Historic visit ends

The historically important visit of the Pope ended yesterday and day two of the trip went off without a hitch, with thousands of followers turning out in sizzling 32-degree heat to celebrate the occasion. This is the first time that the Head of the Catholic church has visited Cyprus an island where Orthodoxy is prominent amongst the Greek Orthodox population. There are divisions between those who believe that the two churches should unite and those who don't want anything to do with the concept. Talks to reunite started in 1230 but have not concluded yet so wondering whether Acas should be brought in? I suggested that Peter Woodley, who was actually on the island all of this week should be asked to break his short holiday and help with the negotiations but that proposal didn't go down well with the Archbishop who didn't know what Unite was...

There was mixed reaction from the press but on the whole the event was seen as positive. I would say that the papers dedicated half of their pages to the Popes visit and the other half on the situation regarding the Israeli attack on delivering humanitarian aid to those suffering on the Gaza strip with widespread condemnation and rightly so.

It has been a busy weekend and am glad am back.

The Pope

The Pope with President Christofias

Reporting from Nicosia where I am on a short stay (not with Tony Woodley..) dealing with the historic visit by the Pope who is here for 3 days which ends later on today.

The visit is of great interest and significance here for many reasons the main one being the need to highlight the neglect and criminal damage inflicted on heritage and historical treasures in the occupied part of the island. There are journalists form at least 30 countries reporting and the visit has gone very well. There has, of course, been criticism about the Catholic church and its stand on many things that many of us don't agree with but the the reaction, on the whole, has been a positive one and has been seen as an opportunity to share a message of peace between different people who have more reasons to be united than divided. The predicted demonstrations have not materialised or have been on a rather small scale so far.

The Pope showed great interest in churches he visited which are older than those in the Vatican and was particularly impressed with the Cathedral of St John on the green line in divided Nicosia which is more than 1400 years old.

Supporting Dave Prentis

I have been criticised by some for supporting Dave Prentis and had a few comments on this blog which I have chosen not to publish as they were negative. I won't waste my time explaining why I support Dave but he will undoublty win as those who bother to vote will be choosing him. The 'left' has also made two mistakes, first they chose two men to stand against DP, in other words no different approach, second by choosing two candidates they have shown that the difference between them is more important to them than winning the election? They have of course very creatively split the 'far left vote' and have shown that there is no unity amongst them. Do they think that appeals to the 'ordinary member'? I think not. Ah and another thing, criticising me and others for supporting Dave gives Dave more publicity. Do these people understand strategy?? Clearly not!

Increasing number of part time workers

The Cipd has reported that the number of employees opting for part time work as an alternative to redundancies has gone up by some 40% This does not surprise me as the number of companies in the private sector determined to cut costs but not lose the skills that some of their staff have is higher than during any other recessions. There is also talk amongst those managing public sector bodies for finding alternative ways to making skilled workers redundant and more 'creative' ideas are coming to light.

Israel and Gaza

The Israelis have managed to get the entire region in the middle East up in arms by totally mishandling a situation that has clearly gone out of control. Ships containing humanitarian aid were attacked by Israeli troops in the middle of international waters. If this had been done by another nation the act would have been seen as piracy?

There is no doubt at all in my mind that the so called blockade of the Gaza strip is totally wrong. People there are forced to live below the poverty line and are more or less treated as prisoners. The Israeli government claims that this is the only way to control missile attacks on its territory but they fail to see that what they are doing is creating another generation of Palestinians who will grow up hating them even more. The entire situation is ridiculous and of course the international community needs to do more to force Israel to come to its senses.

I am also amazed that Israeli strategists could not see that making an enemy of Turkey, a military super power in the region, is not very clever at all. Turkey has the second largest standing army after the USA within NATO which makes me think that someone in Israel in command of this disgraceful operation should not be given control of actions that can lead to policy disasters. This is a major PR blunder by the Israelis who have now created more enemies as if they needed more?

Ken Livingstone

Delighted that Ken Livingstone announced his decision to stand for Mayor of London and started his tour in Croydon. I shall be supporting Ken on the basis that he is the most capable of any of a selection of candidates. There is no doubt that when he was Mayor for London he did a lot of things and he was proactive and did the walk not just the talk. He will need, however, to concentrate on getting votes from those who don't live in the inner city if he is to win so good that he started his campaign in Croydon.

Are traditional relationships out of date?

Interesting surveys conducted by both the Sun and the Mirror, using a sample of 3000 randomly selected couples. Those who took part were asked if they were happy in their relationships and the result showed that 60% were not and of those who were ok most were just putting up with the situation they were in.

These findings are of course no surprise to me at all. I have always said that the traditional relationship model has been out of date in the West for many years and that most people were now more liberated and economically independent enough to do their own thing. So it would appear that statistically at least you will be better off having some really close friends and change your relationship every 4 to 5 years in other words it could be like moving house you could buy and sell a house and although the actual process won't ever be easy it will be possible. Which means that the new government can tax that and make some more money plus achieve more regulation. The argument on the other side of the coin is that humans are emotionally needy and they have to be with someone (arguing all the bloody time) to make them feel that they have some stability in their life??