Love this picture!

Saudi elections.

Well it's a start.

Latest news on relief for refugees

Thanks to all readers of the blog who took the opportunity to make donations through the collection initiative made by residents of Monks Eleigh.

I understand from Kathy Haddow, one of the organisers, that blog readers responded not just with donations but also with help in sorting out the clothes etc.  Although the hall was only available for a week a good quantity of warm clothing and bedding was collected from generous donors.

The donations went to the Red Cross who will raise funds from selling some of the clothing (all money to go to Syria).  The organisation has also be meeting refugees at ports and airports,  kitting them out, and giving them vouchers to use in Red Cross shops.

Apparently some charities are not taking donations of clothing etc but I understand that the Red Cross is continuing to welcome such items.  It is therefore not too late if you have something to offer!

Monks Eleigh reaches out to refugees

Residents of Monks Eleigh are spearheading an initiative to collect much needed supplies to ease the hardship and suffering that are being experienced by refugees from the war in Syria.

The community will be organising a central point for the collection of warm clothes, bedding, books, toys and any other items which displaced families sorely need.

Please contact Kathy Haddow (01449 741331) kathy_haddow@hotmail.com

or Sharon James (01449 744122) sharon_james1@hotmail.co.uk

Or please leave your contact details in the book available in the Monks Eleigh shop.

Cuba Libre?

Cars in historic Havana

I think it would be a mistake to get too excited about the re-opening of the U.S. Embassy in Havana today.

We visited Cuba last year and were surprised at how 'closed' the place remains.   We had two guides and one of them was relatively open about the realities of life in the country, and also restrictions on freedom of speech and thought, until the senior guide was in earshot!  Then he clammed up pretty quickly.  I do not think that this is a culture that will change quickly, and certainly not under the current regime.

And then there is the state of the place! As readers of this blog know I am not keen on governments, or indeed councils, owing property.  In my experience public buildings are rarely cared for properly and the value to the public purse rarely properly realised.

Some of the dire examples of public ownership in this country pale into insignificance however when passing through the once elegant suburbs of Havana.  Many tourists do not get beyond the atmospheric, if somewhat scruffy,  downtown historic area.  However, as can be seen from the picture below, large swathes of old houses further out of town are simply falling down.  I took this from a moving bus, so apologise for the 'soft focus' and 'slant'.

Seafront properties in outer Havana

In the interior the situation is even worse as can be seen from the photo that I took of empty factories in the industrial town of Hershey.

As was seen in post Perestroika Russia, public ownership of property over a prolonged period, results in urban squalor and decay.  The state cannot be trusted to look after things for long.

Humankind cannot bear very much austerity, a comment on the Greek 'no' vote, (with apologies to T.S. Eliot.)

I am not at all surprised at the 'no to further austerity' vote that was the result of Sunday's referendum in Greece.

I do not think that the collective population of a country in financial distress is very different from a single human being in the same position.

When I worked at the Citizens Advice Bureau a good proportion of our clients were people who, through no fault of their own, had got into debt.   Sometimes this was the result of profligacy, but far more often it was due to some 'life accident' such as illness, bereavement or divorce.

As a matter of course we would sit down with our distressed client and work out a personal budget for them, seeking some relief from their creditors and mapping a way towards solvency once again.

What we learned very quickly however is that people can only 'economise' for a limited period.  For a while they can manage without things that, although not absolutely essential for survival, make life worth living.  Ask them to follow a regime of personal austerity for too long however, and failure to keep to the repayment plan was the inevitable outcome.  Experience taught us in fact that five years is generally the maximum time that people can 'do without'.

The corollory to this was that if the position was too hopeless, and the time of austerity necessary unreasonably long, then bankrupcy, and the relatively clean sheet that that offered, was the better option.

A photo from the para-olympics

Further to my post below about Mike Stone, I have just received this picture of our friend from Great Waldingfield hard at work at the Olympic Park.

News from the Para-olympics

I had a call today from Mike Stone from Great Waldingfield who is working as a National Olympic Committee assistant for the duration of the Games.

Attached to the Algerian Team , Mike has promised to tell me more about the experience when the Games are over.

I understand that the hours are long, there is a lot of walking about and that he is enjoying the experience a good deal!

The Year Ahead. Part One (The World)

Looking back at my predictions for 2011 I have to say that, in contrast with the previous year, I did pretty well. To see last year's forecasts click on: http://jennyantillsblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/year-ahead.html

It is always with trepidation that I embark on this exercise, but as I said last year, old habits die hard, so here we go!

Like almost everyone else, I find it hard to be very positive about the economic outlook for 2012.   I expect at least one or two of the PIIGS to leave the Eurozone, which will cause some severe problems for much of the European, and also some of the British, banking industry.  The associated turmoil will make economic growth hard to achieve in the year to come.  The Euro will however survive, although it will be used by fewer countries this time next year.

These uncertainties will probably mean that the UK stock market, which, under the circumstances, has done well this year, will undergo some sharp setbacks.  I think that these declines will be short lived however due to the fact that for a number of technical reasons shares, particularly of a defensive nature, offer a relatively safe haven when compared to other asset classes.

Against this background, the only practical advice I can give is this:  If going to Southern Europe take some dollars with you and make sure that your arrangements to come home are watertight.  I am no longer in a position to give advice on the stock market!

There are four high profile political elections coming up this year.  In my opinion Boris and Vladimir Putin will win their bids for re-election and Obama and Sarkozy will lose.   Putin’s successful bid to become Russian President once again will be due to continued electoral abuse and the nature of the government’s control of the media*.  I expect the regime’s relative tolerance of opposition parties will be short lived and that trouble lies ahead.

In the UK I believe that the coalition will hold together for another year and that their popularity will hold up surprisingly well.

The year ahead will not be an easy one, but the spirit of the nation should be massively improved by the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.  I am not so sure about the Olympics...as others have pointed out, for those only marginally interested in the events, the inconveniences involved may well outweigh the pleasures.

Let’s hope in any event that some of the visitors to London in 2012 find their way up to Suffolk and spend some money here!

*This reminds me of a nice Russian joke courtesy of the Moscow Times:

Journalist, to head of large psychiatric hospital:  So all your residents voted for One Russia?  (Putin’s Party)

Doctor:  No, not all.  One voted for Nicholas I, and another for Nicholas II

Norway

I have been shocked an upset by the recent news from Norway.

We travelled in the country recently and everywhere we went were met with friendly faces.  Theirs is a small, cohesive, mutually supportive, society which is quite unused to this sort of community tragedy.

I hope that the country will take heart from the international concern and support being shown