Murder in the North

I wrote a little about last autumn during all the shock expressed at the Jokela school shooting, that Finland is actually a pretty violent society, at least by European standards. YLE now has a report on last years homicide rate - 130, a little down from 150 homicides in 2006.

I checked the statistics for England and Wales (Scotland keeps it's own stats separately), the most up-to-date figure was 765 for 2005-6, and that includes the 52 victims of the London bombings of July 2005. Now I have to do the maths - the population of England and Wales is about 52 million, so for every million people in the UK, there are about 14.7 homicides. The Finnish population is a bit over 5 million, which means using the 2006 figure (closer in time to the UK figures) you get 30 homicides per million. As long as I've done my sums right (which is by no means a given!) that suggests you were twice as likely to get killed in Finland by someone else in 2006 as you were in England and Wales - terrorists and all. This is, to a Brit in Finland, somewhat counter-intuitive as fear of crime in the UK seems higher (property crime may actually be higher - I don't know), and Finland 'feels' much safer. But then, as my introductory criminology class many years ago taught me, crime and fear of crime are very different things, and the YLE article points to the answer - Finland has a serious problem with domestic violence.

The ultimate close: or "why is Mitt Romney?"

Watching the caucuses in Iowa and the primary in New Hampshire is again a demonstration of some of the great aspects of American democracy. When the Yanks do democracy they really do democracy – shake a million hands in a thousands diners in 500 small towns across one snow covered farming state. The bloke who wants to be the next leader of the Tories or Labour party doesn’t have to do anything like that, they just have to schmooze with the party activists. But it also shows one of the clearest failings of the American democracy as well – that the massive cost of financing a serious campaign which means the candidates all have their hands out all of the time. This allows the rather American phenomenon of being able to pay to play. Currently much speculation still swirls around the New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, and the possibility of him making a third party run. As all the journos point out, being a multi-billionaire, he could “charge a presidential run to his Amex card. There are many good things that can be said about Mayor Bloomberg, but being able to buy the presidency doesn’t seem to be one of them.

And so to the richest of the candidates who have actually declared themselves to be in the race – Governor Mitt Romney running for the Republican nomination. Romney out-spent the eventual Iowa GOP caucus winner, Mike Huckabee, by an amazing 15 to 1. Indeed until Huckabee actually started to look like he might pull it off in the last days running up to the vote - and as a result began attracting donations that he could then spend - Romney was said to be outspending him 20 to 1. Most of this was Romney’s own money. To be spending tens of millions of your own dollars to get into office would seem to suggest you really, REALLY want to get that job – but in Romney’s case: why exactly?

I first remember hearing about Governor Romney in connections to his health programme in Massachusetts. This must be a two summers ago now – I know this because I remember I was grinding out some miles on my road-bike, listening to a podcast of Radio Open Source on the issue whilst cruising the quiet lanes of Helsinki’s hinterland under sunny skies. Romney’s health plan if I remember correctly included forcing everyone who could to buy insurance, hence spreading the risk as younger, healthier people contributed to the health insurance plan. Meanwhile it extended state insurance to the poor and children. It was being at the time greeted by experts on the left with very slightly bemused support, as a Republican businessman provided a feasible and working model for universal healthcare – the holy grail of the Democratic Party. Additionally with Romney being rather relaxed - as fitted his Massachusetts constituents – on issues such as abortion and gay rights, he seemed to be the Republican it was just fine to like.

But as Romney has run for the Presidency he has run to the right. I recently read all the candidates lengthy contributions to Foreign Affairs journal. Romney’s is more moderate than some of the other Republicans, notably Guilliani, and very managerial and business like. But it is in his domestic policies where his move from moderate to arch-conservative is far more visible. From being pro-Choice he moved to pro-Life. From being relaxed on gay issues he went to the “defend marriage!” gang. From being understanding of migrants, he has gone to the “broken borders” rhetoric of painting illegal immigrants as a security threat and ignoring their all-too-obvious role in maintaining the American economy (such as cutting Mitt’s lawn).

In part this seems to be connected to having to mainstream himself within activist Republican ranks due to his Mormonism – a religion that many evangelical protestants remain very suspicious of – but overall it seems that he simply wants to win. Serving your country in public office can be a noble thing, and in an odd way this particularly so for very rich men like Romney who would surely make much more money if he just carried on as a successful businessman rather than becoming a politician. But if to get elected you can reconstruct yourself as either a moderate as he did to become governor of Massachusetts, and then again as a conservative for a presidential run, it leaves you asking the immortal question of American politics – “where’s the beef?” and the answer is: there is none, only money. And despite the huge power of being able to buy endless TV advertising in the relevant markets, it appears that the Republican voters of Iowa and New Hampshire feel the same way.

Looking cool for the counter-insurgency

Firepower and sartorial elegance!

I'm very excited to see the Times has also started to notice new fashion trends in the world of global mayhem. Good for them; I suspect that what is now happening with the Iraqi special forces troops on the streets of Baghdad will be seen in the autumn menswear collections on the catwalks of Milan and New York later this year. I'm working on my dodgy goatee, and am developing a collections of colour-coordinated leather fingerless gloves. Now I'm off to find my old skateboard knee pads and strap them round my ankles.

Notice googles on backwards - snowboarder style, ankle-worn knee pads, fag, cute little girl, and bizzarely - a meat cleaver!

Anyway - stay tuned for more on how to keep lookin' good for worldwide strife.

Night climbing

With the weather forecast miserably, globally warmed for this weekend (+2 degrees and raining) I just had to get out ice climbing before the thaw kicked in. After putting the kids to bed I grabbed my gear and jumped in the car. Various texts and email hadn't turned up anyone else interested in going so it was going to be just me and the night forest.

Self portrait, no flash

It was snowing as I drove to Nuuksio and with thick clouds and no moon it felt very dark and slightly claustrophobic in that way when your world is limited to the beam of your head torch.

Ready to go, with flash

One route, a 25 mtr groove at about WI 2/3, had reasonably thick ice, so I decided to solo rather than bother setting up a top-rope, putting on a harness and using a shunt to self belay. In the dark it was surprisingly un-scary as you have no sense of gaining height. Having climbed it the once, I followed hare tracks down through the snowy forest and then back along the base of the cliff to my pack. As none of the other routes were in solo-able condition, I put my pack on my back and climbed the line again, before heading off through the woods back to where I left my car.

Soggy snow under car headlights

Back at the car it was snowing hard with wet, large flakes. The car thermometer said 0 degrees and as I drove home, and the snow was turning to sleet. Now is the winter of our discontent... indeed.

"Camp Bucca prison has become a school for takfir supporters"

MEMRI, the Israeli translation organization, has an interesting and depressing translation of an al-Arabiya television report on Jihadi violence inside U.S. prisons in Iraq, notably Camp Bucca, against other Iraqi prisoners. It shows the depths of extremism that the Iraqi Jihadis have reached. The al Qaeda and other jihadis are called "Takfiris" by other prisoners. Takfir is the act of one Muslim pronouncing another to be an apostate, or 'bad' Muslim, and extremists often use it as a way of legitimating calls to kill the supposed apostate. Non-Takfiri prisoners recount people being beaten for smoking, stepping into the toilets with the wrong foot first, or just for sitting in the wrong place. It also suggests that the U.S. forces do little to control what is happening inside the prisons, just letting the prisoners get on with "organising" themselves. The report suggest some innocent prisoners who get mistakenly picked up by US or Iraqi forces, end up joining al Qaeda to find protection within the prison.

Extremist recruiting in prisons is a well known phenomenon worldwide; the reasons that it happens being rather obvious. But it has been well known for many years now that many held in these internments camps in Iraq are not part of the insurgency, and it therefore makes allowing the prisons to get this far out of control into a very self-defeating policy.

The picture at the top I found on photo essay on a U.S. Department of Defense website, showing a military policeman seizing an improvised knife during a search at Camp Bucca. The pictures are from a couple of years back, but show some of the weapons that were being found even back then.

How not to be a mixed master

The highlight of this weekends climbing trip in comic form. Click on the picture to enjoy the story in full size. Thanks to Tony for bravely taking the starring role.

Wintour's Leap - photos

Chepstow Castle

Ali on the crux of the first pitch of Zelda (HS 4b)

Mike in his element; chillin' (literally with the weather that day) halfway up Zelda

Ali works out the crux, not too bad when you find the holds but horribly exposed and scary until you do!

Picnic time

Mike racing sunset up Fly Wall, The Split VS 5a.

I posted a video of our climbing trip to Wintour's Leap last week, but I promised Mike, Andy and Ali who I was climbing with I'd add some photos when I got chance. British inland limestone is, in my opinion at least, a bit crap in that way that lots of things you love about Britain are actually a bit crap (the weather, the seaside, the cafés, etc). Bits break off in your hands, it is slippy, vegetated and always seems to be covered in bird shit - but the cliff in its entirety is huge and imposing in a brooding way. Sitting above the tidal, lower reaches of the Wye River that forms the border between England and Wales, Wintour's forms a huge wall on the English side of the the river reminding you, like Chepstow Castle just a kilometre downstream, of when this was a very real border with military importance many centuries ago. Like so many places in the UK, it just drips history if you think about it. Anyway, it was a good day with great company; slippy, cold and bird-poo covered rock or not.

Book backlog

Whenever I go to the UK, I come back with books. This time it was Christmas and I got a number as presents from my lovely family. But even when it's not Xmas, I still seem to return with a pile. The main factor is free delivery to UK addresses from Amazon.co.uk when you spend over fifteen quid - before I travel I order anything I want and have them sent to my Mum and Dad's then pick them up when over. Secondly, Tesco and Asda book price slashing - "The Golden Compass" in the pile cost something like £3.40, so it seemed worth the money to see if the book is as good as many say it is even if it's not the sort of thing I'd normally read. The CDs and DVDs are also ridiculously cheap, "Hot Fuzz" was a fiver which is only a bit more than it would cost to rent it for an evening here, or the same as seeing it in the cinema which I never got a chance to do. Thirdly, airport bookshops. I hate feeling stressed or rushed when flying so tend to leave more time than I really need at the airport. This I can happily while away in the bookshops, and the "Dunkirk" and "Generation Kill" are the results of doing that at Manchester yesterday afternoon.

So lots to read over the next few months! I will try to write some reviews here for anyone who is interested. Having a pile of unread books makes me feel a bit bad, like being greedy. But books never seem to really feel like unnecessary or conspicuous consumption. I read them all eventually. And as Oscar Wilde almost said; if there is anything worse than having a pile of unread books, it is not having a pile of unread books. Happy New Year to all.