Little History lesson for the Baroness

Following a recent article in Countryman's Weekly, I couldn't resist sending a letter to the editor which is quoted below.

I doubt that Baroness Mallalieu has any knowledge of recent German history (Matt David’s article “The Baroness who fights for fox hunting”, The Countryman’s Weekly 25 November). If she did she wouldn’t link a democratically elected government to the secret police of the communist dictatorship of the GDR. This comparison is disgraceful and, as a German, I am deeply offended by it.

I have seen the conditions under which opponents of the regime were treated in the remand prison of the Stasi in Berlin-Hohenschönhausen. I was shocked and deeply moved when the guide, a former detainee, explained that he was tortured and held in solitary confinement.

The GDR dictatorship who built the Berlin Wall and the heavily guarded and fortified “death zone” at the inner German border was responsible for over 1,000 deaths.

In linking the British government with the Stasi Baroness Mallalieu insults these victims and others who were tortured by the Stasi and other sidekicks of the GDR regime and makes a mockery of the torture they suffered from.

She might want to visit the website of Memorial Berlin-Hohenschönhausen to read the eyewitnesses’ accounts of former detainees (http://en.stiftung-hsh.de/index.php). She might also want to consider donating to the Memorial.

Comment on "Matadors at each other’s throats"

Comment on the article in the Sunday Times, 7 March 2009

It is hardly surprising to see the integrity of bullfighters questioned by accusations of favouritism and jealousy (Matthew Campbell, Matadors at each other’s throats, Sunday Times 8 March 2009). Matadors are in fact not “used to adulation for confronting death in the ring”. On the contrary, there is no danger of death or serious injury for a matador because the “fight” is seriously rigged. The bull’s horns are regularly shaved making it lose its sense of orientation. Once in the arena lances are driven into the bull’s back and neck muscles, which weaken it further and prevent it being able to raise its head. Men on foot then stab harpoons into its back. This all happens before the matador takes action. To put it bluntly, bullfighting is as dangerous to the matador as is crown green bowls to the player.

Comment on "As Bullfighter Gains Honor, Peers Perceive a Grave Loss"

Comment on article in The New York Times, 19 March 2009


It is not surprising that Spain's bullfighters must now wage a war of words as well as flouncing around in the arena (Victoria Street, As Bullfighter Gains Honor, Peers Perceive a Grave Loss, 19 March 2009). They are so nervous because their livelihood is threatened due to declining attendance. So they are desperate for any publicity they can get to promote their “sport”. Neither locals nor tourists are in favour. Whereas 67 percent of Spaniards are not interested in bullfighting (Gallup poll 2008), 89% of the British public would never visit a bullfight when on holiday (ComRes poll commissioned by the League Against Cruel Sports, 2008). Bullfighting is a cruel past time that has no place in a modern society. Pledge your support for a ban!

Japanese pyramids

From Times Online February 5, 2009

Japanese businessman Kazutsugi Nami arrested for £1bn fraud

Richard Lloyd Parry in Tokyo

Police have arrested a businessman and 21 of his executives for allegedly defrauding investors of a reported 126 billion yen (£1 billion). 

Kazutsugi Nami was drinking a tankard of beer when police, accompanied by reporters, arrested him in a restaurant close to his office in Tokyo at 5.30am (local time). "It was not a fraud," he said as he was led away. "The police have destroyed my businesses . . . I am a victim of the police investigation." Asked if he felt sorry for his investors, he replied, "No! I have put my life at stake." 

Police have not commented on the size of the alleged fraud but Japanese media were describing it as the country's biggest scam. According to the Kyodo news agency, Mr Nami's company, L&G, collected some 126 billion yen from approximately 37,000 people, promising them 36 per cent annual interest, despite having debts of 42.3 billion yen and only 1.4 billion yen in assets. Other news agencies reported that L&G had allegedly defrauded 50,000 investors of up to 226 billion yen. 

The net had been tightening steadily around Mr Nami ever since L&G went bankrupt. The company became well known as a seller of bed linen and health products and for issuing its own virtual currency – Enten, or Divine Yen – which were stored on mobile phones and which customers could use to buy mattresses, food, clothes and jewellery at markets and in online shops. 

Those who introduced new investors to the company were rewarded with commissions. In 2005, the company set up a "research institute" called the Akari Laboratory, which was registered with the Government as a non-profit organisation dedicated to the revitalisation of local economies. Famous musicians and distinguished academics performed and lectured at events organised by Akari. 

It became obvious that something was wrong in February 2007 when L&G announced that dividends would be paid in Enten instead of cash. It laid off most of its employees in September of that year and its offices, as well as Mr Nami's home, were raided by the police the following month. Japanese newspapers reported at the time that he had a history of involvement in pyramid schemes. 

Mr Nami was in the early Seventies the vice-president of a car parts dealer named APO Japan, which enticed 250,000 people into a pyramid scheme involving exhaust pipes. He then set up a company called Nozakku, which sold stones that, the company claimed, could turn tap water into natural water. The company went bankrupt with debts of 4.5 billion yen in March 1978 and Mr Nami was jailed for fraud. 

He established L&G and became its chairman in August 1987 with executives of Nozakku. Among the goods L&G sold was a futon mattress said to boost the immune system of those who slept on it. L&G's president, Masuo Saeki, was arrested in 1987 for a separate pyramid scheme. 

The Jobmarket. At home.

Maybe you need the distance of three years living abroad. Looking at the German job market now makes you wonder how this economy works. Okay, this is only one example but it is striking nonetheless.

This organisation is looking for a member of staff for the membership department of the umbrella organisation of Berlin child and pupil shops. Reading through the job spec I wasn't able to determine what the job really is about. They don't tell you how much you earn, unless you now what BAT Vc/IVa is.

BAT is short for Bundesangestelltentarif which is the salary scheme for federal state employees. And if you google BAT West (Germany that is) you learn that grade Vc/IVa is between 1,661.70 and 2,286.68 Euros. Per month, so an annual salary from about 20K to 27K. I fyou are between 33 and 35 years old. Less if you are younger, more if you are older.

Just dig a little bit deeper into the German public service salary structure you will soon find that BAT was changed to Tarifvertrag für den öffentlichen Dienst or TVöD in 2005. And if you are lucky to find a calculator you will eventually know your salary. It's group 8,9 or 10. Anyway, the money is the same

Oh, and they are looking for someone to join their team at 20 April 2009. Any more questions?