Dick 'n' Dom have gone...

Hooray is all I can say.

Although I do feel a bit sorry for them...only a little bit mind you.

Talk to Gordon Brown...on youtube.

http://uk.youtube.com/downingst



Following the link above, you will come to a youtube page which challenges you to 'Ask the PM'. People will be allowed to submit questions to be put to Gordon Brown, which then will be voted on by other youtube users to decide on a final set of questions which the Prime Minister will then record answers to.

Can't wait to see the results of that then...

Dick 'n' Dom on Radio 1

Whoever thought that this was a good idea? Putting two excitable ex-children's TV presenters on a weekend lie-in show?! The music sounds like the playlist of the cheese room at Oceana on a Friday night, and the banter is little different to 'In Da' Bungalow'. No one over the age of 10 finds the word 'bogey' funny, right?! It annoys me that as I settle into for a relaxing weekend bathtime, my ears are assaulted by Rick Astley(?!) followed by the Fratellis, followed by some dreadful pop-punk song circa 1999. I do not understand the concept, at all, or why Radio 1 seem to think that on the weekends, their listeners magically transform into 30-something bores who love dancing around the living room to what, even in the 80s, was considered crap music. I wish I had XFM in the South. I wish it with all my heart. Next birthday: DAB radio.

Should we all be boycotting the Beijing Olympics?

Well there seem to be a million reasons why we should be boycotting the Beijing Olympics and few to suggest we shouldn't. However, I think this is a subject which makes people incredibly uncomfortable, particularly us 'stiff upper lip' Brits who like to separate work from pleasure and, in this case, sport from politics.

However, the Olympics have always been political - it seems ridiculous to state (as Douglas Alexander did on Question Time this evening) that they are not. The 1968 Mexico Olympics famously saw Tommie Smith and John Carlos turn and raise their arms in a black power salute, alerting the crowd to the political struggle that was raging outside the stadium walls. However, earlier this year, our own British athletes were reportedly 'gagged' and told that they should not use the Olympics to make political statements as Pete Gardner, chief executive of the British Athletes' Commission, said: "Any athlete going to China with the overt intention of making a political statement would not in our view be fully focused on the job in hand ... and would not be going for the right reasons." But how about those athletes who feel morally obligated to say something, those who cannot stand blindly by and smile for the camera in a country, which is repeatedly abusing the human rights of its own citizens. This does not mean that they don't care about their sport. But why should you have to compromise your own principles to participate in a sporting event? Surely the very fact that sportsmen and women have had to be gagged shows how innately political the Beijing Olympics are going to be?

I feel saddened for those participants who will have to purse their lips and get on with it, despite their personal feelings. However, and call me an idealistic hippy youth if you wish, but I feel worse for those politicians who don't see it as their duty to themselves to follow their moral centre and refuse to hob-nob with those responsible for enforced sterilisation and torture in Tibet, those who refuse to stop funding the genocidal activities in Darfur. Or perhaps I am being too harsh. My views are not the views of every member of the British public and I am sure (well, I know from the number of facebook groups) that many people are in support of the Olympics regardless, so perhaps these politicians have a duty to attend and represent them and support the wonderful sportsmen and women of this country who have worked so hard to get to the Olympics in the first place. But I just don't think that, in all honesty, I could turn on the television this summer without thinking of the suffering of Tibetans, or the Burmese, or the displaced Sudanese or indeed of the Chinese people themselves, who have had their human rights suppressed for so long.

And it saddens me to think that others do not feel that way; that it is possible to soulessly separate your head from your heart. Although, politicians must represent the people, and maybe more Brits would prefer the Olympics to go ahead with the clear separation between sport and politics intact. Perhaps my freedom of speech without responsibility, my ability to voice all this, is a luxury politicians cannot afford.

However, neither can it be afforded by Tibetans...or the Burmese...or the Sudanese. And they have not had the luxury of making that choice. So, I cannot help but stand by the belief that this year's Olympics should be boycotted. Activists argued that giving Beijing the Olympics would shine a light on the abuses that are occurring within China. Now that this has happened, how can we ignore what we have seen?

Not another load of self celebrating 'gigs to save the world'

Well unfortunately it looks like this might be just what is set to happen in May if this story has any truth in it.

Apparently 'World Peace One', an organisation who claims it has a 10 year strategy for ending all wars, which includes staging a whole bunch of Live Aid/8/Earth style concerts. Their strategy is outlined on their webpage as follows...

"WP1 is the first installment of a Ten Year Global Peace Initiative, aimed at ending war and establishing lasting peace for the entire human race.The initiative includes:
(a) the launch of the world’s 10-Region WP1 Global Peace Ambassadorship Program;
(b) 10-Annual Peace Symposiums to create the WP1 Global Brain Trust for ending war, beginning with WP1 Symposium #1, the first quarter of 2008.
(c) the call for the creation of a Department of Peace in every government, major corporation, religion, as well as school and university in the world in efforts to secure the future;
(d) WP1- 10 is a series of around the clock/around the world Mega-Concert Broadcasts, beginning in 2008."

Right, so....where do I even start to discuss this?

The fundamental problem with all of this is that these people seem to see peace in itself as a concept that you can advance and promote (and sell as a commodity) to the world. Peace, in fact, is an absence of war and therefore advancing peace merely means tackling war. Wars happen for very different reasons, and the causes of war in each war-torn state will all have unique contributing factors. How this organisation think that arranging concerts and peace marketing internet shops (one of their funding ideas) will change years of tribal/religious/economic differences I do not know. Do they think that rival factions will simply pack up their weapons because there is a concert or people are wearing t shirts with 'PEACE' emblazoned across them?? The idea is absurd.

Also, a Department for Peace in every government? The logistics are unfathomable. Separate departments to deal with war and peace? As if the advancement of peace can be understood without tackling the issue of war. And in schools and universities? To teach people that peace is good and war is bad? Because surely everyone is pretty familiar with that concept.

“WP1 Inter-Faith Peace and Forgiveness Council” for People of Faith who affirm “The Path of Mutual Respect, Friendship, Kindness, Compassion and Forgiveness,” drawing from all Races, Ethnicities, Cultures and Traditions;"

That part possibly makes me laugh the most. Setting up a forgiveness council to rid the world of all its bitterness from past conflict and disadvantage. People from all faiths forgiving other who believe in the 'wrong god' or the wrong ideas about how the world is created because a 'council' has been created for its purpose. I just don't understand any of this drivvle.

What I do understand is that idiots including U2, Madonna, Led Zeppelin, Justin Timberlake, ZZ Top, Lionel Richie, Celine Dion, INXS, Velvet Revolver and Timbaland are all apparently taking part in these concerts for peace (none of which will of course occur anywhere near any place of conflict). Obviously they are doing it for the cause and not at all because of the increase in sales that such mega concerts bring or the fact that all but 2 of these acts (Justin and Timbaland) are floundering around in the bargain bin section of HMV?! The cost of these concerts, in terms of carbon emmisions, cost to the environment, disruption of the locality are obviously not discussed on the World Peace One website. What a surprise.

What I want to know is when will these self celebrating bastards stop with the 'LOOK AT ME, I'M ACHIEVING WORLD PEACE BY PICKING UP A GUITAR' attitude and maybe do something worthwhile, like lobbying your member states for UN Reform so they may achieve more effective peacekeeping and peacemaking or donating to organisations based in wartorn countries rather than adding more organisations, bureaucracy and further confusion, to the situation through forming yet more groups to deal with peace rather than war. You cannot have peace without the ending of war, and what this organisation seem to have missed entirely is that achieving peace is about understanding the root causes of conflict and tackling them ON HOME SOIL.

You don't need mega concerts to persuade people that peace is good. I think that is fairly self evident. And you are certainly not going to get warmongering regimes/malitias/factions halting their fighting because someone has picked up a guitar or created a council. The warring factions would, most likely, in 90% of wartorn countries not even have a clue that such things were going on. There is no defense on the page of why all the money that will be spent funding these mega concerts would not be better spent elsewhere, or exactly HOW all these ideas would actually, practically achieve world peace in places that do not have internet connections to access the 'peace mall' or a TV to watch your 'concert for peace' or the institutions to house your 'council of forgiveness'.

This smacks of middle class Americans once again having the audacity to think they are smart enough to solve the problems of those 'little countries' across the water that have wars because they don't know how great peace is, or because they aren't aware that Bono thinks it is a bad idea. And what scares me most is how poverty, peace, climate change have all become buzzwords which can be sold to people. Buy off your guilt with a ticket to a concert or a T shirt with a dove on it. And people do. Because they know that they shouldn't be ignoring these issues in the first place, but buying a t shirt or a concert ticket is easier than trying to understand the complex problems of wartorn states the world over.

The dreaded 'D' word..

Why is it that even though I really do love the subject of my dissertation, I just don't want to write about it. It's ridiculous. Am I simply programmed not to want to do anything that is actually of any use? I spend far too much time scanning the pages of facebook - a pastime that to be honest bores me to TEARS, but something I enjoy and find interesting, I just can't be bothered with.

I think I need to befriend a psychology student to explain this mystery of the student brain to me.

2008 brings tragedy to Kenya

My last post on here was just one day before the Kenyan election and at that time I am sure no one would have predicted the violence and social uproar that have succeeded them. This is a scary time for Africa, as one of its most stable countries remains embroiled in post-election violence and spreading ethnic tensions which have seen over 700 people killed in less than a month. The violence started after it was claimed that Mr Kibaki had rigged the results of the Kenyan election, with opposition leader Odinga demanding another election be held.

It brings you to tears to read stories of the atrocities that have occurred in Kenya over the past few weeks. The first, and the most poignant sign of things to come was when 30 people were burnt alive, 13 children among them, after a mob attack in which a church was burnt to the ground in the Eldoret region. The targeting of the attacks is what has sparked the greatest fears, as the tensions have transformed into ethnic violence targetting President Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe. With memories of Rwanda still painfully fresh in people's minds and the ongoing atrocities occurring in Darfur, the most frightening aspect of this violence is the tribal split that it has caused, with not only Kikuyu tribe members fearing for their lives, but others who voted for Mr Kibaki seeking safety from targeting as well. The outpouring of anger and violence has resulted in machete and bow and arrow attacks, mostly believed to be from Mr Odinga's Luo tribe, as citizens of this impoverished country continue to lash out against one another.

Another 250,000 people have been displaced from their homes fleeing from the violence, many of whom have lost everything. In Kibera, Kikuyu market stalls were destroyed with the Luo tribes erecting their own stalls on their plots. People are losing everything - their livelihood, their possessions, their loved ones and their hope. In a country which had actually seen positive development, stable government and the building of a vibrant tourist industry, this is a tragic step backwards.

An important issue finally being brought to the forefront is the impact upon women specifically from this type of violence. Staff in the Nairobi Women's Hospital have reported double the number of cases of rape and defilement since January, most under 18 and the youngest of the cases seen was a 2 year old baby girl. Most of these are gang rapes by armed men. Within conflict, women are nearly always targeted as revenge attacks are committed on those weakest to defend themselves. Wars are fought over women's bodies, with their rape seen as a poignant symbol of revenge and many of the women contracting HIV as a result. Many women are too scared to seek help after these attacks and so will often fail to receive vital medication that could prevent the onset of such deadly diseases. Many people believe the problems remain so severe due to a lack of fear amongst attackers that they will ever be punished for these crimes, particularly in a climate of general lawlessness and unrest.

We must not turn away from Kenya at this time. Kofi Annan has visited the country this week to try and schedule negotiations and the donor community are trying hard to persuade Mr Kibaki to get talks underway with the threat of withholding much-needed budget aid. We must not forget that what happens in Africa affects us too, and have compassion for those who have lost their homes, the people they love and, something which we too often take for granted, their personal security. The world turned its gaze away from Rwanda, as it has with Darfur. The turmoil is Kenya can be turned around, but we must not change the TV Channel or flick to the next page of the newspaper or yet another one of Africa's beautiful countries could find itself on a path to human destruction.

You can donate to the British Red Cross Kenya Crisis Fund here:

http://www.redcross.org.uk/standard.asp?id=76439&entrypoint=31872_googleADken1