The emasculation of Punk Rock in contemporary Britain is reflected the 2012 Olympic soundtrack, with The Clash's London Calling used by sponsors British Airways and The Sex Pistol's lyric "God save the Queen" (from their song Jubilee) finding its way into the opening ceremony's popular music medley.
In modern Russia, on the other hand, Punk seems to be alive and kicking. I refer, of course, to the girl band Pussy Riot who broke into Moscow's main cathedral earlier in the year wearing coloured balaclavas and called for the Holy Mother to save Russia from then prime minister, and now president, Vladimir Putin in a barrage of obscenities. Unsurprisingly, these actions led to unseemly scuffles with Orthodox nuns and clergy, and the subsequent imprisonment of some band members on charges of blasphemy and other offences. The absence of bail and the prospect of a long prison sentence for these young and, it has to be said, rather demure-looking women has outraged many Russians, leading to street protests by their supporters and one artist stitching his lips together. International media support for their plight is also growing.
However, I wonder what the reaction of Britain's liberal democracy, and, indeed that of the world's media, would be if a group of inappropriately-clad young women were to break into a mosque and engage in behaviour like that of Pussy Riot. The young women might well need to be imprisoned for their own protection.
For this reason, I would suggest, Britain is undergoing its own cultural emasculation, in some ways reflected in the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. The insidious nature of this process, by contrast with the, arguably, fascist regime of President Putin should be cause for equal concern.
However, the lyrics which perhaps best encapsulate our country's contemporary cultural malaise, expressed most profoundly in the cult of celebrity and the lingering legacy of The Spice Girls, due to perform in the London 2012 closing ceremony, are still those of The Sex Pistol's original Punk song Pretty Vacant:
"There's no point in asking us you'll get no reply
I just steam in but I don't decide
I got no reason it's all too much
you'll always find us
Out to lunch !
We're so pretty oh so pretty
vacant
We're so pretty oh so pretty
vacant"
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Saturday, July 28, 2012
OLYMPIC TRIUMPH OF FORM OVER CONTENT
The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics was certainly a spectacle. Although I was hoping for something more Ken Russell and The Wicker Man to emerge from the Fields Full of Folk beneath the grassy mound, the transformation of these into Dark Satanic Mills instead was still impressive. Moreover, the heroine of the show for me was not Her Majesty's Bond Girl but the deaf drummer Dame Evelyn Glennie who led the summoning up of the infernal spirits of industrial revolution with Titan relish, stealing the limelight from Sir Kenneth Branagh's Isambard Kingdom Brunel with a positively awesome chthonic beat. Unfortunately, after that I thought the event rather lost its plot. Showcasing the National Health Service and Youth Culture was, I imagine, intended to highlight the role of these, along with the Queen and Our Green and Pleasant Land, in forging Britain's social cohesion. Nevertheless, despite the undoubted technical achievement of Danny Boyle's creation, I was left feeling that this culmination of the so-called Cultural Olympiad was still outdone by another Recent Event where form also triumphed over content: Last Year's Riots.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
BANKING CRISIS: BEYOND THE THIRD WAVE
The current problems of the Eurozone have been described as "the third wave" of the banking crisis which began in the United States when the scale of the sub-prime lending fiasco became apparent in 2007, and the British bank Northern Rock was implicated in this. With the demise of the US bank Lehman Brothers the following year, a "second wave" of the crisis erupted. This period co-incided with the use of dubious interest management methods by Barclays bank, currently headlined in the London Interbank Offer Rates (LIBOR) scandal. It is useful to remind ourselves that the US authorities regarded the unsupportive position of the UK Government on a potential rescue of Lehman Brothers in 2008 as an important contributory factor in that bank's liquidation, and, as a consequence, in the escalation of the international banking crisis. The British narrative, of course, is rather different, as we were reminded when the deputy governor of the Bank of England informed us recently that it was intervention by the Brown government in the global credit crunch which "saved the world" (his words) in 2008. These comments were made against the backdrop of the Barclays LIBOR scandal. With regard to this present matter, it is perhaps hardly surprising that a different narrative is starting to emerge in the US, to the effect that the US authorities had drawn the attention of the Bank of England to likely irregularities associated with LIBOR in 2008. The real truth of the story may, or may not, unfold in future weeks as British players jostle for the position of new Governor of the Bank of England, and those in the US seek to set the record straight.
In this context, the recent international - ie Anglo-American - media focus on the problems of the Eurozone, and in particular of Spain and Greece, has subsided somewhat: something for which European politicians and those who support the Eurozone are no doubt grateful. Instead, we are reminded that the situation in many US states continues to be analogous to that of some Eurozone countries, with a number of cities recently filing for bankruptcy, including Stockton and San Bernardino in California, itself one of the world's largest economies. So "the third wave" of the banking crisis is by no means confined to the Eurozone, and is proving just as difficult for sunny west coast California to surf as sunny southern Europe. However, it may be "the fourth wave" of this crisis of capitalism, a term deployed by the Financial Times in 2008, which ultimately proves most difficult for the world to ride out. I refer, of course, to the present economic and political difficulties of China, the elephant in the room with the potential ability to demolish the global banking system's house of cards like a tsunami. Unsurprisingly, China's problems are once again founded, but not well as it turns out, upon a real estate bubble, which has contributed to the profound socio-economic polarisation of her enormous population. As the country's turbulent history has shown, China's present predicament is by no means auspicious. Meanwhile we all live in interesting times.
In this context, the recent international - ie Anglo-American - media focus on the problems of the Eurozone, and in particular of Spain and Greece, has subsided somewhat: something for which European politicians and those who support the Eurozone are no doubt grateful. Instead, we are reminded that the situation in many US states continues to be analogous to that of some Eurozone countries, with a number of cities recently filing for bankruptcy, including Stockton and San Bernardino in California, itself one of the world's largest economies. So "the third wave" of the banking crisis is by no means confined to the Eurozone, and is proving just as difficult for sunny west coast California to surf as sunny southern Europe. However, it may be "the fourth wave" of this crisis of capitalism, a term deployed by the Financial Times in 2008, which ultimately proves most difficult for the world to ride out. I refer, of course, to the present economic and political difficulties of China, the elephant in the room with the potential ability to demolish the global banking system's house of cards like a tsunami. Unsurprisingly, China's problems are once again founded, but not well as it turns out, upon a real estate bubble, which has contributed to the profound socio-economic polarisation of her enormous population. As the country's turbulent history has shown, China's present predicament is by no means auspicious. Meanwhile we all live in interesting times.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
DETROIT: EXEMPLAR OF URBAN RENEWAL?
I was very surprised, or rather gobsmacked, to hear Centre for Cities chief executive Alexandra Jones cite Detroit as an exemplar of urban renewal on BBC Radio 4's today programme this morning. "The Lost City of Detroit" is identified probably more than other western metropolis with the phenomenon of urban abandonment and mass dereliction.
The policy of "grassing over" such abandoned areas, referred to by Ms Jones as an example of successful urban renewal, is one which most contemporary regeneration practitioners would not advocate for UK towns and cities. Although the disastrous "Pathfinder Programme" of New Labour, now abandoned by the Coalition, did indeed demolish and grass over parts of some older urban areas in the Midlands and north of England by way of following the model used by some US states.
So whilst the Centre for Cities does produce some very useful information on the state of UK urban areas, I would seriously question whether it lives up to the self-proclaimed title of "non-partisan.....policy research unit". Instead, the organisation seems to be engaged in re-packaging - perhaps grassing over - discredited programmes strongly associated with the previous government.
The policy of "grassing over" such abandoned areas, referred to by Ms Jones as an example of successful urban renewal, is one which most contemporary regeneration practitioners would not advocate for UK towns and cities. Although the disastrous "Pathfinder Programme" of New Labour, now abandoned by the Coalition, did indeed demolish and grass over parts of some older urban areas in the Midlands and north of England by way of following the model used by some US states.
So whilst the Centre for Cities does produce some very useful information on the state of UK urban areas, I would seriously question whether it lives up to the self-proclaimed title of "non-partisan.....policy research unit". Instead, the organisation seems to be engaged in re-packaging - perhaps grassing over - discredited programmes strongly associated with the previous government.
Monday, July 09, 2012
IT'S TIME TO RE-PACKAGE THE TEDDY BEAR
I'm not referring to an Olympic mascot, but the top secret project code-named "Teddy Bear" which Lord Mandelson, then an MP somewhat fallen from grace, devised with former prime minister Tony Blair, then Director General of the BBC John Birt and current Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood to break up ex-Chancellor Gordon Brown's Treasury. Yes, this cuddly creature is one of the revelations of "The Third Man", the subject of my previous post.
However, notwithstanding its apparently soft exterior, "Teddy Bear" might just end up being one of Mandelson's, or Heywood's, most substantial legacies to British government, albeit one also involving transfer of the "Prince of Darkness" title from politician to civil servant. So let's unpack New Labour's Teddy Bear and consider whether a timely re-packaging for the Coalition Government could make him a winning mascot for the New British politics.
In short, Project Teddy Bear, as I shall call it, envisaged splitting the economic management role of the Treasury from it administration of public expenditure, based on a model of government in the United States. This would have downsized the role of Gordon Brown, who tended to run the Treasury as a sort of International Bank for Re-Distribution and Development. Although, "re-distribution" to less developed countries tended to revert to London banks in the form of money laundering, thereby contributing to the now well-documented excesses of the City of London. Meanwhile, at home "development" became increasingly identified with lucrative construction contracts, many under the guise of the Private Finance Initiative, which now threaten to bankrupt parts of the public sector.
In this context, Teddy Bear remains an excellent idea, not least after last week's unedifying House of Commons squabble between present Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and the shadow-boxing Ed Balls. Re-packaging Teddy Bear would enable the Coalition Government to re-distribute the Treasury's responsibilities between say, Vince Cable, as head of a new finance ministry to handle macroeconomic policy and, yes, my old favourite, Ken Clark, who could lead a US-style Office of Budget and Delivery. George Osborne might be re-shuffled to the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation, where, no doubt, he could very ably represent the interests of the UK banking sector. Such a reshuffle could also afford Ed Miliband the opportunity to consign Balls to the back benches.
However, notwithstanding its apparently soft exterior, "Teddy Bear" might just end up being one of Mandelson's, or Heywood's, most substantial legacies to British government, albeit one also involving transfer of the "Prince of Darkness" title from politician to civil servant. So let's unpack New Labour's Teddy Bear and consider whether a timely re-packaging for the Coalition Government could make him a winning mascot for the New British politics.
In short, Project Teddy Bear, as I shall call it, envisaged splitting the economic management role of the Treasury from it administration of public expenditure, based on a model of government in the United States. This would have downsized the role of Gordon Brown, who tended to run the Treasury as a sort of International Bank for Re-Distribution and Development. Although, "re-distribution" to less developed countries tended to revert to London banks in the form of money laundering, thereby contributing to the now well-documented excesses of the City of London. Meanwhile, at home "development" became increasingly identified with lucrative construction contracts, many under the guise of the Private Finance Initiative, which now threaten to bankrupt parts of the public sector.
In this context, Teddy Bear remains an excellent idea, not least after last week's unedifying House of Commons squabble between present Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne and the shadow-boxing Ed Balls. Re-packaging Teddy Bear would enable the Coalition Government to re-distribute the Treasury's responsibilities between say, Vince Cable, as head of a new finance ministry to handle macroeconomic policy and, yes, my old favourite, Ken Clark, who could lead a US-style Office of Budget and Delivery. George Osborne might be re-shuffled to the Department for Business, Skills and Innovation, where, no doubt, he could very ably represent the interests of the UK banking sector. Such a reshuffle could also afford Ed Miliband the opportunity to consign Balls to the back benches.
Saturday, July 07, 2012
IS BRITAIN READY FOR A NEW THIRD WAY?
Having taken some time out for reflection and reading, this blog is now resuming service with some thoughts inspired by "The Third Man" of British (and international) contemporary politics, New Red Baron Lord Peter Mandelson.
I purchased Lord Mandelson's autobiography, "The Third Man", from Waterstones for the princely sum of £0.99, being told by the young bookseller that this was one tome the shop "couldn't shift". This surprised me as the book has an elegant red and black cover, with a rather scary-looking Mandelson on its dust jacket.
In fact, the book was well-received by serious reviewers such as Matthew Dancona on its publication in 2010, shortly after Labour's general election defeat but before the election of Ed Miliband as new party leader.
However, it is perhaps testimony to the British public's lack of love for Lord Mandelson, as much as his own party's, that this rather good book has received less attention than the rantings of new raving loony party contender, Alastair Campbell. It may also be the case that Mandelson, the King of Spin, was and is not the lovely boy of the British media that we all assumed.
For my money, and sadly I'm not filthy rich, this makes what the Red Baron has to say all the more interesting; even if the Queen of Sofa Government tends to be rather more preoccupied by the microcosm of New Labour than the wider realities of politics at home and abroad. Cherie Blair's health guru Carol Caplin, for instance, receives rather more attention than most female ministers.
This said, Mandelson's account of his time as director of communications for the Labour is not only fascinating for anyone interested in the history of the modern party, but also explains why he and Tony Blair, the only two people to understand what New Labour was all about according to the latter, were willing to jettison so much in order to win and sustain power.
"He would say that wouldn't he", may well be the reaction of many to Mandelson's literary positioning of himself not only as the power broker of New Labour, but also its prime mover in matters of strategy. Nevertheless, it is he, rather than Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who emerges through his book as the architect of the promised (but never actually delivered) political Third Way.
"The Third Man" ends with Lord Mandelson looking forward to "a new chapter" in his own life and the lives of fellow protagonists in what has been called "The Project". It now seems that this chapter is already being written.
For an article in last weekend's "I" newspaper, funded by one of the "filthy rich" Russian oligarch's with whom the Red Baron is reported so friendly - another, incidentally, owns Waterstones bookshops - speculated on a "theatrical" Lord Mandelson playing a leading role in the appointment of Tony Blair as prime minister of a Lib-Lab Coalition following the 2015 general election.
Could such an arrangement deliver the Third Way for which many of us have been waiting. Having read "The Third Man", I'm still not so sure. It might well have been better for Britain and the world stage if the Churchillian Ken Clark had staged a military coup to prevent New Labour assuming government in 1997, and imposed a benign dictatorship on the country. But that's another story!
I purchased Lord Mandelson's autobiography, "The Third Man", from Waterstones for the princely sum of £0.99, being told by the young bookseller that this was one tome the shop "couldn't shift". This surprised me as the book has an elegant red and black cover, with a rather scary-looking Mandelson on its dust jacket.
In fact, the book was well-received by serious reviewers such as Matthew Dancona on its publication in 2010, shortly after Labour's general election defeat but before the election of Ed Miliband as new party leader.
However, it is perhaps testimony to the British public's lack of love for Lord Mandelson, as much as his own party's, that this rather good book has received less attention than the rantings of new raving loony party contender, Alastair Campbell. It may also be the case that Mandelson, the King of Spin, was and is not the lovely boy of the British media that we all assumed.
For my money, and sadly I'm not filthy rich, this makes what the Red Baron has to say all the more interesting; even if the Queen of Sofa Government tends to be rather more preoccupied by the microcosm of New Labour than the wider realities of politics at home and abroad. Cherie Blair's health guru Carol Caplin, for instance, receives rather more attention than most female ministers.
This said, Mandelson's account of his time as director of communications for the Labour is not only fascinating for anyone interested in the history of the modern party, but also explains why he and Tony Blair, the only two people to understand what New Labour was all about according to the latter, were willing to jettison so much in order to win and sustain power.
"He would say that wouldn't he", may well be the reaction of many to Mandelson's literary positioning of himself not only as the power broker of New Labour, but also its prime mover in matters of strategy. Nevertheless, it is he, rather than Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who emerges through his book as the architect of the promised (but never actually delivered) political Third Way.
"The Third Man" ends with Lord Mandelson looking forward to "a new chapter" in his own life and the lives of fellow protagonists in what has been called "The Project". It now seems that this chapter is already being written.
For an article in last weekend's "I" newspaper, funded by one of the "filthy rich" Russian oligarch's with whom the Red Baron is reported so friendly - another, incidentally, owns Waterstones bookshops - speculated on a "theatrical" Lord Mandelson playing a leading role in the appointment of Tony Blair as prime minister of a Lib-Lab Coalition following the 2015 general election.
Could such an arrangement deliver the Third Way for which many of us have been waiting. Having read "The Third Man", I'm still not so sure. It might well have been better for Britain and the world stage if the Churchillian Ken Clark had staged a military coup to prevent New Labour assuming government in 1997, and imposed a benign dictatorship on the country. But that's another story!
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