http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7763216.stm

ETA have struck again. Today they killed a businessman called Ignacio Uria Mendizabal in the town of Azpeitia. I haven't read if he was a prominent politician or had any strong views, and I believe he didn't. Just a businessman, who happened to be one of those with involvement in the coming Basque high speed train ("La Y Vasca"). It is also possible that he refused to be blackmailed by ETA into paying the "revolutionary tax" (basically protection money). So it has come to this. ETA is no more than a mafia of criminals and have lost almost all resemblance to the revolutionaries who started the fight against Franco.
And they have the Basque Country by the balls, because the nationalists are shit scared of them and the non-nationalists have turned against the peace-loving nationalists, therefore making the situation all but impossible.
When will it stop?!

The Morning After...

The world breathes a huge sigh of relief. And I was moved by Obama's speech. Admittedly, I watched it online because I couldn't stay up that late- I needed to phone the doctor's surgery at 8... but I digress... What a speech. What an orator. What I particularly loved was his use of "we as a people", echoing Martin Luther King's reference to African-Americans, but applying it to the whole of American society.
Here's hoping he doesn't cock it up.

The Inevitable American Election Post...

Tonight the USA is voting for the next Leader of the Free World. Whoever wins, I hope he does a better job than the last one. I hope he travels far and wide, and gives the rest of us a break. Personally, I hope Obama wins it, as do most Europeans. McCain seems like too much of the same thing again, foreign policy-wise, which is what affects us. But it's not as simple as that. Americans don't all look at their leaders from a foreigner's perspective (heck, why should they?) and domestic policy probably takes precedence, so McCain is more credible than we expect him to be here in the Old World.
Many Christians are going to vote McCain today, mainly on the basis that he is pro-life as opposed to Obama's pro-choice stance. Us British pinko heretic would argue that there is more to politics than the abortion issue, but the Church in the States seems to me to believe this is important enough to decide who governs the country. My problem with the Republican Party in the US is that it holds out the anti-abortion carrot and millions of Christians follow. I was accused by an American voter today of being trite by saying that, and it probably is, but I wonder if McCain would be more "righteous" than Obama. It seems that Obama is actually a churchgoer (though liberal) whereas McCain is not. And so many other issues.
I'm not American, I don't have a vote, and I'm not pretending otherwise. But it would be refreshing to see an Afro-American in the Whitehouse, and to see a President of the USA who gives a monkey's about the outside world.

"Such certainty..." (Jo, Spooks BBC1)

It seems to me it has become fashionable to believe that the main problem with terrorists and other nasty people is their absolutist ideology and certainty in what they believe. The comment above refers to some nasty manipulated suicide bombers who try to blow up innocent Londoners. Now don't get me wrong, I deplore all this inhuman violence, but my problem is not with the ideology per se, rather the phenomenon of violence.
I hadn't realised that the perception of absolutism as the problem was prevalent in this country until tonight. We are all aware of the popular hate of any absolutist religious belief, although for some reason Dawkins and some of his popularisers (Marcus Brigstocke, Jeremy Hardy et al) seem to think that absolutist atheism doesn't fall into this category. But applying this to Islamic bombers worries me since it suggests that all those who believe strongly and earnestly in something are put in the same category. I believe this is seriously wrong. It is violence and exlusively violence that is the problem. And therefore I would argue that Ian Paisley is not as bad as George W Bush.
This belief in seeing ideology as the problem is very popular in the Madrid-based media in Spain. They see ETA (the Basque Separatist Terrorist Group) as erroneous because of their violence, obviously, but increasingly because of their ideology. It worries me that so many Spaniards can't understand the idea of believing storngly in a cause, and therefore they suspect a financial motive for terrorists' membership of the organisation. Because of this, the Spanish press has demonised all Basque nationalism and implies that it is nationalism that needs to be eliminated, not violence.
The solution is this: Even if someone earnestly believes you are going to burn in the fires of Hell, as long as they don't harm you- or seek to have you harmed, I cannot see a problem. If you don't believe in God, their belief is quite ridiculous so you shouldn't even take it seriously. If they want to hurt you, then that is quite another matter, regardless of their belief. They could even share the same ideology as you yourself, but if they want to cause violence they are in the wrong.
I know I sound like a lilly-livered (sp?) hippy pacifist, and haven't entered the whole Just War thing etc., but basically I just wanted to argue against the idea of Thought Crimes while supporting every step to eliminate violence from our world.

So I Say Thank You For The Music...

I'm steadily realising how important music is to me. It's one of those things that stops me falling into deep despair. I used to think that I preferred Talk Radio to Music Radio- and that may be true still, yet I'm getting to appreciate music so much more these days. I guess that the fact that I can pick and choose what I listen to (glorious mp3 player) allows me to listen to some amazingly life-affirming and cheerful ditties.
The four albums currently lifting my heart (hey, something has to!) are the following: The Secret Of Life- The Ukulele Orchestra OfGreat Britain; Rock With The Hot 8 Brass Band- The Hot 8 Brass Band; Adelantando- Jarabe De Palo; La Radiolina- Manu Chao. The secret of these musicians is twofold: They combine brilliant musicianship of the highest order with either clever musical jokes and satirical adaptations (in the case of the former two) or just cheerful and vibrant energy (in the case of the latter two).
Of course, people have always understood the importance of music in manipulating the masses, from the French Revolution to the Third Reich, to many religious organisations today.
Anyway, sorry to almost seem upbeat, but I thought I ought to share the secret of my survival (heehee).

That bloke Solomon

I remember meeting a bloke in Paris from South Wales of Arab extraction who said his name- Salman- was the Arabic version of Solomon and- weirdly enough- Frederick. I would love to get confirmation from someone for that. Let me know.
Anyway, this bloke Solomon. Clever guy. Wrote a few books in the Bible, apparently. One of these- the Preacher's Book (or Ecclesiastes to you good Greeks), must be one of the best philosophical tracts ever. Far easier to read than Marx's Das Kapital anyway.
I should read it again, but from what I remember Solomon talks about what he's done and what his conclusion is. He had it all- riches, concubines (women, not large hedgehogs), and the throne of Israel. He tried three things, broadly: Pleasure, Fame, and Wealth. And the conclusion he came to was that it's all a load of crap (not strictly his wording, but very close to the meaning). The hilarious thing is that I now get where he's coming from: I've experienced fame, then pleasure, then some wealth and have come to the conclusion that it's worth nothing. Life is meaningless and empty. End of story.

Starbucks, Borders

Not to be confused with "Paris, Texas" or "Newport, Gwent" (that lesser known Wim Wenders film)...

I have been twice to Starbucks in Borders this week. Such luxuries are afforded to us by holidays. Antiglobalism goes out of the window as I engage in three of my favourite hobbies: drinking coffee (the stuff of life), reading, and people watching. There's always a group of people gathered around a table, earnestly discussing something: They could be a book group (even a Bible Study group) but I prefer to think of them as some kind of revolutionary group planning to overthrow the Government and establish a new world order. Wishful thinking... There are no revolutionaries anymore. We're too comfortable and the coffee's never strong enough. Oh, and there are always interesting women sat at tables by themselves, sketching or writing that never-to-be-published novel. Which gets me onto my next subject: I've decided I'm going to try and get those short stories written, so I started.We'll see...

Currently reading "La Sombra Del Viento" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. In the original Spanish, of course!

My “31 Songs” (apologies to Nick Hornby)

ALBUMS (a variation on NH's theme)
Graceland- Paul Simon
Rattle & Hum- U2
Trimmed’n’Burnin’/Slow Burn- Glenn Kaiser/Darrell Mansfield
Tapestry- Carole King
Slow Train Coming- Bob Dylan
Ben Folds Five- Ben Folds Five
August & Everything After- Counting Crows
Songs From The Rain- Hothouse Flowers
Samedi Soir Sur La Terre- Francis Cabrel
Out Of Time- REM
Five Leaves Left- Nick Drake
There Will Be A Light- Ben Harper & The Blind Boys Of Alabama
James Taylor Live- James Taylor
Requiem- Mozart
Rhapsody In Blue/An American In Paris- George Gershwin
O Brother Where Art Thou Soundtrack- Various Artists
Squint- Steve Taylor
Elton John- Elton John
Buena Vista Social Club- Buena Vista Social Club
The Hardline According To...- Terence Trent D’Arby
Disraeli Gears- Cream
Little Shop Of Horrors Soundtrack- Various
Divine Madness- Madness
The White Album- The Beatles
Flood- They Might Be Giants
Unplugged at MTV- Eric Clapton
Beautiful Mess- Sixpence None The Richer
Hyfryd I Fod Yn Fyw- Jess
Live From Mars- Ben Harper
Time Out- The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Roll Away The Stone- Kelly Joe Phelps

Those which narrowly missed out:
Golosinas- Pedro Guerra
Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band- The Beatles
Abbey Road- The Beatles
Unplugged at MTV- Nirvana
Spontaneous Combustion- Glenn Kaiser
Tuesday Night Music Club- Sheryl Crow
The Freewheeling Bob Dylan- Bob Dylan

I tried not to include any “Best Of” or “Greatest Hits” albums as they sort of break the rules. Not sure if "Divine Madness" counts... The albums above aren’t in any particular order of preference.

PS: "Skybound" by Tom Baxter would probably make the list now...

Episode IV: A New Post

Just read a post on www.last.fm which remarked on Bach's "Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring"- "It's like listening to God."
Beautiful comment. There should be more of these.

Glad I'm not religious

I'm so glad I'm not religious. Because if I was, there'd be a massive temptation to get power and praise from nice gullible chapel-goers over Wales. There are chapels crying out for ministers and a "nice young man" always goes down well. It could be so much fun getting to be a preacher man, spouting crap from the pulpit, with the right religious words and phrases to elicit "Amen"s from the congregation...
But I'm not like that. Firstly, I wouldn't be able to stomach the empty religiosity; and secondly, I'm above hipocrisy like that...

A Parable

A man went to swim in the sea with his mates. He was determined to get the most out of the experience so- rather than paddle in the shallows or tread water and chat with a group of friends- he decided to swim back and forth across the bay. He loved the sensation the waves gave him, but felt bad that none of the others had wanted to join him. They weren't too concerned, though, as he was known to be a strong swimmer.
Eventually he got exhausted, but found himself far from the shore and the other swimmers. Because of the sound of the waves breaking on the shore the others were unable to hear him. Unable to relax and float on the surface of the water, he gradually succumbed to the powerful waves. By the time the others noticed he was sinking, it was too late...