Have you seen her? No. STOP IT!

This Madeleine story has been going on my nerves for a while now. Basically since it started. Don't get me wrong. I feel sorry for this family and wish them that they find her soon. But the whole country is getting crazy about this thing. Well, at least the media is. Leave it to the tabloids! Please! I cannot stand it anymore! If you don't bother carry on reading, my point is simply this. Why should this girl and her family deserve more attention than any other abducted person?

There were 846 offences in 2002/03 in England and Wales alone. Also has anyone ever questioned that the media hype may do the girl more harm than good? I mean decreasing her chances to be found alive?

It was predictable that The Sun would exploit the story. But live coverage from the BBC? Eleven minutes prime time with anchor Hugh Edwards live from the Algarve (10 o'clock news 15th May BBC1)? And what was the news? Well, that there was no news. The couple had been seen walking on the beach. But there was an agreement that media would not bother them with interviews. Nice, they are so respectful.

Earlier this week it was reported that the parents feel guilty because they hadn't been with her when she was abducted. Jesus, of course! What did you think? That they are happy about it.

There is more. Today the Prime Minister in waiting demanded that the Portuguese police should release more details of the case. Can someone please tell him to stay out of this.

And when you think it can't get any worse... BBC online has justed annouced that the parents are to see the Pope.

To sum it up there are 4,270,000 hits for "Maddie" on google and the entry on wikipedia has about the length of the WW2 article. Appeals from David Beckham and Christiano Ronaldo, yellow ribbons at a football match, uncounted campaigns. The rewards total £2.6m - and counting.

And has anyone ever dared questioning this madness? Well, I have. Anyone out there joining me? Yes, found them!

And while I'm moaning 128m are still searching...

We love David M.

If there was ever polictician to praise, it must be Environment Secretary David Miliband. No, I'm not in the Labour party, they didn't bribe me or anything. I just think that he takes his job seriously and tackles a serious problem. One that has been left unnoticed, indeed ignored for far too long. I'm talking rubbish, I mean about waste and avoiding waste in particular. I am aware that after announcing the Government's plans everybody feared that the wheelie bin chips will trigger a spy rather than an environment programme.

The most important part for me, however, was that someone mentions the enourmous waste in this country. The Independent ran a brilliant campaign against waste - i.e. waste as in unnecessary items such as packagin or most interestingly carrier bags. I was shocked when I heard that Teso alone gave out four billion - this is 4,000,000,000 - carrier bags to customers last year.

The mere fact that Miliband mentioned carrier bags seems remarkable to me. He talked not only about recycling quotas the UK needs to meet, he actually talked about avoiding waste. That's the point, you don't need to recycle somehting that has never been produced and used in the first place.

So, take your carrier bag to the shop and refuse new ones. I have to tell the assisstants over and over again as they already have the new bag in their hands when I arrive at the till. But they'll learn if more people refuse it.

Of course it remains to be seen if the Government really acts though on this problem. And if Miliband will still be in his job after 27th June.

Sorry, Bryan, but that's it

Marks and Spencer drop Bryan Ferry over the Nazi gaffe. Oh no, sorry it wasn't because of that. We wouldn't have used him for the campaign anyway, or least it was "highly unlikely". Ferry apologised for his remarks earlier. But, between us, how likely is it that this just M+S PR? A pretty bad one btw...

Just as you like it

The German government wants to reintroduce border controls for the G8 summit in Heiligendamm from 6th to 8th June. Germany signed the Schengen Agreement and introduced it in 1995. So how is it possible to simply opt out for a couple of days as it suits you? It seems the government is afraid of (radical) left wing protestors and attacks.

To be fair there were attacks in the past, just remember Genoa in 2001. But I doubt very strongly that one can put so called suspects under "Vorbeugehaft" (which I guess can be translated as a preventive arrest) and indeed reintrodce border controls for a week or so - then abandon them again and say, well, principally Schengen is a good idea, but sometimes we just need the Cold War back.

Ferry III

It's really getting confusing now. More than 300,00 hits on google. I remember finding only to German papers mentioning him. Only two weeks ago...

More in the UK
BBC
Yahoo News
Telegraph
Brandrepublic
Contactmusic.com
Mail on Sunday

Blogging
Bryan you disappoint me

Eire
RTE

Even Australia and Canada
The West Australian
Reuters Canada

More re Mr Ferry

There were more stories in the Daily Mail and the Mirror today.

Bryan's Bunker

I guess Bryan Ferry had no idea that his remark in the interview for the German weekly Welt am Sonntag (4th March) a couple of weeks ago could be used against him. But then how daft can you be to admit that you admire Riefenstahl's movies, Speer's buidlings and Nazi mass parades and not think that there will be an outcry? In a German newspaper! Up to now Ferry was lucky. Even the Welt editor's were sensible enough (or gutless) to leave out the passage of the March interview (Headline: "I am a serious player") on their website. It seemed that the remarks remained almost unoticed in German media in general. Only Spiegel online and freundin, a women's magazin reported. I actually discovered it in the satire magazine Titanic (April edition) in the infamous column "Briefe an die Leser".

Today's Independent on Sunday finally reveals his "Nazi gaffe - and the outcry was prompt. And loud.

Moreover Ferry calls his West London studio "Führerbunker".

Gut, 10 Uhr 30 Gaststätte Brummer...

Die berühmt berüchtigte Satirezeitschrift Titanic (Ausgabe Juni 2001) hat das Ausstiegsprogramm des Bundesamtes für Verfassungsschutz zum Anlass genommen, bei DVU-Kreisvorsitzenden anzurufen und sich nach ihrem Ausstiegswillen erkundigt. Genauergesagt ist der Anlass der Misserfolg der eigens für die Aktion eingerichteten Hotline. Will sagen, Neonazis wollen nicht aussteigen und rufen folglich nicht da.

Warum sollte man auch darauf warten, dass sich die "Fahnenflüchtigen" melden? Titanic druckt ja auch keine Leserbriefe ab sondern "Briefe an die Leser".

Der "TITANIC-Telefon-Terror" war ein voller Erfolg. "Julius Streicher", die Redaktion hat die Namen der DVU-Kreisvorsitzenden netterweise mit denen von Nazigrößen ausgestauscht, nahm das Angebot und mindestens 25.000 Mark "finanzielle Unterstützung" dankend an. Und damit nicht genug: Für weitere 3.000 tritt er auch in die SPD ein!

Köstlich! Vor allem der Anruf im Originalmitschnitt (letzter Download).

Wer im Glashaus sitzt, sollte nicht mit Steinen werfen

Der türkische Außenminister Gül hat das neue deutsche Einwanderungsgesetz kritisiert. Ausländische Ehepartner, die nach Deutschland nachiehen, müssen schon vor der Einreise ausreichende Sprachkenntnisse nachweisen. Nach Herrn Güls Ansicht verstößt das gegen die Menschenrechte. Ich bin wahrlich kein Freund von schärferen Migrationsgesetzen - zumal ich selbst in einem fremden Land lebe. Als Repräsentant der türkischen Regierung aber in einem anderen Land die Menschnrechte einzufordern geht zu weit.

Der Länderbericht von Amnesty International listet im Kapitel Türkei zahlreiche Vergehen auf. Nach einem neuen Strafgesetz können Menschen, die sich zu bestimmten Themen äußern strafrechtlich verfolgt werden. Es gibt zudem regelmäßig Berichte über Folter und Misshandlungen. Das Vorgehen der Polizei gegen Demonstranten wird als "exzessiv" bezeichnet. Im November 2006 wurden vier Demonstranten erschossen.

Natürlich kann und soll jeder deutsche Gesetze kritisieren, schon gar Einwanderungsgesetze und ganz besonders deren Verschärfung. Kommt diese Kritik aber von der Regierung eines Landes, das selbst massiv die Menschenrechte verletzt, so wirkt diese Kritik bestenfalls unglaubwürdig.

On my mission...

... to eliminate stereotypes I deal with "Germans don't have a sense of humour" today. I was at a wedding in Frankfurt, Germany last weekend. It was in fact my cousin's wedding (Jörn and Sonja on the left). I realised that my preparations were mediocre at best when my boss asked my if I had written my speech. It is not a German tradition that the broom's best man holds a humorous speech. Nevertheless the wedding was very nice and very funny. Funny especially because of a special comedy programme (Schmitts Reisen). Thanks for that, Sandra, well done! I also learned that a 83 year old guest was forced to change her travel itinerary this year because her children were concerned about her well being during air travel. So she's only up to short flights to Bulgaria and the Czech Republic this year. She travels on her own btw.

Living in London for almost a year and a half now my present had to be English somehow. So invited Sonja and Jörn to London for a concert and gave them the first season of Green Wing to get them used to British humour. He's a doctor in a hosptial and she a physiotherapist.

The later the hour the more unusual the dancing becomes.

Moving House

I have to say that my idea - and in fact my experience - of moving house is somehow different from what I experienced yesterday. Christina, however, pointed out that they only had two people helping during there last move - and they had lived on the second floor then. So, no problem. Right, I started as the only member of the team filling cardboard boxes with books and files. No worries, I loved the breakfast :-)

Due to my remarkable skills in logistics we managed to get all the staff in the van (proof pictured with Christina and Martin). And off they went to Oxford. Bye-bye guys, hope you have a good time.

Rain and city ponds

In one of my first blogs I argued that the stereotypes a lot of people have with regard to Britain and especially British weather were untrue. Well, the facts remain, London had more sunny hours than Madrid in 2006 and I still haven't experienced a lot of of rainy miles while cycling through the city.



It does, however, rain in London as it does in any other European city from time to time. So you would expect a reasonable sewage system. The pictures on the top and left prove otherwise.

I have passed this spot (Southwark Street close to Borough Market) regularly and it always looks like this after a shower. There is either a gully that is constantly blocked or there is no fall that would allow the water flow towards it. I mean, this is not a puddle it comes closer to a pond - and it's not the only spot on my way to work. I only cycle 15 minutes btw.

Health & Safety

Und ich dachte, in unserem Büro, dessen Sicherheitsbeauftragten ich die Ehre zu sein habe, sei es gefährlich. In der britischen "Nationalen Sicherheits- und Gesundheitsbehörde" wimmele es so tagesschau.de am heutigen Samstag nur so von Gefahren für Mitarbeiter. Markant, weil eben genau diese Behörde, die Aufgabe hat, solche Gefahren zu bannen. Landesweit.

Leider habe ich bisher weder herausgefunden, auf welche Quellen man sich bei tageschau.de beruft, noch, um welche Behörde es sich handelt. Die einschlägige Behörde wäre NIOSH (The National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health’s), aktuelle Berichte über Versäumnisse sind aber weder bei bei der BBC noch Guardian online zu finden. Beides sind in der Regel sehr verlässliche Quellen und beim Health & Safetywahn der Briten ist es zudem sehr unwahrscheinlich, dass ein solcher Skandal unentdeckt bliebe. Keep on searching.

What could happen outside your front door

This building or what's left of it collapsed this afternoon. It's literally a hundred meters from my flat. Just phoned my mum, telling her that I'm ok and our house is still standing. I wouldn't know however for how long.

BBC NEWS
Building collapses in east London
A search has begun for trapped people after a four-storey building collapsed in east London. Emergency services were called to Commercial Road, Whitechapel, at 1640 GMT on Tuesday following reports of a building partially collapsing. Sound tests are being carried out on the building to determine whether people are trapped inside. Paramedics at the scene treated 10 adults and one boy for shock, but no-one was taken to hospital. Loud bang Steve Ware, from the London Fire Brigade, said: "We're trying to work out if there are people inside. We have no confirmation of anybody involved at the moment. "We have specialist teams actually in the process of using listening devices and we're considering what plan to adapt." About six to eight metres of debris has fallen onto the pavement in front of the building, said emergency services. The building was being refurbished when the first and second floors collapsed. Part of the building has fallen against scaffolding on the front of the site, which is leaning against a lamp-post. Ali Morris, landlady of The Castle Pub, said: "My flatmate came and told me he'd heard a loud bang so we looked out of the window and the fire brigade were already coming out. "We came down, they sealed the road off and you could see all the debris that had come out of the building and the scaffolding is leaning right over."

Commercial Road is blocked in both directions. There are delays in the area, with all traffic being diverted along Whitechapel Road towards Mile End. It is also affecting the buses with routes 15 and 155 being diverted. Police advised motorists to avoid the area around the western end of Commercial Road. Scotland Yard said cordons around the collapsed building were expected to remain in place until further notice.

Story from BBC NEWS - Published: 2007/02/13 22:45:58 GMT

Weltmeister II

This time it's in exports. China is close though and expected to get the cup next year.

Deutscher Außenhandel verzeichnet 2006 Rekordüberschuss

Deutschland hat im vergangenen Jahr so viel Waren ins Ausland exportiert wie nie zuvor. Wie das Statistische Bundesamt in Wiesbaden mitteilte, betrug der Wert der ausgeführten Produkte insgesamt 893,6 Milliarden Euro. Das waren 13,7 Prozent mehr als im Jahr zuvor. Für 2007 gehen Volkswirte davon aus, dass die Branche weiter wächst, wenn auch nicht mehr so stark.

Ausgabe des dradio-newsletters: Deutschlandradio 20 Uhr Nachrichten vom 8. Februar 2007.

About things I do not understand

Haven't moaned in a while. So here we go. Tell me if I'm too naive, but sometimes I feel that things could be so easy.

To start with, there is this waterless urinal. You might have seen it in a restaurant. I mean, whoever invented this thing, give the guy the Nobel Prize and make these urinals compulsory for every pub, restaurant, government building, university etc. How many water could be saved?

Number 2, why can't you abolish cars in the city centre like Montpellier (which is twinned with Glasgow btw) did? You can then even safe the money for proper cycle lanes and pedestrian zones because cyclists and pedestrian can simple use the streets. Beside exceptions for emergency services, give special permission to couriers, but increase the number of bike couriers and have low emission delivery vans. Effectively abolish SUVs and sports cars in cities in general by increasing tax by some hundred percent and/or set a petrol consumption (e.g. five litres). Subsidies cycle to work programs massively and encourage employers and employees o join.

To be continued.

WELTMEISTER - at last

Germany wins the Handball Worldcup! The team of coach Heiner Brandt who won the titel as a player in 1978 beated Poland 29:24.

tagesschau.de Telegramm, 04.02.2007, 17:54 Uhr

Handball-WM: Deutschland ist Weltmeister

Die deutsche Handballmannschaft hat im eigenen Land das Endspiel der
Weltmeisterschaft gewonnen. Das Team von Trainer Heiner Brand besiegte in
Köln die polnische Auswahl souverän mit 29:24 Toren. [...]

Weitere Informationen: http://newsletter.tagesschau.de/re?l=6m5n10I3gyho1I0

El Morro, Rumba, El Prado

And on we went. The next day we visited El Morro, a massive fortress built in the late 16th century to spot enemies approaching the city.

Vedado and Habana Vieja

We then moved on to the Plaza de la Revolución. The memorial in the middle of the square – named after the national hero José Martí - is not really pleasant, due to its height of 109m yet impressive. We judged most of the monuments that way, seems to be common in communist countries. Nice contrast to the massive concrete building: By chance we saw a colourful parade with dancers on stilts.


While going around the city in the coconuts you obviously get a very good impression of the day to day life in Havana. Most remarkable are the means of transport, pictured below.

The old part (Habana Vieja, above) where we stopped next is totally different from the newer quarters. Here you find colourful houses, newly renovated sights and nicely cobblestoned streets. Could have been southern Italy or so.

I especially liked the houses round Plaza de la Catedral with its balconies and stained-glass windows.