Amnesty International at Fifty

In the news there have been three stories that have been dominating the headlines recently. The first has been the abuse by the press, the “Phone Hacking” of celebrities and other well known people.

Personally, I have absolutely no interest in the sex lives of anyone who happens to be on television, in films, or happens to be well know for singing or such like. Quite simply when there are real issues regarding the abuse of power by political and industrial leaders, stories of celebrity shenanigans seem to be much more designed to distract from what is really happening. Just as a conjurer distracts attention from what he is really doing.

The second story, is the attempt by News International to buy the sixty one percent of BSB (Sky Television) that it does not already own. The same people that own Fox News in America. Personally, I do not feel it is right that so much media is owned and controlled by one person, or one company. It has nothing to do with me disagreeing with Murdoch point of view, but with anyone having that level of control. Add to this the fact that the comic that they call a newspaper, News of the World, deeply involved in the illegal “Phone Hacking”, is owned by News International, and to be honest they do not appear to be a company fit to be trusted to hold that much media power.

The third story that was linked to News International that was hitting the headlines was the “Footballer” who took out an Injunction to stop the press reporting on an alleged sexual liaison.

Personally I could not have cared less about the substance of the story, as it was just another case of a News International title wanting to report on what the public want to know rather than what is in the public interest.

I would have ignored all this nonsense had it not been that this footballer was granted a court order that ordered “Twitter” to name the people who were naming him. As they (“Twitter”) are in the US, they would have to get a court order there and with the constitutional enshrinement of freedom of speech, I would think the footballer has as much chance as a snowball in hades.

However, this all started to take a more sinister twist as one newspaper columnist, who apparently named the footballer in a tweet, was at risk of arrest and imprisonment and under the terms of the injunction, we the public could not know why Giles Coren had been imprisoned.

This was something that disturbed me, and I was trying to think out a way of posting here about this, when an MP used parliamentary privilege to name the footballer. Even though I had no interest in who he was, I had known the footballers name for about three weeks as other people were talking in the pub about this and about him. The general consensus is that he is making himself (the Footballer) look really stupid.

This is the real point of this posting, as within a democracy people should never be imprisoned without a public trial. As it is fifty years since the founding of Amnesty International, an organisation founded to prevent the imprisonment without due and just process. In fact it was the case of two people being imprisoned unjustly in Portugal that provided the impetus for the founding of the organisation. In fact it was a campaign by the Observer Newspaper that led to the formation of Amnesty International.

The contrast to the media today who are obsessed with the cult of celebrity and ignore real news is quite striking. It is doubtful that if the situation were the same today, that most newspapers would ignore or even denigrate the fledgling efforts of Amnesty if they were formed today. But Amnesty International has done great work over the years.

To illustrate the point, as I was writing that last paragraph, and I was listening to one of the podcasts that I get via I Tunes, came one from the BBC World Service that highlights the very real impact that Amnesty International really has. I will put a link here so that others can here it too, but I will forewarn my reader, that it had me in tears and it is not a comfortable listen.

If only the media, the press, were not so self obsessed and actually started carrying out some real journalism instead of obsessing about the sex lives of third rate celebrities, then they could reverse the decline in newspaper sales. So often when asked about why they cover these (non) stories about celebrities, they always say “Well if people did not want to read them they would not buy the papers” The media owners like Murdoch should actually look at the falling sales and realise that we are not buying their trash because they publish this rubbish all the time.

When they start carrying out real campaigning, intelligent and investigative journalism, then the public will start spending their money on good journalism.

I would like to end by saying that I wish Amnesty International well for the last fifty years of work, especially all the volunteers who quietly work away and make the difference. I would also love to hear that they are no longer needed, but until that happens, I hope that Amnesty is around to for a long while, especially as the majority of the press ignores Human Rights.

Place Names and Heron

When I moved here, I was curious about some of the names of the towns close by. The closest on, and within walking distance, as long as you like walking, is called Tow Law. I did some research and quite simply it appears to mean “Settlement on the Hill” or “Town on the Hill” As there has been a settlement there since pre Roman times, the name appears to be derived from very old English.

It is interesting to note that while this is south of the Roman Wall, Hadrian's Wall, it was never fully under Roman Control. Not least because the people were miners, and traded the lead, zinc and copper, with the Romans but never allowed them to rule them. There is a still a degree of this independence in the local area too. However it was the question of the name that had me puzzled, and finally I had it cracked, Tow Law means “Settlement on the Hill” while the word Tow developed to the word Town.

The next nearest Town is a Market Town called Crook. That name does not mean its full of villainous criminals, but is derived from it being built in a “Crook” of the River Wear. The spacing of Market Towns within the landscape are a useful way of measuring distances as they are more or less spaced twelve miles apart. This was decided upon during the Dark Ages, as it meant that it was close enough for a peasant to walk to and back in a day and meant that each market was not creating unfair competition. Wisdom we could learn from today, but that’s a whole other posting.

Crook is the Closest Market Town to where I live, and its also the main hub for transport for and to other towns including Durham City. Last weekend when going into Durham, I noticed that on one of the buildings there were a number of birds that were going back and forth with nesting material. Today, I was able to take a closer look, and the building has been constructed with nesting spaces just under the eaves of this modern bank building. I have heard of this happening, and it doesn’t require any greater expense or effort but ensures that birds don’t loose nesting spots as we make buildings more energy efficient. It probably the first time I have felt good about a bank for the last few years.

The picture was taken last week when I was in Durham.

Durham City

As my better half is returning to university for the last month of this academic year, we arranged to meet up in Durham. It was a rather spur of the moment thing, as with the bank holidays and that wedding, I really needed to get some food shopping, mainly green groceries, therefore when I knew that she was going into Durham, I suggested we could meet up.

The weather could not have been better, as the sunshine made an already beautiful city, fantastic. As I was there about an hour before I could get to see my better half, I had decided to stop for a light lunch. I went to a café that is right on the river and was sitting on the terrace outside. My cell phone rang and K was able to meet me earlier than had been expected. The amusing thing was that she was just leaving another café that I had nearly gone into and I had passed to try the one that I had eventually settled on. So she was just minutes away and she was able to sit with me while I had my lunch.

From where we were, we were able to stroll along the river. Durham really is a delightful city anyway, and the sun was dancing on the river creating a firework display of reflections. Also as its spring there is the wild garlic flowering and this aroma added to the freshness of the day.

Unfortunately we had to part all to early, as my better half had to return home by train and pack and I still had to get the shopping I needed. Because of previous visits I knew there was a good market in Durham, and I was pleased to find that the quality was better than the average as well as finding items that are not always easy to find, such as Jerusalem Artichokes, and I got some of these. Also in the indoor market is the best fishmonger I personally have ever encountered.

With my wallet much lighter, I headed back home and I will make time to visit Durham again soon, and looking forward to cooking some great fish dishes for my better half once her exams are over.