BBC Restrictions

Much complaining by the private broadcasters about how the BBC is too powerful and stops them from offering their own pay for services (in terms of things like news, catch up services).

They see that the BBC's offerings are free.

No they are not they are paid for too! But I agree that maybe rather than having them paid through compulsion, it should be opt in somehow. That is going to be very hard to arrange though, and how on earth do you do it for online content (iPlayer, web news?).

Tough times, FTSE soars?

There is something not quite right here. The FTSE is just sat off 5000 points, but yet we are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and the heaviest government intervention in private banking ever.

So I'm not suprised it is being called a fool's rally. The substance it has may be based on companies staying profitable after having made cutbacks, but they cannot do that every quarter - eventually you have to drive profits through sales.

The double dip recession is being talked of, and maybe it's now looking more likely. Also on the brighter side there is the idea that the economic news is over reported because we have so many news feed channels now - so the situation always feels worse than it is.

Portsmouth already relegated?

Perhaps that is a little over pessimistic - and no matter what team they fielded of recent years Arsenal would always beat them (maybe not 4-1 as they did yesterday).

But it does feel their time in the premiership is coming to an end, I cannot complain though it has been a good ride. In truth it was probably more fun getting there than actually being there - where unless you can match the spending of top clubs your only hope each year is to survive.

They are facing difficult finances, and this begs the question where has all the money gone? Not a well run club or one with a sustainable future, it was always going to end this way.

Our worst export

I think a key problem in the West is that belief that democracy kind of works for us, so why cannot it not work elsewhere. But we seldom analyze why it works for us.

Democracy works for us because we've had all our main disputes, upheavals, and the we can all be considered a single entity as a country. We're not grouped as a collection of feudal warlords - those times have long passed for us.

So the worst form of all governments except all others that have been tried, as Churchill put it, is it a great idea for places like Afghanistan? We tend to see it as the thing that will stabilise a region.

Brown is tying all this to helping deal with the terrorist threat at home. Such a claim is very tenuous - we could probably acheive more by dealing with the extremists inside our country (those that could be persuaded that the life they lead in the west should be fought against).

I'd much rather he say the direct affect which is to help the people in that country - a noble enough claim in itself (just as was the case in former Yugoslavia).

Amercian Healthcare vs European

Typically hysterical news clips from America this week about healthcare reforms. Little in the way of factual presentation, but the usual advertising campaigns stirring up placard holding right wingers who "don't want to be taxed for other peoples illness"

How enlightened.

They are at least comparing themselves to other nations, typically European but call these "socialised healthcare" like it is a bit of a dirty concept. The case has not been overly helped by YouTube political sensation Daniel Hannan who had one clip of "I wouldn't wish the NHS on any country" as part of the "debate".

So I feel sorry for Obama, clearly wanting to help the millions with no access to expensive healthcare insurance - America always has a fend for yourself attitude that comes to the fore. Of course the media do not help by focusing on the extremes to get their story.

Book read: Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama

I was lent this earlier Obama book written around 1995. Re-published with greater success in 2004 once his name was better known.

An interesting read of his family background and the stages in his life where he found out more about his family history. The book divides into the places in America he lived and ends on a trip back his roots in Kenya.

The book centres arounds his search for a better idea of who his father was - having only met him once. It turns out he was a complex character who had gone to America to study, married a white American and subsequently returned home. The complexity seemed to stem from a grandfather who was playing both sides of the tribal and colonial influences on Kenya.

Beyond this the book is an interesting read on Africa, how the west has affected it - the friction of colonial rule (for example inventing taxes that forced the tribal people to work for the white man so that he could pay them).

Overall it reassured me more that this man is now president, someone with some real world experience and clearly a deep thinker on issues outside of America.