One of the more obvious responses to the election of President Obama has been a questioning as to whether a person from a racial minority can ever hope to climb the greasy pole to political power anywhere in Europe. The framing for this question only allows the answer "No we can't - cos we're too racist". We might think that unfair; we have female leaders instead, something I think the US would find much harder because of the militaristic nature of the American culture. We might also point to fair election systems that at least allow all black people to vote if they want to, something that America also seems to find hard.

But I think it's all missing the point, as I think there is a difference between the self perception of minorities in Europe and America. Everybody in america is first and foremost an american, they are sold the idea of being an American, a citizen. It may be difficult to get those rights and citizenship respected at times, but you yourself are never given cause to doubt because, whatever the feelings of the GOP, the US is a nation at ease with immigrants, their nationhood was built on immigration. This is not true of the UK and acceptance of "out" groups seems more conditional.

Last night at its awards ceremony at the Victoria and Albert museum, the Stonewall gay civil rights advocacy group awarded Iris Robinson, the Democratic Unionist Party (ultra-Protestant conservative) MP in Northern Ireland, an award for being "Bigot of the Year". It was a heartily justified award given her claims that gay people could be cured with Christianist "talking therapy" (aka pray away the gay) and her statement that homosexuality is an abomination.

Which made the nomination of Guardian journalist Julie Bindel as "Journalist of the Year" at the same ceremony especially interesting, given her claims that the transgendered can be cured by "talking therapies" and that sex change surgery was "mutilation".

I had a fascinating conversation last night with a friend who spoke about some of her experiences on the periphery of the nascent NuLab project and what she learnt from it. Due to laws of politeness as well as libel I simply cannot name names or organisations so all of these are pseudonymous, but it remains instructive.

I do not mean by what I write here to impugn all Labour Party MPs, many of whom are good people. But I think we have all come to recognise that there is a certain cadre of metropolitan eleites who seem to be parachuted into safe constituencies and whose primary characteristic is their loyalty to the Nu Lab brand. This essay is useful in showing how they were identified from the others seemingly equally deserving.

This diary was originally a reply to InWales' diary (Woo-woo vs Science). I was asked to re-post as the original comment thread was getting long and this is a slight departure from the original which could stimulate another discussion.

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 All things considered, the mind is an odd place to live. After all, whatever scientific investigation there has been on the brain, nobody seems to have a handle yet on consciousness and the mind at all. You can observe it by glancing sideways at the mirror by the light of the moon, but never under the microscope.
Memory seems to be a bridge.

It's incredible to understand how memory works : Strangely so much like a modern computer with transitional memories (RAM) that we hold onto for the day that are downloaded by REM sleep into permanent storage (HDD), dreams being the editing/contextualisation process. Then there is the more subtle background process whreby memories that are unused get put into offline storage, accesible only by triggers (metatags) not under conscious control (JakeS dissociated memories of ptsd).

Jonathan Freedland wrote an article in the Guardian commenting on the response to a previous article he'd written. In this he suggested that the rest of the world will take a dim view if America elects McCain as President. As might be expected, a lot of responses centred around the frequently and vehemently expressed American view that it's their election and everyone else should keep their noses out.

Anyone who's read the nationalistic abuse heaped on non-citizens at dKos who dare to have an opinion on the USA won't be the least bit surprised that worse responses are likely from other quarters of the blogos. So really, what he said was no surprise (for us). But in amongst all of Freedland's disappointment at their reaction (and given what happened in Clark county in 2004 he really should know better) there was one sentence that struck me;-

So, Americans who say that since they don't poke their nose into our domestic affairs, we should stay out of theirs,

As most of you know, just before the Paris meetup I had the genuine pleasure of spending a day wandering around the sights of Lyon, before then being wined and dined on local fare as the guest of our very own Melancthon.

Lyon is one of the great cultural and historical melting pots. In ancient times there were only two commerical trade routes between the Mediterranean civilisations and and the Baltic countries. These were either the western route up the Rhone through Lyon to the Seine or the Rhine or to the east through the Bosphorus, Black Sea and up the Dnepr river; the "Viking" highway. So Lyon has been on a major trade route since the dawn of time.

In roman times it was named Lugdonum and, being the nearest point ot access to all three main Gallic kingdoms of France (Gallia in tres partes divisa est - opening line of Caeser's gallic wars), was effectively the capital of Roman France.

Two opinion pieces which, taken together, hint at the problems that British politics faces in the next decade in order to adapt to the new conditions.

First, Jackie Ashley diagnoses the problems with the apparatchiks clogging the systme currently.
Guardian - Jackie Ashley - Until parties find real voices, the mavericks will flourish

Voters are tiring of the anodyne careerists who rule us now. Politicians choosing leaders should ditch the safe option

With the end of August, Gordon Brown has attempted to re-launch his beleaugured Premiership of the UK. Yet, events are running faster than he can announce initiatives and he's being blown off course at every turn. Tuesday, he and Alistair Darling announce a package of support for housing. Almost before it can be digested by the media, a better story comes along to remove him from the front page. So it was that yesterday, FatBoy Clarke wrote an article for the UK soft-left political weekly, The New Statesman. Now all we can do is talk about that.

New Statesman - FatBoy Clarke - Time to end "Just William" Politics.

The article is more a defence of the Blairite politics of opportunism, dressed up in a sort of babbling apparatchik-speak that suggest all are to blame for the current woes, except the author. however, the bit that the UK media have seized upon is the closing paragraph.

Blairism as a concept offers little by way of rescue. It is certainly not a guide to action. Equally, however, it is inaccurate and misleading to dismiss as some kind of Blairite rump those who fear that Labour's current course will lead to utter destruction at the next general election.
Similarly, there is no Blairite plot, despite rumours and persistent newspaper reports. There is, however, a deep and widely shared concern - which does not derive from ideology - that Labour is destined to disaster if we go on as we are, combined with a determination that we will not permit that to happen.

Promoted by In Wales

On my way back from Eastern Europe in July, I visited some friends who are touring the Burgundy region canals between Paris and Lyon. They were in Dijon and so I got to go on the "Owl Tour", the Owl being the symbol of the town, and is a little circuit around many of the sights to be had. No deep and meaningful analysis, just some views of a lovely little town in central France.

A nice view of the Cathedral of St Benigne from near the main railway station.

As promised, a diary of images of the town in Bulgaria where I own a property. The town itself is built along a fairly steep sided valley that runs SW from the Pirin mountains (on the other side of which is Bansko, the ski resort) down to the river Struma and which then flows out towards the Aegean.

These are three shots taken from the same vantage point going from left to right, ie north to south, I apologise for the haze and the lighting, but given the season it's about the best I could do.

Much threatened, I've finally got some pictures of Bulgaria to show off, but i thought we'd start with a short tour of the capital, Sofia.

And so, rather than walk we'll start the tour in the tram depot

Sorry - a bit of a whinge I'm afraid

I was having a conversation with a lesbian friend yesterday about her inability to be honest with her girlfriends. She said she had problems talking to women and I (daftly, I know) said she didn't seem to have any problem talking to me. At which she said "but you aren't actually a woman".

Of course she was embarrassed, and I couldn't stop myself from making things worse by saying it was okay as it was a common sentiment in lesbian feminist (ie wimminist) circles. Of course, in mitigation she made the valid point that she's known me for 25 years, only the last five of which as a female (we didn't speak for the first year as she disagreed with my transition). Now I don't mention this in order to publicly embarrass her, but because it allows me to discuss the public acceptance of transgendered people. Because it is that very perception, that I and other transgendered mtfs are not, nor ever will be, really women that underlies almost all of the disussions on the subject, even when it's not explicitly mentioned.

Where does bellydance (see footnote) originate ? Sadly, despite the mythologies of some, the answer is pretty much unknowable. This is because, for most of its evolution, bellydance and its progenitors were largely undocumented, Either only being mentioned by suggestion, or described in censorious terms by westerners who failed to understand what they saw. But nevertheless it remains possible to put together clues and remnants and piece together what might be called a possible ancestry. Or, at least, a more historically credible one than any currently going around.

However, it is important to try to tell this story as reasonably evidenced as possible, explaining the many assumptions involved, because today bellydance is swamped in what may be charitably described as "fakelore" versions of its history. These fables have sprung up largely to fill the gap of a known origin and which resonate with a self-image that many western women who practice bellydance wish to maintain. Yet these stories are such a garbled concoction of wishful thinking, demonstrable fantasy and smorgasboard Herstory that it diminishes the credibility of all those who repeat them. Worse it allows a whole series of deeply unattractive present day policies to be defended under the guise of "tradition". Yet the absence of a definitive, or at least a properly documented, history makes this fakelore difficult to challenge.

So, all I can venture is : If you think this version is the equivalent of being given an inch and stealing a mile, you should see all the alternatives.

Okay, the European Football Championship start tomorrow so I guess that we should have a thread that's separate from the OTs so that it can hang around for a while.

Group games 7 - 18 June

Quarter finals 19 - 22 June

Semi-finals 25 - 26 June

Final 29th June

Predictions required for group qualifiers & winner.

I'm not being cynical or wordly-wise, butwhen I read Kid Oakland's diary on dKos I felt a shudder of fear.

A Change is upon us.

Our nation will never be the same. We speak to the world tonight, and we speak with a new voice. We look out at the world tonight with new eyes. And behind the visage of our candidate, Senator Barack Obama, stands that vast quilt of assembled faces that make up the diversity of our great nation. Republicans and Democrats, independents and progressives, the engaged and the disaffected, the rich and the poor, the rural, the suburban and the city folk alike.

Forging unity out of our diversity is the essential aspect of our American story, and in 2008, that is our Message to the World. There is nothing we can't do when we work together. We are many, but we are one. We are, as Senator Obama so powerfully expressed it four years ago: the United States of America.

And in that voice, in that victory, in this precious moment in our long journey as a nation, we can all be proud.

..fear for progressive voices in the USA. Because I realise, I understand, that it must have been beyond terrible to live in George III's benighted land for the last 8 years. To have lived under the creeping conservative strangulation of the last 30 years, to have felt each and every hope crushed, every last stand flattened. I feel the pain and empathise, but now they have hope. God help them.

I've been playing Cassandra here for some time, saying that Peak Oil is going to have a massive impact on our way of life. Not just in the obvious things we expect, but almost certainly in ways we cannot yet appreciate. I've already addressed these ideas in a couple of diaries as well as  constant stream of comments.

Eastern Europe - Right-sized for the 21st Century

The Era of Globalisation is (almost) over

Indeed, the consequences of Peak Oil underpinned my diary London - Dying like a dinosaur where it seems obvious to me that, without cheap oil, most people cannot get to work and suppliers can't deliver their food. London cannot economically survive Peak Oil. It has been pointed out that right now most towns have about 3 or 4 days stocks of food and little opportunity to develop resilience.

So it now seems like I'm not the only person who is thinking that we need to move away from the cheap transport paradigm and create a new localised economic model.

Promoted by Migeru

PiGL asked the following question in Jerome's diary Grangemouth Strike - Anglo-disease in action ?

What happened to the Labour Party, anyway? When did it get taken over my Maggie Thatchers more clubbable nephews? I think we should all rue the day that Tony Blair was born. But that of course is a cheap shot at any single poltician, no matter how loathsome. What broader forces acted to bring these men to power?

So what did happen ? I guess the whole story starts with the Winter of Discontent in 1978/9

Diary rescue by afew

With any suddenly successful band, there is always the pressure of "how do we repeat that ?", a question that degenerates into the panic of "well, what do we do now, cos we can't repeat that ?".

It's the dilemma that faced Pink Floyd after "Dark side of the Moon" and RadioHead after "OK Computer". The former messed around with non-musical instruments for 18 months before they realised they were being silly and made Wish You were here instead. Or you could do as RadioHead did; try to sabotage their careers with a series of increasingly almost deliberately rambling anti-statements which availed them nothing but continued platinum status. Eventually they gave up and made "In Rainbows". Their virulently anti-corporate worldview makes and retains their counter-culture hero status, even when the music hasn't always justified it.

But there are other paths.

Steve Richards wrote an illuminating column in the Independent last week about the probable line of reasoning used by Tony Blair to justify the war in Iraq.

When there are highly controversial policy areas, Labour worries hugely that the Conservatives might be on the more popular side of the argument. It is determined always to keep Rupert Murdoch's newspapers on board. It is fearful of its own past, including perceptions that it was anti-America and soft on defence............

If he stayed close to the US on Iraq, he could never be accused of being anti-American and indiscriminately pro-European. On this basis alone, Mr Blair was never going to break with George Bush over an issue as multi-layered in its complexity as Iraq. It was too risky...........................

Yet Mr Blair supported Mr Bush partly because of where it left him in relation to the US, Europe, the Conservatives, his party's vote-losing past and the media. It was, from his fearfully defensive perspective, the least bad option.

There is an interesting article in the Guardian today, Tipping Point whose focus is more on the affect of climate change on viticulture. But buried within it are explanations of problems I have identified, not just in wine, but in beer : The issue of the creeping increase in strength.