Post #68

Some musings

Chris put something on his myspace blog about he was becoming increasingly doubtful of capitalism.

Capitalism doesn't seem to be necessarily bad but the version that has evolved over the last 15 years or so seems to be the more aggressive US winner-takes-all version, rather than the older UK (or European or Japanese) version. The irony I suppose is that the power of the 'free' market seems to be far greater now under a labour govt than under the Thatcherite 1980s. I'm sure Tescos (along with the other supermarkets)never used to be so profit-driven and obsessed with getting total dominance in the market with such contempt for everyone else. Our football has become dominated by foreign mercenaries and in 5 years every premier-league club will be foreign-owned (how can this be a good thing?). And now every club seems to want to build a new stadium (despite having been at the old one quite happily for the last 120+ years) to accommodate new fans that are currently being cultivated somewhere. Then people seem to be told from a social point of view that everyone can get to the top, and it is quite realistic to expect Yeovil Town, say, will be a successful top-flight club….I just don’t understand it.

Big Brother

Time for another rant. I'll make it short.

I'm surprised at the level of interest in this junk. And the papers (well the tabloids) are still putting this on their front pages every other day. Channel 4 must be laughing their socks off at the amount of publicity it's generated.

40 000 people 'offended' - yet they carry on watching. It even made newsnight where I heard these 'deeply racially offensive comments' for the first time. It just sounded like a normal everyday conversation that you hear taking place on a bus or in a pub between two rather thick people, rather than something sinister and shameful.

Why do people watch BB anyway? Is the intelligent conversation between the inmates, or the beauty of Jade Goody?

Jugoslavija

Finland - very quick review. Really nice place and really nice people...and as always I wonder what has gone wrong with the UK...why are we a nation of such aggressive arseholes...anyway was an entertaining couple of days. Wasn't overly expensive, there was some snow, the weather was pretty nice, and I saw inebriated people being carried out of bars after indulging in a couple too many shots. And that was just the first night.

Have been currently reading 'Death of Yugoslavia' a BBC-commissioned book. A pretty good book that analyses the causes of the break-up of Yugoslavia well, though I'm sure most people would probably find it utterly tedious. The book starts in 1987 with Milosevic's infamous speech to the Serbs of Kosovo Polje, how Slovenia broke away from the federation and why Bosnia was so completely knackered. It does have an obvious 'it was all the fault of the Serbs/the muslims were all innocent victims' slant and generally seeks to blame the Serbs exclusively (though what would you expect from the BBC?!).

This comes on top of a few more Balkan reads 'my war gone by, I miss it so' about a war journalists frank account (who also also had a heroine addiction in the UK - Anthony Loyd) of what exactly what was happening in Bosnia, 1993. And General Michael Rose's 'fighting for peace' gives a good account of what Brit peace-keepers are facing on a daily basis. Good old Stocky library. But I think I will need another trip to the Balkans to try and satisfy my ex-Yugoslavia cravings (which I thought were under control).

Sometimes I think I should have joined the army, as I'd be getting all this stuff for free (or even being paid for the privilege). Me and Taylor did not do Sarajevo justice in 2001. The Jan 2007 Bradt guide to Bosnia & Herzegovina has been purchased from Amazon, along with a couple more Balkan war books...and flights Manchester-Sarajevo can be acquired for a bargain 235pounds, so another trip is looking very tempting...

Scotland

Cottage near Drumnadrochit, 18miles SW Inverness, quite close to Loch Ness. Standard excellent, the last couple of times we've been spoilt a bit with the standard, quite a step up from the Crask Inn in 2001 when the temp never rose above 6degrees inside the house and there was one bathroom between 10. Weather slightly better than last year and was able to do a bit more walking - two Corbetts (mountain between 2500-2999ft lower than a Munro at 3000ft) climbed.

Trying to upload some photos of the windswept, snow covered summit of Beinn a'Bha 'ach Ard (pronounced Ben-a-vrach-ard). But my computer is having none of it, so you'll just have to imagine it.