Little Storping-in-the-Swuff

Tonight was the world television premier of Red Dust, a court room drama about the most extraordinary court ever: South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The story concerns a successful politician (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who seeks to oppose the amnesty of the policeman who once tortured him. His lawyer is a South African (Hilary Swank) who is persuaded to return to from the US by a white idealistic lefty lawyer (Marius Weyers). The performances and the direction are flawless. The photography is stunning.

It’s the story itself - adapted by Troy Kennedy Martin (Edge of Darkness) - that makes the film so gripping, a story from a country that chose to reopen the wounds of its terrible past. It is impossible to say anything more - you must watch the film itself.

If you’re not convinced, the TRC’s Archbishop Tutu said “I can assure you that you are going to find it a deeply moving film. I was amazed how authentically it captures the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, that body in South Africa that said to all of us in the world that it is possible for enemies to become friends, that it is possible for people who are different in culture, faith and all kinds of ways to live as one community.” So watch it.

Invevitably the G8 leaders have tried to put the best spin on the agreements reached this week. But there has been real political climate change, and it is clear the world was expecting progress. Despite the fact that some progress has been made, Blair was forced to admit the G8 summit has failed to make poverty history. The spin won’t wash anymore.

The London bombings moved the political spotlight away from Bush’s intransigence. The terrorists’ agenda (in as far as they have one) once again coincided with his (unsurprising, perhaps - they must stand a better chance of realising their goals with Bush in the White House). But the increased awareness of the difference it is in the G8 leaders’ power - or rather, our power - to make, has I hope made further progress inevitable.

A weblog of brilliant photos defying the London bombers.

Update: There are so many posts, click here for the very best.

Whilst Little Storping is in the home counties, in reality I’m a little further away from London. But yesterday everyone’s attention was on the capital, and I found myself relying on news feeds (not having access to radio or television) as weblogs reacted almost instantly to the attacks. The business of reporting such events has clearly changed: with the aid of digital camera phones people via the internet can respond in a way that the press can’t: pictures and eyewitness accounts now make their way directly online. The speed, scope and immediacy of this is something even the broadcast media cannot match.

Update: OnlineBlog has picked up a report on this in the Wall Street Journal.

Update: “Weblogs Prove Their Worth” in the Guardian.

Tony Gardiner, writing in the Telegraph, finds students of mathematicians lacking when called on to combine standard techniques. Apparent improvements in exam results are deceptive…

Never mind his justifiable comments about English cuisine, Pres. Chirac’s real revealation is that the Scottish delicacy has lead to french distrust of the military alliance.

This really is one for nerds. The rest of you skip to the next post…

When I first saw “Law & Order” on Five I liked the theme music. On the internet I noted the composer, Mike Post (Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue), had won an award for it.

One day I saw an old episode on Hallmark and it had a different theme. I speculated this was on old theme, been replaced with a newer jazzier version - as happened with the Avengers, amongs other series.

Since then there have been spin offs: SVU with a variation on the theme and CI with a (fantastic) new theme. What puzzled me was comments on the internet saying both themes were a variation on the original. And then I saw an episode of SVU which had a variation on the old theme I saw on Hallmark, and I wanted to find out exactly when the theme had changed. I couldn’t find any reference to a change of theme on the net.

Today I cracked it. I found a comment which noted Channel Five had changed the theme for UK broadcast, taking a track from former Kylie songsmith Rob Dogan’s Furious Angels for L&O & SVU and another for CI. NBC never used these themes, and still uses the Mike Post original (scroll to the bottom of this page to hear all the variations - they’ve grown on me). Someone at Five disliked it so much they were prepared to have all the episodes dubbed before transmission.

Case solved.

This week I’ve seen two films about the Hubbert Peak.

When an oil field is drilled, it takes time and investment for the infrastructure to be set up and the good oil to be pumped. As the oil is depleted it becomes more expensive to obtain. This “bell curve” model was put forward by a geologist named Hubbert, who correctly predicted the when US oil production as a whole would peak. He also claimed his model could predict a world peak. He predicted this would occur in the 1990s. He was wrong.

Although Hubbert was way out on his timing, there are many factors that affect when the peak might occur, and our information about world oil reserves is very poor. Most predictions put the peak within the next 30 years, possibly as early as 2013, according to a French government report. When oil peaks prices will rise. If we still rely on cheap energy and demand outstrips supply (and we don’t have an alternative), we’ll be unable to afford transport, pesticides, heating. Global markets will shrink and we may not be able to grow enough food and distribute it.

The first film, The End of Suburbia, was an overlong and poorly edited documentary on how Suburbia had become the American dream. All those who contribued (principally James Howard Kunstler, Peter Calthorpe, and Richard Heinberg) have written extensively on this subject and claimed we have almost or already reached the peak, that world recession is imminent and suburban life is unstustainable. The film didn’t consider alternative theories.

The End of Suburbia was screened by the the Green Party and followed by a discussion; but of course it was preaching to converts from the museli belt, and whilst no-one questioned the premiss of the film several people congratulated themselves on turning down their thermostats and burning wood instead of coal. The only comfort came from a worker for Small Change, a community project that will help people cope if energy prices continue to rise.

The other film I saw was an episode of the West Wing. This covered the same ground as The End of Suburbia, but at 42 minutes rather than 78 (and with some chess and some body language training for Toby thrown in too) it managed it much more succinctly.

There was an interesting contrast, though. At the Green Party meeting, the possibility of government action was dismissed, with the argument regarded as an electoral liability. Debate centred around actions we could take as individuals. I don’t think this will work. I keep my thermostat low and I don’t drive a car. But my abstemiousness may actually be driving consumtion: any significant reduction in demand for energy will drive prices down, and there will always be a ready market for cheaper energy. Another possible complication is the corrolory to the Jevons Paradox - it’s not easy to solve global economic problems. We need a collectively solution that takes in the whole picture, an economic solution. “It’s all economics” says Bartlett. “Why do the Saudis fight to keep oil prices from rising?” It’s to discourage conservation, he answers, and prevent the development of alternatives. We need intervention at a macro economic level.

If people want to make a difference they need to get involved with the political process, and I don’t mean with fringe single-issue parties. It has to be with parties who have a core ideology, a track record on the environment and most importantly a chance of power, a chance to make a difference. The scenario on the West Wing is a reminder that changes have been made by green lobbies working within parties in govenment - in the UK we’ve seen a raise in fuel duty, increased tax on inefficient vehicles and diverted funds into the railways. Like the Bartlett administration they get frustrated, and the will weakens, but the will is there and people who care should be there encouraging that. Joining a fringe party and finding like minds may be comforting, but joining the Jehovah’s witnesses of the green movement won’t benefit anyone.

Through government intervention oil needs to be conserved, energy efficiency improved and alternatives sought. It’s not something we should pretend individuals or groups can achieve alone. We need to influence government, we need leadership. We must engage in the process.