Barack Fever Over

A year in and the US seems to be losing its love of Barack Obama. Well that is the very real case if you are a voter in the traditionally "liberal" state of Massachusetts.
It seems extraordinary that a man, who apparently has the confidence, attention, and goodwill of the entire world, is losing the confidence of his own public. This seems unprecedented in US politics where the reality is often the reverse and where a popular home president can often be distrusted overseas.
It seems a shame that Obama's focus will presumably turn inwards to address the domestic insecurities of the American public. Insecurities that seem founded in self-interest and a distrust of social government.
These ideas are not dissimilar to recent US foreign policy where diffidence to matters of global equality, trade, and the environment, were only matched by economic, political, and military aggression when such diffidence was threatened. And not just by acts of terrorism, but by pleas for third world trade equality through GATT, G20, and so on. In fact it is interesting to look at US trade policy in Haiti as recently as 2 years ago. US foreign policy in the area led to the mass de-agriculturalisation of the Haitian countryside due to the opening of local rice markets to US growers. There was also a coup, and then US intervention to "correct" this. It explains why there was such a large UN operation on Haiti, and perhaps issues of post earthquake food security and urban over population.
The world is bigger than America, and the American public should realise this. Whilst the US inevitably faces challenges from India and China to displace it as the world’s strongest superpower, these countries do not, as yet, have the skills in international diplomacy or influence, to solve world problems. Nor are they diverted by domestic health care reform.
Obama does have these qualities and seems to be a man who understands that the lessons of the past are a key part of understanding the future. Thus, he has s unique view of the world and is without doubt a man of destiny.
The US needs a leader, who is respected overseas for humanist rather than dogmatic reasons. Reagan was the last such leader but the price was covert militarism, dirty wars, the Chicago School of economics, and Reaganomics. It was pure dogma and whilst it helped deconstruct communism it left a void of socio-economic indifference.
The vote in Massachusetts seems unprecedented in US electoral history, given the unique nature of this liberal "Yankee" state. A state noted for its progressive intellectualism and ideas that led to American Independence.
The only precedent I can think of where a top man in a top job, with a strong mandate, strong team, and strong public culture, can be loved and loathed, in so short a time has to be a Premier League football manager. So God help us if politics have become as fickle as sports. The last thing the world needs at this complex time in its history, is a "game of three halves"

On Snowquakes Dogs And Roundabouts

Yet more snow falling today, but this pales into insignificance with the terrible earthquake in Haiti.

That said, if there are any connections between these two disparate events it relates to "natural events" and infrastructure. The UK and Haiti are two very different countries, with very different economic circumstances, and very different climates, but both are struggling to cope with events bought about by nature. A dusting of snow is incomparable to a devastating earthquake but there is an irony in seeing a modern world economy (supposedly the 4th biggest on the planet) struggle to shift snow? So goodness knows how poor Haiti will cope

I watched, with fascination, a BBC2 Horizon documentary last night about dogs and their intelligence. I don't have a dog, so I have no insight into their behaviour, but the programme suggested that convincing scientific research has been undertaken that proves the following canine qualities:
1. Dogs are highly intelligent
2. They have a natural empathy with humans
3. They can read faces
4. They can communicate in a way that humans understand
5. They they arose from wolves
6. They poo
OK, the last one was an irreverent attempt at cheap humour, but science suggests that each of the 400+ breeds of domesticated dogs share 98.8% of their DNA with wolves. HOWEVER, that 0.2% difference is critical. It’s what gives dogs the empathy and intelligence characteristics described above.

Science has also proven that wolves have no empathy at all. This is based upon longitudinal studies undertaken in Russia since World War Two, on multi-generational hand reared wolves. It seems that even the off-springs, of off-springs, of off-springs of hand-reared wolves would rip your throat out if they could. I imagine it’s a similar 0.2% that separates the urbanist from the highway engineer. There's a similar DNA, but very different empathy!

Arguments were also presented that dogs played a vital and collaboratively related part in the complex process of human civilisation; especially in our early "hunter-gatherer days." In the thousands of years since those times, dogs have helped define a valuable and essential relationship with mankind. This includes hunting, fetching, guarding, playing, and much more.

If there are less irreverent links today, it has to be the way in which bulk volume housing estates share identical characteristics to dogs kennels, and how some regional planning types are obsessed with a modern form of tail chasing, which they overtly manifest in their unnatural obsessions for building round-abouts in places where there are no obvious signs of cars!

Meanwhile on the personal side, I have set up "Made in Liverpool" as an urban think tank and am about to make Scouse stew commercially with some people on Bold Street.

There’s more too, especially on old and new links to China, but that's for another day