| Mike's Monthly Message to the Planet MARCH 2003 |
| "Ah well ," I said to mother "We're at war then. I'd better put the kettle on." |
| It seems only right that I should start with the war. Not that anyone can really escape it at the moment.It seems utterly incredible that we have arrived at this situation but there you are. The most common feeling I have is one of nausea as I pass by the tabloid headlines (with the noble exception of the Mirror)each morning.I really think that people need to change the way we think in terms of our relationships nationally and internationally, for example in the way we look at "our boys" out in the theatre of war. What I mean by this is that I really do not have any great feeling of commonality with the British, and by extension, American servicemen and women involved in the war against Iraq/war against Saddam/war against terrorism/war against weapons of mass destruction/war to liberate the oppressed people of Iraq/campaign to re-elect the President (please delete as you think appropriate). If anyone noticed this website's parliamentary correspondent's report (he's no Matthew Parris, bless him), there is still the fundamental problem that this war is not sanctioned by the United Nations. It has no legitimacy, and is being done by a government we pay for, in our name. A personally decent British Prime Minister has sub-contracted a vast swathe of British Foreign Policy to a dangerous wing of the Republican party. Well, how does this affect my view towards the troops? It is only this. Personal financial considerations notwithstanding, each and every member of the British and American armed services in the war took the decision to enlist, and swore an oath of allegiance to a queen, or a red white and blue piece of cloth. In reality this means a oath to the government of the time, warts and all. When I hear reports of armed service deaths, I feel nothing at all- their experience is alien to me, I cannot conceive of engaging in combat, and the risks of the profession are well known. I can empathise,however with someone walking through a market square, or trying to lead a quiet normal life at home. Then, these people are terrified (or dare I use the word terrorised?) by bombs wending their way towards a target. Or not, as the case may be. Whether or not these people are victims of an Iraqi propoganda stunt is hardly the point. These people are pawns,and it seems to me that the Kings are too well protected by castling. I am not going to assert that the absence of war does not equate to peace, but I do feel that the combined effects of the conduct of this war may well result in a "victory" for Blair and Bush that will engender far more terrible whirlwhinds in the Arab world than a loss. George W Bush appears to have a worryingly one-dimensional view of the world, or at least he manifests a view that chimes well enough with a sufficiently large portion of the American electorate. "Taking out" terrorists does not mean that the forces which engender terrorism are removed, as any British Prime Minister dealing with the Northern Ireland situation will vouchsafe, and what will be the effect of having a free election in Iraq, once Saddam is overthrown? What will happen if an extreme nationalist President wins power? Well, it happened in America. Oh dear, I'm rambling once again. For some light relief (of a sort), click here to read Terry Jones's take on the issue, which was performed as a monologue on the BBC, and published in the Observer. It's been doing the rounds of the office E-mails so you may have seen it anyway. |
| Another move by Mike causes more work for the Blue Plaque Society in years to come |
| As I sit here, I am surrounded by archive boxes and laundry bags. Yes, it's that time of year again: the collapse of yet another flatshare...... Maybe I really am too old to be still living like this, but I suspect that I only have myself to blame. I really am going to have to attract more advertising to this site to generate a private income to buy somewhere on my own, so if there are amy multinational companies out there wanting to advertise to my father, and yes you, Gary Marson. then would you kindly let me know? Anyway, please click on the charming picture below of me,my sister and Luciana at my first adddress in London, 107 Fountain Road, Tooting. I don't think much of that top though, and I seem to be oddly bereft of grey hair. This will take you to a potted history of Mike's London flatshares, describing all attendant disasters, in a format I have shamelessly lifted from from Pete Frame's "Rock Family Trees." You may find it a little difficult to read my handwriting, but you shouldn't feel alone in that. |
| Sadly, the latest flatshare, in a former Metropolitian Police flat just by Loughborough Junction (the fact that even the police left here should have told me something) has reached its natural end. Keith and I reached a denoument that has left us ekeing out the final days in something approaching a divorce. We are assuring Ollie, our resident budding novelist, who rents a garret off us, that just because we're not getting on, it doesn't mean that it's his fault, and that we still think the same way about him.... My thanks are due to my sister once again who is granting me asylum for a month or so "somewhere in Walthamstow" for a month until I find somewhere else. I won't give you the full address. I don't want to attract groupies. |
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| Mike's Very Sad Little World attracts its first real surfer! |
| I am very happy to report that someone other than a friend or relative has come across my little enclave of sanity on the world wide web. I must have been discovered as my site is listed, rather optimistically under the world politics section of the geocities.com directory. Do I feel part of a world-wide cyber community? Well no, not really, but it is a start after all. My visitor was kind enough to leave a message on my paltry-looking guestbook, and also left a link to his or her website , which you can access by clicking here The site appears to a little bit right wing and hails from Israel, and is Clanger-free. It doesn't take very kindly to the Palestinians. Shame. |
| Theatre Reccomendation: "Auntie & Me" at Wyndham's Theatre, Charing Cross Road |
| Every so oftern I go to the theatre,and I normally feel better for the experience. I think that that is the general idea..... Rachael (q.v.) Lisa and I all rather enjoyed the production above, a melancholic comedy starring Alan Davies and Margaret Tyzack. Davies, a sexless office clerk is summoned to visit his dying aunt, who then refuses to expire, (and speak until the second act). There are some wonderful one-liners, boith performances are wonderful, and there is a fantastic "one-foot-in-the-grave" twist at the end. Anyway, don't give Andrew Llod-Webber any more money, book tickets here |
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| Click on the houses of parliament for my report from the Commons of Robin Cook's resignation |
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