Close-up of a poster I saw attached to the screen of an RBS ATM. Click on it to see it larger.

[UPDATE:  Since posting this I have been anonymously emailed a small and a large version of the relevant image. I cannot advocate what is possibly an illegal activity, but then neither can I stop you printing these out and sticking them on RBS ATMs! You must follow your conscience.]

I just spotted this on an RBS ATM.  Great idea, I think, drawing attention to the Royal Bank of Scotland’s appalling use of our money (it’s 83% owned by UK taxpayers).

I have transcribed what the poster says and linked its “options” to relevant information:

Select your transaction:

• Invest in the destruction of sacred indigenous lands in Canadian wilderness
• Invest in dirty, cheap energy solutions that bring about climate change
• Invest in arms industry with vested interests in perpetuating war
• Fund exorbitant executive bonuses help buy more yachts and villas
• Invest in the lobbying of politicians
• Move to a more ethical bank

The poster was attached to the screen of an RBS ATM in Stockbridge.

At the bottom of the detachable poster there’s a statement that reads:  “We hope you found this message instructive and amusing.  To use this ATM simply lift it off the screen.  We would be very grateful if you would  replace it afterwards to give the next user a laugh.  Many thanks!”

By the way, the RBS also charges its poorest customers to access other banks’ ATMs.  It’s not the only bank that does this, but if you consider all the other things it does, it would seem reasonable to call it a thoroughly nasty institution, and WE own it!

Here’s a petition asking RBS CEO Stephen Hester to turn down his £1m bonus.

Other locations – please send me your pictures!

Another poster spotted on the screen of a Royal Bank of Scotland ATM on North Bridge, Edinburgh, on 27 January 2012. Please send me your pictures!

Background:  human evolutionary history

We evolved as hunter-gatherers. We are programmed to bond with and relate to small groups of people whom we know personally. Large groups require extremely careful structuring and mechanisms if we are to flourish in them. Why work against the grain?

Our “modern” brains evolved when we were hunter-gatherers, living in small groups.  We can only effectively empathise with and relate to a certain number of people. That is surely one reason for the levels of exploitation and unhappiness seen in many large organisations, not least the multinationals whose often psychopathic tendencies we seek to combat.  Relationships break down in such big groups, unless a huge amount of thought is put into their structure.  (Although, yes, it can be done, as David Erdal explains in his wonderful book, Beyond the Corporation, Humanity Working, in which he examines the success of employee-owned businesses such as the John Lewis Partnership.)  Egos come to the fore as people battle for power, for their needs or simply to be heard.  Rivalries and rumours thrive, opinions harden and the original purpose of the group is lost as it becomes sclerotic, moribund and ineffective.

Even small tribal groups developed mechanisms for effective communication (of the which the Circle Method is, it seems, a modern derivative).  Large groups, without careful planning and without such methodologies, are almost bound to founder.

Current state of Occupy Edinburgh

I leave it to readers to judge whether any of the above could be said to apply to OE!  More positively, there are many new ideas circulating for mini-campaigns, and people are meeting in various small groups in which they feel listened to.  People’s energy, creativity and sense of belonging is nurtured in such groups.

So where to now? Semi-autonomous circles!

Native American tribal council: we should take a leaf from this book!

It seems obvious to me that OE should evolve into a loose coalition of semi-autonomous activist “cells” united by certain general principles and rules.  I suggest our credo should be:  “We work peacefully for a more equal world, promoting community not consumption.”

I used the word “cells”.  This is not a great word, as it has a connotation of resistance and/or terrorism. The movement is about hope and reform, and about re-awakening, or channeling, people’s creativity and inherent love of their friends, family and the environment. The word “circle”, on the other hand, has many positive connotations, and it also relates to the effective Circle Method of communication (which I suggest every new circle adopts).

Specifics:  what do the circles do?

There are already many brilliant ideas in circulation.  (I cannot claim the ideas are mine!)  In summary, there should be a mix of witty awareness-raising stunts (by all means using YouTube etc.) and practical down-to-earth activities.  Some of these can be negative (drawing attention to the ludicrous activities of the taxpayer-owned RBS, for example) but many should also be positive (drawing attention to/supporting the many local community groups that are out there).  As part of this, circles should listen to and help give a voice to the disenfranchised.  And how about some carrotmobbing?

Wondrous flitting!

'Wondrous Flitting' - a great name for the next phase of Occupy Edinburgh?

As I was out getting some sunshine and pondering all this, I passed a charity bookshop.  A book in the window caught my eye.  It was a play with the title Wondrous Flitting.  What serendipity! “Flitting” has the connotation of moving on, of being light on one’s feet, of being flexible, of evolving… “Wondrous” – well, what do you think? Time to leave St Andrew’s Square with grace and dignity, and find real unity in diversity?

Serendipity Circles

…A final thought, how about calling the circles “Serendipity Circles” – you never know what great things may emerge by apparent chance!

Many children may be addicted to Internet pornography. The psychology of Internet porn addiction is discussed by Gary Wilson on his excellent website, YourBrainOnPorn.com.

Today I heard a troubling discussion of the phenomenon of Internet pornography addiction amongst youngsters. Anecdotal evidence suggests that this may be widespread. In the public interest I have converted the relevant part of the BBC Radio 4 programme (Broadcasting House) into an mp3 and => made it available to you <=. I hope this won’t upset the BBC!

BBC Radio 4 Broadcasting House discussed the phenomenon of Internet pornography addiction amongst children.

Once you have listened to it, I suggest you visit Gary Wilson’s excellent website, YourBrainOnPorn.com to learn more about the prevalence, psychology and brain chemistry of Internet pornography addiction, a phenomenon which may well be a major contribution to the popularity of Viagra and Cialis: needing increasingly “harder” sights to turn them on, porn addicts may no longer be aroused by “ordinary” sex.  And here’s an interesting article on Wired.com.

Click on this picture to visit Gary Wilson's fascinating website on the phenomenon of Internet pornography addiction: YourBrainOnPorn.com.

Incidentally, this is one of the few forms of addiction not specifically mentioned in Bruce K. Alexander’s terrific book on addictions and their causation.

In my opinion there has long been an elephant in St Andrew's Square which Occupy Edinburgh should have drawn people's attention to. The movement must become more strategic and 3D. Direction, Dignity and Discipline are key!

A few days ago I presented some ideas at a meeting of Occupy Edinburgh. I re-present them here so that they might receive a wider audience. Please excuse my bad drawing and penmanship!

My opening questions. Fundamental, I think.

Fundamental questions

Fundamental questions are:

• What is the current state of the world?
• What is the current situation of Occupy Edinburgh?
• What is the Occupy movement’s long-term goal? and
• How can we move from the present situation towards the goal?

This is the ultimate goal of the Occupy movement as I see it: to build a more equal society where everyone's needs are met in a sustainable way.

The present situation

We live in an increasingly unequal world, where the wealthy call the shots. Inequality is hugely damaging.

Bruce K. Alexander argues that hypercapitalism causes psychosocial dislocation and that this makes people vulnerable to addictions. Such addictions include shopaholism. It is certainly true that many indulge in competitive consumerism and the wealthy consume far more of the earth’s non-renewable resources than is sustainable. Economic growth, as measured by GDP, is not a way out.

The Occupy movement’s goal

The ultimate goal of the Occupy movement is surely to create a more equal society where everyone’s needs (physical, emotional, social, spiritual…) are met in an environmentally sustainable way.

Arguably Occupy Edinburgh has failed to get its message across and has instead been undermined by unflattering media coverage.

The present situation of Occupy Edinburgh

With significant negative coverage in the media relating to incidents/behaviour at the camp, the focus seems to be on the camp and not on the bigger picture. The impact of Occupy Edinburgh is questionable.

Arguably, it's a sad and near-farcical situation, with similarities to Monty Python's 'Life of Brian'. The media focus should be on the 'elephant in the room' of our society's corruption by Big Money, not on the imperfections of Occupy Edinburgh.

We are portrayed by some as a disorganised, feuding rabble; it may appear as if Occupy Edinburgh is descending into
Pythonesque “People’s Front of Judea/Judean People’s Front”) in-fighting.  What’s more, OE is now facing eviction. Public attention should be on the corrupting effect of big money on the way society is run, not on events in a square.

How can we turn the situation around? There's a clue in this picture.

How can we turn this situation around? There’s a clue in the picture!

K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple, Stupid! (Or, as I prefer, K.I.S.S.S.: Keep It Simple, Short and Specific.

K.I.S.S./K.I.S.S.S.

We must learn to KISS/KISSS! The original acronym was: “K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple, Stupid!”

I prefer: “K.I.S.S. – Keep It Short and Simple.”

Even better: “K.I.S.S.S. – Keep It Short, Simple and Specific.”

->We need to communicate our main message in short, simple and specific ways.<-

(I apologise if this post itself seems rather long. At least I have tried to break it down into bite-sized chunks!)

Which is more effective? A general statement about global child abuse or the details of a particular case?

Which is more effective?

People are, by and large, not moved by general statements. They are moved by specific stories about particular individuals. This is the way grand concepts and ideas should be introduced. People will identify with a particular abused baby who lives around the corner, but a broad statement about the numbers of children abused the world over will be ineffective.

Big ideas are best conveyed using individual stories. This biography of a woman abused as a child (which I helped write) has been praised by several organisations dealing with this issue of the sexual abuse of children. Click on the picture to find out more.

Describing what is wrong with the world in general terms, or comprehensively, is disempowering and fails to engage people.

Furthermore, if one attempts to give people a great deal of information, they will feel overwhelmed. By describing all that is wrong with the world one is likely to leave people feeling confused, or helpless in the face of the magnitude and complexity of the world’s ills. Far better to pick a single illustrative aspect (target!), one that can be conveyed in a story or two and one that directly relates to people’s lives.

People relate to stories - much of popular culture amounts to these.

Stories

Perhaps this is overkill, but let me emphasise again the importance of stories! They permeate our culture for a reason.

OE is being evicted. Could this have been a great opportunity?

So how can we apply all the above? Is there an obvious target for Occupy Edinburgh, which we can explain using stories?

What is the elephant in St Andrew's Square?

…Or, in other words, what could the elephant in St Andrew’s Square be?

I suggested making specific demands of the Royal Bank of Scotland, largely owned by taxpayers and doing terrible things which are easy to explain and which affect many people.

It’s the Royal Bank of Scotland, who own property bordering the Square and thus are represented by Essential Edinburgh (as far as I understand), a body currently in the process of evicting Occupy Edinburgh! RBS, however, is more than 80% owned by UK taxpayers.

It would have been great if Occupy Edinburgh had, from the outset, picked this dodgy institution as its target, stating, for example, that OE would be happy to leave the Square if the RBS:

• set a maximum pay ratio of (say) 10:1
• allowed basic account holders free access to all ATMs, and
• pulled out of the appalling exploitation of the Canadian tar sands (environmental destruction on a gargantuan scale that is also destroying the lives of indigenous people).

Each of these points can and should be illustrated by personal stories. All of these issues already have people and organisations campaigning on them. If OE chose to make these its headline demands it would engage many allies and compel the media to focus on these issues.

For example:

Here are two campaigns on pay ratio:

• Jenny Jones vows to make London the ‘Fair Pay City’ in Green Party Mayoral election campaign launch
• Is a maximum wage ratio the way to realize the goal of a living wage?

Here’s what the Treasury Select Committee has to say about RBS’ ATM policy.

Here’s an imaginative and entertaining campaigning video by Friends of the Earth on RBS’s tar sands investments.  (I have met a representative of the Beaver Lake Cree, whose territory and way of life are being destroyed, and heard of their  struggles directly.  Here he is.)

Here’s a personal story relating to the RBS.  A friend of mine worked for a building society that was taken over by RBS at the time of Fred the Shred’s reign (he of the knighthood and multi-million pound pension – over £600,000 per year).   The atmosphere changed horribly.  The staff found themselves under huge pressure to meet targets to sell loans to people – loans they knew their customers would have difficulty repaying. My friend felt extremely uncomfortable with both the bullying management style and the lack of ethics with respect to what they were being pressured to do.  She resigned. Fred the Shred retired, stinking rich. The RBS is now largely owned by UK taxpayers, yet they continue to do ghastly things and pay their top executives a fortune. Most people can understand the injustice of this, I think?

Importantly, it’s not only easy for people to understand these issues, it’s also easy for them to take part in such a campaign themselves.  While it is apparently illegal to advocate a run on a bank, it would not be illegal to state the following:

The Royal Bank of Scotland is largely owned by you, the UK taxpayer, who bailed it out.

It has been using your money to:

• pay its top executives vast sums of money,
• and to destroy our planet and people’s lives, while
• making life harder for its poorest customers.

Occupy Edinburgh is fighting for your money to be used properly, and will not leave St Andrew’s Square until RBS fixes these things.  It’s illegal for us to tell you to close your account with them, but we can tell you that some people are closing their RBS accounts and telling RBS why. We cannot stop you doing the same, and/or informing your friends about RBS’s activities. [Incidentally, I moved my account from RBS to the Co-operative Bank, who sponsor the Beaver Lake Cree's legal battles against the tar sands developments. It was easy to do.]

Don’t let the few top executives at RBS (representing what we call “the 1%”) use more taxpayers’ money to evict OE (as if they haven’t already siphoned enough into their personal accounts).  OE is fighting for your rights. We are all the 99%!

This could have shifted the focus onto the Big Picture, from OE to what the Occupy movement is campaigning against.

Such a targeted campaign would surely have galvanised people and shifted the focus from OE itself to a major actor in the grossly unequal and amoral society we live in.

If not the RBS, then another target, but it should be an organisation whose actions harm many people. It's not important which we pick first, but we must select one target. We can then systematically pick off others.

However, we could equally have picked another target. It’s not crucial which malefactor we attack first, but it is important to pick one. The criteria should be:

• that its evil deeds affect many people,
• that these deeds are symptomatic (illustrative) of the ills of the predominant economic order, and
• that it is easy for many people to take action against it.

(It is also important not to waste time debating which organisation to target. Why not the RBS, which owns a building on St Andrew’s Square?)

At the moment the Occupy David is setting himself up against several Goliaths. No prize for guessing the outcome.

Currently: several Goliaths against one David

The Occupy movement, by failing to focus on a specific initial target, is setting itself against the entire economic system at once. It is therefore failing to communicate its message effectively, and failing to engage allies. Goliath corporate entities laugh as they use their media to destroy the puny David facing them!

By singling out a single initial target, one with several critics, we would have several Davids tackling one Goliath. A big and clear cause would also unite and motivate Occupy supporters.

What could happen: several David’s overpowering single Goliaths, one by one!

By systematically targeting organisations in the way I have suggested, we would easily communicate our message and motivate people to join us. At any one time we would have several Davids facing a single Goliath. If you know anything about how predators hunt, you will know how important it is to separate (divide) in order to conquer. Sun Tzu and Machiavelli would agree!

Strategy: I argued that Occupy Edinburgh should have said that it would vacate St Andrew's Square if the Royal Bank of Scotland acceded to certain requests.

The logic and integrity of this approach

So here’s the whole picture in the form of a flowchart (see above)!

(1) Occupy Edinburgh should have made specific demands of a single entity, offering to move out of St Andrew’s Square as soon as it complied.

Either the organisation would (a) comply, or (b) it would refuse, but OE’s headline demands would have attracted support.

(a) If the organisation complied, OE would have vacated the Square, and (2) picked another site (or campaigning tactic) and another target, with its credibility and support bolstered… (Spears metaphorically blooded,  on we go to a better world!)

(b) If the organisation failed to comply, OE could have:

• negotiated the conditions of it staying and, failing that, if it were evicted,
• it could have argued that the taxpayers’ money used to enforce an eviction amounted to taxpayers’ money being spent to support the organisation’s dubious activities.  This would have integrity because the headline demands had been made!

There is no integrity in making specific demands only when OE has been served with an eviction order! It is beside the point that Essential Edinburgh might laugh in the face of such demands. Is OE ashamed of such demands, or does it not really want to change the world? It must not be an organisation that simply exists to occupy a few square metres of lawn.  It is demeaning for negotiations to boil down to the number of tents etc. it is allowed to keep on the site.  It is madness to give the media the opportunity to portray things as if OE’s focus is merely the personal needs of a few campers and not the big picture. Yes, its name is “Occupy”, but its purpose is not to occupy land, but to permeate hearts and minds and make the world a better place.

I salute all those who camped out in St Andrew’s Square (I managed only two nights). I admire you enormously! Occupy supporters have a wealth of talent, enthusiasm and energy. If this is not to be wasted, the movement must now evolve. We need to become 3D, to demonstrate and embody Dignity, Discipline and Direction.  We need a new strategy! (Bearing in mind the above, specific targets, flash mobs, humour, new media…?) We certainly need to improve our communication. NVC and the Circle Method are the way to go, I think!

Remember too, that while we should be mindful of the needs of people (who may be the victims of the political/economic/social order we seek to overturn) we are not a substitute for social services. We are a protest movement or, better, a reform movement. There comes a point when people’s behaviour cannot be condoned or tolerated. While we must be compassionate, we must also be aware that extreme behaviour can be used to discredit the movement. It’s a fine and difficult line.

My novel, 'Saving the World', suggests how a global organisation might do exactly that!

Footnote

I have long been thinking about such issues. My 2004 paperback novel, Saving the World and Being Happy, recently republished as an ebook, Saving the World, imagines an ‘International Hope-ist Movement’ that systematically targets multinationals.

General Augusto Pinochet, Chilean mass murderer admired by Paul Johnson because he "prevented civil war".

I have just listened to Kirsty Young interviewing Paul Johnson on Desert Island Discs. I was moved to write the following letter of complaint:

I am a long-term fan of Desert Island Discs and a fervent supporter of free speech. However, Paul Johnson’s unchallenged remark about Pinochet – along the lines of admiring him because he “prevented civil war” – left me shocked and distressed, but my horror will be nothing compared to that of those whose friends or relatives were his victims. Pinochet tortured and/or killed tens of thousands. If this doesn’t qualify as “civil war” then this is a purely technical quibble. Kirsty Young should have called Mr Johnson up short.

Mr Johnson specialises in ad hominem attacks on those who espouse secular or left-of-centre views. I shall refrain from casting aspersions on his character, but will state that while he has every right to air his repugnant views, these must be challenged robustly. Please look into what Pinochet did. Yes, he failed to kill as many people as Hitler, but he is surely of similar ilk? Would you invite a champion of Herr Schicklgruber to your estimable programme and then let this person state, unchallenged, that he admired him because he prevented civil war?

I look forward to your response.

I presented these at Stills Democratic Camera Club on Thursday 12 January 2012.  All the pictures in this collection were taken in the course of short circular walks from my home. Each picture has some relevance to the sub-theme of cycles and circles.

1. Back home: full-circle and my rusty cycle

1. Back home: full-circle and my rusty cycle

 I was born in Edinburgh but when I was four my family moved to what was then called Rhodesia. I grew up there and in South Africa, returning to the UK when I was 22. Since then I have lived and worked in many parts of Scotland, England and Wales. I was also based in Paris for three years.

 A few years ago I returned to Edinburgh and now live in the Stockbridge Colonies, a few minutes’ walk away from the home of my infancy, a tiny flat on Wemyss Place, above what was then my grandfather’s business (Thomas and Adamson Quantity Surveyors). I have therefore come virtually full-circle. The painting in the photograph is a watercolour by my father. It’s the view looking out from the flat over Wemyss Place Mews. This scene has hardly changed in almost half a century.

 I bought my (t)rusty bicycle many years ago in a charity shop in Aberdeen. The paint is peeling off, like the bark of the felled tree (Photo 2), to reveal rust – iron oxidises just as wood decays. Scratch a human and you will see red blood – red because of the iron in the haemoglobin. Everything decays, but essential components will not be destroyed; they will be recycled.

2. Felled giant: broken circles and completed cycles

2. Felled giant: broken circles and completed cycles

 I suspect this tree had begun to rot at its core before it was felled. A hollow tree makes me think of the Winnie the Pooh stories I read as a child, and therefore of my childhood home in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Of course, hollow trees provide homes for many creatures. The tree in this picture is decaying nicely – nutrients are being recycled and will feed future trees.

3. Home defences: “moss-terious” circles

 3. Home defences: “moss-terious” circles

 We protect our properties with fences, walls and railings. The railing posts in this photograph are themselves ringed by moss. How does this happen? We can possibly keep people out, but we can’t entirely prevent nature reclaiming space. The moss “circle” I have enlarged is actually heart-shaped! Do you love your home?

4. Antarctica moss: global issues

 4. Antarctica moss: global issues

 This patch of moss (on a wall next to the Water of Leith) reminded me of Antarctica, a roughly circular continent. This, in turn, made me think of global issues, especially climate change, which is most visible in the melting of ice sheets around Antarctica. We live on a small and limited planet, yet we continue to act as if its resources are infinite, not least the fossil fuels formed from forests growing over millions of years.

 The moss has grown over the crack in the wall. Will nature be able to recover from the harm we are inflicting, or are we approaching a point of no return?

5. Slug's eye view

5. Slug’s eye view

 You don’t need to travel far and wide to find beauty and wonder. This tiny (less than an inch) translucent slug is beautiful as it cruises through its home forest of moss. As we look at it, it looks at the world itself, with its tiny spherical eyes on the ends of questing stalks. How does it perceive the world?

6. Helpful railings: black and red

6. Helpful railings: black and red

These railings, seconds from my home, help people climb and descend the steep steps of “Gabriel’s Road”. They themselves look like people co-operating: joining hands to do their work. The topmost post jauntily offers its elbow: “Come on, Granny, let me support you!”

The balls at the tops of the posts have been worn by countless hands to reveal red paint beneath the black, a reminder of our mortality and common humanity? No matter what the colour of our skin, or how else we might differ in appearance, we all have red blood. We are all human beings on a small planet. It’s madness not to co-operate to solve the earth’s problems.

7. Wide-eyed: powerless observer

7. Wide-eyed: powerless observer

This face from the past, photographed in a cemetery (ironically near the Gallery of Modern Art), and staring out from a circular border, looks aghast at what he sees of the modern world. Is he crying? His squint makes me think of the slug’s diverging eye stalks. Can we look at the world in two ways at once?

It’s a reminder of the horror of much of what we human beings are doing to each other and the planet, but also of the many strange and wonderful things that exist, even in the immediate vicinity of our homes.

We should keep our eyes open to the harm we are doing, but also to the beauty that abounds on our doorsteps.

Learning the Swedish word for basket started me on a linguistic journey which brought me unexpectedly all the way back to a basket - the one in this photo, to be precise.

I am learning Swedish at the moment, with the help of a native Swedish speaker (tack, Maribel) and material available on the internet, which I was directed to by a South African friend (dankie, Travis).  I recently encountered the Swedish word for basket.  It is korg:  ‘a basket’ is en korg and ‘the basket’ is korgen.

My first thought was:  ‘I know no other word similar in both form and meaning to this.  How am I going to remember it?’ I decided to imagine a basket full of corgis (Queen Elizabeth II’s preferred breed of dog).  Then I thought, ‘Well, korgen is actually pronounced more like “cor-yin”‘, which made me think of the English word ‘corrie’.  A corrie is a circular hollow in a mountain, and a basket could well be thought of as a portable circular hollow! I looked up ‘corrie’ in my Collins Concise Dictionary, and it told me that its origin was a Gaelic word meaning ‘cauldron’.

The next word that sprang to mind was ‘coracle’. A coracle is, I realised with delight, nothing but a big floating basket! Could this be etymologically related to korg?  My dictionary told me that ‘coracle’ came a Welsh word, but did not say more than that. (And ‘corgi’ comes from Welsh too, by the way, but it simply means ‘dwarf dog’.)

Then the English word ‘carry’ came to mind – what is a basket used for, after all? The dictionary told me, alas, that this word comes from carrum, the Latin for a transport wagon.

Next the English word ‘courier’ occurred to me, because what does a courier do but carry things?  Of course, I realised that this probably came from the French courir, to run.

Finally, I thought of the Scots word coorie, which means to snuggle or cuddle, I put this into Ecosia, and was led to this website, which brought me right back to a basket!  How strange is that? Now please, someone, tell me that at least some of these words are etymologically related, if one goes far back enough.  You would make my day!

Anyway, I am never likely to forget the meaning of korg, with the amazing mnemonic sentence that has emerged from all the above: ‘A courier could make a career from carrying corgis coorying doon in en korg, across a tarn in a corrie in a coracle.’ (OK, I admit that it’s superfluous to say that the tarn is in a corrie!)

Incidentally, Corrie is a village in Arran and Rachel Corrie is a hero of mine… (I am incorrigible, which brings me to the Swedish for pun – vits – which reminds me of the English word ‘wit’. ) We’ll have to end with The Corries!

Here are some great language-learning resources:

• ANKI
• Fluent in 3 months
• Learning With Texts

Iain de Caestecker plays James Herriot in 'Young James Herriot'. No doubt this will result in many more youngsters making the biggest mistake of their lives.

I see the BBC is running a new series of James Herriot films.  Alas, another generation will doubtless succumb to the charming tales of this Yorkshire vet (real name James Alfred ‘Alf’ Wight) and decide that being a veterinarian is the career. Many will fall by the wayside, unable to obtain the grades necessary to enter vet school, but the unlucky few will graduate and enter lives of stress and depression, a significant proportion committing suicide as the pressures mount.

Think I am joking or exaggerating?  Many people do, but not many vets. Indeed, I still receive delighted messages from members of the profession who enjoy my tongue-in-cheek 2006 exposé, Pet Hates, The Shocking Truth About Pets and Vets, written under the pen name Josh Artmeier (an anagram of…?  You guessed it!), and messages of hate from young folk who have set their minds on becoming animal doctors and will not countenance dissuasion, no matter the good intentions (life-saving!)  behind it.  These last messages are invariably  insulting and semi-literate. I don’t have the heart to point out to the writers that their evident lack of academic ability will certainly prevent them ever battling with ungrateful animals and their sometimes even more difficult owners.

Incidentally, I received the most recent message in praise of the book only a month or so ago (from a young assistant vet who particularly appreciated my description of the owners of veterinary practices).  It gives me mixed feelings to know that something that was published five years ago still rings such loud bells.

If you’re interested in reading it, you can order the book from me , or from Amazon (the range of the reviews on Amazon gives some idea of how controversial it is!), and here’s a wee video I made about it:

http://youtu.be/ijcCce4PNgE

(I deleted the worst of the semi-literate hate mail that this video received, but there’s one example left below it for your delectation.)

The USA and Iran. One is an oppressive military regime with extreme socio-economic inequality, which arrests people for dancing, brutally suppresses peaceful protests and has just passed legislation moving it closer to a totalitarian state allowing its own citizens to be detained indefinitely without trial. Iran isn’t perfect either. Check the links! The United States of America is certainly not a free country.  I hope Bradley Manning is released soon.

Children are born grossly deformed - caused by exposure to depleted uranium? The truth about this nasty substance, used in armour-penetrating weaponry by US and UK forces, is bound to emerge soon.

Italy has just admitted that the deaths of 98 of its service personnel were due to exposure to depleted uranium (DU).  (Former MSP Bill Wilson and myself campaigned to get the UK Ministry of Defence to take this issue seriously.  Later we were not sad to see the equivocating Liam Fox forced to resign in disgrace, although this was due to his friendship with Adam Werritty, a friend of Mossad. Bill and myself also campaigned for the human rights of Palestinians, incidentally, so ideologically it’s clear we had little in common with Fox and his Zionist cronies.)

It recently emerged that the UK armed forces minister, Nick Harvey, misled MSPs about a review which he claimed showed that DU weapons were permissible on humanitarian and environmental grounds under the Geneva conventions.  The review did not exist!

In time I believe:

• that the full horror of DU will emerge, such that no one will be able to deny its devastating effects,
• that those who authorised its use will be shown to have had access to information demonstrating how dangerous it is, and
•  that they will be shown to have deliberately suppressed such information (and blocked further research).