Farewell, 2011

Another year end blog post! One of the things you get from writing a (semi) regularly updated blog is that you get to reflect on the things you were thinking about, talking about and worried about at this time last year. You are really given a sense of perspective because the events that you were writing about remain fresher on the page than they do in your memory, and the things that you were doing yourself are inextricably linked to those memories.

I'm really quite pleased with the way that 2011 has gone. I have a new job, a new girlfriend, have met lots of new and interesting people. I have become closer to and learned new things about the people I already knew, while other people have moved away from me as they pursue the next chapter in their own stories elsewhere. I have been to Egypt. I have written the first 50,000 words of a novel and met some wonderful people whose own books will knock mine out of the park.

Memorably, 2011 has seen a desire for equality and democracy grip the world. We have seen uprisings, upheaval, political instability and a clarion call for fairness and justice. A lot of lives have been lost in the pursuit of the simple human rights that we in the UK take for granted, and these are rights that we, with our freedoms, must continue to campaign for others to have.

A new year should bring the promise of a clean slate and accompanying optimism with it. However, in the context of the world in which we live, we face a year ahead under a cloud. Austerity bites, and the pound in your pocket will buy less in the coming year in real terms than it did in the last. Our nation is politically stagnant and we are in dire need of good ideas and brave actions.

The wonderful thing about Britain is that it remains big on heart and character. We can still be proud of our culture and our resourcefulness. Hard times call for courage and inventiveness, and as I look around at the people I know and work alongside, I know that the challenges we face can be overcome.

I achieved last year's goals of travelling outside Europe and finding a new love, but I never did buy a camera and take up photography. It remains on the list of things I want to do. As with last year, I have set myself three goals for next year to try and help me on my way.

1) Lose some weight. Yes, I know, it's a New Year's resolution staple, but it's a cliche for a reason. If I get any bigger, I'll be visible from space and I'm not having that. So my goal is to be at or under 13 stone 10lbs in weight on 1 Jan 2013.

2) Finish my book. Note that that says finish, not get published or write a bestseller (I might do those things in 2013.) This should be the easiest of all goals. I already have 55,000 words of a firsr draft that I wrote in 28 days, so actually getting the words onto paper is the easy bit. Generating characters that don't feel contrived and having a storyline that gets and keeps your interest is a little harder...but that's something for a second draft.

3) Pay off my personal debt. God, these are aiming a bit low this year...but it needs to be done so I can start enjoying myself again. I'm glad David Cameron took the bit out of his speech about getting people to pay off their credit cards. Otherwise I'd feel like I was being told off by a Tory.

What are your plans for 2012?

When Time Called Time on Heroes

The significant details in life are often the small ones. The appointments forgotten, the words said or left unsaid, the people we meet and engage with - these are the details that determine the bigger picture in our lives.

When a Tunisian military policewoman insulted and slapped a fruit vendor in the market square of a tiny, unremarkable town just south of Tunis a year ago, she could not have expected that her small act of disrespect and violence would be seen as the trigger that has started a worldwide democratic protest that has inspired and involved the actions of millions worldwide.

That fruit-seller, Mohamed Bouazizi, enraged when his subsequent complaint was ignored, took himself to the local provincial capital building and set himself on fire. Those around him who were similarly upset with years of corrupt dealings with police and local officials, began to protest at the way in which they were treated. So began the Arab Spring, a movement that toppled governments, ended dictatorships and prompted similar explosions of discontent as far afield as Russia and the US.

2011 will be remembered as as a watershed in world history. The most singly defining year since the major financial crisis that has impacted all our lives, this was the year that people worldwide stood up as one and demanded a new form of social contract from the people that governed them. No longer would they accept corrupt systems that saw the richest siphon off the main share of the wealth as long as some reached the rest of us via the trickledown.

The decision of Time magazine to award the title of 'Person of the Year' to 'The Protester' is an interesting one in the context of the small details I mentioned earlier. To those of us in the UK who have defended our rights and the rights of those around us in the last year, it is a moment in which to reflect and be proud of the way in which we have conducted ourselves and been a part of something far more significant than the simple goals we hope to achieve. However, we should also remember that there is a world of difference between our struggles and those of protesters in Russia and the Middle East, who stand up against totalitarian regimes in the full knowledge that some of their number may never return to their homes.

For me, the most telling aspect of Time magazine's decision not to select a person of the year is instead that in a world which is desperately crying out for leadership, not one leader or prominent person of influence has conducted themselves in such a way as to deserve the title. In Russia, Putin is pictured as the pointlessly macho leader of a discontented people. In the US, the UK and Europe, the likes of Barrack Obama, David Cameron and Andrea Merkel stand at broken tillers as their countries swirl in a whirlpool of conflicting financial interests. Worst of all, in Egypt and Syria, strong militaries and politicians like Bashar al-Assad continue to oppress the populations they are supposed to protect and represent.

So arise to defend your rights, protesters, and bear your title with pride. 2011 was the year that you became heroes when your leaders could not.

Elections, AV and holidays

You'll hopefully forgive me for the long delay in posting before 1 May and the fact that my post below about the Royal Wedding doesn't go into any great depth with regard to finances or effect upon the national psyche. As an event it's a whole greater than the sum of it's parts - but then, so is the sunny bank holiday weather that has cheerfully swallowed up all of my recent free time.

5 May 2011 is the day when my fellow UK citizens will have a chance to vote in local elections and I would urge you to do so. Turnout in local elections is historically low and tends to go against incumbent governments but the important thing is to be a part of the democratic process, whether you feel that Cameron's economic policy will eventually come good or you just feel like giving Nick Clegg a (metaphorical) kick in the crotch.

UK voters will also have a once-in-a-lifetime chance to reject the First Past The Post (FPTP) voting system in favour of the Alternative Vote (AV) system. I honestly can't find a single, compelling reason to keep the current inflexible system which encourages an unrepresentative two-party monopoly and virtually guarantees tactical voting, so I will be saying yes to AV. If you haven't made your mind up either way, a full independent guide can be found on the Electoral Commission website. Just remember, if you have ever felt that politicians are all the same and cannot be trusted, this is your chance to make a positive change to the way in which they are selected.


Four Thousand Words will also be taking a short break until the middle of May 2011 as I will be leaving these shores for a few days R & R in Egypt. I have a sweet new hat, some luggage with wheels, my Horatio Caine sunglasses and a lot of flip-flops. I have yet to buy some Imodium.

In the meantime, I hope you enjoy comparable temperatures and have lots of fun to boot. I will speak to you all again very soon.

We Like To Be Listened To

Not to make too fine a point of it, but perhaps it's OUR aspirations that could do with being understood.

Also, what's good for the macro goose is good for the micro gander. 400 members of the public, including council staff, gathered outside County Hall in Norwich today to try and indicate to local councillors the strength of opposition to plans to cut millions from the budget in Norfolk. Councillors steadfastly refused to consider a raise in council tax as even being an option, and as a result it is Norfolk's most vulnerable people that will suffer. Still, who cares about them, right?

I hear today that Cameron has made £100 million pounds available to a Big Society Bank to sponsor local development projects. Two questions: firstly, where did this £100 million come from? Secondly, given the context of the mess this country is in, do we really need another fucking bank?!

Guest Blogger: Alun Jones - Tahrir vs Tiananmen

In a break from ordinary service, Four Thousand Words is proud to present it's first guest blogger. Council employee and father-of-two Alun Jones shares my interest in politics but has the benefit of a few more years of experience, not least during the Thatcher years, which for the benefit of our foreign readers was a time of great hardship for low-income families.


Tahrir vs Tiananmen

We've all witnessed great events in Egypt over the last few weeks. This has culminated in Hosni Mubarak stepping down from power. A huge well-done to the people of Egypt. I hope things genuinely begin to improve for you all.

Whilst feeling some measure of the elation we all felt when the Berlin Wall came down, it occurred to me that there were some interesting parallels with the events in China also in 1989.

Obviously, both were protests against oppression centred on squares in the capital whose names begin with T!

One protest succeeded, another failed. Why? I don't think it was modern communications as the Egyptian government unlinked from the internet so the protesters used old-tech like CB radio.

In the end, I believe it came down to the differing responses of the relevant armies. In Egypt, the army (468,500) chose not to get too involved. This left Mubarak relying on a small group of thugs to attempt to coerce the protesters. Clearly, this failed.

In 1989, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) numbering 2,250,000, moved into Tiananmen and cleared the square with live fire. Estimates of the death-toll go up to 3000 (which is more than died in the 28 years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland).


What I can't explain is why the PLA so brutally suppressed it's own people whilst the Egyptian Army stood aside. I'd like to think that the generals of the Egyptian army decided to allow the country to decide, whereas in China the PLA is intimately tied into the Communist Party structures and is sworn to consolidate it's status as ruling party.

Sorry, I now seem to be rambling without approaching a conclusion! There's probably some moral about picking your fights or about what the role of an army should be but I think I'd like to end as follows:

Congratulations to the people of Egypt. Enjoy your freedom and I hope that your new democracy will hold your representatives to account better than ours! As for the rest of the world, I hope that the leaders of Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Zimbabwe, China & elsewhere will be just that bit more nervous.

Death - The High Cost of Living

Bloody Egypt. I'm supposed to be on holiday there in a few weeks and after thirty years of meek subservience in the face of oppression, the minute that I click the 'Book Now' button they decide to kick off and overthrow the government, simultaneously sending a message of hope and freedom that will spread fear in the hearts of despotic administrations throughout the world. Now, it may just be coincidence, but I'm a little afraid to do my shopping online in case I cause a general strike that brings down an industry.

Of course, this story is the very definition of history in the making, and as an international officer I'm ideally placed to critique the possible consequences of the uprising. Members of the Muslim Brotherhood will be working behind the scenes to try and promote an Islamic government. The army, currently in control, have released a statement saying that they will listen to the wishes of the people but will they really be pro-democracy when they can install one of their own? What influence will powerful foreign interests in the US, Israel and the Arab world bring to bear?

As I said, I'd be ideally placed to do just that. But it's Friday night and frankly, I'm off the clock now so instead, I'm going to talk about something frivolous that came out of a discussion at work earlier this week.

A few people had read my last entry and said that they weren't really too sure about the optimistic direction that I was taking. It was widely agreed that I was deviating unnecessarily from a tried-and-tested model of politically-motivated doom-mongering, and all agreed that the change of tone didn't really fit with the current climate. Suitably chastened, I have returned to form with a topic that eventually comes to matter to us all: Death.

Death is an occupational hazard for me. I work with the elderly, my friends are fatally inattentive and my extended family are numerous and sickly. Of course, that doesn't even begin to account for the many fish-related incidents I have had to deal with since I bought my fishtanks. If guppies go to heaven, I may well opt for hell if there's a choice. Otherwise I'll have a lot of explaining to do to those little guys.

But I digress. A co-worker was explaining earlier this week about her phobia of being interred whilst still alive. I was happy to help her face her fear by sharing tales from centuries past about bodies being buried with a string tied to a toe and the other end attached to a bell to alert passers-by that they were still alive, or of bodies being exhumed only for horrified gravediggers to find that the undersides of the coffin lids were scratched by the nails of those who were not as dead as they appeared at the time that they were buried.

Happily, such occurrences in modern life are ruled out by the wonders of technology, and now it's possible for your final resting place to be swathed in comfy linen, heated to your personal tastes and even fitted with digital music players and TVs. Frankly, we're not taking chances on an arbitrary afterlife when we're comparitively wealthy in this one. Karma may as well be blowed if you can't take it with you.

Michael Jackson was buried in a solid bronze casket lined with blue velvet with a hand-polished 14-carat gold plate finish. The coffin was worth over $25000. Even so, it pales in comparison to the beauty in this picture. Well, that's me sorted. Now the only question is, can you get free broadband in the afterlife?