Dreaming of Freedom

Today is Semla Day in Sweden. I don’t think that is its actual name but it is the day that Swedes munch on delicious semlas in the same spirit that people scoff pancakes in England. It was originally intended to be eaten only on Shrove Tuesday but now in the lead up to the beginning of Lent you find them all over Gothenburg, spilling out of cafes and bakeries. I really hope you can also find them after today because they are truly yummy. They are basically a wheat based bun filled with almond cream and fresh whipped cream. Here’s a recipe for those of you not in Sweden.

I met up with Ines, Lena and Emi in Café Kringlan in Haga to enjoy a feast of tea and semla and here in a pictures of the actual one I ate - before I ate it.

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I spent the morning walking around Cambridge with Tim and ended up in the Botanical Gardens which is free to visit during the week in the winter. It was then off on the train, plane, coach and back to Gothenburg where there was an icing sugar dusting of snow over everything.

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Yesterday we walked to the Plaza Mayor and ate lunch sitting on a stone bench in the center, afterwards we wandered to a little shop to buy the rich chocolate you need to make chocolate con churros. We then headed off to the Museo del Prado and after queuing, paying, queuing again, depositing our coats and walking through airport like security we actually got to see some of the amazing art. We headed into the local Faborit for a quick lunch before heading to Chocolatería San Ginés for chocolate con churros. There was only just time after all that to get to the airport on the very convenient metro and head to England.

It was then off to The Maypole in Cambridge for a catch up drink with Andy before heading off to Tim’s for a sandwich a place to kip.

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After visiting the Caixa Forum we hopped on the Metro and went to the Matadero. It’s a converted abattoir that now hosts some interesting exhibitions. We saw the five light installations by Daniel Canogar called Fuegos Fatuos (Fatuous Fire) which were quite pretty in places. There was a really interesting exhibition at the back of the Matadero which explored artificial life, communication and the ability of machines to learn.

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I have just discovered next door to the MediaLab Prado is a treasure of an art gallery. The Caixa Forumz which only opened in early 2008 is a great example of modern architecture and displays a great collection of art. There is a fabulous section at the moment called Risk areas which is full of art that is about pertinent social issues of our times such as war, migration, money, rituals and gender divisions. My personal favourite is the Welcome to Guantanamo Museum. It’s about our penchant for remembering horrors that we have perpetrated and was born out of the idea that Guantanamo should be turned into a museum. The display includes miniature models of Guantanamo and an electric chair as well as a life sized torture helmet and a pair of boots with a hidden chamber for a suicide pill.
The whole display is an example of modern art at it’s best - attempting to portray and question the world around us.

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I arrived in Madrid after some delays at 23.30 on Saturday - and headed for my hotel which is just off the Gran Vía. Yesterday after stopping off at the Media Lab Prado to check out all the projects I convinced K to come to the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía to see Guernica. It was an amazing experience which I was totally surprised by. The painting is huge and yet looks really fragile. The artwork is superb - it draws you and mesmerizes you. It compels you to look at it from all angles - to absorb the message. Now I understand why Picasso was considered a genius. There is so much strength and movement in it. It is terrifying and pitying. It makes you feel that the whole desperate affair of war is one that is scared of observation and discovery and flourishes only in the dark unseen corners. Once exposed to the condemnatory light of observations is rears back in terror - echoing the terror it creates by its existence.

After wandering around the centre of Madrid and looking at various plazas we went to Fast Good for a tasty evening meal. This morning we succumbed to the temptation of chocolate con churros and went to Chocolatería San Gines which is said to serve the best in Madrid. The chocolate was good and so thick and dipping the fatty doughy churros in was delightful but a whole plate finished me off and I now feel as if I should only eat fruit for the rest of the day to counteract the effects.

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So I was just wandering around the web and found that my friend Andy Higson has gone and got himself two blogs. His political blog and his amusing blog. Keep blogging Andy.

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I spent 60 splendiferous minutes with Emi today, talking next to the frozen river about fear and Fawkes. Check out her blog or her myspace. Her music totally rocks.

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It will soon become an offence to photograph a police officer. Officially the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 which amends the Terrorism Act 2000, will only make photographing police officers an offence if terrorism is suspected. However the widespread fear is that this law will be abused. Below are the figures from the government for the period between 11 September 2001 – 31 March 2007 which appear to demonstrate that the Terrorism Act 2000 has been widely abused by the police. They show that 1228 arrests were made under the terrorism act and yet 669 were released without any charge at all. So more than half people arrested under this serious charge were released with no charges at all - suggesting that they actually no danger at all.

The UK police terrorism arrest statistics (excluding Northern Ireland) from 11 September 2001 – 31 March 2007 show 1228 arrests were made:

1165 arrests under the Terrorism Act 2000
63 arrests under legislation other than the Terrorism Act, where the investigation was conducted as a terrorist investigation

Of the total 1228 arrested:
132 charged with terrorism legislation offences only
109 charged with terrorism legislation offences and other criminal offences
195 charged under other legislation including murder, grievous bodily harm, firearms, explosives offences, fraud, false documents
76 handed over to immigration authorities
15 on police bail awaiting charging decisions
1 warrant issued for arrest
12 cautioned
1 dealt with under youth offending procedures
11 dealt with under mental health legislation
4 transferred to Police Service of Northern Ireland custody
2 remanded in custody awaiting extradition proceedings
669 released without charge
1 awaiting further investigation

Of those charged:
41 Terrorism Act convictions to date
183 convicted under other legislation: murder and explosives offences (including conspiracies), grievous bodily harm, firearms offences, fraud, false documents offences, etc (this includes the 12 cautions detailed above)
114 at or awaiting trial

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Check out this artistic and informative video.

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