OT: Fences and smokescreens
maff
Michele Wucker
December 26, 2006 05:01 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/michele_wucker/2006/12/fences_and_smokescreens.html
After a year of fever-pitch debate over immigration that culminated in
legislation to build a border fence, there was a certain amount of
poetic justice when in mid-December a Southern California fence company
was fined roughly $5 million for employing illegal aliens.
Having built part of a 14-mile San Diego border fence erected in the
late 1990s to keep undocumented immigrants out, Golden State Fence Co
nevertheless illegally hired such immigrants after a 1999 audit. For
two decades, a loophole has effectively shielded employers by holding
them liable only if they "knowingly" hired illegal aliens. This company
flouted the law so brazenly that it didn't even bother with the
loophole: it continued to employ three workers whom the Feds had
explicitly told it were undocumented.
The war is over
Luke Harding
December 26, 2006 04:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/luke_harding/2006/12/post_839.html
This year in Germany will be remembered for just one rather marvellous
thing - the World Cup. It isn't always easy to date changes in popular
mood. But for me the moment when Germany finally overcame decades of
self-doubt happened during the tournament in June - when Philipp (corr)
Lahm scored a goal of breathtaking audacity in Germany's opening match
against Costa Rica. Six minutes had gone. Lahm looped the ball from 25
metres into the Costa Rican net.
Suddenly, all doubts about whether the World Cup was going to be any
good, and whether Germans could throw a decent party, disappeared.
Instead, the 2006 tournament hosted by Germany turned out to be the
best World Cup ever. More than this, it marked something else - the
moment that British tabloid newspapers discovered that Germans were
actually nice, and quietly dropped the old cliches about Hitler.
2007: a storm is brewing
Larry Elliott
December 26, 2006 03:02 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/larry_elliott/2006/12/crystal_ball_gazing.html
Some years ago, I quizzed a City economist I knew well about his method
for forecasting Britain's monthly trade deficit. All the big firms put
out predictions for the size of the deficit (it is always a deficit
these days) and I was interested to find out how the experts did it.
"Quite simple", said my friend, "what I do is add up the deficits of
the past three months, divide by three and there's my forecast."
The moral of this story is that you should take forecasts from
so-called experts with a pinch of salt. You can be a highly paid City
hot shot and still get it spectacularly wrong. That preamble over, it's
time for me to gaze into my crystal ball and predict what is in store
for 2007.
'Tis the season to be wasteful
Tony Juniper
December 26, 2006 11:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/tony_juniper/2006/12/a_virtuous_cycle.html
The annual consumer fest is upon us again. While we make merry with
food, drink and presents and while vast quantities of materials and
energy are being used up, perhaps there is no better time to think
about the benefits of recycling.
A soon-to-be-published report from the industry body WRAP will confirm
how recycling is already saving carbon emissions of some 10-15 million
tonnes per year: the equivalent of taking some 3.5 million cars off the
road. The energy saved in recycling is epitomised by drinks cans.
Making aluminium from scratch from bauxite ore uses about ten times the
energy needed to get new aluminium from waste, such as cans. But we
could be doing so much more.
What has long been a catastrophic tragedy is also now a horrific farce
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1978708,00.html
The British occupation army's assault on its own police force in Basra
confirms Iraq as a far greater disaster than Suez
Roy Hattersley
Wednesday December 27, 2006
The Guardian
Iraq - which for years has been an unmitigated tragedy - has turned
into Grand Guignol, and, true to the traditions of that genre, horror
and farce combine in equal measure. No doubt we should rejoice that
al-Jamiat police station in Basra has been destroyed and its prisoners
taken to the relative security of a compound in which detainees are
hopefully not routinely tortured. But if a sick satire on an obscure
television channel included a sketch about British troops attacking a
unit of the police that they established and with whom they had been
theoretically working for nearly four years, the outcry would not have
been limited to complaints about undermining the morale of our troops
under fire. We would have been told that the whole idea was too
fantastical to sustain the lampoon.
Scots and English would pay dearly for ending the union
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1978710,00.html
The real threat is that the Tories may not be able to resist the
temptation to pander to a resentful English nationalism
David Clark
Wednesday December 27, 2006
The Guardian
The union between Scotland and England has a good claim to be the most
enduring and successful international partnership in history, yet the
atmosphere on the eve of its 300th anniversary is anything but
celebratory. If opinion polls are to be believed, a mood of sourness
appears to have taken hold, with a majority of voters on both sides of
the border willing to entertain the idea that it might be better for
Scotland and England to go their separate ways. With the SNP going into
the Scottish parliamentary elections next May ahead of the field, it is
not inconceivable that divorce proceedings could begin as early as next
year. So is it curtains for the union?
Drowning in bureaucracy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1978709,00.html
Academics in Britain are hobbled by monitoring and admin, while in the
US they get on with the job
Susanne Kord and Daniel Wilson
Wednesday December 27, 2006
The Guardian
In a recent satirical commentary on British academic life, the
sociologist and broadcaster Laurie Taylor recently conjured up a memo
from the director of corporate affairs of the (fictional) University of
Poppleton on "Staff Xmas Dinners". New guidelines are to be introduced,
requiring that all staff who wish to participate in any such dinner
first attend a special SDW (staff development workshop) on social
interaction; departments must henceforth submit a statement of DAO
(dining aims and outcomes); and all those attending dinners must
complete a PDQ (a post-dining questionnaire) "that includes learning
outcomes and a TQA (turkey quality assessment)". If this sounds
familiar - if not a turkey quality assessment then a teaching quality
assessment - you must be an academic. Such heavy-handed rules and
regulations are the reality at British universities today. Thus we were
in for a shock when we left prominent American universities over the
last decade or so and took up posts as professors in the UK.
Retreat fails to quell fears of long war in Horn of Africa
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1978770,00.html
· Islamists 'change tactics' after Ethiopian strikes
· UN security council calls emergency meeting
Xan Rice, East Africa correspondent
Wednesday December 27, 2006
The Guardian
The UN security council held an emergency meeting late last night to
discuss the war in Somalia, where Ethiopian air and ground forces are
inflicting heavy losses on Islamist fighters.
Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia's prime minister, claimed that his army had
killed 1,000 Islamic militiamen threatening Somalia's weak transitional
government at its base in Baidoa. Yesterday's barrage, which included
aerial attacks on retreating Islamists fighters, followed Monday's
bombing of two airports around Mogadishu, the headquarters of the
Somali Council of Islamic Courts (SCIC).
Soap that offers a clean start for drought-hit villagers
http://www.guardian.co.uk/christmasappeal2006/story/0,,1978892,00.html
In an arid region of Kenya, access to know-how can prove life-changing
Xan Rice in Namoruputh
Wednesday December 27, 2006
The Guardian
As locations for soap factories go, this one takes some beating. There
is heat, dust, and a vista of semi-desert. There are some cattle. There
is no electricity. The nearest town is more than an hour's drive away.
Yet in a small building off the main road - the only road - a group of
Turkana women sit proudly next to neatly stacked piles of their stock.
Hand soap for 40p. Cream soap for an extra 10p. Perfumed soap, 60p.
Shampoo and body lotion too. Here, smell it, they say. Rub some lotion
into your hands.
Giving a hand up, not a handout
http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,1978800,00.html
Randeep Ramesh in Dhaka
Wednesday December 27, 2006
The Guardian
Muhammad Yunus is an unusual banker: famous but not rich. His celebrity
derives from his clients, Bangladesh's poor. By Lending tiny amounts of
money to the neediest people on the planet Professor Yunus gave birth
to a global banking phenomena: micro-credit.
Grameen Bank, which Prof Yunus founded in the mid-seventies, has grown
into an emblem of social capitalism, promoting the idea that with just
a few dollars the poor would become entrepreneurs, pull themselves out
of poverty and lift their poverty-stricken nation with them.
Death toll of US troops in Iraq passes September 11
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article2106002.ece
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
Published: 27 December 2006
The number of US troops killed in Iraq is now greater than the number
of people who died in the terror attack on New York on 11 September
2001, an event unrelated to Saddam Hussein's regime but which the US
and Britain used as justification for the invasion.
The milestone was passed when three members of a patrol were killed in
a bomb explosion south of Baghdad on Monday. The military announced the
death of four more troops yesterday - three in a bombing and a fourth
in a vehicle accident. Combined, the US death toll now stands at 2,978
- five more than the number of people killed in the attacks on the
World Trade Centre in 2001.
Joan Smith: The ghastly values that link masked Muslim women to
ministers obsessed by ID cards
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/joan_smith/article2105965.ece
In a democracy, there must be a balance between what we reveal to the
state and what we keep private
Published: 27 December 2006
Am I showing too much? Or not enough? Those of the Channel 4
persuasion, who watched approvingly as an anonymous veiled woman
delivered the channel's Christmas message two days ago, may feel that
the picture accompanying this column is a damned sight too revealing. I
mean, you can see my nose, for God's sake! On the other hand, I am half
expecting a visit from Dr John Reid, who has just revealed that even
dead people will have to make sure he is kept fully informed of all
their personal details when his exciting new identity card scheme
becomes compulsory in 2010.
Obviously, in the spirit of the new legislation, I should have a bar
code tattooed on my forehead in my by-line photograph, enabling the
Home Secretary to pass a scanner over this page and ascertain my date
of birth, current address and favourite colour - blue, as it happens,
and I'm certainly not going to change it and risk a fine of £1,000 in
a couple of years' time for not keeping the government's database fully
informed. Ministers have just admitted that grieving relatives will
have to avoid falling foul of the government's 'guidance on death
registration', which will require them to return ID cards of deceased
people within a specified period or face fines; Tony Blair's government
wants to know exactly where everyone is at all times, even if they're
dead.
Hamish McRae: Here comes the shopping revolution
http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/hamish_mcrae/article2105972.ece
We are in the very early stages, so we have only caught a glimpse of
some of the consequences
Published: 27 December 2006
Out to the sales today? Or go online and click the search buttons?
We all like a bargain and this week sees the traditional way of trying
to get one: the sales that half-started yesterday and get into their
stride today. But this festive season has also seen a huge advance in
online shopping, a change in our habits as significant as that spurred
by the spread of supermarkets a generation earlier.
Like the supermarkets it is a global revolution of course, but this is
one that is arguably more advanced in the UK than any other large
economy: for example we buy a higher proportion of our books online
than Americans.
Tintin's big art adventure
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2105924.ece
An exhibition in Paris puts the creator of the blank-faced boy reporter
and his clever dog alongside the 20th century's great artists. John
Lichfield gets drawn in
Published: 27 December 2006
Blistering barnacles! Ten thousand thundering typhoons! Two decades
after his creator's death, a new and glorious episode has been added to
the adventures of Tintin. The egg-headed boy journalist, his astute
dog, Snowy, and his hirsute and drunken pal, Captain Haddock, have
climbed out of their comic books and invaded one of the temples of
modern art.
A wonderful exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris acclaims
Georges Remi, alias Hergé, Tintin's creator, as one of the greatest,
and most influential, artists of the 20th century. Hergé, an
unassuming man, who dabbled in painting and collected modern art
towards the end of his life, would have been delighted. And amused.
The 12 greatest Britons (an alternative view of our nation's history)
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2106004.ece
The Tories have drawn up a list of 12 people who made Britain great and
deserve to be studied in schools. Mark Steel begs to differ with their
choice, and offers his own definitive dozen
Published: 27 December 2006
The Tories, being cool and young, have presented a list of top people.
Because everything now is judged by lists, which is why every night
there's a television programme called something like The 50 Top TV
Wasps. And the Tories' list, of British people who've created the
nation, tries to be modern and inclusive and ignores Churchill and
Thatcher, and there was probably someone who suggested replacing Alfred
the Great with Lily Allen.
For example, they include Aneurin Bevan, the socialist minister
credited with creating the National Health Service. I suppose the
thinking is, "He's extremely important, because if he hadn't formed the
NHS, we wouldn't have a chance of selling it off." But the whole idea
of this list is flawed, firstly because it assumes history is created
solely by a handful of monarchs, generals or geniuses. The NHS wasn't
just a product of Bevan's brilliance, but a response to a widespread
sentiment among millions of people that the working class should be
rewarded for the war effort. Which is why one official Labour Party
pamphlet in the 1945 election began: "The capitalist is a leech that
sucks the worker's blood." To be honest, I didn't read the last Labour
manifesto, but I think that bit might have been dropped.
The peace process is still processing
Mick Fealty
December 27, 2006 11:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mick_fealty/2006/12/peace_process_still_processing.html
For those of you still awake at the back, the Northern Irish peace
process is still processing. In October, St Andrews in Scotland was the
venue for an agreement to come to an agreement, remarkably similar to
the last agreement.
There are now only two parties to the ongoing negotiations: Sinn Féin
and the DUP. Everyone else is standing in the corridors with the rest
of the great Northern Irish public to see whether we get white or black
smoke. Sinn Féin's president, Gerry Adams, promised in October that a
consultation on the deal breaking issue of recognising the police would
take weeks rather than months.
Out of the asylum
Judith Klein and Dragan Lukic
December 27, 2006 10:00 AM
Serbia - long castigated as the land whose late president, Slobodan
Milosevic, launched a genocide in Yugoslavia - is not accustomed to
finding itself lauded for safeguarding human rights. But in one area of
human rights protection, much-maligned Serbia has taken an
unprecedented step that puts it ahead of all the rest of Central and
Eastern Europe, including states that are already members of the
European Union.
In September 2006, Serbia's ministry of labour, education, and social
affairs made it official policy to integrate into society thousands of
people who had been locked away in Dickensian state institutions
because they have a mental disability. With this historic move, Serbia
adopted a practice that took hold in the rich, Western countries after
World War II but was never applied in the Communist bloc.