President Aquino and the wheelchair joke in New Zealand

I have a bone to pick with President Aquino of the Philippines.

I know that he is the son of the assassinated Benigno, I know he is the son of Cory who came
to power after Ferdinand Marcos was exiled due to the People Power Revolution, and I sympathise
with his attempts at changing the corrupt mentality which pervades Philippines
society.

I even understand his bitter annoyance at his predecessor Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo.

So why am I upset with him? After all, surely he represents
the new face of the Philippines? A man on a mission, keen to drag his country
into prosperity, moving forward yet embracing his nation’s culture. Yes, well,
let's pause on that for a moment.

The Chinese Paralympic Paradox….

A nation which has little regard for human rights, which has limited disability legislation in place, which tends to hide it's less fortunate subjects away, and where the average able-bodied person ignores those less-abled who can often be found begging on the streets of Beijing, or forgotten in the rural communities where they have to fend for themselves, is walking away with gold medals at the London Paralympics.

Why is this? And does it show that the Chinese are embracing the disabled with equal rights?

Does it mean they are becoming a much more caring government?

Or does it mean that they just want to win – to be the best – at all costs?

The Olympic Closing Ceremony – how was it for you?

Olympic closing ceremonies are not designed to upstage the opening ones, and that’s why they are the least remembered.

Although the British contribution during the Beijing handover in 2008 was memorable for all the wrong reasons.

Most notably the use of a London double-decker bus which opened out on the top looking remarkably similar to one destroyed during the city’s terrorist bombing in 2005.

The 2012 closing ceremony was meant to celebrate the nation’s arts and music, but even I, an adopted Londoner of over 35 years, was bemused if not confused by most of it.  

Never in the Field of Human Conflict………

It was Great Britain which provided the inspiration to the founders of the Modern Olympics.

That legacy in this 30th Olympiad has come home. Whilst the official language is French, it is the dominance of the English language which turns the world on its axis.

In this world where China is flexing her muscles, where Russia plays dangerous games, it is the free democratic nations of the world which provide the light. Would you want to live in a world dominated by China or Russia – in sport or elsewhere?

If the European Union competed as one entity it would rule the world. UK, Germany, France, Italy, Holland, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Norway – have a combined gold medal total far greater than that of the China.

Yet their combined population is considerably less than China's 1.5Billion – indeed the population of the EU is similar to the USA.

Of course the EU consist of separate countries, with different languages, but they are free democratic ones also.

An Anglo-Aussie Olympic Game Changer……

Heatherwick Studio is the company responsible for the torch phenomena at the London Olympic Opening Ceremony.

As the days pass, the technical vision and skill of the display is being increasingly praised and recognised.

From his King's Cross studio in London, Thomas Heatherwick, the designer of the copper cauldron said “We were aware cauldrons had been getting bigger, higher, fatter as each Olympics happened and we felt we shouldn’t try to be even bigger than the last ones.”

The fantastic elegant design has been described as "imaginative and ambitious and the most complicated cauldron ever built."

Yet, credit should also be given to an Australian company called FCT Flames who contributed their knowledge to Heatherwick's concept (see how they did it at the end of this post).

Brilliant, Bonkers and British.

They said they could never top the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony. They said that the Brits should not even consider trying. The Chinese had more money than sense, and threw it all into a precision regimental display of human mass, with more fireworks to tilt the world on her axis, and enough drums to cause  a quake. The Earth moved in 2008.

No don’t try to better it, just make it different! Well, the London 2012 opening ceremony was different, and it was better. How does a nation, with so much history, that has had so much influence in the world, tell her story in 3 hours?

Supermarkets, Globalisation and Marmite – a Caveman Perspective….

Regular readers of this humble blog will know that I advocate the Paleo Diet aka the Caveman Diet.

The fundamental truth being that prior to the arrival of agriculture 10,000 years ago, man, ie homo sapiens, and even his ancestors in one hominoid form or another, ate only fresh meat, fish, wild vegetables and fruit.

He did this for at least 2.5 million years. Starch, wheat, yeast, grain and cereals, milk, butter and cheese simply did not exist.

They did eat eggs, but only by sneaking up on a nest and nicking them.

The London Olympics – Stop Bloody Moaning!

Here at Bardiness HQ the control room is buzzing in anticipation at the imminent start of the greatest event of the century.

20,000 journalists are arriving to the Sceptered Isles, as well as 10,000 athletes, and over a million tourists.

Very soon the Olympic torch will pass just yards from the Bardy Command Centre, to eventually end up at the Olympic Stadium on the 27th July.

The hot news is that the main security contractor G4S (aka Group 4 Securitas) have failed to perform and grossly underestimated their ability to provide the necessary manpower. No gold medals for them then.