Olympics and civil liberties

I am thinking about making a video on the subject of civil liberties and The Olympics. Apparently a lot of people are thinking along the same lines, so there's no point in keeping it a secret.

The first thing I'm told is that I'm almost certain to get arrested and put in jail for the duration, anything up to six months before the event. It may happen.

You can't make a video like this secretly since you need to talk to the authorities, or at least ask them for comments.

But given the huge amount of money being poured into the project (enough to make a banker blanche) you can well understand why the authorities are sensitive.

It is a curious thing. If I am right and this is dangerous, then we are clearly seeing a full frontal attack on civil liberties. In the past civil liberties have been compromised and eroded as part of the campaign against the IRA and the War on Terror, but this is the first time in my life that civil liberties have been threatened so that people can run or swim races!

It is quite obvious that the Olympics should never have come to London or any big city for that matter. It is simply impossible to organise the necessary facilities (security, transport, accommodation) in the time available. As a result corners have to get cut and civil liberties threatened.

If the Olympics has to be held then it seems to me it should be done well outside any urban area and in a place where cheap transport and accommodation can easily and cheaply be constructed.

Probably the best idea would be to have it in a single place (perhaps in Greece) constructed by the international community on a scale that would fit the event.

Give the possibility of disasters of various kinds occurring in 2012, I wonder if more people will start to think along these lines soon.

Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself

Franklin D Roosevelt said it in 1932. He was talking about the economy when he made his there is nothing to fear but fear itself remark. But he might have been talking about crime.

For Home Office figures recorded 8% fewer crimes overall between July and September 2009 than in the three months previous, with burglaries down by 8% and robberies by 9%.

Car crime fell by 20% over the same period.

In all, police in England and Wales dealt with 1,107,500 offences, 100,000 fewer than in the same quarter of 2008.

The number of murders also dropped to the lowest rate since 1998-9, with 651 in 2008-9, a fall of 100 on the year before.

Sex crimes did increase (by 5% compared to the previous quarter) but police spokesmen suggested this was due to their efforts to persuade more victims to come forward and report this type of crime.

Yet the media has been dominated by the case of a couple of lads who tortured in a most brutal fashion some other boys. Appalling, yes. Horrible, yes. Typical, no.

Thanks to modern security levels (much stronger glazing, improved locks, cctv etc.) it is becoming much harder to be a criminal. In fact these days, the middle class crime of fraud is probably the most serious threat to society.

Yet many old ladies cower in terror and feel unsafe to venture into the streets. Is FDR right? Do they have nothing to fear but fear itself?

The question came to mind when watching a film called Back-Room Boy starring Arthur Askey and made in 1942. In this film Askey shows his cowardice by attempting to barge into the room of a young girl and spend the night with her. All entirely innocent and anyone involved with the film would have been shocked that any sexual undertone had been discovered. I'm sure they would have said that it was not they who had the problem but the people who saw the sexual innuendo.

But these days we have sexualised children to such an extent that it is impossible not to be slightly shocked by Arthur Askey's behaviour. I very much doubt if this film could be shown on a mainstream tv channel.

Why has this happened? Michael Moore (Fehrenheit 9/11, Bowling For Columbine) suggests it may almost be a political conspiracy, that the ruling classes find it easier to pass anti civil liberty legislation thanks to the fact that we are all constantly in a state of heightened fear.

That may be true. Many cherished ancient freedoms have been lost during the term in office of this so-called Labour Government.

But I think the medium is the message, that modern mass communications thrive on fear. The politicians merely jump on the band wagon, because that is what their job is (band wagon jumping). That's what democracy means.

Dumbed down tv

It is often said that tv is full of rubbish, silly prattlings of celebrities famous simply for being famous. Nothing could be further from the truth thanks to the BBC iPlayer. There has always been a sprinkling of good quality tv, the trouble was you had to sit through a lot of rubbish to get to it (or govern your viewing by an alarm clock). This is no longer true. Thanks to the iPlayer you can watch what you want, more or less when you want to watch it, so long as it is no more than seven days after transmission (28 days if you download it).

So yesterday I watched The Secret Life of Chaos (producer/director Nick Stacey) in which Professor Jim Al-Khalili explains the history of an idea, chaos theory and self organisation, in a truly intelligent way. This is not like any other documentary you may have seen on chaos theory. All the rest were filled with pregnant, unanswerable questions. This offers real insight. It also contained many stunning, yet relevant images. Must see tv for anyone interested in science.

Then there was Why Do Viruses Kill. This was really radio 4 on tv for the most part, but what radio! We got introduced to the man who saved 300m lives! We also heard the story of the man who created life! He really did create his own virus from a bunch of ingredients he ordered over the internet. Jurassic Park in real life. As tv the best thing about this rather wonderful documentary was the talking heads, the scientists themselves. Fabulous to see them describe some of the strangest and most challenging ideas in the Zeitgeist. The thing I took away from this is that maybe the planet is run in the interests of the viruses, not us. We are simply their hosts. A strange but compelling idea.

Finally there was Three Men Go to Ireland (director/producer Andrew Fettis), which is amazing tv. How anyone persuaded three stellar personalities like Griff Rhys Jones, Dara O’Briain and Rory McGrath to work together on the series is beyond me. But this was wonderful tv with the lads each getting to do a turn amidst beautiful landscapes and interesting technology (a slow barge and a car that takes to water). A very pleasant way to spend 59 minutes..

Dans Paris

Christophe Honoré's Dans Paris (made in 2006 and lasting 90 minutes) is a very accomplished work that is also enjoyable to watch. From an English perspective it is quite interesting that two characters demonstrate they are mad by jumping into the river, they are in Seine! I believe Christophe Honoré is probably perfectly well aware of the English pun.

The film is really a love story to Paris, as so many French films seem to be. There are a lot of attractive young men and women who seem to spend quite a lot of the time semi naked, which is easy on the eye. But what makes it worth talking about is the techniques which aim to disorientate the audience. The leading character (Louis Garrel) in a very Godard moment talks directly to the audience, telling us he's not the leading character. Well maybe! He certainly doesn't suffer as much on screen angst as his brother (played by Romain Duris) but he gets to bed most of the leading ladies...

Jump cuts are used almost randomly, not to take the action on faster but seemingly saying to the audience that you have watched so many movies you are no longer capable of seeing what's going on. Your visual palate is jaded. Look at this and see it anew.

Another technique used for the same purpose is to have the characters talking but you can see that their lips are not moving. This is not a soliloquy but normal conversation presented in a disorientating way.

It sounds tricksy and silly but in practice it works (for me anyway).