RUSSIA: A NOT SO SIMPLES STORY

"Justice of the Rus" by Ivan Bilibin - Wikipedia Media Commons

I was surprised by former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind's simplistic picture of "The Rule of Law" - or not, as the case may be - in Russia and China yesterday. Rifkind compared Russia unfavourably to China in the context of this week's judgement in Moscow on Mikhail Khodorkovsky, when the treatment of the 2010 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Liu Xiabo, surely suggests that the governments of both countries are equally unwilling to accept political dissent and prepared to imprison those who challenge the system. Moreover, as Russia's onetime richest oligarch, Khodorkovsky's business conduct does seem open to question, whereas Liu Xiabo's only crime has been to question the conduct of the state.

Rifkind's unfavourable portrait of the Russian legal system may also have something to do with his own professional connections. Some may remember an excellent Channel 4 Dispatches programme on 30 November 2009 which "examines the relationships between Russia's richest men and Britain's political elite." This was a fine piece of investigative journalism which showed just how much British politicians are, to put it bluntly, "in the pocket" of Russian businessmen, and particularly those who have made a home in "Londongrad". My own impression is that unlike "The Life and Times of Alexandr Orlov"*, Russian politics are "a not so simples story", notwithstanding their presentation as such by Western politicians and media.

* A Simples Life

Is the Russian Prime Minister a Red Tory ?

Feeling somewhat fatigued with British politics just now, I'm going to take the opportunity of "The Festive Break" to speculate on the political bigger picture. This one shows Russian Prime Minister, when President, Vladimir Putin in conversation with Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State during the US Presidency of George Bush, and former Soviet specialist.

The term "Red Tory" has been popularised of late by the political thinker and Anglican theologian Phillip Blond; although the concept appears to be of North American origin, where it has been used to distinguish Canadian Conservatives of more humble origins and affiliations from "Blue Tories" belonging to the political establishment.

It is interesting, therefore, that Vladimir Putin should have distinguished himself politically from the current Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, by using the term "conservative", whilst the latter has described himself as a liberal. In a comparison that might also apply to the British Prime Minister and his Deputy, according to WikiLeaks the US view is that Medvedev "plays Robin to Putin's Batman".

So is Putin a Red Tory ? His origins are certainly humble, as were those of his political predecessor Boris Yeltsin: another Red Tory perhaps ? Putin has also sought to distance himself from wealthy Russian oligarchs, although not when they play a helpful role in supporting Russia's successful bid to host the 2018 Football World Cup. It is noteworthy that Putin's speech (in English) on this occasion highlighted the role of "The Great Game " in "The Big Society".

In short, it was a speech that could have been delivered by our own Prime Minister, had the old "Blue Toryism" represented by himself, Prince William and London Mayor Boris Johnson won the day, which it very much didn't. So my advice to David Cameron and his colleagues is to be more circumspect about these "Red Tories". After all, the days of "Reds under the beds" seem to be here again, if they ever left these shores at all.

Moreover, I suspect that all this talk of "Red Tories" may have contributed to the bout of Siberian weather to which Britain has recently succumbed. After all, didn't President Putin arrange for the clouds to be dispersed from above Saint Petersburg on the occasion of a concert for international dignitaries some years ago, and might not the same technology now be used inflict freezing conditions on Western Europe ?

Or perhaps not, so my advice to our own Batman and Robin (Aka David Cameron and Nick Clegg) is to have fewer "big ideas" and concentrate on good basic governance and government for this country. This means paying rather less heed to the Think Tanks - bane of the previous New Labour administration - and rather more to common sense principles and practice.

I would also suggest that Secretaries of State, even ones as musically accomplished as Condoleezza Rice, and particularly those due to appear on "Strictly Come Dancing", should avoid manoeuvres of the kind likely to offend the powerful media oligarchs who many believe actually run this country, notwithstanding heritage politics of the kind espoused by Phillip Blond.

As to whether the Russian Prime Minister is a "Red Tory", I'm rather more concerned about the "Putinisation" of British politics. By this I mean a continuation of the cronyism and institutionalised corruption that took root during the Blair premiership, combined with the erosion of civil liberties linked to Britain's "Special Relationship" with the United States during the Bush Presidency.

If my reflections seem rather unseasonable, I'd suggest that others might also like to take the opportunity of this White Christmas and further forecasts of snow on Boxing Day, with their accompanying travel restrictions, to think outside the media-controlled box of British politics for a change. Something worthwhile might come of it. Tidings of Comfort and Joy for now !

SNOW, GLORIOUS SNOW !

Like most other people, I've been seriously inconvenienced by the Big Freeze of recent weeks, made worse by ill health during the same period. Yet before this becomes a mini misery memoir, let me also say how much I enjoy snow, especially as I haven't enjoyed a holiday to foreign cold (or hot) climes for ten years. Just thought I'd get that one in! Yes, the past decade has forced the English weather on me as never before, and because of recent sickness I'm reminded of the quote, possibly from Anthony Trollope, that, for the English person: "Everything depends upon the weather and the state of one's digestion" (my other problem incidentally).

Somewhere in the middle of this exile in England, I started a "blog" at the BBCI's H2O2 site under the pseudonym, Janet Jung. However, it was not until some 2 years later in 2006, when I began blogging under my real name, that the posts started to flow. Nevertheless, the theme of that first blog, the strange hysterias gripping Britain, and England in particular, during the New Labour years, seems as relevant now as then. For we continue to be a nation apparently gripped by one hysteria after another, notably the consequences of apparent extremes of weather - cold, wet, hot, dry - and lifestyle maladies such as obesity. This issue of obesity springs to mind because the West Midlands, in which I currently live, is apparently the most obese place in Europe, with some 30% of people so categorised, although how and by whom I'm not sure.

The link between our current weather problems and an overweight population is transport. I should point out that I have not had access to a car for over 6 years, and if anything, undertake too much exercise through necessity - my local bus service certainly is not running today! - and consequently am more inclined to weight loss than gain. Obviously, my lifestyle is against the grain of a society which is becoming more and more mobile (but not socially) and motor transport dependent, and, therefore, increasingly vulnerable to any climatic or other events which bring roads, in particular, to a stand still. The advent of Internet commerce has also generated considerable additional delivery traffic, and people seem more inclined to spend time with their computers than enjoying the kind of informal outdoor recreation which might help keep them trim.

In this unhealthy state of affairs - and I haven't even touched upon the subject of increasing carbon emissions and their contribution to global climate change - I think we should all be celebrating this year's seasonal snow fall in Britain as Father Christmas's present to the nation, and potential second coming of the less transport dependent and healthier lifestyles of yore. For those who have spent their lives dreaming of a white Christmas - and who has not at some time - now we have one, so let us rejoice! Get out there I say - as I did this morning on a 10 mile walk in the service of animal welfare - and enjoy. Stop moaning and make the most of it ! Oh yes, and if anyone would like to contact me to discuss how the country might make itself more resilient to physical and psychic challenges, they are most welcome to do so.

TACKLING INCONVENIENT POLITICAL TRUTHS

I was reminded recently of a speech which Labour leader Ed Miliband made on the occasion of the George Orwell Memorial Prize award in 2006. Miliband's theme is the role of the public intellectual and why this is important.

The latest WikiLeaks revelations show that much of what passes for high level international diplomacy is in fact little more than tittle tattle and dodgy dossiers of the kind freely and widely available in the blogosphere.

Nevertheless, the controversy created by the release of this information and the arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on unrelated charges has revealed unlikely apparent support for the organisation's modus operandi.

Could it be that not only some within the media, including people like John Pilger, but also some within and close to the very establishments whose data has been leaked welcome the outing of political "white noise" around which important decisions are taken ?

I think this is certainly the case, and a lot of people outside and inside the system want a higher level of discourse around diplomatic decision-making, including the management of conflict in places like Afghanistan.

George Orwell would certainly have done so, and if the contribution of Ed Miliband to British politics is to re-introduce high quality public intellectual discourse to these - which he has not done yet - the new Labour leader will have made his mark.

THE MORAL AMBIVALENCE OF THE MEDIA

Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Americana yesterday, the veteran newspaper editor Sir Harold Evans displayed the typical moral ambivalence of the media man. Asked for his views on Wikileaks and founder Julian Assange, Sir Harold retorted: "Infantile Leftism". He went on to express support for the prosecution of Assange for the latest Wikileaks data releases, but would not extend his support for punishment to the newspapers, such as The Guardian, who have published the Wikileaks data.

However, I would suggest that the lastest Wikileaks furore calls for a more complex response from the political and media classes. I'm sure that I'm not alone in wondering what Swedish investigative journalist and author of The Millennium Trilogy, the late great Stieg Larsson, would have made of Julian Assange and Wikileaks, for they could have been his creations. Anyway, I'm sure that Larsson would have had something rather more interesting to say on the subject than Evans, or his wife Tina Brown and creater of The Daily Beast.

BRITAIN'S BIG FREEZE & FIFA'S COLD FEET

It's hardly surprising that the Great British Worthiness Troika, aka Davids Cameron and Beckam together with Prince William, failed to impress FIFA. After all, this is an organisation that apparently likes its palms well oiled so selection of the resource-rich, and some might say, democratically poor, countries of Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 Football World Cups seems in character. Having said this, I welcome FIFA's decision, particularly in the case of Russia. After all, the developed world seemed to fall over itself in support of China's hosting of the 2008 Olympics. Moreover, Vladimir Putin does come across as a prime minister with some modicum of common sense, which can't be said for David Cameron who on this particular occasion should have stayed in Britain to attend to the latest Big Freeze. People like John Prescott should be left to deal with organisations like FIFA ! In the meantime, the British media might like to focus on the institutionalised corruption inherent in our planning system, partly a legacy of the Prescott regime, but likely to be re-forced by the policy of cash for planning permissions which the present Government is seeking to implement. Probity starts at home !