I remember when the Berlin Wall came down. I was an angry student at the time. A few weeks later I was rowing with my Dad about some political issue and I railed at him about how out of touch I thought he was. But he had the last laugh.
Me: “You’re so out of touch! Did you know the Berlin Wall has come down?”
Him: “I didn’t even know it went up!”
I did my newspaper review slot on BBC Radio London this morning. I covered crying babies, psychic murder investigations, vomiting, tabloidese, Stacey Solomon and castrated MPs. As you do.
If you’re interested you can hear it on the Listen Again feature here. It starts at 1hr 46 minutes in.
There is a commendable article in the Wall Street Journal outlining the inconsistent ‘concern’ of Israel’s critics for the welfare of Palestinians:
“Israel’s harshest critics claim to champion the rights of Palestinians. So we’re curious about the fallout, or lack thereof, from revelations that the Palestinian Authority regularly brutalizes its own in the West Bank while enjoying a steady flow of dollars and euros.”
Curious indeed. Recent reports have shown that the Palestinian Authority uses several methods of torture including beatings, whippings, attacks with electrical drills against opponents. Murder and rape are also commonplace. And as was revealed in the UK press, all this is funded by Western aid.
Where is the concern, the outrage of those who claim to care so much about the rights of the Palestinians? Surely they should be screaming ‘Not In My Name’ and demanding we stop funding this evil?
As the article concludes: “So here’s the state-of-play in the department of moral outrage. When Britain is accused of abetting US interrogations, lawsuits, investigations, and threats to try Tony Blair for war crimes quickly follow. When Israel attacks Hamas in order to end rocket launches on its soil, it risks a session before the International Criminal Court. But when the West funnels billions to a Palestinian government whose abuses are brazen and ongoing, there is mainly silence.”
There are honourable exceptions, but too many of the Palestinian movement in the West show their true colours when having hurled abuse at Israel for perceived misdemeanours they remain silent as innocent Palestinians are tortured and murdered by their own leaders.
(With thanks to Tom Gross, who is quoted in the WSJ article.)
Is it just me or have we stopped taking about Gilad Shalit so much since Hamas released the video of him last month? After an initial surge of discussion in the wake of the video’s release it seems that general public attention on Gilad’s plight – he has been in captivity in Gaza since his kidnap in 2006 – has declined. I hope I’m wrong…
It was an emotional day when the video was released. We’ve talked about, campaigned and prayed for him for so long but for most of us Gilad Shalit has always been just a – peculiarly haunting – photograph. Watching the video was such a relief. On the face of it at least he seemed in far better physical and mental health than one could have hoped for in the circumstances.
And then the video came to an end and with it a painful reminder that for all the relief its release brought us, Gilad is still being held. One can only imagine the emotions his parents must have gone through that day.
I hoped the video would give the campaign a second impetus but I can’t help worrying it had a placatory effect and knocked us off course. That said, there is a school of thought that decreased discussion of his case is good, because – so the argument goes – every time a protest takes place Hamas will note the pressure on the Israeli government and raise its price for his release. I suppose this goes to the heart of the kidnapped prisoner issue for Israel: the price for a hostage’s release is unthinkable, to abandon the captured unconscionable.
I know the Israeli government is doing lots behind the scenes for Gilad’s release. Despite being very much a realist I’ve always believed he will get home. We just have to keep hoping and praying.
How to have a happy Monday:
1) Have a successful meeting at Penguin.
2) Go and watch Saw VI.
3) See your own book given a juicy close up on The One Show on BBC 1. (5mins 4seconds in on iPlayer.)
I was at a gig in London last night (Fightstar, fact fans – they were amazingly good) so I have yet to watch last night’s X Factor. I have it on Sky+ and I plan to start watching it early this evening so it flows seamlessly into the tonight’s live results show. Lots of clock-watching going on as a result.
I’m so excited. This year’s X Factor has been amazing, up there with my other favourite reality show installments: Pop Idol series 1, Big Brother series 3, Any Dream Will Do and X Factor series 1. The changes Simon Cowell made to the format were controversial at first but are working beautifully, and this year’s finals feature the most interesting, talented bunch of contestants ever. There is no three-act configuration for the final that would not be engrossing.
The only thing I’ve not enjoyed is the growing volume (thanks mainly to rise of Twitter) of the X Factor creeps (XFCs). These are the people who profess to dislike the show but tune-in every weekend regardless. As if this wasn’t strange enough, they then delude themselves that we’re just dying for them to come and tell us how stupid they think the programme is. Every Saturday and Sunday night Twitter and Facebook feeds quickly clog up with comments about how the contestants are all dumb, the whole thing is fixed, Cheryl’s a chav, the judges only pretend to bicker, oh the whole thing is so stupid, yadda yadda yadda…
I get that The X Factor isn’t to everyone’s taste. But if XFCs hate it so much then why do they keep tuning in just to sneer at it? Have they really nothing better to do? I don’t like rugby, so I don’t watch it. I’ve never found equations like that particularly challenging to get my head round. XFCs, though, tune in to the live shows every week without fail and then rush to the internet to tell us how stupid they found the whole thing.
If you hate The X Factor then please just don’t watch it. Or if you’ve really nothing better to do each weekend than watch television shows that you hate then at least spare us your snobby commentary. It doesn’t make you sound clever, it makes you sound lonely and creepy. Listening to it is akin to tucking in to the most beautiful tub of ice cream while someone sits next to you reading out the ingredients in condescending monotone. Yes, I know lots of chemicals go into making ice cream (my favourite X Factor accompaniment, fact fans – Chocolate Macadamia please) but I’d quite like to just enjoy eating it all the same, please.
And yes I know there’s a whole lot more than meets the eye to shows like the X Factor, but just for a few hours each weekend I really love switching off from all the cynicism of the world and enjoying a bit of innocent, bubbly entertainment. If XFCs really are that offended by all the fun, ambition, pop gold, dreams, tears and laughter of The X Factor then I suggest they lighten-up or button up. Or switch over – I’m sure there’s some documentary about a clever but depressed Guatemalan poet or something to watch.
In happier news, despite there being so many likeable and talented acts this year, I’ve had a stand out favourite since the opening audition phase who seems to be going strong. It’s not going to be a huge surprise to you who I am referring to.
Can you guess who it is yet?
