2011; A review of sorts

Friday 30^th December 2011. The perfect time to initiate a review of the past year. Society has it that Friday nights dictate should be spent out on the piss, frequenting the local pub and overindulging in the pleasures that come with it. Bollocks to that. Armed with a laptop and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s I’m going to attempt to review the year. This might be vaguely entertaining, it might not. We’ll see.

Logic concludes that annual reviews are chronological. Yawn. We’ll be here all night and that’ll turn you to alcohol. And there is only space for one alcoholic on this blog and that’s me. So we’ll start with the most important political ‘event’ of the year; the Arab Spring.

Your standard isolationist, Daily Mail little Englander might disagree with that last contention, but for us muesli eating, Guardian reading (guilty on both charges) internationalists, the events of the Arab Spring represent the embodiment of 2011; a year of emancipation, a year of political maturation in the Middle East and the end for a brutal dictator in the form of Colonel Gaddafi.

The nature of Gaddafi’s downfall did leave me with a rather uncomfortable feeling. Whilst he was a foul and disgusting autocrat who had nothing but contempt for his fellow Libyans, one can’t help but feel that his grizzly end rather sullied the legitimacy of the rebels who stooped to cowardly tactics when they sodomised and brutalised a fellow human being, however despicable.

This aside the appetite for democracy, human rights and freedom in the Middle East is clearly fermenting day by day. It has always existed, but has never manifested itself in such a tangible way. I’ve never subscribed to the deeply patronising view held by many in the West that the people in the Middle East are not ready for democracy and it certainly isn’t in our interests anyway. You know, the sort of bollocks spouted by Niall Ferguson. This political revolution has been coming for a while. A cocktail of deprivation and suppression provided the environment within which rebel movements in Libya, Eygpt, Bahrain and Syria could thrive. Long may that continue.

In 2012, two challenges will need to be address by policy makers in the Middle East. Firstly, those states that are emerging from the throes of revolution will require a political settlement that satisfies the stakeholders within civil society. That is a huge challenge, Eygpt is testament to that. Libya will face similar challenges and it should be left to the peoples of those nations to face them. If Western support is requested, we should provide it, but not before. The delegitimisation of these movements due to clumsy policy making in the West should be avoided.

The second challenge relates to those states which seem to be tentatively headed for civil war, like Syria. May I be so bold as to suggest that Syria will not be the only state in the Middle East rife with division and conflict next year? There is latent political tension in many states, which show no signs of abating despite the hail of bullets raining down on the rebellious groupings. 2012 is the year for the Arab League to get its house in order. It’s reputation as a fora for demagogues, despots and dictators might not be entirely fair, but they haven’t helped themselves have they? Luckily for them, I’m here to help. My first suggestion goes as follows. Don’t send a team of observers into Syria lead by General Mohammed Ahmad Al Dabi who works for a man who is under indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for a most dubious human rights record. I mean it’s not difficult is it? If the Arab League does not work to resolve conflict in 2012, more blood will be shed in the name of autocracy.

So 2011 represent the year in which the seeds of democracy in the Middle East start to reap reward. 2012 will determine whether we will see long term foliage form or a withering on the vine.

Plenty happened domestically in 2011. We’ve had a Royal Wedding and riots. Both served to change my perceptions fundamentally. The former challenged my complacent republicanism. It is not often that a news item emanating out of the UK leads on news bulletins in the US and across the world. Britain is still trying to manage its relative decline on the world stage. An event of this cultural significance served to boost Britain’s standing on the world stage whilst boosting our economy. I’m not sure I’ll ever be comfortable with an unelected head of state in a mature liberal democracy, but for the time being I’m content to acknowledge the value the royal family provide. I’m sure the Queen and co are breathing a collective sigh of relief.

As a Londoner, albeit from Barnet which straddles the Hertfordshire border, I felt a profound sense of shock when the shooting of a man in Tottenham metamorphosed into a full scale riot. The violence seeped out from London, travelling to other major cities in the UK such as Manchester and Birmingham spreading fear across the UK. And for a few days it seemed like the police had lost control of our streets. Despite the social defragmentation, a silver lining did pierce through that most ominous cloud. Thousands of Londoners joined the clean up movement. Teams in Enfield, Hackney, Croydon and elsewhere cleared up the wreckage. This is terribly clichéd, but it did make me proud to be a Londoner. I have nothing more profound to add than that. Many commentators more qualified than me have produced some fine work on the significance of the riots. Head to those for something a little more profound.

Of course, plenty more happened over the year. Phone hacking, Osama Bin Laden dead, Oslo killings, IMF rape allegations, Occupy, the economy tanking and all that jazz, but I don’t have the energy to pretend to be a sage on all these issues. Head to the Guardian for fair and totally unbalanced coverage of the years (although I’d avoid Toynbee, who has clearly been at the Tuscan wine stowed away in her modest villa).

For me, 2011 will be primarily remembered as the year of revolution in the Middle East. With hope and trepidation we collectively dip our toes into the year 2012. Let’s hope it is a most prosperous year for all.

What about you? What resonates for you when you consider the last year? And what do you think the next year brings?

Answers on a postcard please.  

Alison Moore speaks on Barnet FC

Leader of the Labour Group on Barnet Council, Alison Moore, has given the following quote to the Barnet Times:

“This is a sad day for Barnet – the Club does wonderful work with the local community and with young people from across the Borough, and all this will now be lost.

“For years the Conservative council used Barnet Football Club as a political football – they could have done much more to try and keep the club here rather than lose yet another community asset.”

What a contrast to the attitude of her opposite number, Cllr Cornelius! Do Cllr Cornelius, Cllr Coleman and co not understand that if we lose Barnet FC from our community, we lose not only, over 100 years worth of tradition but a plethora of community projects that are delivered by the football club? Whatever happened to the Big Society?

Here’s the best bit. The opening ceremony for the Olympics will take place on 27 July 2012. Barnet’s last home game at Underhill will take place on 28 April 2012, if the current situation is not resolved. The Olympic Games legacy is all about encouraging kids to take part in sport within their communities. One of London’s biggest councils is about to force a provider of such opportunities to leave without a trace.  Can nobody else see the irony in all this?

Andrew Dismore comments on Underhill

I have spoken to Andrew Dismore, former MP for Hendon and Labour’s GLA candidate for Barnet and Camden in 2012, about the announcement that Barnet are to leave Underhill. He told me:

“I am extremely concerned about the attitude of Conservative controlled Barnet Council to Barnet FC, who they seem determined to drive out of their ground and out of the Borough, applying double standards when compared with their active  support to Saracens Rugby Club. I believe Barnet FC is an asset to Barnet  and everything reasonably possible should be done to enable them to stay in the Borough”

Spot on Andrew. It is good to have your support on this.

So what about the esteemed Brian Coleman of the Tory Totteridge set? Will Andrew’s 2012 GLA opponent be speaking out against the Council’s actions or will he be staying silent on this important local issue, like he does so many others?

 

 

Hotheadedness and a dash of self-loathing.

“In life, we all make mistakes” goes the old cliché. Boy, was that true yesterday.

At about 11am I made a rather rash and silly decision. I published some information about Barnet Football Club that I shouldn’t have been in receipt of, on an internet forum using an ambiguous username. Not only did I publish this information, but I also gave my own ill-informed, prejudiced view on the situation regarding Barnet’s future at Underhill Stadium when I was not in full possession of the facts.

My motive in all of this was to draw the information out into the open and try to get the club to make a statement, so fans could have the opportunity debate it as soon as possible. The more controversial the post, the quicker they’d have to reply was my rationale. However, it was immensely arrogant and hotheaded to think that one man, me, had the right to make that decision on behalf of the club and the group that represents Barnet fans. I betrayed the confidence of a friend and undermined people in the process.

Probably the most cowardly part of all of this was the decision I took to use another username to post this information rather than my own. I have no explanation for that. It was pure cowardice. The worst part about it is that I probably would have kept up the lie if the moderator hadn’t exposed my IP address as the source of the new account. For the record, I think that the moderator was right to do it. It would be immensely hypocritical to purport to wanting to be transparent in releasing information and then whinging when your details are revealed as the source behind that information.

Lastly, I also lied when challenged on Twitter about it. In doing so, I deployed the old methods of faux outrage and faux anger to divert attention away from myself. Not only was this duplicitous, it was also unfair on two people I enjoyed debating with on Twitter and at Barnet games.

Nobody can ever be more disappointed in me, than myself. I used to think that friends and even enemies, at the very least saw me as somebody who had integrity, if nothing else.  I think my idiotic actions have torn that idea to shreds.  But far more importantly, I may have damaged the working relationship that Tony Kleanthous has with the group that represents Barnet fans which is completely unforgivable. I just hope that Tony realises that the supporters’ group and its Chairman, who I have spoken to, are just as angry as he probably is.

For the most part of yesterday I had that awkward feeling in my stomach, the one you get when you know you’ve fucked up. I still have it now. It’s difficult not to engage in a bit of self-indulgent reflection and self-loathing when you do something so stupid, ill-informed and damaging. And I doubt that this will go away until I get the chance to apologise, in person, to the Chairman of Barnet FC and I’m not sure why he should grant me the opportunity.

When I first got involved in the politics of Barnet FC, it was almost six years ago as a 15 year old boy, knocking on doors with the Keep Barnet Alive (KBA) campaign, trying to get rid of our disastrous Tory council. Since then, like many others, I have volunteered hundreds of hours of time to the club; clearing the snow, weeding the Barnet Lane entrance of Underhill, cleaning rubbish off the terraces and promoting the club by delivering their leaflets and running street stalls on Barnet High Street to help the club raise BFC’s profile in the local community. Like every other Barnet fan who has done similarly, I did this because I love my football club and I want it to be successful.

My actions yesterday will have done nothing to contribute to the success of Barnet FC, in fact, it may well have done precisely the opposite. And it is that thought that will stay with me for a very long time.