Young man, you should know this by now.

Walking down King's Road from Victoria Station towards Belgravia I passed a young man clearly preparing for his day as late as possible. This man, probably no older than, maximum, 16, walking in the opposite direction, was wearing suit trouser, a white shirt hanging outside his trousers, and had his jacket hung over his arm. Around his neck was a black tie hanging untied. As I walked passed him his hands were on the knot desperatly trying to tie it and I could litteraly see how frenetically his mind tried to remember how to do it properly.

Poor sod, didn't your father teach you this ten years ago already?

A Night at the Boleyn Ground

Reading today’s papers I see that I was lucky. The queue outside Upton Park tube station stretch for maybe a hundred metres and the streets where lined with shield-and-baton bearing Met officers. Nevertheless, things seemed to run smoothly. Not long after, I learned, all hell had broken loose and these few streets in East London had turned into what some described as a “war zone”.

Three hours earlier I found myself at the Boleyn Tavern, trying to avoid having beer thrown at me. I was standing in a pub doing social-anthropologic field work on the 21st century tribes of working class England, or football supporters, as they’re also referred to as. I’d come to watch West Ham United take on Milwall in the second round of the Carlings League Cup, and was in the middle of a pre-game ritual including singing, shouting obscenities about their rivals and, of course, throwing half-filled plastic-cups of beer in the air. Abiding to the laws of gravity beer falls to the ground and at one point I found myself between the beer and the floor. Oops!

The match itself is worth remembering. Together with 24,491 others I was packed into the Boleyn Ground, or Upton Park as it’s usually known. A friend of mine from the area had gotten us tickets at the Bobby Moore Stand/South Bank, which was inhabited mostly with, from what I could see, fairly die-hard home supporters. For those not having an intimate knowledge of London football rivalries, myself included, Milwall is not very popular in this part of town, and long before the match began there was a heightened tension in the air.

Milwall is a few divisions below West Ham in the league system, so normally this should be a walk-in for the home team. It was far from it. West Ham got of to a decent start, but half-way into the first half Milwall took the lead. This seemed to knock the air out of the home squad, and for the next forty minutes or so, until only fifteen minutes remained of the match, there was not much to enjoy for the over 20,000 home supporters. They sang, they cheered, they shouted and they cursed, but for an outsider the entertainment was much more to be found on the stands than on the pitch. In the far end, where the Milwall supporters were gathered, things started to happen. From where I was standing, some 120 metres away, it was hard to tell exactly what was going on, but steadily more and more police and security guards gravitated towards the area, creating a solid blockade between the Milwall supporters and the pitch and between the supporters and the local majority. Then the bubble burst and the tension, for now at least, was released. With full time less than five minutes away West Ham equalized and crowds from three sides flooded the grass in a jubilant explosion, the guards unable to do anything but watch them in despair. It took a good five minutes or so before the pitch was cleared and the match could recommence.

Full time ended in a draw and early in the first extra half West Ham got a penalty shot. The guards braced themselves, only to find once again the pitch crowded as the home team taking the lead was celebrated. When the match finally ended, 3-1 to West Ham, once again the pitch filled with cheerful boys and girls, men and women celebrating.

After the match the streets were packed, people singing and shouting. As I walked to the tube I saw the police prepared for trubble but everything went smoothly all the way home. A night that could have ended so badly was just one long and joyful study of human interactions and turn of emotions. Then I watched the news this morning and saw what had happened after I left…


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdJNu_KtA-4

Brick Lane

I’m not from this part of town. I’m not even from this very city. I’m a tourist. I’m an intruder, and it’s tattooed on my forehead. I’m a tall, blond, blue-eyed Norwegian in an Indian/Pakistani/Bangladeshi area. I’m in exotic Brick Lane. Yeah, right!

There’s nothing exotic about Brick Lane. On the contrary, Brick Lane on a Sunday in late August 2009 is a hang-out for the middle-class children and grand-children of 1968. It’s a London symbol of western cultural relativism and liberal colonial guilt. The entire street from one end to the other is filled with white Bob Marley-loving hippies and cappuccino-drinking slim-jeans & hat urban hipsters selling each other books on spiritual enlightenment, the “for Dummies” version, and African wannebe artefacts. And I fit right in.

I jot these lines down while sitting at a café called “Verge” and drinking herbal tea. In my bag is a copy of St. Augustine’s Confessions. Just after I’ve sat down and put my block on the table and started writing an old man, probably remembering when this place was still exotic for anyone looking like me, walks by and exerts “Ah, inspiration!” as his eyes fall upon my activity.

Obviously English is the most common tongue I’ve hear around here, but Hindi is not number two. The language I’ve heard second most often is French. And it’s not Maghreb French, nor is it the French of the banlieus. No, it’s proper French. It’s the French you teachers whish they commanded. It’s the French of Jean Sarkozy when he lunches with his mother-in-law.

The guys walking by are fit and slim. They wear loose and light summer clothes, sport Beatles anno 1964-long hair, smart hats and Ray-Ban Wayfarer sun glasses. They’re my age and a little older, a little younger. Some just got their A-levels and are heading for university, others graduated years ago and are already in comfortable jobs. The common denominator is that they’re all educated, successful and on top of their lives.

I'm in Brick Lane and there's nothing exotic about it.

Ireland on the tracks towards Lisbon

In a resent poll 54% of Irish voters said they would now vote in favour of the Lisbon Treaty, against 24% who said they would vote against. Might we actually get a new and sort-of proper Treaty in the EU soon? I dear not be confident but there's hope.

Goodbye General Motors, welcome Government Motors

General Motors is bankrupt and will be restructured with new ownership within the next three months international media reports. The new company will be owned by the old's creditors, unions and, wait for it, 60% by the US Government.

I'm glad GM finally went bankrupt. The company was unable to reinvent itself and its production line in accord with consumer trends, higher gas prices and the financial crisis and had as such no longer a right to survive in a capitalist society. With the American Government allowing the old GM to go bankrupt they send a clear signal to other car makers that unless they restructure and find their place in today's economy they as well might go bankrupt. Also, the new GM, trimmed down without many of its daughter companies, such as the European SAAB, Opel and Vauxhall and American Hummer, might emerge as an example of the lessons learned from the last years; focus on your core activity and understand that the old way is not necessarily the best way today. The downfall of GM might prove an excellent example of what Schumpeter described as creative destruction, that the innovation of some entrepreneurs, although driving the economy forward, in this case by producing more fuel efficient cars and having leaner business organisations, can destroy old and otherwise seemingly profitable companies. I believe GM's fall may prove to be a major step towards a cleaner, leaner and more efficient automobile industry.

I opened the last paragraph by stating that I am glad GM went bankrupt. This I stand by. Nevertheless, tens of thousand workers may, and probably will, loose their jobs because of the bankruptcy. Additional tens and tens of thousands of family members, people employed by GM's sub-contractors and so on will also be affected by this. Let us not forget that for these people GM's fall is not a good thing. Most of these people were highly qualified workers in a field in rapid change and they will need help and incentives to get back into the work market. Some of them will hopefully start their own businesses, and we need business- and employment laws that helps them along. Others need training and re-education and it is in society's interest that they get this. Not because we should be nice to these people, but because in the long run it is better to pay for their training and get them back as workers than to have them on unemployment schemes for a prolonged period.

A second point worth looking at is the Government's position. They will own 60% of the company. The Government used taxpayer's money to help GM and this is money the Government should ensure that they get back. After having helped GM back on its feet the Government should sell its shares an use the money for public goods, such as schooling and health care. However, the Government should not wait until GM is the world's biggest car producer again. They should sell as soon as possible.

But once again, GM went bankrupt because they were unable to adjust. This is Capitalism 101. Therefore I am glad they went bankrupt.

When pollsters get it wrong.

One of the wonders of living in today's media society, especially if you're interested in politics and elections are due, is that you get a continuous stream of polls showing you movements in the electorate. Sometimes, however, pollsters get it wrong.

The pollster Synovate, polling for the Norwegian tabloid Dagbladet show in their newest poll that the Progress Party (Frp), a right-wing petro-populist, pseudo-libertarian/pseudo-social-democratic, slightly xenophobic party, goes from 25.2% to 20.6% in a month, the same month they had their national convention. In the same month the Socialist Party (SV), an anti-globalisation, anti-capitalism, anti-NATO, anti-EU, intellectual middleclass party, almost doubles their figures and goes from 6.4% to 11.1%

In itself, such dramatic changes in such a short time raise a few eye brows. What make it more interesting is the two parties in question. Had the change occurred between the Conservative Party and Frp it might have been explained by internal movement on the Right, as these two parties often exchange votes, and the Conservative Party had a very successful national convention as well this month. Had it been between SV and Labour, traditionally the biggest party in Norway and the uncontested Party of the Left, it might have been explained by the same reasons as for on the Right. Had the changes been in Frp and Labour, one on the Right and one on the Left, it would likewise had been fairly easy to explain, as these two parties often appeal to the same sociological voter segment. But between SV and Frp?!? Most Frp-voters would not dream of voting SV, and any good SV-voter would feel simply dirty by as much as thinking about voting Frp.

Looking at the other parties (Conservatives +0.5 to 14.5%, Liberals +1.5 to 5.4%, Christian Democrats back 1.4 to 5.9%, Communist +1.3 to 2.4% and Coastal Party +0.3 to 0.8)% there are overall quite a few significant changes, especially for the Liberals, Christian Democrats and Communists, who all have changes of about 1.5 percentage points.

No, this time until I see other polls showing the same tendency I cannot possibly believe this. Synovate, you got it wrong.

Would you like to pay more tax for better health care?

A new survey from FAFO, a Norwegian research institute, reveals that most people are willing to pay more tax if they know it will be used to improve health care and care for the elderly. "It is clearly a myth that most people do not wish to pay more taxes" states Dagbladet, a leading Norwegian tabloid situated on the Left, quoting the news agent NTB.

There are two major flaws here. The first is the question: "Are you willing to pay more taxes if it will be used to improve health care?" No-one in their right mind having grown up in Western Europe would object to paying more taxes if they KNEW it would mean a better heath care system. The premise of the question is wrong, however. We do not pay taxes for an individual task to be done, taxes are not earmarked, we pay into the big pool. The second flaw of the question is the assumption that more money would fix health care. It is a bottom-less hole where pouring more money does no good. We've increased spending on heath care for decades and it is no better than before. It is not more money, but better organisation and more freedom for doctors and nurses to do their job that will fix the problem.