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'Villa Lucky Monkey' 4/9 BR -Perfect for Guests of 6 to 24! in Tamarindo
- bedrooms 9
- baths 10
- sleeps 24
- pool yes
- hot tub no
- pets considered yes
- type Villa
vacation rental description
(Will Beat Any Price of Comparable Listing)The Lucky Monkey is a very unique property . First, when looking at the first picture of the Lucky Monkey in the ad the building located at the front left is Lucky Monkey 1 or (LM1) and the building in the back right is Lucky Monkey 2 or (LM2). They are on the same piece of property and they have a shared pool in the middle . (LMI) has 5 BRs with a 220 degree panaramic view and sleeps 14.
(LM2) has four bedrooms and the living room has a retractable wall with a full bath that can be easily converted into a fifth bedroom. (LM2) sleeps 10 people. The entire top floor is a matrimonial suite, complete with jacuzzi tub and California king with living room furniture included. The other three rooms on the second floor have queen sized beds. It has separate parking in the back and a private entrance. (It has a spectacular view of Tamarindo Bay & about 120 degree ocean view from the top two levels, ocean is visible from the lower level.
Casa Lucky Monkey # 1/ Master suite: Lucky Monkey # 1 is the biggest of the 2 houses & has four bd. rms. on the first two levels and a master suite on the third level. The master suite has a separate kitchen and dinning area, private entrance, separate parking in the back, but can easily be combined to the rest of the house by opening/closing one security door with a deadbolt lock. It also has a separate set of stairs. All of the rooms in (LM1) and the master suite have king size beds (5 including the master suite/ which also has a standard pullout couch), plus their is a standard pull out in the largest room on the second floor along with the king size bed (good for parents that want to keep their children in the same room or family members who don't mind sharing). (LM1) also has a private covered secured garage that fits three cars with a remote control metal door that can also be seen in the 1st photo. Every level has a huge balcony/deck, the biggest one on the first level above the garage. (LM1) s approx. 4,200 square
Casa Lucky Monkey # 2: Casa Lucky Monkey II -4/5 bedroom spectacular House 2 minute drive or 10 minute walk to Tamarindo beach, made famous by the classic surf flick 'Endless Summer'. From the house perched on the hill above Tamarindo bay the ocean view is visible beyond the seascape sunset. The ocean view is visible beyond the trees even from the ground floor and the view from the higher floors becomes progressively scenic. The living area opens on to a patio through 2 sliding glass doors to the pool. This large ground floor living area is convertible by a wooden retractable wall, creating a 5th bedroom with a pull out bed and private bath. Also on the first floor is a beautiful new kitchen, with stunning granite counter tops and giant windows that flood the room with tropical sunshine. It is not uncommon to see a troop of friendly monkeys in the trees next to the houses. It is a steal for the price and you'll have a time to remember. The town of Tamarindo is only a 15 minute walk or 3-4 minute drive.
Casa Lucky Monkey Master Suite: Casa Lucky Monkey Master suite with Amazing Panoramic views is a one bedroom Fabulous master suite (also with pull out couch that enables the suite to sleep four) its the third level of Lucky Monkey # 1 . It is located on the 3 level of LM 1 in beautiful building in the quaint surf town of Tamarindo. It has a beautiful kitchen and dinning area and large master bath with stack washer and dryer. The name comes from the fact that often a troop of monkeys migrate by the house in the trees to the side of the building. The suite has a 220 degree panoramic view of the ocean, Playa Grande (where the sea turtles come to nest), Tamarindo Beach (where professional surf lessons are available), the tamarindo bay, the Estuary (full of abundant wild life), La Playa Pinilla (famous for the Pinilla Golf Resort) and Captains Island. The beach is a 10 minute walk or 2 minute drive. There is plenty of night life and great food/ tourist and tourist attractions. It can be rented seperatly or with LM 1.
vacation rental location
property availability
- dates with deals
- unavailable dates
Last modified on 06-16-2014 at 7:53 PM.
email owner view full calendar
Oxana or James 202 543-0959
villa rental amenities
Property Type
- villa
- floor area 7400 sq. ft.
Location Type
beach view
- Lucky Monkey 1 has apprx. a 120 degree ocean view from the top two floors, Lucky Monkey 2 has approx 180-220 view (panaramic from every level and the master suite located on the third level of Lucky Monkey has an entire panaramic view which includes the estuary, Tamarindo bay, and all the way to Panilla.
- ocean view
- beach
- downtown
- beach view
- family
- telephone
linens provided
- yes, al top of the line
covered parking
- Yes, fully enclosed 3 car garage, security covered remote control door.
parking for rv/boat/trailer
- ample parking, no problem.
broadband access
- Located in Lucky Monkey 1, Lucky Monkey 2, and in the master suite located on the third level of Lucky Monkey 2.
wireless internet
- all connections are wireless.
- internet
- towels provided
- iron & board
parking off street
- yes, could park an extra 10 cars if necessary. Not counting the three car enclosed garage and the two 2 car drive ways.
- parking on street
- alarm clock
- ceiling fans
- hair dryer
- local activities guide
- local maps
- local restaurant guide
- basic soaps
- toilet paper
washing machine
- In all three houses
clothes dryer
- Dryer is in all three houses
- sofa bed
- enclosed (remote control door) three car garage. 2 two car drive ways also. Off street parking. Potential for 10 cars +
air conditioning
- air conditoning in every room
catering available
- Yes catering is available upon request.
- There is a full kitchen in Lucky Monkey 1, Lucky Monkey 2 and the Master suite on the third level of Lucky Monkey 2.
- There is a dishwasher in Lucky Monkey 1 and Lucky Monkey 2.
- There is a refridgerator in Lucky Monkey 1, Lucky Monkey 2, and the Lucky Monkey master suite located on the third level of Lucky Monkey 2.
- freezer
- oven
- There is a microwave oven in Lucky Monkey 1, Lucky Monkey 2, and in the master suite located on the third level of Lucky Monkey 2.
- blender
- lobster pot
- coffee maker
cooking utensils
- All cooking utencils are provided in all three kitchens of the Lucky Monkey house.
- catering available
- dining room
Pool / Spa
- spa whirlpool
- communal pool
jetted tub
- In the Matrimonial suite of Lucky Monkey 1
- Bathrooms
- 10 bathrooms
- bathroom 10: toilet, shower, jetted tub
- bathroom 2: toilet, shower
- bathroom 3: toilet, shower
- bathroom 4: toilet, shower
- bathroom 5: toilet, shower
- bathroom 6: toilet, shower
- bathroom 7: toilet, shower
- bathroom 8: toilet, shower
- bathroom 9: toilet, shower
- bathroom 10: toilet, shower
- CASA 'Lucky Monkey Property' is located just a short 2 minute drive or 10 minute walk to the beach or center of town in Tamarindo. The bathrooms are spacious, all tile with glass partitions and granite counter tops. The matrimonial suiet on the third level of Lucky Monkey 2 has a sshower and jacuzzi tub. Everything is very well stocked and constructed. There are also walk in closets off of some bath rooms and a stack washer dryer off the bathroom in the Master suiet or the third level of Lucky Monkey 1. LMI has a half bath below the stairs on the ground level and a bathroom in the bedroom located on the ground level. On the second level every bedroom has it's own bath. The master suite on the third level has a huge bathroom that can be accessed by the main room or the master bedroom. Lucky Monkey 2 has a half bath below the stairs, a full bath in the convertible bedroom on the first level, two full bath rooms on the second level to be shared by three rooms.
- Bedrooms
- 9 bedrooms, sleeps 24
- bedroom 1: 1 king
- bedroom 2: 1 king, 1 sleep sofa /futon, Can sleep 4 people( good for family members or parents)
- bedroom 3: 1 king
- bedroom 4: 1 king
- bedroom 5: 1 king, 1 sleep sofa /futon, Master suite on top includes kitchen & dinning.
- bedroom 6: 1 queen
- bedroom 7: 1 queen
- bedroom 8: 1 queen
- bedroom 9: 1 king, large matramonial suite with jacuzzi tub on 3rd level of LM2
satellite / cable
- In both Lucky Monkey 1 & 2.
- dvd player
- music library
- video library
- satellite / cable
- outdoor grill
- lawn / garden
- terrace
- There are 3 balconies in Lucky Monkey 1, 3 balconies in Lucky Monkey 2, and there are two balconies on the master suite located on the third level of Lucky Monkey 2.
- barbecue
- walkway to water
deck / patio
- There is a deck and Patio in Lucky Monkey 1 and Lucky Monkey 2.
lanai / gazebo
- All of the patio/balcony in Lucky Monkey 1, Lucky Monkey 2, and the master suite are roofed except for the main patio on top of the three car garage (it is only partially roofed.
- limited accessibility
- wheelchair accessible
- non smoking only
pets considered
- No cats
- suitable for elderly or infirm
- children welcome
- long-term renters welcome
Onsite Services
- massage
- chauffeur
- private chef
- daily maid service
- Notes
- Casa Lucky Monkey Master suite with Amazing Panoramic viewLucky Monkey Master Suite.Tamarindo Costa Rica, Guanacaste. a one bedroom Fabulous master suite (also with pull out couch that enables the suite to sleep four) on the third level of a beautiful building in the quaint surf town of Tamarindo. It has a beautiful kitchen and dinning area and large master bath with stack washer and dryer. Tamarindo beach made famous by the classic surf flick, 'Endless Summer' and you may see a monkey or two in the trees to the side of the building. The suite has a 220 degree panoramic view of the ocean, Playa Grande (where the sea turtles come to nest), Tamarindo Beach (professional surf lessons available), the tamarindo bay, the Estuary (full of abundant wild life), La Playa Pinilla (famous for the Pinilla Golf Resort) and Captains Island. The beach is a 10 minute walk or 2 minute drive and the quaint surf town is another 5 minutes. THere is plenty of night life and tourist activities.
activities and attractions in Tamarindo Costa Rica
- bay/sound
- botanical garden
- caves
- duty free shops
- marina
- museums
- rain forests
- recreation center
- volcano
- waterfalls
- zoo
- reefs
- restaurants
- ruins
- forests
- health/beauty spa
Leisure Activities
- boating
- shelling
- shopping
- wildlife viewing
- eco tourism
- walking
- horseback riding
- beachcombing
- bird watching
- gambling casinos
- outlet shopping
- paddle boating
- scenic drives
- sight seeing
- antiquing
- whale watching
Sports & Adventure Activities
- snorkeling/diving
- kayaking
- parasailing
- rock climbing
- scuba diving or snorkeling
- surfing
- golf
- wind-surfing
- water skiing
- mountain biking
- mountaineering
- paragliding
- sailing
- cycling
- fishing
- pier fishing
- rafting
- hiking
- jet skiing
- mountain climbing
- deepsea fishing
- fly fishing
- freshwater fishing
- swimming
- tennis
- whitewater rafting
- golf privileges optional
- snorkeling
- sound/bay fishing
- surf fishing
- water tubing
payment methods
Owner has not provided their accepted payment methods
Prior to paying a reservation deposit, always verify payment instructions by calling the phone number displayed on this listing page. By contacting the owner directly and paying by an approved method - credit card, paypal, check or bank transfer - your reservation payment will be protected up to $1,000.Learn more in our Security Center


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subset: commoncrawl


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You are here: FatWallet Blog > View Blog Entry
5 Simple Ways to Save Big Money on a Cruise
February 3, 2012 | Posted By: Erin Gifford | Categorized in: Travel
Its Wave Season, so if youre hoping to take a cruise in 2012 or 2013, now is the best time to make your booking, particularly if youre looking for nicer cabins, free onboard credit and better views. January through March is traditionally the time of year when the most vacation-minded people start thinking about cruises, so the cruise lines are generous with incentives to secure bookings.
Of course Wave Season will be impacted by the sinking of the Costa Concordia, but it will be in favor of cruisers. Cruise ship tragedies are rare, but some people will still decide against a cruise, leaving more cabins to fill, leading to deeper discounts. If a cruise is in your plans, take a look at these five ways to get the best savings on cruises:
1) Book Early, Book Now.The most popular cruises can book up two or more years in advance, so if you want to lock in a specific cabin, do it now. I went on an Alaskan cruise a few years ago and for the best views, you want to be on the starboard (right) side of the boat, so you have to book early. The more cabins that get booked, the fewer discounts youll see. Onboard credit, free upgrades, 2-for-1 fares and coupon booklets are abundant right now during Wave Season, so keep your eyes peeled.
2) Look at Off-Peak Dates.For Caribbean or Alaskan cruises, book your cruise in May or September. If you want to cruise in New England, its cheapest to go in July or August. However, it may still be pricey to cruise on the most popular ships any time of year, so look to alternatives if you can.
3) Book a Repositioning Cruise.If you really just like to cruise and dont mind extra days at sea, think about a repositioning cruise. These cruises are available when the cruise line is getting ready to move a ship from one popular cruising area to another, like from Mexico to Alaska. Theyre not for everyone, but prices can be incredibly low.
4) Opt for Less Popular Routes.Everyone loves the Caribbean, but todays cruisers seem to prefer the Eastern route (U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Maarten, St. Lucia), possibly because theres a shorter distance between islands, over the Western route (Puerto Rico, Aruba, Jamaica). So this can lead to discounted Caribbean cruises simply based on supply and demand.
5) Book Late.If youre not particular about your cabin or the cruise route look to sites like Travelzoo and here at Fat Wallet for deeply discounted last-minute deals. Cruise lines dont want to leave the home port with empty cabins, so the closer to the sail date, the lower the prices can go.
If you book your cruise, and then a short time later, the price drops, contact your travel agent. Depending on the cruise line, you may be entitled to a price reduction, particularly if youve yet to make your final payment, though it may be in the form of onboard credit. You may also be able to get an upgrade, so keep your eyes open for price drops.
Do you have any great tips and advice for scoring a deal on a cruise vacation? Leave a comment below. Id love to hear some of your own tips and tricks.
Erin Gifford is a mother of four who looks up and down for ways to save money on travel for her family. She has a family travel blog, Kidventurous, which was recently chosen as the Best Family Travel blog by Parents magazine. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter for family travel advice and deals.
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Route Guide - iPhone / Android - Partners - Forum - Photos - Deals - What's New - School of Rock
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Krowia Turnia - Cow Crag/Tower. The biggest rock in entire area, north wall to 21m - 70'. The hardest route "Poza Dobrem i Zlem" (Beyond good and evil) VI.6+, 5.13/14a?
Getting There
200 yards down to west starting from paved road between houses on south site of castle
Climbing Season
6 Total Routes
Featured Route For Krowia Turnia
Krowia Droga 5.7+ 5a 15 V+ 13 MVS 4b Europe : Poland : ... : Krowia Turnia
Maybe one of the first routes in the area? Certainly one of the best easy routes... Stem and jam past a couple of bulges to a ledge and an anchor. From here you can lower or continue above the anchor (Krowia Plus, about 11a, or wander left on the ledge to find an easier way to the top). ...[more] Browse More Classics in International
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'Cuz stayin' at home on a saturday night still has it's advantages :b
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coffee, cream, wip, chocolate, tea, cup, of, spoon, white, china, bokeh, 50mm, 1.8, saturday, night,
Sobre one day at a time
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Borderline personality disorder medications have been shown to reduce some of the symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD). While there are currently no medications approved by the FDA to treat BPD, research has shown that some medications do reduce certain symptoms. Also, medications may be used to treat psychological conditions that frequently co-occur with BPD (e.g., major depressive disorder). Medications may be particularly effective for BPD when they are used in conjunction with psychotherapy and other treatments.
While antidepressants were specifically developed for individuals with major depressive disorder and other disorders characterized by low mood, many individuals with BPD are treated with these medications.
There are several types of antidepressants that have been studied for use with BPD, including tricyclic and tetracyclic antidepressants, monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Research has shown that these medications may help with the sadness, low mood, anxiety, and emotional reactivity often experienced by people with BPD, but they do not seem to have a strong effect on other symptoms of the disorder (e.g., anger, impulsivity).
Common antidepressants include:
- Nardil (phenelzine)
- Prozac (fluoxetine)
- Zoloft (sertraline)
- Effexor (venlafaxine)
- Wellbutrin (bupropion)
The term "borderline" was coined because early psychiatrists believed that the symptoms of BPD were "on the border" between neurosis and psychosis. For this reason, some of the first medications tested for BPD were antipsychotics. Since this time, it has been found that antipsychotics can have a positive effect on a variety of non-psychotic disorders, including BPD. Antipsychotics have been shown to reduce anxiety, paranoid thinking, anger/hostility, and impulsivity in patients with BPD.
Common antipsychotics include:
- Haldol (haloperidol)
- Zyprexa (olanzapine)
- Clozaril (clozapine)
- Seroquel (quetiapine)
- Risperdal (risperidone) (Risperdal)
Mood Stabilizers/Anticonvulsants
Medications with mood stabilizing properties, such as lithium, and some anticonvulsant (anti-seizure) medications, have been used to treat the impulsive behavior and rapid changes in emotion that are associated with BPD. There is research to suggest that these classes of drugs may be useful in BPD.
Common mood stabilizers/anticonvulsants include:
- Lithobid (lithium carbonate)
- Depakote (valproate)
- Lamictal (lamogtrigine)
- Tegretol or Carbatrol (carbamazepine)
Anxiolytics (Anti-Anxiety)
Because individuals with BPD also often experience intense anxiety, medications to reduce anxiety are sometimes prescribed. Unfortunately, there is very little research to support the use of anti-anxiety medication to treat BPD. Also, there is some evidence that use of a particular class of anxiolytics, benzodiazepines (e.g., Ativan, Klonopin), may actually cause a worsening of symptoms for some individuals with BPD, and should be prescribed with caution. Benzodiazepines are particularly dangerous for use by individuals with co-occurring substance use disorders because they can be habit forming. Buspar, an anxiolytic that is not habit-forming, is an alternative to medications from the benzodiazepine family.
Common anxiolytics include:
- Ativan (lorazepam)
- Klonopin (clonazepam)
- Xanax (alpazolam)
- Valium (diazepam)
- Buspar (buspirone)
Other Borderline Personality Disorder Medications
As we learn more about the biological causes of BPD, new medications are being developed and tested for the disorder. For example, findings from a recent study suggest that an omega-3-fatty acid supplement can lead to decreased aggression and feelings of hostility in people with BPD.
American Psychiatric Association. "Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Patients with Borderline Personality Disorder." American Journal of Psychiatry, 158: 1-52, October 2001.
Triebwasser, J, and Siever, LJ. "Pharmacotherapy of Personality Disorders." Journal of Mental Health, 16: 5-50, February 2007.
Zanarini, MC, Frankenburg, FR. "Omega-3 fatty acid treatment of women with borderline personality disorder: A double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study." American Journal of Psychiatry, 160: 167-169, 2003.


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Blue We're #1 Glitter Temporary Tattoo
Glitter We're #1 Temporary Tattoo BlueFUNG352 BLU
In Stock - 1 business day processing+shipping
Sale Price: $9.99 pkg/36
Was $11.99, You save 16%
Qty. of 1 - 2 price $9.99 pkg/36
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Qty. of 5 + price $7.99 pkg/36
Show your pride by wearing the blue tattoo on your arm or face!This Blue We're #1 Glitter Temporary Tattoo features a spirit logo expressing WE'RE #1 in blue. Our Blue Glitter #1 Face Tattoos measure approximately 1 inch wide. These tattoos apply with water and remove with tape or rubbing alcohol. Nine sheets containing four temporary tattoos are included in each package.
Temporary tattoos are not recommended for use on sensitive skin or around the eyes and are not returnable.
Please allow ample time for delivery. Our ship date for this product is noted in your shopping cart. Many items are shipped separately, so please allow extra time for these items to arrive. Shipping charges are based on the value of the merchandise and not the number of shipments. For additional shipping information, contact our Customer Service Department at (email@example.com or 1-800-227-2789).
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Q:do the packages of 36- include 4 tattoos on each sheet or is it just 36 individual tattosAsked on 8/23/2011 by steph from harlingen, texas
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A:You will receive 36 individual tattoos.Answered on 8/24/2011 by CSR
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Happy Birthday, Leaky Lounge!LeakyLounge
It's a historic day here at Leaky; today, our forum, Leaky Lounge, turns one year old!
It's been a whole year since we opened the floodgates to nearly 30,000 of you and more than 500,000 of your posts. It's been a whole year since that first day, when 2,000 of you signed up, leaving all of us staffers who had bet on getting, maybe, 400 people in the first day, standing with our mouths open.
All the forum staff are deserving of their own plaudits - with such a huge team of moderators and aministrators, the Lounge has remained the fun, interactive, intelligent, fun, funny, fun place we intended it to be - but right now, we need to celebrate one person. Nick Rhein is entirely responsible for the Leaky Lounge. He came to us with a very detailed plan, a very strong vision, and the kind of willingness to work that is rare - so imagine our surprise to find out that over the past year, his dedication and work ethic have only grown stronger. Every day, Nick is making tiny changes, not-so-tiny changes, administrative decisions - every single day he makes that forum a little better, and it has paid off. We at Leaky are so, so, so proud and honored to have him on team. Nick, thank you so much.
And now...to celebrate! There's a party going on all day in the Lounge. Be sure to check out anguinea' amazing artwork when you visit. There will be surprises fro HP characters, favorite memories from staff members, butterbeer and cauldron cakes for free (though Peeves is continually throwing people's drinks around), special polls and suggestion boxes, a Floo-wide scavenger hunt (to being at 12 pm EST), and a special thread on Nick's plans for the forum during the next year is now available.
We hope you enjoy this special day around our pub, and a whole new year of forum fun to come!


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Last month I wrote yet again about the national scandal of Indeterminate Sentences "for Public Protection", or IPPs. Long after IPPs have been abolished and can no longer be imposed, literally thousands of people who were given IPP sentences before abolition are still in what amounts to preventive detention in the harshly punitive conditions of our prisons. The majority of them have completed the punishment part of their sentences and are now warehoused behind bars because men (and women) in suits are frightened that if released they might re-offend. The criteria for agreeing to release them are so Kafkaesque, so heavily weighted against even the most innocuous IPP prisoner, that those still incarcerated and their families begin to fear that they will never be released. Parliament has given the Justice Secretary (the government minister responsible) powers to reform the criteria for releasing IPPs unless they clearly pose a serious threat to public safety, but the Justice Secretary refuses to exercise them.
Those concerned about this monstrous situation should watch the BBC2 television programme Newsnight tomorrow, starting at 10:30pm on Thursday, 13 March. Watch it live on television or on your PC or laptop, live or later. Please record it if you can and ask your friends round to watch it later. Then persuade them to write furiously angry letters to their MPs — again — demanding long overdue action to remedy this grotesque injustice by the man now responsible for it: Mr Chris Grayling, the Tory Secretary of State for Justice. Justice!
Solemn British commentators on the Ukraine crisis are wringing their hands over the west's alleged inability to do anything to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine in the face of alarming Russian military activity, including powerlessness to persuade the Russians to pull back from their militaristic moves before the tension breaks out into war. They are wrong. There is one move that the west can and should make that would help to undo the consequences of recent western policy blunders, reassure Moscow about Russia's legitimate strategic and security interests in its own region, and compel Ukraine's leaders of all communities to adopt a more realistic attitude to its geopolitical situation and the limits which that imposes on its options. The west needs urgently to give a clear and unconditional assurance that there can be no question of Ukraine, or any part of Ukraine, ever becoming a member of either the EU or NATO.
This would be no more than a recognition of reality. Russia's interests in Ukraine – strategic, cultural and historical, and personal (a third of Ukrainians speak Russian as their first language, nearly a fifth are Russian citizens[1]) – are such that no government in Moscow could passively stand by while the closest of its neighbours is being drawn into the west's orbit. The west's reckless dangling of an unfulfillable promise of EU and even NATO membership in front of successive incompetent and corrupt Ukrainian regimes, contemptuously ignoring Russian concerns, bears a large part of the responsibility for the mess we're all now in.
The dangerous crisis in Ukraine, and especially in Crimea, will not be resolved by pompous condemnation of Russia's aggression or by unconvincing warnings of high but undefined costs for Russia if it continues to violate Ukraine's integrity – warnings that sound especially hypocritical coming from politicians (not, incidentally, including Barack Obama) who vociferously supported western illegal aggression against Yugoslavia in 1999 and against Iraq in 2003. The grandstanding rush by our foreign secretary, William Hague, to Kiev today is misconceived. It will be interpreted as implying a renewed commitment of some kind to UK support for the revolutionaries in Kiev, many of whom are still dreaming of eventual membership of the EU, if not also of NATO. Is that interpretation what Mr Hague intends? If so, he should not be in charge of UK foreign policy.
If anyone should be rushing overseas in search of de-escalation, it should be to Brussels to agree without more delay on declarations by the EU and NATO of the impossibility of Ukrainian membership of either. Meanwhile western leaders should be telling the Russians that we are working towards such a declaration; that it is no part of EU or NATO policies to threaten Russia's legitimate interests in Crimea or the rest of Ukraine: that it is in Russia's, the west's, and Ukraine's interests that stability, prosperity and uncorrupt government should be promoted in Ukraine; and that the EU and the US wish to discuss with Moscow institutional arrangements for cooperation in economic support for Ukraine once a stable, representative and democratically legitimate régime has been installed in Kiev.
The basis for such a peacemaking initiative by the west as an alternative to the spear-waving bluster advocated by, for example, Sir Malcolm Rifkind (among many others), is set out in eloquent and scholarly terms by one of the greatest British diplomats of our time, Sir Rodric Braithwaite, a former British ambassador to Moscow, in an article in today's Independent on Sunday which should be required reading for all those who are indulging their out-dated cold war prejudices by sanctimoniously denouncing Mr Putin for doing what any great power leader in his position would be bound to do. Selectively quoting Sir Rodric, –
Much recent comment on Ukraine in the British press has been marked by a barely forgivable ignorance about its history and politics, an overhasty willingness to put the blame for all its troubles on Vladimir Putin, and an almost total inability to suggest practical ways of bringing effective Western influence to bear on a solution….
Today 77 per cent of the country's population is Ukrainian. But 17 per cent is Russian, a third of the population speak Russian and many of these people have strong family ties with Russia. Only the Ukrainians from Galicia look unequivocally to the West.
Meanwhile, most Russians feel strong emotional links to Ukraine as the cradle of their civilisation. Even the most open minded feel its loss like an amputated limb. …
… Putin arrived in 2000, ambitious to strengthen Russia's influence with its neighbours. And the West began its ill-judged attempts to draw Ukraine into its orbit regardless of Russian sensitivities.
… The first is respectable but merely rhetorical: Ukraine is entitled to decide its future for itself, and Russia has no legitimate claim to a voice. The second is a piece of old-fashioned geopolitics: Russia can never again become an imperial threat if Ukraine is incorporated into Nato and the European Union. This part of the policy is impractical to the point of irresponsibility. It ignores four things. The members of Nato and the EU have lost their appetite for further enlargement. Most Ukrainians do not want their country to join Nato, though they would be happy to join the EU. A majority want to remain on good terms with Russia. Above all, the West does not have the instruments to impose its will. …
The alternative is for the West to talk to the Russians and to whoever can speak with authority for Ukraine. So far the Americans have been ineffective on the sidelines, the British seem to have given up doing foreign policy altogether, and only the Germans, the Poles and the French have shown any capacity for action.
An eventual deal would doubtless have to include verifiable agreement by the West as well as the Russians to abandon meddling in Ukrainian affairs, a credible assurance that Nato will not try to recruit Ukraine and arrangements for the both the Russians and the West to prop up Ukraine's disastrous economy….
Further obligatory background reading is a piece for Chatham House by another distinguished former British diplomat, former British ambassador in Moscow, and current member of the Chilcot Iraq Inquiry, the Rt Hon Sir Roderic Lyne.
And, finally, a comment by yet another equally distinguished British diplomat and former ambassador to Moscow, Sir Bryan Cartledge:
The key point, I believe, which the media largely overlook, is that the revolution in the Ukraine is primarily a protest against domestic corruption and misrule, not a vote for the EU or against Russia. The EU issue provided the occasion but was not the cause. In converting an internal protest into an East-West issue, the EU is making a huge mistake — Putin, of course, has been bound to follow suit. And quite apart from all this, the last thing the EU needs now is responsibility for an almost bankrupt and almost failed state.
These three know whereof they speak. Our noisy and belligerent political leaders and their media cheer-leaders with their crude and counter-productive posturing would do well to listen to them.
[Full disclosure: both Bryan Cartledge and Roderic Lyne are friends and my former Diplomatic Service colleagues. All three of us served together many years ago in the British embassy in Moscow.]
[1] Postscript and correction: as Roland Smith has helpfully pointed out in his comment below, I should not have written that nearly a fifth of the Ukrainian population are Russian "citizens": i should have written "ethnic Russians" or "Russian speakers". Of course the Russian habit of issuing passports to Russian speakers in neighbouring countries and then claiming the right to intervene to protect their 'citizens' across the border tends to blur the distinction between 'Russians' living abroad who are citizens of Russia, and those who are not.
In 2012, nearly two years ago, parliament passed legislation abolishing the infamous system of Indeterminate Sentences for Public Protection (IPPs), introduced in 2005 by a Labour home secretary, David Blunkett, an indefensible move but obstinately defended by ministers for the rest of the life of the Blair and Brown governments. It fell to a small-l liberal Tory Justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, to declare the system iniquitous and unjust, and to introduce the legislation that abolished it. Stubborn and illiberal to the end, the Labour opposition complained that abolition posed a threat to public security. So much for traditional Labour principles.
Alas! Abolition has not turned out to be the end of this shabby story. As Justice Secretary Clarke had recognised that the criteria for deciding whether IPP prisoners should be released after serving their 'tariffs' (the punishment element of their IPP sentences) were grossly tilted against the prisoners – and against basic principles of justice – by effectively requiring IPPs to prove to the parole board that if released they would not re-offend: an inherently impossible requirement. As a result, barely 4 to 5 percent of IPPs have been released under these Kafkaesque criteria. Clarke indicated publicly that he aimed to use the powers granted to him under the abolition law to change the release criteria so that an IPP prisoner should be released on completion of his tariff unless the parole board could show that there were specified grounds for believing that his release would pose a serious risk to public safety – thus reversing the onus of proof to where it belonged.
But before Clarke could follow through on IPP abolition by making this long overdue reform of the release criteria for IPPs still in prison, Clarke was sacked from his position at the Ministry of Justice and replaced by another Tory, this time a hard-line right-winger, Chris Grayling. Grayling, to his shame, has so far shown no interest in exercising his powers under the Act to reform, or even to improve, the release criteria. As a result thousands of IPPs languish in prison to this day, with very little hope of release in the foreseeable future, nearly two years after the present coalition government abolished IPPs.
All this has passed with little or no public concern or debate, until now. Next Tuesday, 4 March 2014, there is to be a public panel discussion, with very distinguished participants, on the subject "The Prisoners Left Behind: Imprisonment for Public Protection After Its Abolition". The event is open to all and attendance is free. It is organised by the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law together with Lord Lloyd of Berwick, the former Appeal Court judge, who is to be one of the panel members. The other speakers will be:
- Lord Faulks QC, Minister of State, Ministry of Justice
- Sir David Calvert-Smith, Chairman of the Parole Board
- Juliet Lyon, Director of the Prison Reform Trust
- Pete Weatherby QC, barrister, Garden Court North Chambers
The Chair will be
- Sir Sydney Kentridge QC.
(You can Google all these for their backgrounds and qualifications.)
Details of the time and venue of this important and encouraging event can be found at
http://www.biicl.org/files/6824_the_prisoners_left_behind__-_flyer,_4_mar_2014.pdf (PDF).
The flier for the meeting provides the following damning facts:
• More than 5,000 prisoners remain in indefinite detention under sentences of imprisonment imposed for public protection (IPP) between 2005 and 2012. More than half have exceeded their tariff and are waiting to come before the Parole Board.
• In the case of 773 prisoners the tariff was two years or less. But IPP was imposed because until 2008 the sentence was mandatory. 350 of these prisoners have exceeded their tariff by four years or more.
• Parliament abolished the IPP sentence in 2012. Ken Clarke, the Minister who introduced this amendment, said that IPPs were 'unclear, inconsistent and have been used far more than was ever intended… That is unjust to the people in question and completely inconsistent with the policy of punishment, reform and rehabilitation'.
• In 2012 Parliament made specific provision for handling the backlog. The Justice Secretary [Chris Grayling] was given power to vary the release test. But he has so far declined to exercise that power, even though at the current rate of release it will be nine years before the backlog is cleared.
• In several cases the ECtHR [European Court of Human Rights] has found that the continued detention of IPP prisoners was arbitrary and in breach of their Convention rights . There are more [ECtHR] cases in the pipeline. [My emphasis – BLB]
It will be interesting to see whether, and if so how, the Justice Ministry participant in the discussion, Lord Faulks, contrives to defend and justify this scandalous and shameful state of affairs.
Important footnote
Thursday 13 March is to be a Day of Action against the continued detention of the thousands of IPPs still behind bars. That evening the BBC 2 television programme Newsnight is scheduling a segment on this issue. This should be well worth watching. I'm told that there are also plans for a public meeting of protest on Thursday 13 March about the continued imprisonment of IPPs, to hand in a letter to No. 10 Downing Street and then to move to the Houses of Parliament for meetings with Ministers, peers and MPs. Details of timing, etc., can be seen by Facebook members (and possibly others) at https://www.facebook.com/events/258296224335919/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming. The organisers are very welcome to supply details in comments at the end of this post of how to take part in these events: where and when to go and what to do beforehand in preparation. [Later: there are now several 'comments' on this post, below, with information and a warning about this 'Day of Action' on IPPs: please read them before you decide whether to turn up for any particular event.]
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So at last enlightened opinion is beginning to wake up to what is going on, and to the evident failure of the Justice Secretary to do anything about it, even though the power to resolve the problem has been given to him by an Act of Parliament passed under the government of which he is a member. It's surely time that Mr Chris Grayling is called to account for a failure which continues to bring such (mostly quite undeserved and wholly unnecessary) misery and fear to so many thousands of people. Keeping thousands of citizens in prison not as punishment for what they have done but out of fear of what they might conceivably do in the future is the mark of a barbarous society which has lost its moral bearings and forgotten the most elementary principles of justice. Enough!
In recent years no scholarly article about diplomacy or report on the subject in the toffs' press has been complete without a knowing reference to "soft power" – the deployment of cultural and other peaceful assets as means of persuasion. It is often contrasted with "hard power", persuasion by use of bombs, drones, Special Forces, blackmail, threats, and the like. Now the term soft power has been comprehensively discredited by the person best qualified to torpedo it, Emeritus Professor G R Berridge, the guru of diplomatic studies and author of their classic text, Diplomacy: Theory and Practice, among many other books and articles. In a few witty and pithy paragraphs on the home page of his website, Professor Berridge expertly deconstructs the definition of "soft power" rashly recorded by its inventor, the distinguished American scholar "Joseph S. Nye, Jnr., a Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor and former senior member of the US military-intelligence complex". Berridge castigates Nye's definition as "cluttered with redundant words", and for describing "something for which we have long had a more elegant term: influence. Removing the clutter makes this obvious." He thereupon surgically excises the clutter, exposing what remains as nothing more than a perfectly satisfactory definition of "influence".
Berridge offers three possible reasons for the virus-like spread of this "silly and inelegant synonym for influence": first, that it's easy to grasp, whereas 'influence' is hard to define even though not hard to understand; secondly, because of "the influence, sorry, soft power, of the leading American universities, the US International Relations establishment … and major American publishers, reinforced by the pull of the English language"; and thirdly because the enthusiasts for soft power (and for its originator) have yielded to the temptation to describe it as a concept, rather than simply a term, "thereby suggesting the discovery of something new", even though Nye himself is on record as admitting that "the behaviour it denotes is as old as human history".
Practising diplomats, especially typically pragmatic British practitioners, as distinct from academic teachers and students of the theory and history of diplomacy, are sometimes bewildered by theoretical expositions of what they are supposed to be up to and why they are up to it. Here is a refreshing example of the reverse: a leading academic demonstrates that the soft power emperor is sartorially challenged, that calling influence "soft power" adds precisely nothing to our understanding of it, and that the exercise of non-coercive influence has been one of the principal features of diplomacy, among several others, since the first human tried to persuade the second human to have a bite of the first apple. Diplomats need no longer feel uneasy about their activities being defined as the deployment of soft power, when what they do is largely simple common sense. Influence is the diplomat's primary tool, almost always preferable to the use or threat of force as a means of getting others to behave in the way you want them to. Calling it soft power is neither here nor there.
(Full disclosure: Geoff Berridge is an old friend. I was privileged to be invited to read an early draft of his short essay on soft power and to encourage him to publish it on his website. If his piece succeeds in killing off this superfluous and pretentious term, I shall have to plead guilty as a minor but enthusiastic accessory to the assassination.)
This is a post-script to my previous post (http://www.barder.com/4101), "Denying the Scots the option most of them legitimately want puts our country's future in danger". The eminent historian and commentator Professor Linda Colley has just published an important book, "Acts of Union and Disunion", telling the story of changes in the relationships between the constituent nations of the present United Kingdom over the centuries, including the various proposals at different times for a formal federation of the four nations. These have been supported in one form or another by such powerful former leaders as Churchill and Lloyd George. It is legitimate to ask why none of our present political leaders apparently has the imagination or courage to espouse such a radical cause.
According to the Profile Books website,
One of our most distinguished historians, Linda Colley is Shelby M.C.Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton and a Fellow of the British Academy. She has previously taught at Cambridge, Yale and LSE. Her earlier books include Wolfson Prize-winning Britons: Forging the Nation 1707-1837; Captives: Britain, Empire and the World, 1600-1850 and The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History.
Her new book is based on a series of talks on BBC Radio 4, starting today (6 January 2014) at 13:45 and continuing for the next two weeks.
The relevance of Professor Colley's books and talks to the issues arising from next September's referendum on independence for Scotland is amply demonstrated by the following extract from her fascinating article in today's Guardian:
One of the notable features of present-day debates on possible Scottish independence has been the lack of imagination and creativity thus far displayed by most of those seeking to make the unionist case. The assumption appears to be that appeals to economic individualism and fostered fears of the unknown will by themselves be sufficient to make Scots hesitate about opting for independence. This strategy may or may not prove effective, but it shortchanges the public, and not just in Scotland. Scots are being offered arguments in support of independence, and warnings against it. Neither they, nor anyone else in the UK, are being provided with alternative visions of what an amended, re-imagined union might conceivably be like, or what it might be for.
This is very different from the quality of debate out of which the Government of Ireland Act of 1914 emerged. The late 19th century saw all sorts of federal solutions being proposed for the UK's many fault lines, sometimes at a high level.
Amen to that! It's tempting to wonder whether the professor has been reading my latest blog post on the subject and its many predecessors, all making exactly the same point about "the lack of imagination and creativity thus far displayed by most of those seeking to make the unionist case", were it not for the fact that Linda Colley has been deploying the same arguments in her books and other writings for many years, and basing them on her encyclopaedic knowledge of the history of constitutional relations between the constituent parts of the British Isles – a knowledge not, alas, shared by the present blogger. I shall try to remedy at least a part of my regrettable ignorance of that history by ordering and reading "Acts of Union and Disunion", and by recording and listening to Professor Colley's Radio 4 talks, starting this afternoon. I urge readers of this blog post to do the same.
An article in the Financial Times by Janan Ganesh on Christmas eve, 2013, identified three main challenges to David Cameron during 2014: the European parliament elections, in which the right-wing, anti-EU party UKIP is widely expected (not necessarily rightly) to come top, ahead of Labour and the Tories; the coming round of bankers' bonuses, popularly regarded as unacceptable, and for which the government is likely to be blamed; and the widespread (but wholly unfounded) fear of Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants 'flooding' into the country, 'stealing jobs from British workers and driving down their wages', now that the ban on their unrestricted right to come here has been lifted, something that will also be blamed on the government in the unlikely event that it happens.
This forecast seemed to me to omit a fourth looming challenge, potentially even more damaging — to Britain as well as to Mr Cameron — than the three listed by Mr Ganesh. The FT published the following letter from me on 2 January 2014:
Financial Times, letters, January 2, 2014
An even bigger menace for Cameron in 2014
From Sir Brian Barder.
Sir, Janan Ganesh, in an otherwise characteristically perceptive article ("Labour's agonies will prove hazardous for Cameron", December 24) identifies May's European parliament elections as "the most menacing event the government faces next year", but he overlooks an equally hazardous prospect: the referendum on Scottish independence in September. Although current polling suggests a probable vote against independence, the negligent failure of the UK government to offer the Scots a constructive alternative to independence other than the status quo, with which very many Scots are clearly dissatisfied, risks a steady shift of opinion in Scotland in the next nine months that could easily result in a vote spelling the early disintegration of the UK.
There is no respectable reason not to offer what a majority of Scots obviously want, namely full internal self-government within an already semi-federal UK (admittedly implying eventual changes, long overdue, for non-self-governing England). The Liberal Democrats have hinted at support for such a policy but both Labour and the Conservatives seem too timid to risk even gingerly touching the nettle, still less grasping it. If the UK falls apart on David Cameron's watch, he will surely pay a higher electoral price in 2015 for his delinquency than Ed Miliband, and that must represent a menace to the Tories at least as great as the European parliament elections, bankers' bonuses or unfounded fear of Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants.
Brian Barder, HM Diplomatic Service (Rtd), London SW18, UK
The referendum to decide for or against Scottish independence is to take place on Thursday, 18 September, in less than nine months' time. If the Scots vote to break up the UK and go their own way, the lion's share of the blame should fall on the government at Westminster, headed by Mr Cameron, for his failure to provide Scotland with an alternative to both independence and the status quo, neither of which is wanted by most Scots (as argued in my FT letter), simply because the government of the day, which alone can act as well as talk, bears the primary responsibility for that failure to act in time to avert the disintegration of our country.
But an almost equal burden of responsibility rests on the shoulders of Ed Miliband and the Labour party as the only party of the two with a significant presence in all three of Scotland, England and Wales. If the three main unionist parties can't agree on a promise of full internal self-government for Scotland in the event that the Scots reject the independence option, there's no reason why Mr Miliband should not commit himself and his party to that promise, to be honoured if and when there's another Labour, or Labour-led, government. Such a policy might well meet stiff opposition from the Scottish Labour party, with its visceral hatred of the SNP in general and The Two Fishes, Salmond and Sturgeon, in particular. But the stakes are too high to allow Scottish Labour to stand in the way of what may well be a necessary condition for the survival of the UK as a single sovereign country – especially when an offer of full internal self-government within an eventually fully federal UK is strongly desirable in its own right, and not just as a short-term gimmick to head off the independistas.
The temptation for Mr Miliband and his colleagues to do nothing, and hope for the best on 18 September, is clearly very strong. But on the lowest level of electoral prospects alone, the consequences for the UK Labour party if Scotland secedes will be very serious. It's not true, as often asserted, that without its safe Scottish seats Labour would never again be able to form a government in the rest of the UK: Labour would be better placed than the Tories to take a lead in forging a new constitutional future for England in a new union with Wales and Northern Ireland, but it would require a huge effort to transform itself into a primarily English party.
Meanwhile doing nothing, which seems to be the posture of both the Labour and the Conservative parties, is just as much a policy option, with predictable potential consequences, as adopting the one brave and radical policy which stands a fighting chance of satisfying the legitimate ambitions of a majority of Scottish people, and which might thereby save the United Kingdom for our children and our children's children. Over to you, Mr Miliband. Mr Cameron lacks the authority, imagination and courage to do what needs to be done. That leaves you.
I'm still recovering from a blow to my emotional solar plexus delivered by a new movie, Blue Is the Warmest Colour (2013) by the French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche (born in Tunis, moved with his parents to Nice at the age of six).
Almost everyone knows two things about this film, one of them significant, the other not: that the film and both its leading actresses[1] won the highest award at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d'Or (a prima facie indication of its quality): and that it depicts a Lesbian love affair which includes lengthy and startlingly detailed sex scenes enacted by the two leading ladies (not particularly significant, because the sex is essential and integral to the story, and the fact that it depicts sex between two women is almost, but not entirely, coincidental – the story would not be radically changed if it concerned a love affair between a man and a woman, or even between two men). It is emphatically not pornographic; the sex scenes are beautiful and erotic but not titillating. In contrast with the rest of the film, the sex is more stylised than realistic. Some critics have argued that this small but noticeable stylistic difference between the sex scenes and the remainder of the film shows that the sex is superfluous, interpolated for box office purposes. I don't think anyone who watches all three hours of this film (yes, it's long) at all attentively could agree, but that's necessarily a subjective judgement.
There's one other departure from realism in the film as a whole: both the leading actresses, one or both of whom are on screen for almost the entire film, are strikingly attractive, with and without their clothes: real head-turners both. They can perhaps be forgiven their good looks since both are consummate actresses, the intense emotional realism of their performances allegedly enhanced by obsessiveness, verging on bullying, on the part of the director during shooting. The two women are Léa Seydoux (Emma), playing the older and more sexually experienced of the two, and Adèle Exarchopoulos (Adèle), French with a Greek grandfather, playing the younger character, a convincing 17 years old at the beginning of the saga. The start, development and climax of their affair are portrayed with exceptional tenderness; its effective termination is almost too violently terrible to watch, although life goes on beyond that point, if on a lower emotional level. The temptation to resort to melodrama is resolutely resisted. The ending is sad but wholly true to life.
An incidental charm is the location of the film in Lille, with many effective street scenes, one in the Grand' Place, and another memorable sequence in the glorious swimming-pool art gallery, La Piscine Museum, at Roubaix, just outside Lille.
In addition to the Palme d'Or for the film and the two actresses at Cannes, the FIPRESCI Prize went to the director, Abdellatif Kechiche. The film has won a raft of other international prizes, awards and nominations: it will be astonishing if more are not on the way.
Only time will tell whether Blue Is the Warmest Colour deserves to be rated a great film. Whether or not it's great, it's certainly exceptional, and packs a tremendous punch. Don't miss it.
[1] Enlightened modern usage is to describe actors of both genders as actors, and to shun the word actress as implicitly sexist. I have consciously disobeyed that rule in this post, because to describe the two leading players as actors looks hopelessly odd, when the fact of their femininity is such an important ingredient in the story, despite not being (in my perhaps eccentric view) absolutely central to it.
In the Scottish independence referendum in less than a year's time, on 18 September 2014, Scots will have to choose between two alternatives, neither of which the majority of Scots seem to want: (1) separation from the UK on terms that will become clear only after the referendum, or (2) the status quo, which means limited devolution as defined by the Scotland Act, 2012, and thus only limited control over their own affairs. It doesn't have to be like this. The unionist parties, Labour, the Conservatives and the LibDems (especially the Labour party which alone has a significant presence in England, Scotland and Wales) have an obvious duty to offer Scotland an alternative to independence and secession from the UK which represents an improvement on the status quo and which corresponds to what, according to the polls, most Scottish people want – much more control over their own affairs. It's a sad betrayal of the campaign to save the United Kingdom from disintegration that none of the unionist parties (with the honourable exception of the LibDems) has had the courage or vision to commit itself to such an offer in time to influence the outcome of the referendum.
The Guardian of 28 November 2013 publishes the following letter from me (I have re-inserted in the text below a couple of minor things unhelpfully edited out by the Guardian in the published version):
Simon Jenkins (Don't lecture Scots. They want freedom, not wealth, 27 November) is clearly right to advocate an offer to Scotland of a status somewhere between full independence (which would be a tragedy for the whole UK) and the current degree of devolution. The polls suggest that a clear majority of Scots at present want neither independence nor the status quo, but much greater control of their own affairs within the UK. The continuing failure of the Labour and Conservative parties to promise Scotland full internal self-government (perhaps modelled on that enjoyed by, e.g., Massachusetts and New South Wales within their federations) as an attractive alternative to independence is both incomprehensible and unforgivable. There's still time, but not much.
The failure of the No campaign, headed by the generally admirable Alistair Darling, to come up with an offer of full internal self-government for Scotland if the Scots reject the option of independence is probably attributable to two factors, neither of which is valid: first, the difficulty or impossibility of reaching agreement between Labour and the Conservatives on how much additional devolution should be offered to Scotland if the Scots reject independence, and secondly, the fear that if Scotland is offered what ought to amount to full internal self-government, this will intensify resentment in England of England's complete lack of any self-government at all, and demands for the same full internal self-government for England as that to be offered to Scotland.
The first of these objections won't wash: there's nothing to stop Labour from promising full internal self-government for Scotland under the next Labour government, whether the Tories agree with it or not (and it would be difficult for the Tories to devise a convincing or reputable argument against it). The second objection is actually an argument in favour: if an offer of full internal self-government for Scotland reinforces the already growing demand for the same status for England, so much the better. The eventual achievement, over several years, of full internal self-government by Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland would bring forward the happy day when the UK becomes a fully-fledged federation, the logical and inevitable culmination of the devolution process and the sole serious answer to the West Lothian Question.
It's depressing that parliamentary committees responsible for holding to account such powerful institutions and individuals as the intelligence and security services, the bankers and the police are often either far too soft or far too aggressive. Some inspire little confidence in their efficacy as watchdogs to ensure that the intelligence and security agencies respect our civil liberties as well as working to protect us. Others appear to be constrained by no procedural rules governing their powers and objectives, nor by any safeguards to protect those summoned to appear before them to be aggressively interrogated.
After the parliamentary Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) hearing on 7 November at which the heads of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ testified in public for the first time, an e-correspondent asked:
Did you watch 'M', 'C' and the man from GCHQ (he must resent not having a single-letter nom de guerre!) yesterday? I thought it was embarrassingly supine questioning. And if the MI6 man presents his intelligence material [to ministers and officials] with the same hyperbole as he does when he gives evidence, it must be very difficult to distinguish reality from imagination.
I very much agree. The committee was deeply unimpressive — conveying the impression, anyway to congenital sceptics, of being in a too-cosy relationship with the official eavesdroppers, sleuths and burglars, too respectful of them to say the softest boo to an elderly goose. Michael White in the following day's Guardian was spot on when he said that the three top honchos seemed to have summoned the ISC to meet them, not vice versa. Obviously in an ideal world we should judge people by what they do and say, not by their physical appearance or even by the impression they convey on our television screens. But what these three powerful officials do and say is almost entirely secret: we have no basis for judging them apart from how they strike us on their rare public appearances. Did the three men seem roughly like ordinary sensible people, sharing ordinary citizens' instincts and concerns (and sense of humour)? Did they show evidence of understanding the importance of balancing the demands of national security against the pressing need to protect our fundamental right to freedom from disproportionate state intrusion into our private lives? Or did they seem dogmatically committed to the principle that security by definition trumps civil liberties whenever and wherever the two collide? For those who watched the whole hearing last Thursday, those questions answer themselves.
The claim that these people are better equipped than the editors of the Guardian and the New York Times to judge (after extensive consultations and redactions) which bits of the various whistle-blowers' leaked materials can safely be published seems plainly untenable; indeed laughable.
At the ISC hearing none of them was asked, or explained, why their "opponents" (those who threaten our security) were so pleased by the revelation that in order to identify the odd terrorist needle in their gigantic haystack, the intelligence services were obliged to collect such mindless quantities of hay in the form of all your and my emails and telephone calls and other private records, including access to their content. None of the three was asked or explained why we should consent to trust them not to read our emails and records or transcripts of our phone calls, so long as we hadn't been communicating with the enemy — a kind of variant of William Hague's deeply objectionable "If you've done nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear" riff. None was asked or explained whether the security services were evading bans on eavesdropping on their own nationals by swapping data on other nationals, such as Americans, with sister services, such as the NSA, the US equivalent of our GCHQ. None was asked or confirmed whether our calendars, address books, or medical and bank records are being collected along with our emails and telephone transcripts. None was asked or explained how we can be confident that the scale of the surveillance they conduct is not just convenient and helpful to them but also (in the words of Human Rights Watch) "necessary, proportionate, and subject to adequate safeguards against abuse". None was even asked to comment on the cause of the immense leaks that have occurred in recent months — namely the American practice of giving access to colossal quantities of highly classified material to literally hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians, including contractors not even in the public service, without a thought for the basic principle of the "need to know". None was asked or volunteered to acknowledge that these leaks had revealed deeply disturbing and gaping holes in the whole system, that the scale of surveillance had got out of hand, and that drastic remedial action was self-evidently and urgently required.
It's true that if I were a terrorist (which I assure you I'm not), I would be rather reassured to discover that in order to identify a dodgy email I had sent or an indiscreet telephone call I had made, the lads and lasses at Cheltenham would have to sift through billions upon billions of communications that they had inexplicably lumbered themselves with, of which 99.99% would be by definition utterly useless to them (although around 50% might come in handy one day to an aspiring blackmailer, I suppose). Perhaps that's why the head of the secret intelligence service was so outraged by the Snowden revelations and so sure that al-Qaeda would be "rubbing their hands with glee".
The salient point that should have emerged from the ISC hearing, but didn't, is surely this. It is utterly unacceptable that any state organ — or any other institution, come to that — should be allowed secretly to collect and store and be able to read the contents of the personal electronic communications of entire national populations. Knowledge is power, and no conceivable institution should be allowed to possess and potentially to exercise such overwhelming power over a whole population and more. Sooner or later, if this industrial-scale intrusion is permitted to continue, that colossal power will be abused, and by then it will be too late to stop it. As far as I could tell, watching the proceedings live, not one of the three witnesses at the ISC hearing, and none of the committee's members, showed the slightest sign of awareness of that monstrous problem with which the latest revelations confront us. That is seriously frightening.
Oversight of these power-hungry characters' activities by a parliamentary committee manifestly unwilling to ask hard questions is clearly of questionable value. Even allowing for the constraints imposed by holding the hearing in public and on television, it's very difficult to imagine any of the ISC members, hand-picked by the prime minister, seriously challenging the spooks even in their closed and secret sessions. A senior judge also has investigatory and supervisory powers over the three security and intelligence agencies but he or she reports in secret to the prime minister, so we aren't allowed to know what malpractices the judge may have unearthed and what, if anything, the prime minister is doing about them. I don't know how else these largely unaccountable officials can be brought under control, and restrained from stealing and storing everything just because they can, at mind-blowing public expense. Any independent invigilator, even a suitably sceptical judge, is liable to be immediately co-opted into the cosy magic circle of those who are, or who are encouraged to believe they are, in the know. The security services charm, intimidate and control those tasked with supervising them by sharing a careful selection of their secrets with them, thus in effect gagging them as well as flattering them. Somehow, though, these scandalous practices have got to be stopped, or we can say goodbye to some of our most fundamental liberties. Remember the Stasi!
The basic jobs of the security service, the secret intelligence service and GCHQ are unquestionably vital and indispensable. There's no serious doubt that a huge majority of those who work in them are honest and committed, and often brave. Much (but not all) of what they do obviously has to be kept secret. But it is now clear that secrecy has come to mask abuse of power on a vast scale. The Americans and other democracies are taking this seriously and debating possible remedies. President Obama is trying to overcome NSA resistance to his plan to rein in their ability to harvest Americans' data without any constraint. Other democracies are overhauling their oversight systems. It's time we in Britain did the same, instead of furiously denouncing Mr Snowden and threatening the Guardian for telling us what we were entitled to know all along.
* * * * *
At the other end of the scale, power is being abused in a different way. We need to pay more attention to the growing habit of chairs (and some members) of certain parliamentary select committees — you know the ones I mean — of bullying and humiliating those summoned to appear before them as if conducting the Grand Inquisition, giving their defendants absolutely none of the protections and safeguards, such as the right to be legally represented, demanded by due process and the rule of law – in a word, by justice. At some of these hearings there are apparently no rules of admissible or inadmissible evidence, no Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer if the answer might tend to incriminate the accused, no protection from an impartial presiding judge or defence counsel against bullying by the prosecution, no right to receive, before the hearing, full details of the prosecution's case. The Grand Inquisitor is judge, jury and prosecutor rolled into one: the defendant is on his own.
A hearing like this is not just an aggressive probing interview of the kind we watch on the BBC Newsnight programme or hear on the BBC Today programme. It is much more like a kangaroo court mated with a show trial, and on national television into the bargain: wonderful entertainment, but at a shocking price Lawyers respect the principle of Equality of Arms in a proper trial, but in these virtual trials by parliamentary committee there's no such thing. Justice is not served by such one-sided proceedings and it's deeply distasteful, however unsavoury some of the victims might be.
Some of our MPs are beginning to act like pit bull terriers and rottweilers. Others behave like neutered pussy-cats. There really needs to be a middle way.
Grateful acknowledgements to the Huffington Post for the (slightly doctored) picture, which bears no resemblance to any real persons living or dead.
The savage rise in household energy prices must be a worry for almost everyone in Britain, apart from the super-rich. Ed Miliband has clearly scored a popular bull's-eye with his promise to freeze them (the prices, not the Britons, although…) if and when Labour comes back into office, and to use the moratorium to reform the dysfunctional market in gas and electricity. But I don't understand why he hasn't also promised to end the indefensible system whereby the cost of developing green, renewable energy sources to replace carbons is funded by a flat-rate addition to all energy bills, which is part of the reason for energy being so expensive. I know there's supposed to be a vital principle that "the polluter pays", but since ordinary users of gas and electricity have almost no choice of energy source, the imposition of what is effectively a tax on fuel bills which falls most heavily on the poorest seems iniquitous. Transferring to renewables is clearly a social good which should be funded out of progressive general taxation, with the richest paying the most and the poorest nothing. That would bring down energy bills quickly, as well as being much fairer. Labour should promise to end this impost before the Tories (or their junior partners) think of it.
* * * * *
Talking of rising energy prices, I was amused to hear the energy minister (whose name escapes me) claiming to "wear a jumper in the house" to reduce his central heating bill. Not only did this seem a wonderful example of the "let them eat cake" school of public relations: it also jarred on those of us who refer to the garment in question, when worn by a man, as a sweater, not a jumper. Perhaps the minister was brought up in a home full of women.
* * * * *
Fresh developments in the "Plebgate" saga continue to unfold before our wondering eyes. Andrew Mitchell, accused by the cops more than a year ago of repeatedly swearing at the policepersons (f. as well as m.) on duty in Downing Street and calling them 'plebs' when they wouldn't let him cycle through the main gates, much later had a meeting in his constituency office with three senior policemen which had been billed as 'private'. As soon as the meeting ended, the three coppers came out and told the press that Mitchell had refused to give them his own account of what had happened and what, according to him, he had really said. For this alleged failure they said he should resign from his government post (as he was subsequently forced to do). Fortunately Mitchell had had the foresight clandestinely to record the whole meeting, the transcript of which showed that the coppers' accusation was completely false.
We should add to this the discovery by Channel Four News that the email to another Tory MP from someone purporting to be an ordinary member of the public who claimed to have heard Mitchell utter the fatal p-word and several f-words from outside the gates, turned out to be from a serving policeman who had been nowhere near Downing Street on the day in question: and the evidence of the CCTV cameras that Mitchell's verbal exchange with the police had lasted only a few seconds, almost certainly too short a time for delivery of the extended tirade reported by the police. There's more: the police report had alleged that Mitchell's outburst had visibly shocked several passers-by in Whitehall who had overheard it, whereas the same CCTV cameras showed clearly that Whitehall had been completely deserted at the time, apart from one pedestrian who didn't even pause or look round as he walked past. Questions began to be asked about the doubtful propriety of giving the Sun newspaper the police's account of what had happened, and shortly afterwards actually copying the confidential official police log of the episode to the Daily Telegraph. The whole police case begins to look distinctly moth-eaten. No wonder the investigation into what really took place in Downing Street on that night of 19 September 2012, more than a year ago, is still not ready to report while the Director of Public Prosecutions scrutinises the evidence to see whether there's a case for anyone to be prosecuted.
No-one wins friends by saying "I told you so." But on 24 September, 2012, just five days after the altercation in Downing Street, and several weeks before the police case began to unravel, I wrote a post on this blog expressing scepticism about the proposition that a man with Mitchell's background and education would ever use the kind of language attributed to him by the Downing Street police. "Indeed," I wrote then,
the whole script given (or sold?) to the Sun newspaper (presumably by the police or someone acting for them) reads very strangely, looking much more like a police approximation in imagined toff-ese than what a toff is actually likely to have said. Clearly he swore, doesn't deny it, and has apologised for it; and anyway 'pleb' is hardly the most insulting word in the language, especially as it so obviously says more about the speaker than the person spoken to.
Luckily my apparent prescience is on the record at http://www.barder.com/3739. Not many people were questioning the police account at that early stage. Now not many believe a word of it – least of all the p-word.
* * * * *
Another (this time minor) mystery about 'Plebgate': why does the commentariat continue to talk about Andrew Mitchell having lost his "Cabinet post" as a result of the dispute? Mitchell had been a member of the Cabinet earlier, as International Development Secretary; but at the time of his tiff with the Downing Street police, as Government Chief Whip, he wasn't. It seems that not many people know that.
* * * * *
My main excuse for neglecting this blog for so long is that I've been busy writing a book – my first, and pretty certainly my last. It's a funny time to be writing one's first book in one's 80th year and I am finding that the actual writing of the book is the least arduous part of the exercise: managing relations with the publisher and the editor in charge of getting the thing published, persuading experts in the field to read your manuscript and warn you of errors – and with luck to provide you with a glowing comment for use as blurb and for marketing purposes, wrestling with the unintelligible forms devised by the US tax authorities to be filled in (or out) to enable them to tax any royalties arising from American book sales, getting advice on which expenses can be set against UK tax on UK royalties, preparing to write the Acknowledgements and compile an index when the page proofs arrive, negotiating the contract with the publishers and trying to persuade them to let you have a few more free copies for distribution to family and friends – all this takes up more time, and sets more booby-traps, than writing the book in the first place.
Fortunately my publishers' editor is a delightful, patient and unerringly helpful lady, and comments from experts who have read the manuscript (if 15 Word files can be called a manuscript) have been uniformly constructive and positive. In case you're interested, the book is definitely not a memoir or autobiography, diplomatic or otherwise, nor is it a novel or other work of fiction, although it has superficial elements of both. I shall be reporting progress from time to time on this blog and I may put extracts from it on my website in due course: watch this space! In the meantime, there's already a lot of information about it on my publishers' website, at https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781442226357 (click all four tabs there, "Description", "Author[s]", "Table of Contents" and especially "Reviews"). That web page still shows the publication date as next July, but in fact the scheduled publication date has been brought forward to the spring of next year, since I transmitted the finished product to the publishers earlier than they had expected. Start saving up for a copy now! End of commercial.


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By Lake folks
from Longview, Texas
About Me Midrange Shopper
Comments about Blinds Steve's Exclusive Collection Roller & Solar Shades Solar Screen 1% Openness:
Measure carefully. We didn't realize a window on another wall was longer and we ordered all alike. Will have to reorder one.
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from Maine
WE wanted to block the light in our media room, my husband was disappointed that they were not black out blinds, but I like that it filters some light so I can leave them down all the time. We found it blocks enough light to view the screen. If you want black out treatments this is not for you, if you want minimal light filtration it will work well :)
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Quality affordable blinds
By Bobby V
from Atkinson NH
About Me Budget Shopper
Big slider in my sunroom. I was looking for an affordable option to keep the sun out during the winter months when the sun is low in the Northestern sky blinding family and guests. Hate those vertical blinds! So I installed solar shades in the same color is the trim paint. Out of the way and almost invisible when thier up and do the job when they are down. Perfect
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By Susanq99
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Was difficult to install only because we were doing it on a large 6x6 aluminum door that had very little framing. Steve's needs to provide pictures of the hardware options. Also, provide tech support on weekends when people are doing the project
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LIVE: President Obama on Google+ Hangout Today at 5:30 PM EST
January 30, 2012 Leave a comment
Yesterday, it was Brad Pitt who finally bowed to Google Hangout, today, it's the Commander in Chief turn to bow. President Obama is participating in the first completely virtual interview from the White House to talk about his State of the Union Address. During the live interview, which will be held through a Google+ Hangout, the President will answer questions submitted by people from across the country. In fact, more than 227,000 people have participated already, submitting over 133,000 questions and casting more than 1.6 million votes on the questions they would like to hear President Obama address. In the Hangout, the President will be joined by a selection of citizens who will engage in the conversation live. Read more of this post


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Remember Me
The following individuals appeared Wednesday before Judge Charles Steele in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court: Criminal Hearings Michael B. Reiser, 32, Convoy, was sentenced to a four-year prison term on a charge of felonious assault, a felony of the second degree. According to a Van Wert City Police Department investigation, Reiser allegedly got out of a vehicle in the 200 block of East Main Street at which time he made a racial slur and then struck the victim knocking him to the pavement where the victim suffered severe head injuries.
The victim was initially treated at the Van Wert County Hospital and later transferred to Parkview Hospital to be treated for a fractured skull and a fractured jaw. Judge Steele found that Reiser was not amenable to community control and that prison was consistent as a penalty. Steele noted that Reiser had a very lengthy criminal history. Reiser was given credit for 96 days that he served in jail awaiting the final disposition of his case. Chad E. Kouts, 20, Van Wert, was sentenced to serve two 12-month prison sentences on two counts of breaking and Entering both counts were felonies of the fifth degree. Kouts and another subject were apprehended for taking property from a building on Convoy Road owned by Jerry Nihiser. The incidents took place in August. Kouts was given two other prison terms from previous convictions for burglaries of homes in 2007. He was given a prison sentence of three years on each of those four counts that are to run concurrently with each other and concurrently to prison sentences in Paulding County. He was given credit for 676 days of jail time he had servedMatthew L. Brown, 49, Van Wert, was given a one year prison sentence on a charge of Possession of Heroin a felony of the third degree. Brown was arrested after a traffic stop on February 20th of this year, officer of the Van Wert City Police Department found a large amount of Heroin on Brown. Judge Steele gave Brown one day credit for jail time served awaiting final disposition of his case. Kim A. Sargent, 48, Van Wert, was sentenced to three years of community service and will spend up to six months at the WORTH Center in Lima on a charge of domestic violence, a felony of the fourth degree. Sargent allegedly caused or attempted to cause physical harm to a family or household member on May 16. Sargent had a previous conviction for domestic violence. He was ordered to pay all costs associated with his case. A basic prison term of one year was given with the imposition of the prison sentence deferred pending the successful completion of the community control program. Brittany R. Cousino, 22, Rockford, was placed on two years of community control on a charge of theft, a felony of the fifth degree. According to a Van Wert County Sheriff's Department investigation Cousino was involved along with another male subject in the theft of scrap railroad materials in July from railroad property in Ohio City. Cousino was ordered to pay costs associated with her case and also was given a six-month prison sentence with the imposition of the prison sentence deferred pending the successful completion of the community control program. ArraignmentsLukas A Mortemore was arraigned on charges of identity fraud and forgery, both counts were felonies of the fifth degree. Mortemore entered pleas of not guilty to the charges and was given an unsecured personal surety bond. Mortemore presently is in prison on other charges. A pretrial hearing has been scheduled for 8 a.m. Nov. 24. Larry Wilson, 41, Van Wert, entered a guilty plea to a Bill of Information charging him with obstructing official business, a misdemeanor of the first degree.A pre-sentence investigation was ordered with sentencing scheduled for 9 a.m. Dec. 1. Zacharia German, 23, Wapakoneta, entered a not guilty plea to a charge of burglary and theft from an elderly person. German was released on a personal surety bond with a pretrial hearing scheduled for 8 a.m. Dec. 15. Community Control Violation Michael Whisman, Van Wert, denied that he violated the conditions of his community control. Judge Steele is assigning the case for a hearing at a later date. Whisman remains held in the Van Wert County Jail. Change of Plea Hearing Zacharia J. Young, 23, Van Wert, entered a guilty plea to a charge of domestic violence, a misdemeanor of the first degree. Judge Steele ordered a pre-sentence investigation and scheduled the case for sentencing for 9 a.m. on Dec. 1. Joel L. Crawford entered a guilty plea to an indictment charging him with four counts of grand theft. Crawford then asked in a motion to the court for treatment in lieu of conviction, which was granted by Judge Steele. Crawford will be in a rehabilitation program for one year and he was ordered to pay the costs of the treatment program. Failure to successfully complete the program could result in a prison sentence. Charles Love, 22, Van Wert, entered a guilty plea to a charge of vandalism, a felony of the fifth degree, and then requested in a motion for treatment in lieu of conviction, which was granted by Judge Steele. Love will be involved in a rehabilitation program and was ordered to pay the cost of the rehabilitation program. Failure to successfully complete the program could result in a prison sentence. Elizabeth Wyatt, Marion, was in court on a Motion for Judicial Release, she was granted judicial release from prison but ordered to spend up to six months at the WORTH Center in Lima. Wyatt will be on community control for a period of three years under the supervision of the Van Wert County Adult Probation Department. The balance of a four year prison sentence was deferred pending the successful completion of the community control program.
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St. Rose, La- A woman visiting relatives in St. Rose for the holidays offers up a reward for her lost dog.
Barbara Damitz of Austin says her 2-year-old female Airedale, Caera, was spooked by fireworks on New Year's Eve. The dog bolted from the home where the family was staying on Riverwood Drive in the River Wood Estate subdivision.
The Humane Society of Louisiana and the Damitz family are offering a $150 reward for Caera's safe return.
Caera is fixed and microchipped.
If you find the lost dog or know where she may be located, you are asked to call the Humane Society of Louisiana 1-888-6-HUMANE or contact Chris Walther at 504-722-7189.
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Louisiana Media Company, LLC.
1025 S. Jefferson Davis Parkway
New Orleans, LA 70125
General Number: (504) 486-6161
News Tips: (504) 483-1503
News Room Fax: (504) 483-1543


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