MUD, MURDOCH AND MINDGAMES

Of course nothing will stick. After the City it had to be another establishment that holds itself up as a vanguard of integrity, or rather integral to our society - 'people need to know and all that'. Regulated by another toothless institution that is unable to stop it's charge from behaving greedily, unethically, and illegally - although the City argues that everything they have done has been within the law. albeit screw the public.

And I am sure Murdoch will present a case that the readers demanded the information, so the press had to go that one step further. Problem is you have the corruptable regulating the corrupt. The politicians with their back handers and expense accounts that can be bought by the bankers and threatened by the journalists. Everyone seems to feel they have too much to hide and too much to loose. Bankers have the money and Murdoch has the information and both have power and use it for their own gain. No one else's - least of all for the public good. Take the fear away and you take the power away from all of them.

Banks are there to keep people in debt under the guise of helping us to keep out of it. The media are there to keep people fearful under the guise of keeping us 'informed'. The politicians are there to make sure this continues to happen. The government will be as inept dealing with the media as they were with the banks. Nothing will change.

There is no Messiah who will rise above it all who can magically visit those who have profited most and take it away from them. And even the social network creating a form of immediate transparency and potential to get masses together to attack in any way and every way they can these establishments that hold themselves up as something they are not - trustworthy and 'our friend' - has been corrupted by companies trying to get their message across - 'buy from me, trust me' when we should never trust them and certainly not buy anything they say or make.

As for why nothing will change in the Murdoch empire - it depends who has the most mud on whom. Rebekah Wade must be a goldmine of the proverbial on the Murdoch empire if she has been trusted and a bit like the city trader who was made a scapegoat for the practices of that another illustrious establishment that thinks highly of itself, never said a bad word about the hand that fed him - he got very well paid and kept his mouth shut. Who has the most mud on whom? That's what counts.

Wade or Brooks as she's now called will do the same. As someone who will do anything to get people to speak, RW will never crack. Any one who has achieved that level of success is as tough as they come. Like banking, journalism is a completely soul less profession. I don't think either profession attracts soul less people, I just think it makes them. Despite the seemingly huge philanthropic gestures it is a drop in the ocean of their wealth. I am more sympathetic to journalists at the top of their game because they don't get rewarded for their greed or ineptitude on the same level as do the bankers, whereas traders and the top banking bods do. And journalists at least make an attempt at transparency, getting the truth out of politicians who are nothing of the sort. It's the very last thing they want to be.

So how is the system to be broken? It is broken already but how do we get rid of it, because we're still riding on a financial and ethical roller coaster that is broken - we won't get off, (we can if we want to, but are told it's too dangerous - but how do we 'know' if we don't try?) . How do we break a system where it is in the interest of too many wealthy and informed people to keep us on there?

How do you break a system that encourages greed and corruption in the city? How do you break a system that encourages unethical behaviour in journalism? Don't focus on the characters on the stage, or the play for that matter. Focus on closing down the theatre. And building another one. Perhaps that's what all the 2012 prophecies are all about - if we don't mend our ways ourselves, something will happen that will do it for us. Be the change you want to see in the world, said Gandhi. We have the power, then why don't we believe it?

Nothing will change. Nothing will stick. If Murdoch goes another will follow, just as if we got rid of all the traders others would immediately take their places - break the system and they won't want to. Break the system and then no on would want to be in Murdoch's shoes again, because it wouldn't be worth it. Of course, those who are motivated by money will say that then society will collapse. Morally, I think it has already.

MUMMY MAFIA APP!

I have devised a 'mummy mafia' app which will help all first time mums new to the playground in navigating the madness that is playground politics. Identify if you are a yummy, scummy, plummy, schtummy, ommni, sweaty betty, chummy or crummy, and a host of other mother types - what you're like, and how you can avoid becoming mafia and being a victim. The illustrations are excellent. Just download from the apps store or itunes and let me know what you think. I am producing one for 'daddy mafia' 'granny mafia' and 'office mafia' ready in time for the new term.

COOL, COOLER, COOLEST

Wow, I've had a cool few days. On Friday I attended an event at Syon House where you could sit in and walk around very expensive classic cars. My dear friend Laura, brought five of her German Spitz dogs and they got more attention than the cars did. (they are like miniature huskies. I don't like small dogs but I like these). Everyone wanted to stroke them and ask what they were. Forget match.com, this is the way to meet a man ladies. It rained making the huge hats the ladies wore look ridiculous. I just cuddled the dogs.

Then went to the Killers concert at Hyde Park on Friday evening which was wonderful. Poured with rain of course, but there were lots of wrinklies there, so I didn't feel alone. And everyone knew the lyrics (so did I to some of the tracks).

Saturday morning, went to the Ministry of Sound to learn to be a DJ. It is in E1. Most edgy. The Ministry is so cool, just touch the walls and you feel how cool it is. The DJs oozed cool. I desperately hoped some of the cool would rub off. At the beginning I admit, I was terribly uncool and kept jumping up and down, grinning a lot and clapping, but I quickly got the hang of just tapping my feet to the beat..looking earnest and stopped the grinning and clapping and jumping up and down. We all learnt to DJ on CD and vinyl (the DJs all got very misty eyed about vinyl) and did a 'groupoff' where we competed on our DJ skills. This was utterly brilliant. We had to choose DJ names. Tom chose 'cold turkey' which won an award, I chose Smokey Popham which didn't. Tom now wants to be a DJ as well as an actor and a vet, and thinks his mum is cool just for taking him.

MONTE CARLO OR BUST

Just back from a weekend in Monte Carlo. Most visitors to this pretty principality arrive at Nice airport and if you want to pay £100 for a 7 min helicopter ride along the coast to the heart of Monaco - although the place doesn't really have a heart - it's a fitting way to arrive at a Square Mile that hosts some of the most expensive real estate on the planet and even more wealth than our own beloved Square Mile does in the City of London. Monte Carlo is a small place which packs a big punch but it's an expensive punch, verging on the obscene. I've visited twice before. First time I went with someone who had the monopoly on cob nuts in England and had his own helicopter, and second time, I was there presenting a show on the 'three faces' of the South of France, although I'm sure it has many more. The TV crew (Only three of us) started in Monte Carlo, then went onto Aix and finally Arles - the last of which proved to be my favourite destination of the three. I interviewed Ile Nastase, danced with Prince Albert of Monaco and didn't lose any money in the Casino, or win any for that matter.

Monte Carlo is an edgy place. Edgy and seedy despite it's wealth, or perhaps because of it, it should be glamorous. It has a style, but I'm not sure if it has style. The scattering of celebrities who live there and make you do double takes (was that really Roger Moore I just saw?), and the opulent so so shiny yachts that stand to attention in the harbour, are usually empty. Old Monaco has more charm - around the Palace where the narrow cobbled streets cobweb, and you find the more reasonably priced restaurants. This area resonates with a soul that the MC lacks or lost or never had. Close to the port, there's a lovely rose garden in honour of Grace Kelly, and I couldn't help think of Princess Diana's failed fountain and how two lovely ladies really chose the wrong men to marry. Grace should have stayed in Hollywood and shone with the rest of the stars.

We went on a speed boat to a private beach that cost £100 a sunbed to sit on, or was that £20 an hour? I'm not sure. Any way, instead of tanned half naked men selling donuts on the beach, they had a fashion show with a stunning girl coming round the sunbeds wearing different outfits. Any way I think it was a fashion show. Lunch was fabulous as was all the food but then at those prices you should be able to take the plate and cutlery away with you. But I'm out of touch. To me, Pizza Express seems expensive these days. And the high light? I dipped my toe and swam in the sea. The water was crystal clear, sublime and wonderfully warm, swimming in it, floating on it, an almost ethereal experience. One of the best thalassotherapy centres in Europe is next to the Hotel Hermitage in Monte Carlo, the French firmly believing in the healing quality of water treatments. For me, the overwhelmingly energizing experience of swimming in the sea worked. It was the one part of the Monte Carlo experience that was utterly priceless, and the only thing that was free.

WE NEED EDUCATION, JUST A DIFFERENT ONE...

I was privileged to see The Wall perform at the O2 last night.   Overwhelmingly powerful images and a blistering guitar solo that blew everyone in the space away, including the guy playing it.     He was, it was, awesome.  There was so much to see, hear, tell that others do it far more eloquently than I, especially those who know and have played The Wall since their teenage years.  There were an awful lot of forty something men crying in the audience during and at the end of the show who had all I suspect in their time, knocked or tried to knock the walls of their own education and limiting beliefs built up by their father, their mother, their teachers, society, politicians, no one went untouched in this show which rocked the wall down and the audience to it's foundations.   It applied as much to the women in the audience too but I think women, or most more readily cry in life so not so many tears.   And all of the messages were as relevant today as they were forty years ago, and probably will be in forty years time, which is not a good thing. We do need education, just not the sort we're getting. 

At one stage of the show there was a video image shown on the 'wall' of children who were visited by their fathers who had returned from war and had gone into the classroom to surprise them.   The camera captured the faces as they each saw their dads walk in. There was one image I will never forget.   The camera went to a girl's face who was sitting at the back of the class.  She looked about eight.   She looked up, initially shocked at seeing her dad, then a gradual wave of realisation crept over her face that her father had just walked in.   She smiled broadly, almost laughing, eyes sparkling, and then her face crumbled, slowly collapsing into overwhelming uncontrollable emotion that there was her daddy, her daddy and she hadn't seen him for so, for far too long.  He had to physically pick her up as she literally collapsed, hugging him so tight, tears blistering down her little face.    

Walking back the conversations in the car park were not I imagine the same that you would hear having heard Take That or West Life.  Could be wrong. 

YES MARM

I met Camilla Parker Bowles yesterday. She was at the London Press Club awards in the midst of some of the editors, reporters and columnists who have probably over the years had little positive to say about her or her legacy. She herself admitted she was as surprised to be there as we were, saying as far as she was concerned 'no news is good news'

What is she like? The word I would use is insipid.   An invisible woman to the flat pack personality of Charles.  

Camilla is very short (five foot two I would say) which I suppose is good as Charles is diminutive. She speaks with a low voice (think Liz Hurley) less plum more penis in the mouth. Probably one of the reaons why Charles liked her. He wanted to be her tampon. She probably yearned to be his condom.

She is also quite masculine, more bloke than horse. Diana she ain't, and meeting her told me more about Charles than it did about Camilla.

We know why Charles married Diana but in any other relationship looking on at all three characters it would beggar the question 'if he wanted someone like Camilla, what was he doing with Diana?' Camilla is opaque as a personality.

Was she nice?  The question is irrelevant.    And if I'm honest I didn't care. Her appearance made me remember that Diana wasn't there for her son's wedding and this woman was.

I do however believe she is a much better fit for Charles. She's a yes woman putting up with stuff Diana never would and sat patiently in the wings while the marriage disintegrated. She has her man who's a prince rather than a prince of a man, which he is not.   She's not so much one to watch as one not to watch or listen to. And from her appearance and manner, I feel she would much prefer to be ignored.  

A WAVE OF COURAGE AND KINDNESS OUT OF CHAOS.

I was due to travel to Japan at the beginning of April, but due to the impact of the earthquake and the following Tsunami and subsequent damage to the nuclear power plant at Fukushima, the trip was cancelled. The tour operator (Journeys of Distinction) I feel made the right decision to cancel the trip, waiting a week before we were due to travel, but following not only recommendations from our Foreign Office, but also from contacts in Tokyo who were giving first hand accounts of what was happening, they felt that travellers would not feel safe. I was personally very disappointed. Japan is one of those places that has held a fascination for me since I was a child, watching Alan Whicker travel to the country where he towered above everyone and everything seemed so very different to the world that I understood. My view of Japan is one of contrasts, of Lost in Translation, of bright lights, and yet gentle people, super fast trains and uber efficient work force, and exquisite gardens and awesome mountains, and an unequivocal national identify and courage that surpasses that of most western culture. I still feel those things about Japan, but having watched the devastation on TV and spoken to those living there, I have gained an insight into a country I still have yet to visit, but feel I know so much more about. There are those who have families to bring up and livelihoods to restore and maintain, and although Japan has been pushed to the back of the news pages recently due to what is happening in the middle east, our recent Royal Wedding, the demise of Bin Laden, and our own petty politics, this does not mean the problem has gone away especially for those who live there. Amongst all the devastation there have been many gentle stories of bravery and kindness which have gone unnoticed in the media here. Sonoko, a mother of two year old Koma, who lives with her family tells of how her husband Johannes returned from the Tohoku area where the earthquake happened. ‘We have a donkey called Rosa as well as three other horses to take tourists on tours but wanted to use Rosa to cheer up some local children who had suffered loss of their homes. He was there for a week and returned with stories about what he had seen and also with a load of toys, including a large toy Kermit frog which Koma now plays with and a tricycle that he picked up. He told Koma these toys once belonged to happy families who lost everything and had to throw them away although they wanted to keep them. He told Koma he should cherish the toys as their original owners would have done. I remember the first thing I did after Johannes returned was to wash the Kermit.” It is not just those with families who are looking to the future with incredible courage and strength of spirit. Akiko, who is 32, single and lives in central Tokyo, works as an investment banker. She keeps very long hours during the week (9am to 1am), and like everyone else at the bank, has been told that it is business as usual. ‘Senior management here have told us Tokyo is a safe place to live. They also retained a specialist who used to work for IAEA and provide us with information regarding the radiation effect on food and water gathering lots of information from many sources. “I cover local government clients. Most of my clients are now busy helping sufferers of the Tsunami, so some of the projects are now postponed. Now we try to save the electric power, so the city is much darker than normal. Because of this, I try to go back home earlier and pay more attention to save electric power and water at my home than before. We think it was a good lesson for people who live in Tokyo and have used much energy. Some trains don't work as normal and it sometimes takes more time to get to the destination. I still go out after the quake, but not as much as I fear the radiation in the air.” ‘Everyone in Japan is aware that earthquakes can occur any time. However, I don't know if many people predicted this big earthquake based on the earthquake last year. I heard the story about a city councilor building a set of emergency stairs at the elementary school last December in preparation for Tsunami and all the children at the school successfully escaped from the damaged school. I assume that some people at the damaged area had prepared for Tsunami. ‘I think things to get slowly back to normal, so I don't think I want to leave Japan. I don't know if it is safe, but I want to stay here as I have lovely family and friends here and love my job as well. We know so many people all over the world try to resolve the serious nuclear power problems and we appreciate such support. ‘We have kept normal services at the bank and we held several town hall meetings hosted by senior managements in the week after the earthquake and the senior managements emphasized that we should think about the community, not ourselves under this severe situation. ‘Many clients keep their normal life and we need to provide our services to them. Therefore, I think nearly everyone at our company keep working as normal while we have options to consult managers if we can and want to work from foreign offices or home. Most of my friends are staying in Tokyo but some friends who have very young babies have left. I think it’s important that we, people live in Tokyo keep our normal life and business saving electric power and water for Japan’s recovery.” “Admittedly, a week after the earthquake, few people went out and I heard that the revenue at restaurants decreased by 80-90%. However, now more people are going out and socialising in restaurants. We're required to save electric power, so some restaurants and department stores close their shop earlier than before, so people go back earlier. But overall, I feel that people started to get back to their normal life in Tokyo and try to spend money at restaurants and shops to support the restaurants and shops. We feel fear a little bit and we're tired as we still experience earthquake [now it’s less than before], but we hear good stories about people who have hope still in the most damaged area and we want to help each other, so I think people try to have hope. They have much more hope than they did immediately after the earthquake.” “Our company has the matching gift program. I and many my colleagues supported Tohoku area by donation. If I donate $100 to Red Cross, my company add $100 and we can donate $200 to Red Cross.” “Yuto, one of my colleagues who lives in Tokyo has visited the damaged area with his friend every weekend and painted pictures with people at the damaged area. He works as normal from Monday through Friday and drives a car for a few hours heading to Tohoku area every Friday night. He wants to cheer up people in Tohoku area by painting pictures together. Almost 30 people, from young children to elders gather and enjoy painting.” My friend’s husband runs medicines wholesale company. He kept working day and night including weekends to deliver medicines smoothly to Tohoku area after the earthquake. I heard that a restaurant in Tokyo closed their restaurant for a few days and visited Tohoku area to provided cooked food for free. I also saw the news article which many famous actors visited Tohoku area and prepared meals outdoors. “I visited many temples and shrines in Kyoto with my parents and prayed for early recovery in Tohoku area this week. We found the words praying for Tohoku area and donation box at every temples and shrines in Kyoto.” I intend to take that trip to Japan next year. When I heard of the disaster I saw no good coming from it, but having interviewed many of those who are living through the experience and who have grown emotionally and spiritually as a result of the consequences, I look forward to visiting this most enigmatic of places and the amazing people who live there.