My first full week at home since retirement has also been my first week at home since my hip replacement. I've already lost track of what day of the week it is and I suspect that this will be typical as the lack of work routine leaves the days to blur into each other. I've managed to get back into the habit of reading - with a vengeance. I've read seven books in the last ten days and I've enjoyed all of them.
None more so than Started Early - Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson. I remember loving her debut novel Behind The Scenes At The Museum which was a nostalgic and intricately plotted look at generations of a family and I was surprised to discover that Kate has now moved into the crime genre and this is the latest of several crime novels that she has written. The novel is again intricately and quite brilliantly plotted and all the pieces fall perfectly into place at the end. There are many layers of character and plot and a timeline that shifts between a Leeds living in the shadow of the Yorkshire Ripper to one living in the current recession. I can see this novel transferring seamlessly to the small screen.
I've been reading about and listening to Bob Ainsworth's call for legalisation of drugs. This is something that I have argued in favour of for years. So much time and money is wasted in the war against them - time and money that could be invested in more beneficial areas like health and education. Chicago in the prohibition era demonstrated how banning alcohol created a huge demand that could only be fulfilled by a criminal supply and the city collapsed into corruption and near anarchy. Our police and customs officers are fighting a similar losing battle against the drug barons but if the market is suddenly legitimised they will have to look elsewhere for their income. OK there are risks to vulnerable users but with so much potential saving in public spending there should be enough to improve support for drug abusers.
I've also been reading all about the Julian Assange extradition case. If this was all about freedom of speech I could understand all the celebrities jumping onto the support bandwagon but Assange has been accused of rape. That's a pretty serious offence as far as I am aware and Sweden is neither renowned for huge miscarriages of justice nor somewhere that he might expect an unfair trial.Do all his supporters know him well enough to be convinced of his innocence or are they simply thinking that because he has been involved in the cable leaks this makes him an all round good guy? I hope that he is innocent of the charges but if the evidence goes against him it is going to leave a lot of media types looking pretty embarrassed.
This was the photo of the week. Waves from Lake Erie crashing onto the Cleveland Harbor West Pierhead Lighthouse created this beautiful frozen structure like something from Narnia.
Another who has been given massive media coverage this week is Jody McIntyre. Jody is the cerebral palsy sufferer who was dragged from his wheelchair by police at last week's student demos. The vile Richard Littlejohn created outrage with his column in the Daily Mail by likening McIntyre to the character Andy in Little Britain. Andy is a malingerer who is not really disabled whilst Jody is undoubtedly disabled and severely so. Littlejohn opens his big mouth too often with this sort of outburst. I have researched Jody McIntyre. He is a bit of a regular at protests be they Student Fees, Gazza or Tower Hamlets and is certainly proud of being an activist. He is capable of walking and wrote how he climbed to the top of Millbank Towers whilst his brother carried his wheelchair. But there's nothing wrong with that in a twenty year old. If he wants to express his views at demonstrations he is as entitled to do so as any other person and the police (even if they know him well as an activist) were wrong to manhandle him unless he was seen as a threat. Sadly Littlejohn will again be basking in the publicity he has created for himself. Let's hope that the hundreds of complaints to the press commission cut him down to size (I somehow doubt it).
I'll finish today with the uplifting story of a geeky bloke who has been with his girlfriend for ten years.He loves the muppets. He decided to propose. This is how he did it. He persuaded his local cinema to add this clip to the trailers when he took his Sara to the movies. I was left blubbing into a tissue.
Those of you who know me as a bleeding heart liberal and fully paid up Guardian subscriber might be surprised at my attitude to Wikileaks and might consider my views more at home in the Daily Mail. The members of the Twitterati that I follow might block me instantly if they were ever to read this.
Now I'm all in favour of whistle blowers. Many have risked life and limb, reputation and livelihoods to stop wrongdoing from being swept under the carpet and when Wikileaks is uncovering torture and corruption I'll back it to the hilt. But the current leak of the cables is not about whistle blowing it's about diplomacy - "dih-ploh-muh-see - skill in managing negotiations, handling people, etc., so that there is little or no ill will; tact". And whilst Julian Assange might be rubbing his hands in glee at the results of his opening of Pandora's box, I for one, am unhappy with it.
Let's consider a couple of scenarios. In my time in business I had to meet people from all walks of life. Some I liked and mentioned them favourably on my blog. Others I maybe liked less but I didn't blog to that effect, I merely held my tongue. The following is fictitious but imagine a large industry dinner. I'm seated alongside an important customer who spends tens of thousands with my business every year. For the entire evening he spouts racist, homophobic and anti-semitic views that I hate with all my heart and soul. The correct thing to do would be to renounce him to the table as a despicable bigot but I have to spare a few thoughts for others. I denounce him to the table and lose my business their biggest customer, the knock on effect is that a factory floor worker or maybe several workers lose their jobs and their kids go short and maybe the same happens in a supplier's business when I have to cut back my orders with them. So it would be madness for me to do the right thing. I go back to the office write up a report of the event mentioning the foul views of the customer and file it away. What would be the point of releasing my opinions to the world? There would be no point other than to undermine my business and jeopardise jobs.
Or perhaps my wife has invited her brother to stay for Christmas. he's going to bring his new Thai mail order bride who I think I might once have seen in a pretty undignified position on the internet, along with his spoilt brat children and their yappy, flea ridden dog.Do I upset my wife and insult her family when they turn up at the front door in the snow? No. But I might drop an email to friends to the effect that Christmas has been cancelled this year, together with a humourous explanation why.
My best friend's mother turns up to my daughter's wedding looking like mutton dressed as lamb. What do I say? "You look beautiful" - obviously. It's all about diplomacy. And that's where I think Wikileaks has made a big mistake. There may well be some important nuggets of information in those millions of files that should be given a public airing and anything encouraging war or violence should be condemned. Although the fact that a prominent public figure has the manners of a pig or a penchant for nubile blondes might well be something worth noting on file for the benefit of colleagues, diplomacy dictates that it is information that should be kept between friends. By publishing thoughtlessly and indiscriminately, Assange has done the freedom of speech lobby a huge disservice. I don't approve of the site being taken down but I do feel that Wikileaks has done democracy and diplomacy no favours.
Ok that's my view. Let him who is prepared to have his every opinion on everything and everyone aired in public, cast the first stone.
