Today I am going to give the Bush and Blair diatribe a miss. Instead I have made comments on three significant subjects.

1) The latest hope for Northern Ireland .
2) The assassination of the Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes
3) The annual denigration of the achievements of the children leaving school with good A level passes which wont get them into university.

1. Peace in our time at last

We have lived with Northern Ireland for thirty five years so we have been well inoculated against this running political sore.
I feel it would not be amiss to give my comments on the recent good news from the Emerald Isle. Dozens of known writers, journalists and pundits have given their opinions but what right do I have to make such judgemental comments? Well, my paternal grandmother was 100% Anglo Irish which gives me a deep interest in the developing and evolution of 21st century Irish Politics. I have also lived on and off in Ireland since 1969 which I gives me both the right and some knowledge to make a comment on the recent paramilitary activities. When I first stayed in Ireland for six months I lived in both the North and South. How come ? Simple enough, the venue was no less than Castle Leslie long before it became a sought after place by celebrities such as Madonna and Paul Mc Cartney who was recently married there. The Film Director, now turned writer, Stuart Stirling, rented the Castle for six months and made an extraordinary film called Robert X which had to close because backers, without logical reason, withdrew their finances.

The film unit was based on the Leslie estate which had the main “posh” entrance in the South and the down market “tradesman’s” entrance in the North, which was a political dichotomy in itself ! When I first arrived at Castle Leslie in the village of Glaslough , County Monaghan, the troubles hadn’t started but, by talking to the locals, I became aware for the first time of some of the grievances voiced by Catholics whom the English Protestants treated with such prejudice and discrimination that the Catholics reached a political cross road where they were pushed to a point where they couldn’t take any more. The human race can only take so much before it explodes into action and within a matter of weeks the IRA started blowing up selected targets. The dreadful thing is that if the British Government had monitored and rectified the terrible things that the ruling protestants had inflicted upon the Catholic community, the open wound would not have festered into political pus. It all came about in 1921 when Southern Ireland obtained its freedom from British rule. The north should never have been separated from the south but, for the British to allow the creation of a unified Ireland , England would have had to have given up the taxes and benefits from the heavy industries which abounded in the north, especially Belfast. Cotton and linen mills ,tobacco and of course the shipyards being the most significant. Harland and Wolf was one of the biggest shipyards in the world and the English government wouldn’t have given that gold mine up any more than Ken Livingston would give up his money making “Congestion Charge” regardless of the damaging consequences for the many.

Those who make the laws always have specious arguments to justify everything and I am sure the leading politicians of the day justified keeping Northern Ireland when they released the South but that didn’t mean it was the right and fair thing to do. When I discovered some of the political anomalies between the Catholics and the Protestants, I was gob smacked . I found it unbelievable that a catholic family only had one vote which was given to the male head of the family. Even if there were five sons and three daughters in the family, none of them had a vote. Such practices cannot even be referred to as gerrymandering which is harmless compared with what the unionists got up to in relation to the ballot box. How successive English governments allowed such an undemocratic prejudiced system to prevail I really cannot understand. ( well I can if I think about it ) Not only were Catholics not given the same right to vote as the Protestants, but jobs were simply not available for the Catholic unless they used a false address which disguised the fact that they were Catholics.

The employers who were at that time nearly all Protestants, knew from your address where you came from and automatically put a cross against your job application if you lived in a catholic area . Had Westminster intervened when they could have done in the late forties, the fifties and even during the early sixties and rectified the injustices, there would not have been all the terrible bloodshed, deaths and property destruction which followed for the next thirty five years from 1969 onwards. It was all very well for Stormont filled to the brim with the ruling protestants to maintain their political prejudices and discriminations but Northern Ireland was part of the so called mainland tax payer’s burden. Northern Ireland should have been controlled by the same basic democratic laws that the English had to comply with and it was this lack of justice and fairness of governance that opened the doors to Northern Ireland’s political Pandora’s box.
However the good news is that the IRA have said they will

decommission their weapons .Thank God for that ! But hold on, I thought they had already decommissioned their arms a few years back or am I mistaken ? It’s all very confusing but I suppose if it means a genuine cessation of bellicose activities it’s a good thing even if it did take the impact of the Al Qaeda underground bombs to bring the IRA and Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein to their “new image senses.” So don’t let us question the logic of some of Gerry Adam’s statements from the Sinn Fein political wing or listen too attentively to the ranting of the likes of the Reverend Ian Paisley . The way forward is no more bombs ,no more deaths and to rid the paramilitaries of their unacceptable business interests in Banks and Post Offices and I am not talking about an interest in buying stocks and shares.

2. Charles de Menezes, a death too far.

Coming back to mainland Britain and another subject associated with life and death, is the poor Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles de Menezes a tragedy precipitated in the wake of the suicide bombers on the 7th of the 7th 2005 . The modern terrorist weapon of suicide bombers is something the English cannot understand except that apparently the Muslim bombers will be rewarded in Paradise. Unbelievable except if you believe everything in the KORAN. Recently whilst researching the Greek Goddesses ( the Horai ) in the British Library I came across the word houris which throws some light on the bomber’s motivation. “ Houris are black eyed damsels said to be the reward of the faithful in the Muslim Paradise. They are possessed of perpetual youth and beauty and they can renew their virginity at pleasure and are always equal in age with their husbands. According to the KORAN, every believer will have seventy two of these houris in Paradise and , depending on his wish , his intercourse will be fruitful or otherwise ; if an offspring is desired it will grow to full estate in one hour.” It doesn’t say if the Muslim woman receive similar rewards but it doesn’t look as though they do.

Anyway I will leave you with the mind bending confusion that this definition must create for the believer who wishes to embrace the good life by becoming a suicide bomber.

The killing of innocent people in England’s streets is a new aspect of our society and indicates a dangerous direction to follow. Charles de Menezes was assassinated by what can only be referred to as the “Met death squad.” which had all the hall marks of a video nasty. Charles de Menezes was an innocent man who had 8 bullets pumped into brain. Presumably the thug policeman with a licence to kill thought that the brain needed more than one bullet to stop it functioning although with a minimum knowledge of biology he would have understood that after one bullet, a second piece of lead passing through the grey matter was not going to improve on the first. Now I won’t bore you with needless repetitions and regurgitations of what happened but sufficed to say, the establishment, as soon as the tragedy happened, began to tell its usual lies and almost immediately, backed the Met’s “distortion of convenience” of the actual facts. Very interesting to know that it was just announced {Sunday 21st August} on the late afternoon news that Tony Blair, still on holiday with his finger on the pulse, and John Prescott, the stand in joker , are backing Ian Blair all the way .

Hello, haven’t we been here before ? Ian Blair is the head of the Metropolitan Police force ( Sir Ian Blair no less) and shares the name Blair with our not so revered Prime Minister, which creates an unfortunate connotation especially when he starts imitating Tony Blair’s ducking and diving when it comes to issuing informative political statements . Ian Blair has gone on record saying that the Met hasn’t prevaricated with their explanations or deliberately procrastinated the Independent Police Commission enquiry. Sir Ian, also says that de Menezes’ accidental death ( I call it death by assassination) is not significant compared with the 52 deaths on July 7th. His implication is that one accidental death was justified because of the enormity of the danger indicated by the 52 deaths.

In the News of the World, Sir Ian wrote that he didn’t know about the killing of an innocent man until 24 hours after his death. I’m not sure what he hoped to achieve by making that statement but presumably, he wants the public to believe that the 24 hour factor creates exonerating circumstances. However, he seems to have missed the point that it isn’t when he knew that was significant but the fact that when he did actually know, he went along with what many believe was, indisputably, a deliberate misrepresentation of the facts. It is not the deeds of evil men that sustain and incubate evil but the silence of good men about the evil wicked men perpetuate. Not exactly appropriate but I am sure you get my point. Personally, I think how Charles de Menezes died has more integral significance for our society than the 52 deaths by a one off attack by misguided suicide bombers. However, the establishment has been good enough to refer to de Menezes death as a tragic mistake and also recognise that it is a tragedy for his family. Perspicacious indeed !! I don’t see how one can think of such stupid, gross negligence as a mistake. It was incompetence and criminal negligence of the highest order and I make a relevant observation on this. If a trained special police marksman pumps 8 bullets into a man who died with the first bullet, it indicates that the man had lost control and panicked. You expect a domestic knifing to end with many stab wounds when the knifer loses control but not a trained policeman to empty his magazine into someone’s brain.

Already the establishment has gone into gear and is creating false details and doing the “ can’t speak about this until the enquiry has published its report” bit. That means the public will have almost forgotten the circumstances which makes it a lot easier to get them to accept the lies dissimulations and the equation “Time = acceptance + the law of diminishing effect” which is what governments seek in such matters . I didn’t believe the original police statements and press releases at the beginning of this affair any more than I believed all the lies deception , deceit and downright treachery that the government and its agents pumped out into media channels after the purported suicide of Doctor Kelly. Actually, like many , I don’t even believe the poor guy topped himself.

Still on the subject of death, there have now been three deaths which have cleared the political brambles for Tony Blair to go forward relatively unscathed.

1) John Smith whose death gave Blair his leadership role. 2) Dr. Kelly whose untimely death meant that no one would ever know the very important and significant secrets which he took with him and 3) Robin Cook whose early demise extracted a painful thorn from the flesh of Blair’s New Labour.

Now I want to say categorically that I do not think there is an overall conspiracy theory connecting these three deaths but they certainly changed the political arena where Tony Blair and other clowns perform their circus acts. No wonder Blair didn’t want to break with his holiday for Robin Cooks funeral. I expect he wanted to avoid being asked embarrassing questions about some of his policies and plans for New Labour 1984 styled legislation, such as laws to control the judges and statutes giving the government the right to hold suspect terrorist court hearings in secret, presumably with selected judges who might just be friends of that political cross dresser Lord Falconer, the brain behind the millennium dome fiasco. If such judges are created I hope the judges are more capable in their job than the special armed police ! Of course, there might have been some justification for Tony Blair not attending Robin Cook’s funeral . We were told that he was on holiday but he might just as well have been attending a clinic and taking treatment for “political megalomania” an ailment mostly suffered by mentally unbalanced politicians who begin to believe the fantasy that is spun about their existence and supposed abilities. Blair still maintains that Britain’s action, backing Bush in Iraq, was the right thing to do and to maintain this with all the contrary evidence, including the daily death toll and the fantasy of the new Iraqi democracy created by the British and the Americans, needs a lot of very strange illogical thought processes to justify it. One of the dangers of Blair’s government is the quality of his cabinet ministers. Tony rules OK but, for him to feel comfortable in his power base, he needs to be surrounded by two types of people.

1.People of mediocrity because they give him a confidence he wouldn’t have if they weren’t mediocre. 2. Advisors who seem to be able to control Tony Blair who would find it difficult to be able to perform as prime minister if they weren’t there.

Take one of the most significant New Labour images. The emergence in 1997 of “Blair ’s Babes” . How disappointing they have turned out to be. Chosen as female vote catchers, they are no more than a bunch of suburban housewife’s whose presence probably makes Blair feel more secure than if they were a bunch of gung ho macho political men Even safer when he makes such light weight people into ministers who don’t have the balls to be a minister of gravitas or express the wisdom of powerful strong minds. Politicians are expendable people . Exit one for whatever reason and enter a replacement with or without the ability. Take the French revolution. After the French had guillotined all the leading politicians and aristocrats, the people rose from the peasantry and gutters of Paris to take over the important government posts which were available thanks to “Madame la guillotine.” They were able to perform their tasks although it cannot be said if they performed these tasks better or worse than their guillotined predecessors . But it didn’t matter because better, worse or indifferent, government posts will be filled regardless of the quality and standard of the work. Past achievements quickly become forgotten and the public only remembers the present and, if its far enough in the past, the glory of the fabrications which eventually become part of history. History will see the Blair and his Ministers for what they are and I wont say any more than that in case Blair’s thought police are sent round to give me a talking to!

3. A levels andthe right to a university education.

My final article concerns the “A level ” disputes which are currently arising from the problem of mass education. My son Merlin has just taken his A levels so I am aware of the difficulties and complications. Naturally enough, these disputes are created by the Blair Ministers and coterie of friends who really don’t seem to know what they are doing . The likes of “Bantam weight” politicians such as Kelly and her predecessor Estelle Morris, would probably be capable of sorting out their own family problems but, on a national scale they are out of their depth and such important matters are perhaps just a little beyond their capabilities.

This years results were denigrated by some of these “ Mickey Mouse” government people and ministers even before they were released. They argue that “A levels” are getting easier and easier and that they should be made much more difficult. A very negative perspective . Why knock the fact that we are finally educating a large percentage of British school children to a higher standard ? Instead why not extol the virtues of an education system that has raised the national level of intelligent consciousness ? Why pretend that the exams are getting easier each year when it is obvious that the children are simply better equipped to pass exams because everyone involved , including the 5th & 6th form teachers are improving. We are told that in the past “A levels” were more difficult but perhaps that is only the opinion of an educated population represented by three generations of the underprivileged who were given free education.

Forty years ago, the now extinct, old working class parents thought their children belonged to the “Genius category” just because they got into university. However, this was a distortion created from their “out of sync perspectives” which in itself was the result of not having been educated themselves. Has it not occurred to the government officials, ministers and relevant agencies, that with several generations of educated parents, today’s school leavers who take advantage of the UK’s education system, are so advanced that the old fashioned concept of the post war working class school children struggling to pass exams, has been left behind. Once upon a time only the young rich and powerful drove cars. Now, even great grandmothers handle their Nissan Micras with consummate skill ! Early in the 20th century ,Mount Everest used to be unclimbable except by men who were considered to be all but physical gods. In the last two decades many people have managed to reach the summit but that doesn’t mean that the mountain is easier to climb or that it has lost a couple of thousand feet in height. It means that average climbers are more able, more capable , better trained than they were. They also have better equipment .This analogy can be applied to our children who are taking exams which they have been made to believe will be the necessary passport to attend a university. What treachery the government .

It is possible that the reason why government officials are saying that the “A levels” are too easy, is because the government is frightened of spending too much on education and not having enough tax payer’s money to maintain weapons, arms and our soldiers in places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo etc.? (And this doesn’t even begin to include rebuilding the countries which Britain has helped to destroy.) Is the government trying to create a new exam format in which they can eliminate the vast numbers of university applicants for whom there is no place at a university even though the school leavers have gained the right, by passing their “A levels” , to study at university and develop their minds in an essential third level education which is the bridge that takes us from the past into the future.

Society benefits by university education and as such, a university should be for everyone who has the ability, not just the selected few as our government would appear to prefer.

Labour wants to bring back the class system which they created after the Second World War. They produced the socially destructive eleven plus, a system which divided working class families so that the so called elite Grammar School boy or girl was often unable to communicate with their brothers and sisters who evolved in a different academic environment. Siblings separated, simply because the brother or sister who didn’t pass the eleven plus, was sent to an ordinary secondary school where he spent the next five years having his mind processed subconsciously and consciously ( with the help of sub standard teachers ) to believe that he was an inferior being. Imagine assessing a child’s mind and pre-empting his future as a potential professional and valid member of society at an age when most children’s brains haven’t even begun to develop. Success in the 11 plus exam was based on trick psychological questions which primary school children could be trained to answer. Such questions had little to do with a nascent developing intelligence. Even worse was that if you happened to be a potentially brilliant artist, embryonic writer, linguist or musician , you had to forget it. The nurturing of these qualities was not part of Labour’s eleven plus agenda. The eleven plus didn’t have questions which were designed to assess whether the child might develop into a brilliant artistic and creative mind.

Only the minds of 20th century retro- politicians could uphold such an unfairly balanced system. And, apart from the divided working class family units, there was also the sense of failure inculcated upon the minds of the middle classes who didn’t have the money to send their children to crammers. Unless these unfortunate children had extraordinary parents they often left secondary school with a sense of “ bourgeois failure” even if they did speak to their siblings. Of course the wealthy always succeeded because their money would enable their children to be “ crammed” into university and, as for the seriously rich, nothing really mattered to them because their deep coffers enabled them to follow what ever whim took them. One day a designer , the next day company director , the following day a publisher or whatever took his or her fancy .

This is not to say that without the accompanying finances they wouldn’t have been achievers because they might ultimately succeed in everything they do. But , without wealth, you have to put your nose to the grindstone. With wealth you can do it overnight but without wealth it can be bloody hard work and exhausting. Look at the Russian who owns Chelsea football club . Ability ? Not necessarily , just a transfer of wealth achieved by what ever means he achieved it. The children of people like the late Sir James Goldsmith achieve instant recognition and free publicity in whatever field they choose to enter because of their parent’s wealth. Rupert Murdoch’s son is a powerful international business man but he didn’t have to slave his way up through the ranks because he was really there at the beginning even if he did make the tea a few times. Paul Mc Cartney’s daughter is a famous dress designer or was she just set up by her daddy’s wealth and Beatle mania? This kind of nepotism relates to Blair’s government and the political philosophies or, perhaps more appropriately, the sharp practices of Labour who hated the old system but immediately replaced it with a similar one albeit with a different category of person . New lamps for old ! Unfortunately the quality of the brass is often greatly inferior.

Forty years ago, one got a good job with five o levels. Today, the five O Level job now requires a good degree for the applicant to be even short listed. And, coming up within a year ( already in situ with some companies) is the necessity to have a Masters degree. Glibly, today’s gilded youth talk about “Uni” degree followed by a Masters in the same breath . Unfortunately, if you can’t play games you often become the top scoring academic but if you don’t have the instinctive natural intelligence that life requires, you end up being a wally in a top job giving sub standard applications to the real problems of our society. As for the man who should be there, he has to either work in a sub standard occupation or, if he has the ability, become an entrepreneur who builds his own kingdom because he has the real qualities necessary to take a country forward or build powerful companies.

Unfortunately academic achievement by itself does not create a blueprint for a better society, it merely indicates that the person who has it, can pass exams. With modern technology, the country needs both academic and natural intelligence to enable our working graduate to weave his way through life’s undergrowth but the way things are going, it will be the academic who takes over and steers us, with his often doubtful leadership ability. We need academics for academic occupations, but for real problems of global politics and applying wisdom, we need more and we are in danger of putting such people out of the equation.

Life is full of mazes and tempestuous seas which require good capable captains at the helm. In my opinion too many of today’s politicians and so called leaders, simply don’t have it. We seem to be steering towards a controlling factor of academic achievers who will prevent too many of the real men and woman from stepping forward and taking the reins from the hands of the incompetent. We have a prime minister who is a prime example and, mark my words, there will be more incompetents to come, regardless of which ever party happens to win a general election. Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrats, they are all the same. Simulacrums of past images of greatness that still exist but without the right to go to a university will be unable to break through the web of mediocrity.

Copy right Dorian van Braam August 2005 .