European Union growing

This Saturday 10 new members will join the European Union, and how happy I am for them.
Go work and live and play anywhere in the 25 member countries is such a privilege, looked at it from this country where you can only go to Australia (and be vilified).
I felt lucky and privileged that I was able to leave the country of my birth (Belgium) and settle where I wanted to (the UK) and then choose to come to New Zealand. Not many people in the world have that opportunity, and I wish they would - who am I to try to preserve and reserve privilege - I am proud not to be a conservative or nationalist or protectionist.
My wish: for New Zealand to apply for EU membership and join the civilised world (if our neighbours New Caledonia and Tahiti can be part, why can't we?).
We would give them sensible farm policies and a can do attitude. We would get 450 million new neighbours to trade and play with. Sounds like a good idea to me.

NZ politics

The United Future Party is a "liberal party"? In that case, Mr Dunne, I'd be happy to call myself a libertarian, but I somehow doubt the Libertarian Party would have me as a member (I'm too liberal and so open-minded my brains are in danger of falling out)

Anti-semitic conference

The OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe) sponsored an international meeting in Berlin on anti-semitism.
The usual hand-wringing about an upsurge in anti-Jewish sentiment and condemnations of German skinheads for disfiguring monuments was joined by calls to stop attacks by Moslem youths. And of course anyone criticising Israeli Government policy is routinely lumped into the category of traitors of democracy who give succour to terrorists. So there.
Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch at the conference told BBC Four's The World this morning he would vote for a Republican president for the first time in his life, because Mr Bush was the only anti-terrorist candidate.
It's amazing to see unconditional support for Israel trump any concern for your own homeland's safety in your voting behaviour. Has the term 'treason' now been redefined to exclude love for another country more than your own? Or does it only apply in Israel's case? Do we have to consider ourselves all Israelis now, or be branded anti-semitic?
I'm a little bit tired of hearing we have to support Israel through thick and thin because it is a "democracy in a sea of terror".
Since Israel defines itself constitutionally as a "Jewish state", it doesn't look like there is much space for democratic pluralism/secularism/rationalism, I would have thought. (But nice to see that this discussion is not closed within the Jewish community itself)
No need to flame me about anti-semitism. Thousands of gay men who died in the Nazi concentration camps have never stopped any religious or nationalist fundamentalist from vilifying homosexuals ever since, and you don't hear gay activists using their suffering under the Nazis as an excuse to try to shut down discussion on gay policies or to solicit uncritical support.
The OSCE should organise a conference about homophobia but I'm not holding my breath.

Latter day Queen of Sheba

And the Colonel came to Europe to show good a boy he has become after all the minor disagreements such as the French and American planes bombed down and the shooting of a British police constable.
But you gotta give it to him, after Nelson Mandela he is one of the styliest state leaders we got.
He may have looked like an old queen when he rode into Brussels town, but what struck me most were his female bodyguards, dressed in snappy blue uniforms, and looked like they could immediately get on a film set, and impress the hell out of pimply teenagers. (And it is obvious that they do!)
He may have tried to crawl from under a rock into the blinking European Spring sunshine but Libya has some way to go, according to Amnesty International's Libya report. But then, hey, what has stopped us from embracing bad boys in the past, as long as they are "our" bad boys. (Cfr. Saddam: pre-1990 Rummy's chummy; Pinochet; Mobutu; et al.)

Heroism anno...

Since we've been in Anzac Day mood this week, what with all the Iraq and Afghanistan and Palestine goings on, I was struck by the Pat Tillman thing. You just know that here is a body/icon that is going to reflect the "heroism in the war on terror" when its history will be written and History Channel documentaries will be produced about the subject.
It's an interesting, albeit tragic, story about a guy who made a choice in his life, and a choice, I suspect, not many - if they had been in his shoes - would have made.
The paradox is rather unenviable: give up on a $3.5m football career to join the army at $18k a year because of a 'sense of patriotism', while the "American way of life" exhorts you to pursue happiness (which is usually defined as a fistful of dollars).
I suspect, given the choice, an overwhelming majority of people would have gone for the money rather than the body bag.
And to be totally cynical about it, it's the sort of sacrifice/heroism/recruitment poster the Pentagon (and Hollywood) will be salivating to use. No prizes to guess who will make the money out his lifestyle choice.

Cyprus

Cyprus. Island where Aphrodite, godess of love (when was the last time you have worshiped her, I mean, REALLY worshiped her? Not when you casually tossed off over the latest J-Lo video!) was born.
Little of that romantic notion is left there now, if you discount the "sex scandals" that have been going on on the British bases on the island. It's now fulltime Greek-Orthodoxy and Islam that rules the rock.
The referendum last weekend on the Kofi Annan plan to reunify the island yielded a perverse result: the Greeks voted no to reunification and will get entry to the EU as a reward. The Turks voted yes but will be left out in the cold.
The EU should cold-shoulder the Greek Cypriots until the whole island can join. Walls and separation are unnecessary and counterproductive (see Israel: West Bank Wall, and Germany: Berlin Wall). Freedom of movement and secularism is what's needed to deal with religion-inspired conflicts, not caging in (unless it's consensual play between adults).

Drinking and driving

The Kiwis' perennial obsession with the demon drink needs a rest:
Gordon McLauchlan again rightly objects to the resurgence of wowserism in our Con-ruled town, now with a raft of new areas that you can't take your drink to for a social drink - or an uncivilised boozing session, if you so wish.
You've got to ask whether prohibition can work, even for young people.
If you want to up the drinking age to 21 again, shouldn't only 18 to 21 year olds be asked, since it only affects them?
If booze drinking and driving by the young is the problem, why not introduce "drinking licences", which you can have if you do not have a "driving licence" at the same time. You should be able to swap them when necessary - any ATM machine could be configured to issue the licences (and no swapping back again within, say, 24 hours, and if you are caught carrying both of them you lose both for 12 months). And it should not only be limited to the young drinkers/drivers either since most drink driving is done by the middle aged.

Smallville Auckland

Auckland City's Fathers (and mothers) have been busily planning the future of their town, presumably before it totally turns into a huge slum.
Britomart, indoor arena, waterfront access, marina purchase, Queen Street redevelopment, you name it, it'll turn into a building site soon.
Of course, no city is worthy of that epithet if it didn't have any red light districts - you can only distinguish a vibrant metropolitan/urban area from a mere settlement by the number of red light districts it has.
In that respect the Mums/Dads are resolutely opting for the smalltown version: no matter that prostitution is now a legal economic activity, they deem it best to be kept under wraps/underground.
Silly me for thinking I was living in a real city.

TV presenters do look better nude

The NZ Herald TV guide pull out e.g. this week had Alex Behan on the front cover and an interview inside on his new role as host of the NZ version of the long running Top of The Pops franchise.
He made the interesting comment on "his craziest thing he has done for work" as being photographed naked during National Penis Day last year. The Herald declined to publish the picture, so in the name of responsible journalism here it is.
You can judge for yourself whether it's more fun than watching Top of the Pops!