NOW! That's What I Call A Tune! 46

I was going to choose Stephen Gately with New Beginning but I couldn't find a good version of it on You Tube. In its place, I've decided to stay in Ireland and to choose another act managed (I think) by Louis Walsh. 

Hands up if you remember Samantha Mumba and Gotta Tell You...

Andrew

Sunday Sounds 49

It's Sunday Afternoon (just). Why don't you go and pour yourself a Brandy, don your Smoking Jacket, light a Cheroot and - when you're quite ready - settle back and enjoy Herbie Hancock and Annie Lennox performing Every Time We Say Goodbye?

Andrew

Saturday Six

Welcome to a new feature for my blog. Saturday Six will be a hand-picked half-dozen selected from my favourite blogposts and articles of a week; drawn from the pool of blogs I read and links I've followed on Twitter. It's likely to have a political bent as though I don't write as many political posts as I would like, I do read plenty!

On that basis, Stephen's Liberal Journal and Caron's Musings are likely to feature regularly, as they do this week. While I'm mentioning other blogs, I'd also point you in the direction of Jonathan Calder's Six of the Best posts, Andrew Hickey's Linkblogging and Jennie Rigg's The Blood is the Life posts for further digests of what people are reading. And, of course, there's the Lib Dem Golden Dozen.

So, without much further ado, the inaugural half-dozen are:

Stephen and Caron's pieces on Julian Assange and the UK's "threat" to enter the Ecuadorian Embassy to remove him.

Tom Copley on LabourList - on the irony of Assange's relationship with Ecuador.

Why should School Playing Fields be the responsibility of the Department for Education and associated QUANGOs? Dan Falchikov has an excellent point.

Suffering from OWS (Olympic Withdrawal Syndrome)? There's nothing like a good montage to perk you up - and Stephen (a different Stephen!) has one from the Lego Games.

The final post this week goes to Jo over at Stealing Good Design for her to-die-for desserts. Well, I say that, but I'm still awaiting my dinner invite! :-p In any case, if these were even half as good as her cakes, then they would have been exceptional!

Andrew

See No Evil 2012 - 1

It's that time again - Nelson Street in Bristol is hosting the second See No Evil. Last year's event saw a grey, soul-less, dead thoroughfare between Bristol's shopping and entertainment quarters transformed into an outdoor gallery with lots of colourful and images. Sure, not everything was to everyone's taste (some even claimed none of it was to their taste) but there was no denying the artistry of many of the pieces and the difference it made to a journey down the street. This year will see more pieces painted, additional sites used and the event also forms part of  Festival 2012 and the Cultural Olympiad to boot.

Three large scale pieces from last year have been kept; the rest painted over ready for this year's pieces: many of which have been getting executed over the past week. There is also an additional site at Temple Meads this year, where a particularly impressive "Last Supper" scene has taken shape... 

Here are some "Work In Progress" pictures taken over the past week; look out for these and other works in various posts to come:

You can see my pictures from last year's event here.

Andrew

Julian Assange: Some Thoughts

So, Julian Assange has been granted diplomatic immunity by Ecuador and Britain stands accused of threatening to storm the Ecuadorian embassy in order to forcibly remove him and extradite him to Sweden.

Assange is a divisive figure - and not just between the establishment and the extreme left. He is divisive even amongst those who would consider themselves liberal. The added complication of rape allegations - which he denies and are seen as a proxy for American moves to seek his extra

This divisiveness has led to two of the Liberal Democrat bloggers I follow most closely publicly disagreeing: somewhat of a rarity as Caron pointed out when I tweeted about it:

You can read Stephen and Caron's respective views here and here. 

I'm going to qualify my remarks by saying that I've not followed the Assange case particularly closely. Also, while I believe that leaks can be justified, I believe the wholesale dumping of information into the public domain is irresponsible. Anyway, here are some thoughts that sprang to mind earlier:

1. We shouldn't be storming embassies in order to extract people we wish to extradite. Doing so would undermine the integrity of the diplomatic system and, potentially, put British Embassy staff at risk if similar circumstances were to arise elsewhere.

In any case, the statement reads more as a bit of sabre rattling - applying thumbscrews - rather than as a serious threat; it has, of course, somewhat backfired on the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

2. ...but we should be extraditing Assange. Whatever you think of the motivations of the two woman involved in the allegations against him. Whatever they alleged political backgrounds and former pronunciations, rape allegations are serious and should be thoroughly investigated. Ironically, this is one of those issues that many supporters of Assange would otherwise be adamant about. 

As to the seriousness of the charges: whether or not the acts in question would fall under the definition of rape in this country, whatever happened to "When in Rome?"...

It is alleged Mr Assange left Sweden when his lawyer was informed of his imminent arrest. It is a fact that he took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy when extradition proceedings were due to start. As things stand (and as far as I understand it) there is no US Arrest Warrant outstanding. Even if their was, Sweden is a fellow liberal democracy with a robust legal system - and is a co-signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights. I see no reason not to allow it follow due process and - should the US issue a warrant - deal with it appropriately.

3. Should we really be taking Human Rights Lessons from Ecuador? Caron's blog contains a link to the Amnesty International pages and reports on the country - do take a look. I find myself wondering what the regime of President Correa would have done if Wikileaks had leaked embarrassing or harmful Ecuadorian documents.

Andrew