The Lives of others

In the dim and distant past when Left / Right political arguments seemed real and endless discussions ensued about ideological semantics I knew people in Dublin who resplended in titles such as “Secretary of the Irish / East German Friendship Society.” The East Germany they referred to was not the “corrupt capitalist lackey” of West Germany but the splendidly entitled DDR – the German Democratic Republic. To these stalwarts of communist orthodoxy the Berlin Wall was “The Great Anti-Fascist Protection Barrier (!)” and calling East Germany a “Police State” was a “slander on Socialist Realism” etc; etc; Now, none of this rang true at the time and does so even less today. Those “friends of the East German people” (they loved the people you understand, they were never commies) moved onto solidarity with Cuba and then when the Cuban’s lost interest in them (around the time Russian money disappeared) they became involved with “Think Tanks” and “Progressive Journals” on the reasonable grounds that they have never had an original or progressive thought in their lives, indeed prior to that their thoughts had been about different types of tanks used to “correct the errors of the masses.”

Now the German Left Wing has been much maligned and in the 20th Century has had reasonable grounds for angst. They were massacred by right wing thugs in the Weimar Republic (obit; Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht) and those who survived were systematically exterminated and driven into exile by the Nazi’s, indeed the left wing were the first people that Hitler practiced his coercion and extermination policies on whilst the world was happy enough to look away. After the war it was not difficult to think communism was the way forward and many idealists gravitated to the Soviet Zone to set up what was to be the DDR. Early West Germany was not an attractive state with many “cleansed” Nazis still in place and a corrupt political elite largely directed by the Western Occupying powers, but one was to eventually to find its feet and sense of purpose and for the East, after the Worker’s Uprising in June 1953 suppressed with Soviet tanks it became a Soviet satellite fearful of its own people.



This is the world examined as the endgame of the East German State was approaching in this film. The Lives of Others (original German: Das Leben der Anderen) is a German film, marking the feature film debut of writer and director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. It is set in the hyper paranoid East Germany before the Fall of the Berlin Wall when East Germany's Secret Police listened to your secrets and maintained an army of up to 400,000 informers. In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police, conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover, finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.

With The Lives of Others, von Donnersmarck won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film had earlier won seven Deutscher Filmpreis awards – including best film, best director, best screenplay, best actor, and best supporting actor – after having set a new record with 11 nominations. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 64th Golden Globe Awards. The thriller/drama involves the monitoring of the cultural scene of East Berlin by agents of the Stasi, the GDR's secret police. It stars Ulrich Mühe as Stasi Captain Gerd Wiesler, Ulrich Tukur as his chief Anton Grubitz, Sebastian Koch as the playwright Georg Dreymann, and Martina Gedeck as Dreymann's lover, a prominent actress named Christa-Maria Sieland.

It is a tribute to the richness of the film that one cannot say for sure who the hero is. The most prominent figure is Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe), yet if you passed him on the street you wouldn’t give him a second glance, or even a first. He would spot you, however, and file you away in a drawer at the back of his mind. Wiesler, based in East Berlin, is a captain in the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, better known as the Stasi - the state security service, which, by the mid-nineteen-eighties, employed more than ninety thousand personnel. In addition, a modest hundred and seventy thousand East Germans became unofficial employees, called upon to snoop and snitch for the honour or, in practical terms, the survival of the state.



The German DVD of this film was recalled due to some statements director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck made in his audio commentary about the alleged activities of politician Gregor Gysi and actress Jenny Gröllmann as official agents (IM) for the "Staatssicherheit" (secret police of former East Germany).

The movie tells the story of Stasi agent Wiesler (brilliant Ulrich Mühe), who follows his guidelines with chilling accuracy. His newest assignment is to wiretapping famed author Georg Dreymann (Sebastian Koch) and his companion, actress Christa-Maria Sieland (Martina Gedeck). Listening to their conversations, he gets more and more caught in their lives. Wiesler, as he is played here by Ulrich Mühe, is not an individual, but a symbol for the whole system, where people did everything they were told to do. Clad only in gray and brown, filmed in stark and cold light, he's at first not capable of feelings. On the other hand Dreymann and Sieland represent the anti-Establishment, the intellectuals, who were severely hunted, arrested and killed by the government.

The most frightening aspect here is the banality of it all. The offices are bleak, the people talk about bugging operations etc. with a frightening causality. These men in grey look, talk and behave like boring civil servants, and their approach, the "normality" of their job makes it terribly chilling. Director Florian Henckel-Donnersmarck is also able to recreate a feeling of constant observance and spying. In a disturbing scene a harmless joke becomes the center of suspicion and fear. We can glimpse how it must have been for citizens of the DDR, to live with constant suppression of their free will and opinion. As important it is, not to forget the good things and memories people might have of their past, it's also important not to forget or to reduce the impact and fear that this regime put on their people for 40 years.

This is a powerful film which turns into a suspenseful thriller with a complex and powerful moral drive. Were there people like Wiesler in the Stasi? Some of its victims say not. However, von Donnersmarck and Ulrich Mühe persuade us of that possibility without suggesting such figures were common. But as it unwraps the complex layers of personal motivation, loyalty and betrayal far from being alienated from the characters we are drawn to them as we recognise in their responses to a controlling system echoes of our own possible responses in a similar situation where the individual is always subservient.

The Lives of Others subtly evokes a vindictive society that exists by turning citizens against each other in the interests of national unity and collective security. It serves as a major warning to us and our elected leaders about where overzealousness and a lack of respect for individuals and their liberties can lead.

The subtitle of the German Version “Sonate vom guten Menschen” – Sonata for a Good Man is both the title of the piece of piano music given to Dreymann by his great friend Jerska, a director who has lost his reason to live after being blacklisted and the title of the valedictory book published by Dreymann after German re-unification in honour of the Stasi agent Wiesler who makes a moral choice to help his target but not in time to prevent Christa-Maria Sieland running under a car and being killed distraught that she has betrayed her lover to the Stasi.



At Dreyman's 40th birthday party, Jerska gives Dreyman a gift of sheet music to a piece titled "Sonata for A Good Man" (German: Sonate vom guten Menschen). Shortly afterward, Jerska commits suicide; this finally spurs Dreyman into speaking out publicly against the regime. Dreyman arranges through friends with West Germany's weekly magazine Der Spiegel to anonymously publish an article on suicide rates in the GDR. While the GDR publishes detailed statistics on many things, it has not published any information on suicide rates since the 1970s, presumably because they are embarrassingly high.

After unification Dreymann publishes a novel "Sonata for A Good Man" (the name of the sonata given to him by Jerska shortly before Jerska's suicide). Wiesler sees the book advertised in a bookstore, and finds that it is dedicated "To HGW XX/7, (His Stasi Code Name) with gratitude". Wiesler had been consigned to the bowels of the Stasi HQ for his disloyalty and after unification has a rubbish job delivering newspapers. He goes to buy the book and, when asked if he wants it gift wrapped, he responds quietly with a double entendre, "No; it's for me..."

A powerful and thoughtful movie wonderfully acted, tersely directed and shot with an art direction of meticulous meanness and coldness.

Stay granted for Troy Davis!

Troy and his Mother

Just an hour and a half before Troy Davis' scheduled execution last night, the US Supreme Court stepped in and granted a stay until Monday September 29th! The court will decide whether or not to hear Davis' appeal on Monday.

Thank you to all who took action with us to stop this injustice. We hope the US Supreme Court makes the right decision next week. In the mean time, please continue to contact the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles as they can grant clemency at any time.

For updates, please visit http://www.amnestyusa.org/troy
Thanks for you support!

US Supreme Court Order

(ORDER LIST: 554 U.S.)
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2008
ORDER IN PENDING CASE
08-66 DAVIS, TROY A. V. GEORGIA
(O8A241)
The application for stay of execution of sentence of death
presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the Court is
granted pending the disposition of the petition for a writ of
certiorari. Should the petition for a writ of certiorari be
denied, this stay shall terminate automatically. In the event
the petition for a writ of certiorari is granted, the stay shall
terminate upon the issuance of the mandate of this Court.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

'Where is the justice for me?'
The case of Troy Davis, facing execution in Georgia

I think this country would be much better off if we did not have capital punishment... I really think it's a very unfortunate part of our judicial system and I would feel much, much better if more states would really consider whether they think the benefits outweigh the very serious potential injustice, because in these cases the emotions are very, very high on both sides and to have stakes as high as you do in these cases, there is a special potential for error.

US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens

Introduction

Troy Anthony Davis has been on death row in Georgia for more than 15 years for the murder of a police officer he maintains he did not commit. Given that all but three of the witnesses who testified against Troy Davis at his trial have since recanted or contradicted their testimony amidst allegations that some of it had been made under police duress, there are serious and as yet unanswered questions surrounding the reliability of his conviction and the state's conduct in obtaining it. As the case currently stands, the government's pursuit of the death penalty contravenes international safeguards which prohibit the execution of anyone whose guilt is not based on "clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts".

Amnesty International does not know if Troy Davis is guilty or innocent of the crime for which he is facing execution. As an abolitionist organization, it opposes his death sentence either way. It nevertheless believes that this is one in a long line of cases in the USA that should give even ardent supporters of the death penalty pause for thought. For it provides further evidence of the danger, inherent in the death penalty, of irrevocable error. As the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court wrote in 1993, "It is an unalterable fact that our judicial system, like the human beings who administer it, is fallible." Or as a US federal judge said in 2006, "The assessment of the death penalty, however well designed the system for doing so, remains a human endeavour with a consequent risk of error that may not be remediable."

The case of Troy Davis is a reminder of the legal hurdles that death row inmates must overcome in the USA in order to obtain remedies in the appeal courts. In this regard, Amnesty International fears that Troy Davis' avenues for judicial relief have been all but closed off. In particular, he is caught in a trap set by US Congress a decade ago when it withdrew funding from post-conviction defender organizations in 1995 and passed the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in 1996.


Troy and his Sisters


This report outlines the case of Troy Davis. Executive clemency will be his last hope if the courts prove unwilling or unable to provide a meaningful remedy. Time is running out.

The inescapable risk of error

A legal regime relying on the death penalty will inevitably execute innocent people -- not too often, one hopes, but undoubtedly sometimes. Mistakes will be made because it is simply not possible to do something this difficult perfectly, all the time. Any honest proponent of capital punishment must face this fact.

Thirty years after the USA resumed executions, any notion that the US capital justice system is free from error or inequity should by now have been dispelled. A landmark study published in 2000, for example, concluded that US death sentences are "persistently and systematically fraught with error". The study revealed that appeal courts had found serious errors -- those requiring a judicial remedy -- in 68 per cent of cases. The most common errors in US capital cases were "(1) egregiously incompetent defense lawyers who didn't even look for - and demonstrably missed - important evidence that the defendant was innocent or did not deserve to die; and (2) police or prosecutors who did discover that kind of evidence but suppressed it, again keeping it from the jury." The study expressed "grave doubt" as to whether the courts catch all such error.

In Troy Davis' case, his appeal lawyers have argued that his trial counsel failed to conduct an adequate investigation of the state's evidence, including allegations that some witnesses had been coerced by the police, or to present full and effective witness testimony of their own (the prosecution presented 30 witnesses in total, the defence presented six). They have also claimed that the state presented perjured testimony as well as evidence tainted by a police investigation which had used coercive tactics, including against children taken into custody for questioning. As shown below, alleged police coercion is a common theme that emerges from the affidavits that various witnesses have provided since the trial when recanting earlier statements.

Perhaps the starkest indicator of the fallibility of the US capital justice system is the fact that since the US Supreme Court approved new death penalty laws in 1976, more than 100 individuals have been released from death rows around the country on grounds of innocence. The cases of people like Anthony Porter -- who came 48 hours from execution in 1998 after more than 16 years on death row in Illinois before being proved innocent by a group of journalism students who happened to study his case -- stand as an indictment of a flawed system. In April 2002 in Illinois, the 14-member Commission appointed by the governor to examine that state's capital justice system in view of the number of wrongful convictions in capital cases there, reported that it was "unanimous in the belief that no system, given human nature and frailties, could ever be devised or constructed that would work perfectly and guarantee absolutely that no innocent person is ever again sentenced to death".


US Supreme Court

In similar vein, in January 2007, after a process in which it held five public hearings and took evidence from a wide range of witnesses, a Death Penalty Study Commission established by the New Jersey legislature recommended abolition of the death penalty in that state. The Commission had failed to find any compelling evidence that the death penalty served any legitimate penological purpose, and it concluded that only abolition could eliminate the risk of irreversible arbitrariness and error. New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission Report, January 2007.

Yet still some maintain that exonerations of condemned inmates are a sign of the system working. Among those who have perpetuated this myth is US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Such exonerations, he has contended, demonstrate "not the failure of the system but its success". Justice Scalia added:

"Like other human institutions, courts and juries are not perfect. One cannot have a system of criminal punishment without accepting the possibility that someone will be punished mistakenly. That is a truism, not a revelation. But with regard to the punishment of death in the current American system, that possibility has been reduced to an insignificant minimum."

It is disturbing that anyone, let alone a Justice of the Supreme Court, should consider as "insignificant" the risk of wrongful convictions in capital cases given what is known about the repeated failures of the system. The risk was not insignificant to the more than 100 individuals sentenced to death since 1976 who spent, on average, more than nine years between conviction and exoneration.(11) Factors that contributed to these wrongful convictions include prosecutorial or police misconduct and inadequate legal representation.

Of particular relevance in Troy Davis's case is the question of the reliability of the witness testimony used by the state to send him to death row. The problem of unreliable witness testimony as a source of error in capital cases has long been recognized. For example, a major study published in 1987 found that:

"By far the most frequent cause of erroneous convictions in our catalogue of 350 cases was error by witnesses; more than half of the cases (193) involved errors of this sort. Sometimes such errors occurred in conjunction with other errors, but often they were the primary or even the sole cause of the wrongful conviction. In one-third of the cases (117), the erroneous witness testimony was in fact perjured."

In addition, "clear injustices perpetrated by the police compose nearly a quarter of the errors" identified in this study. The majority of the error attributable to the police came in the form of coerced statements, with the remainder accounted for by negligence and over-zealous police work. Such misconduct was a major contributor to the wrongful conviction of four Illinois death row inmates, who were pardoned by the state governor in 2003 on the basis that their confessions had been tortured out of them by the police. The final report of the New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commission, released on 2 January 2007, noted the fallibility of eyewitness testimony in reaching the conclusion that "the penological interest in executing a small number of persons guilty of murder is not sufficiently compelling to justify the risk of making an irreversible mistake". For these and other reasons, the Commission has recommended abolition of the death penalty in New Jersey.

The problem of unreliable witness testimony, some of it exacerbated or caused by police misconduct, has been illustrated in a number of the other cases of those released since 1976 from death rows in the USA on the grounds of innocence. For example:

Thomas Gladish, Richard Greer, Ronald Keine and Clarence Smith were exonerated in 1976 in New Mexico two years after being sentenced to death. A newspaper investigation uncovered perjury by the prosecution's key witness, perjured identification given under police pressure, and the use of poorly administered lie detector tests.


The way we were - Electric Chair at Sing Sing

Earl Charles was sentenced to death in Georgia in 1975 and was on death row for three years before being exonerated. At his trial, two eyewitnesses identified him as the murderer. However, it was later revealed that the police had used suggestive photo line-up techniques and not revealed that the eyewitnesses had pointed to others in the line-up as possible suspects.

Larry Hicks was acquitted at a retrial in 1980, two years after being sentenced to death in Indiana. At the retrial, evidence showed that eyewitness testimony that had been used against him at the original trial had been perjured.

Anthony Brown was acquitted at a retrial in Florida in 1986. Three years earlier he had been sentenced to death on the basis of evidence from a co-defendant who received a life sentence. At the retrial, the co-defendant admitted that his original testimony had been perjured.

Neil Ferber was released in 1986, almost four years after he was sentenced to death in Pennsylvania. The state declined to retry him after, among other things, it emerged that a jailhouse informant had given perjured testimony at the first trial.
Timothy Hennis was acquitted at a retrial in North Carolina in 1989, three years after being sentenced to death for murder. At the retrial, the defence discredited the witnesses who had testified at the original trial and pointed to a neighbour of Hennis who could have been responsible for the crime.

Charles Smith was acquitted in 1991 in Indiana, eight years after being sentenced to death. At the retrial, the defence presented evidence that witnesses at his original trial had given perjured testimony.

Federico Macias was sentenced to death in Texas in 1984 on the basis of the testimony of a co-defendant and jailhouse informants. His conviction was overturned, a grand jury refused to indict him again because of lack of evidence. He was released in 1993.

Walter McMillian was released in Alabama in 1993, six years after being sentenced to death. His conviction was overturned after it was shown that three of the state's witnesses had given perjured testimony.

Ronald Williamson was released in 1999. He was sentenced to death in Oklahoma in 1987. Among other things, his trial lawyer had failed to question the motive of a jailhouse informant who alleged that Williamson had confessed to the murder.
Steve Manning had charges against him dropped in 2000. He had been sentenced to death in Illinois in 1993 on the basis of the word of a jailhouse informant who testified that Manning had confessed to him in jail.

Charles Fain was released in August 2001 after charges against him were dropped. He had been sentenced to death in Idaho in 1983. The evidence against him included the word of two jailhouse informants, who said that Fain had confessed to the murder.
Joseph Amrine was released in Missouri in 2003, 17 years after being sentenced to death for murder on the basis of the testimony of fellow inmates, who later recanted their testimony.(16)

Alan Gell was acquitted in North Carolina in 2004, six years after being sentenced to death. At his retrial, the defence presented evidence that the state's two key witnesses had lied at the original trial.

A Death in London

Jean Charles de Menezes


Jurors in the Jean Charles de Menezes inquest today stood in silence at the spot where the 27-year-old Brazilian was shot dead by police marksmen. The six-woman, five-man panel was retracing Mr de Menezes's final steps and went to Stockwell Tube station where the shooting took place.

They filed through the ticket hall, down the escalator and onto platform two where Mr de Menezes had planned to take a northbound Northern line train. The jurors barely exchanged a word and coroner Sir Michael Wright did not speak throughout the 10-minute visit. The silence was only broken when a train full of passengers thundered through the station without stopping at the platform.

While Northern line trains were not stopping at the station, the Victoria line continued to operate as normal. On their way in and out of the station a court official pointed out the points the jurors were passing on their printed itinerary. The second day of the inquest into the death of the electrician on 22 July 2005 was set aside for a tour of key locations in the ill-fated police operation.

A convoy of coaches left the Oval cricket ground where the hearings are taking place with a police escort. The coroner travelled with the jury in the front coach, followed by legal teams travelling with the de Menezes family in the second and a media bus bringing up the rear. The visit to Stockwell was scheduled for an off-peak time on the 23rd December 2008 to minimise disruption for commuters.

In his opening yesterday, the coroner told of the confusion which existed before two firearms officers shot Mr de Menezes after mistaking him for failed suicide bomber Hussain Osman who had been on the run since attempting to detonate his bomb on the Tube the day before. Two weeks earlier, British-born al Qaeda bombers had succeeded in blowing up three Tube trains and a bus on a day of carnage in the capital.

Jurors have been told how firearm officers made a split second decision to kill the suspect. Sir Michael told the court that they had been convinced Mr de Menezes was Osman who was carrying out a second suicide bomb attack and could only be stopped by an "instant kill".

The coroner emphasised Mr de Menezes was entirely innocent.


Jurors at Stockwell Tube


----------------------------------------------------------------


From DaithaiC 16th October 2007


The Death of Jean Charles de Menezes

Jean Charles de Menezes was shot dead by Metropolitan Police firearms officers at Stockwell Tube station, London, on July 22nd. 2005. Bizarrely the Met(as the Metropolitan Police or Scotland Yard are commonly known) is being prosecuted under English Law not for Murder or Manslaughter but under Health and Safety legislation for failing to protect the health of Jean Charles de Menezes and members of the public who were exposed to danger in the operation. Indeed.

The details revealed so far in court are of a 27 year old electrician peacefully going to work unaware he was being trailed, not being intercepted as a possible suspect, getting on and off two buses, wearing jeans and a T-shirt and a light jacket with no baggage or possibility of concealing anything on his person, going routinely through station barriers and pausing to pick up a free newspaper, taking his seat on a tube train.



There he was held without challenge by a police officer who immobilised him by holding his arms around him in a vice like grip whilst his two colleagues fired 7 special "124 grain" dum-dum style bullets into his head at point blank range. The details of this killing have appalled and dismayed the public in equal measure and common sense would suggest these feelings will not be addressed by a prosecution under "Health and Safety" legislation - this being somewhat beyond satire. I think we can take it as read that if you kill somebody wrongly you have not protected their "Health and Safety."

Scotland Yard have real issues to answer about the apparent ineptness of the operation and about the large amount of uncorrected disinformation disseminated afterwards from the Commissioner downwards that this innocent persons' killing was "related to the ongoing terrorist situation", that he behaved suspiciously, ran away from officers, vaulted over ticket barriers and was wearing "bulky clothing". As none of this was true, where did it come from?

Hindsight is a great teacher, it is always a pity we don't have it beforehand, but there is another side to this sad story. Fifteen days previously on the 7th July 2005 4 suicide bombers had detonated 3 bombs on the Tube and one on a London bus. They killed 52 people (and themselves) in the biggest mass murder in peacetime Britain. The roll call of the dead is heart rending encompassing a typical cross section of Londoner's going about their day, young and old from every continent, colour and religious persuasion including a 19 year old Muslim girl on the threshold of her life. Of the 4 "brave" martyrs one was a 19 year old Jamaican Muslim convert who lived near me in Aylesbury and who took 26 lives on a Piccadilly Line train between Russell Square and King's Cross. What did a 19 year old know about life and what sort of crypto fascism justifies this cruel obscenity towards people you do not know but look in the eye before killing and maiming them? Maimed indeed for as well as the dead there were over 300 injured, some who lost limbs and eyes and some who will never live independent lives again.



I was in London that day and for a number of days afterwards spent afternoons and evenings helping people cope with the transport disruption. Two things were palpable. one was the great determination that London would not be brought to its knees by what happened, there was the quiet unseen courage of the Tube and Bus drivers who climbed into cabs at dawn the next morning and in their own way said "let's Roll!". The sense of determination was shared by the public who displayed stoic courage by insisting on going about their everyday business and not being terrorised even if it meant walking halfway across London to work.

Nerves were of course there under the surface but they had recovered somewhat when exactly 2 weeks later on the 21st July 2005 there was almost a carbon copy attempt of 4 suicide bomb attacks on the transport system in London by fanatics equally determined to destroy their fellow unknown human beings. This second attempt nearly succeeded and only failed because they had made a small error in the formulation of the homemade but deadly explosives they attempted to detonate. This second attempt was a great shock to the system, to the morale of Londoner's and no doubt to the security services who felt they had bottomed out all the leads and had stabilised the situation.

Now along with all of London they were looking into the abyss and not knowing what they were looking at or where the next threat would come from. What is happening and how many more are out there? - was the general public feeling. It was Jean Charles de Menezes great misfortune that he lived in a block of flats which was also the address of Hussain Osman, one of the failed suicide bombers from the day before and he was not entirely dissimilar in appearance given the limited identification information the police had to go on.

No doubt these court proceedings and further inevitable investigations will draw their own conclusions and I'm not attempting to anticipate them, but I make two observations of my own.

One is that society as a whole is not pacifist. We expect that the welfare of all is protected and logically that means we assent to people killing on our behalf. So we agree an Army is maintained and we expect it to kill and its troops to accept the possibility they will also be killed in combat. If an embassy is besieged, if a plane is hijacked or if a deranged gunman walks down the street killing at will we expect somebody to deal with the threat on our behalf. And if a suicide bomber is apprehended before he can blow us up we expect they will be killed. On the morning of the 22nd July 2005, the Met, a civilian police force had called in all the help it could get from the Defence and Security services and was trying to cover an impossible number of bases not knowing where the next threat was or where it would come from. Wherever fault lays in this sorry story it does lay with the three armed officers acting under orders who entered a Tube train to stop what they thought was Hussain Osman detonating a bomb.

The second point is who those of us who live and work in London felt that morning. Shamefully, I can remember my reaction was "Good on them, they got one!" and I can tell you in feeling that I was in a majority of, well, everybody. For at that stage, below the surface, there was a palpable sense of fear about town. And that is the point of the sheer obscenity and ruthless cruelty the suicide bomber. It desensitises all of us and for the sake of our protection makes us accept in our heart that which we would not normally accept in our head.

That desensitivity is something we all must fight against because otherwise the bomber has won and that must and will never happen. In this case it means we must, however difficult it may seem, try to do two things. Respect the memory of Jean Charles de Menezes and the grief of his family and respect the courage of the Police Officers who, out of a profound sense of public duty, did the unthinkable on all our behalves.

See also;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/12/policemans-lot.html

A Death in the state of Georgia

Troy set to be executed today!

In the sad event that there is no intervention today, Troy Davis will be executed by the state of Georgia at 7 p.m.

Please make one last attempt to halt the execution of a potentially innocent man. Call the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles and the Georgia Attorney General's Office and urge them to stop the execution.

BOARD OF PARDONS AND PAROLES: 404-657-9350

GEORGIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: 404-656-3300

Mr. Davis' serious claims of innocence, which include the recantation of 7 out of 9 witnesses, have never been heard in court. Further, no murder weapon was found and no physical evidence linked Davis to the crime.

For more information visit: http://www.amnestyusa.org/death-penalty/troy-davis-finality-over-fairness/page.do?id=1011343&n1=3&n2=28&n3=1412

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for taking the time to support fairness for Troy Davis. If you have not already done so, please forward this urgent action (http://www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis) to all of your friends.

In solidarity,
The Campaign to Abolish the Death Penalty
Amnesty International USA

Your message was sent to:

Georgia State Board State Board of Pardons & Paroles

I was saddened to learn that you denied clemency to Troy Anthony Davis on September 12, but I recognize that you can revisit this decision at any time between now and September 23. I strongly urge you to do so.

I welcomed your decision to stay the execution of Troy Davis in July 2007. When you issued this decision, you stated that the Board "will not allow an execution to proceed in this State unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused." In March, the Georgia Supreme Court denied Troy Davis a hearing, so doubts of his guilt will always remain. Please be true to your words of last year and commute the death sentence of Troy Davis.

As you know, Mr. Davis has been on death row in Georgia for more than 15 years for the murder of a police officer he maintains that he did not commit. Davis' conviction was not based on any physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found. Instead, the case was based solely on the testimony of witnesses, many of whom now allege police coercion, and most of whom have since recanted their testimony. Despite mounting evidence that Davis may in fact be innocent of the crime, appeals to courts to hold a hearing on this evidence have been repeatedly denied for procedural reasons.

This case has generated widespread attention, which reflects serious concerns in Georgia and throughout the United States about the potential for executing an innocent man. Nothing can undermine public faith in a criminal justice system faster than an execution when serious doubts about guilt have not been resolved. The power of clemency exists as a safety net to prevent such an irreversible error and preserve public confidence in the state’s capacity for justice. The integrity of justice in Georgia is at stake in this case, and I urge you to reconsider your September 12 decision and stop the execution of Troy Davis.

Thank you for your consideration.

Bendy Update

From the London Evening Standard 23rd September 2008

Boris: Bendy buses will be gone from streets by 2015
Martin Bentham, Home Affairs Editor



The Mayor today hit back at critics of his plan to scrap bendy buses by vowing to implement a "timetable of doom" that will see the last one disappear from London's streets by 2015.

On a BBC Radio London phonein, Boris Johnson said the first bendy buses would be removed next year.

His pledge follows a warning by some London Assembly members that the change could lead to passengers facing more crowded and slower journeys, higher costs and increased carbon emissions.

Mr Johnson has already rejected such claims and said he was only staggering the abolition to ensure taxpayers were not "ripped off" by suppliers if replacement vehicles had to be ordered too quickly. "There is a timetable of doom up in my office," he added.

A consultation on bendy buses on three routes - the 38 from Victoria to Clapton, 507 from Victoria to Waterloo, and 521 from Waterloo to London Bridge - has begun and new vehicles are to be introduced on the routes.

The Mayor is expected to announce the winning design for a new generation of Routemaster buses in November.

NOTE: THE MAYOR's TERM OF OFFICE ENDS IN 2012

See also;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/09/long-long-ago-ok-it-was-only-this-time.html

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/free-london.html

MARTELLO TOWERS

Bombast! The power of a 24 pounder cannon at Tower No. 7 Killiney, Co. Dublin


Tower No. 11 - Joyce Tower Sandycove, Co. Dublin.

Growing up in Dublin Martello Towers were like old friends which beaded the coastline around the city like a string of pearls. Dublin City has a wonderful maritime location with a sweeping bay with to the north the rugged promontory of Howth with its cliffs and fishing harbour and to the north the dunes of Portmarnock and the port of Malahide with the Donabate peninsula beyond. To the south of the harbour you have the magnificent South Bull Wall designed by Captain Bligh of Mutiny on the Bounty fame and the sweep of the bay towards Dun Laoghaire, Sandycove and beyond Dalkey the heights of Killiney Hill with beyond a deep water and flat strand before you arrive at Bray Head.

(http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/08/dublins-fair-city.html )

To protect the city from invasion by the French 12 towers were built to the North and 16 to the South along with complementary artillery batteries and signal towers. Loughlinstown Camp, inland from the Towers, was disbanded in 1799 after the 1798 Rebellion when the authorities became nervous about having such a large garrison of mainly Irish Troops so close to Dublin. The Towers around Dublin were mainly built in 1801/03 and over the years many of these towers became disused or fallen into other uses so their purpose is not clearly understood. That is why the authentic restoration of Tower No. 7 on Killiney Hill along with its glacis, musket points and artillery battery is an exciting event, all the more laudable due to the restoration being completed by an altruistic private individual.


Martello Tower Balbriggan, North Co, Dublin.

Martello towers (or simply Martellos) are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards. They stand up to 40 feet (12m) high (with two floors) and typically had a garrison of one officer and 15-25 men. Their round structure and thick walls of solid masonry made them resistant to cannon fire, while their height made them an ideal platform for a single heavy artillery piece, mounted on the flat roof and able to traverse a 360° arc. A few Martello towers were surrounded by a moat for extra defence. They were used throughout the 19th century, but became obsolete with the introduction of powerful rifled artillery. Many have survived to the present day, often preserved as historic monuments.


Finnevarra Martello Tower and ruins of Gunners Quarters, Galway Bay

Martello towers were inspired by a round fortress, part of a larger Genovese defence system, at Mortella Point in Corsica. Since the 15th century, similar towers had been built at strategic points around Corsica to protect coastal villages and shipping from North African pirates. They stood one or two stories high and measured 12-15 m (36-45 ft) in diameter, with a single doorway 5 m off the ground that could only be reached by climbing a removable ladder. The towers were paid for by local villagers and staffed by watchmen (known as torregiani) who would signal the approach of unexpected ships by lighting a fire on the tower's roof. This would alert the local defence forces to the incoming threat. Although the pirate threat subsequently dwindled, the Genovese built a newer generation of circular towers which were used to ward off later foreign invasions.


Punta Mortella, Corsica - The original tower blown up by the British Navy

On 7 February 1794, the tower at Mortella Point was attacked by two British warships, HMS Fortitude (74 guns) and HMS Juno (32 guns), and was eventually captured by land-based forces under Sir John Moore after two days of heavy fighting. Vice-Admiral Lord Hood reported:

"...The Fortitude and Juno were ordered against it, without making the least impression by a continued cannonade of two hours and a half; and the former ship being very much damaged by red-hot shot, both hauled off. The walls of the Tower were of a prodigious thickness, and the parapet, where there were two eighteen-pounders, was lined with bass junk, five feet from the walls, and filled up with sand; and although it was cannonaded from the Height for two days, within 150 yards, and appeared in a very shattered state, the enemy still held out; but a few hot shot setting fire to the bass, made them call for quarter. The number of men in the Tower were 33; only two were wounded, and those mortally."


Martello towers worldwide map

The British were impressed by the effectiveness of the tower against their most modern warships and copied the design. However, they got the name wrong, misspelling "Mortella" as "Martello". The ancient tower of Punta Mortella guarded the Gulf of St - Florent since the second half of the 16th century, when it was built (around 1563) according the plan of Italian architect Giacomo Palearo as a part of the Genoese defensive system.The tower had two 18-pounder guns on top and made the bay impossible for the British to use in their invasion of February 1794. The British later blew up the tower but were so impressed that from 1805 they based their own Martello tower coastal defences against Napoleon on it. They corrupted the Italian name "mortella" (myrtle) into "martello".


Sandymount Tower today


As a Tram terminus 1925

A similar purpose lies behind another of Britain's great, and much misunderstood, Napoleonic defences - the chain of 103 Martello Towers stretching from Seaford in the west to Aldeburgh on the East Anglian coast built between Spring 1805 and 1812.

These squat, ovoid-shaped brick-built towers are immensely strong. The basic principle of the towers is their rounded angled shape helps them to deflect shot rather than taking the impact full on. Essentially their structure, with or without the central pillar in the larger towers, plays to the structural strength of the construction material by having a quasi parabolic shell structure so all forces from inward munitions are mainly resolved by the construction material being in compression where it is at its strongest. Often there is a protective glacis, or grassed ramp, in front of the tower to deflect incoming cannon and provide a clear field of fire for the tower’s muskets. In addition the circular tower with its inward angle going backwards as you go up in height deflects the incoming shot minimising damage to the tower which is normally oval rather than circular with the walls thicker on the sea-side. The sheer mass of the towers also allows them to absorb the force from the incoming fire and deflect the energy off its rounded structure. Also due to their siting incoming cannon fire was normally in an upward trajectory losing much of its velocity and kinetic energy in the process. Conversely the cannon on the cradle of the Martello had a clear 360° line of fire in a downward angle gaining velocity in its trajectory. Taken in conjunction with the sophisticated ventilation and drainage / water storage systems built into the towers it will be appreciated that these were a deceptively cleverly engineered piece of military engineering which gave considerable protection and autonomy to the defending garrison.

In Britain these towers tended to be constructed in dense overburnt engineering brick and in Ireland in dressed granite. Whatever the materials used the construction was substantial and of the highest standard which is why so many are still extant.

Martello Towers were the idea of Captain William Ford of the Royal Engineers and they were sited roughly 600 yards apart and each mounted a long-range 24 pounder cannon. The aim was to cover the most likely landing beaches and to confuse any French landing while British reserves and Royal Navy ships were rushed to the area. These towers were never tested which is a great tribute. The best defence is that which deters attack and certainly the French regarded these little 'bulldogs' as a formidable barrier. With hindsight it appears that all these defences were, essentially, pointless since Nelson's victory at Trafalgar in October 1805 - at the very moment the construction of the Martello Tower system was getting under way - made a French invasion of Britain a virtual impossibility.


Defensive Features

But in late 1805 the picture was not quite so clear. After the destruction of his fleet at Trafalgar Napoleon went on to win, in December 1805, the vastly important victory at Austerlitz that confirmed the French as the military and political masters of Europe. A French fleet could be reconstructed and, as far as the British could see, it was just a matter of time before the French were again in a position to invade. It was not until 1812 when Napoleon and his allies were smashed in Russia that the invasion of Britain was clearly beyond the French - and in this year the construction of the chain of Martello towers ceased.

After a short truce (and the much ignored Treaty of Amiens in 1802), war again broke out between England and France in 1803 and in view of past invasion attempts by the French, the British drew up plans to fortify likely landing places in Britain and around the coasts of Ireland. British spies could again report that Boulogne had become an enormous Camp for a French Army of over 130.000 men and 22,000 landing boats poised ready to invade Britain. The Royal Navy also made known their presence to the French and was ready to prevent the invasion force from leaving French waters.

A comprehensive plan of fortifications was approved by the enactment of the National Defence Act 1804 to protect the English coasts from invasion and this plan was also extended to include Ireland. The principal feature of the network of fortifications being constructed on the Coasts of England and Ireland was The Martello Tower. 74 Towers were built between Folkestone in Kent and Seaford, 12 miles west of Eastbourne. These are described as the South Coast towers and numbered (1-74) from east to west. A further 29 towers were built on the East coast between Point Clear in Essex and Aldeburgh in Suffolk. 50 Towers are known to have been built in Ireland. In Ireland the thought of a French Invasion had not been entirely theoretical. There had in fact been one actual and two abortive invasions in support of the United Irishmen and Irish Independence. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/years-of-french.html )

The interior of a Martello tower was divided into three stories (sometimes with an additional basement). The ground floor served as the magazine and storerooms, where ammunition, stores and provisions were kept. The garrison of 24 men and one officer lived in a casemate on the first floor, which was divided into several rooms and had fireplaces built into the walls for cooking and heating. The officer and men lived in separate rooms of almost equal size. The roof or terreplein was surmounted with one or two cannon on a central pivot which enabled them to be turned through up to 360 degrees. A well or cistern was provided within the fort to supply the garrison with fresh water. An internal drainage system linked to the roof enabled the cistern to be refilled with rainwater.


Portmarnock Martello Tower, Co. Dublin

A number of Martello towers were built around the coast of Ireland, especially along the east, from Millmount (Drogheda), to Bray, around Dublin Bay but also around Cork Harbour on the south coast. On the east coast, concentrated mainly around Dublin Bay, the towers were in line of sight of each other, providing the ability to communicate with one another, or warn of any incoming attacks. Possibly the most famous is the Martello tower in Sandycove, near Dún Laoghaire, in which James Joyce lived for a few days. Joyce shared the tower with Oliver St. John Gogarty, then a medical student but later to become famous in Irish history as a surgeon, politician and writer. The fictional character Stephen Dedalus lives in the tower with a medical student, Malachi "Buck" Mulligan, in Ulysses. The character Buck Mulligan was based by Joyce on Gogarty. Known as the James Joyce Tower, it is now a museum dedicated to Joyce. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/06/james-joyce-and-me.html ) A number of other Martello towers are extant nearby at Bulloch Harbour, Dalkey Island, Williamstown, Seapoint and Sandymount and Martello towers feature in many literary works set in Dublin. On the north side of the city, Martello towers can be found in Portmarnock, Howth, and Sutton and on both Ireland's Eye and Lambay Island. During the 1980s Bono owned the Martello tower in Bray, County Wicklow.


Dublin Bay with Killiney in the bottom right


Dublin Bay c. 1820

During the 19th century Fenian uprising, Monning Martello tower near Fota Island in Cork Harbour was briefly captured and held by the famous Captain Mackey and is believed to have been the only one ever captured. The tower at Seapoint, County Dublin, is the headquarters of the Genealogical Society of Ireland, while the restored tower at Ilnacullin is a feature of an island garden in Glengarriff, County Cork. Several other towers are still extant, including one at Rathmullan (the flight of the Earls), County Donegal.

There are generally three sizes constructed in Ireland and Tower No. 7 in Killiney is the smallest size without the central pillar typical of the larger structures. In England the towers were generally the larger type with a massive brick pillar which rose from the foundations to the roof to support the weight of the gun, and provided the base for the central pivot, around which the gun carriage could turn through 360 degrees. The original 24-pounder cannon had a range of about 1000 yards.

Once the bricks had been delivered to the proposed tower sites, work began. It took roughly 500,000 bricks to construct each tower; such was the thickness of the walls, which decreased from base to top. The towers therefore sloped from a wider base to a narrower top, and were not truly round, but slightly elliptical, the thicker part of the walls facing towards the sea. This was designed to help enemy cannon balls to bounce off the walls harmlessly. As different builders were employed along the coast, tower dimensions can vary.

Structural Features



The towers were an incredible feat of engineering - the sheer complexity of the structure can only be marvelled at. Foundations were sunk to an unknown depth, and consisted of large stones laid roughly in the outline of a circle. The tower was then built up from this solid rock base. The bricks were bonded in “hot lime mortar”, which was a mixture of lime, ash and hot tallow. The resulting bond was phenomenally hard. Experiments had been conducted at Woolwich by the Royal Engineers prior to construction, to determine the best mix. Cannonballs were fired at the experimental walls, and were found to bounce off. This was partly due to the roundness of the shot not being able to get sufficient contact with the surface of the rounded and sloping tower walls. It was not until the birth of the Rifled Muzzle-Loader (RML) gun in the 1860's, with its pointed shells, that the Martello's walls were really under threat, and even then they gave a good account of themselves. The external surface of the tower was coated with a tough cement covering known as “stucco”, to seal in the brickwork.

The core of the larger Martello structures was the central pillar. It was designed to support the first floor, the magnificent vaulted ceiling and roof, as well as the gun. Up to first floor level it was about 1.5m thick, then being cut back to 1.4m to hold the floor. It then rose up and arched out to support the vaulted ceiling, said to be as much as 3m thick. Inside the pillar was encased an old cannon, no longer in use. This was used to hold the centre-pin around which the gun carriage rotated.

The top of the pillar was capped with a granite slab when it reached the gun platform. It was vital that the towers did not become damp inside, as this would cause the floor and room partitions to decay, not to mention the effect that damp gunpowder had in preventing cannon firing. Air vents were therefore ingeniously built into the brickwork from the parapet and windows to carry air into the magazine area, stairway and first floor.


Rooftop Cannon



Vents were placed just above the fire step on the roof and were taken down to just below the wooden floor level, in an attempt to keep damp to a minimum. Another vent was run from the roof and down into the arch of the staircase passage, which also had a vent that led into the garrison's quarters in the form of a circular hole just to the left of the doorway to the stairs.

Two circular vents were let into the top of the window arches and these led around the walls and down to the ventilation alcoves in the magazine. If the powder, fuses and musket cartridges became damp they would be useless, and would effectively render the tower defenceless. Also incorporated into the walls was the means by which rainwater from the roof was piped down into the cistern. Drains were sunk into the roof, and culminated into a system of lead pipes that were carried down to the foundations in a recess that ran the length of the tower.

The ground floor of the tower was devoted to storage of materials and supplies. The magazine was built into the thickness of the sea wall, which is surprising, as it must have weakened the wall which was designed to be the strongest. In the lockers were stored the dangerous materials, such as the gunpowder and slow match. The magazine was walled off from the rest of the floor for safety reasons. Some towers had storage areas divided up by wooden partitions. The ground floor was not lit, apart from a lantern on a special shelf, which lit the magazine area from behind a glass window, to prevent naked flame from being introduced into the gunpowder supply. The magazine was shut off by a door which was lined with copper sheet. This was because copper is less likely to cause a spark, which could be very dangerous, given the close proximity to a supply of gunpowder.

The garrison's living quarters were situated twenty feet above ground level on a wooden floor. Stone corbels built into the walls supported the outer edges of the floor, whilst the central column was cut back to support the inner side. Despite the air vents built into the walls at ground and first floor level, the towers did not dry out enough. The method of scraping the floorboards and treating them with quick lime failed to stop dry rot setting in, as nearly all original floors have now gone. Another fire precaution was the use of wooden dowels to fix the boards down instead of nails. This was to ensure that the hobnails in the soldiers' boots did not cause sparks to fly.

The roof was the platform for the single cannon, originally a 24-pounder, and later a 32-pounder. A rotating oak carriage allowed the gun to be rotated through 360 degrees, with the use of block and tackle hooked onto iron rings built into the parapet wall. The roof consisted of raised granite firestep around which ran an iron track (known as a 'racer') for the gun carriage, another racer being on the central pivot. The parapet coping was of a durable sandstone, and was cut in a fashion so that it sloped downwards to enable the garrison to shoot closer to the tower base with musket fire should enemy infantry attempt to storm the walls. The chimneys from the fireplaces were built into the walls and culminated in a pair of chimney stacks on the parapet. The placement of the chimneys may have been deliberate, to prevent the cannon from easily 'muzzle-sweeping' a neighbouring tower or battery, although if the need arose, the stacks would probably have been unceremoniously removed to clear the gun's field of fire.

Tower No. 7, Killiney, Dublin.



For only the second time in over 200 years, No.7 Martello Tower, in Killiney, Co. Dublin, Ireland, was inaugurated on Saturday, 12th July 2008. This was (almost) the culmination of a project aimed at restoring the Tower to its original state. Niall O'Donoghue has undertaken the restoration at great expense, both financially and in terms of effort, and the result is stunning.

The smaller Killiney Martello Tower (Tower No. 7) is a free-standing, compact, squat, circular, two-storey structure built over a vaulted cellar with a parapet- protected roof which has a fixture for a large traversing cannon. The tower stands 10m high, with bomb-proof walls, over 3 metres thick in places. It is built with large granite blocks and is a magnificent feat of engineering.


Major La Chaussée's original analysis of the vulnerability of the Bay to a French attack.


Door Tower No. 7

There is a stone staircase to the roof. The first- floor was the garrison's living quarters for eleven men and one officer. There were 2 rooms on this floor with one window & one fireplace in each. The entrance door was on this floor also. It was 3 m from the ground and access was by a ladder, which could be be withdrawn into the tower in an emergency


Model of Tower No. 7

The latrines were outside in the corner of the grounds. The ground floor was devoted to storage of materials and supplies. Incorporated in it was ammunition’s magazine which was walled off for safety reasons. The Tower is surrounded by a stone wall with a 3m wide and sloping embankment in front so that any attackers could not hide behind it. In front of the tower on the seaward side there was a musket firing point overlooking the glacis and in its original form there would have been an artillery battery of three guns facing seaward.


The Captain's Quarter's


Tower 7 from Killiney Hill Road before restoration

No. 7 Tower was part of the defences of Killiney Bay against a possible French invasion in the period 1804 to 1815. The other towers and batteries have suffered a variety of fates, but this one was rescued and restored to its original state by Niall O'Donoghue, who bought the much neglected site off the local council where it had been used as a maintenance yard storing building materials and equipment.


The "new" cannon in its rotating cradle


The Gunner O'Donoghue

The project has been long and meticulous and the (almost) finished Tower was inaugurated with much ceremony, jollity and efficiency on the 12th of July 2008. The newly cast cannon was successfully fired and a blaze of colour was added by the Redcoat finery and arms of the firing party and their escort. Musket volleys were also fired as a teaser to the main event.


The 24 Pounder's Bombast


A volley of muskets

As well as the tower Niall has restored the musket firing point and glacis and rebuilt the gunner’s cottage on the site in reclaimed materials. However the piece de resistance is the “new” 24 pounder cannon he had cast in the UK and the authentic oak cradle and tackle he had constructed. His obsession knew no bounds as he then completed a gunnery course at Fort Nelson, Hampshire so he could be licensed for the ceremonial “bombast” which echoed around Dublin Bay on the 12th July last. He is now in the privileged position of having a cannon poised over his neighbours which given the territoriality of some of the local inhabitants is no bad thing!


Inspecting the Redcoats - not a common sight in modern Ireland


The Ladies were in attendance

One final item to report, despite the redcoat eyes and telescopes being on high alert and scanning the horizon the French did not show on the day. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose, n'est-ce pas?

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/03/years-of-french.html

I’m very grateful to Pól Ó Duibhir for allowing me to use material and photos from his site on the inauguration of Tower No. 7. But mainly I am grateful for discovering a wonderful site which has much of Irish, Military and Local interest to commend it plus a Blog as Gaeilge. Have a look;

http://www.photopol.com

This is Pól’s article on Loughlinstown Camp which was inland protecting Killiney Bay before the Towers were built. It was disbanded in 1799 after the 1798 Rebellion when the authorities became nervous about having such a large garrison of mainly Irish Troops so close to Dublin.

http://www.photopol.com/french/camp.html

And here is his clever map on Google showing the Defences of Dublin Bay:

http://www.photopol.com/dca/

Long, Long Ago (OK, It was only this time last year!)

Boris Johnson has vowed that his first act as Mayor of London will be to scrap bendy buses and replace them with a modern-day Routemaster. Mr Johnson said that the controversial buses were abused by fare dodgers and highly dangerous to cyclists.

Speaking at the first Tory candidates hustings meeting, the MP for Henley said that he would introduce a new version of the Routemaster bus that had been axed by Ken Livingstone. Their replacement would be fully accessible for the disabled and mothers with buggies. He said: "We should on day one, act one, scene one, hold a competition to get rid of the bendy bus. They wipe out cyclists, there are many cyclists killed every year by them.

"It's not beyond the wit of man to design a new Routemaster which will stand as an icon of this city."

Mr Johnson also said that he would stand up for the "many" in London who depended on their car and vowed to spend more of the congestion charge on repairing roads, particularly outside the centre of the city. Just £10 million of the nearly £1 billion raised by the congestion charge had gone on improving roads, he said. In a question and answer session in Westminster last night, the Tory front-runner also called for all ethnic minority communities in London to have a "good command of English".

He said: "It's tragic that there are people in the second and third generations who still don't speak English. "If you don't speak English, you cannot take part in the economy and that's one of the reasons those communities are doing badly."

EVENING STANDARD, London, 12 September 2007.



Not the New Routemaster

Irish Lonely Hearts

I'm grateful to AS for this extract of actual ads from the Lonely Hearts pages of ' Ireland 's Own' For those who do not know this esteemed periodical it represents an Ireland we know little about and which hardly existed in reality. As such it plays a valuable part in protecting us from alien cultures!


Heavy drinker, 35, Cork area. Seeks gorgeous sex addict interested in
a man who loves his pints, cigarettes, Glasgow Celtic Football Club
and has been known to start fights on Patrick Street at three o'clock
in the morning.
------------------------------
Donegal man, 50, in desperate need of a ride. Anything considered.
------------------------------
Grossly overweight Louth turf-cutter, 42 years old, Gemini, seeks
nimble sex-pot, preferably South American, for tango sessions,
candlelit dinners and humid nights of screaming passion. Must have own
car and be willing to travel.
------------------------------
Limerick man, 27, medium build, brown hair, blue eyes, seeks alibi for
the night of February 27 between 8 PM and 11:30 PM.
--------------------------
Artistic Clare woman, 53, petite, loves rainy walks on the beach,
poetry, unusual sea-shells and interesting brown rice dishes, seeks
mystic dreamer for companionship, back rubs and more as we bounce
along like little tumbling clouds on life's beautiful crazy journey.
Strong stomach essential.
--------------------------
Ginger haired Galway man, a troublemaker, gets slit-eyed and shítty
after a few scoops, seeks attractive, wealthy lady for bail purposes,
maybe more.
--------------------------
Bad tempered, foul-mouthed old bastard, living in a damp cottage in
the arsé end of Roscommon, seeks attractive 21 year old blonde lady
with a lovely chest.
------------------------
Optimistic Mayo man, 35, seeks a blonde 20 year old double-jointed
super model, who owns her own brewery and has an open-minded twin
sister.
--------------------------
Following a sad recent loss, teetotal Tipperary man, 53, seeks
replacement Mammy. Must like biscuits and answer to the name Minnie.
Thurles area.
--------------------------
Bitter, disillusioned Dublin man, lately rejected by long-time fiancée,
seeks decent, honest, reliable woman, if such a thing still exists in
this cruel world of hatchet-faced bítches




For those who think this is improbable then you have probably never been at the Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival. Lisdoonvarna in Co Clare is a "Spa" Town noted for the undrinkable quality of its sulphurous water which tastes like rotten eggs. Traditionally the farming community in the West of Ireland gathered there after the harvest in September and the Matchmaking became a serious matter with the number of acres and store bullocks on the table in the "Match" playing as much a role as the attributes or otherwise of the two parties to the Match.

This is the official blurb for what is now a six week festival and for the last matchmaker, Willie Daly who runs a riding school (sic) near Ennistymon.




150 years of Matchmaking in Lisdoonvarna

"Matchmaking is one of Ireland's oldest traditions and, for the last couple of hundred years, a good deal of it has taken place in Lisdoonvarna during September and early October.

The name Lisdoonvarna comes from 'Lios Duin Bhearna', which means the lios or enclosure of the fort in the gap. The town developed into a tourist centre as early as the middle of the 18th-century when a top Limerick surgeon discovered the beneficial effects of its mineral waters. People travelled from near and far to bathe in, and drink, the mineral waters. Rich in iron, sulphur and magnesium, the waters gave relief from the symptoms of certain diseases including rheumatism and glandular fever. The Spa Hotel was the centre around which the village developed. The opening of the West Clare Railway contributed towards that development, although the nearest railway station was seven miles away at Ennistymon. This station opened in l887 and from that time onwards, until the advent of the motorcar, tourists travelled from the train in pony and trap to ''The Spa''. It was due to the popularity of these mineral springs and the huge amount of people going there that led to the Lisdoonvarna “matchmaking tradition". September became the peak month of the holiday season and with the harvest safely in, bachelor farmers flocked to Lisdoonvarna in search of a wife. By the 1920s, matchmaking was still in vogue and people continued to come and "take the waters", including many of Ireland's clergy. It was around this time that one of Lisdoonvarna's most famous sayings was coined, describing the town as a place "where parish priests pretend to be sober and bank clerks pretend to be drunk" .



Today, there is just one official Matchmaker left in Co. Clare: Mr. Willie Daly who runs the riding centre outside Ennistymon and practices match making part time. With the exception of the pairings he plans and negotiates, very little genuine matchmaking takes place nowadays. However, Lisdoonvarna’s annual festival has evolved into Europe's largest single's event. People don’t necessarily come to look for a spouse - they come by the thousands in search of a good time. For the month of September, dances run from 12.00 noon each day and carry on into the small hours of the next morning. Set dancing exhibitions are also a feature of the event and there’s live Irish music in most pubs, although getting to the bar can be quite a task, but don't worry or hurry, because the music carries on until the early hours.



If you can afford the time and the money, and you're single, head for Lisdoonvarna this September and early October. You never know - as well as enjoying all of the good-natured fun and grand "craic", you might also find the perfect mate!"


http://www.matchmakerireland.com/


This is so ingrained in Ireland's National Physic it has been immortalised in song by the great Irish singer Christy Moore - Here are some of the words and the Video - If you have left it too late for this year start making your plans for 2009!

Lisdoonvarna

Christy Moore

How's it goin' there everybody,
From Cork, New York, Dundalk, Gortahork and Glenamaddy.
Here we are in the County Clare
It's a long, long way from here to there.
There's the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher,
the Tulla and the Kilfenora,
Miko Russell, Doctor Bill,
Willy Clancy, Noel Hill.
Flutes and fiddles everywhere.
If it's music you want,
You should go to Clare.

CHORUS

G C
Oh, Lisdoonvarna
G C
Lisdoon, Lisdoon, Lisdoon, Lisdoonvarna!

Everybody needs a break,
Climb a mountain or jump in a lake.
Some head off to exotic places,
Others go to the Galway Races.
Mattie goes to the South of France,
Jim to the dogs, Peter to the dance.
A cousin of mine goes potholing,
A cousin of hers loves Joe Dolan.
Summer comes around each year,
We go there and they come here.
Some jet off to ... Frijiliana,
But I always go to Lisdoonvarna.

CHORUS

I always leave on a Thursday night,
With me tent and me groundsheet rolled up tight.
I like to hit Lisdoon,
In around Friday afternoon.
This gives me time to get me tent up and my gear together,
I don't need to worry about the weather.
Ramble in for a pint of stout,
you'd never know who'd be hangin' about!
There's a Dutchman playing a mandolin,
And a German looking for Liam Óg O'Floinn.
And there's Adam, Bono and Garrett Fitzgerald,
Gettin' their photos taken for the Sunday World.
Finbarr, Charlie and Jim Hand,
And they drinkin' pints to bate the band.
( why would'nt they for Jasus sake are'nt they getting it for nothing)

CHORUS

The multitudes, they flocked in throngs
To hear the music and the songs.
Motorbikes and Hi-ace vans,
With bottles - barrels - flagons - cans.
Mighty craic. Loads of frolics,
Pioneers and alcoholics,
PLAC, SPUC and the FCA,
Free Nicky Kelly and the IRA.
Hairy chests and milk-white thighs,
mickey dodgers in disguise.
Mc Graths, O'Briens, Pippins, Coxs,
Massage parlours in horse boxes.
There's amhráns, bodhráns, amadáns,
Arab sheiks, Hindu Sikhs, Jesus freaks,
RTE are makin' tapes, takin' breaks and throwin' shapes.
This is heaven, this is hell.
Who cares? Who can tell?
(Anyone for the last few Choc Ices, now?)

Clemency Denied for Troy Davis

From Amnesty International USA

In the face of an overwhelming public outcry the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles shockingly refused to grant clemency to Troy Davis last Friday.

Troy Davis is still scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia on September 23 at 7pm.

Mr. Davis' serious claims of innocence, which include the recantation of 7 out of 9 witnesses, have never been heard in court. Further, no murder weapon was found and no physical evidence linked Davis to the crime.

Urge the board to reconsider its decision: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/site/lookup.asp?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=4496963

Amnesty International and the NAACP held a rally on Thursday night in Atlanta calling for clemency. Earlier in the day, Amnesty International and others delivered over 20,000 petitions, just a small fraction of the over 200,000 collected from all over the world.

We are all shocked and saddened by this latest blow. But together we can continue to press for justice for Troy Davis.
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Background

Restrictions on Federal appeals have prevented Troy Anthony Davis from having a hearing in federal court on the reliability of the witness testimony used against him, despite the fact that most of the witnesses have since recanted, many alleging they were pressured or coerced by police. Troy Davis remains on Georgia death row, and may be scheduled for execution in the near future.

Troy Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Police Officer Mark Allen MacPhail at a Burger King in Savannah, Georgia; a murder he maintains he did not commit. There was no physical evidence against him and the weapon used in the crime was never found. The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state's non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony. Many of these witnesses have stated in sworn affidavits that they were pressured or coerced by police into testifying or signing statements against Troy Davis.

One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester "Red" Coles – the principle alternative suspect, according to the defense, against whom there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles.

Paralympic Games

Sir Ludwig Guttmann

As the Olympics finished in Beijing the focus turned to what is probably the more remarkable part of the Olympics, the Paralympic Games. The world thrilled at the sportsmanship, sacrifice and frequently the agony of the athletes taking part in the Olympics. Imagine then what it must be like to be a disabled athlete, in a world where disabled people still encounter prejudice, exclusion and discrimination? The Paralympics are a particular source of pride in the village of Stoke Mandeville where the Celtic Sage resides for it is the local Stoke Mandeville Hospital and a remarkable surgeon Ludwig Guttmann who gave birth to the remarkable phenomenon of the Paralympics. And as the first organised “Stoke Mandeville Games” took place in conjunction with the 1948 Olympic Games hosted in a war shattered London then for the 2012 games in London the Paralympics will truly be coming home!

Stoke Mandeville Hospital


Stoke Mandeville Huts

For war has everything to do with the foundation of the Paralympics and with the remarkable Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, Ludwig Guttmann. Sir Ludwig "Poppa" Guttmann (July 3, 1899 in Toszek (Poland) - March 18, 1980) was a German-born neurologist who founded the Paralympics and is considered one of the founding fathers of organized physical activities for the disabled. One of the leading pre-World War II neurologists in Germany, Guttmann worked at the Jewish Hospital in Breslau until 1939, when he was forced to flee to England.

In 1944, Guttmann was asked by the British government to found the National Spinal Injuries Centre in Stoke Mandeville near London, at the Stoke Mandeville Hospital. He was appointed the position of director at the Centre, a position he held until 1966. The hospital had been founded in 1830 as an out of town treatment centre during a cholera epidemic in Buckinghamshire and during the war the Canadian Army used land beside the hospital as billets before D-Day importing and building substantial wooden buildings which were subsequently used to treat some of the large number of servicemen, particularly RAF Aircrew who had severe spinal injuries and other disabilities. As director, he believed sport was a method of therapy, using it to help build physical strength and self-respect. By 1952, Guttmann's Stoke Mandeville Games for the disabled had grown to over 130 international competitors, and it continued to grow, impressing Olympics officials and the international community. In 1956, Guttmann was awarded the Fearnley Cup, an award for outstanding contribution to the Olympic ideal. Starting in 1960 in Rome and continuing to today, the Paralympic Games are held after the Olympic Games, often in the same city. In 1960 Guttmann also founded the British Sports Association of the Disabled. Guttmann received Great Britain's OBE and CBE and was honoured worldwide.

Guttmann Centre




The original Games couldn't have been more different from the international event they have become today. On July 29th, 1948, 16 paralysed ex-serviceman gathered on the lawn of Stoke Mandeville Hospital to take part in the first ever Stoke Mandeville Games. In a decision, that was to prove very significant, they were held to coincide with the opening of the Olympic Games in London. The beginning of the sports movement for the disabled had begun. The games were held again at the same location in 1952, and Dutch veterans took part alongside the British, making it the first international competition of its kind. These Stoke Mandeville Games have been described as the precursors of the Paralympic Games. The Paralympics were subsequently formalised as a quadrennial event tied to the Olympic Games, and the first official Paralympic Games, no longer open solely to war veterans, were held in Rome in 1960. At the Toronto 1976 Games other groups of athletes with different disabilities were also included.

Stoke Mandeville Games 1948

Dr Ludwig Guttmann, seen by many as the founding father of the Paralympic movement, passionately believed that his patients, with the right help and support, could lead fulfilling lives.

"Paraplegia is not the end of the way. It is the beginning of a new life," he once said. And sport played a very important role in achieving that goal - both physically and psychologically.

The unit had originally been created to treat severely injured World War Two servicemen. Early sports included darts, billiards and skittles. Team sports soon followed such as polo and basketball. As Dr Guttmann later recalled: "At first I used sporting activity as a kind of recreation but I found very soon that it can play a very important part as a complementary to the usual methods of physiotherapy." He also found that sport had a very positive psychological effect, "Nothing can produce more activity of mind, apart from work and employment, but sport."



The Paralympic Games are a multi-sport event for athletes with physical, mental, and sensorial disabilities. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. The Paralympic Games are held every four years, following the Olympic Games, and are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). The Paralympic Games are sometimes confused with the Special Olympics World Games, which are only for people with intellectual disabilities. Although the name was originally coined as a portmanteau combining “paraplegic” (due to its origins as games for people with spinal injuries) and “Olympic”, the inclusion of other disability groups meant that this was no longer considered appropriate. The present formal explanation for the name is therefore that it refers to a competition held in parallel with the Olympic Games.

Stoke Mandeville Stadium has provided wheelchair athletes facilities and support for their sporting aspirations since it was built in 1969. The movement has grown massively from its start in 1948 and now encompasses the development of thousands of athletes worldwide. Stoke Mandeville Stadium is the birthplace of the Paralympic Games and the is the British National Centre for Wheelchair Sport. The Stadium provides high quality, fully accessible training facilities for leading sportsmen and women.

Stoke Mandeville Pool


Sports Hall

Today, 60 years after the first games were held on the lawn of the neighbouring hospital, stands Stoke Mandeville stadium, the national centre for disability sport. Its facilities include a pool, running track and field, tennis courts and bowls centre. Some of Britain's most famous athletes with disabilities have benefited from its facilities. Among them are Paralympic gold medallists, Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson, David Weir, and Lloyd Upsdell. However, the centre remains very much a grass roots organization aimed at making sport accessible to anyone, whatever their level. Martin McElhatton, the chief executive of WheelPower, which owns the stadium is passionate advocate of the importance of sport.

He says: "One of the most important things for our young disabled people is that they have opportunities to get into sport. They often don't get to hear about the opportunities that are available to them, through organisations like WheelPower in terms of sport, particularly children in mainstream education."

Olympic Lodge

Within sight of the main Stoke Mandeville Hospital the Guttmann Centre provides impressive facilities for disabled athletes including a 50 room Olympic Lodge where even the ramped fire escapes are disabled friendly and an all weather running track. Also seen here is the Olympic Flame from the 1984 Paralympics, which were shared with Stoke Mandeville and Los Angeles.

The medical work began by Dr. Guttmann with servicemen crippled in war time is continued at The National Spinal Injuries Centre (NSIC) at Stoke Mandeville. This is a 110-bed dedicated spinal injuries centre comprising 20 acute, 24 readmission, 60 rehabilitation and 6 paediatric beds. The NSIC provides comprehensive care to adult patients with acute spinal cord injury and the lifelong complications of cord injury and offers rehabilitation to children with spinal cord injury in a dedicated paediatric unit.

It is worth recalling that before Dr. Guttmann set up his rehabilitation most such patients died of complications within one year of injury. The experience gained in treating and preventing complications, together with an increase in injuries caused by road traffic accidents, led to a rapid expansion of the Centre from an initial 26 beds to 190 beds in the main part of the hospital.

National Spinal Injuries Centre

Severe weather conditions in Buckinghamshire in 1980 caused the ceiling in five of the spinal wards in the wooden huts to collapse which resulted in rapid flooding and falling debris. It was suggested that the Centre would have to close as the Area Health Authority did not have any funds to pay for all the work required to bring the wards back into use. The implications of this would have been disastrous as patients would have had to be treated in local District Hospitals where the expertise and knowledge of the treatment and rehabilitation of paraplegia and tetraplegia were not available. It was at this point that Sir Jimmy Savile, a British TV and Music personality, then working as a volunteer porter at the hospital, set about organising the campaign to raise the necessary funds for a purpose built replacement spinal cord injuries centre. The appeal was launched in January 1980 with an initial donation of £150,000. The public responded in a way never seen before and, within three years, over ten million pounds had been raised to build and equip the new National Spinal Injuries Centre, which was officially opened in 1983. Sir James continues to take an active interest in the spinal Centre which is the leading specialist facility in the world.


Stoke Mandeville Station

Thatched Cottage Stoke Mandeville

Stoke Mandeville Hospital is in fact on the “Stoke Road” halfway between Aylesbury and Stoke Mandeville. The village today is largely a commuter town with a railway station for London, three pubs and numerous thatched cottage. Like all the fertile Vale of Aylesbury it is overlooked by the Chiltern Hills and was formerly an important market gardening centre. Indeed Castle Caldwell is built on old plum and greengage orchards. The first part of the name Stoke Mandeville derives from the old English word stoc, and means “outlying farmstead or hamlet”. The second part, “Mandeville”, derives from the Norman family of that name which held the manor in the 13th century. The suffix Mandeville was first recorded in 1284 when the manor was listed as being in the hands of the powerful Norman de Mandeville family. Stoke Mandeville Station serves the village of Stoke Mandeville in Buckinghamshire. The station lies on the London Marylebone-Aylesbury line and is served by Chiltern Railways trains. It is situated between Wendover and Aylesbury stations. The station first opened on 1 September 1892, and was served by both the London Underground Metropolitan Line and the Great Central Railway.

Stoke Mandeville has a long tradition of dedicated staff who go beyond the call of duty to make the station a pleasant place for passengers. The current station master is Alex Mitchell who has several times won the "Station of the Year" competition. The lawn at the station front features several sculptures including a statue of Bernie, the former Station Master. It has excellent loos, a waiting room, ticket office, bike store and a coffee shop / newsagent. Buckinghamshire still has much evidence of Celtic village and land layout. Traditional houses were of wychert (flint / straw / earth) construction with characteristic "dog ear" thatched roofs which oversailed by at least two feet to keep running water off the walls. There are still many wychert and thatch buildings as well as later wood frame and infill thatched cottages throughout Bucks and in Stoke Mandeville village.

Olympic Flame Stoke Mandeville

London is looking forward to hosting the Olympics and Paralympics in 2012 and showing the world the diversity, tolerance and freedom which makes London such a great world city. Whilst democracies are not as good as dictatorships at mass choreography the London Olympics will reflect the energy and confidence which makes London such an iconic city. And in embracing the Paralympic athletes and their families London will have an opportunity to show that diversity and inclusion are not just slogans or aspirations but part of the way we do things here. The legacy of Dr Guttmann is clearly still very much at the heart of the movement he helped found in Stoke Mandeville 60 years ago. Guttmann's work at Stoke Mandeville inspired this great addition to the Olympic ideal and the Guttmann centre continues this work today. And in Stoke Mandeville in 2012 we might feel a little extra pride that the amazing feat of human effort in the face of adversity known as the Paralympic Games are “coming home”.

Litter is Disgusting – So are those responsible.

Litter is Disgusting – So are those responsible.

“Litter is Disgusting – So are those responsible” is the grammatically challenged slogan on every litter bin in my home town of Dublin, a town once notorious for littering which earned it the epithet “dear dirty Dublin.” Well it is now a changed town and it is targeting the anti social behaviour behind littering. There is no doubt littering deserves the anti social tag for it is a form of vandalism which destroys the quality of the public spaces enjoyed by us all as well as the public transport utilities such as the trains, buses and The Tube. Yet it appears in the UK to be little social stigma behind littering. Policing is focused on ignoring every “broken window” except those targeted by government and on Chief Constable’s bonus scorecards, local authority enforcement is nowhere to be seen in Central London and clusters of smokers around building entrances assert their God given right to throw their smoldering butts onto the pavement. Hey they have paid the tax on their fags so they are paying for the right to litter and get new lungs on the NHS!

Cigarette+Butt!

Also the growth of “Free” newspapers in the morning, evening and in between times often leaves Tube and train carriages looking like paper warehouses at close of play – what is the cost to the companies of “Free” newspapers and is there a more useless form of journalism – No wonder one of the London “Free’s”, The London Lite, is unerringly parodied on the website www.london-shite.com

But as well as trashing the environment with this last hurrah by a print media desperately trying to keep their market share the have also had the pernicious side effect of making littering socially acceptable. Indeed some branches of fast food chains “for convenience” won’t give you a tray for your food but insist on packaging up food consumed in as well. Indeed over packaging is a big issue, as http://www.overpackaging.com points out “The UK produces around 400 million tonnes of waste annually, most of which ends up in landfill sites. The time has come to put a stop to this completely unnecessary waste of resources. Manufacturers and retailer's main incentive for over packaging their goods is branding and marketing. Most modern consumers have grown used to this overpackaging and in the case of supermarket fruit and veg actually prefer to buy the more heavily packaged items as they are perceived to be "cleaner" than the unpackaged ones.”


Litter on the Tube

So instead of Green Guff let us really do something positive for the environment by tackling the related evils of the social acceptability of littering, the waste generated by “free” papers and junk mail and the packaging policies of industry and supermarkets.

Instead of recycling why not avoid the cycle in the first place? Let us now agree to humanely put down those two old friends who are well past their sell by date: Plastic Bags and Junk Mail.

In the Republic of Ireland a 15 cent tax on plastic shopping bags has cut their use by more than 90% and raised millions of euros in revenue. The Irish environment ministry estimated that about 1.2 billion free plastic bags were being handed out every year in the republic, leaving windblown bags littering Irish streets and the countryside. In the three months after the tax was introduced, shops handed out just over 23 million plastic bags - about 277 million fewer than normal, the government said. Think of it, in a small country like Ireland they have reduced plastic bag use by over 1 Billion bags a year – the equivalent figure for the UK would be in excess of 16 Billion bags of hydrocarbon derived products. This would reduce oil refinery output far more than Airline Passenger Duty or hybrid cars.

There is one obvious disadvantage. The UK would lose its “National Flower”, the plastic bags which grow on hedgerows, waste ground, concrete streets and every water course in the land. Och Aye, wee Gordon, an environmental win and more tax revenues, what is stopping you introducing a 15p plastic bag tax? Some well funded industry lobby group?

The UK's National Flower

The other quick win is self evident in every hallway in the land. Did you know over ½ million tonnes of junk mail is generated in the UK every year? 1 tonne of junk mail is the equivalent of 17 trees so that is eight and a half million trees which die in a needless silvicide each year! That’s 390,000 acres of forest! Put it another way: The average person in the U.K. receives 4kg of junk mail annually and 90% of all junk mail goes straight into the bin. That’s around 224 million kg of junk mail which immediately goes into our bins and that is a conservative estimate based on the dubious premise that the 10% of junk mail which is not immediately binned is in someway useful.

Last week my “Free” local paper come through the letter box with 3 colour inserts. Only there were 8 copies of two inserts and 11 copies of the other, 27 enclosures which went straight to bin. This is the junk mail equivalent of fly tipping and equally a form of anti-social behaviour worthy of being commemorated in the ASBO Hall of Shame. Two weeks away and as well as stamped addressed letters I find 37 items of what the Royal Mail calls “Door to Door Mailings” or unsolicited junk mail addressed to nobody or to that ubiquitous creature “The Occupier”!

So here is the modest proposal, ban “Door to Door Mailings” and compensate the Royal Mail and other delivery companies by doubling the postage on unsolicited mailings. Ban magazine & newspaper inserts, the advertisers will spend the same money in other ways and who knows you could be forcing them to spend their money more effectively.


Above all these initiatives are about changing behaviour. Shoppers will use reusable or paper bags and advertisers will spend their money in more effective ways than in winding up potential customers by creating avalanche risks in their hallways. The industry which styles junk mail as “Direct Mail” obviously has an advanced sense of humour and the joke is at our environment’s expense.

That’s it! Cut out more than 16 Billion plastic bags and 224 Million kg of junk mail a year and change the habits of a wasteful lifetime into the bargain. Now wouldn’t that cut back on copious hot air and save more than all the proposed environmental initiatives this year? Why are we waiting?

Oh, and one last behavioural change. Litter is Disgusting – So are those responsible.

Proms in the Park 2007

One of the great British institutions is The Proms, so called because they are a series of Classical Music Concerts where Promenaders, people who walk in, can get unreserved tickets on the night. Now days these concerts are run by the national broadcasting service, the BBC, and are still open to Promenaders who can walk in on the night to the main venue, the magnificent Royal Albert Hall and the Cadogan Hall which is also used. The other unique feature of The Proms is the promenaders stand in the floor of the hall and their enthusiasm and eccentricity lends a very definite flavour to the proceedings.

The first Proms concert took place on 10 August 1895 and was the brainchild of the impresario Robert Newman, manager of the newly built Queen's Hall in London so this year is the 112th year of these highly democratic and entertaining concerts, over 100 in total in a two month season attracting some 275,000 in the audience and many more with television and radio broadcasts by the BBC of all the concerts. While Newman had previously organised symphony orchestra concerts at the hall, his aim was to reach a wider audience by offering more popular programmes, adopting a less formal promenade arrangement, and keeping ticket prices low. To lead the event he approached a conductor whose name has become synonymous with the Proms, Henry Wood. Born in 1869, Henry Wood had undergone a thorough musical training and, from his teens, began to make a name for himself as an organist, accompanist, vocal coach and conductor of choirs, orchestras and amateur opera companies.

It is Henry Wood’s inspiration which has defined the informality and eccentricity of the proceedings and lest we forget it his wooden bust decorated with a garland of honour presides over every Proms Concert in the Royal Albert Hall. Yet although the scope of the Proms has increased enormously since 1895, Henry Wood's concept for the season remains largely unaltered: to present the widest possible range of music, performed to the highest standards, to large audiences. The eccentricities are most apparent on the Last Night of the Proms where the audience are eccentrically attired, wave flags, engage in the customary accelerating clap-along to the hornpipe in Henry Wood's Sea Songs, whistling to See the Conqu'ring Hero Comes, humming to Home, Sweet Home, bob up and down during the Fantasia on British Sea Shanties by Henry Wood, boo Brunhilde when she attempts to sing Wagner (sadly, this has been dropped in recent years!), cheer uproariously when the conductor makes the traditional speech and then join in with extreme gusto in the grand finale as the everyone joins in Land of Hope and Glory, Jerusalem, Rule Britannia and God Save the Queen!


Tickets for the Last Night are at a premium so the event is extended by open air Proms in the Park Events in London, Wales, Scotland and a place some call, with considerable in exactitude, Northern Ireland (N.B. The most northern point of “Northern Ireland” is due south of the most northern point of “Southern Ireland” – A knowledge of geography can be a great handicap in life!). So that is how I came to find myself on Saturday 8th September in the congenial company of some 60,000 souls in Hyde Park being gently cooled by a zephyr from the North Pole as we enjoyed the last of the Great British Summer. Now in its twelfth year, Proms in the Park is one of London’s most popular events, where the world and its live in companion packs a picnic, and heads down to Hyde Park to become part of the climax to the world’s greatest music festival. As well as seeing a host of international musical stars playing live, you get to join the Last Night sing-along in a firework finale.

Will Young

For the £23 entrance you get a line up of over 6 hours of entertainment in a wonderful space in London’s great Royal Park with stalls, catering and good facilities. Most of all you get a great atmosphere as the spirit of the Proms permeates the crowd. The first half was a lightweight fest of popular music with Tony Hadley (late of Spandau Ballet), RyanDan, Chico and T- Rextasy. They were introduced by two “stars” of children’s TV, Dick and Dom. Suffice to say, in any other country their great talent would probably have gone unrecognised. Tony Hadley and his band delivered a solid crowd pleasing set of Spandau Oldies but the event went south somewhat when Chico came on. The rest of the world may be unaware of Chico but he is the contestant with undaunted confidence who didn’t win a televised Pop talent show with the catch phrase “It’s Chico Time!”. Chico, I’m afraid it still isn’t Chico Time! The hit were the T Rex tribute band T-Rextasy who got the crowd going with a foot stomping set of T Rex’s hits. The performer who was “Marc Bolan” was particularly convincing with no sign of a join at the neck. Will Young, the final performer, did win a TV talent show and has carved out a credible career since and finished off in good style.

After the flotsam of the first half we take a half hour break will the orchestra set up for the serious classical half before, by the magic of wide screen, we and the other Park Proms joined the unruly crowd in the Albert Hall for the grand finale.

Terry Wogan

My townsman Sir Terry Wogan hosted a charismatic line-up of musical talent, with this year’s programme headed by the wonderful English soprano Lesley Garrett, Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Florez (King of the high D’s) and Young Musician of the Year, clarinettist Mark Simpson. These were accompanied by Carl Davis and the BBC Concert Orchestra. I need to mention that whilst I am not a TOG (Terry’s Old Geezer’s) as listeners of his BBC radio programme are called, I nonetheless have a considerable soft spot for Terry Wogan as his family were neighbours of my folks (His mum Rose was a lovely person) and he has the great achievement, which he repeats each year, of making the dross known as the Eurovision Song Contest watch able by refusing to take it seriously. He was on good form tonight remarking that the somewhat Wurzel Gummidge visage of Carl Davis is often mistaken for George Clooney (“He tells women he is George Clooney and they tell him he is mistaken”) and that at 18, Mark Simpson was at a difficult age “ too young to buy alcohol and too old to date Demi Moore.”


Lesley Garrett


Carl Davis
Juan Diego Florez is a great talent and my personal favourite was his medley of Latin songs and Mark Simpson has a great future, ending with a crowd pleasing Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.

The great star must be the irrepressible Lesley Garrett, I know grown men who never recovered from seeing her many years ago momentarily, and tastefully, baring her bottom, when she brought the house down as Adele in Richard Jones 1988 production of Die Fledermaus. She is a talented Diva who is in no way grand whose key phrase is "opera is full of passion - and passion is part of all our lives." Boy, does she practice what she preaches and for her finale she came out in a Union Jack “Frock” and led the crowd in a rousing rendition of “You’ll never walk alone” from Carousel. She also paid tribute to Luciano Pavarotti on this, the day of his funeral in Modena by singing Mimi’s farewell to Rodolfo from “La Boheme”. Rodolfo was the operatic part that Pavarotti first found fame with and the tribute was poignant as this was the same spot where, in 1993 Pavarotti gave a performance to a crowd of 150,000 in the rain, including Charles and Diana. Addio Maestro!


Then over to the Albert Hall to join in the rousing finale in all its Hope and Glory followed by a backdrop of a fine firework display lighting up the London skyline and framing the stage in glorious colour. Tired and happy we wended our weary way home. For visitor or native the Proms are a great experience and if you find yourself in this great city for the Last Night in early September each year treat you and yours to this fabulous feast of musical riches and atmosphere.

Once

As the Celtic Sage has mentioned before British Cinemas are becoming a bit like British Pubs – No Go Areas for the Grown Ups of the land. The Pubs are full of one armed bandits, inane music played loudly, (normally through bad speakers to maximise the pain) and “Big Screen” sports just in case anybody with a mental age of 12+ is tempted to engage in the dying art of conversation. Their menus are based on pre-fab meals off the weekly delivery truck designed to be prepared by people who are not trained to cook. Perhaps it is these places Jamie Oliver had in mind when he said recently "We have lost our traditions," and that Britain's "poverty shows in the way they feed themselves." Basically, he says they do so by spending everything on technology and booze, rather than meals around the dinner table. At the cinema multiplexes there is an increasing diet of main stream popcorn movies and the more screens they have; conversely the less selection there appears to be in reality.

So I was delighted to catch the indie low budget Irish Movie “Once”, which is shot in Dublin, which has been featured at the Sundance Festival and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song. There is much of "fact follows fiction” about Once as the plot of Irish Songwriter meets naïve but talented Czech girl in Dublin and collaborate on writing / performing has been mimicked in the real world where the main actors Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglová have become an item and won an Oscar and Grammy for their music thereby echoing the tale in the movie.

The Movie tale is this; A Dublin busker falls for the naive charms of a Czech immigrant in John Carney and Glen Hansard's lyrical love story. Writer and director John Carney says he wanted to make a "visual album" with Once, and the result is an innovative piece of musical cinema. Casting musicians rather than actors in the main roles and telling the story for the most part with songs rather than dialogue, he ties film and music together to make something that looks and sounds nothing like a conventional musical.

Shot for only €130,000 ($160,000), the film has been very successful, earning substantial per-screen box office averages in the United States. It received extremely enthusiastic reviews and awards such as the 2007 Independent Spirit Award for best foreign film. Hansard and Irglová's song "Falling Slowly" received a 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song and the soundtrack as a whole also received a Grammy nomination. Produced with a shoestring budget, about 75% of the budget was funded by Bord Scannán na hÉireann (The Irish Film Board), plus some of Carney's own money. The director gave his salary to the two stars, and promised a share of the back-end for everyone if the film was a success. Shot with a skeleton crew on a 17-day shoot, the filmmakers saved money by using natural light and shooting at friends' houses. The musical party scene was filmed in Hansard's own flat, with his personal friends playing the partygoers/musicians — his mother, Catherine Hansard, is briefly featured singing solo. The Dublin street scenes were done without permits and with a long lens so that many passers-by didn't even realize that a film was being made. The long lens also helped the non-professional actors relax and forget about the camera, and some of the dialogue ended up being improvised.


Killiney Hill overlooking Dublin Bay

Neither of the main characters were professional actors and they don’t even have names in the credits - Glen Hansard is listed as “Guy” and Marketa Irglová is listed as “Girl”. Glen Hansard is the lead singer of Irish rock group The Frames, and here he plays a Dublin busker with holes in his guitar and a sad song in his heart. When he meets a nameless Czech immigrant girl (Marketa Irglová) and befriends her, they begin to play music together and a tentative but tender relationship blossoms. Like the best works of art, John Carney’s Once is both melancholy and beautiful, a fragile poem that seems almost too delicate for the big screen. So modest it doesn’t even bother to name its characters, the movie nevertheless imparts a near-miraculous wealth of information in the position of a camera and the dressing of a set. Once is a rarity: a musical more concerned with music than costumes and a love story more interested in love than sex. At a time when most musicals rely primarily on bombast and big names, this tiny gem is an object lesson in how to do things right.

Any film that has two people breaking into song in a silent music shop requires the boundaries of realism to be stretched; Hansard and Irglová as the eccentric Czech girl carry it off with a captivating charm. There's a happy naivety to their acting that makes it clear they are not professionals, and the pair make a virtue of their obvious inexperience. For example, Hansard strums out a song on his guitar, which Irglová listens to once and the two promptly knock out a cracking duet. It's so effortlessly and naturally performed by both actors that it appears strangely unaffected, and is quite lovely to watch. Songs are written, a studio is found and a demo tape is made; but instead of being simply the backdrop to a love affair, the film’s music, at once ethereal and shattering, is also its point. Each protagonist is a catalyst for the other, and though you may think you’re watching a heart-on-its-sleeve romance, the truth is quite different and, like life, infinitely more complex. Some of the storyline is both amusing but at the same time incredulous, such as when she brings him a Hoover to repair which becomes an excuse for lunch which leads to them going back to his flat and playing music! And like all the greatest love stories, the movie is a story of unrequited loves, of might have beens, of roads not travelled for they turn away from each other, he to his “ex” who has moved to London, she to the father of her two year old child. Yet the lingering impression is that they have done the wrong thing for the right reasons that they have sublimated their instincts to a greater good. A bonus was seeing some of the Auld Town in the locations, Glen Hansard strolling up Fitzgibbon Street past the Garda Station, Sandymount, Killiney Hill Park and the hostel on Mountjoy Square not to mention Dunnes Stores in Grafton Street!

An unexpected hit at Sundance in 2007 (where it won the Audience Award for best drama), Once works by balancing the alluring charm of its bittersweet story with the scruffy realism of Dublin street life epitomised by the relationship between the street singer in his no hope “day job” repairing vacuum cleaners and the single mother immigrant living in a hostel with her mother and child and doing cleaning and selling flowers to scrape by. The songs - haunting melodies of agony tinged with a tentative hopefulness - pair perfectly with the film’s cobblestone streets and gloomy bed sits. Blasting the emotions the couple is too repressed to convey any other way, the music allows the actors to develop a natural affinity for their characters (aside from Hansard’s small role in The Commitments, neither has acted before). Irglová - just 17 at the time of filming and with limited English - found her role especially challenging, though her performance blends seamlessly into the film’s overall insistence on the charm of imperfection.


Grafton Street, Dublin.

But the occasional unreality of the plot pales beside the real life personal and musical journey of Hansard and Irglová, for while “Once” doesn’t have the edge of the Commitments life has mirrored fiction as the then 19 year old Marketa Irglová makes clear in her Oscar acceptance speech for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly";

“Hi everyone. I just want to thank you so much. This is such a big deal, not only for us, but for all other independent musicians and artists that spend most of their time struggling, and this, the fact that we’re standing here tonight, the fact that we’re able to hold this, it’s just the proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it’s possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream and don’t give up. And this song was written from a perspective of hope, and hope at the end of the day connects us all, no matter how different we are. And so thank you so much, who helped us along way. Thank you.”

By the end of 2007, this Irish indie budget movie shot “on the hoof” for $160,000 had grossed $14 million at the box office. Due to the stranglehold of the Great British multiplexes on distribution you will have to catch it at a DVD player near you soon.

Stop the imminent execution of Troy Davis!

Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia on September 23, even though his serious claims of innocence have never been heard in court.

Take action right now to stop this execution: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/site/lookup.asp?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=4466021

Troy Davis was convicted of murder solely on the basis of witness testimony, and seven of the nine non-police witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony, several citing police coercion. Others have signed affidavits implicating one of the remaining two witnesses as the actual killer. But due to an increasingly restrictive appeals process, none of this new evidence has ever been heard in court.

Please take action right away to stop this injustice. And then FORWARD THIS ACTION TO YOUR FRIENDS!
We really need to get as many messages as we can to the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to stop this travesty of justice.

As always, thanks for taking action.

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More info on Troy's case: www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis

In July 2007 after a six-hour hearing that had been scheduled for just an hour, the George State Board of Pardons and Paroles late Monday announced a 90-day stay of execution for Troy Anthony Davis, a Georgia man who had been scheduled to die on Tuesday for the 1989 murder of a Savannah, Ga., police officer.

At the hearing, five witnesses gave significantly different evidence than they did in the 1991 trial that convicted Davis. In affidavits signed after the sentencing, multiple witnesses said police pressure forced them to wrongly implicate Davis.

Jason Ewart, Davis's lawyer, has long argued that the courts have ignored new developments in the case, including the fact that seven of nine main witnesses recanted their testimony. The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), a federal law passed in 1996 to limit appeals and expedite death sentences, forced federal courts to reject Davis's pleas on procedural grounds, said legal experts.


"People talk about one recantation and they're skeptical about it," Ewart said after the Board's announcement. "But when you get many and they're very similar, people start to have questions."

Davis, 38, a former coach in the Savannah Police Athletic League who had signed up for the Marines, was sentenced to die in 1991 after being convicted of killing Mark Allen MacPhail, an off-duty police officer, in a Savannah parking lot. His fight to overturn his conviction has been hampered by a cut by the federal government in state defender organizations' funding, as well as by the passage of the restrictive AEDPA.

On Friday, Georgia Superior Court Judge Penny Haas Freesemann rejected Davis's last-minute appeal, saying that the recanted testimony did not provide justification for a new trial. Georgia prosecutors have maintained that Davis has already had opportunities in court to present his evidence.

Ewart said the board's decision gives his defense team time to gather more evidence before likely making another appearance before the board, which can commute Davis' sentence to life in prison or allow the execution to proceed.

"Obviously it's way too early and we have to get to work, but we have some breathing room," Ewart said. He added that the overwhelming media attention kept several witnesses on Davis's behalf from testifying today.

Ewart lauded the testimony at the hearing of civil rights advocate U.S. Rep. John Lewis, the Georgia Democrat who was severely beaten during civil rights marches in the 1960s. "I do not know Troy Anthony Davis," Lewis said in testimony, according to prepared remarks. "I do not know if he is guilty of the charges of which he has been convicted. But I do know that nobody should be put to death based on the evidence we now have in this case."


Davis was speaking by telephone with his sister, Martina Correia, when she learned of the Board's decision. He had already been moved to the death chamber, Correia said. "He was so elated, so prayerful, and he was thanking everyone for what they were doing for him," Correia said. "He's so grateful they're not going to kill him tomorrow."
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The slain officer's widow, Joan MacPhail, decried the ruling. "I believe they are setting a precedent for all criminals that it is perfectly fine to kill a cop and get away with it," she said. "By making us wait, it's another sock in the stomach. It's tearing us up."

E-1027 Roquebrune Cap Martin

One of the most intriguing Irish designers was Eileen Gray (1878 – 1976), an Irish aristocrat who inhabited a bohemian world and who was neglected for much of her career but whose work and achievements has been greatly appreciated with hindsight, particularly in Ireland where she was largely unknown in her lifetime as she mainly lived and worked in France. Wexford-born Eileen Gray was one of the most important architects and designers of the 20th century. From her early laquer work to design classics like the Bibendum chair and her architectural masterpiece, E-1027, Eileen Gray's work was as individual as it was exciting. The Dutch magazine, Wendingen, declared in 1924: "Eileen Gray occupies the centre of the modern movement. In all her tendencies, visions and expressions she is modern."




E-1027


E-1027 Frontage

Le Corbusier, arguably the greatest architect of the 20th century, was obsessed and haunted by E-1027, the seaside villa Eileen Gray built at Roquebrune Cap Martin in 1929. Over the decades, he sought to possess her "maison en bord de mer" in a multitude of ways. It may have been the last thing he saw before dying of a heart attack while swimming off the rocks beneath E-1027 in 1965. After he died, the footpath serving the area was designated Promenade Le Corbusier. In time, as Gray's reputation faded, some would even credit him with the design of her villa.

In 1907 Gray - the only Irish person wholly immersed in the pioneering work of the modern movement - moved to Paris, taking an apartment at 21 rue Bonaparte, which she maintained until her death on October 31, 1976, at the age of 98. The furniture from her Paris apartment now forms the centrepiece of the Eileen Gray exhibition at the National Museum, Collins Barracks in Dublin.

Rue de Lota apartment designed by Eileen Gray with her Pirogue sofa

Eileen Gray was born Kathleen Eileen Moray Smith in Brownswood near Enniscorthy, County Wexford on August 9, 1878. The family changed their name to Gray in 1893, after her mother, Lady Eveleen Pounden, inherited a peerage from an uncle in Scotland and claimed her title, Baroness Gray. Interested in art and wishing to live beyond the boundaries of conventional expectations, Eileen left home for Paris in 1902. She had already attended art school in England, and in Paris she continued her education, developing her talents as a painter and ultimately as a great designer. Gray was first to become know for the lacquer technique she developed, a technique that combined the Asian lacquer tradition and its motifs with a contemporary modernist aesthetic. By 1912-1913 she was already becoming a name, and her luxurious screens, tables, and door panels sold well and were exhibited. Throughout this time she was also designing striking rugs decorated with geometric shapes and patterns. Like her early lacquer work, these rugs, and later her famous chairs - particularly the Transat chair, the non-conformist chair, the Lota sofa, and the Bibendum - secured Eileen Gray's place as one of the most influential designers of the 20th century.

Bibendum chair on the left of the living room


Nonconformist chair, designed for E-1027

In 1922 Gray opened her own shop, Jean Désert, where she exhibited her furniture and designs as well as those of her contemporaries. At around the same time she met Jean Badovici, a Romanian architect and editor of the influential journal "l'Architecture Vivante," with whom she formed a very close personal and professional relationship. Her friendship with Badovici was to dramatically affect the course her artistic practice was to take, for it was he who suggested to Gray that she try her hand at architecture, and it was for him that she built her first house and one of her most enduring achievements, the Villa E-1027. Later in her life she explained: "Badovici said to me: why don't you build? I laughed in his face. I had always loved architecture - more than anything - but I didn't think myself capable of it."

E-1027, First Floor Plan


Rug for E-1027

In 1925, the pair began to explore the area around Saint-Tropez, seeking an appropriate site on which to build a summer refuge for Badovici. She subsequently discovered an isolated plot - inaccessible by car, but within walking distance of both a railway station and a sandy beach - along a rocky stretch of coastline. Gray bought the site and spent three years in Roquebrune, taking prime responsibility for both design and construction, while Badovici visited frequently to assist in technical matters. The name of the villa, E-1027, is a cipher for the architects' intertwined initials: following the E, the numbers 10, 2 and 7 represent the alphabetical order of the letters J, B and G, respectively. Built between 1926 and 1929, E-1027 was a unique experiment in architecture and design. Eileen Gray combined built-in furniture with ingenious spatial planning to engage the user with the building and site, incorporating the sun and the sea into the very experience of the house.


Fauteuil aux Dragons

Gray declared: "This house has been built for a person who likes work, sports and receiving friends." E-1027 looks much bigger than it is. It has two bedrooms, a maid's room, utility rooms and a large space, partitioned with screen furniture that could serve as a living room, dining area and cloakroom or guest room. The main living area overlooks Monte Carlo harbour and the bedrooms face the rising sun. Service spaces are isolated: the kitchen, adjoining an outdoor cooking space, is separate from the rest of the house. Gray felt that each room should remain independent of the others, arguing that "everyone, even in a house of restricted dimensions, must be able to remain free and independent. They must have the impression of being alone, and if desired, entirely alone." Each room has a balcony and access to the garden.

In the most intricately detailed portions of the house - the bathroom, stairway, and the passage linking the dining alcove and bedroom - Gray filled every surplus cubic metre with concealed storage compartments, each designed to accommodate a specific item. The villa provided what she called the "minimum of space, maximum of comfort."

Bedroom


Bedroom dressing table

Her Transat "deck chair" (inspired by transatlantic liners), tubular steel bedside table and Bibendum (Latin for "now is the time to drink" but named for its resemblence to the "Michelin Man", a motoring icon with a drink in one hand and a cigar in the other!) armchair - all designed for E-1027 - have become timeless items of furniture that are still manufactured. She produced a second furniture type for the house, which she termed "le style camping." These items are flexible, light and portable, capable of assuming different configurations to accommodate a range of activities. Cabin-like furniture, conceived as a series of extrusions from the wall that break down the boundaries between architecture and furnishings, contained pillows, mosquito netting, books, a reading light and tea things.

Gray admired Le Corbusier's architecture, even if she remained unconvinced by his polemical assertions. Responding to his well-known maxim, she concluded: "A house is not a machine to live in. It is the shell of man, his extension, his release, his emanation." She used Corbusian stencils to inscribe admonitions on the walls of E-1027 - "entrez lentement" (enter slowly) by the main entrance and "defence de rire" (no laughing) on the foyer partition.


Eileen Gray Side table


Eileen Gray Satellite Mirror

A friend of Badovici's, Le Corbusier visited E-1027 on numerous occasions and admired it very much, so much so that he was moved to add his own touch to the clean white villa, painting a series of murals on its walls between 1937-39. This intrusion onto her design infuriated Gray, who considered the murals outright vandalism. Whether he painted these murals out of admiration for her work or jealousy of her accomplishment, Le Corbusier became intricately tied with the future of the house. Failing to purchase it himself, he eventually bought a piece of properly just east of E-1027, where he built a small, rustic cabin, "Le Cabanon." Here he would go for work and quiet contemplation, taking daily swims on the beach outside the house. After he died in those very waters, the whole area was declared a "Site Moderne," or "Modern Site," and deemed an area of cultural and historical importance and international interest. Today E-1027 is recognized as the founding element of this site.


Le Corbusier mural at main entrance,1938-39

Jean Badovici lived in the house until his death in 1956. In 1960, fearful for the future of E-1027 and his murals, Corbusier persuaded Madame Marie-Louise Schelbert of Zurich to buy the villa. He took an active interest in preserving both the house and its contents, retaining Gray's furnishings and restoring some of his paintings in 1961. When Schelbert died in 1982, the villa was left to her doctor, Peter Kägi, who removed Gray's furniture to Switzerland and eventually sold it through Sotheby's in Monaco on October 13, 1991, for the equivalent of €390,000. The Pompidou Centre pre-empted the sale of several lots - a common practice in France when a state body wishes to buy a particular item at auction. Most of the 29 lots went to France and Germany. Kägi died a few years later, unfortunately before any of the restorations began. After his death the house remained empty and susceptible to vandals and squatters who incurred serious damage onto the already ailing edifice, leaving it in dangerously precarious shape.


Eileen Gray in her rue de Bonaparte apartment with a Block Screen, 1970

Today, after years of neglect and vandalism, the house is in a serious state of disrepair. Friends of E-1027 is cooperating closely with the French government and the township of Roquebrune-Cap Martin, who have recently purchased the villa in partnership with the Coastal Conservancy, on both the exterior and interior restoration of this important work of modern architecture. The first phase of the renovation is already underway, supported in part by funds raised by Friends of E-1027. Once the house is fully restored and refurbished with copies of its original furniture and decorations, it will be maintained as a museum with a study and exhibition center for contemporary design near the site.


E-1027 in 2001

There is another Irish connection with Roquebrune as the poet William Butler Yeats was buried there just after the outbreak f the Second World War. W.B. Yeats was born in Sandymount, Co. Dublin in 1865 and educated in London but he spent his childhood holidays in Sligo and developed a deep affinity for the area. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/10/first-female-member-of-parliament.html ) Yeats died in Menton, France in 1939 and was buried in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin after a private funeral but according to his wishes his body was moved after the war in 1948 to Drumcliffe, Co. Sligo. In his poem "Under Ben Bulben" Yeats outlined how and where he was to be buried and even included the epitaph he wanted inscribed on his gravestone:

Under bare Ben Bulben's head
In Drumcliff churchyard Yeats is laid.
An ancestor was rector there
Long years ago, a church stands near,
By the road an ancient cross.
No marble, no conventional phrase;
On limestone quarried near the spot
By his command these words are cut:
Cast a cold eye
On life, on death.
Horseman pass by.

Today Roquebrune Cap Martin is not just the retreat of the idle rich and their servants but is easily accessible by road and rail from Nice Airport where there are frequent budget flights by the likes of easyJet who we travelled with. By road head along the A8 from Nice (16km.) take exit Menton La Turbie. If you are coming from Menton take exit Monaco Roquebrune. By the cliff roads take Grande Corniche (D2564), Moyenne Corniche (RN7), Basse Corniche (RN98). But the easiest way is on SNCF from Nice on the costal railway which passes by Bono’s back garden as it goes through Eze-bord-de-Mer!


Villa Torre Clementina

Situated 2 kilometres from Menton and Monte Carlo, this seaside resort rises to 300m. altitude starting at the water's edge and going all the way up to its perched village. The luxury of the villas, some of which resemble palaces remind us that here, in Roquebrune, statesmen, royalty, writers, and artists all came looking for inspiration and rest: Winston Churchill, Coco Chanel, Sacha Guitry, Jacques Brel, Silvana Mangano et al but today the atmosphere is more Eurotrash with Russian Oligarski and good time girls from Kiev and Wolverhampton on the make or as Somerset Maugham tellingly remarked about neighbouring Monte Carlo “A sunny place for shady people” ! Cap-Martin, within the commune of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, is a beautiful wooded peninsula on the Mediterranean, just below the perched Roquebrune village. The train station is down here, along with the beach, some campsites and shops. The peninsula itself is largely covered with very expensive walled estates, some dating back to the 19th century and the Belle Epoque. To inhale the athmoshere of that era head along the Avenue l'Imperatrice Eugenie or on the costal footpath to Monaco down below. The Sentier Littoral offers an invigorating two hour walk around the length of Cap Martin all the way to Menton. En route you will catch just the barest glimpse of the superb villas whose estates cover the main area of the Cap. Somewhere above is the ravishing Villa Torre Clementina where the Irish janitor Mark will show you around, and here shown a viewing gallery built onto the rocks at the end overlooking Monaco for the magnificent Villa Cyranos, the Residence de l'Imperatrice Eugenie.


Villa Cyranos


Imperatrice Eugenie

The Empress was the ravishing young aristocratic Spanish wife of the Emperor Louis Napoleon and she was Empress of France from 1853 – 1870 when Louis Napoleon was deposed and took refuge in England as a result of France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. He died there in 1873. His son, also Louis, is commemorated by the pub “The Prince Imperial” in Chislehurst in Kent where they lived in exile, their mansion in exile is now the rather spendid clubhouse of the local golf club. He was a cavalry officer in the British Army and was rumored to have been friendly with Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, and there was much speculation of a marriage between them. That did not have a chance to occur as the Prince Imperial was killed when fighting for the British in South Africa in the Zulu Wars on June 1, 1879. Beatrice sent a beautiful wreath for his grave at Farnborough, which fueled the speculation that she had been hoping for a match. She went on to marry Prince Henry of Battenberg in 1885 who coincidentally also died in Africa. Ten years into their marriage, on 20 January 1896, Prince Henry died of malaria while fighting in the Anglo-Ashanti War in what was the Gold Coast, now modern Ghana. Her daughter married the King of Spain and is Juan Carlos's grandmother. The Empress Eugenie returned in time to France where she lived in some magnificence to the ripe old age of 95, a testament to the clement marine climate of Roquebrune Cap Martin. She is buried beside the Emperor and the Prince Imperial in a specially constructed crypt at the Monastery of St. Michael in Farnborough, England.


Roquebrune village



Today Roquebrune Cap Martin is still a beautiful place which reposes gracefully on the Riviera and in W.B. Yeats and Eileen Gray’s remarkable E-1027 it has two significant Irish connections.

travel

We will fight them @ Selfridges

“We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,”

Sir Winston Churchill
June 4th 1940

“We shall stop them shopping at Selfridges.”

David Cameron
Tbilisi, Georgia, August 16th, 2008


Mikheil Saakashvili and David Cameron

Well David Cameron knows how to show solidarity with the Georgian Prime Minister and inept military adventurer, Mikheil Saakashvili, with his blood curdling threat to stop Russian Oligarchs shopping in the West End of London. He also agreed to support Georgia’s application to join NATO, you know the anti-Soviet Bloc looking for a new meaning in life and stationing missiles in Poland to fly over Russia on the way to Iran or other “rogue states.” This is not; you will be surprised to hear the Middle Eastern “rogue state” which has attacked each and every one of its neighbours including destroying the EU funded infrastructure of Gaza, dismembering Lebanon, occupying the sovereign territory of Syria, occupying East Jerusalem and the West Bank which it is settling and applying collective punishment to the civilian population (in defiance of the “quaint” Geneva Conventions), which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty and which has developed nuclear weapons. And did I mention that its previous Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, had personally led a terrorist massacre of women and children? During the raid on Qibya in 1953, 69 Palestinians were killed and forty-five houses, a school, and a mosque were blown-up. The act was condemned by the US State Department, the UN Security Council, and by Jewish communities worldwide. And the current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s father was Quartermaster of the Irgun terrorist organisation (you know the guys who killed both the British and UN Peace Envoys and hanged three British soldiers including a Jewish lad from the East End) and Foreign Minister’s Tzipi Livni’s father was the leader of the Irgun group which carried out the King David Hotel massacre which killed 91 people including 17 Jews. And did I mention that a previous Israeli Prime Minister, Menachim Begin was the Irgun leader who gave the order? But less of rogue states with terrorist links, lets get back to the successor of Churchill as leader of the Conservatives.

But whilst PR Dave may not often be compared to Winston Churchill he does know about “fighting them on the beaches” for “Bucket and spade” Dave has shown his true 'blue' colours by holidaying on a £21,000 a week yacht, surrounded by an armada of seven boats of 74 mates and family and banqueting in the finest restaurants on the holiday he would prefer that you didn't see.



Mr Cameron and his family joined 74 friends on seven traditional gulet boats for a week-long tour of the Turkish Riviera which last Friday. Each of the double-masted wooden vessels with 20ft high white sails has its own personal chef, captain and two crew hands. It was Mr Cameron's second holiday within a month, but, unlike the first, he didn't invite the Press along. Three weeks ago the Tory leader and wife Samantha posed for official pictures as he holidayed with his family on a humble bucket-and-spade beach in Cornwall.

With the credit crunch biting, he portrayed himself as a stay-at-home politician in touch with the British electorate. His photo-calls and interviews led even the most loyal Tory newspapers to mock his opportunism. But there was no fanfare at all for his sybaritic week-long tour off Turkey's south-west coast where the former PR executive took advantage of its closeness to the conflict in Georgia and used a private plane for a quick photocall with the Georgian president in Tbilisi.

But by Sunday morning he, Samantha, 37, and their children had joined the sailing party off the Fethiye peninsula to celebrate the 60th birthday of his mother-in-law Viscountess Astor. The total cost of hiring the seven gulets was an estimated £150,000. As the armada organised by Samantha's stepdad, Tory peer Viscount Astor sailed majestically out of Gocek Harbour it looked like a scene from 1970s BBC drama The Onedin Line. Margaret Churcher, 62, on holiday from Leicester with her daughter and son-in-law, said: "They were really impressive they took up the whole bay as they sailed out.”Those are beautiful boats but I'll have to keep dreaming. We were in just a tiny sailing boat that would probably fit in one of their cabins." Mr Cameron, his family and in-laws, were in a traditional gulet yacht called the Sema Tuana which sleeps 10.



By day, they swam in the clear blue sea, laughed with pals and drank bottle after bottle of wine served by the dutiful staff. At night, the Camerons dined at rustic seafront restaurants. The large group of pals ate fresh seafood, Turkish mezes and drank local wines at little restaurants dotted along the rugged Aegean coastline. On Wednesday, they relaxed on plush sofas as the MP for Witney read John Milton's epic 17th century poem Paradise Lost in the 38C (102F) heat. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/08/surly-republican.html )

After showering and changing on board, scores of diners were ferried to land by inflatable dinghies. That night the party took over the Indigo Terrace restaurant in the pretty Turkish port of Kalkan until 2am before being taxied back to sea on their boats. A total of 76 guests racked up a bill of more than £2,000. Waiter Huseyin Aslan, 32, said: "They were all very wealthy and looked like they were here for a lot of fun. They were well behaved but there was a lot of laughing and drinking and some dancing.

Well as Tony Blair once remarked “If we can’t take that lot apart, we don’t deserve to be in government!” Unfortunately Tony is no longer around to take them apart; he is now a full time “Peace” envoy to rogue states in the Middle East, indeed he even has an office in one, in Jerusalem, and he may even visit Gaza one day or indeed enjoy the typical fish meal by the banks of the Euphrates in Baghdad surrounded by grateful Iraqi’s enjoying the restoration of peace he helped bring about there. Makes sense to me! (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/britain-in-iraq.html )

But there is a serious point to all this. Relations with Russia and Middle East Peace must start on the basis of Realpolitik, not comic book characterisations of Brutish Russians, plucky Georgians, Arab Terrorists, Holier than thou Israel. America and Europe’s overriding strategic interests lie in peace and co-operation with Russia based on mutual respect and understanding and a genuine and enduring Middle East Peace based on justice, not military adventurism subsidized by the U.S. of A. Let us say it loud and let us say it clear, whatever about any other considerations Europe and Europe have no great strategic interests in Israel or Georgia, indeed the opposite case could be made for both.

So let’s get back to reality not the sound bites of the Boy Wonder David’s *, Milliband in Kiev who is more interested in plotting coups at home than preventing them abroad and Cameron whose exercise of publicity without responsibility in Tbilisi gives opportunism a bad name. I’m sure David Cameron has many qualities but like his “holiday” in Devon being REAL is not one of them!

* Note; this is not meant to indicate a prejudice against all Davids.