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REFLECTIONS on 2012 in RETROSPECT

   
2012 in RETROSPECT

2012 (MMXII) is a leap year that started on a Sunday and is the current year.
In the Gregorian calendar, it is the 2012th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 12th year of the 3rd millennium and of the 21st century, and the 3rd of the 2010s.

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'OLYMPIC SUMMER 2012'
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2012

For people living in the United Kingdom the year 2012 was dominated by the Olympic Games.

Tom Daley - only Bronze



This was the year when Tom Daley didn't win a gold medal - and everybody pretended not to notice.




   
'Christmas Tom'
but who is the mistletoe for ?

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'SUMMER 2012'
© Copyright Peter Crawford 2012

And while the Games dominated the Summer - in fact there was no Summer - or rather, if you blinked, then you missed it.

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But to go to the beginning - 
                                           the Arab Spring trundled on, and to those who understood  it was clear that it was shaping up into a conflict between fundamentalists (Islamists) and progressives, and Shia (including Alawi) and Sunnis.
As far as the ordinary people in the Middle East were concerned, however, despite the claims for the establishment of democracy and freedom, their everyday standards of living either stood still, or declined, as investments haemorrhaged from the area.
The Arab Spring turned into an 'Arab Winter' as the whole are lurched uncontrollably into an era of instability and uncertainty.

 جمال عبد الناصر
جماعة الاخوان المسلمين
The most worrying aspect of the 'so-called' Arab Spring was the take-over of Egypt by the جماعة الاخوان المسلمين (el-ikhwan al-muslimūn - Muslim Brotherhood).
Ask any Egyptian who they think was the greatest leader of Egypt, and nine out of ten will tell you جمال عبد الناصر (Gamal Abdel Nasser Hussein).
But he persecuted the Muslim Brotherhood, rightly imprisoned and executed  سيد قطب‎ (Sayyid Qutb), and led a secularist socialist government.

Sayyid Qutb
Sayyid Qutb (Arabic: سيد قطب‎; October 9, 1906 – August 29, 1966) was an Egyptian,writer, teacher, vicious misogynist, and the leading member of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the 1950s and '60s. Author of 24 books, including novels, literary arts’ critique and works on education, he is best known in the Muslim world for his work on what he believed to be the social and political role of Islam, particularly in his books 'Social Justice' and the infamous 'Ma'alim fi-l-Tariq' (Milestones). His supposed magnum opus, 'Fi Zilal al-Qur'an' (In the shade of the Qur'an), is a 30-volume commentary on the Qur'an.
We have Qutb to thank for Oama bin Ladin and all the other crazy Islamist fanatics who have been responsible for the endless number of deaths all over the world.

So, we are left with the question, did the Egyptians really vote for 'el-ikhwan', an ignorant, reactionary, Islamist party, intent on viciously curtailing what little freedoms the Egyptian people already have, and propelling them back to an era before the great  محمد علي باشا (Mehmet Ali Pasha) ?

Mehmet Ali Pasha
Mehmet Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha (Ottoman Turkish: محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; Arabic: محمد علي باشا‎  4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849) was an Albanian commander in the Ottoman army, who became Wāli, and self-declared Khedive (Turkish Viceroy) of Egypt and Sudan. He is regarded as the founder of modern Egypt because of the dramatic reforms in the military, economic and cultural spheres that he instituted. He also ruled Levantine territories outside Egypt. The dynasty that he established would rule Egypt and Sudan until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.


Port Said Stadium Riot
And just to emphasise the breakdown of law and order in the area, in February at least 79 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured after a football match in Port Said, Egypt.

The Port Said Stadium Riot was a mass attack that occurred on 1 February 2012 in Port Said Stadium in Port Said, Egypt, following an Egyptian premier league football match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly clubs.
At least 79 people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured after thousands of Al-Masry spectators stormed the stadium stands and the pitch, following a 3–1 victory by Al-Masry. Al-Masry fans violently attacked Al-Ahly fans, and also the club's fleeing players, using knives, swords, clubs, stones, bottles, and fireworks as weapons.

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The True Greatness of Britain in the Early 50s
Diamond Jubilee
On February 6 the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II marked the 60th anniversary of her accession to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the 60th anniversary of her becoming Head of the Commonwealth.
Particularly for those who could remember the death of the Queen's father, King-Emperor George VI, and the accession of the beautiful young Queen, it was a truly moving anniversary.

Festival of Britain 1951

However, for many 'baby-boomers' it raised questions with regard to the success of the 'post-war dream' and the 'New Elizabethan Age'.
What had become of the ideals that had made England truly great in the early fifties - and where had it all gone wrong ?
Thinking back to the Festival of Britain, opened 3 May 1951 by the King -Emperor George VI, many in 2012 who were old enough, or well informed enough to know about the festival wondered why such great promise, idealism, and even good humour had been lost in the intervening years.

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2012 FINANCIAL and BANKING CRISIS


Winston Churchill
This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. It was with those words, delivered almost 70 years ago to the day, that Winston Churchill greeted news of Montgomery's victory at El Alamein, a turning point in the second world war.
The Conservative party can never get too much of Churchill, so there will be many in the blue half of the coalition who will be hoping that the words are as appropriate for describing the state of the economy today as they were for outlining the global balance of power in late 1942.
Make no mistake, news that Britain's economy grew by 1% in the third quarter of 2012 does not mark the end of the downturn that began more than five years ago, even though it is tremendous morale booster for a government that has had its back to the wall in recent months.

It will take another year of robust growth simply to return the economy to where it was during the period of phoney war between the run on Northern Rock in September 2007 and the collapse of Lehman Brothers a year later, and a decade to make up even half the output lost over the past four and a half years.

The level of gross domestic product is 13-14% below where it would have been had growth continued at its pre-recession trend of 2.5% a year. Some of that has been lost for good: it will never be recovered.
Yes - this is the year when many people realised that the bank adverts were downright lies.
The Banks are not around to help you - but rather to help themselves !
But it's an odd recession.
Get on any bus or train, or walk round a supermarket, and you will see not only adults, but little kids texting away on their 'smart-phones' (and many of them have two mobiles - at anything from £200 to £400 a time for a i-phone or Galaxy).
And where are the barefoot, ragged children, and the thin, haggard adults on the verge of starvation ?
It's not really a 1930s depression - no way !

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JIMMY SAVILLE
   
To maintain our standards of decency courage, fairness and good humour, to mention just a few qualities that are associated with the English, it is good on occasions to consider what happens when we let our standards slip.

Jimmy Savile - 1960s
Now it might sound like 'I told you so' but the author of this blog, from the 1960s onwards, always considered Saville to be a 'creepy', vulgar, unpleasant character, and always considered his involvement in charitable, hospital and penal work to be suspicious, to say the least.
The author of this blog was always suspicious that Savile was a pederast.

(Pederasty is an erotic homosexual relationship between a man and a pubescent boy outside his immediate family. The word pederasty derives from Greek (paiderastia) "love of boys", a compound derived from παῖς (pais) "child, boy" and ἐραστής (erastēs) "lover".)

It turns out, however that Saville, (as far as we know at present) was a paedophile and a necrophile - and was little concerned by the sex of the object of his lust.
A couple of news reports on Savile allege that he made unaccompanied visits to mortuaries (such as the one at Stoke Mandeville) and that he spoke publicly to the media about his “fascination” with dead bodies.
A former BBC colleague of Jimmy Savile has claimed the predatory paedophile was a necrophiliac.
It is one of the most extraordinary allegations to have come out in the wake of the scandal.
The claim was made on Radio 5 Live today by Paul Gambaccini, who started working as a DJ on Radio 1 in 1973.

Jimmy Savile - Paedophile
Sir James Wilson Vincent "Jimmy" Savile (31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011), OBE, KCSG, was an English DJ, television presenter and media personality.
He hosted the BBC television show 'Jim'll Fix It', and was the first and last presenter of the long-running BBC music chart show 'Top of the Pops'.
After his death, hundreds of allegations of child sex abuse and rape became public, leading the police to believe that Savile was almost certainly one of Britain's most prolific sex offenders.
Savile, born in Leeds, was the youngest of seven children (his elder siblings were Mary, Marjory, Vincent, John, Joan, and Christina) in a Roman Catholic family.
Savile was conscripted to work in the coal mines as a 'Bevin Boy' during the Second World War.
He began a career playing records in, and later managing, dance halls.

In the year 200 Savile talked about how he dealt with troublemakers when he was working in clubs: "I never threw anybody out. Tied them up and put them down in the bloody boiler house until I was ready for them. Two o'clock in the f--king morning... We'd tie em up and then we'd come back and I was the judge, jury and executioner."

His media career started as a disc jockey at Radio Luxembourg in 1958 and on Tyne Tees Television in 1960, and he developed a reputation for eccentricity and his flamboyant character.

Jimmy Savile and Ray Teret
father and son ?
Savile lived in Salford from the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s, the later period with Ray Teret, who became his support DJ, assistant and chauffeur.
During this period, Savile referred to Teret as his son, while Teret referred to Savile as Dad (?).

In March 1999, Ray Teret, Jimmy Saviles Chauffeur then  57, was jailed for six months for seducing and bedding a 15-year- old schoolgirl. Teret has recently been arrested, and bailed, on suspicion of rape.

Savile was famous for his "bizarre yodel", and catchphrases which included "how's about that, then ?", "now then, now then, now then", "goodness gracious", "as it 'appens" and "guys and gals".
Savile smoked very expensive, and obviously 'phallic' Cuban cigars.
He was a member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists and drove a Rolls-Royce.
Somehow, Saville managed to fool almost everyone.
Perhaps this vulgar, obscene little man was able to manipulate them because he was holding back some information about many of the people who fawned over him.

Margaret Thatcher entertains a Paedophile
Cardinal Basil Hume
Savile became a friend of Margaret Thatcher, who in 1981, described his work as "marvellous" (?).
He spent eleven consecutive New Year's Eves at Chequers with Thatcher and her family.
In 1984, he was accepted as a member of the Athenaeum, a gentlemen's club in London's Pall Mall, after being proposed by Cardinal Basil Hume (?)



Prince Charles entertains a Paedophile
Prince Charles sent him gifts on his 80th birthday and a note reading:
"Nobody will ever know what you have done for this country, Jimmy. This is to go some way in thanking you for that."
A lifelong bachelor, Savile lived with his mother (whom he referred to as "The Duchess") and kept her bedroom and wardrobe exactly as it was when she died (creepy).
In 2007, Savile was interviewed under caution by police investigating an allegation of indecent assault in the 1970s at the now-closed Duncroft Approved School for Girls near Staines, Surrey, where he was a regular visitor. 
In 2012, Sir Roger Jones, former BBC governor for Wales and chairman of BBC charity Children in Need, disclosed that more than a decade before Savile's death he had banned Savile from involvement in the charity, because he felt Savile's behaviour was "strange" and "suspicious".

Edwina Currie
At the Stoke Mandeville Hospital, Savile volunteered for many years as a porter. Savile also volunteered at Leeds General Infirmary and Broadmoor Hospital.
In August 1988, he was appointed, by junior Health Minister Edwina Currie, to be chair of an interim task force overseeing the management of Broadmoor Hospital, after its board members had been suspended.
One wonders how a government minister, even as stupid and self-serving as Curry, could possibly consider such a creepy, and equally self-serving individual for such sensitive position - particularly as he had no experience or qualifications for such a responsible position.
Savile had his own room at both Stoke Mandeville and Broadmoor - and free access to all the rooms and wards of the said hospitals.



Jimmy Savile - Broadmoor Keys
Jimmy’s Café
At Broadmoor - (Savile called himself the ‘Governor’ of the hospital !) - which was home to the 'Yorkshire Ripper' Peter Sutcliffe - staff presented Savile with his own gold-plated set of keys, giving him access to mentally-ill young patients.
Astonishingly, he was even allowed to take young female patients out of the supposedly top-security hospital for rides in his Rolls Royce.
At Stoke Mandeville Hospital the hospital café was named ‘Jimmy’s Café' in honour of Savile.
We are told that the sign has been removed.

Was all of this sheer madness, or was there some reason why Savile could get such power, privileges and such adulation from apparently responsible people - who included members of the Royal Family (remember the knighthood), a Prime Minister, Members of the Government, Senior Managers of the NHS (although is there anyone responsible in the NHS - considering they are so often indirectly responsible for the abuse and starvation the elderly), and senior managers of Broadcasting Companies ?
Perhaps they were all worried that he might "tie them up and put them down in the bloody boiler house until he was ready for them. Two o'clock in the f--king morning... where he would then be the judge, jury and executioner."
Or did he threaten to 'spill the beans' about what they had been up to ?
Behind the Savile scandal there is almost certainly a 'can of worms' involving not only the entertainment and media industry, but also some of those in the highest echelons of English society.


Kray Twins
There are interesting comparisons between Savile and the Kray twins.
Both were working class, poorly educated individuals, who come from the same era - the early sixties.
Both were involved in the managing of clubs or places of entertainment.
Both 'hobnobbed' with celebrities, and individuals in high government circles.
Both were flamboyant, eccentric characters - and were bi-sexual.
Both were violent thugs.
There were also direct connections between the Krays and Savile.
It has been stated that the Krays had access to many London care homes, and would have boys delivered to parties at DJ Alan ” fluff” Freeman’s large flat over a music shop in East London.
There they would meet with show biz types and DJs including Jimmy Saville, Joe Meeks and on occasion Beatles manager Brian Epstein.


Ronnie Kray
The police, allegedly, knew about the Kray gangsters and the sex parties known as ” Pink ballets ” with young lads but let them continue
At these parties , young boys , specially brought over from several childrens' homes would be plied with drugs and alcohol.
However these parties were forced to come to an end when the MP & Ex Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was attending them along with several other prominent MP’s…
The difference, of course, was that the Krays 'overstepped the mark' with murder - but apparently Savile's paedophilia was 'ok'.
Of course Ronnie Kray ended up in Broadmoor Hospital, and Saville was the Governor’ , as he called himself, of Broadmoor.
Considering Savile's strange bizarre behaviour, if he had been prosecuted early on, he could well have been 'sectioned' (after all you or I would have been 'sectioned' if we had behaved in public like Savile), and spent his later years in Broadmoor as an inmate, with Ronnie !

HONOURS


In the 1972 New Year Honours, Savile was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE), which he appended to his signature.

In the 1970s he was awarded an honorary green beret by the Royal Marines for completing the Royal Marine Commando speed march, 30 miles (48 km) across Dartmoor carrying 30 pounds (14 kg) of kit. - Following the allegations of child abuse, the Royal Marines have "erased" the award.


Madame Tussauds London unveiled a waxwork likeness of him in 1986. It was retired in the 1990s (?).



In the 1990 Queen's Birthday Honours he was made a Knight Bachelor "for charitable services". Following the allegations of sexual abuse, British Prime Minister David Cameron indicated in October 2012 that it would be possible for Savile's honours to be rescinded by the Honours Forfeiture Committee.

Savile was honoured with a Papal knighthood by being made a Knight Commander of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of Saint Gregory the Great (KCSG) by Pope John Paul II in 1990. After the scandal broke, the Catholic Church in England and Wales asked the Holy See to consider stripping Savile of the honour. In October 2012, Father Federico Lombardi told BBC News,
'The Holy See firmly condemns the horrible crimes of sexual abuse of minors, and the honour, in the light of recent information should certainly not have been bestowed. ...As there does not exist any permanent official list of persons who have received papal honours in the past, it is not possible to strike anyone off a list that does not exist. The names of recipients of papal honours do not appear in the Pontifical Year Book and the honour expires with the death of the individual.

He held an honorary doctorate of law (LLD) from the University of Leeds.



He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Bedfordshire in 2009, which was posthumously rescinded in October 2012.

He was an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Radiologists (FRCR).



He was also awarded the Cross of Merit of the Order pro merito Melitensi.
The Order of Merit pro Merito Melitensi of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta is a knightly order of merit established in 1920.
It is awarded to men and women who have brought honour and prestige to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta or actively promoted Christian values (you must be joking !) or works of charity in the Christian tradition as defined by the Roman Catholic Church. 

He was a Freeman of the Borough of Scarborough. This honour was removed in November 2012.


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BEST 'QUOTES' OF 2012



'Do all meerkats come from Russia ?'

'Bad Education' is a British sitcom produced by Tiger Aspect Productions for BBC Three. It stars Jack Whitehall as young teacher Alfie Wickers – "the worst teacher ever to grace the British education system" – at the fictional Abbey Grove School in Hertfordshire.
Unfortunately, Abbey Grove is far from fictional !

'Professing to being liberal and caring - in this era - is more important than being so.'


— Victor Davis Hanson


'Two posh boys who don't know the price of milk'


– Nadine Dorries on Cameron and Osborne 23/04

Nick Clegg - has he put on weight ?
'I'm sorry ?'

– Nick Clegg for most of the year, but partcularly 19/09


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OUTSTANDING PERSONALITIES OF 2012

 "Stewie" Griffin
Undoubtedly the TV personality of the year was "Stewie" Griffin, who is a character from the television series 'Family Guy'.
Stewie is the youngest child of Peter and Lois Griffin, and the brother of Chris and Meg.
He also has a close friendship with the family's anthropomorphic dog, Brian.
He has a strong hatred for his mother Lois Griffin, as it is his lifelong goal to kill her - which seems quite reasonable in the circumstances.
A master of technology, Stewie has not only mastered time travel, and the invention of numerous hi-tech weapons, but has also managed to create the 'elixir' of youth, and appears to permanently one year of age.






Александр Орлов (Alexander Orlov)
Александр Орлов (Alexander Orlov) is an anthropomorphic Russian meerkat.
Orlov is of aristocratic stock, and the founder of www.comparethemeerkat.com.
Aleksandr's family have lived in Moscow for many generations. His "greatest grandfather", Vitaly, fought in the 'Meerkat–Mongoose War' of the 1850s, and his grandparents survived the 'Furry Terror' of 1921.
Aleksandr became a billionaire in the 1970s. He lives in Moscow, although he apparently also owns a large mansion in South London. He now spends his time on vanity projects such as his website, numerous self-portraits, various petitions (whether it be banning 'comparethemuskrat.com' or beating Sergei at Scrabble by adding a word to the dictionary), and epic film-making (mostly starring himself and Sergei).
Aleksandr stated in an interview on his official Facebook that he is not married and has no children, despite having many marriage proposals.


Roger Smith
Roger Smith is a character from the television series 'American Dad'.
Roger was born in AD 410.
He is a space alien, reminiscent of the Roswell greys with his hydro-cephalic head, but with a body that resembles E.T.. Roger is sinister, free-spirited, and selfish.
He has a near-obsessive childlike affinity for role-playing various personae in his day to day life, motivated in part by the need to hide the fact that he is an alien.
He came to live with the Smith family after saving Stan Smith's life in Area 51.
Roger describes himself as a "fey, pan-sexual, alcoholic non-human".
Roger's body creates a mucus like fluid which is regularly expelled from several otherwise invisible orifices




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GREAT FILMS SHOWN IN 2012

There seems to be only two

Family Guy - 'It's a Trap !'

'It's a Trap !' is the double-episode season finale of the ninth season of the series 'Family Guy' and the final part of the series' trilogy 'Laugh It Up, Fuzzball'.
The episode aired on Fox in the United States on May 22, 2011, and was produced for the seventh production season (Season 8)
The episode was written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong and David A. Goodman and directed by Peter Shin.
It retells the story of 'Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi' as "Blue Harvest" did with 'Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope' and 'Something, Something, Something, Dark Side' did with 'Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back' by recasting characters from 'Family Guy' into roles from the film.
Due to the declining number of Family Guy characters, the episode also features characters from American Dad! and The Cleveland Show: Roger (see above) appears as Moff Jerjerrod, Klaus appears as Admiral Ackbar, Tim appears as Wicket the Ewok and Rallo appears as Nien Nunb.
Stan was originally going to appear as Wedge Antilles, but his part got cut (he is still mentioned when Lando orders him to destroy the Power Station in the main reactor of the Death Star).
The role of Meg Griffin continues to be minor, this time taking the role of the Sarlacc.
Stewie Griffin again plays a diminutive Darth Vader, with Chris as Luke Skywalker and Brian Griffin as Chewbacca.

Road to the North Pole
'Road to the North Pole' is the eighth episode of the ninth season of the comedy series 'Family Guy'.
Directed by Greg Colton and co-written by Chris Sheridan and Danny Smith, the episode originally aired on Fox in the United States on December 12, 2010.
In "Road to the North Pole", two of the show's main characters, baby Stewie and anthropomorphic dog Brian, who are voiced by series creator Seth MacFarlane, go on an adventure to the North Pole in an attempt to kill Santa Claus.
They eventually discover a dreary, polluting factory full of disease-ridden elves and carnivorous, feral reindeer, along with a sickly, exhausted Santa who begs to be killed. Stewie and Brian take pity on him, however, and decide to fulfill Christmas by delivering gifts to the entire globe, albeit unsuccessfully.
"Christmastime Is Killing Us" was nominated for Best Song Written for a Visual Media at the 54th Grammy Awards.

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IN MEMORIAM

Gerry Anderson, MBE (14 April 1929 – 26 December 2012) was a British publisher, producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving 'Supermarionation', working with modified marionettes.
Anderson's first television production was the 1957 Roberta Leigh children's series 'The Adventures of Twizzle'; almost a decade later he produced his most famous and successful production, 'Thunderbirds'.
His production company, originally known as AP Films and later renamed 'Century 21 Productions', was originally formed with partners Arthur Provis (hence AP Films – Anderson Provis Films), Reg Hill and John Read.
Other productions associated with Gerry Anderson include 'Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons' 'Stingray' 'Fireball XL5' 'Joe 90' 'UFO' 'Space: 1999'.
Much as he is held in awe by some aficionados, these productions now seem hopelessly outdated, and very much caught up in the 'style-free', tasteless era of the late 1960s and 1970s.
In terms of plot, characterisation and cultural relevance they cannot be compared to Hampson's 'Dan Dare'.


THIS POST IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Personal Reflections






MOON LANDINGS

The death of Neil Armstrong brings to mind the moon landings.

It is often said that you should remember where you were when President Kennedy was shot, or the Berlin Wall came down.
In fact with most great events I don't have the slightest idea where I was or what I was doing - but I do remember where I was when man first landed on the moon.
On July 20, 1969 I was at 35 Olde Cote Drive, Heston, England, with Chris Coles, lying on the sofa with the French windows open - it was a beautiful warm night.
And the program went on and on - and we went out and sat under the tree in the garden that always had the most magical blossoms in the summer.

Now the TV pictures were so blurry they could have been taken anywhere - but the photos were amazing - in fact too amazing.
The Hassleblad camera that was used was certainly a good camera, but Hasselblads, in the late sixties and early seventies, as I know from personal experience, were very, very difficult to use.
Digital cameras only need to be pointed at the subject, and the on-board computer does everything else.
A Hasselblad needs to be focussed, and the aperture and shutter speed needs to be calculated and set - and this has to be done while wearing incredibly thick gloves in the vacuum of space - and all the photos were perfect - so perfect that some of the graticules (cross-hairs) were obscured by objects in the picture ! - Weird ! And that's not the half as it - as they say !
But I'm not one of those weirdos who thinks that they never went to the moon.

But I do get a little spooked by the fact that the computing power that landed the lunar module was substantially less that the computing power in my digital watch.
So with all the computing power available today, why no moon-shots ?
So why have only twelve human beings walked the lunar surface ?
There are just eight astronauts alive today who have been to the moon, and they were all born in the 1930s.
You do the maths: the list of eyewitnesses to the thin sliver of history in which humans went to the moon is shrinking.

And then there's the problem of the Van Allen radiation belts, and the cosmic radiation on the moon.


Now at a time when people were worried about having their feet x-rayed, and wearing luminous watches, how did these guys take all this radiation and then live to ripe old ages.
And the low orbit of the space station is testimony to the dangers of radiation in space.
I was a bit moon crazy at the time.
I had a huge model of a Saturn Five rocket, and a model of the Lunar Module.

Being of the generation brought up on the adventures of Dan Dare, as a boy I expected that we would be exploring the solar system by the year 2000, as Frank Hampson prophesied in the Eagle comic.
I also thought that Britain would be in the forefront of space exploration.
After all, the Germans had been able to produce rockets even as the Third Reich was crumbling, and the technology of von Braun's A4 rockets was not particularly sophisticated or expensive.
But then I didn't realise that it would take a rocket the size of a Saturn V to lift a lunar module into space - and that would be beyond the financial resources of the UK.
But then, as we have a huge space station in orbit, why not send up a lunar module in bits, assemble it in orbit, and then fly it to the moon ? That could be done quite cheaply.

Yes - some people went to the moon - but it wasn't quite like they way it's presented - and in some way we've been warned off from ever going there again.




FESTIVAL OF BRITAIN

Skylon and
Dome of Discovery 
Skylon and Dome of Discovery
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition held throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. It was organised by the government to give Britons a feeling of recovery in the aftermath of war and to promote the British contribution to science, technology, industrial design, architecture and the arts.
The Festival's centrepiece was in London on the South Bank of the Thames.
There were events in Poplar (Architecture), Battersea (The Festival Pleasure Gardens), South Kensington (Science) and Glasgow (Industrial Power).
Festival celebrations took place in Cardiff, Stratford-upon-Avon, Bath, Perth, Bournemouth, York, Aldeburgh, Inverness, Cheltenham, Oxford and elsewhere and there were touring exhibitions by land and sea.

2012 London Olympic Games
Closing Ceremony
2012 London Olympic Games
Opening Ceremony
There are undoubtedly some similarities between the Festival of Britain and the Ceremonies of the London Olympic Games.
Both were celebrations of a distinctively quirky kind of Englishness, and both attempted to tell something of our island history.
Both were undoubtedly, in the most part, unintelligible to those who had not grown up in these islands.
Both, it seems, were a resounding success (which could not be said of the Millenium Ehibition - organised by the 'far from gay' 'prince of darkness', Peter Mandleson, on behalf of his even creepier boss, Tony Blair).
1950s Design
Gomm G Plan Sideboard
1950s Technology
DeHaviland Comet
The author of this blog was privileged to attend both events.

The Festival of Britain had a permanent and positive effect on a country that had just emerged from the trauma of World War, and the event affected the attitudes towards the arts, design, science and technology for the remainder of the decade, and lifted the nation's spirits and cave the country a renewed confidence and vigour.
One wonders if the London 2012 Olympic will have a similar effect on a country that is at present suffering from a loss of confidence and self esteem brought on by the current appalling political and economic climate ?



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OLYMPIC LEGACY

I think if I hear the word legacy again I might go crazy !

The last time there was an Olympic Games in London in 1948 there was no talk of legacy.
That was the 'austerity games'. The Second World War had just ended and there was no money for anything - and yet Britain put on a good show.
Male athletes at the games were given a packed lunch of sandwiches and an apple, (and a pair of y-fronts (?) - not much compared to the hundreds of thousands that athletes make today (Tom - I hope that your reading this).
And remember - the people at that time had lost family members, homes, careers and almost everything - but didn't 'bleat on' about it - but instead got on with a great games !
But there was a legacy - even if no one spoke of it.

I went to school in the '50s and '60s. After junior school I went to a boy's school.

In both schools sport was pivotal. There were regular PE (Physical Education) lessons, and regular Games lessons - football or rugby in winter and field events in summer, and once every week there was swimming (right up to the age of 16 years - see right).
There were regular football and rugby matches between local schools, and an annual school swimming gala at the end of each summer term.
And once a year there was a borough sports (see left) in which all the schools in the borough competed against one another.

At my boy's school the boys idolised the PE/Games masters (Mr Evans and Mr Russell), and they in turn bought out the best in sporting an athletic abilities in their charges.
Now I train for three hours a day, (gym and pool) for seven days a week (Compare Tom Daley - six hours a week, for six days a week) - but that is not part of a 'legacy' - that's just normal - but not for people now.
My generation became, on average, obese an unhealthy (but not as obese and unhealthy of the upcoming generation).
What went wrong ?
Well, the intervening years complacency and affluence, and the rise of sedentary entertainment and occupations ruined the later generations.
And a bit of 'legacy' will not cure this problem.
Olympians are few and far between - but good health and fitness should be the birthright of all - but will only be achieved by a total overhaul of the values of our society.
At present we are too full of self-congratulation over the recent Games.
We will see if that 'good feeling' can be transformed into a youthful, happy and healthy society.

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ANTON BRUCKNER


For me, the end of the Summer is always signified by the Promanade Concerts at the Albert Hall.
This year there has been a lot of Anton Bruckner.
When I was a boy, hardly anyone had heard of Bruckner - apart from me.
Perhaps it was his German connections that put people off - after-all he was one of Hitler's favourite composers !

Anton Bruckner (4 September 1824 – 11 October 1896) was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets.
The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, strongly polyphonic character, and considerable length.
Bruckner's compositions helped to define contemporary musical radicalism, owing to their dissonances, unprepared modulations, and roving harmonies.
Unlike other musical radicals, such as Richard Wagner or Hugo Wolf who fit the enfant terrible mould, Bruckner showed extreme humility before other musicians, Wagner in particular.

This apparent dichotomy between Bruckner the man and Bruckner the composer hampers efforts to describe his life in a way that gives a straightforward context for his music.
His works, the symphonies in particular, had detractors, most notably the influential Austrian critic Eduard Hanslick, and other supporters of Johannes Brahms, who pointed to their large size, use of repetition, and Bruckner's propensity to revise many of his works, often with the assistance of colleagues, and his apparent indecision about which versions he preferred.
On the other hand, Bruckner was greatly admired by subsequent composers, including his friend Gustav Mahler, who described him as "half simpleton, half God".

Bruckner is a composer obsessed by climaxes, and the juxtaposition of passage of delicate softness with monumental sonorities - and this betrays, rather too often I would say, his origins as an organist - the greatest perhaps of his generation.
But there is something else that is portrayed, or should one say betrayed, in his compositions, and that is the contrast between Austrian gemütlichkeit and the bombastic grandiosity of some aspects of the second and third Reiches.
The symphonies are, undoubtedly, prophetic, and, I must unfortunately conclude, essentially unsatisfying and immature in their repetitive magnificence - like an adolescent who feels that if enough instances of a weak argument are piled up then they will succeed just by sheer weight.
It is sad that Bruckner was unable to learn more from the master whom he adored - Richard Wagner !

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MULTICULTURALISM

Multiculturalism relates to communities containing multiple cultures and ethnicities.
The term is used in two broad ways, either descriptively or normatively.
As a descriptive term, it usually refers to the simple fact of cultural diversity: it is generally applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, sometime at the organizational level, e.g. schools, businesses, neighbourhoods, cities, or nations.
As a normative term, it refers to ideologies or policies that promote this diversity or its institutionalisation.
Does multiculturalism work in the United Kingdom ?
Recent figures show that only TWO percent of civil and religious partnerships are contracted between persons of different ethnicities !
The simple conclusion that can be derived from this fact is that you can can't enact laws that will make people love one-another.
The other, alarming, conclusion that can be derived from this statistic is that the different cultural, ethnic and religious groups in the United Kingdom are developing as separate entities - separate development !
Examples of countries like the Lebanon and Syria show what happens when groups develop in isolation and are then subjected to political and economic stress  - perhaps we should start worrying !

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WERE THE OLYMPICS AN ECONOMIC SUCCESS ?

It's the big questions that many people are asking.
Yes, we did very well as far as winning medals, and there were very few major hitches - but what about the tourist bonanza ?
Well, I have been in London most days while the Games have been on - in places like the city, Kensington, Oxford Street etc.
What has been very noticeable has been how few people have been around, considering it's the height of the 'summer season'.
So, if you want to got to Harrods or Selfridges, and have the undivided attention of the assistants, then go when the Olympics are on !
But will the government eventually admit that their policy of keeping people out of London has had a catostrophic effect on the city's retail economy ? We shall see !

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8th August 2012
    
TOM DALEY

Tom Daley was back training at the London 2012 Aquatics Centre yesterday ahead of the 10m individual platform competition.
The 18-year-old had spent the previous week training in Southend.
British Diving felt Daley and Peter Waterfield would benefit from getting out of the Olympic Village after their synchro debacle .
It meant they were away from all the distractions at the Olympics and allowed them more time in the pool to prepare for Friday night's heats.
Plymouth and Great Britain coach Andy Banks admitted they were happy with how their Southend break went.
'It did what it said on the tin," said Andy .
It got us out of the Olympic environment and allowed us to get dives under our belts.
We did what we wanted to do
.'
With swimming and synchronised swimming taking place in the Aquatics Centre it is difficult to get the number of dives in that you want, but in Southend we had the pool to ourselves.'
Tom, looking relaxed and in good spirits, was pictured on Twitter crossing the athletes' bridge (see left) into the Olympic Park after his Southend break.
Andy insists Daley and Waterfield have both got over the disappointment of just missing out on a medal in the 10m synchro final.
The pair finished fourth after one bad dive cost them a medal.
Failing to make the podium in the synchro has increased the pressure on Daley in his individual event.
But Andy said: 'The pressure is high, but it is just like any other competition.'
Meanwhile, Andy said fellow divers Tonia Couch and Sarah Barrow should be proud (?) of their performance at the Olympics.
The duo, who are current European champions, finished fifth in a highly-competitive women's 10m synchro final.
The pair set a new international personal best and again finished as Europe's top team.


10th August 2012



Tom Daley scraped into Olympics diving semis on 10th August 2012.
Tom survived a poor preliminary round in the 10m platform to edge through to Saturday's semi-finals.
A disappointing start was compounded by a sloppy fifth dive to leave him in 16th place with a round to go.
Tom did just enough with his final dive to move up to 15th, with the top 18 in the 32-man field progressing.
Team-mate Peter Waterfield could only finish 23rd and is now out, but the teenager never looked happy, and his fifth dive was one of the worst of his usually spectacular career, a 39.60 for a backward three-and-a-half somersault.
"If I was going to have a bad competition, today was the best to do it on," Tom said. "It was definitely the worst I've dived all year.
It's nerve-wracking because you don't know what is going to happen. In my last dive, it was now or never and thankfully I made it."
Daley's Chinese rival Qiu Bo (dubbed by Tom 'the robot', had guaranteed his qualification after five rounds and finished a massive 115.25 points clear of Tom's total.

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THE DISAPPEARANCE OF TIA SHARP

When the news of Tia Sharp's disappearance was first broadcast my initial reaction was that a family member was probably involved.
This doesn't mean that I am claiming any form of clairvoyance, but rather that my experience of such events previously would lead me to such a conclusion.
It is a statistical fact that a person is most likely to be murdered by a close relative of a close associate.

On average, people are not murdered by strangers, and the whole concept of 'stranger-danger' , particularly with regard to children, is an over-played 'red-herring'.
Equally the last person reported to have seen the murder victim alive is the most likely to be the murderer.
So - two people must have been in the frame in this case, right from the beginning - the so called 'step-grandfather',  Stuart Hazell (37), and the grandmother, Christine Sharp (46).
And the house, being the last place that Tia Sharp was seen alive, should have been, right from the beginning a 'scene of crime' and made unavailable to the initial suspects.
Instead, it was the centre of repeated family meetings, and the family seemed to have more control over the matter than the police.

Four searches of the property were undertaken in the week during which Tia Sharp was missing, and eventually the body was found in the loft.
Now considering the small size of the house, and the hot August weather, one would have thought the presence of a body would have been obvious to anybody (unless it was stashed in a deep freeze) - but how could the police have searched such a small space and not found the body of a twelve year old girl ?
Undoubtedly such incompetence but deeply shake what remaining confidence (after last years riots) the public must have in the Metropolitan Police Force.

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TOM DALEY - BRONZE MEDALIST


Tom Daley managed to win an Olympic Bronze Medal in the 10 Meter Platform Diving at the Aquatic Centre in London - 11th August 2012



Before the contest Tom said he would probably only win Bronze - and he was right !
Now is that really the attitude to go for when competing in an Olympic event - but then I suppose he wanted to let his fans down gently.



So why didn't Tom win Gold ?
To answer that, of course, if you want to be honest, you have to risk the police breaking down your front door - but we'll take the risk.



There are undoubtedly at least 5 reasons for Tom's failure to win the Gold medal that he should have won.

1 - He has experienced a growth spurt recently. This affects the brain's ability to judge accurately where it is in space, because the body's centre of gravity has altered. This may have been exacerbated by his recent weight loss.
2 - Poor coaching. The poor showing in both synchro and solo events point to the fact that there is a deficiency in the coaching regime.
3 - Tom's underestimation of the Chinese divers - suggesting that they were 'robots' and would 'break under pressure' - resulting in him not training sufficiently rigorously.
4 - The failure of  David Sparkes and Alexei Evangulov to bring Tom into line early enough when he was obviously spending too much time on non-diving commitments, which were being organised by Jamie Cunningham of Professional Sports Group.
5 - The initial contractual commitment to Professional Sports Group made by Tom's parents.



Jamie Cunningham has a lot to answer for in taking Tom's eye 'off the ball' in the run up to the Olympic Games.
Tom may have ended up with plenty of gold in the bank - thanks to Jamie - but he failed to get gold round his neck.


Tom Daley Celebrates his Third Place in the 10 Meter Diving



Tom Daley and the GB Diving Team Celebrate(?) in the Pool

This is the oddest aspect of the Final of the Olympic 10 meter Diving Contest.
The whole diving team, and the coaches, invaded the pool to perform an over the top celebration - presumably of Tom coming third (when he should have won gold).
It was noticeable that the Americans and Chinese, who had won Gold and Silver, did not make a splash, but behaved in a polite and respectful manner, as one would expect of professional athletes.
Tom, afterwards, said it was an "awesome moment" (awesome is 'prep-speak' for excellent or very good), and that his colleagues had planned the stunt in advance.
He said that everybody was just so overjoyed at his achievement - as we "don't normally get a medal" in the diving.
It also meant that the team had secured funding for the next Olympics.
Significantly Tom said, 'the bronze felt like a gold' - and that comment probably slipped out, as it seems that was the motivation behind the post-contest hype.
If British diving - and more importantly 'Brand Daley' are to prosper then, by using 'smoke and mirrors' the bronze must seem to be gold - and one suspects the distant hand of Jamie Cunningham's behind the supposedly spontaneous celebration in the pool.
However, the bronze was in no way a media coup for Tom, or Professional Sports Group, as Tom's poor result failed to reach the front pages of the following morning's papers.
Looked at objectively, the results of the GB Diving team were very poor, and one would hope that those responsible for the organisation and training of British divers would consider their positions very carefully, and hopefully take the honourable course of action.
Perhaps we should take a lesson from the real Olympic Games.
For the ancient Greeks there was no particular honour in taking part - the only honour was in winning, which for them meant coming first !

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