Kosovo Is Free …?

Nine years ago, Kosovo was embroiled in war. Independence was always on the cards. Now that they have declared a free state, Belgrade has started to ‘recall’ their envoys from Washington, London and Paris.Russia and China oppose Kosovo’s decision to break-away from Serbia – no surprises there then. Europe-newcomers Slovakia and Romania have also said that they do not agree (probably a throw-back from earlier times under the iron fist of a controlling state).If Kosovars want to be free, then why not?

Hardly A Teddy Bear’s Picnic …

The public and press reaction to the jailing of British schoolteacher Gillian Gibbons is exactly as I had imagined. A Sudanese court sentenced 54-yr old Gibbons to 15 days in jail followed by deportation. The only saving grace is that the poor woman has already spent 5 days in custody, therefore, only another 10 days to serve.

In September, her class of 23 seven year olds voted to name a class teddy bear. ‘Mohammed’ was the name chosen by 20 out of 23 children. Once before the judge, Mrs Gibbons apologised to the court for any offence she may have caused and angry reaction to her sentence came swiftly from religious heads, politicians, the public and Sudanese alike.

- Britain’s Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said he could not “see any justification” and called it an “absurdly disproportionate response to a minor cultural faux pas”.

- David Miliband, Britain’s Foreign Secretary said that he was “extremely disappointed” and repeated his view that it had been an “innocent misunderstanding by a dedicated teacher”.

- Catherine Wolthuizen, chief executive of Fair Trials International, said that 15 days in a Sudanese prison for such an “innocent misunderstanding a serious and harsh punishment”.

- Mike Blakemore, of Amnesty International said “The sentence is a mockery of justice and we consider Gillian to be a prisoner of conscience”.

- Ibrahim Mogra of The Muslim Council of Britain called the sentence “completely unjustified” and “I’m utterly disappointed with this decision”.

- Sudanese blogger, Amjad, wrote “Why are they assuming that the teddy bear was named after our prophet? This is really stupid!”.

- A comment on the same blog said “Unbelievable. And totally outrageous … More excellent PR for Islam, and the forward thinking, rational, Muslim community”.

- Malcolm Moss, a Conseravtive member of the Commons foreign affairs committee said “It is tokenism by the Sudanese government. If they had really felt she had insulted Islam, they would have sentenced her to much longer. It seems they are scoring points.” However, he went on criticise the British government “Our government dithered over intervening and this is what happens. We should have been a lot tougher, a lot sooner.”

And what of Sudan’s top clerics? Well, they called for the full measure of the law to be used against Ms Gibbons and labelled her actions “part of a Western plot against Islam”. So, you can see what the poor woman is up against. Despite the best intentions of the British Consular staff, Ms Gibbons was taken off to Omdurman women’s prison in Khartoum. And, by all accounts, it’s not exactly the Hilton.

So, upon Ms Gibbons’ return to the UK I wouldn’t blame the poor woman her if she cashed in on her experiences, sold her exclusive story to the highest-bidder and didn’t donate a single penny to 3rd World education. But I doubt it.

Talking of that, I rather expect that the British Tabloid Press (the most vicious on the planet) will conduct their own witch-hunt in pursuing and exposing Ms Gibbons’ snitch – the colleague who reported her to the authorities. Although we are generally respectful of other nations and their individual cultures, I just hope that it doesn’t escalate into some form of Islam-bashing. But when you pass such a sentence on someone seemingly innocent and apologetic, then you roll with the punches – no matter if you truly understand the reaction or not.

Who’s Zoomin’ Who …?

At the beginning of his/her career with SNCF (the French railways), a TGV train driver earns a monthly wage of between €2 200 and €3 200 ($3200 – $4600), ending his/her working life on a monthly wage of around €4 880 ($7000).

In addition, they each receive;

- an end of year bonus
- a working bonus (whatever that is)
- a TGV bonus
- a coal bonus (yes, you read that correctly)
- a holiday bonus
- compensation for additional hours worked
- benefits for working away from home (difficult for a bloody train driver, no?)

They work, on average, 25 hours a week (not the 35hrs advertised). For a 40-yr old train driver, his annual salary, with all bonuses included, comes to a staggering €75 000* ($109,800)

He then has to work a further 10 years at 25hrs a week with a nice fat month off during the summer season, and can take retirement on a FULL government-funded pension at €75 000* ($109,800) per annum – their last recorded salary.

Did you know that the word “customers” does not exist in SNCF language? People who take trains are called “les usagers” (the users). Hmmm. Yet they are holding the country to ransom because they feel that they are being treated unfairly. I wouldn’t normally use foul language on this blog, but **** me!

* source: Life On The Rails magazine

Petit Lord Fauntleroy

In May, the French elected Nicolas Sarkozy. Why? Because they said they wanted change. So how come, just seven months into his presidency and his programme of reforms, are train drivers, public utility workers, teachers, civil servants and magistrates going on strike?

The ancient, and quite honestly, out-dated working practices of public sector workers date back to the age of steam. It allows them the privilege of working for 37.5 years and then retiring on a full state pension at the age of 50, possibly living for the next 30 years or so off the government.

During the reign of the last few presidents, the French have been living of ‘borrowing’ but the government and the national coffers can no longer take it. Sarkosy has said that if the service of a government worker were to work up to 40 years worth of service, then the repayments might just balance-up the books.

Well, the spoilt public sector workers of France don’t believe that’s the case and have decided to down tools. I spoke to a chap cycling to work and he said “The things that the train divers want are positively ridiculous. They want to be luckier than everyone else. They claim that their lot is difficult and that driving a train is hard work. It’s not. Let’s be reasonable. It was when you had to shovel coal … now that the public transport system is on strike, people who live out side of Paris simply cannot get into work, so will loose money for everyday they cannot get in. And this is fair?”

So, the metro and RER service cut to a minimum, with 2 and hour, the occasional TGV, 1 bus in 10 and road traffic chaos – especially outside the city. And the image above? Well, that’s the result of the government treating public sector workers with kid gloves for too long …

The unions expected the public to be behind them but they’re not anymore. 71% of people agree with Sarkosy’s reforms and 61% believe that the government should not back down.

In the UK and the USA, most work until the age of 65 before putting their feet up, but not here. They want it all: to work for 35-hrs a week until the age of 50 and then spend the next 30+ years doing what you want with the government paying for the bloody lot.

What’s YOUR Excuse …?

The US Stock markets has fallen sharply as the culmination of a weak dollar, soaring oil prices and the credit crisis eroded confidence.

The Dow Jones index of leading shares stumbled 360.92 points (2.6%) and banking stocks were widely sold as fears over financial problems facing Wall Street showed no signs of slowing down.

One bank in particular, Morgan Stanley, said exposure to bad sub-prime related investments had reduced its own profits by $2.5bn.

Over the weekend, Charles Prince, chairman and CEO of Citigroup, resigned his post when the bank reported a 57% drop in quarterly profits, after losses in the sub-prime mortgage market. Next, the head of Merrill Lynch, Stan O’Neal, resigned after reporting heavy losses.

And what do they put most of it down to? Accounting charges.

There must be some seriously rich accountants staggering around Manhattan belching vintage champagne fumes … and on a school night too.