Web school for planners

Russell Davies is going to run an account planning school on the web. Read about it here, then tell him if you think it's a good idea.

Blogging from Birmingham

Got here a bit early so thought I'd put up a few more things today.

Everything at Harry's Place is worth reading today but Harry's bit is the best:

"Blair on Ahmadinejad's threat to "wipe Israel off the map":"

"...These sentiments are completely and totally unacceptable. I have never come across a situation of the President of a country saying they want to wipe out, not that they have got a problem with, or an issue with, but want to wipe out another country. This is unacceptable."

"...If they carry on like this, the question people are going to be asking us is: When are you going to do something about this? Because you imagine a state like that, with an attitude like that, having a nuclear weapon?"

The first "summit" meeting between Mainstream media and the blogosphere is going on, read about it here.

Providores Restaurant:

My favourite restaurant these days. Everything is delicious and all the other plates you see going past make you wish you'd ordered that item.

I got there early yesterday as I wanted to get the best table in the room in honour of my guest. The staff couldn't have been more wonderful, practically winking at me every time they came over!

I got caught out as he said he was disappointed he was not being taken more seriously after publishing a serious history book, note to self, ALWAYS google before a lunch. Afterwards I ran to Waterstones, only to be directed to the humour section. Serious indeed!

I really enjoyed talking to him and I appreciated the way he licked everything up with his fingers, in the classiest way of course, because it was that kind of a meeting, just got friendlier and friendlier and he had to dash off madly, looking at his watch at 5 past 3 saying "my meeting's at three", felt a stab of guilt at that.

I still have no idea what this weekend's research project is all about but the briefing is from 4 to 7 and we're at it all day tomorrow. They said we'll get "press coverage" so if there is a link I'll find it and put it up.

Is Psychology a science?

I've just watched the BBC Horizon programme - 'The 7/7 Bombers - A Psychological Investigation'. Nice way to start the morning, and I really mean that.

Programmes like this give psychology a bad image. Let me re-phrase that, supports psychology's bad image. I have to admit to being a little scared, as I thought it would cover the areas relating to those young lads that I think are important. But it didn't. The theme, the agenda if you will, was "be afraid, be very afraid" - of groups of guys, who form "extremist cells spontaneously, without connections to established organisations." "They did not have any psychological flaws that set them apart."

"The radicalisation process happened among a group of friends... his "bunch of guys" theory...pre-dates any contact with any organisation." "Recognising the importance of this and of these group dynamics, it is hoped, will help spot future cells before it is too late."

Wow. The whole thing was really badly argued, and having Michael Stone on camera about his so-called Loyalist attack on an IRA funeral was an inspired piece of miscommunication. He worked alone, he had killed up to six people before that murder and he was not about to commit suicide, quite the opposite in fact. I got the feeling he enjoys being around to perceive his notoriety.

I've had a look at some of the papers their main expert has written and he wouldn't survive in the commercial world for a second with his wooly thinking and lack of understanding of human emotional development. Which is great! There is a story here that is still to be told.

Blogging Update

Besides the blogs listed on the right, I've discovered a few others that I think are interesting.

Chapomatic.

This blog had a discussion going on in the comments section a while ago that caught my attention and now I check back most days to see what other quirky subjects the author's got on his mind.

Not long ago it was 'women in submarines'. Today it's the intentions of the terrorists who tried to blow up the journalists' hotel in Baghdad the other day. I thought at the time it might be a bid to kidnap more journalists to trade for ransom or whatever it is that was gained from Rory Carroll's kidnapping.

Some guy at Time magazine seems to think it had nothing to do with the fact that it's a well know hotel for journalists:

"...staged the joint operation in order to attack and kill members of one of the security firms stationed in the Palestine."

While the blogger thinks:

"...attacking the Palestine is an excellent way to get into the news again after other stories drove them off."

More here.

Oxblog.

Three things from this blog interested me today.

1. Paddy Power is offering 12-1 on Dr. Rice.

I'll have to check my local Ladbroke's, see what they're offering. I got 4/7 on Bush last November but betting on the favourite is never very lucrative.

2. A link to the 'Times Literary Supplement' review of Charles Townshend's book on the Easter 1916 Rebellion, read the whole thing here.

Before Peter Hart started writing books on the subject, the best statistics on the activities during the Irish War of Independence came from Townshend's book 'The British Campaign in Ireland 1919-1921.' The review makes his new book sound wonderful:

"One of the strengths of the book lies in the author's ability to take on the 'romantic glamour' of the Rising's protagonists, while keeping a weather eye to the realities which surrounded them..."

"...the viability of present-day parallels...establishing what actually happened, gives full due to the achievement of the rebels as well as their bravery. But his book should also be required reading for the implications of what Yeats called "their bewilderment", and the often unintended outcomes of heroic imagination."

3. One of the bloggers attended a "focus group", read the whole thing here.

"In the final analysis, there was no answer to this question. Even a table full of Ivy League-educated Democratic activists couldn't come up with an answer to the question of what the Democrats want to offer America as a whole, and not just the disadvantaged."

Ranting profs

This post is interesting, read the whole thing here.

"I am still waiting for the press to explicitly acknowledge that terrorism as a strategy is communicative, that there is method to the madness, that it is centered on gaining, yes, media attention."

Spell checking:

My blog uses the google blog software which includes a spell check button. Why doesn't it recognise the word blog? These are the suggestions:

Blog - bloc
Blogger - blocker
blogging - flogging (18th century v. 21st century?)

Just wondering.

Quiet evening

The BBC license fee should be shared equally with all the UK commercial broadcasters. Why? Because the BBC doesn't offer objective news analysis nor does "auntie" have an exclusive on presenting what passes for public service broadcasting. Read the latest BBC bullocks here.

You didn't click on the link? I'm actually glad this time.

Well, huh. "CBS news president has been replaced" from little green footballs, just to be consistent, here's the link. By the way, US or UK, broadcasters cannot peddle their fallacious stories without some kind of come upppance these days, I'm just saying.

At the Westminster Society of Cogers tonight I got to read out a few delicious quotes from Christopher Hitchens' wonderful Slate article which you can read in it's entirety here.

"This report, which comes with a vast archive of supporting material...contains the "smoking gun" evidence that Galloway, along with his wife (she certainly was in 2000) and his chief business associate were consistent profiteers from Sodhim Hussein's regime and its criminal exploitation of the "Oil for Food" program."

Someone, I don't remember who, stood up and said something along the lines of "isn't it likely that the CIA has mocked up documents to support this belief?"

What, tons of "authenticated documents from Iraqi ministries, implicating "Zureikat...Genon...Sevan.....Merimee....Pasqua....Zhirinovsky..." and yes, small fry Galloway?

Nope, I don't think so. Here's Christopher Hitchens' final sentence:

"I wonder if anyone of those who furnished him a platform will now have the grace to admit that they were hosting a man who is not just a pimp for fascism but one of its prostitutes as well".

Never let it be said that a bit of alcohol clouded an intelligent writer's judgment when it comes to corrupt supporters of fascist dictators.

Harry's on a roll

Harry posted late last night about the difference in the way the Guardian and the London Times have reported on the results of the constitutional vote in Iraq, read the whole thing here.

"...a line from the final doom-laden paragraph which reveals a lot about Steele's thinking:

"The result gives President Bush a political boost by paving the way for national elections on December 15, the next milestone in his effort to show progress towards democracy in Iraq."

"Got that? The adoption of Iraq's democratic constitution is a political boost not for Iraq and it's long suffering people but for George Bush....But I'm beginning to wonder. Is this sort of reaction really just resentment at the fact that a right-wing Republican has promoted a war which is leading to the creation of a democratic republic in Iraq? "

"Or is it not more the case that the likes of Steele actually find something deeply horrifying in the very idea of Arabs choosing democracy."

"...In contrast here is Rosemary Righter in The Times: "

"...Yet even more people voted this time than in January."

"The robustness of the Iraqi commitment to the political process is beyond remarkable. So listen, you defeatists and cynics who said that this couldn’t be done, shouldn’t even be attempted: however confused the outcome may be, the democracy that you patronisingly declared that Iraqis could never handle is taking shape. By all means sneer when Bush and Blair talk about progress, but lay off the Iraqi people. They are not the benighted fools you took them for; and their courage puts us all to shame."

Now what's going to happen, as it looks to me like Harry's accusing that Guardian writer of the r-word, and there's no Joan Rivers around to splutter with anger, partly because, well, he couldn't be right, could he?

Riders on the Web

Harry of Harry's Place has just posted his thoughts on the Iraqi election results. Read the whole thing here.

This is my summary of his post:

1. A major victory for progressive forces
2. A major boost for democrats in the Middle East.
3. The trials of the Ba'athist criminals now take place in a federal republic voted for by the brave Iraqi people.
4. Unlikely to be the end of terrorism. Unlikely to be the end of media misinformation.
5. It's time for the other EU countries to give assistance to this young democracy.
6. Secular forces will need all the help they can get.

The Belmont Club has calmly analysed the transcript of George Galloway before the US Senate, read the whole thing here.

The comments that follow are great, especially this one:

"Discrediting Galloway will help discredit all those who opposed the liberation of Iraq."

Everywhere I've looked today the question so many want answered is:

What is Christopher Hitchens going to say about this?

Please can he write something quickly as I'm gagging for his take on it.

Insight 2005

I'm just back from "Insight 2005 - the only exhibition and conference for buyers and users of market research". If someone caught my eye and said "can I tell you a bit about our company" I'd say "sure, tell me what you know about blogging". My overall impression is this is not a widely understood term.

The conference was large but mainly to do with suppliers to the market research industry, or else quantitative companies and this year, lots and lots of "online research" companies. Can I just say, very little differentiation between them. No clear cut positioning although some very nice logos and material.

This is certainly true for "brainjuicer", "The MindReading Agency". I love their logo and I love that tagline. So I asked a researcher on the stand "what's involved in the mind reading?" Turns out it's something to do with the "patented technology" which "enables respondents to express what they think and feel about the research topics".

Everyone's looking for a way to make doing "proper" research easier. I haven't found a methodology that achieves this and probably wouldn't trust it to determine the deeper feelings people have in any case. That takes a considerable amount of time and fieldwork by experienced researchers.

I never ask these companies "how can you be sure respondents are telling the truth about themselves" because I have it fixed in my head that people exaggerate all sorts of information about themselves and no researcher can convince me otherwise. Like to see them try, of course. I also wonder about online research, as it's based on respondents having decent typing and mouse skills and I'm just not buying it.

According to 'trendwatching.com', blogging is one of the ways that "Generation C" expresses themselves. C for creativity. Putting up photos, writing on a blog, or sharing music and film files is all part of this increase in creative activity. You can read more about 'Generation C' here.

The number of truly creative friends I've got who say "I just wouldn't have the time to blog" is astonishing. And kind of flattering. Does this sound like I've crafted it for ages? I'm typing away with narry a pause to crack open the thesaurus, except to look up much better words for the word "stupid".

Because that's the first word that comes to mind when describing the latest research survey that's being quoted as if it were the most trustworthy set of statistics since, well, the Lancet casualty figures. The research quoted in the Telegraph last Sunday is: unsound, laughable, meaningless, moronic, worthless, brainless, deficient and just down right ghastly. If you know ANYTHING about market research, you know I'm right.

Push the button and let me know

I love that Sugarbabes song. I bought the cd single before it was number one. It's nice living so close to a Virgin Megastore. Hey, it's nice living so close to a major high street. If it's for sale in London, I can get it in ten minutes.

Michael Yon writes so that I'll cry, whether he knows this explicitly or not. He must know deep in his heart. He's opening up the doors to a different world. The world in his last post was Baghdad on the day of the election, read it at his blog site here.

The way I see it, he's saying 'Here, have a look, this is what I noticed.' There isn't a dry eye on the web when he really touches a nerve. Do a google search, I'm not making this up.

His most recent post is written with stiletto sharp language and southern American intimacy. He uses richer, more intellectual words to soften the blow when he's reporting on the cruelties of war.

This time the plain truth is amazing enough and his kind heart kicks in too. Rock throwing kids? "Just like me." Posters explaining how to make the hamster in your life a fighting machine?

"I stood there laughing uncontrollably while reading the whole set of instructions."

I will not cease from mental fight

Campaign magazine has an article about trendspotting and the only trendspotter they quote who mentions blogs is Marian Salzman, "executive vice-president, director of strategic content, JWT". What a fantastic job title!

Her writing style is sharp and punchy. What she has to say is pretty stimulating too:

"Pornography is going mainstream" - isn't that the truth.

"Faking reality and faking celebrity...we've got a taste for voyeurism, and we want more" - the explosion of reality tv certainly supports this. I've watched reality shows with people who love them and can understand why they enjoy them so much.

"Personal control freaks" - this is where she mentions blogs and I agree a blog is about wanting to wrest back control of information from narrow, biased sources like old media. Freak is kinda derogatory though - better to call these types advocates or defenders or maybe rascals as some bloggers do seem a bit unhinged.

"Dissatisfaction - people are less delighted by brands" Could be the knock on effect of having so many brands being promoted really well. There is less 'top of mind' delight in brands but I suspect there is still some underlying satisfaction with the brands we're pleased with.

"The timelessness of China and India" - is a weird trend idea - "they are exotic and appealing. The challenge for the advertising industry is to find better ways of tapping into the timelessness of those two lands."

I don't agree with her on this, I think the list of intriguing lands is extensive and not based on "timelessness". I've never stopped being intrigued by London. I could live at the National Portrait Gallery and never get tired of seeing those old, familiar faces.

Agenda? What Agenda?

Rory Carroll is saying the reason he was let go after being kidnapped is because he's Irish.

Not that he worked for the Guardian, not that an enormous ransom was paid (and don't the terrorists need it after their paymaster was arrested this week), not that a blind eye will be turned to his gang's criminal activity (the British/Irish way, pseudo IRA anyone?), but because he's not British, which is what he was mistaken for originally.

Balderdash! They knew exactly who he was and where he was from. Will anyone speak to him now that he's so high profile? He's all over the internet and we keep being told that the terrorists are tracking information on the internet. Once it gets out in those underground circles, whatever the deal is that you get if you kidnap and hand him back, well, will he have any time to get any work done? I really doubt it.

A true sense of proportion must rule

A Winston Churchill quote seems appropriate this morning. Reading nonsensical research findings is always annoying. Compound that with the implied gravitas supplied by a broadsheet newspaper though and we're bordering on dangerous irresponsibility.

I see why the Telegraph's circulation is stagnant while the London Times's increased by 6% in the last month.

If you believe this statistic of the day: "millions of Iraqis believe suicide attacks again British troops are justified" - then look away now because I'm going to give a short lecture on statistical illiteracy.

First, just think about the cost of conducting those interviews, must have been enormous, and interviewing millions of respondents can take a lot of time, so the fieldwork dates for this research project would have been quite long.

Then you have to take into account the safety issues for the interviewers and the interviewees, all of them, think about it. I know little about Iraq but it sounds quite backward in some areas (plowing barefoot with ancient plows and oxen anyone?) and according to the Women's Liberation meeting earlier this week, all Islamic women are brainwashed (like I believe that)...so figuring out who's brainwashed and who's thinking for herself has got to add caveats to the collection methods.

Ha ha, just kidding! Of course whoever did this research didn't conduct millions of interviews, what are you crazy? Instead, a "secret military poll" commissioned by "senior officers" at the "Ministry of Defence" has been conducted and the results are what we can expect from non-experts who are trying to save a bit of money for their department, well a lot of money actually.

This is from "More Damned Lies and Statistics, How Numbers Confuse Public Issues" by Joel Best:

"Absolutely every study-has limitations and flaws in its methods that make it a target for legitimate criticism....The results of a lone study, particularly if the research raises serious methodological concerns, should not, in most scientists' view, be treated as authoritative." p 151

"The press prefers reporting exactly those research results that lack strong substantiation. A single study with a disturbing finding makes good news and the media coverage is likely to downplay or even ignore the research's methodological limitations. As a consequence, we must approach press reports of research results with caution." p.152

There are no research companies operating in Iraq. I have heard how research is conducted in other parts of the Middle East. Unsurprisingly this is not an area of the world where good recruitment or strict codes of practice are a high priority. Whoever conducted this research knows it's a piece of rubbish, from initial notion to the last powerpoint chart.

But I would like to end by tarring the British Conservative party member Andrew Robathan who is quoted in the Telegraph and appears to be lending some kind of credence to these ludicrous research findings. The Tories are in such a mess. With nitwits like this is it any wonder?

Not to Harry of Harry's Place, my favourite blog these days. He's back, not as a blogger but just to make a few points in an article yesterday, written in his clean, intelligent, wry way. There are some wonderful bits, such as:

"I have to confess...to a sneaking hope that he (Ken Clarke) would have emerged, against the odds, triumphant. The prospect of the Tory party running on a "No War for Oil - Troops out now" platform was too delicious not to be at least partly tempted by."

Read every wonderful word of what he has to say here.

What, you didn't click on the link? Let me give you a few tastes here:

"But whether or not the 'main motivation' for the Americans was the introduction of democracy to Iraq, there can be no doubt after the second mass display of voting, that the Iraqi people have shown their motivation is in ensuring the legacy of the war is a free Iraq. Surely, whatever our view of the decision to invade Iraq, we can all agree that (it) is right to do all we can to help them reach that goal?"

"The screamingly obvious solution to the 'problem' is for every pub to have spaces put aside for smokers and non-smokers - separate and ventilate, don't legislate."

Plus, as ever, the comments are hilarious, one example:

"Harry, if your non-return to blogging prompts another knuckle-gratingly unfunny "satirical" piece by "Norman Johnson" in the Guardian then the blood will be on your hands."

Michael Yon's on the radio tonight, 2 am GMT, WRKO, pundit review, the link is here. I'll listen to it over the internet. He's very straight and serious but does crack a few jokes. One time he started laughing to himself after making a joke about throwing "a rock not Ear-rack", I don't know what was amusing him but the different pronunciations are interesting.

Brits say "uuuRock" (drop your jaw for the rock part), Michael says "Earrr-Rahwck", now that I'm sensitive to it I do listen to all the different ways of saying it. And yes this is a goofy way to end this post.

A new kind of hero

From An Intimate History of Humanity:

"There has been a shortage of modest heroes. That is why antiheros were invented...heroes must be able to receive as well as to give, because influence which travels only one way can become dispiriting or corrupting. To benefit from a hero, one must be a bit of a hero oneself; one must have courage. Heros need to be intermediaries, who open the world up to one another. To be an intermediary who does not cheat is within everyone's grasp." p. 468

Tough book to read because Zeldin kept raising questions and then not answering them. But the last chapter includes that definition of a hero which I really like. I think the word "hero" can be embarrassing for real heros, so we'll just have to think it and beam warm thoughts their way.

Then there's the question of creativity, which according to Zeldin is a fairly new (Victorian) concept. Yet he quotes Michelangelo:

"I am, of all who were ever born, the most inclined to love persons. Whenever I behold someone who possesses any talent or displays any dexterity of mind, who can do or say something more appropriately than the rest of the world, I am compelled to fall in love with him."

You know where all this is leading right? Because I don't. I've got a million and one things to do and I'm sitting here looking out the window, enjoying all the different colours of the leaves. Feet up, highlighter in hand, about to start reading "All Quiet on the Baghdad Front" by Michael Yon. I printed it out and it looks pretty substantial. He's a storyteller, first and foremost, and this is a story I'm eager for.

Trafalgar Day in London

Nelson's flagship, Victory, is an enormous black battleship that is tied up on the west side of Portsmouth Harbour. I noticed it a few weeks ago and couldn't take my eyes off it as we passed it in the harbour. High black masts, brown detailing. What must it be like to have nearly 30 of those all in a row, high sails snapping, cannons blasting, smoke billowing everywhere?

7000 French and Spanish casualties to 700 British, including Nelson himself, who stood on the deck in full uniform with all his gold braid, making himself an easy target for an enemy sniper. His uniform - and underwear! - is in a case at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. I remember seeing it when I was little and trying to understand - why is his underwear there too? I understood why Emma wrote her name on his gloves, which were also in the case. She wanted to be linked with him for all time.

There are tons of ceremonies today. The famous signal will be "hoisted" on the Victory, a wreath will be laid and then the Queen will dine on board. Hope the rain clears by that time.

What does it all mean? I am still a student of British culture, still working at understanding things, still getting caught out!

A friend called up yesterday: "I've been reading your blog. Don't you have a lot to say."

That's a very British comment. It can be taken any way you want, as it's merely a statement of fact. Tone helps. So does context. But self confidence is a key requirement for survival here. Something I've noticed as well - Brits will make very mean personal comments. This means either they don't like you or they really really like you. So, still learning.

"Women in advertising? they wimp out and go suckle something"

Oh dear, some creative director was at a "private" dinner in Toronto last week and made this rather unfortunate comment. I don't doubt that he said it and I don't doubt that he meant it. Everyone needs to get over their fear of working women, the alternative is way too medieval and Islamic for my taste, I'm just saying. You can read more, if you want to, here.

Travelling man

Russell Davies, compere extraordinaire at the APG awards night, has a great post up about how to pack for business trips, read the whole thing here.

Online Magazines

A friend tried to convince me, more than two years ago now, that people would want to get up in the morning and have all the newspaper articles they were interested in printed out and waiting for them to read on their way to work. Yes, Jayne, you ARE a genius.

Now I believe it. I've subscribed to a few online magazines and last week signed up for "The Weekly Standard". I think it was about £10 for the whole year, an amazing bargain. I hope this means that Michael Yon, who is allowed to work in Iraq because he's "credentialed" with them, has whatever it is that's needed if you get kidnapped.

Whatever the Guardian and the Irish government offered to Rory Carroll's kidnappers should also be available, to him and to all the journalists in Iraq, should the worst happen. Money changing hands? Criminal activity allowed to continue? Whatever it bloody well takes. I'm glad Rory's been released and I hope the way his release was obtained is available to everyone else now.

"News story" in quotes

Perry at Samizdata.net has an interesting response to the psychological games being played in Afghanistan these days, including this alternative headline: "US Forces start epidemic in Afghanistan". Perry's all "...and the reason this happens is because we are...enemies!"

One comment:

"...because the shadows of the soldiers run east/west (and always will unless we've changed orbit)......the media narrative about specifically facing the bodies west to disrespect Muslims is false"

But they're all interesting, read everything here.

Joan Rivers

Yes, I listened to her passionate reaction to that Darius guy, who I've never heard of by the way, is he "big"? He probably didn't expect the reaction he got because most Brits would be so flabbergasted to be accused of being racists that they'd go all quiet and offended and wouldn't verbally lash out, like Joan did. She rocks.

Word of the day

A chum signed me up. Today the word is "neologist" -

"one who coins, uses, or introduces new words or redefines old words in a language."

That's a challenge I can't resist. So more later.

Statistic of the day

Got this from normblog:

"Appropriate punishment for a woman who has committed adultery?"

"She should be killed" - 37% of 430 Turkish respondents

"Appropriate punishment for a person who kills a woman for committing adultery?"

"Kill them immediately" - 100% of one respondent in West London

Guardian journalist abducted in Baghdad

That single fact is starkly shocking. Of all of the newspapers to choose, the bad guys chose the al-Guardian, a paper that is renowned for being no friend to the coalition, that daily publishes articles that apologise for the horror and mayhem that's been inflicted on Iraq since the "illegal" invasion by the Brits and Americans.

As Steven Vincent (murdered journalist) reported in his book "The Red Zone":

"This is not mere semantics. The terms the media use to report on Iraq profoundly affect how Americans (could have substituted the word world here) perceive this conflict...words matter...England's Guardian newspaper, Seumas Milne, a bitter opponent of Iraq's liberation wrote, "It has become even clearer that they (the insurgents) are in fact a classic resistance movement with widespread support waging an increasingly successful guerrilla war against the occupying armies."

Maybe they've seen an opportunity to put their side of the case. To talk at length with the Guardian's Iraq correspondent, knowing that his employers are sympathetic to their cause and would welcome the world exclusive.

The alternative is that Rory Carroll merely represents an opportunity to commit another outrageous murder of a journalist, to send the message that journalists should not be reporting on what goes on, that they are taking their life in their hands by their very presence.

But if you've been reading Michael Yon's reports, this is all familiar ground. His last two posts had plenty about the dangers for journalists:

"Forget for a moment the lopsided expense versus returns ratio. The bullet holes in the hotel rooms and the picnic tables in the desert tell a back story about why so few journalists make the journey. All this, while knowing that insurgents have specifically targeted members of the media." October 13, 2005

"Journalists" are probably per capita at much greater risk in Iraq than even the soldiers. Journalists are regularly killed there." October 4, 2005

I hope he gets away safely.

Just one thing makes me forget

I was sad a while ago because I braved the torrential rain and sleet to go to the meeting in Conway Hall near Chancery Lane and it was like the worst university nightmare with a debate raging "which fascist is worse, George Bush or Osama Bin Liner?".

I wanted this question answered: Why do the women of Islam allow their menfolk to: veil them, burka them, honour kill their young, circumcise the little gals, stone them, keep them down and in slavery.

The answer I got is: they're all brainwashed. I called out from the benches "so there's no hope?" and got this response from the front of the room "of course there's hope, if we sign petitions and go on marches and blah, blah blah." Little me with my quiet upbringing.

I grabbed my coat and grabbed my hat (umbrella actually) and went to Oddbins and had a brilliant chat with the guy there about: Bonterra Viognier from Mendocino County, CA and La Chiara, Gavi Denominazione di Origine e Garanitita del Comune di Gavi, from Piedmont, Italy, both 2003, both about £9, both highly recommended.

I've just tasted the Viognier but I'm not going to drink too much of it because I've learned that the "organically grown grapes"labeling is meaningless if you have too much, head still hurts, you get the picture.

I've told you all, I don't watch tv. The documentaries are piling up though so I have a bit of homework to do tonight.

Bumped into some blogosphere phrases today:

"like a Michael Yon dispatch" for being there while all hell breaks loose, quote came from this blog here.

and Natalie Solent's debunking of some statistic she read, calling it the 'statistic of the day' in a lovely British way that is way too dry to be described as scathing, but it really is, read the post that it came from here.

Military Planning

I was extremely honoured to be allowed to attend an account planners' meeting at a well regarded agency last night and listen to the presentation by a left tenant colonel in the British Army.

No idea how to spell it, that's just how it's pronounced. And "gutter" for Qatar is pretty funny too!

I took tons of notes. At the end of the evening, he looked through them and laughed when he came to this, heavily underlined:

"In a military environment, you can say shut up and get on with it."

Here are the seven question areas that develop a military plan:

1. What is the enemy trying to do and more importantly why?
2. What tasks has my commander given me and why has he given those to me?
3. What effect do you want to have on the enemy?
4. Where and how can I best accomplish each action?
5. Identify what resources will achieve each effect, what resources are required?
6. Where and when do the actions take place in comparison to each other?
7. What control measures do you need to impose?

He emphasised:

"Having 'a plan' doesn't guarantee success - it should be used as a vehicle to guide - but planning does guarantee success."

He quoted his commander from the Iraq war: "Slightly imperfect is ok."

And cracked a few jokes:

"I know neutralise is used as a euphemism, but the accepted definition is - rendering him incapable of taking part in battle."

Lots of beer drinking in the bar afterwards and some rather funny asides such as "we were only bombed five times" and "you dig a trench deep enough so if something lands and there's shrapnel, it won't hit you". Those last two will be less helpful for account planners but underline the seriousness attached to the gaining of knowledge in that situation.

This week's magazines

Thought I'd cover some of the things I found interesting in a couple of magazines:

Campaign Magazine, 14 October 2005

Planners are in the news this week.

Quite an interesting article about the BA pitch on page 2, including this mysterious point -

"M&C was forced to fire one of its planners after he accidentally sent a spoof e-mail to...the airline's commercial director."

Also, it says the P J O'Rourke ads started in 1997, that long ago?

Ogilvy & Mather's chairman is 'hindered by shock departure of key staff' including the planning director Jane Cunningham, who is planning to set up a business with the O&M client services director. Jane's a charming Irish gal, got married to Matt Willifer, the planning director of Heresy back in April, very best of luck to you guys.

The Advertising Association is predicting UK growth of just 0.7 % this year for "national newspapers" and 39.6% growth for "digital". They're claiming the value of the online advertising market this year will be more than £1 billion. Sorry, that's a theme for another day.

A letter from MT Rainey (the Queen of Planners as far as I'm concerned) about her lunch date with Tim Lindsay in the letters section.

Planners aren't just geeks! In the diary, a note about WCRS's Cameron Saunders, who is interviewed in the latest edition of DJ magazine, about being, what else? a four letter word spouting member of the underground dj scene, 'Young Punx' indeed.

Nice big article about Beth Barry, former exec planning director at O&M and her daughter Becky, who's the planning director at Leo Burnett. Becky's memory of the agency coffee machine reminds me of my memories of dad's soda machine. He had a key so we got our pop from the machine for free and when I was little this proved to me that he was a BIG DEAL. I like all her stories about her mom, including the fact that she's jealous of her mom's "ballsiness" and her ability to say what she thinks.

"I can't do that; I worry too much about what other people think." She's clearly a very wise person.

Of all of the new UK campaigns outlined in "The Work", the one that interests me most is the PG Tips free Brewometer - that's how they've spelled it. I'm always saying to guests "is that strong enough or should the bag stay in longer?", now I can get them to point at the paint colour strip and say "this will do". To keep with the planning theme - agency Cake, planner Hannah Cooper.

No ads for planners in the career/appointments section. I saved the one that offered a salary of £140,000 from a few weeks ago as that was kind of exciting.

A couple more interesting news items: "The Times has replaced the Daily Mail as the most read national daily newspaper among UK business leaders" and "WPP is taking a stake in a new film company...WPP is expected to get exclusive marketing rights for content...in exchange for its $50 million investment."

Marketing Week, October 13 2005

I only bought Marketing Week because it had the 2005 Effectiveness Awards winners.

A couple of interesting news items: "Nestle has been awarded a Fairtrade mark for a new brand of coffee, called Partners Blend"; "Metro launched in Dublin on Monday, the same day as another rival freesheet"; "Campaign of the Year: TV Licensing & BBC - 8 per cent year on year sales increase (among students) and tracking shows an increased awareness of likelihood of being caught if no licence has been purchased" -- well, is this nationwide tax a licence or a license? hmmm, sorry, that's my attempt at humour, you know I'm not a big fan of taxing every tv for what is it these days? £130? so $260, for every household with a tv and that includes dorm rooms being counted as households. There's so little England gets wrong but that is definitely up there with changing the clocks back at the end of October.

Plus that 8 per cent increase is dwarfed by the gains outlined in the HSBC advertising summary, which are fantastic.

The Hollywood Reporter, October 11-17, 2005

Because planners shouldn't just read their own trade press!

My favourite ad from all the publications is for: "March of the Penguins - North American gross to date: $75,000,000 - and still marching". The Warner Bros. film hasn't come out in London but I saw it in the States a few months ago and loved it. It is visually delightful, the story is uplifting and Morgan Freeman's honeyed voice is perfect for the voice over.

"BBC Director General...will unveil full details of the BBC's forthcoming budget plans today...we will be laying out the BBC's plans and costing them for the first time, a BBC spokesmans said."

"The NYTimes is launching "OnMovies", a free in-theater magazine, on December 16...will distribute copies to 1.25 million movie goers in eight metropolitan areas."

"Internet advertising revenue in the US rose for the ninth quarter out of 10 on its way to what should be a record year of as much as $12 billion...more than last years $9.6 billion...up on $267 million in 1996."

Paul Verhoeven, at the Dutch Film Festival - "the US government is holding Hollywood in its grip, since 9/11, there has been immense pressure by the government to produce films that are totally without meaning." "The festival bestowed its top price (think they mean prize) the Golden Calf to...about two Palestinian terrorists planning a suicide-bomb attack (sic) in Tel Aviv." (There is no hint of irony in this next sentence) The festival jury also gave a special posthumous award to helmer Theo van Gogh who was murdered last year" (you don't say!).

"I've enjoyed about as much as I can stand" - Kenneth Tomlinson, in his final meeting as chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, on his two-year term in which he spent a lot of time battling "liberal advocacy journalism" (as opposed to, ahem, reporting, say).

Films in production (that are totally without meaning):
Click, comedy, with Adam Sandler
The Da Vinci Code, thriller, with Tom Hanks
Untitled Will Ferrell Nascar Project, comedy
Flags of our Fathers, Action/drama, Director Clint Eastwood
A Good Year, drama, Dr. Ridley Scott
Little Children, comedy/drama, Dr. Todd Field
Mission Impossible 3, action
Zodiac, thriller, Dr. David Fincher
Garfield 2, live action
The Good Sheperd, drama/thriller, Dr. Robert de Niro
Miami Vice, action/drama, Dr. Michael Mann
Denizens of the Deep, Documentary,
The Good German, romantic thriller/drama, George Clooney

end of page one, with eight more pages of movies in production that are "totally without meaning" lol.

Interesting full page ad from the Office of National Drug Control Policy, headline: How to plot a predawn raid on a clandestine meth lab. Tag line: write it real. Drugstory.org

The top three US product markets - the going rate for documentaries: in the UK: $15-50,000, Japan 5-25, Italy 5-25.

Warehouse blaze claims Aardman's 'entire history'.

Well, that DID take a bit of time.

Propaganda

Not the defunct film company, but the concept, as applied to political manoeuvering these days.

Terrorists in Iraq have just released a video showing a guy being shot in the head and dumped. He'll have people who love him and that video is now available for them to see.

Nice guys! Let's support whatever it is they want to achieve. But jeez, can't they help us out a little? Can none of those pesky murderers understand the value of propaganda?

It doesn't matter if the alleged letter from al-Zawaheythere says they should stop or not. Common sense should tell them that.

A similar dynamic was going on towards the end of the Irish revolution 1922/23 (after Michael Collins was assassinated). It's all outlined in Peter Hart's stunning book. There's no secret to it.

At that time violent outrages increased right up until the last. You know what finished off the civil war part of their revolution? It just petered out. The "irregulars" (as Michael called them) no longer had the support of the population nor the ability to conduct their guerrilla ambushes as the common people were no longer too scared to act against them.

You just can't sustain terror if people aren't cowed. And people get awfully cranky when their awareness is raised that the terrorist next door is targeting the vulnerable people of their country, like, say, contractors and toddlers and primary school teachers. It all starts getting to be too much. The election results will tell one story. The bravery of normal Iraqis, as the eyes and ears of their security forces, will tell another.

I know, I know, I should relax and go buy shoes. Cliches are cliches for a reason!

See the bird with a leaf in her mouth

I see absolutely no reason to cudgel my brain for words to use to describe how I feel when Marcus at Harry’s Place has said it so eloquently for me:

"Unfortunately, there are those who, whatever this week’s result, will continue to preach pessimism. Some of them would rather see Iraq fail than have to admit that the international presence could have any positive consequence... What else do Iraqis have to do to show they deserve our admiration and support?"

(Ah, what I meant to say was Marcus found the quote, from the good old London Times, excuse me for getting it wrong there.)

The comments, as ever, are great, including:

“If I didn’t know better, I would say the Guardian is a tad upset.”

Read the whole thing here.

Mick: The Real Michael Collins

Of course I read the review in the Sunday Times and you can read it too, here.

The author, Peter Hart, is amazing. His last book, "The I.R.A. at War 1916-1923" was brilliant. Here are a few quotes from the preface:

"...three things: the endless capacity of Irish history to surprise; the extraordinary volume and variety of evidence available concerning the Irish revolution; and the necessity for historians to challenge all assumptions made about it."

"I hope my findings are intriguing to all readers of revolutionary history and useful to those thinking about the same issues."

From chapter one, "A new revolutionary history":

"We do have the materials for a new revolutionary history. Ireland's may be the best-documented modern revolution in the world."

"Organised violence is inherently coercive and traumatic, and therefore subversive of rational decision-making and political choice."

"...it can still be argued that paramilitary and state violence only succeeded in early twentieth-century Ireland when it was used to achieve goals that received a clear popular mandate: Irish independence and northern exclusion."

To think that someone that knowledgeable, intelligent and articulate has written a biography of Michael, well, Christmas has come early for me this year.

Naturally, he won't look at things the way I do.

The little he says about Kitty, as outlined in the review, is enough for me to see that he didn't quite get the game she was playing, and the game Michael was playing right back. And I've got new insight into his relationship with Lady Lavery after visiting the Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire the last time I was in Dublin.

There, all that didn't take 20 minutes. People keep saying to me "where do you get the time?" It doesn't take any time to throw thoughts down, what takes the time is writing up a thought provoking and compelling story about events one has just lived through. That I rarely do - for free! Cheers you-all.

Time Wounds all Heels

This morning I fired up the laptop hoping for a) good news from Iraq and b) lots of humour from cynical bloggers.

All these headlines are from blogs listed at Mudville Gazette:

Iraqis vote - tsk, tsk

Iraqis hand the terrorists and their friends in the media another major defeat

And so it goes...just as planned

Another great blog, Proteinwisdom, has put up tons of headlines from newspapers around the world, and comparing them is mega interesting. When you're biased your brain distorts things to fit with your view and the editors at the New York Times have, yet again, spun the Iraq election blackly. Was it ever thus?

Thinking along those lines, I surfed over to the Observer/Guardian this morning and was rewarded with this great headline: Iraqis in their millions defy terror to vote on constitution, read the whole thing here.

That headline's really not bad! Could the Guardian oops Observer really be reporting the news in an honourable, fairly weighted way?

"Drawn up in large part by the Shia majority-led government and its Kurdish partners, it has left the Sunnis complaining that it will make them second-class citizens."

This sentence relates to the constitution, which was being voted on yesterday and just happens to leave out the part about the Sunnis not wanting to be a part of the democratic process back in January. They boycotted the vote then, which is their democratic right but it would have provided them with a role to play in the constitution writing process. It IS their democratic right to complain, it's just, ah, illogical.

So yesterday the Sunnis decided to vote.

I wonder what happened in the towns where leaflets were passed out, saying they would be killed if they voted? Every one of those people who DID vote took their life in their hands and that is awe inspiring.

Nope, the Guardian/Observer hasn't mentioned the people in those towns. Too busy interviewing this "representative" member of the voting population:

Hamid Naif, a "former officer" (sorry, I'm not even a little bit impressed by anyone who got an officer title from a fascist like Sodham) is quoted, at length in the Ob/Gyn today:

"Why should you be surprised when we fight to end our occupation?" (There's more I just can't face typing it.)

For some odd reason, the Observer reporter doesn't question this guy - who was an officer in the military of a fascist dictator - on the incredible choice of insurgency tactics which include blowing up groups of children and mosques. Yeah, I really care what he thinks.

Guardian Media Group/GMG

Poor old Observer/Guardian, thank goodness the Guardian Media Group owns a profit making company like the Trader Media Group (main publication - Autotrader).

I'm fascinated by this article from the first week of August, 2005, which obfuscates the fact that the Guardian newspaper group is a loss making unit, while Trader Media Group delivered operating profits of £116.6 million.

The Guardian group borrowed £479.8 million in October 2003 to buy that company, and have committed £80m to format changes and all-colour presses for "it's national newspapers" (ie. Guardian and Observer) and £24 million for "new all-colour presses for GMG's northern local titles.

None of those have anything to do with Trader Media Group. They're putting "a further £9 million capital project" through Trader Media Group.

Group Turnover was £751.9 million.

Pre-tax profits fell 47% from £43.6 million to £22.9 million.

So 3% profits this year for the whole group.

Trader Media Group delivered operating profits of £116.6 million. No figure given for turnover.

Nothing about what the Guardian/Observer brought to the bottom line. Nothing about the 5% drop in circulation for the Guardian.

You have to read between the lines:

"Operating losses for the national newspapers were £18.6 m.....though turnover was up by 3 percent and the division was working towards clear targets to enable it to achieve profitability in the longer term."


Read the whole thing here.

A final note:

Thank you Natalie for introducing me this morning to the crack cocaine of chocolate biscuits. Something else delightful from Australia besides your lovely fiance.

Monday note: They're called Tim Tams. I'd only ever heard about them. They explode in your mouth, what a sensation. They're on sale somewhere in Covent Garden...

Drink sangria in the park

According to Hugh Hewitt, Michael Yon's going to report from Baghdad "later in the day".

Here's a great quote from Hugh's book "Blog":

"He provided the means by which one person could communicate with the masses without the interference of the institutional structures of the day."

- who? Gutenberg in 1449 of course.

Michael's letting his feminine side come out these days:

"As I struggled with the cumbersome gear - I don't pack light to war anymore..."October 13, 2005

I've never learned the fine art of packing light. You never know what you'll need.

Powerline's got the goods on the NYTimes. As of today they are still not reporting conscientiously or thoroughly, read the damning evidence here.

I'd love to see the NYTimes readership profile, bet it's really old. That would explain their launch of a free film magazine handout in cinemas. Could be a desperate attempt to promote the brand with an important target for advertisers. Thing is, 13-24 year old guys are not going to the movies like they used to. I recommend NYTimes branded laptops and blackberries. When you power it up you could have various options:

Sports news
Celebrity news
Marriages and deaths
Advertisements
Slightly distorted news
Fabricated news

Must dash up the hill, but I'll check here in a few hours, see what-all's been going on a little south and east of here.

Our imaginations are inhabited by ghosts

You know me and first sentences. That's the first sentence of:

An Intimate History of Humanity by Theodore Zeldin 1994.

This book is exciting and readable, mapping out the development of human interaction in the first two chapters in a way that stimulates me to type this rather than take it easy on a lovely autumnal Saturday morning.

Today is the day of the election in Iraq. There's a news article on msn that has this paragraph:

"North of the capital in Sunni Duluiya, militants" (rather than say, terrorists) "toured the town" (who writes this stuff?) "handing out leaflets" (what, these gangs of scary thugs just gently handed out leaflets, I am not buying it) "threatening to kill anyone who voted."

As my colleague Chris says "words are life threatening". Indeed!

And poor journalism does my head in.

At Samizdata today, an interesting discussion is going on in the comments section about the justification for the Iraq War, with a ton of commenters making pithy, killers comments about the weapons of mass destruction:

"the justification was overwhelming"
"(Sadam) had the desire plus a track record"
"you are yet another person who has allowed this fact to slip from your memory"

Read the whole thing here, very enjoyable.

I'd like to end by quoting PJ O'Rourke, p. 15, "Peace Kills"

"Fascists do bad things just to be bad. "I'm the baddest dude in Baghdad," Saddam Hussein was saying, "the baddest cat in the Middle East. I'm way bad." This was stupid. But fascists are stupid. Consider Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. He didn't have any. How stupid does that make Saddam? All he had to do was say to UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, "Look where you want. Look under the couch cushions. Look under my bed. Look in the special spider hole I'm keeping for emergencies." And Saddam Hussein could have gone on dictatoring away until Donald Rumsfeld is elected head of the World Council of Churches."

Letter from Iraq

Not Michael Yon’s latest post, which you can read here, but a round robin letter from a family friend. It’s interesting to get a girl’s perspective.

“Only about a third of the women wear head scarves but the dress is very conservative with brightly coloured and very fancy shoes…sequins on tops…she had matching nail polish…”

“Place the oven on 500 degrees for an hour and then open it – that’s what it feels like.”

“The windows are out in the choppers…you must hang on to anything loose or it is gone.”

“I have a personal security detachment that goes everywhere I travel…I do not trust my shooting so all the better as far as I am concerned.”

“Sadam built bat caves here…so they keep them (mosquitoes) in check for the most part.”

“The materials used are beautiful…marble and gold…however the workmanship is very poor quality.”

“I have to keep the drain plugs in the drains as the roaches (palmetto bug size) and scorpions crawl up the drain pipes….so if this is the best it is, wow.”

“I am learning Farsi, Australian and British.” (Carol Note: it takes ages to learn British)

“I am learning to pick out the coalition nations by looking at the uniforms.”

I hope none of that gives the game away. It’s like John Griffith said, a month or two ago, suddenly you get all inhibited because you’re not telling your own story.

A small attempt at humour:

Here are some great verbs that mean the same thing as ameliorate:

21st century thesaurus:

make better, help, lighten, relieve, mitigate, step up, upgrade

Roget:

Uplift, influence, transform, perfect, progress, develop

English synonyms:

Improve, amend, mend, better, elevate, raise, promote

If I were a banner I'd wave

Just received this email:

“As part of the 250th Anniversary celebrations of the Society of Cogers (1755-2005) a debate will be held at St Bride's Institute, St Bride's Lane (off Fleet Street), London EC4on Monday 14th November at 7pm to consider the significant events of the past 250 years.The guest Opener will be the historian, Dr James Corner of Birkbeck College. …you are invited to add your own contributions to the debate.The cost - £5 - includes food but not wine.”

Ok - some of you have said you want to go. This will have a big crowd so not that many newcomers will get a chance to speak. However, you will be able to get a sense of what it's like so let me know and I’ll rsvp.

This chemisty lesson I’m learning

I’m thinking of the snippets of stories that happen in the big city today. All this from a neighbourhood party recently:

Me: “what does your sister think about being described as the sexiest woman alive?”
T: “She was pleased but she doesn’t believe it”
Mrs. P: “she is though”
Me: “she’s a trail blazer for women.”

Me: “I mentioned you in my blog”.
Dr. G – frowning down into her wine glass – “I’m still in love with him. Do you think he’ll come to London?”
Me: “Bound to, everyone does”
Dr. G: “I don’t mind sharing”

LB: “My last husband was a composer. We travelled all around Europe but we’re divorced now.”
Me: “Creative guys are sexy but they’re not for the long term”
LB roared with laughter

Mrs. P: “It’s nice having a weekly column. They send me the letters they receive. I’ve had proposals of marriage.”
Me: “What, a letter arrives saying “I’d like to marry you?”
Mrs. P nods
Me: “What do you say?”
Mrs. P: “I tell them I’m married.”

Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly Theatre

The quality of the acting was mind boggling.

One of the joys of London is you get people coming to town to work who are at the top of their game. While there are 6 billion people in the world, very few have the aptitude, training, passion and charisma of the handful of top artists in the world.

This production reminded me that acting is a job for a creative person. What you’re watching is deeply enjoyable when you suspend belief for a moment in time and believe the events are really unfolding like that, right there. Then another song is sung. It’s really quite illogical.

Jane Krakowski (Adelaide) is a shining light of beauty. Her wide smile and twinkling eyes communicated believable, stunning happiness. My God she’s gorgeous and the way she would melt her body into Douglas Hodge (Nathan Detroit), just mold it into every part of his body she’d be facing, was both sexy and loving. It was a cracking way to portray Adelaide. The 14 years as a fiancé made sense, she absolutely adored him. He would melt right back and his face would turn red and that’s not make up.

Jenna Russell was more “stagey” but that’s down to the part (Sarah Brown) and her corney lines. The Havana Club scene was hilarious and “If I were a Bell” was heartrending. I got the feeling she was singing lyrics she was making up on the spot, some teasing, some loving, some bantering and some just to tickle him and make him laugh.

Ewan McGregor was a revelation. He may be a big Hollywood star but he was the most generous actor and foil on the stage. He’d be stage left or stage right, leaning but never moving to draw attention to himself, only intent on letting the others shine. Then he let loose for ‘Luck be a Lady’ and, phew, I am so not going to write what I think. Except to quote a guy I know “Don’t kid yourself, there’s a reason stars become stars.”

Note to Ilona

Beautiful, brainy and now an award winner. I'll have to start reading Marketing Week on a more regular basis since it's got such wise people in charge.

Call it sad, call it funny

"but it's better than even money..." I'm seeing Guys and Dolls tonight and I've promised not to sing along.

It's beautiful today. The leaves on the old trees outside my window are turning gold. The wind whistling through them has a different, ttttsssss sound because they're dry and slightly curled. High chirping notes from the birds with one bird more throaty, "twoot twoot" pause "twoot twoot".

This is why I love Harry's Place - Marcus has put up a short post on the Telegraph appeal against George Galloway and the commenters are trying to outdo each other with fabulous, pithy witticisms. Some comments are as good as anything Oscar Wilde said, read it all here.

This is why I love the London Times. The editors there are clever to offer reporting that compliments the internet and blogosphere rather than slagging it off.

Happy Birthday Sue. Come to London, I only see intellectual plays when you visit. I really believed he loved that goat.

Earthquake Season

Mental health requirements notwithstanding, I just couldn't stop myself turning on the tv. The helicopter footage is heartbreaking. The Sunday quiet means it's easy to hear the low, deep rumble of traffic and the helicopters in the park and it all reminds me of the Northridge earthquake.

I woke up because a giant was at the end of the bed pulling it backwards and forwards. I guess the waves were hitting the granite of the Hollywood Hills which pushed the movement back again. The roaring sound was incredible plus everything seemed to be crashing and falling. Only 6.8, the one in Pakistan was 7 something and "it's exponential" takes on new meaning after that.

What I didn't realise about earthquakes is there are millions of 'aftershocks'. They start and in a split second your heart starts pounding and everything starts shaking again, but just for a few seconds. It shakes itself out quite quickly. The original, main one seemed to go on for ages but I think it was just 30 seconds.

When I got to my sister's, she put the kettle on and I found PG Tips in the cupboard. A few days later I bought a crowbar, weird what you remember.

Michael Yon

I’m going to try an experiment. While reading Michael Yon’s latest post, I’m going to type up my reactions and thoughts. If there’s something heartbreaking I’m going to grit my teeth and continue, as I want to see what comes out of doing this in real time.

However, this is a spoiler alert. First read his post by clicking this link here. I expect to comment on most of what he writes and that will spoil the story, which would be an awful thing to do to you, gentle reader.

The post came through at 7:00 pm GMT October 6, or 19:00 Alpha as we’re still on summer time. I’ve piled up a number of sources to refer to throughout so without further ado…

This is dated Tuesday the 4th but it arrived on the 6th, so I pause for a moment to wonder what the significance of that could mean.

There’s no question that something extraordinary is happening with regard to news and media consumption these days and what Michael Yon is doing is in a unique category. In his first posts from Iraq, back in January, he would write up his posts less than an hour after conferring with his army colleagues. You could tell he was asking tons of questions too which didn’t mean they were being answered:

“but Captain Williams avoids speculation…” 25 January 2005

The title of today’s post is ‘The Battle for Mosul IV”, the subtitle “Soldiers, Spies and Sheep”. He’s caught my imagination already. Soldiers and animals have figured prominently in his writing for the last ten months. I can’t remember anything he’s written about spies in his blog. The only thing I can find, from a quick flip through his memoir “Danger Close” is this:

“Who wants to be a spy? Yeah, it’s interesting stuff, but why build paranoia into your daily list of things to do and be?” p 182
“I was not interested in spooky-spy stuff and short strike missions…I was more interested in guerrilla warfare.” P 341
“Service members who attended DLI were prime targets for recruitment. A well-dressed FBI agent made us aware of some techniques used by spies to search for recruits.” P. 348

Back to this post. There’s a photo of a soldier and you can see the patch with the design on his left shoulder clearly.

There’s a brain teaser in the first paragraph which you don’t realise until the last sentence. I get it, comparing Mosul’s well known policing problems from this time last year to the collapse of the New Orleans police force last month.

The second paragraph goes right to the heart of what he’s been saying since his very first post.

“…fighting around Baquba, when reported at all…referred to as “just north of Baghdad”…journalists rarely venture into this backwater, though it is only a short drive from the capital.” January 22, 2005

“While many police stood their ground, undoubtedly performing countless acts of heroism that will never be known, the cops who fled got the most attention.” October 4, 2005

I believe the ‘main stream media’ (or ‘old media’) has a lot to answer for with regard to the reporting of the war this past year in Iraq and the first few days of the Katrina disaster. Here, he is reminding me of the role his blog has played in my changed point of view towards ‘old media’. He also gets in a bit of a dig at the governor of Louisiana, and makes the point that the US army ultimately was required to “roll in and restore order”.

His next sub heading ‘Disaster Relief 101’ relates to the numbering of American college courses. If it’s 101 it is the first course, for beginners, and is a colloquialism that is usually used scathingly.

Thing is, I’ve never noticed him use any sharp tongued tricks or scathing tone. Sometimes I don’t understand his references but I suspect he’s using code for his friends. He’s pretty straight about what he finds disturbing. Hmmm, will read on and see.

He explains a military euphemism “kinetic fight” and smoothly uses the description to move into one of the key attributes of his writing style, his use of humour. You have to be alert to it. You’re always rewarded.

He goes on to describe what happened after the “major combat” ended in Iraq. His use of the word “mess” reminds me of PJ O’Rourke’s comment in his last book ‘Peace Kills’ – “Iraq is a mess with a message, don’t mess with us.”

The comparison with Katrina is about the lack of planning. The deadlier aspect of Iraq is the ensuing guerrilla war that “grew to civil war proportions.” This has prompted a “full-spectrum fight” that includes building up the country’s infrastructure and providing training in security skills. At the same time, different coalition members have taken on the responsibility for different areas of the country.

Should have called this “Iraq War 101” as I’m learning stuff I didn’t know, including:

“…the United States oversaw the most dangerous central and north areas.”

This reminds me of the Normandy campaign. Do you know why Eisenhower assigned Omaha Beach to the American forces? Because he could see it was the most difficult. Great, 60 years on and this is still the case.

Now he starts to write with the edge that always makes me clench my jaw, describing what he saw on tv in March 2004. I need to start reading swiftly because he’s making me do so, drawing me towards whatever horrific battle is about to begin.

Arggghhhh. Then the laughs and the self deprecating humour. Then a reference to his lack of confidence in the shooting ability of the Iraqi police in those early days (and what has happened to that post, not even cached as far as I can tell).

The figures he quotes are awful, God bless those Iraqis who have fought and lost their lives. They are clearly inspiring their fellow countrymen, nearly 200,000 have joined the ISF and yes, the American in me does like detailed statistics.

Michael Yon rarely describes his feelings but I still make assumptions, all the time. After all, this is the guy who used the word “desolate” in the first sentence of his childhood memoir.

“The air was cold under overcast skies and the event was predictably somber. Yet the overwhelming sense from the hundreds of soldiers present was resolve.” February 1, 2005. The give away is the photo, showing grief and heads bowed.

“My worn out boots sat empty in the corner…my hands may be here but my head and heart are on the streets in the struggle.” May 14, 2005

A lot of what he writes requires you to stop and think more deeply. For instance, mentioning his own empty boots is gut wrenching if you know that when memorial services are held for soldiers, their empty boots are placed where a coffin would be.

His respect and approbation for the ISF is clear:

“Amazingly, these Iraqis continue to load up those little trucks and go to work…every one of their leaders has been wounded in combat…but they get right back into the fight.”

He ends on a call to action and a dig at ‘old media’. Having read this I wonder, who should I write to, what should I say?

He’s coined a phrase “cascading raid” and explains what it is so you can understand why “domino effect” is less descriptive. Cascades widen out, got it.

Everything to do with the sheep section is laugh out loud funny. But I’ve learned how Michael writes, he’s softening me up for something awful, so I’m laughing and I’m getting tense.

One of the joys of reading these posts are the zillions of aphorisms sprinkled throughout.

“Tactics based on faulty assumptions often backfire.” October 4, 2005
“War or peace, I can depend on the birds to sing in the mornings.” June 19, 2005
“Who controls words, controls man.” July 26, 2005
“The only reliable thing about most walls is that people will get past them.” July 21, 2005

His memoir ‘Danger Close’ is heaving with them:

“Everything can go from fun and games to life and death in a single breath.” P.32
“There is a killer in every human soul.” P. 123
“Highly stressful situations usually catch one completely off-guard.” P. 258

Ah oh, here it comes, that little girl, Farah, and the photos Michael took are powerful weapons in the propaganda war that I hope cascades over the months and years ahead. The painfully touching photo of Farah that has become famous is what first led me, through links from MichelleMalkin.com, to Michael Yon’s blog and I’m proud to say, I was instantly hooked.

I used the knowledge gained from his writing to stop ill informed rants from people I loved or respected. He gave me a great deal of confidence in debating with terrorist apologists. I remember those days, I was evangelical about the harm the media was doing to British and American attitudes and I would quote a story from his blog as illustration. I was a major pain in the neck.

Because he’s right:

“It exposed the terrorists in Mosul for who they really are.”

I’ve researched and written about the fact that a significant chunk of insurgents are not Iraqis but rather foreigners. Michael has written and spoken on the radio about this and repeats it here, when discussing the targeting of children.

“When the foreign terrorists targeted kids…after that photo had run…intelligence flooded in.”

He is a force for good in the world who writes like an angel and moves me to tears. His writing is so seductive and intense, if it was a drug it'd be class A and banned.

I handed a psychologist a page from his writing. She looked up at me with anguished eyes. “His brutal, blunt language makes me fall in love with him.”

I’ve been caught out a couple of times. The email saying a new post is up arrives and I click through, only to read a shattering story that upsets me. Two in particular ‘Angels among us’ (July 16, 2005) and ‘Gates of Fire’ (August 25, 2005) made me cry buckets. I don’t mind admitting this, I think they were designed to do just that.

“My face must have given away scepticism.” July 16, 2005

“But secretly, every time he asks, I feel a notch better.” Gates of Fire, August 25, 2005

I tried reading ‘Gates of Fire’ by Steven Pressfield. Great book, well written, I finished Chapter Six one night, folded the corner and went to sleep – only to dream vivid, big budget nightmares, all night long. I haven’t been able to pick it up again.

Michael Yon talks about the fact that, even now, “the military remains on constant vigil for elusive chemical weapons factories”. This is something I noticed while reading the book “Plan of Attack”. There are more than 40 pages in that book that reference concerns. Interesting to see that this is still a consideration.

More importantly, information about this “constant vigil” comes from a source I trust, which gives it far greater power than any deniers quoted in ‘old media’ either in the States or here in England.

Ah oh, here he goes again, I don’t remember reading about ‘Jeff’ in previous dispatches, but my stomach hurts, that’s a bad sign. The whole thing leaves me feeling shaky. Plus - bad idea to ask Michael to come visit, check. Or maybe it takes “six months of asking” (June 19, 2005).

Another aphorism pops up:

“In times of trouble, ordinary people seek out leaders and leadership matters.”

I’m closing in on the last couple pages and have just read this sentence: “It bears repeating that the Coalition IS winning in Mosul.” When Michael Yon says it, I believe it.

While ‘old media’ newspapers are losing circulation at a rate of knots and public bodies ban pictures of pigs because of supposed Muslim sensibilities (which I don’t believe by the way, too ludicrous) a handful of bloggers are writing passionately and for free about what is truly going on in Iraq and the other scary places in the world.

Sub title: “Now comes the hard part” – what, all that came before wasn’t hard, hard on my heart and stomach, this cannot be good. “How do we best help?” – please, please outline something that I can do, just one lone person far away from the battlefield and her country.

“Americans need to be told the truth, that this is probably a five-year fight.”

Five years from now it will be Autumn, 2010. That seems such a long time away. This ending is poignant but easier to take, almost uplifting. No tears this time. I feel a wave of relief.

Note to Sam

I now know what "teufelkind" and "freches Madche" mean.

Do you know what "grosse muhe" means?

Just kidding, xxx.

A glimpse of stocking

Brian M at Samizdata posted yesterday that he was told by a security guard he was not allowed to photograph a building on Victoria Street, just down from Westminster Abbey. Read the whole thing here.

I just couldn't believe it so I went along this morning, dressed like an American tourist, right down to the enormous white gym shoes. I took one rather bad photo and a guy in a black suit zoomed out in an instant.

Guy in black suit: You're not allowed to take pictures of this building.
Me: I read about this on the internet but I didn't believe it.
Guy: It's true.
Me: But it's right here, just across from the House of Fraser.
Guy: I know.
Me: Can I take a photo of the bus stop right beside it?
Guy: Sure.

So here's a photograph of the sign that's on the building that we're not allowed to photograph:









And here's the bus stop right beside it:









I think if they want to keep secret a government office building that's devoted to justice, rights and democracy (no typo there folks), they shouldn't put a label on it, at waist height, on a busy main street in central London.


But I still have so very much to learn. Quite a few of my guy friends have been out to various places in the Middle East lately. One friend was impressed at how the women ate and drank tea while wearing their strange wired nose masks in Kuwait. Another chum said offices in Saudi don't have ladies loos as women aren't allowed to work.

Bumped into another friend this morning, just back from Tehran. "I hear they don't have ladies loos in office buildings because women aren't allowed to work". "Oh no, women work, they're even allowed to drive." Hard for me to think at all kindly of Iran after reading that they execute gals who are prostitutes INSTEAD of the customers. That unfair. Furthermore, it seems to me the message would be harder hitting if they executed everyone involved. After all, they execute homosexuals there. Doesn't all this just blow your mind? Even a hundred years ago the Brits only sent Oscar Wilde to prison.

There's a meeting in London on the 19th of October and the subject is 'Why Islamic sharia law is at odds with women's rights". I read about it at harry's place, and you can read the posting here. It is so hard for me to really understand...why women in these benighted places allow their guys to oppress them in these myriad ways. I'm going to try and make it and that's the question I will be looking to have answered.

Nobody told me there'd be days like these

How can posting a photograph of some cute little pigs be interpreted as a political act? It's a puzzle. These guys were at the Michigan State Fair last August. Wonder if my photos of the cows will come in handy at some later date?

George Galloway is speaking at the LSE at 12:30 on Monday 24th October and at Sheffield University at 12:30 on Monday 7th November. The LSE is just twenty minutes away, Sheffield takes a lot longer to get to but I'd love to go up and see how "S" is doing.

"S" is the 18 year old daughter of a friend of mine. We walked around Dublin for hours one night last month while she asked questions about Irish history and challenged everything I said. It was stupendously refreshing and made me work harder at explaini