Engaged with the world

I found some old notes today, typed hurriedly years ago whilst I was reading My Trade: A Short History of British Journalismby Andrew Marr - a good book for anyone interested in journalism, journalists and how their work interacts with and mediates our world. I remember reading on climbing forum a couple of summers ago someone asking "why is everyone talking about riots?" This person wasn't interested in the news; cynical about all politics, she had made a conscious decision simply not to watch or read any, and as a result was unaware that there were major incidences of public disorder breaking out across the UK including, if I remember correctly, in the centre of the city where she lived. Whilst this struck me as misguided, it also seemed an almost heroic decision to make - it must take quite some mental effort to ignore all news, not to absorb any. I feel I get news, and hence am engaged in politics, almost by osmosis these days - what you eat, how you travel around, using a library, paying a bill all seem to be political acts in some way as a result. Anyway, Marr writes:

I know people who barely read a paper and who think most broadcast news is mindless nonsense. I think, however, they are wrong. They might go through their weekly round, taking the kids to school, shopping, praying, doing some voluntary work, phoning elderly relatives, and do more good than harm as they go. But they have disconnected themselves from the wider world; rather like secular monks, they have cloistered themselves in the local. And this is not good enough. We are either players in open, democratic societies, all playing a tiny part in their ultimate direction, or we are deserters. (p.63)

Sometimes it is nice to switch off; to go for a walk in the mountain, for a ski in forests - but switching off forever? Is Marr right that this is desertion?

Must all good things come to end?

I just listened to the last episode of Politics UK on the BBC World Service. This program has been one of the victims of the cuts happening across the british government currently; the World Service is funded by the Foreign Office and they are having their budget cut just like the rest of the public sector. Politics UK has been perhaps the best programme on the BBC about british politics across all the radio channels both domestic and the World Service: half an hour long giving time for real interviews where people could really make a coherent argument rather than just knock out a few sound-bites. The final guests on the programme are typical of the sort of heavy-weights with decades of experience that have typified the voices that have been heard on Politics UK; Lord Hennessy - Professor of Contemporary British History at Queen Mary, University of London; Lord Howe - former Chancellor of the Exchequer, foreign secretary and deputy prime minister under Margaret Thatcher and Lord Donoughue - former adviser to Labour prime ministers Harold Wilson and Jim Callaghan and a minister under Tony Blair. And all agreed that the Foreign Office and BBC were shooting themselves in the foot cutting such an obvious 'weapon' of UK 'soft power'.

I for one will miss it, and want to thank the team at the BBC who have made such consistently good programme/podcast over the years.

When democracy protests become "sectarianism".

Earlier, I listened to Marc Lynch being interviewed on yesterday's Fresh Air about the Libyan situation. Lynch is always worth paying attention to, but it was actually his discussion of Al Jazeera's treatment of the Bahrain protests that really jumped out.

Al Jazeera has been a long-term whipping boy particularly of the American right for its perceived anti-American stance. Particularly once it had launched its English service, it became - partly in response to being bashed from the US right - lauded by many on the left; in Europe and America. It clearly does cover stories that don't get much coverage elsewhere and often shows 'the other side' of stories that are covered by western media. Nevertheless, like any other institutions, it exists in its own political context - in this case being in effect owned government/royal family of Qatar - and that brings distortions.

Lynch points out that whilst it al Jazeera's coverage of the uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia and now Libya has been extensive and central to raising the Arab public's conciousness across the region, it is dealing with the Bahraini protests differently. The Bahraini protesters are, it would seem, predominantly Shia, mainly because being Shia in Bahrain is to be given the shitty end of the stick in life and hence make you more likely to protest. But the protesters have been careful to make their claims in terms of nationalism and democracy - it is only the Bahraini government and its backers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) that wants everyone to see it as sectarianism, with the obvious unspoken assumption that Iran must be lurking in the background. Lynch points out since Qatar and Saudi Arabia patched up their differences, al Jazeera has been more reticent about criticising Saudi policy, and the Saudis are the superpower of the GCC, an organization that sent troops into Bahrain in support of the regime there.

Lynch makes the argument in greater detail on his blog at Foreign Policy - it is well worth reading. As ever, context is everything.

Don't remember his name

Stephen Griffiths is a violent criminal and nothing more. The accused murderer of three Bradford sex-workers has been dubbed by the tabloid press as the "Crossbow Canibal" and this was the name he gave the judge when being charged today. This man was studying serial killers as part of a postgraduate criminology course and, it would appear, was obsessed with the mystique given to people who kill others. But he should not be given the notoriety that he seeks - no monikers, no fuss. His name is Stephen Griffiths, he needs no other. He did nothing remarkable or noteworthy - he victimised the most easily victimised - those that society protects and worries about the least. He shows that evil can also be pathetic. He stands accused of taking the life of three people who did absolutely nothing to deserve it. If found guilty, we should remember his victims: Suzanne Blamires, Shelley Armitage, and Susan Rushworth and their families that mourn them. His unremarkable name should remain that. He deserves no more.

The first draft history

Some clever spark once said that journalism is the first draft of history. If you've been following the British general election saga, this week's "The Report" from BBC Radio 4 is fascinating listening and will be a source for future historians on how the coalition negotiations took place. Right down to Lord Mandelson texting his mate on the other side of the table to avoid his own team knowing what he was saying.

"Don't worry lads, I have a cunning plan..."

I've seen the signs...

Signs should take you by the hand and guide you to where you want to go

This weeks Slate Culture Gabfest has a really interesting discussion on signage. No really. At least I hope it’s not only me who finds signage interesting. Julia Turner, one of the discussants, notes that her series on signs for Slate was spurred by a colleague who had phoned her whilst visiting London to say that he had just seen a road sign in front of a closed road saying why the road was closed, when it would be re-opened and what alternative route to take until it is. This was obviously something he had never seen before in the US and hence worthy of phoning a friend to report it although is pretty un-noteworthy in the UK.

I’ve been comparing Finnish and British roads signs for some time and deciding that British signs are actually much easier to navigate by. Finnish road signs seem to presume large amounts of local knowledge which rather negates their purpose. I had thought that this just handicapped non-Finns such as myself but now having discussed it with Finnish friends who have moved to Helsinki from else where in the country, it is reassuring to hear they had just as much trouble navigating by Helsinki’s ring road signs as I did to begin with. More interesting is how Helsinki isn’t sign posted until you are virtually there if coming from the north: so if you are leaving Oulu you better know the road number or the towns along the way, as the nation’s capital won’t get a sign until 500-odd kms later as you get to Lahti, the last town of any size before Helsinki. In the UK you get signs to London at great distances away. It’s the same problem leaving Helsinki as nothing further than Tampere or Lahti seems to get a look in on the signs, except interestingly, St Petersburg if you are going east (on a road sign not far from my house that I find absurdly romantic). Finland is a rather “insiders” country in many ways – probably the result of its enforced geopolitical isolation though the Cold War – and many things it is just presumed Finns will know. Road signs reflect this.

The comparison with Sweden is interesting. Pull out of the ferry terminal in central Stockholm and you immediately see signs for Haparanda (over a thousand kilometres away, on the border with Finland) and for Malmö in the far SW corner of the country – and that’s as good as saying: “the bridge to Denmark, Europe and the rest of the world”.

The media at its silliest.

I just knew this was going to happen. All last week the media were carrying stories about how buildings in Finland were at structural risk from the snow load on the roofs. They quote experts saying that owners should clear their roofs. Now they carrying stories about how many people have been seriously injured falling off their roofs whilst trying to clear them - 30 serious injuries in Helsinki alone. Having watched neighbours teetering around on the edge of sloping roofs two storey houses with no attachment, this had seemed a likely outcome days before the hospitals started reporting the spate of accidents. I actually had a conversation a couple of days ago with a friend at work saying I wondered whether the risk of injuries or deaths from roof collapses was higher than possible injuries/deaths from people falling trying to clear their roofs. I remember being told that some researcher had estimated that more people died in car accidents driving to their doctors to ask whether they should stop taking Vioxx than would have died from the possible adverse effects inherent in continuing to take it. This might not be true but you take the point.

The media is completely hopeless at expressing risk (as I've alluded to before) - it tends to just swing from one extreme to the other and takes years to get it right. Last week's Rear Vision from ABC's Radio National in Australia was a excellent case study on the MMR vaccine scandal that never was, and how bad media reporting played into a public health reversal as result.

A view from the roof

Anyway, in the last week I've cleared the snow off my roof; my neighbours roof, and off the communal car-port-garage-thingy. But being a total coward I've finally found something to do with the jumars I got sent to review last year.

Doing something useful with my climbing gear for once

Britain is crap/great

Britain is crap because it has the Daily Mail and people who will pay for it. Britain is great because it has Ben Goldacre on national prime time radio:

And the blog he mentions, The Daily Mail Oncological Ontology Project, really does exists. So that's two reason for Britain being great against one for crap, so great beats crap on points. Hurrah!

Top radio

Strictly speaking - I don't actually listen to the radio much any more, so this should really be titled 'top podcasts'; but you get the point. You can probably find all of these through iTunes, but I'll try and link directly to the relevant webpages.

Firstly, the ever excellent Rear Vision from ABC Radio National Australia. A couple of shows back they did the programme on Chavez and Venezuela. They explain clearly and precisely how he came to be elected with so much popular support, and then all his weakness both personal and political. Excellent journalism - find the right experts and just let them talk.

Then two episodes of Fresh Air from NPR in the States. Firstly, their interview with Dr. Atul Gawande - which helps explain a lot about the structural difficulties of the US healthcare system - when doctors are turned into businessmen and women. And secondly their interview with Chip Berlet, a remarkable sounding researcher into the role of conspiracy theories in extremist ideologies and world views.

And finally, and really only of interest to cyclists, the Guardian has made a pretty good effort with their first ever bike podcast. Bike reviews, cycling safety issues, possible trip destinations, interviews - really a bike mag to listen to.

Funny things on the Radio

It shouldn't really be that funny but I heard Senator Orrin Hatch on the NPR breakfast news say "crap" on Friday. It's not that rude, but not what you normally here on NPR news. There was a split second after where you could just hear his brain processing: "oh crap, I just said crap on national radio. Do I apologise? Do I plough on and hope no one noticed?" He ploughed on manfully, but we did notice Senator. We just like you more now for speaking your mind. Is Senator Hatch often this plain spoken.

Even more delicious than that was the BBC FiveLive news reader who on earlier in the week announced to a shocked nation that North Yorkshire had tested a nuclear weapon. You can hear the announcement here. The confusing thing is for anyone who remembers the 80s, is that it was always the Socialist Republic of South Yorkshire.

Gay marriage and big boobs

I don't normally read the Huffington Post, its layout somehow annoys me - but I followed a link there for some other reason yesterday and ended up reading Brian Normoyle's piece on Miss California (her of the not-being-a-fan-of-gay-marriage fame) and her breast implants. I was actually in California when this whole scandal erupted and was watching too much TV news, so lets say it was this that grabbed my attention, not the thought of Miss California's breasts more generally.

His point is superficially rather silly, but there is a deeper point. Years ago when I had more time, I wrote something vaguely similar here about cosmetic surgery in western societies and the issue of the veil for Muslim women. I've been thinking a lot about America after visiting the other week; I'm still getting over how foreign it is in many ways, despite being so familiar. But there is something rather American about a beauty queen who was paid by a commercial organisation to have her breast pumped full of silicon, basically for the titillation of men, holding forth on the morality of the private sexual lives of others. Regardless of the rights or wrongs, it is just plain weird.

The BBC versus the EU

The following story was recounted by an anonymous, but prominent, British political scientist about a meeting he had had with an unnamed senior BBC news executive. He had been asked to visit the BBC, along with some other academic experts on the EU, to discuss the BBC’s coverage of the EU. The Beeb thought they were doing rather well, to which the experts laughed in their faces and pointed out that whilst the BBC news covers congressional hearings in Washington for relatively lowly positions in the Obama administration, they hadn’t covered the hearings for the European Commissioners. The response to which was: “they have hearings for the commissioners?” Lets remember all; the commissioners produce laws that effect every one us Europeans on a daily basis.

At this point the academics showed the BBC chaps the data that shows that the BBC has less coverage of the EU on its evening news programmes than any other broadcaster across the 27 European Union members. Without missing a beat, and with a straight face, the unnamed senior BBC executive replied: “Yes, but that is because we are a very important country and therefore have lots more news to report.”

And yes, Mark Mardell and his Euroblog is an honourable exception to the rule of crappy BBC coverage.

Somalia-UK, and other bits and bobs of interest

Some quality reporting from the UK's Channel 4 from last month that I only just stumbled across, looking at the links between British Somalis and suicide bombings in Somalia/Somaliland.



Don't just watch the vid, read Jonathan Rugman's report as well. Also if this is your type of thing, check the Jamestown report that Rugman mentions, on the various stories of western Somalis who have gone back to fight - Americans, British, Canadians, Swedes and possibly Norwegians - but no Finns mentioned. I wonder if any young Somalis have gone back to fight for any of the other groups besides the Jihadists? The answer could be no - in which case it leads to the question why not? Why aren't, say, Puntland nationalists or Les éradicateurs of the TFG as an attractive a cause for a kid in a western city as wack-job jihadism? It sort of makes Olivier Roy's globalised Islam point for him. Alternatively, the answer could be that Somalis have gone back to fight for other groups - their clan militia, the TFG etc. and we just haven't heard about it because it's not then part of the 'terrorism-link' game the media and some analysts like to play. If British Tamil kids go and get themselves blown up in Jafna fighting for the Tigers, frankly who in the media gives a shit? I hope MI5 do, but it's not going to make Channel 4 News, let alone the front page of Sun*.

Apropros to nothing and probably only of interest to those who have similar research/geeky interests to me; I note the Jamestown report is written by James Brandon. I was at a seminar with James last year, and because he was at from the Centre for Social Cohesion, I was a little bit suspicious of where he was coming from. So I noticed with interest he's now at the Quilliam Foundation. Hmm.... I think: "from the outwardly neoconservative, to the group just called neoconservative by it's critics... interesting", but looking just a wee bit further into it, I found this quite amazing op-ed by James in CiF. Well said, Mr. Brandon. If you ever need to write a resignation letter, it would be good to do it with the honesty and clarity of James' piece.

*And just as a side note, the Sun has been caught making up nasty-Muslim stories. Again. The victim of the Sun's lies is thirty grand richer, and good for him, but at Pickled Politics they have a few suggestions of how to make a paper really think twice before running this sort of shit.

"The most dangerous place in the world"

Long time readers of this blog will know that I have an interest in Somalia. There is an excellent article explaining Somalia's recent history and current desperate situation by Jeffrey Gettleman of the NYT in this week's Foreign Policy magazine.

Print a copy off and read it during your coffee break. It's a fine example of clarity and approachability in dealing with a complex story that will give you a solid introduction to this sad country.

The plague terrorist takedown

(Photo - some dodgy terrorists with really snotty noses, hence massive handkerchiefs)
Some years ago for work I looked in some depth into the idea of "WMD terrorism". In the early part of this decade, Jihadi terrorism seemed unbounded in its brutality, someone had sent weapons grade Anthrax through the US postal service and CNN found footage in an abandoned Afghan camp of al Qaeda people gassing dogs. It all seemed so possible and hence utterly terrifying. But the scary thing was, the more you dug, the more crap you found you were digging through. And I don't mean scary crap, I mean just simple common or garden bullshit. The concept of WMD became virtually meaningless through sloppy over-use in global discourse. I remember hearing a normally sensible and grounded former US marine general on NPR call ricin WMD and just thinking the world was going nuts. Ricin is as much a WMD as bullets are. Some American terrorism 'experts' still go on about "European ricin plots", seemingly unaware that in court case after court case these claim have virtually all turned out to be nothing. American neo-Nazis were messing about with ricin in the 80s, but nobody ever accused them of plotting Armageddon. The collapse of the Bush Administration's claim that the Saddam regime had WMDs, and wanted to give them to al-Qaeda, had a lot to do with the slow retrenchment of the world's media from the story. But every once in while once these stories pops up again like a fart in a bath.

I remember seeing the story about AQIM fighters dying from the plague in Algeria a few weeks ago and didn't pay much attention. I've researched quite a lot on the Algerian situation in the past and soon learnt that vast amounts of what you read about terrorism in that country is crap. The agendas of many different actors make sorting out fact from fiction pretty hard when it comes from Algeria, and the idea that AQIM (the former GSPC) were messing around in mini-biolabs with bubonic plague seemed far-fetched to say the least. What I hadn't realised at the time was that the story came from the Sun. If you read the Sun to get your info on jihadist movements, you deserve everything you get. I noticed just two weeks back that even whilst the bodies were still lying in the open in Victoria, the Sun was suggesting that it might have been terrorist 'what done it' with the bushfires. They won't just scrape the bottom of the barrel, rather attacking it with a chisel and mallet. But whilst reading around on some other North Africa related issues in the last couple of days, I've come across some really quite impressive takedowns of the story by some quality bloggers.

So first off check The Sun Lies for a rather in-depth fisking of the story. The Armchair Generalist has a very good overview of why it is all bollocks and even finds an Algerian doctor writing in a medical journal who notes that the Algerian medical profession thinks it's bollocks too (although I'm sure the good doctor would use slightly more technical language). The Generalist sticks with the story coming back a few weeks later to note that the Algerian health ministry and WHO are also both voting for the "bollocks" option. Jihadica has an interesting post looking at this along with other very unlikely stories from recent times about al Qaeda - Thomas writes:

Let me start by congratulating the journalist on being able to fit the four words “al-Qaida”, “gay”, “rape” and “horror” in one and the same headline in the world’s largest English-language newspaper.

Journalism of that 'quality' - it just makes you proud to be British. OK, so maybe I'm missing a 'not' from that last sentence.

(You might also be interested in this earlier post on related matters)

Anastasia Baburova - anti-fascist hero

I occasionally find the obituaries in the Economist quite affecting, often when not expecting it. This week's, for Anastasia Baburova, was once such. Baburova, a young brave investigative journalist, was gunned down last month in broad daylight in central Moscow whilst walking with Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer. She tried to tackle the assasin of Markelov, who simply killed her as well. No one in government has even expressed their condolences. Human rights lawyers who defend Chechen rape victims, and reporters who report their stories, clearly aren't worth much sympathy to the powers that be in the Kremlin.

It is a fine obituary for a brave young woman:

In Turgenev’s poem “The Threshold”, a young woman stands before a door. A voice asks whether she is prepared to endure cold, hunger, mockery, prison and death, all of which await her on the other side. She says “Yes” to everything, and steps over. “A fool,” cries a voice from behind her. “A saint,” suggests another.

She deserves such fine words, but 25 years is far too early to hear them.

Climbing magazines

Very nearly 20 yrs worth of climbing mags

I had reason today to defend some critical comments that I made online about one of the British climbing magazines. I have nothing but respect for the person who was questioning me, which of course means you do your best to explain yourself as clearly and fairly as possible. And it was in doing this that I realised how important a part of my 'climbing life' magazines have been. For me climbing magazines have never been ephemeral - to be chucked out with the recycling like the daily paper. They are more like journals that you go back to every once in while and re-read the best articles.

The now defunct and sadly missed On The Edge - the gobby upstart of British climbing culture

I bought my first magazines whilst I was still at school and knew no climbers and very little about where people went climbing. Reading the magazines was a window onto new world that I wanted to live in. At the height of my 'addiction' I bought all three of the British magazines available at the time, and read them cover to cover. I wasn't really interested in the results of the Northern under-16 boys bouldering championship or the access agreement for a crag at the other end of the country from where I lived, but I would still read about them.

OTE's successor, Climb magazine, big, glossy and with great pictures and a spacious layout

But slowly things change. I stopped subscribing to Climber in 2006, it wasn't a bad magazine I had just been reading it for so long I felt I was just reading the same articles again - a problem for any magazine. It was okay though because Climb was the new kid on the block, the successor to OTE and High. Climb is great except for sometimes the quality of the copy editing, and that is what I have been critical about.

Climber and Hillwalker (as it was then) from March 1989 and April 1990, the first climbing magazines I bought.

It was pictures in the climbing magazines, particularly the ones below, from those very first mags that I owned, that pretty much led to me moving to Scotland when I was old enough to leave home. Scottish winter climbing just seemed like the most exciting thing in world (it can be as well, although not always in good way!), and I wanted to do what I saw in the photos.

Deep Cut Chimney on Hells Lum, 80s-stylee

The schist revolution begins - Incubator on the Cobbler

Climbing magazines, like much of the rest of the print media, are going through hard times with advertising being competed for by new online sources whilst their news function is threatened by websites that can update instantaneously. Mark Reeves, another UKC regular, has written a provocative piece about this on his blog that you can read here. It was really sad that Alpinist, a particularly fine magazine from the US with an excellent website, became one of the first victims of the credit crunch in the outdoors business sector. I hope other magazines don't go the same way.

CNN

I'm in a hotel room watching CNN. God, it's awful. Really guys, I can concentrate on something for more than 45 seconds with out music and swishy graphics - honest.

But then again Wolf Blitzter (made up name I'm sure) has just said that Palin is talking about what she is going to do when she loses, so I suppose that's good.

The news from bits of the world we don't care about

A couple of years ago I wrote a report about American "counter-terrorism" operations in the Saharan belt of Africa. It was fascinating research because I got time to read up on countries I knew basically absolutely nothing about and amongst them were Chad and Mauritania.

Last week there was a(nother) military coup in Mauritania, an activity they seem rather fond of. And then today the court system of one authoritarian leader of Chad sentenced a previous authoritarian leader of Chad to death.

I don't really have any point to make beyond it's odd how little we care. The British team is doing great at the Olympics, the Russians are back in business as the global baddies and the weather is kinda crappy and all of that is for some reason more important for the media. Does art imitate life or does life imitate art in this case? Who knows, but good luck to the British 400 mtr boys in the semis tomorrow!

English Hesari - till gull of mistokes

I know this sounds really gripey - and that I moaned about it last week - but how do things that either Microsoft Word or Firefox's built in spell check would notice, make it into a national, edited publication?

From today's Helsingin Sanomat English edition's story on the Finnish SDP's new leader:

By “party of values”, Urpilainen said that she means that the SDP will not promite the interests of any individual interest group

Is promite a bit like extreme Marmite? That must be really salty! And then, a couple of stories on in the insulin poisoning case report:

The court acquitted the defendants on manslaughter charges, dinding that they did not deliberately try to kill the victim

I haven't even read the sports stories so don't know if they are any better.

I know the English edition is just put together by a handful of people and on a shoestring, but still - like I'm always moaning about the British climbing press - a pretty fundamental job of an editor is to at least make sure things are spelled correctly and the sentences make sense.

***Tuesday morning update - maybe I'm not the only one moaning. Promite has been corrected, but dinding is still there.***