Dreaming of Freedom

I was angered when Madonna of all people criticised London transport last week. She has also criticised the NHS in the past. I am not interested in ignorant rich people who think the roads, hospitals and other such useful things were invented purely for them but I am furious that they think they can comment on things they don’t even use. Just because she’s caught in a traffic jam she wants us all to feel sorry for her. Get out of your car that’s polluting the air for the rest of us and stop whinging. How dare she mention the congestion charge - she probably doesn’t even notice the money she spends on it and without the charge Central London would be horrendous. If we’re going to cut traffic and air pollution we all have to do our bit and we’re lucky in London to have such a good public transport system. I know that’s not without it’s problems and it certainly drives me crazy at times but at least we’ve got it and you really can live in London and not feel that you need a car. Ken Livingstone did a brilliant thing introducing it. Go Ken go!!

And as for criticising the NHS… since when do people with any money use the NHS? As far as I can tell there is one system for them that can’t pay and nice private hospitals for thems that can.

Oh it feels good to rant!

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I’m back in London after a very refreshing holiday in Wales. The highlight was sitting in a hot tub looking at the moon whilst sipping champagne. That was pretty good. The worst bit was probably the time we trudged miles in the pouring rain but that was pretty mild compared to the wet adventure I had last year climbing up Snowdon.

As soon as I got back here I climbed on my bike and cycled into Central London. It only takes about 50 minutes so I’m still wresting with myself over whether I should cycle in to work every morning. It’s so cold at the moment and the thought of heavy traffic is putting me off.

Yesterday I went to my favourite little cafe in Chiswick - you know the one! I’m reading a book called Solitude by Anthony Storr. It really nice to hole up somewhere and munch down a couple of pages of it. Today after work I nipped into the National Gallery for a free tour and then vegged out at home in front of Juno - a refreshingly good film with an excellent sound track. Thanks for the recommendation Baggins and Co.

On a more serious note I’m noticing there is a lot of opposition to airport expansion especially the Heathrow and Stansted expansions. There has been an unfortunate decision by the High Court to state the expansion as legal. Several groups are involved in trying to stop the expansions, including Stop Stansted Expansion and Stop Heathrow Expansion. The usual Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth campaigns are going and Ken Livingstone has come out against expansions. I guess it’s up to us to stop flying despite the cheap flights and the expensive alternatives. When the government starts to take climate change seriously and taxes air travel while subsiding greener forms of transport, I’ll start to believe they care about the issue.

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We arrived in Wales via Liverpool and Chester to find that the rugby is occupying everyone. The weather is of the wet drizzly kind that the UK is so famous for. As always the countryside makes me want to stay inside but it’s pretty nice inside because I can see geese, horses and little deer wandering around in the nearby fields. It’s nice to be out in the countryside after weeks of city smoke. We’re going to celebrate the Iranian New Year on Thursday so we’re going to spend the week up here holidaying and celebrating the beginning of Spring.

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It’s good to see that teachers are resisting overt propaganda in schools. In an attempt to bring up a generation of young people with misconceptions about the Iraq war the the MOD has prepared lesson plans with their own version of events. Luckily instead of blindly walking into the classroom and teaching this 1984 style history, teachers have questioned the lessons on the grounds that they don’t allow students to be taught with objectivity and balance. It is vital that we don’t allow the classroom to become an extension of the media and I am particularly glad this issue has been highlighted because while genocide continues in our names we should loudly proclaim that we know why our country wages war, what it seeks and what the real losses are and we should not accept their distorted version of events.

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I was pleased to see that students at UCL have voted to kick the army out of union buildings. This is the third university in London that has seen such radical action. It’s pleasing to see that student unions are taking the lead even if the universities lag behind. This was particularly cheering news for me because a few years ago I witnessed the army move from their camp miles outside the union building at UEA to inside Union House. They’d been banned for their anti-homosexual attitude and once that was ‘rectified’ they let them back in to tout their wares at graduate fairs and socmarts. I found it depressing that huge numbers of civilian causalities, participation in genocide, use of the most horrific weapons and the elitist and oppressive structure of the army where not also seen as reasons to ban them.

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We’re busy moving out of the flat so everything is in boxes. There is that sad sort of emptiness when you leave somewhere and you’re packing up all the possessions you treasure or need into little boxes and bags. We’re attempting to live a relatively possession free lifestyle but there seems to be a never ending amount of tat that needs to be dealt with. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t even been to my favourite gallery for ages now. I did go to the V&A with Eleanor and her partner on Friday night. They stay open late on a Friday so we went on the tour in the afternoon and then sat in in the cafe absorbing the culture from afar. Later on we got to be spectators in a fashion show put on by students from Wimbledon College of Art - some of which was beautiful and some thought provoking. After which we headed out to a nearby Thai restaurant where we availed ourselves of delicious food and bottle of rosé.

I’m heading back to Norwich next week to catch up with everyone and Keyvan off to Sweden to see how nice it is so we won’t be missing North London too much!

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I have just finished watching a film called ‘What would Jesus buy’ featuring a rather eccentric activist Reverend Billy. The group he has set up has been campaigning about a variety of things but the film focuses on the anti consumerism message. Combined with the anti Walmart film I indulged in last night I am feeling in a ranty mood and am determined to boycot Asda/Walmart and in fact all unnecessary shopping. Although this is something I resolved to do years ago. I find that working and living in London is not really compatible with any sort of environmentally friendly life style. Apart from Chiswick and High Street Kensington I have not found any organic shops to buy food from. There is as always a shortage of fair trade and environmentally friendly clothing. Although it is now possible to buy some organic and fair trade products from supermarkets this only encourages us in their doors and makes us forget that what they represent is the opposite of the main beliefs behind the fair trade and organic movements. Unfortunately the place I live boasts only supermarkets so the options for food shopping is limited but having reminded myself about the fact that Walmart has it’s clothes made in sweatshops, refuses to allow employees in America to unionise, pays low wages and offers no benefits to most employees while raking in profits of billions - I find I have lost my appetite anyway.

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