This post is a short note to be attached to end of yesterday's post, "All it takes is a spark", which was a kind of journalistic editorial of events in Woolwich and the reprisals and remarks made in response to it.
What interested me following that post was that it became my most read post within only a matter of a few hours. Yes I only have three posts (this making four), but yesterday my daily readership record doubled from 35 to 70. It seems that when there is a big news story on then we will read basically anyone's take on the situation. Thinking about it this isn't too extraordinary, if we have an interest in something then it makes sense that we will seek to increase our intake of information regarding that interest.
Additionally interesting was that my U.S. readership rose from 2 to 19 yesterday. I've done a bit of research and it seems that the Woolwich murder has been relatively big news in the U.S. I also gained readers in Italy and Germany.
I now face a blogging challenge. How on earth am I going to continue to produce captivating posts that will attract readers when my own life if really rather mundane. Perhaps, I could devote it to posts similar to yesterday's, that is I could make it a kind of news and reaction column. Hmm... (Thoughts on this are welcomed by way of comment below).
In no way am I seeking to undermine the horror of events in Woolwich, I simply found it interesting how people reacted to a news blog.
My continued condolences are extended to all those who have been affected by the brutal killing, particularly the victim of the attack,Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (right).
In the light of events yesterday in Woolwich it didn't take long for the army of bigots to make themselves seen. They were on Twitter, on Facebook, on the news and, more seriously, in public.
It only takes the mindless, barbaric acts of a pair of men, a metaphorical spark if you will, to rekindle racial hatred and violence, as well as unnecessary and unjust intervention from unrelated persons (perhaps I am included in that group, although I try to be impartial). It is true that the attack in London does itself seem racially and politically motivated. But in my view that is no justification for any similarly mindless retaliation.
Unfortunately, it seems that this view is not shared by some people. The BBC have reported that overnight two arrests were made for violent acts that are being seen as direct responses to the violent killing in Woolwich. One of those arrests was for "racially aggravated criminal damage" in Gillingham, another man was arrested at a mosque in Braintree for attempted arson, and, perhaps predictably, around 250 supporters of the English Defence League clashed with police at the scene in Woolwich.
In my view, all that the original attack has achieved (although I would rather wish it would not have achieved anything) is that it will be a cause of fear for many people, and unjust hatred among others. Already the armed forces have issued advice that military personnel should "conceal" their uniform when in public [EDIT: advice repealed at 10.45] and, as mentioned above, reprisals against innocent Muslims did not take long to rear their ugly racist head.
Perversely, those who have sought to defend the Muslim community from abuse have sometimes become offensive or bigoted themselves. This tweet from Nick Robinson (above), the BBC's Political Editor, infers that he received a backlash after reporting on the Six O' Clock News that the attackers were of "Muslim appearance", as he says himself he was quoting official sources so any offence caused would not have been from him in any place, but what is more notable is that when you bother to investigate those who were seemingly offended - as I have - you find that it is not the Muslim community who are up-in-arms at the remark but in fact mostly middle class, white suburban housewives or leftist liberals who will attack the mainstream media at every chance they get. [EDIT: Nick Robinson's BBC Blog "One phrase and why I'm sorry I quoted it"]
I have nothing against leftist liberals, in fact I may even class myself as one (perhaps more centralised on the spectrum than those in question here), but it is often the case that this pool of people hijack a situation in the name of the anti-establishment movement. I welcome and embrace a free and open society where anyone can question the media and have their say on current affairs, I just wish that sometimes people would consider their words and actions a little more carefully and perhaps bother to check that what they say, think or do is relevant, truthful and just.
As is common at times of despair the light of human decency and reason will reveal itself. This picture (left) shows a totally innocent and unconnected woman, named by the Daily Telagraph as Cub Scout leader Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, trying to talk-down one of the men involved in the attack, reportedly asking him "Would you like to give what you have in your hands?", referring to the knife clearly visible in the man's left hand. Ms. Loyau-Kennett says that she spoke to the man in an effort to prevent further violence. This woman acted selflessly, in the pursuit of the safety of those around her. She had no way of knowing that the man she was talking to would not attack her and she should be highly commended for her actions.
The men who savagely killed a man on the streets of London should be condemned by all, although there will unfortunately forever be some who will remain sympathetic to their cause. These men who wanted to "start a war in London" represent only themselves, they have been denounced by the very Muslim community whom they claim to fight for and as such any attack or hatred towards that community is totally unjust and should be equally condemned. The two men involved were shot by police and are both under arrest in separate hospitals, it seems clear at this time that they acted alone so there is no need for knee-jerk reprisals.
The police investigation is ongoing and my thoughts and condolences go out to the family of the victim [EDIT: Victim named as Drummer Lee Rigby of 2nd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers (right)] of this savage and barbaric attack. [EDIT: I also wish to extend my condolences to the families of the attackers, who will be facing a very difficult road of emotion and torn loyalty.]
This is the "me" post. Solely about me. I promise that I will try to deviate away from the topic in future posts but I just wanted to give a bit of an outline of myself.
I love politics. Often I think I love it too much, it is a bit odd. But then I simply do not understand the cultural obsession that orbits the idea of 22 men kicking a spherical piece of leather to each other, so I suppose its only fair that I too have something to observe from afar and enjoy. Since becoming unemployed I have had the chance to feed my hunger for politics by simply watching television. The BBC's Daily Politics, PMQs and BBC Parliament provide me with lots of juicy political protein on which I can gorge.
Also, with elections taking place recently I was able to once again become politically active. This an often frightening experience, I thrive on the adrenaline and sense of action that is gained from knocking on doors and disturbing stay-at-home mums, night workers and retirees. But sometimes, just sometimes, the person you disturb is glad to see you and actually wants to speak to you. They can use you to get their issues heard, whether it be disappointment with their son's mental health care or elation for the new 20mph speed limit on their street, it is always nice to hear from the people and have the opportunity and capacity to respond to them myself or by passing on their comments to their local representative.
Another passion of mine is musical theater. Now this is perhaps where most of the ambiguity regarding my sexuality has come from but I am completely heterosexual, just a tad flamboyant and, well, camp. My personal favorite musicals are Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera and Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's Les Misérables. I have only ever seen Phantom live but would love to see Les Mis sometime soon. I also hope to go and see Miss Saigon, again by Boublil and Schönberg, when it returns to London in the near future. I have on DVD the 25th anniversary performances of both Phantom and Les Mis and also the film versions of each. I also play a lot of computer games. My favorite platform is the PC but I also play on the Xbox 360. I enjoy mostly simulation games like SimCity, The Sims, Tropico and Prison Architect but I also enjoy a bit of role-playing with games like Fable. Finally, music. Live music preferably, but do own a not insignificant number of CDs (not a download fan). Since 2005 I have been going to festivals. I have been to Beautiful Days every year since then and I wouldn't miss it for the world. I've been to Volksfest in Plymouth a few times and Bearded Theory once. I would love to go back to BT one day but at the moment cash and logistics are just stuck in the way. Alongside my love of festivals and their special blend of music I also enjoy tatty pop and the Eurovision Song Contest is my favorite TV musical spectacle of the year. So I think that's most of everything about me. I might add stuff if I've forgotten it but hopefully I'll be able to stay away from personal nonsense in this blog now. That will be nice.
Trying again
Know me? Well hello. Don't know me? Well, hello to you as well.
If you do know me then you may well know that I have blogged in the past but that I've never really stuck at for more than three of four posts. I've decided to try it again but seen as I can't remember the account details for my old blog I'm having to start from scratch. Ho Hum.
As in the past the inaugural blog post has unavoidably become about the blog post itself and I had planned for this to happen. In fact I had planned to mention that I had mentioned blogging, I had not, however, planned to mention that I had planned to mention it (Still with me? Me neither).
Still trying
Sine December I haven't had a job. I am becoming increasingly tired of the fact that I am unemployed, the days seem so long and tedious and I have almost run out of things to do. For example I have watched Les Mis on blu-ray twice today and even so there is still time to fill until I must sort dinner.
But I am still trying to find a job and hopefully, provided I didn't fluff it up at interview on Monday, I could soon be working at the same place as my lovely Kelly, super.
Trying something new
I am political. I used to strongly support the Lib Dems and so I campaigned for and with them, but then they decided to become a second Tory party and I couldn't support that. So now I will campaign for and with Labour. The people that I have met from the local party in Exeter are all lovely. That said, as were the people from the Lib Dems, it was just the party that began to stink. Hopefully, I can continue to support Labour in Exeter and can help them towards continued and further success. It was a good feeling to be on the winning side for the County Council elections recently and yes, that was one of the factors that led me to defect; a desrie to succeed.
I would love to become even more deeply involved in politics, perhaps becoming a party official or even an elected representative. So it feels good to be involved with a party of good people which I can support and which I can be confident will succeed.
Oh, one more thing
As my blog title and address suggests I am slightly camp. I just watched Les Mis twice for heaven's sake. I love eurovision, musicals and the royals but also, and rather crucially, women. I am camp but also as straight as... er... a straight thing.
