Hell no, I won't go

Posted on by July 14, 2004
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The top google hit for 'turkey "amnesty international"' is their 2002 report on the country – "Thousands of prisoners were held in conditions of prolonged isolation which could amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment [..] The pressure on human rights defenders increased: they faced harassment, death threats, arrests and prosecution, and branches of human rights associations were closed. Many people were imprisoned for exercising their right to freedom of expression, particularly when they expressed opinions on the Kurdish question, the "F-type" prisons or the role of Islam. Torture in police custody remained widespread and was practised systematically, while the perpetrators were rarely brought to justice. Two Kurdish politicians "disappeared" in gendarmerie custody. Dozens of political killings were reported, some of which may have been extrajudicial executions."

Because Turkey is desperate to join the EU, they are – after decades of these sort of human rights abuses – passing laws against torture. AI's 2004 report says they've got slightly better, but "Torture and ill-treatment in police detention remained a grave concern. [..] Disproportionate use of force by police during demonstrations was widespread.[..] Of particular concern were the many allegations of people being abducted by plainclothes police and then tortured or ill-treated. [..] A range of laws and regulations was used to restrict freedom of expression and obstruct the activities of human rights defenders. [..] Sexual assault and harassment of women in police custody continued to be a grave concern [..] A few dozen civilians were shot dead by the security forces and village guards, most of them in the southeastern and eastern provinces. Many may have been victims of extrajudicial executions or the use of excessive force."

If other people want to go to Turkey for a holiday, that's fine. Really, really. Lots of very interesting places there, particularly if you're interested in ancient history.

But no, Turkey does not get my tourist income, just as Franco's Spain wouldn't have done: 'Cheap holidays in other people's misery' as Johnny once sang.

After all, who now remembers the Armenians?

BT, a company you can trust

Posted on by February 5, 2012
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This morning, at about 11am, someone arrived from BT to install a new ADSL line as part of the idea of sticking all our files on a server on the other side of London.

At 11:15, our BT ADSL falls over. Oh, well it does this two or three times a day, it'll be back again soon.

But…

From platform one at Blackfriars to platform five… the long way

Posted on by February 5, 2012
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London Blackfriars doesn't have any ticket barriers at the platform entrances/exits. And, unlike say London Waterloo, the exits are rarely staffed. Say on one day in two weeks. There are two exits, a wide one serving platforms 1-4, and a smaller one for platform 5 which is for Thameslink trains going north to Kings Cross/Luton/Bedford. Most of the time, if there is a ticket check, it's only on the wide exit, not the smaller one.

So there's clearly a temptation for passengers wanting to get off there not to buy a ticket.

It's always amusing to see, on days when there is a check, some passengers get off at the front of their train on platform one, head towards the exit, spot that there's a ticket check, then quickly turn 180 degrees and head for the underpassage that links the platforms…

And 99% of the time, they get away with it if they're smart. The London Underground 'carnet' ticket (prepaid single journey in zone one, bought in a pack of ten) is only valid on tube journeys… and Thameslink journeys from Elephant & Castle or London Bridge to Blackfriars including further up to Kings Cross.

So if it turns out that there's a ticket inspection on the smaller exit, and there often isn't, they just wave a carnet at them and claim they've come that way.

(Why can't they do this from platforms 1-4? Carnets aren't valid on South Eastern trains, the other company that uses the line between Elephant & Castle and Blackfriars, which only use those platforms.)

Of course, it would help if there's a Thameslink train on or just leaving from platform five, so it's particularly funny to spot a small huddle of people waiting on the stairs up to the platform, out of sight of the inspectors, so they can later pretend they've just got off a train that hasn't yet arrived.

But today was a 1% day.

"Oh no, a ticket inspection" go the naughty ones and do their 180s to head for the underpass. There was a Thameslink train on platform five too, so no hanging about waiting. Of course, they might not have noticed that this particular train had gone via Elephant & Castle without stopping, and you can bet that the ticket inspectors knew that.

Even better, from the point of view of spectators in the know, there was an inspection in the underpass too, at the base of the stairs to platform five! Unheard of!!

Unsurprisingly, they were having quite a catch.

What the really smart ones would have had to do – and I didn't spot any – was mutter 'oh shit' to themselves, and do a quick 90 degree turn up to platform four. There, they could catch a Thameslink train to London Bridge, so they could then catch a Thameslink train back to platform five. Bingo, the carnet is now valid.

Mind you, they'd have got into work about half an hour later than usual.

I was left thinking that, given that the Thameslink train on platform five hadn't stopped at Elephant & Castle, it'd have been even better to have let the naughty ones try to present their carnets at the platform exit, then arrest them for ticket fraud, rather than just charge them £10 for a penalty ticket before they had had the chance to get deeper into the shit.

Critical? Moi?

Posted on by May 28, 2004
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Compared to a few years ago, I don't watch many news programmes. BBC R4's Today programme is my daily fix. But I saw a London news programme earlier this week that included a segment on a cyclist killed on a particularly silly cycle lane – on Blackfriars Bridge, between two lanes of traffic. (Someone drove from one lane to the other.)

It reminded me that London's Critical Mass would be today. I've missed the last few, but didn't want to miss this one.

It was good. A long pause on the bridge – personally, I'd have blocked both directions – then around Central London.

I'm pissed off that most of the ones I've been to have involved riding to the site of a fatality. There are 'only' one or two cyclists killed in London a month, but that's too many of course.

Did I mention the incident in late December? Near the Dog's Home Battersea, I look behind me, loads of room, and do the best 'I'm turning right' signal of my life. It's getting dark, but the street lighting is good, I'm lit up, wearing piles of reflective clothing (and my white calves working away). Sodding van driver behind doesn't see me until he's really close, narrowly misses me, and has the nerve to toot his horn. If he'd been alone, they'd have been.. trouble.

If I was killed, I'd be seriously pissed off… and if I believed in ghosts, there'd be some serious haunting of the people responsible inbetween trying to watch JoJo grow up.

(Oh, old-time LBGers may be interested to know someone who I'm embarrassed to say I've forgotten his proper name and can only remember Marcus's nickname for him (Stavros) was there on his wheelchair!)

Iraq video

Posted on by May 17, 2004
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The other thing I didn't post about was pondering over whether or not to watch the Nick Berg execution video.

On the one hand, yuck. (Understatement!)

On the other, to misquote Jagger and Richards, "Who killed Nick Berg? / When after all / It was you and me". If the government of my country hadn't backed the US government, there wouldn't have been an invasion, and he'd still be alive. (That's not to take away the direct responsibility from the people who do such things.)

The yuck was very definitely winning, up until today, with the publication of articles like this one on the curious features of the video.

As reported (but not shown) on UK news, the video was simple: he said who he was, and then someone immediately cut his head off, followed by a rant to camera. Single take, no question of it being faked.

It seems that's not the case. If there's any editing (the extremely unfortunate jargon is 'cut', from the days of physically cutting film) in a piece, it is extremely likely that it didn't happen in real time. Minutes, hours or days can pass between one shot and another.

(Michael Moore was guilty of this at the end of Bowling for Columbine.)

So… I'm more tempted to see it, in order to see what editing was done and to see if it does look as if it was faked.

And it's one, two, three, four, what are we fighting for?

Posted on by May 14, 2004
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US soldiers in Iraq must also be asking themselves 'who' and 'are they worth it' as well.

Brits will remember the fuss about UK soldiers not having the best equipment when the war in Iraq started. Well, US forces in Iraq now – over a year later – are asking for properly armoured personnel carriers ('Humvees' are an American APC), proper body armour, and, you know, guns, so they can shoot back if the convoy they are in is attacked.

What did Donald Rumsfeld, US Defence boss, say to the people being shot at and who see friends die? "I'm a survivor."

It'd be darkly amusing to stick him on an under-armoured Humvee, with poor body armour, in a dangerous spot, at the same time as the people justifying the US torture of captives are plonked in their place.

(Link from yendi.)