Just Finished Reading: About Looking by John Berger (FP: 1980)

After enjoying the author’s previous work ‘Ways of Seeing’ (or at least finding it a refreshing change from my normal reading) I thought I’d given him another whirl after seeing this book in my local bookshop after trawling through the Art & Design section. For some reason I find his second book both less interesting (overall) and harder to read – or harder to get into and get reading at a reasonable pace. I think my main problem was that, without looking them up, I often didn’t know the artists he was talking about so had no reference to hang the words on. Pictures would have definitely helped there as I didn’t feel a lot of motivation to fire up the internet to check things out that should have been on the page. The other thing that both slowed me down and resulted in that ‘slogging through the text’ feel was the use (or overuse) of technical ‘critic’ language we all know and the from things like ‘highbrow’ movie reviews. This is where I regard an author as ‘being up their own arse’ and basically both showing off and excluding those not ‘in the know’ – by basically belittling them. I thought that an author with his well-known left leaning political beliefs would be beyond that – apparently not. That left me somewhat disappointed as you can imagine.

Saying that, things where not all bad – far from it. The first section in particular (largely on photography) was very interesting where the author discusses the function of Zoos, the growth and popularity of personal photography and how photography can be used in the public domain for political purposes. The rest of the book was a series of reprinted articles looking at the work of various artists or artistic movements/styles. Here I found picking to be rather slim and was tempted more than once to skim over paragraphs looking for the more interesting stuff. Bad, I know.

This was, apparently, a book of some significance in the Art and Design world in the 80’s but I couldn’t really see it myself. His first book I thought had more to say and said it better. One for art critics only I feel.

Cartoon Time.

Just Finished Reading: Robbie’s Wife by Russell Hill (FP: 2007)

LA script writer Jack Stone is on the edge of burning out. With his career in the doldrums, a failed marriage and no new ideas he’s quickly running out of options. Deciding on a whim to travel to England (where they speak a form of English) to find inspiration he ends up in a farmhouse bed and breakfast on the South coast. Intending to spend only a few days he can’t help but be captivated by the still attractive farmer’s wife Maggie Barlow. As fantasy amazingly turns into reality Jack can’t believe his luck. Trapped in an apparently loveless and abusive marriage Maggie is looking for an ‘out’ and seems open to moving back to LA with Jack and her young son. But standing in the way of Jack’s last chance of happiness is Maggie’s husband Robbie. Running away isn’t an option and neither is a messy long drawn out divorce. But farms are dangerous places and accidents do happen – especially with a bit of careful planning and a push at the right time.

I’ve been trying the Hard Case Crime series of books over the past few years and, honestly, haven’t been overly impressed. I’m not sure if they, on average, simply aren’t up to much or whether I’m just expecting too much of them – being such a huge fan of the Noir murder mystery. Like most of the others this was OK – often just OK – but readable enough for me not to put it back on the shelf unfinished (which I really don’t like doing). Jack as a character wasn’t up to much and the story wasn’t really believable enough. None of the characters – all reasonably drawn – really engaged me that much, even Maggie who was honestly interesting and intriguing. The story was also rather slow and plodding which didn’t help matters. No dramatic fights, chases or much else to be honest. The sex scenes (few that there are) are largely and instantly forgettable. Then, about 20-30 pages from the end the whole tone of the book changed to reveal one hell of a sting in the tale which threw the previous several hundred pages into a whole new light. Everything had to be re-examined with the new perspective and I did finally turn the last page with a smile and a ‘well done’ nod to the author. He did, I think, leave things too long to pull the rug from under my assumptions and could have made things a bit more interesting (with maybe a few hints along the way) to make the ending more dramatic (rather than simply clever) and I think this would have got me over the feeling that this was still essentially a fairly boring read. Saying that it was still (just) passable and might wile away a few days at the poolside without exercising the mind too much.

[2015 Reading Challenge: A book with a love triangle – COMPLETE (17/50)]

Comic Book Time.

Surveillance commissioner warns councils 'turning off CCTV'

From The BBC

23 May 2015
 

Councils in England and Wales are turning off CCTV cameras in an attempt to cut costs, a surveillance watchdog has warned. Tony Porter, the surveillance camera commissioner, said switching off cameras would mean the police would find it harder to detect crime. He told the Independent the situation was a "concern" and blamed the government's austerity cuts. He is due to present his findings to the government in the autumn.

Mr Porter, who is the commissioner for England and Wales, told the newspaper that councils could face greater scrutiny of their use of CCTV, including potential inspections and enforcement. He said: "There are an increasing number of examples where councils and employees are citing a lack of money as being the rationale to reduce the service or completely change its composition - and that does concern me. Because CCTV isn't a statutory function, it is something a lot of councils are looking at. Most people recognise the utility of CCTV for supporting law enforcement. To degrade the capacity may have an impact on police. It may well be that they will find it increasingly difficult to acquire the images that will help them investigate crimes. I do think public authorities should be held to greater account."

The UK has one of the largest number of CCTV cameras in the world. The British Security Industry Association (BSIA) estimates there are between 4-5.9 million cameras, with around one in 70 publicly owned.

Mr Porter has written to council chief executives to remind them of the law and code of practice. In a speech to the CCTV User Group conference this week, he warned of misuse of cameras in some local authority areas. He said: "I've seen councils in large towns like Blackpool and Derby stop monitoring their systems 24-7. My understanding is that this is not as the result of a review or public consultation but simply to save money. And as austerity measures continue to bite on public space CCTV will we see a deterioration of standards and training?"

Mr Porter was appointed surveillance camera commissioner in March 2014.

[At last, a good austerity news story – we’re not being spied on as much as before due to cost saving measures. Maybe with the next round of expected Tory austerity measures we’ll be spied upon even less. Kind of ironic really…. Of course even if every council turns off every camera that means only 1 in 70 are removed from 'active service', and this is supposed to have a significant impact on law enforcement? Really? Or is that just another excuse to privatise our police force?]

The Mathematics of Art....

Just Finished Reading: Butcher & Bolt – Two Hundred Years of Foreign Engagement in Afghanistan by David Loyn (FP: 2008)

As this incisive and eye-opening book makes abundantly clear, Afghanistan is an easy country to invade and an impossible one to hold. If the recent Coalition Forces had known their (easily available) history they would have known that and many lives on both sides could have been saved. For centuries now the same mistakes have been made over and over again giving short shrift to the idea that we learn from history. Clearly we do not. From the First Afghan war in the early 19th Century, to the Second Afghan War mid-century and the inevitable Third War from the late 19th into the early 20th centuries the same attempts were made to control the country (as if the nation of Afghanistan actually existed) in the same way and failed in the same way. The Russian Occupation, which never apparently planned for an extended stay, similarly failed despite the brutality of their response to being attacked and their equal disregard for their own conscript casualties and those of the local population (combatant or not). The Allied Forces did no better in their invasion after the destruction of the bases there after 9/11. Easy in, impossible to hold, difficult to leave. Reading the accounts over the past 200 years could have told them that – although excuses would no doubt be found for it being different ‘this time’ even in a situation where our advanced technology is completely negated. This indeed is the main trust of the book.

Essential told in two halves – the historic and the recent – the author, who spent a great deal of time in the region and personally interviewed commanders on both sides of the divide (so much so that he was called a traitor by some and threatened with criminal proceedings), continually points out where things went wrong because of a fundamental mismatch between the image and the reality of Afghanistan perpetrated by people, both political and military, who felt that they had no need to understand the country they had invaded or the people who lived there. Over 200 years when myth met reality the real always won and people died because of it. As several commentators rightly said on the back cover this is a book that everyone thinking of campaigning in Afghanistan should be forced to read and think over. No doubt there are probably plans somewhere for a future occupation either by the Russians, the West or China and unless they understand what they are getting themselves into they will, like armies before them, leave the country ignominiously and leave behind chaos that will no doubt produce yet another generation of terrorists to fall upon the world. The only thing I think we should do with Afghanistan is leave it alone. Let them fight their endless tribal wars whilst keeping a watchful eye on things to see that this does not spill over into their neighbours backyards as it has already done in Pakistan (I believe the technical term for this is 'blowback’). If necessary call in the occasional airstrike or drone mission when things get dangerous enough and then leave well enough alone. It’s a modern variant of ‘butcher and bolt’ I agree but at least in might keep things contained on their side of the mountains rather than ours. Highly recommended for anyone interested in the region.

Cartoon Time.