HOWARD JACOBSON at WATERSTONES

Ever since the Salman Rushdie affair ive held to the principle i will not read anything i did not intend to read just because it gets publicity from manufactured contrived happenings.From what little ive heard from those who felt obliged to read the ersatz weak in fact , flimsy in circumstance drivel have certainly concurred with my judgement.

Howard Jacobson , journeyman author and mawkish , dressed up as funny , column writer was pretty scaving of "corporate" awards such as the Man-Booker as well , until he won it , now , hence the mawk in mawkish , he can see some tantalisingly , cant quite put your finger on it ,integral value in it.It is an authors equivalent of a committed socialist life long champion of trade unions accepting a peerage in the House of Lords.Jacobson likes to , glibly ( his defence shield and substance and artistic integrity), compare himself as the Jewish Jane Austin , though he would be more accurate in comparing himself as the literary John Prescott.

What what its worth below is a video of what the prize winning Book , The Finkler Question.



It does seem the dumbing down factor in attention spans is coming into play , less than four months from the awarding of the prize , and the obligatory free inches of column space only the spin-doctors of the publishing corporate powerhouses could generate , it seems the novelty is waring off.I purchased a ticket for myself a couple of days before the event , advertised by massive poster campaign in the shop which was hard to miss , and noticed a large thick as a fist batch of tickets unsold.My wife desired to go , so i went the next day thinking the tickets would be whittled down to at least a one finger thickness,but no , not one ticket had been sold from the last one a bought the day before , even though author events in the same week had SOLD OUT displays all around.

Alas the event itself had a pitiful turnout , having heard Howard Jacobson i was less desirous of reading the Book than i was before , as was my Wife.He did make a decent point about the drop in standards in teaching literature in the Universities , citing the lecturers themselves are incapable of reading challenging Books , yet alone encourage their pupils to do so.According to Jacobson the rot started when the concept of relevance was brought into the educational system , this meant Books in the curriculum had to be "easily" readable for the kids , which in turn meant any Book deemed as challenging was replaced by ones which had a likeability factor.And now we are reduced to lectures as well as pupils who determine from page one if they "like" a Book and if not leave it and go onto the next one , "like" in this instance being a euphemism for a Book challenging the reader to confront a Book which compels them to think for themselves how to counter the views in a Book with their own well argued concepts which can stand of the scrutiny of societies top down ideals.

As for Jacobsons political views , there is not much to add to the observations of Belinksy over a 150 years ago.They can be summed but as an ill-fitting pastiche of weak intellectual oxymoron's and philosophical non-sequitors masquerading as informed opinion.All in all a very juvenile effort from someone pitifully lightweight in matters of perspicacity if you are being kind or mendacious malfeasance if you want to attribute logic and a thought out motivation to his stance.I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt , though from the attendance and the piles and piles of his latest offering lying about as if waiting for a black bin bag to take them on their final journey i wonder if Glasgow has not sussed him out ahead of the pack.

EAMONN McCANN at the GFT

In a brilliant and piercing lecture entitled "The Legacy Issue: Putting the wrongs of the Northern Ireland conflict to rights" Eamonn McCann traced the way a local campaign against injustice and inequality in Derry sparked a more generalised revolt against the State and led on to 30 years of Trouble. He assessed the extent to which the events which detonated the Troubles can be seen as part of the global upsurge of ‘60s radicalism and whether, if at all, the subsequent course of the Northern Ireland conflict fitted into any wider pattern. Was “the struggle” always a matter of communal rivalry and hostilities? If the Good Friday Agreement is now seen as the answer, what was the question?


Eamonn McCann came to prominence during the civil rights campaigns and marches in Derry during the late sixties.The campaign coincided with the international struggles for civilian rights in the US and mainland Europe.

It is an ironic contention the struggle for the rights of the citizens of Derry were not attained by the actions of Westminster ( where the strong block , sometimes amounting to the balance of Power , of the Ulster Unionists) prompted the failure to deliver equal rights for the minority Catholic community of Northern Ireland , but rather was achieved from the directives and equal opportunity legislative processes emanating from the EU based in Brussels and Strasbourg.A valid case can also be made crediting the EU in diffusing as well as militating the militant posture of central to regional government conflicts in the Basque to to some extent the Catalan as well as points of potential conflict in Italy.In all these cases the elected civilian governments were so composed as to be unable to deliver these rights whilst maintaining a cohesive central stability , the process could only have been done by a supra-national entity like the Common Market.

According to Eamonn McCann all this led to the Good Friday Agreement , a name that does not feature in the document , but has been given this label so there is an almost sacred element to the process.

McCanns objection to the agreement is it is based on the same model the french devised for Lebanon , and we all know how that turned out.The question to ask is , why should a classic divide and rule model designed to foster incohesion to make Lebanon ever dependent on foreign external interference from parties which have everything to gain from internal instability, tension and conflict to seen or presented as a model to bring permanent peace to Northern Ireland.Answering that question will go a long way to explain just what the old waring sectarian parties , the Uk and the US have to gain from the process.

The ground reality, as Eamonn Mccann sees it , is the most sectarian parties are the biggest gainers in the process , leaving the centreground and the parties that ought to command a bi-partisan non-sectarian constituency high and dry , this is due to a manufactured and fostered separation of both communities into devolved sectarian pre-labelled blocks , leaving no ground and thus void from recognition those that wish to transcend sectarian labels and create a large middle ground based on shared economic and social welfare issues which straddle both divides.This artificial delineation of communities with no middle-linking ground heightens the fear of both communities which in turn vote for the most sectarian elements to square upto the most sectarian elements being voted for by the other community , this in turn feeds an already negative cycle.The fear of both communities continues to heighten, rather than dissipate , as encouraged by the agreement, who in turn vote for hardline politicians who will counter-balance the hardliners of the other community.This means sectarian tensions are more , not less , pronounced.Whilst even in the 70s there were large swathes and urban estates which had Catholic and Protestant families living interspersed with each other , now , the demarcation is a fait accompli with a clear separation with no meeting points.Looking by this light the remarkable images of McGuinness and Paisley ( Sn. and Jnr.) sitting at the same Cabinet Table can be seen as a negative result of polar interests representing entrenched views rather than the superficial surface impression one may get of former enemies in a harmonious coming together.

Quite rightly , as McCann acknowledges himself, ten years of peace is not a prize to be taken lightly or considered as less than a favourable outcome to the calamity of the troubles.But he does rightly point out with the artificial boom times being over and a long period of economic downturn in the offing the negative points , issues and faultlines of the process may begin to unravel , it is in this context the support from the disaffected , underemployed , Catholic young for the increasingly militant Real IRA should be seen as an expected trend to be urgently addressed and not , as portrayed , an aberration to be casually glossed over.

One disconcerting factor for the community of Derry when the Good Friday Agreement was signed was the absurd nature of the economic peace dividend for the mainly Catholic Community after 30 years of struggle , one of the first factories built ( it was supposed to create some 150 jobs , though only some 30 materialised)was for the arms manufacturer Rayatheon , the maker of the very bombs used to destroy civilian buildings and lives in Palestine and Lebanon by US and UK supported Israeli forces.The bombs including the killing of innocent civilians in Qana in 2006.

Eamonn Mccann led a delegation to Southern Lebanon and laid a memorial tribute in Qana on behalf and in solidarity with the people of Derry to the victims of the qana atrocity.Mccann also praised the integrity of US singer Patti Smith who wrote a moving tribute song called , appropriately Qana.

Here is a poignant video featuring Patti Smith singing about Qana:



And here is Eamonn McCann giving a rousing passionate speech about the importance of the Palestinian cause in the struggle for universal justice:

SEA AND LAND AND SKY by Abigail Docherty at the TRON

The blurb on the website states the Nurses whose diary entries feature in the Word War 1 drama were sent from Scotland to the Russian ( not the Western) Front as stated in the description:

"1916. Three young women from the Scottish Women’s Hospital are sent to the Russian front to support the war effort. Ailsa is working class and determined to make an impression on her superiors, Millicent is a self-confessed hedonist and Lily is searching for her lost husband. Unprepared for what they witness, each must find a way of coping as they fight to survive an experience that will change them forever..."

This does not seem to be the case in the play itself where they very much feature in the Western Front with English officers and Scottish loafers.This disorientation does take the intrigue factor and culture clash of the story away , from then the play does not quite recover.

The nurses switch from ordinary civilians out for escapism and adventure to completely incurable grade A nuthouse mad in an instant without any graduation of the accumulation of stresses and strains whatsoever thus cutting any dramatic effect out the production instantly and leaving the audience more baffled than pertubedly sympathetic, this is entirely due to the abandoning of the real hook of the play , a story meshed around the diary entries of the three nurses featured , the play rolls along fine until this device is disregarded and the plot is literally lost from there onwards , as well as the audiences sincere attention.The play could have done with more diary entries taking the lead in the narrative throughout the play, especially when the Nurses arrive at the battlefront sectors rather than leaving the diaries when they are still on the ship taking them over , by far the best part of the play , and jettisoning the diary interest for "raw" emotional drama which does not quite work , the main reason being two out of the three nurses are instantly so "mad" as to not have any control of their lost faculties , thus becoming more morbid implausible curiosities than characters with an engaging story to tell.

Certainly a re-visit to this play with more diary entries and less effects could make this excellent idea into a quality production with lasting appeal.

This review from The Guardian is fair , but unsatisfactorily ungenerous in that it does not suggest very slight adjustments which would make the play a long lasting success.

BONNY SCOTLAND v SPAIN

This match had sentimental and nostalgic appeal , the very first match i went to was Bonny Scotland v Spain in 1975.The crowd was 90,000 in the days football allowed drink , copious amounts at that , into games.At half-time there was something as famous as the great "Hampden roar" , the great pissing ceremony , the crowd would go to the large wall at the top of the stand and pish on the wall.This would release a cascade of rich warm steaming liquid flowing down to the bottom of the stand.If you were a skilled veteran you could pish at the top and be back in your seat to see your own pish seeping past your shoes like the river of gold going though the supporting pillars of a bridge.At night the floodlights would turn blue to cut through the fog.This light gave a multi-toned kaleidoscope of rainbow colours to the pish rolling down, thus giving an early science lesson on the diffuse nature of light as well as the properties of gravitational motion of liquid.Strangely , being a wee nipper i remember the lessons of pish and its properties more than the game.What little i remember of the match was the crowd would stand as soon as Scotland got anywhere near 30 yards of the Spanish goal in swathing heaps of animated anticipation.Being small i could not see a thing when that happened ,eventually Scotland scored , all i could do was look at the floodlights and get lost in a passionate reverie of triumphant noise.Spain came back to win 2-1 , thus introducing me to the other aspect of Scottish/Celtic culture - the glorious and brave failure , heroism without the unnecessary inhibitants like success that just increase your responsibilities, which spoil the romance.I remember nothing of the Spanish goals , only one which was given offside - a philosophic lesson which i learned for the first time , that it could always be worse.So that was laws of science , the culture of a national identity and a philosophic lesson , and the humbling aphorism that success is fleeting as well as the value of devoting a life to pish and its many values , not bad for a 90 minute game of football.

This time my Son pestered me to get tickets to see Scotland take on the popular and deservedly highly acclaimed World Champions.Being a good Scottish lad of the 90s reared on La Liga football there was only one team he wanted to see.As the time of the game approached he was somewhat disappointed when the Spanish and Barca genius creative midfielder pulled out of the squad due to injury , worse was to come only days before when Fabregas and Torres were also ruled out , and then a crestfallen Son reported Pedro was also out.The only consolation was we might see Casillas ass , the same view that the infamous Real Madrid Ultras see of him front behind the goal at matches in the Bernabeu.Casillas has also a special attachment to Hampden , this is the ground in which he made his first appearance in what is shaping up to be one of the best careers in World Football.

The game itself was highly entertaining with a typically brave nearly-nearly effort from Scotland.The match seemed to be over in the 55th minute when the World Champions went into a 2-0 lead through the worlds most gifted midfielder Iniesta.The Spanish must have believed they could pass out the game to a comfortable close and the players could then concentrate on domestic challenges in the La Liga.Bonny Scotland had other ideas , they came storming back into the match with 2 goals , the Spanish composure turned into scurrying about in a most unseemly manner of organised panic before they took the lead to a loss of concentration by the Scotland defence.In the end the game , instead of being a glorified training session for the World Champions , had them working up to the last moment to secure the win.It must be a long time since Spain conceded 2 goals in a competitive match.

All in all honour was saved for both teams , Bonny Scotland got there brave heroic romantic win , and Spain got the 3 points.A very Tartan win-win situation.

But Scotland most impressive win was the allegiance of my Son , he started out wanting to see his Spanish La Liga heroes hammer some minnows , he left the ground sad he has witnessed the first time "his" team had lost a match that he attended.But , as a true Scottish lad , it was a defeat to be celebrated and savoured more sweetly than a mere win.And not everyone can claim they have seen Casillas arse with their own eyes.


Iker Casillas Arse , as seen by the Ultra Sur and my Son

Europe-Japan Dialogue Public Lecture 'International Aid for a Water Project'

Director for Development Planning at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, Mr Okaniwa was responsible for Japan's "Water and
Sanitation Broad Partnership Initiative" announced in March 2006.Consequently, he was posted at The Embassy of Japan in Jakarta in charge
of Japan's aid programme from 2006 till 2008. Dr Dorea was also engaged
in activities in Indonesia through a humanitarian water aid programme
(with Oxfam GB) when the country was hit by tsunami in 2004 and more
recently through his research activities (Bali, 2009).

The good thing about this joint teaming was the potential for conflict of interests from the government to government ( via corporate and IMF filters) resourcing and the experience of NGO operatives on the ground liaising with the target communities.But the whole thing did not really manifest.

Firstly , Japanese Government aid is only 14% in grants , 86% is in the form of loans ( which by their very nature are to be paid back with due interest.).This fascinating article on the two major factors which makes Japan the largest donor of water "aid" in the region of Africa reveals the two prongs of the prime motivations 1) it allows Japanese corporations to enter Africa in areas of development other than military hardware which is denied to Japanese Industry and 2)It is a vehicle for projection of Japanese government "soft" power for Japanese Financial and Banking Houses , ( you will notice that Japanese "aid" has been given over to the private sector).

The conflict of interest is that it is in the interest of the Japanese program is to encourage either large macro-projects which provide its corporations with big contracts or to promote expensive systems of clean water generation which may not be the best cost efficient option for the unique requirements of the recipient communities.The other major disadvantage is the option for the aid receiver to shop around for the most cost-effective generic products on the market can be over-ruled in favour of products made by the corporations which have a major say in the wording ; terms and conditions and ultimate renewal of the aid package.

ARDAL O'HANLON at the PAVILLION

Ardal is a skilled and accomplished comic offering good clean entertainment all Family Members and ages can enjoy.You get the impression he could easily step-up and get into a political mode with a seamless gearchange.

A generous , though accurate review in the telegraph gives a semblance of the seemingly light paced though taut and controlled performance.

This review from The Festival Magazine points to the lack of depth in the routine , though making a critical error of believing Ardal could not raise the game if he was playing to a more political audience.The references to a lot of Zaltzman lurking within the surface of the routine is highly accurate , the Zaltman connection was even more obvious in the maternity sketch in which the male protagonist increasing the longevity of labour by pressing the babys head back into the womb.

The irony is the whole performance could be turned into a highly comical satire with great philosophical weight if the end references to the difference in Celtic fairytales of fighting against adversity to the optimistic English ones and Hopeladen American was to be a starting point to the show with an extrapolation of these divergences in the handling of modern challenges making the full body of a theme which challenged the likes of Wagner for many decades.

The video below gives a good example of his show:

DIRTY PARADISE by Leann O'Kasi at THE TRON

Based very loosely on a short story by Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez called "i only came to use the phone" this play written and performed by Leann O'Kasi is part of the cultural and artistic contribution to the Scottish Mental Health Week 2010 Arts and Film Festival going on in many venues across the city.

The background details of this delicate and touching performance is given The List article by director Alison Peebles.

When we read about people who hear voices inside their heads, it is usually in grim news reports involving severe psychiatric illness. Like many medical complaints, however, ‘auditory hallucinations’ exist across a whole spectrum of intensity. This was a revelation to director Alison Peebles and writer/performer Leann O’Kasi when they came to prepare for Dirty Paradise, a play about a woman trying to escape her voices.

‘You’d think that people who hear voices are all schizophrenic, but they’re not,’ says Peebles. ‘Some people just hear these voices – they sound as if they’re in the room or in the street with you, speaking to you, shouting at you or arguing with each other. There can be a whole conversation going on. It’s just extraordinary to think that people have got that going on in their head.’

The quality and depth of the play could be seen in the faces of individual audience members as they would tense up when a feature of the troubling observations of the character would hit a personal aspect of their private internal struggles and then , like a psychological spotlight,suddenly ease with relief as the spotlight veered away to another person who would go through the same short;sharp; shock turmoil.The lesson to be learned is that Mental Well Being , if not Health is a spectrum , not a demarcation.

Unlike the trend in stories of stress and anguish of Mental Health issues this story finishes in a resolution and uplifting ending , to the relief of the character and a large part of the audience as well.