davidandbigfeet

A small hamlet in Vienne, Poitou Charentes, France

2011-10-29T06:23:00.000+02:00

The photos below have all been taken within 1 km from the small hamlet where I live. (Click any photo for larger image slideshow, click X top right to close) .

Like all towns, villages and hamlets anywhere in Europe there is a wide and comprehensive recorded history and possibly the two most important historical events in this small hamlet of twelve houses were the part it played in the resettlement of people driven out of Canada, when four farms were bought, and its proximity to a very pretty lake which was the border of the Ligne des Demarcation, where Occupied France was divided from Free France. When the lake was drained in 2006, I walked across the dried mud and looked inside the building and took photographs of two wall paintings by German soldiers depicting small farm scenes, which I presume were representational of their own farms back in their home country. It was a very powerful reminder that wars are fought by soldiers who would much rather be home with their families and livelihoods rather than in foreign lands where their leaders have put them to protect the interests of the few.

Photos of the Occupy movement gathering pace around the world

2011-10-16T11:10:00.001+02:00

I'm sure everybody would agree with me ! when I say how marvellous it would be if the 'Occupy' movement happening in many countries is the start of the end of the right wing economic policies initiated by that awful woman Thatcher and cowboy Ronnie which has lead to us at the bottom receiving less and less of the cake, while those at the top receive ever more and it's increasing day by day. Since that grim day, 4th May 1979, when politics in the UK went from sort of consensual to "where's my big fat wad" we have been ruled by incompetent, self serving politicians of all colours who became fawning sycophants to the men in suits with bulging pockets promising Directorships and favours when their political pantomime days were over. We have gone from boom to bust and worse to come, and so called Labour Party supporters on the right have been at the front of the pack cheering on the inequality so long as they remained in power.

These videos, from The Real News Network, give thoughtful analysis of the current financial crisis by a Professors of economics, and an insight into what some in the US are doing to organise and share strategies.

IMHO !! The Real News Network is an extremely good source of alternative news with another perspective rather than the right wing views peddled by the main stream media.
Link to Real News Network Home page

" AS PROTESTS against financial power sweep the world this week, science may have confirmed the protesters' worst fears. An analysis of the relationships between 43,000 transnational corporations has identified a relatively small group of companies, mainly banks, with disproportionate power over the global economy."
"Concentration of power is not good or bad in itself, says the Zurich team, but the core's tight interconnections could be. As the world learned in 2008, such networks are unstable. "If one [company] suffers distress," says Glattfelder, "this propagates." http://therealnews.com/t2/

WHERE IS THE UK LABOUR PARTY !! TWENTY FOUR HOURS AFTER THE REPORT THAT EXECUTIVE PAY HAS RISEN BY 49% THEY STILL HAVEN'T COMMENTED.

At least some in the Labour Party are speaking out !

Collection of Inspirational / funny videos

2011-10-11T08:43:00.000+02:00

We all come across videos that give us hope, make us laugh or inspire, this is the start of some of mine, I hope you enjoy.

“If I only scrape a living, at least it’s a living worth scraping.”

Slow to start and difficult to understand commentary, but worth viewing (full screen) for the brilliant filming. 6mins by ASHTRAY FILMS

Two Dogs Dining
Superb 1 min video from FILMONEFEST

Parody of Hillary Clinton's State Department Oil Services and the influence of oil industry lobbyists on the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline permit decision.

Close up of the people who Occupy Wall Street7 mins OCCUPY WALL STREET

In my late teens I hitch hiked across Europe to Israel and after living and working on a kibbutz for a year or more I went travelling around the Arab states. I loved the people, the food and the music, this video captures perfectly the first and last.

Amira Medunjanin, from Bosnia, at St Paul's Cathedral, London, June 6th 2011 in support of the Occupy Movement. The 'shawm' playing is especially amazing with different mouth movements to obtain different sounds.
A link to her website with more videos

I include this because it is a subject close to my heart !!
If only all businesses were run like this.

A link to their website is here

Animal videos are usually funny. I often think that if I were to film my cat she would become an overnight sensation !
This video is, quite simply, amazing, and should be forwarded on to the whole world to remind our species that we are not so unique as we like to think we are.

Alaa Abdel Fattah is a renowned leftist blogger from a family of longtime Egyptian activists. He was arrested for challenging continued military rule. A very brave young man and an inspiration to those of us wanting to see an end to rule by the established elite.

Off road cycling | Poitou Charentes | France

2011-10-06T08:43:00.034+02:00

In the Spring of 2011, when I was still dog like searching for the right elctric bike, I 'stumbled' across a video posted by a young man and showing the fun he was having on his off road mountain bike. I watched it several times and each time the terrible feelings of "I can do that" kept growing. On the third viewing, although I struggled valiantly with my sensible self for at least a couple of seconds, I shot off to my shed, fished out my own 'off roader' and headed off down the track towards a particular small but 'steep enough for the purpose' hill about half a mile away. By the time I reached the top of this hill I was in a state of near nirvana from the joy of it all and sailed down, at full speed, standing up on the pedals, and shouting. WHOOOOOPPPPPEEEEE .........at the top of my lungs to an otherwise deserted landscape.

A few days later, having had this same experience every evening, I decided to make my first video to record this extraordinary event. From a technical point of view it is, without a doubt, a terrible video. Camera shake, out of focus, amateurish, blah blah, but, if you have reached that age in life, where you are;.... 'comfortably retired'..... 'taking it steady'...... 'slowing down'...... 'only living for the grandchildren', etc. and yet sometimes you wake in the morning and, after first giving thanks for at least waking up, you start to ponder what the day holds that's just a teeny weeny bit more exciting than inwardly debating whether you will have a four or a five minute boiled egg for breakfast, then take the advice of Norman Tebbitt, who, although a particularly loathsome politician in the cabinet of an even more loathsome Prime Minister, namely Margaret Thatcher, uttered a phrase which is particularly apt for summing up what I am babbling on about.

"GET ON YER BIKE"

Hospital cleaners are 'worth' more to society than bankers

2009-12-14T08:35:00.006+01:00

Research, carried out by think tank the New Economics Foundation, says hospital cleaners are 'worth more to society than bankers, and create £10 of value for every £1 they are paid.

It claims bankers are a drain on the country because of the damage they caused to the global economy. They reportedly destroy £7 of value for every £1 they earn.

Meanwhile, senior advertising executives are said to "create stress".
The study says they are responsible for campaigns which create dissatisfaction and misery, and encourage over-consumption.

Tax accountants damage the country by devising schemes to cut the amount of money available to the government, the research suggests.

By contrast, child minders and waste recyclers are also doing jobs which create net wealth to the country.

The Foundation has used a new form of job evaluation to calculate the total contribution various jobs makes to society, including for the first time the impact on communities and environment.

Eilis Lawlor, spokeswoman for the New Economics Foundation, said: "Pay levels often don't reflect the true value that is being created. As a society, we need a pay structure which rewards those jobs that create most societal benefit rather than those that generate profits at the expense of society and the environment".

She said the aim of the research is not to target individuals in highly paid jobs, or suggest people in low paid jobs should earn more.

"The point we are making is more fundamental - that there should be a relationship between what we are paid and the value our work generates for society. We've found a way to calculate that," she said.

A total of six different jobs were analysed to assess their overall value. These are the study's main findings:

* The elite banker

Rather than being wealth creators, bankers are being handsomely rewarded for bringing the global financial system to the brink of collapse.

Paid between £500,000 and several tens of million a year, leading bankers destroy £7 of value for every pound they generate".

* Childcare workers

"Both for families and society as a while looking after children could not be more important. As well as providing a valuable service for families, they release earnings potential by allowing parents to continue working. For every pound they are paid they generate up £9.50 worth of benefits to society".

    * Hospital cleaners

"Play a vital role in the workings of healthcare facilities. They not only clean hospitals and maintain hygiene standards but also contribute to wider health outcomes. For every pound paid, over £10 in social value is created".

    * Advertising executives

The industry "encourages high spending and indebtedness. It can create insatiable aspirations, fuelling feelings of dissatisfaction, inadequacy and stress. For a salary of between £50,000 and £12m top advertising executives destroy £11 of value for every pound in value they generate".

    * Tax accountants

"Every pound that a tax accountant saves a client is a pound which otherwise would have gone to HM Revenue. For a salary of between £75,000 and £200,000, tax accountants destroy £47 in value, for every pound they generate".

* Waste recycling workers

"Do a range of different jobs that relate to processing and preventing waste and promoting recycling. Carbon emissions are significantly reduced. There is also a value in reusing goods. For every pound of value spent on wages, £12 of value is generated for society."

The research also makes a variety of policy recommendations to align pay more closely with the value of work.

These include establishing a high pay commission, building social and environmental value into prices, and introduce more progressive taxation.

A link to the New Economics Foundation is HERE

But some of the 99%, are fighting back;

see OCCUPY WALL STREET
and DAMAGE DONE BY WALL STREET

'et vous' ?

Buzkashi. An interesting version of polo and a point of view on Afghanistan

2009-11-29T11:47:00.021+01:00

First published in 2007. In 2011 it is just as relevant and the predictions made look ever more likely.

(Above photos from Daily Telegraph 29.11.09).................... (If only I could take pics like this !!)

Many many years ago when I was a young man of 21 or so, I was living by myself for several months in Kabul, Afghanistan. Here I was buying sheepskin coats and trinkets to send back and hopefully sell to other hippies in England. (Yeah man, far out and all that sort of thing !!)

One bright sunny day, I and several thousand other Afghans, wondered down to the stadium to watch the national game of Buzkashi, which is sort of like Polo but a headless goat is substituted for a ball. It was, I have to say, one of the most exciting and emotional games I have ever watched. (I expect the goat might have had a different perspective !!) I stood amongst a crowd, very similar to the crowd above but without the luxury of a trailer to act as a safety barrier. In those far off less safety conscious days, we simply stood on the touchline and hoped to God that those speeding, highly charged riders and horsemen didn't come crashing into our particular spot on the touchline. (Spectator injuries and deaths were, needless to say, a common occurrence.)

During the time I was in this country, whether I was walking to and from the the stadium, standing on the the touchline, wandering around pretending to 'do business', or joining other Afghans for an afternoon of talking and enjoying tea and sunshine in a 'maison secondaire !' high up in the hills overlooking Kabul, I never felt afraid. I was never threatened, or harassed, or verbally abused, I was either welcomed with great hospitality or simply ignored by people busy with their own lives.

My impressions and memories from those distant days is one of fondness and admiration for the hospitality and generosity of the people, coupled with a vividness and intensity of the mostly inhospitable of landscapes. It is a landscape which, in my opinion, has shaped the character and attitude of the rural people. Only the fittest survive, only the most stubborn stick it out (what other alternative is there?), and this, in some small part, is why the West will never win the current attempt to rule the country through the puppets it has manouvered into the top positions of power.

We (that is the West) will eventually leave Afghanistan having spent billions and got nowhere, and, after a period of time, and this is obviously a personal point of view, a large enough number of Afghans will resent the corruption, the lawlessness, the crime, the chaos, that we 'enabled', and want to establish a society wherein the excesses of corruption are curbed, opium production is forcibly stopped and general lawlessness is dealt with by a judicial system that the majority of people generally accept is as fair as it can be in their present stage of development.

At that point, the Taliban, or probably 'New Taliban' !! will emerge once again. Let us hope that when that happens, this time the West will try to engage in dialogue and persuade them that their attitude towards women is just 'a tad' out of date. Somehow I suspect that isn't going to happen. We seem to be stuck in an era where any philosophy which is 'anti global capitalism' and 'anti over consumption' is seen as 'a threat to our way of life' and must be dealt with severely in the name of "Freedom and Democracy". What a joke and what a con those two cliches have become.

Now more than ever we have leaders and front men who, for the most part, are spineless, self seeking sycophants jerked about on their puppet strings by financiers and the like, who, even in the midst of this crisis bought about by their greed and others stupidity, continue to rake it in while us more common folk find our ever dwindling resources, assets or income steadily eroded. Thus it has ever been I hear some of you say, true, but up until 1979, the inequality of incomes was diminishing, there was a sense, probably naive, that we were all in it together, and so, when it was bad, we (well most of us) were all suffering. Now, with Friedman economics and self serving politicians from thatcher to the present day, we have 'the market', now we have 'deregulation', now we have 'flexible labour laws', now we have 'there is no such thing as society', etc. etc. etc., and what has it done for us, the ordinary mortals of this world, far removed from 'six figure salaries', gated mansions, private islands, tax havens in Monaco etc etc ?

Well I leave you to answer that for yourselves.

.............................................................

Independent Newspaper 03-04-2010

"Also complicit in the problem are the police. Tales of policemen springing kidnaps, selling arms to the insurgents and preying on civilians are commonplace. One interviewee told the story of a man who refused to hand over his dog to a police commander, at which point the officers threw him in jail on suspicion of being an insurgent. "The worst people, the addicts, the thieves, the drunkards are in the police," Haji Abdul Karim, a tribal elder said. "The best way for bad men to make money is to join the police." This collapse of the rule of law is one factor driving people towards the Taliban, with their reputation for impartial albeit brutal justice. Balanced against the reputations of the warlord rulers in Kandahar City are those of Taliban commanders like Kaka Abdul Khaliq, who operates in the village of Pashmul, about 25 miles west. Residents said he was well liked and respected. "He treats villagers well because he understands them," said Haji Mohammad Zahir, who knows him."

BBC 08-10-2011.... In the Afghan villages where Taliban still rule.

People whose courage is an example to us all.

2008-12-16T20:16:00.012+01:00

Muntadar al-Zaidi, who threw a shoe at G W Bush calling him a dog, my sentiments exactly.

Let's hope that Blair and Bush are soon brought to trial for war crimes.

Citizen's Arrest of War Criminals Tony Blair and George W. Bush
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17350

Bradley Manning, who released secret documents to Wikileaks covering murder of civilians by US troops in Iraq, corrupt politicians, bribery by big business, etc. etc. He has now been in solitary confinement for over 500 days and IMO will come to be regarded as one of few people whose actions changed the course of history.

Read about the efforts to secure his release by clicking HERE
Sign the petition for his release by clicking HERE
Read about his nomination by Guardian readers for the Nobel Peace Prize HERE

'Allegedly' an ex army officer passed details to the Telegraph of UK politicians fraudulent claims for expenses, because they were the only paper who would give him a large sum of money. The telegraph 'allegedly' made a lot of money from increase in sales.
It's worth noting that the members of the military, with Liz as their commander in Chief, and the Telegraph, are renowned for their praise of 'The English way of Life' ! As the title says "...an example to us all !"

This is a hero of mine from way back when ?
Look at his face especially the eyes, the mouth, what does he do? is he a crook, is he a monster, is he a villain, a spy, no, well that was what he was called, and more when he tried to stop the right wing steam roller set in motion by thatcher. If only a few more Labour Party members had stood by him, stood firm to their ideals and their beliefs instead of bending like rag dolls before the slippery hypocrite blair and his weasel words, maybe just maybe, we wouldn't be at the start of a second financial crisis and a pay disparity which is equivalent to the 1930's, apart from blair of course and he's on 'allegedly' 12 million a year.

Naneen Zoabi, the only Palestinian Arab in the Israeli Parliament. She has been spat on, had her passport confiscated, for continuing to fight for Palestian rights.

"Zoabi sees no difference between Lieberman and more mainstream Israeli politicians, saying that Lieberman, Tzipi Livni, and Benjamin Netanyahu are "all a bunch of fascists pure and simple" How very true but she has forgotten the 'settlers'.

More details on this brave woman can be found HERE

Jane and Campbell who stayed for one night on their 1000 mile cycle ride around France. I met them through Couch Surfing, an organisation for travellers who stay with or host other members for free. They have been cycling similar distances, in various parts of the world, for their annual holidays since Campbell retired fourteen years ago. 'Inspirational'

More details of Couch Surfing can be found HERE

Avoid Alicante, but take to the hills for your holiday in Spain.

2008-12-14T14:42:00.013+01:00

In February 2007, we were lucky to be offered a friend's holiday villa in Spain for a bargain rent. Although located near Alicante, of which one hears some pretty dreadful stories, the opportunity to get away and enjoy sunshine and a different culture was very tempting. Alicante itself is actually worse than what you hear about, and should only be visited if, for some perverse reason, you feel the need to visit a town and observe how to completely ruin it by corruption, lack of planning, greed and appalling taste !

Fortunately we had our car and took off into the mountains nearly every day. Here, remarkably, old Spain still survives with its neat whitewashed villages and incredible mountain terracing alight with the vivid colours of orange trees and almond blossom. It looks as if it was painted by a 16th century artist and then superimposed on the landscape.

On one particularly memorable early evening, we were slowly wending our way home, having spent the day tramping across mountains, albeit small ones, and visually feasting on landscape masterpieces round every bend, when we spotted, and decided to call into, a bar tucked away in an otherwise innocuous row of shops. When entering it soon became apparent that we had stumbled upon a 19th century mini-institution for manic depressives. Dark, gloomy, high ceilings, deathly quiet and with just three other customers all of whom sat gazing blankly into space, smoking continuously, making no conversation whatsoever, and generally appearing as having been struck by lightning and turned to stone.

The only occasional signs of life were them taking another slug of their respective poisons, or dropping yet another cigarette butt onto the floor beneath their stools to add to the daily, possibly weekly pile. (Later it was confirmed by others that the way the average Spanish bar customer tells a good bar from a bad one by whether they have a mountain of cigarette butts beneath the bar stools. Clean floors are a sign of a bad bar!

Deciding that this was just the place for us to observe real Spain with 'real people', (what does an unreal person look like I wonder?) we sat ourselves down and waited for the proprietress to walk from behind the bar and take our order which is what would have happened in France. No, the Señora kept pottering away behind the bar, looking as if she was at least clearing up the days accumulated debris on her side of the action. Eventually we got the message, rose from our seats, took one pace to bring us up against the bar and waited to catch her eye. After a seemingly interminable length of time, she looked up, and with the slightest motion of one eyelid, indicated she was ready to take our order.
a
The request for two glasses of vino was silently dealt with, but the request for tapas was answered with a shake of the head. We took our glasses and returned to our seats. Several minutes later we noticed that Madame had moved from behind the bar and was standing in front of a gigantic open fridge and casting an eye at the contents therein. After several minutes she turned, looked over at us, flicked her head with just the slightest movement at which we dutifully trotted over.
a
There before us, inside this monster of a fridge were rows and rows of tapas and it became apparent that Madame was indicating we should take our pick. At this point we were almost in hysterics, but because we were incredibly hungry and the tapas looked magnificent, we pulled ourselves together and chose three dishes. They were all wonderful, totally totally wonderful. A plate of black beans unlike anything we have ever experienced before, black olives by which we now measure a good olive, and sardines with out of this world flavours. It was literally, a small feast and with extremely good wine to boot.
a
We stayed for about an hour, sipping, munching and murmuring in low voices as we built a possible world for our fellow drinkers, all of whom stayed rooted to their original spot except for the occasional lifting of the right arm and the dropping of yet another cigarette butt. At one point, one of the customers made a comment which the others completely ignored, but continued to gaze into the far distance with the butts steadily falling and mounting.

Finally, "el hombre" appeared from the back, and began clattering around removing empties, wiping and flicking the tables, and we gradually began to realise that the slightly increased speed of the fellow drinkers' eye movements indicated that 'chucking out time' was upon us; Gathering our belongings, paying about £2.50 for the entire meal and wine, we emerged blinking into the evening sun which had just begun to drop behind the mountains creating this extraordinary panoply of pinks, browns, shadows and silhouettes. It was how I imagine prisoners must feel upon being let out of prison, and suddenly, after the gloom and silence, having been surrounded by people whose size of sighs would overwhelm all but fellow sufferers, they finally emerge into freedom and daylight, and find, that life, landscape, colours, shapes and are all quite beautiful in a way it is so easy to take for granted.

2008-12-14T14:38:00.003+01:00

24 hours after an impromptu decision to go camping, we headed South not knowing where we would arrive. Sarlat looked inviting and, given the evening hour, we found by chance a camp site on the river edge of the Dordogne.

We visited about five of "les plus beaux villages de France" and walked and climbed and admired the beautiful golden stone of the valley. We also went to Rocamadour! This village is sadly dominated by tourists and unfortunately, the Stations of the Cross and the reasons behind why the village is famous were sadly neglected and in disrepair! The panel above the arched tunnel invited the "pilgrims" to contemplate, admire and pray". Seeing the shops in the light at the end of the Renaissance constructed tunnel I wondered why they had not added "to buy" or "to shop". To add to the awfulness, it became apparent that some of the profits from the sale of the 'tat' merchandise is not being collected by the Mairie and not being invested in the repair of the fabric of the village.

There is something about religious tourism which is decidely 'naff'.