Two months after the abduction, the children were spit up by social services.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I recall seeing some of the McConville children on television when they were grown up and it was clear that the trauma would mark them for life. Again and again they were told that their mother had deserted them. The RUC (the then Northern Irish Police Force) were twice notified of her disappearance. But the RUC was overwhelmingly Protestant and deeply sectarian and they refused to investigate, choosing instead to believe an anonymous tip-off that she had absconded with a soldier.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It was nearly 30 years later, when the peace process in Northern Ireland was finally gaining traction, that I saw those McConville children on television. The occasion was the choreographed handing over of information from the IRA, which was now in ceasefire mode, to the Irish authorities. This led to the digging up of a car park on the County Louth coast (just south of the border) and the children were hoping that their mother's body would finally be found. By then the IRA had finally admitted her murder, alleging that she was an informer. In the event, her body was not found and the agony dragged on until 2003, when a storm washed away part of the embankment on Shelling Beach car park and exposed her body.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We now know that she had been brutally interrogated after her abduction. She had been beaten with such force that many of her bones were cracked and her hands were mutilated. the cause of death was a single shot to the back of the head. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The British establishment acted with a generosity that was tragically rare in the history of the Northern Ireland conflict. Instead of hiding behind their "neither confirm nor deny" approach, the Lord Chief Justice ruled that there should be an investigation. in 2006, the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland, Nuala O'Loan, confirmed that Jean McConville was never an informer; simply the innocent victim of abduction and murder.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In the past, when Sinn Fein (the IRA's political wing) used to talk about "the politics of condemnation" I understood what they meant. Many politicians and commentators chose to emphasise IRA atrocities in order to downplay loyalist terrist atrocities (which were often even more sectarian) or the dirty deeds at times of the British and Northern Irish authorities. But the IRA (who never hesitated to do the reverse themselves) gave them plenty of pretexts for this behaviour. Whether it was bombing shop-goers in Belfast, innocent people enjoying a night out in Birmingham, Guildford and Woolwich, more innocent people attending a WWI memorial service at Enniskillen, two children shopping in Warrington or any of the other foul murders they carried out, they rarely failed to "top" an atrocity by following it with something even worse. Even by these grisly standards, Jean McConville's abduction and murder is particularly sickening.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">No-one has ever </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">been</span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">charged with Jean McConville's murder but circumstantial evidence is emerging that Gerry Adams, the man who subsequently led Sinn Fein into the Peace Process, is implicated. Most people don't want to know. They prefer that there is peace than that there is justice. They respect the fact that Gerry Adams took personal and political risks when, two decades later, he chose peace over continuing war.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I can understand that view. But sometimes I just have to hold my stomach. And I can perfectly understand why the McConville children don't buy into it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Finally, it seems sad to me that very few articles about this case include Jean McConville's picture. I think we should see it from time to time - to be reminded that there was a real human being behind this tragedy. So here she is, with three of her children. I hope that the Guardian and the McConville family forgive me.</span><br />
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</div>Reluctant Irishmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08924572036271783859noreply@blogger.com0