Having braved the scrum to obtain a ticket for Arnold Schwarzenegger, now I am torn.  Just after the California Governor speaks, there is a debate between Yves de Boer, Daryl Hannah, Thomas Friedmann, Kofi Annan and Bjorn Lomborg.

Man I don’t want to miss the latter…I know, I know.  What a climate change nerd.

Luckily, like you, we can watch the debate above on Youtube+CNN.  Timing is 8 am Eastern.

Local News:

This week saw the unveiling of a sculpture depicting a haaf net fisherman at the new Scott’s Street roundabout. This was created by  former Annan Academy pupil Paul Cowan.

Haaf netting has been carried out on the Solway for hundreds of years and is believed to have been introduced by the vikings. The haafers wade into the tide carrying a sixteen foot goalpost type construction called a haaf beam . This can be a dangerous activity for the unsuspecting as the Solway sands and tides can be treacherous. The title here comes from a passage in the novel  Redgauntlet by Sir Walter Scott,  ”he who dreams on the bed of the Solway wakes in the next world” as mentioned by Brian Blake in his book The Solway Firth (published 1955). In Blake’s account of haafing netting  he says “Great skill is required to use  this net properly. It may look easy, but then so does any skill done well.Amost any fool can stand with a haaf net for as long as he likes, or as long as the tide will let him, without fishing. To do the job properly requires a good constitution ..a quick mind, an X-ray eye and an intimate knowledge of the Solway shores”.

Although the Solway Firth can be dangerous it is also a beautiful and special place as well as a S.S.S.I

The library’s Local Studies collection has information on the Solway and its environment as well as the history of Annan’s port, where poet Robert Burns was once  employed as an Excise (customs) man.

The Solway from Annan, Summergate.

The Nobel prize started like many other foundations with grand aims and altruistic themes.
As with many non profit organizations, it was funded with private money from the fortunes of philanthropic citizens who genuinely wished to contribute to the betterment of society.
Alfred Nobel was an industrialist and an inventor…he had many accomplishments, but the one he is most remembered for is the invention of dynamite (Greek for strength) and Gelignite…a more specialized stable form of dynamite.
Prior to dynamite, blasting had to be done with either nitroglycerin or black powder, both highly unstable and which cost the lives of many miners and quarrymen.
I have had some experience with demolitions and  can safely say that tamping black powder into a drill hole must have been, and sometimes was, a heart stopping experience.
Stung by critics in the French press, which even then was very left leaning, they attacked him very unfairly as a promoter of mass murder and war.
He signed his will endowing the foundation  Nov 27,1895.
Somehow during the ensuing years, the expression of the aims of  awarding  the Nobel Prize began to change. My own reaction to the awarding of some of these prizes over the last 20 or so years has been “WHAT?”… The Nobel “Peace Prize” has been the one most often abused by a foundation directorship which has lost any vestige of balance or reason. They have politicized and cheapened the nobility of the award and bereft it of any of the meaning of the founder.
This seems to be the road that many originally conservative, or moderately conceived, foundations have taken. Usually, because as the leadership of these foundations has changed over the years, they become infiltrated from the left as they become susceptible – unless the founders had iron clad instructions in their endowments for pulling funding, if the letter and spirit of the founders was not followed exactly. There are numerous examples of foundations that have lost their original intent and have become instruments of social engineering from the left.
Z. Smith Reynolds, the Arthur Vining Davis foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur foundation and the Ford foundation are prime examples.
Now we see a purely political awarding of the Nobel peace prize to a virtual nonentity. Barack Hussein Obama, the most recent recipient of this no longer prestigious award is a man of no substance, no character and absolutely no scruples… but as recent recipients show, he’s in grand company.
Sterling examples of humanity such as Al Gore, the great climate fraud, Kofi Annan, one of the most sanctimonious rip off artists of memory, Wangari Maathai, whose greatest accomplishment is the pronouncement that the aids virus is biologically created by man. Oh, and let us not forget that great man of peace, Yasser Arafat.
Yes Barry, you’re right up there with the big dogs….You will be remembered as the least accomplished and least missed president of this country.
But you do fit right in with the great Pantheon of mental midgets with which the Nobel Peace Prize has become associated.

Semper Vigilans, Semper Fidelis

© Skip MacLure 2009

“So soon? Too early. He [Obama] has no contribution so far.” — Lech Walesa, dissent who opposed Soviet occupation of the Poland and 1983 Peace Prize winner.

In basketball, the sport that Barack Obama and many others enjoy, a key statistic is the “assist.” Many times an easy basket is scored because a player, typically a point guard, makes an quick astute pass to an open player. Former President George Bush can now be safely said to be the most accomplished Nobel point guard, assisting many in scoring a Nobel. The latest beneficiary of this is President Barack Obama who was just awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Even the most ardent Obama supporters recognize that, at best, any such award is premature. Indeed, he was formally nominated just after reaching office. The Nobel Committee selected Obama because: “Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.” This is a clear slap at Bush, whose foreign policy was caricatured as being unilateral. The London Times observed as much: “Rarely has an award had such an obvious political and partisan intent. It was clearly seen by the Norwegian Nobel committee as a way of expressing European gratitude for an end to the Bush Administration.” Assist Bush.

This assist was not Bush’s latest, not his first. In 2001, one month after the attack of September 11, the Nobel Prize Committee awarded Kofi Annan and the United Nations the Peace Prize. The US was formulating its reaction to these attacks, and there was concern that the US might act without specific UN authorization, the Nobel Committee used the award to boost the moral authority, such as it is, of the UN. Of course, we would later come to realize that the UN was implicated in a corrupt Food for Oil program that undermined sanctions against Iraq and enriched intermediaries associated with the UN. Assist Bush.

In 2002, in the lead up to the liberation of Iraq, former President Jimmy Carter was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Carter’s record is at best mixed: Afghanistan was invaded by the Soviets during his watch and Americans were held hostage by the Iranians after the Shah, a US ally was overthrown. However, Carter was instrumental in providing a forum for Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin to workout a peace agreement between Israel and Egypt in 1978. The Nobel Committee overlooked this for two and half decades until is was convenient to use Carter as a bludgeon against Bush. Indeed, the Nobel Prize Committee Chairman, Gunnar Berge, openly explained the Prize “should be interpreted as a criticism of the line that the [Bush] administration has taken… It’s a kick in the leg to all that follow the same…” Assist Bush.

The former Vice-President Al Gore case is roughly similar to the Carter case. There could be an argument made that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) should be recognized by the Nobel Committee. Al Gore had been burning fuel proselytizing the necessity of eschewing carbon use to avert global climate change. But giving the same PowerPoint presentation in many venues, does not quite seem to rise to the level of a Nobel Peace Prize. Of course, Al Gore was involved in a close a election with George Bush, which many used to routinely dispute Bush’s legitimacy — even after a clear Bush re-election in 2004. By this time, Gore had turned angry, shouting that Bush: “… played on our fears. He took America on an ill-conceived foreign adventure dangerous to our troops, an adventure preordained and planned before 9/11 ever took place.” That was good enough for the Nobel Committee in 2007. Assist Bush.

The Nobel Peace Prize Committee is not the only one to play political games. There is a plausible argument that Dr. Paul Krugman of Princeton University should win the Nobel Prize in economics based on his trade studies early his career. However, Krugman had spent most the Bush term as a regular, relentless, and often rabid critic of the Bush Administration. Awarding Krugman the prize was just too tempting in this context. Assist Bush

It is not as if there are too few potential recipients that the Nobel Peace Prize can be awarded frivolously to score political points. The Weekly Standard cites Sima Samar, an activist who has pursued women’s rights in Afghanistan at personal risk; or Hu Jia, a human rights activist jailed by the Chinese; or Dr. Denis Mukwege, who has “dedicated his life to helping Congolese women and girls who are victims of gang rape and brutal sexual violence” as those who could have be recognized. The award could have gone to the dissidents in the streets of Iran for protesting a stolen election.

It appears that Obama has a tin ear, as he doesn’t appear to realize that he will be easy to mock for accepting a prize he doesn’t deserved. He could demonstrate integrity, mute criticism by political opponents, and provide counter evidence to the charge that he is self-aggrandizing by respectfully declining the prize. Better yet, he could accept the prize as Commander and Chief on behalf of the US military, particularly General David Petraeus, for their heroic efforts to bring freedom and security to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. Consider that advice that will not likely be followed.

I just watched a clip on the Nation’s website showing the press conference at which outgoing director of the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission, retired judge Ringera announced his departure from Integrity Centre. I don’t understand exactly why it took him so long to see the sense in doing this.The clip also hinted at rumors that Ringera may get a job in the judiciary. I hope not. He was ineffectual at KACC. He earned 2 million shillings a month and delivered nothing for Wanjiku. Public service, and the emoluments that come with it, is not the right of a select group of Kenyans. We should not keep recycling the same names. And this is not restricted to just the high profile national offices. We transfer ineffectual DCs, PPOs, directors and chiefs all the time. No wonder the more we try to implement change the more things stay the same.

As Ringera left he made some very useful suggestions on how parliament can strengthen the KACC. May be we should award his courage in resigning by implementing some of these ideas.

And on a sort of related topic, I wish Annan and Ocampo would stop issuing threats. Just give us the names. Let us know who is suspected of having done what in last year’s post poll violence. These leaders need to be named and shamed instead of being given more time to continue mis-shaping Kenya’s destiny.

Ja, vad ska man säga..

Är så himla trött på hur vissa killar beter sig.. När de säger en sak till en o sen säger en helt annan sak till nån annan.. Sen när man får höra de så vet man inte vad man ska tro på.. Blir så j*vla trött o förbannad på sånt snacka rent ut sagt.. Är ju bättre o säga sanningen än att man ska gå o undra hur det egentligen ligger till..

Jag drar inte alla killar över en kant, det är ett som är säkert.. Gäller ju bara o sen försöka hitta den killen som är ärlig med sina känslor m.m.

 Annars så är det bara bra med mig.. Händer väl inte så mycket just nu.. Har för övrigt inte hänt så mycket sen sist jag skrev..

Blir nog o se på nån film lite senare.. Men det märks vad som händer o sker..

Men ni får ha det så bra.. Så höres vi..

Ha det så gött..

The Celebration at the end of the walk

The final day – a 9 mile walk from Annan to Gretna and as you can see from the photo above I was joined by some friends and family who had helped me way or another at some time during the last five years.

I’d also like to thank all my Blog followers – your comments along the walk were always welcome. I have around 70 people reading my blog a day and it seems strange to think that there are “real people” out there who have read my posts.

After 5 years and about 1800 miles later its difficult to conceive of “an end” to this walk. The end point was for so long always so far in the distance both in actual miles and also time, that it was only on the last day that I started to come to terms it would soon all be over.

My next aim is to try and get a book written and published – if that comes to pass then I’ll post the details here but meantime if you are interested in walking part (or all) of the Scottish Coast then please visit www.nationalcoastalpath.co.uk where I intend keeping everyone informed of any developments regarding an “Official” National Coastal Path for Scotland.

Thanks again everyone,

Gil Campbell

29th August 2009

The Hazards of Love, the newest album from the Decemberists, is one of my personal favorites. The Decemberists, already known for using their music to tell stories, have turned the album into a sweeping epic, that tells the story of young Margaret and her true love. All the songs blend together beautifully, and the story is powerful, suspenseful and moving. The refrain of phrases and sentiments that echoes throughout the album is haunting, and the songs themselves are extremely catchy. I urge everyone to take an hour of their time, and listen to the album in its entirety, so as to appreciate the masterful storytelling of the Decemberists. The vocals, headed by Decemberists front man Colin Meloy as the shape-shifter William, Becky Stark as the maiden Margaret, Shara Worden as William’s adoptive mother, the evil forest queen, and Jim James as the villain of the story, known only as The Rake, bring life to the fantastic tale of the two star-crossed lovers. The album can be heard on Youtube, in order, here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvw1CVOSmik&feature=PlayList&p=53B5376C171597FF&index=0

I would at this time like to issue a spoiler alert. The following is a song-by-song summary of the plot, for those of you are having trouble following it yourselves, or for those who have no intention of listening to the album for themselves but are now curious about what adventures it contains.

Prelude–An instrumental introduction to the album, the prelude sets the musical tone for the story.

The Hazards of Love 1: The Prettiest Whistles Won’t Wrestle The Thistles Undone–In this song, the heroine, Margaret, goes riding out into the Taiga forest, where she comes across an injured faun. Being a charitable maiden, she goes to the faun to help it. To her surprise, the faun changes form, becoming a man, and the two make love.

A Bower Scene–Margaret, back at home, discovers she is pregnant, and sets back out for the Taiga, to find her true love, the father of her child.

Won’t Want For Love–Now in the Taiga, Margaret searches for William, her love, who is pining after her.

The Hazards of Love 2: Wager All–William calls out to his love, promising that he will find her, and the two will be together again.

The Queen’s Approach–An instrumental song, the Queen’s Approach sets the musical for the queen’s entrance into the story, and the beginning of the lovers’ troubles.

Isn’t It A Lovely Night?–Margaret and William reminisce about the night they shared together.

The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid–William, pining after Margaret, begs his adoptive mother, the queen, to let him free for the night. The queen, who had saved William as an infant and protected him from the troubles of mankind, by giving him the form of a faun to inhabit by day, is angered. When William argues that she owes him life, she agrees, saying that the debt is now repaid, and that William is free for the night, though when morning comes she will reclaim his life.

An Interlude–The instrumental interlude presents the shift in the story, acting as an intermission, and preparing the listeners for the entrance of the villain–The Rake.

The Rake’s Song–The Rake introduces himself, telling the listener that he had been married when he was twenty, and enjoyed taking his wife, until she began getting pregnant. He had four children, Isaiah, Charlotte, Dawn, and Myfanwy, the last of which died on delivery, thankfully taking his wife with her. Left a bachelor with three children, The Rake longed only for the freedom to pursue women again, and so he set out to rid himself of his burdens. He poisoned Charlotte with foxglove and drowned Dawn in the bath. Isaiah fought against him, but The Rake beat him, and then burned his body. He then tells the listeners that though most think he should be haunted by the murders of his children, he isn’t bothered at all.

The Abduction of Margaret–It is then that The Rake, under cover of night and hidden by the trees that had sheltered the lovers on their first encounter, abducts Margaret, tying her up and riding away with her, only stopping to contemplate how he might cross the wide river Annan with his prisoner.

The Queen’s Rebuke/The Crossing–The evil queen of the forest, elated that The Rake is stealing away the woman who had taken her son from her, uses her power to help him cross the river.

Annan Water–William, searching for his love, comes to the shore of the Annan. Hearing Margaret’s cries across the river, he pleads with the river itself to let him cross. Knowing it to be a dangerous trip, and ignoring his mother’s warnings that he will drown, he starts across, telling the river that if it calms and lets him pass, he will surrender himself to it on his way back.

Margaret in Captivity–Margaret is taken to the fortress of The Rake, who threatens her and prepares to beat her. Margaret calls out to William, her true love, but The Rake laughs, telling her that William will never hear her cries, and will never be able to rescue her.

The Hazards of Love 3: Revenge!–The spirits of The Rake’s murdered children rise up to haunt him and to get revenge on their father.

The Wanting Comes in Waves (Reprise)–William calls out again for his love, longing to be with her.

The Hazards of Love 4: The Drowned–William and Margaret, reunited, board a ship to cross the river Annan to return home. The ship has a hole, however, and begins sinking. As the water rises to their ankles, Margaret and William proclaim their love, and make their vows. Their secret marriage complete, the two seal their love with a kiss as the waves crash over them, and they are drowned.

See? I told you, the story is moving. And so, for those of you who had decided not to listen to the album, now that you’ve read the story, I hope you’ll reconsider. It’s all the more amazing when hearing it the way it was meant to be told: through song.

Matchday 2

Saturday July 4, 2009 – Victoria Park, Innerleithen

Another warm and sunny day brought this opportunity to see my first ‘friendly’ of the new season as Scottish League side Annan Athletic visited Vale of Leithen of the East of Scotland League.

The small Peebleshire town of Innerleithen is set in some lovely Border countryside and Victoria Park has some of the most picturesque vistas to be found anywhere in Scottish football.

The weather and scenery alone made this trip worthwhile, but the game turned out to be pretty decent too.

Behind the goals at Victoria Park

The last time I visited this ground, Vale of Leithen were utterly destroyed by a Livingston youth team, so I didn’t have high expectations for them against an Annan side which has strengthened after acquitting themselves well in the Third Division last year.

Much to my surprise, Vale started superbly, scoring the opening goal of the day just three minutes in.  On the mark was the superbly named Stevie Dongo, who found space to head the ball past Annan keeper Craig Summersgill.

Another Vale effort hit the post early on as the home side started like an express train, but it wasn’t too long before Annan got their act together and they finished the first half as the dominant side, albeit one trailing at the interval.

Vale struggled to maintain possession, and at one stage the home goalkeeper Mark Wilson got a little frustrated with his team-mates, launching into a tirade which went something like: “Fuckin’ move!  There’s no fuckin’ movement!!!  The fuckin’ lot o’ ye!”

The crowd enjoys the sunny weather

The composition of the teams was interesting.  While Vale’s squad seemed to be from the Edinburgh area, there were a lot of English accents in the Annan side, suggesting that they have been recruiting heavily in Cumbria and the North West.

The English contingent included former Hibs and Gretna veteran Derek Townsley, who anchored the Annan defence. Although he was a good player in his day, he seemed to struggle with the pace of the game on this occasion, particularly towards the end.

Another player I recognised from the Annan side was Lewis Sloan, a recent signing from Dalbeattie Star. He caught my eye twice when I saw him play last season – for the East of Scotland Select side as well as for Dalbeattie – and he made a decent debut for his new club.

A first half aerial duel

After polishing off a very fine half time sausage roll, served from the back of the small enclosure, it wasn’t long before I got to see the afternoon’s second goal, something of a fluke cross-cum-shot effort from Gavin Tainsh which crept over the Annan keeper from the right flank and in at the back post.

While the first half ticked along at a quick pace, the second half was a little more pedestrian, maybe not surprising given the weather.  The flow of play wasn’t helped either by the inevitable procession of substitutions from both sides.

Annan were probably the better side on the balance of play, and they tested Vale’s sub keeper with a couple of efforts without success before a second fluke of the day from Tainsh gave them a lifeline.

More first half action in the idyllic setting of Victoria Park

This time the Vale defender took a wild swipe at an Annan cross on the edge of his own penalty area, slicing his attempted clearance into the net for a relatively spectacular OG.
 
That ended the scoring as Vale repelled a few late attacks from Annan to earn themselves a surprise win.

As far as pre-season games go this was eagerly contested and ultimately quite entertaining.  Hopefully the others I will see over the next few weeks will be just as enjoyable.

Vale's forwards chase a high ball in the second half

In brief

Scoring – 1-0 Dongo (3), 2-0 Tainsh (49), Tainsh (65 og)
Attendance – 110 (h/c)
Admission – £nil
Programme – £donation (I paid £1)
Food – Sausage roll and can of Irn Bru £1.60

Match Rating: 7/10

Match Report Links
Vale of Leithen FC Official Website — Annan Athletic FC  Official Website

So my Room is now done.
Well for the most part done. It’s all new wallpaper and carpit, the only thing left to do is empty all the boxes of stuff that were packed up or were never unpacked. It will be a slow process, fallowing the mantra of my grandfather, “Everything in it’s place, and a place for everything”.

But other than that, the room looks good. I’m quite pleased with how it’s turned out.

I’ve been in my room a lot of late. Not because I’m locked in it, or have no where else to go, though that’s not a million miles away form the truth. It’s true that while back home, for that is where I am, I’ve not got anywhere to go. I don’t really have friends in the area anymore, mostly because they’ve either moved away or I’ve just lost contact with them. But the main reason why I’ve been in my room is nothing so emo.

For the last few days I’ve been trying my hardest to clean my room. I know, I know, I sound like a little kid.  But the truth of the matter is, since I went to uni my room has never really been properly tidied. You’d be surprise at the sheer amount of stuff that can appear and fill a room while you’re not living their. And so for the first time I’m actually tackling this.  But while it sounds simple enough, it is not. Ever tried to solve a four dimensional puzzle before? I’d recommend it if you haven’t. You see, to create one, what you need is a room of fixed mass, and enough content, of varying size shapes and densities, in that room to make in nigh on impossible to actually make your task of cleaning the room possible, and add in a limited time factor to get the job done.  The real part of the puzzle is that, you have to try and juggle the whole volume of the room, especially when it’s holding more stuff than it’s meant to.  You see my room has done what it should not of done. What no room should ever need to do. It has swallowed up my room form uni, well all of my stuff from uni. But not just that, over the course of my time away, it has swallowed up much more. There is a lot of stuff belonging to my two brothers, stuff I don’t know who it belongs to, and stuff that had been brought out of hiding or long though lost. And so, it is with this, I had to set about trying to clean my room. But you can’t clean something if you can’t clear a space to work in, and you can’t clear a space to work in if you don’t have any where to put the stuff that needs to move. It was a real pickle. At first. But with some creative thinking, and a lot of tooing-and-froing, I somehow managed it. So now on one side of my room I have a quite large tower of “sorted stuff”. The tower started off manageable but now it’s turned into some what of a monster. I’m frightened that if I move one thing form it, the whole thing will collapse, ruining all my ‘good’ work, and worst of all eat me in the ensuing ‘stuff-slide”. All my fears to one side, I can’t help but feel a little pleased with my self. I have almost completed, as my mother would often call it, “the imposable task” and long before the time limit too. Hopefully with it cleaned and cleared it can be decorated and ready in time. My room’s not be decorated in years, I wonder what colour it shall be.

Men

under 66 Kg: Nicolas Renier – France

under 77 Kg: Marcelo Azevedo – Italy

under 88 Kg: Kassim Annan – France

under 99 Kg: Radek Turek – Poland

over 99 Kg: Tomasz Janiszewski – Poland

Women

under 55 Kg:  Laurence Cousin – France

over 55: Ida Hansson – Sweden

Tv5.org, AFP, le 29 mai 2009

Le réchauffement climatique tue 300.000 personnes par an

Le réchauffement climatique est responsable de 300.000 morts par an et coûte 125 milliards de dollars (90 milliards d’euros) chaque année, selon un rapport publié vendredi par le Forum humanitaire mondial, présidé par l’ex-secrétaire général de l’Onu Kofi Annan.

Cette étude, qui se présente comme la première à avoir mesuré l’impact mondial du changement climatique, souligne que ce sont les 325 millions de personnes les plus pauvres de la planète qui sont le plus affectées.

Elle relève notamment les difficultés du Bangladesh, où des millions de personnes doivent affronter régulièrement des inondations et des cyclones, de l’Ouganda, où les agriculteurs souffrent de la sécheresse et de certaines îles des Caraïbes et du Pacifique menacées de disparition à cause de l’élévation du niveau de la mer.

Or les 50 pays les moins avancés contribuent à moins d’un pour cent des émissions mondiales de CO2, relève le rapport.

L’ex-secrétaire général de l’Onu Kofi Annan a souligné à l’occasion du lancement du rapport à Londres que celui-ci démontrait la nécessité d’un “accord post-Kyoto courageux pour protéger le monde” lors de négociations clefs à Copenhague en décembre.

“L’alternative est une famine de masse, une migration de masse, des maladies de masse, et des morts en masse“, a averti Kofi Annan lors d’une conférence de presse à Londres.

“Si les responsables politiques ne peuvent pas prendre leurs responsabilités à Copenhague, ils feront le choix de faillir (à leurs obligations envers) l’humanité”, a estimé le Forum, basé à Genève.

Le réchauffement climatique est “la plus grande crise humanitaire en puissance de notre temps” a-t-il insisté.

 Selon ce rapport, vers 2030, les morts dues au réchauffement atteindront près d’un million par an et le coût montera à 300 milliards de dollars.

 L’étude appelle les pays développés, où 99% des victimes sont recensées, à multiplier “par un facteur cent” leurs efforts pour s’adapter au changement climatique.

 La majorité des morts est due à la dégradation progressive de l’environnement qui cause des problèmes comme la malnutrition plutôt qu’aux catastrophes naturelles, selon l’étude.

 Le Forum humanitaire mondial a été créé en 2007 et est dirigé par Kofi Annan. Ce rapport est aussi soutenu par l’ONG britannique Oxfam.

Presidentti ja Nobelin rauhanpalkinnon saaja Martti Ahtisaari patisti suomalaisia päättäjiä vastikään nostamaan kehitysavun määrän YK:n määrittelemälle 0.7 prosentin tavoitetasolle [1]. Tällaiseen puheeseen ei tarvita kovin suurta innovatiivisuutta eikä asiaan paneutumista. Peesataan vain mitä joku on joskus jossakin hieman epäonnisen biletysillan jälkeen päättänyt. Suurempaa avarakatseisuutta Ahtisaari olisi osoittanut, jos hän olisi vaatinut kehitysavun lopettamista viiden vuoden kuluessa, niin kuin Afrikan kehitykselle parasta olisi.

Jos ette usko apinaa – ja miksi uskoisittekaan – voisitte sentään uskoa erästä Naista, joka siis on todistettavasti ihminen. Dambisa Moyo on kirjoittanut kirjan Dead Aid: Why aid is not working and how there is another way for Africa. Dambisa on myös Kaunis Nainen. Tällainen apina saattaa vain kuvitella… Sen lisäksi hän sattuu olemaan juuri tällä hetkellä suhteellisen lähellä eli Norjan ulkoministeriön vieraana. Hän syntyi ja kasvoi Sambiassa, eteläisessä Afrikassa, väitteli taloustieteistä Oxfordin yliopistossa, opiskeli tutkinnon myös Harvardissa, työskenteli Maailmanpankissa ja sen jälkeen Goldman Sachs -pankissa kahdeksan vuotta. Hänet on valittu myös ruotsalaisen Lundin Petroleum -yrityksen johtokuntaan.

Tämä siis kaiken muun lisäksi, mitä hän on jo ehtinyt pienen ikänsä aikana tehdä [2]. Tosin Wikipediakaan ei paljastanut hänen syntymävuottaan. Hänen kirjansa on kuitenkin saanut kovasti julkisuutta ja hyvä niin, sillä varsin sisäänpäin lämpiäväähän koko länsimainen ”kehitysapu” on ollut. Moyon laskelmien mukaan vain 15 prosenttia kohdemaahan asti päässeestäkin kehitysavusta päätyy oikeisiin kohteisiinsa. Enimmäkseen sillä rahoitetaan vain myöntäjämaan omia intressejä ja henkilökuntaa sekä pyritään avun varjolla vaikuttamaan kohdemaiden yhteiskunnalliseen ja poliittiseen toimintaan.

Tuloksena on yhtälö, jossa avustukset hyödyttävät lähinnä avustusjärjestöjä ja auttajamaita ja korruptoivat samalla avustettavien maiden virkakoneiston. Kehitysapu työllistää noin puoli miljoonaa henkeä erilaisissa avustusjärjestöissä ja muissa organisaatioissa. Moyo sanoo suoraan, että kehitysapu on vaarantanut Afrikan maiden kehityksen. Siksi hän vaatii, että avustuspolitiikka lopetetaan viiden vuoden kuluessa.

Vaatimuksen esittäessään Moyo tietää vallan mainiosti, ettei se tule toteutumaan, sillä niin moninainen verkosto on rakennettu kehitysmaiden ”auttamiseksi”, ettei se salli itseään romutettavan. Kukapa luopuisi saavuttamastaan vallasta. Itse asiassa tässäkin on vain kysymys ihmisen kyvyttömyydestää toimia loogisesti. Jos jokin asia todetaan hyödyttömäksi tai jopa vahingolliseksi, sitä ei silti voida lopettaa, koska niin monen ihmisen henkinen hyvinvointi edellyttää asioiden pysymistä ennallaan.

Taustalla väijyy myös aikamme psykososiaalinen mafia. Tai eihän se mikään aikamme ilmiö ole, sekin syntyy aivoissamme. Meidän lienee aivan pakko ”auttaa ” muita ihmisiä ymmärtämään oma parhaansa ja että paras on sama kuin meidän oma parhaamme. Tähän filosofiaan perustuu myös kristillinen lähetystyö, jonka suoranaisena perillisenä kehitysapupolitiikkaa voidaan pitää. Lopputuloksella autettavan kannalta ei ole mitään merkitystä, kunhan meille tulee autuas olo. Kuvittelemme tietävämme, kuinka muut pelastetaan. Kehitysapu on vain yksi tällaisen pelastusfilosofian ilmenemismuoto. Kieltolait ovat toinen yleinen tapa toimia oman mielenrauhan säilyttämiseksi.

Moyo vyöryttää kirjassaan hengästyttävän määrän tosiasioita ja käytännön elämän kokemuksia, joihin hän kehitysapukritiikkinsä perustaa. Eräs aikamme suurimpia myyttejä on toisen maailmansodan jälkeisen kehitysavun hyväätekevä vaikutus Afrikassa. Köyhyys on kuitenkin vain lisääntynyt. Pelkän arvostelun sijaan Moyo myös esittää keinot, joilla tästä nurinkurisesta tilanteesta voidaan päästä eroon. Tietysti hän on saanut vihamiehiä, mutta myös arvovaltaisia tukijoita, mm. Kofi Annanin, Niall Fergusonin, William Easterlyn ja Steve Forbesin. Tavalliset apinat voivat kunnella hänen sanomaansa huomenna lauantaina Radio Puheessa kello 15:43.

]]> http://downthewing.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/game-thirty-seven-gretna-fc-2008-vs-craigroyston/ Wed, 15 Apr 2009 14:30:06 +0000 downthewing http://downthewing.wordpress.com/2009/04/15/game-thirty-seven-gretna-fc-2008-vs-craigroyston/

Gretna FC 2008 1 vs. 2 Craigroyston

East of Scotland League First Division
Saturday 11th April 2009, Kick-Off 2.30pm
Everholm Stadium, Annan

I expect by now most people know the rags to riches to rags again story of Gretna FC. Their BBC Sport page will give you the full story if you don’t know or if you fancy a refresher.

Gretna FC 2008 are not a continuation of the old club, but a new team set up by fans during the last days of the old Gretna football club.

The side don’t actually play in the town of Gretna but 8 miles away in Annan. Somewhat ironic since Annan Atheltic took the place of the old Gretna team in the Scottish Football League.

I get the train from Glasgow to Kilmarnock where I have to change for a connecting service to Annan. If you’re a regular traveller on trains you won’t be surprised to learn that the train was held up on its way to Kilmarnock. Therefored by the time I get in to the station I’ve missed my connection. Luckily I had taken the earlier train so I should still make it okay. I spend an hour hanging around Kilmarnock. The station has a small cafe which happily does a nice line in rolls and a good cup of tea.

From Annan train station Everholm Stadium is only about 10 minutes walk away and I find it quite easily. Admission and a programme is £4. The programme seems the standard kind you’d pay a pound for elsewhere, but inside the cover the price displayed is £2.00, so I assume entrance alone is also two quid.

The only toilet on the premises is in the changing area, so I have to walk back towards the pavilion which is around two minutes away. When I come out I discover that one of the linesmen is waiting to get in. I won’t miss kick-off then.

There’s a nice atmosphere in the ground. ‘Stadium’ perhaps lends an inaccurate grandois sound to the facilities. There is no stand or seating area other than the park benches around the sports ground.

I’m surprised but pleased to see that there is a pie stall. This being what appears to be homemade goodies sold out of the back of a car by two ladies. This brings a nice village fete feel to the occasion.

A decent crowd has turned up today. It’s a nice, sunny day even if there is a cool breeze. Many of the Gretna fans wear the club colours. Plenty of them have the current team jerseys on, while some wear the tops of the old side.

Craigroyston are based in Edinburgh. The club were formed in 1976, when Eyemouth United manager Rab Melrose tired of travelling from the capital to the Borders. So along with some of his Edinburgh based players they formed their own local team.

Before kick-off Gretna sat third in the East of Scotland First Division, 4 points behind and two games in hand on leaders Tynecastle.

Craigroyston are in fifth place two points adrift of their hosts today, having played six games more.

The match kicks off around 5 minutes late. Possibly because that linesman had to wait for me to come out of the toilet.

Gretna get off to a great start when a Dan Carmichael cross to the back post is headed in by Sean Bannon after only two minutes.

The match is played at a fast pace, with both sides really going for it. Craigroyston are the only team to have beaten Gretna in the league when they won their home fixture in December.

With the sun shining Craig Weir, Craigroyston’s keeper wears a peaked cap. The first such instance I can recall seeing all season.

The Edinburgh side are fighting to get back into the game and mount several attacks on the Gretna goal. A number of seemingly respectable gents in Craigroyston ties aim some verbal abuse at the linesman after a handball decision. Their coach joins in until the ref walks over to have a word.

The pace doesn’t let up in the second half as both sides try to get forward and bring more goals to the game.

Craigie’s keeper, who is also their captain, rallies his side and demands that they all put in 110%.

From the running track around the Gretna side of the ground comes some instructions being delivered by an obviously intoxicated fan. “Get the baw on the deck Gretna!” to be fair to him his advice isn’t unhelpful. He then compares the goalkeeper to “The boay fae Gregory’s Girl.”

Perhaps inspired by this some Gretna fans get in on the shouting action by letting the Craigie players know they are “Just a bunch of junkies fae Muirhoose.” Ah, the good old Edinburgh junkie insult. When I lived in Edinburgh folk from home were never by asking me if I was a junkie yet.

Craigroyston get a free-kick out on the left-wing. It’s launched high into the Gretna penalty area and Kevin Morrison rises to head it into the goal. Seventeen minutes to go it’s now 1-1.

Our drunk fan is not finished yet. Wandering up and down the running track he checks himself for swearing. “Musn’t swear.” He then tells off one of the players, “Ho! Nae swearing. I heard somebody swearing there. Nae swearing.” He gets back to encouraging Gretna. “Come on he’s got the fucking baw…oh, oh, don’t swear.” And so on.

Five minutes after their equaliser Craigie make it 2-1. A speculative cross-cum-shot from Stevie Manson out on the right wing catches John Jamieson in the Gretna goal wrong footed. He can only push the ball out from under his crossbar and that leaves Kris O’Neil with a simple tap in.

Gretna try hard to recover the match but they just don’t have enough in them and Craigie nick it by two goals to one.

As the visitors and the officials make their way to the dressing rooms on the final whistle the Gretna team sit on the pitch to listen to their gaffer Stuart Rome’s post match team-talk.

An enjoyable game of football, good weather and a nice ground to visit made this a decent day out. The first train to Glasow however, is not until 6.30 and I find myself hanging around in Dumfries for over an hour.

I have more photographs at this link.

From the Football Grounds in Focus website comes this report of Gretna’s home match from the 4th of April.

Gretna: Jamieson, Rea, Gullen, Ruddick, White, Jardine, Errington, Seggie, Bannon, Rayson, Carmichael Subs: Trestianu, Milligan, McMath, Murphy, Renyard

Scorer: Bannon (2)

Craigroyston: Weir, Jeffrey, Morrison, Paterson, Robertson, Binnie, Manson, Hay, O’Neil, Martin, McKenzie Subs: Scott, Wilkinson

Scorers: Morrison (73), O’Neil (78)

Attendance: 145

Referee: Martin McGuinness

President Mwai Kibaki threatened to sue anyone repeating the rumours

Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki has held a rare press conference to deny rumours that he has a second wife.

Mr Kibaki said he was in a “foul mood” and warned that anyone repeating the rumours would see him “in court”.

His wife, Lucy, accused the media of “tormenting” her, and said she had she considered attacking one TV station.

The BBC’s Anne Mawathe in Nairobi says the president’s office has denied the rumours several times in the past but they have refused to die.

Observers had said it was common knowledge that another woman was given protection on the level of the first family after Mr Kibaki took office in 2002.

But, flanked by his wife and senior government officials, Mr Kibaki told the news conference: “I want to make it very clear that I have only one dear wife, Lucy, who’s here, and I do not have any other.

“Anybody who knows me and knows my family and knows how I live – they know I have only one wife.”

He said he had “gotten into this foul mood” after hearing about the rumours again in recent days, and that he would take to court anyone “bent on that course” of repeating them.

Strained politics

A visibly angry Mrs Kibaki then told the news conference: “You keep tormenting us, I don’t know what you get out of it.”

Has power-sharing worked?

She told one station, NTV: “I almost came to your station last night to attack you.”

Mrs Kibaki is well known for her angry outbursts at the media.

In 2005 she stormed the offices of The Daily Nation newspaper to protest against its portrayal of her and her family, slapping a cameraman who filmed the incident.

And in 2007, she slapped an official who mistakenly referred to her by the name of the woman who was alleged to be Mr Kibaki’s mistress.

The news briefing comes at a time when the political marriage between Mr Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) and Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is also under strain, says our correspondent.

The coalition government, formed to end the post-election crisis last year, has been dogged by corruption allegations and rumours of disunity.

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has accused the country’s leaders of “losing momentum”, and analysts say the general public has become frustrated with the lack of progress.