We want an elected government ...

... is the call by the people of Bahrain, the response by the ruling club (the kingdom) has been repression.

Described as a "constitutional monarch" Bahrain is lives a lie, the country is an absolute monarchy in which the monarch serves as the source of power in the state and is not legally bound by any constitution and has the powers to regulate his or her respective government.  In Bahrain this is Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa with his eldest son Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa supported by the unelected Prime Minister His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.

In 1775 the war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America kicked off, the result was the birth of a new democracy of the USA, with its own peculiar warts, that is an example of how people can expect to influence their governance;  the other combatant took another 150 years before it resembled a democracy.

The dreadful circumstances in Bahrain are supported by both democracies from that auspicious war of independence, both countries that have supported the other recent North African revolutions and struggles, both countries that fought alongside each other to topple the hideous regime of Saddam Hussein, both countries that are fighting the oppression of the Taliban in Afghanistan, yet not a whisper in support of the call for an elected government in Bahrain.



Obviously it's not convenient for our governments at this time, the people of Bahrain will need to bleed more before they have the support that the people of Libya was given by both Britain and the USA, the quest for democracy is for the faint of heart in the face of hypocrisy, and where are the voices of France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal, it must be to difficult a choice .... repression versus democracy.

Myself, as an ardent fan of Formula 1 racing, I will give today's race a miss for the second time, has it been a whole year ............

It takes only one person, but only if it's the right person, ...

... being the right person meant that people listened, paid attention to the words and deeds.  Only a very few people are able to command that sort of attention.

Mohamed Bouazizi, by his actions, set alight North Africa and the Middle East, a conflagration that continues, the conditions that led to his anger and subsequent action, he asked his government for justice.  It took just over a month for the President of corrupt Tunisia to flee with his family to Saudi Arabia, ever the ..... democratic deficit, the country will not allow half the population to drive because they are ................ women.

His need for justice flew across borders much like tumbleweed in old western films,it jumped a country into Egypt with similar consequences, Egypt's president didn't escape, he awaits trial with his family.

In Libya the fighting continues as it does in Syria, leaders of both countries without the legitimacy of democratic elections, but in both case, too far away in time from the martyrdom of Mohamed Bouaziz, there is no-one that fits the bill of "the right person" to drive a wedge into the tyranny.

In the Middle East there is a deficit of democracy, in Saudi Arabia there is a democratic deficit, a country that helps Bahrain suppress the voice of democracy, Sport might just galvanise this small kingdom into progress towards granting those  freedoms we take for granted.

At home we have only one "right person" at present, and he has created the conditions for a constitutional crisis, in the green grass of home we have the technocrat who will do exactly what the majority of people want, very little change, at the heels of this man will be the rabid voices of radical nationalism, a distraction only, Carwyn Jones has a good five years ahead, but only if he is able to ignore the tumbleweed that is nationalist politics (MH takes the biscuit with this little gem), less is more just now, radical can wait a year or two.

Bill, Bahrain or Montreal, a question of ...

... ethics or a forlorn gesture.

I don't know anyone in Bahrain, yet the Formula 1 teams and drivers seem old friends.

It's all about freedoms, freedom of association and freedom of speech to name but two, the people of Bahrain are denied these freedoms, yet the FIA who enjoy these freedoms are not prepared as yet to acknowledge the people of Bahrain should also be able to protest injustices.

So this weekend I will sit out the race and watch "Chariots of Fire", sometimes we have to become principled, I cannot get it out of my head the Bahrain authorities put on trial the medics who treated people injured by the state to warn others of the futility of opposing the state.


Closer to home, Bill asked the question ...

"I think though that we need something better than the self serving elitist Westminster bureaucracy we currently have, and England really must have some form of identifiable government, and not just a vacuum like present.

Wales, with its assembly, seems to have taken an interesting turn of late. Could they lead the way?

But what should the format be? I don't know. But I'm open to suggestions."

Bill has opened our political Pandora's box just a little, just a chink, he questions the vacuum that exists in British politics, a vacuum that is home to 50 million plus voices that have no sound, where can Bill get his voice heard above the drone that is the Westminster hive of inactivity ; this same 50 million people who pay the lions share of revenue raised by government, who asks where is England in the great equation we call Britain and British.

I am on record as saying that no individual should expect more than the next person, yet we have a set of circumstances where Scotland receives the lion share of revenue per head of population, some argue that NI has a greater share, but that particular province needs additional help in the fight against terrorism and the effects of terrorism over many decades, although some expenditure goes towards certain people I remember adorning wanted posters .....

So in terms of Bill or Bahrain, Bahrain is a monster of morality, whilst Bill is the monster yet to come in Britain, "who speaks for England", not many I think.....

The hippocratic oath ...

is not difficult to understand, it reads thus ...

I swear to fulfil, to the best of my ability and judgement, this covenant:

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of over-treatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience 

the joy of healing those who seek my help.

Unfortunately the oath does not apply in Bahrain ...

... where dozens of doctors and nurses who treated injured protesters in Bahrain have appeared in court charged with attempting to topple the monarchy, it is a grotesque miscarriage of human rights to pervert this ancient oath taken by medical staff, it demonstrates a level of barbarism unwanted in this world we live in, don't take my word for it read it here.

Bernie Ecclestone was so wrong when he supported the return of the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix to the racing calender, the Hippocratic Oath would need to become the Hypocritical Oath to satisfy the brutal regime in Bahrain.

Listen to the people of the world Mr Formula One .... we do not want you supporting brutality wherever it exists.

Llyr Huws Gruffydd, Bethan Jenkins and Leanne Wood are elected ...

... representatives yet they will not represent the views of those they represent, by their intended actions during the visit by our Queen, the Head of State on Tuesday next.  They are regional members for North Wales, South Wales West and South Wales Central respectively, they are all Plaid Cymru members for whom they sit at the Assembly.  In each case, were they candidates fighting the traditional "First Past The Post" election in their home constituency they would have been beaten by the Labour Party.

Where will this scandalous trio be during the opening ceremony of the National Assembly, not certain for sure, Woods is reported in the South Wales Echo as packing food parcels for the needy, laudable you might think, but remember she is supposed to be representing the constituents of South Wales, she is not employed by the people to pack parcels.

There is another event in Cardiff that day during the evening, "Cardiff Bay Republican Day" taking place at Mischiefs Cafe Bar in James Street in Cardiff Bay, and the trio is reported to be attending to "give allegiance to Wales", silly the rest of us, we all thought that particular allegiance had been taken during the swearing in of Assembly Members.

There is rumour that Lyndsay Whittle, another regional member for Plaid, will be joining the disreputable trio at the Mischiefs Cafe Bar, as yet there is no sign of the event on the Cafe Bar's website, from Caerphilly the message is "well done Lyndsay, run with the rats of Cardiff Bay but remember, you would have lost to Labour in a real election".

... and from Plaid Cymru, the separatist party of Wales, not a murmur, so let us assume the trio, or could it be a quartet, have the tacit approval of the party hierarchy ...

... myself, I think this group of politicians are pathetic in the extreme, if they are off to the bar during the official opening, quaffing Dom Perignon at £119.95 a bottle, or even a Sauvignon at £24.99 a bottle (they have a very good Sancerre "Le Mont Flueuri" on the wine list), can we expect the cost of the day on members expenses, will they be caught on camera singing along in their cups for a photo shoot?

Whatever they do, they will not be at the Assembly representing the electorate of Wales (not sure about Lindsay since Duncan left a comment), but we must be grateful, if this were Bahrain or Persia this disgraceful group would probably be on trial for their dissent, here in Wales the dissenters are free to offend the majority and be paid annually £53,852 it is a shame they do not do their duty as the electorate wish them.

A moral dilema for ...

... the FIA.  Shia or Sunni, does it make a difference how people worship their God, apparently so, if you live in Bahrain.

The Sunni have taken to suppression based on the way people follow the teachings of Muhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh, it seems that in Bahrain the Sunni rule whilst the Shia not so much drool but hide away from government abuse, there exists a secret police that perform outrageous acts of humiliation and torture upon the Bahraini people, see today's Times page 31 "Letter from Bahrain", it makes a democrat weep.

... and this is where I feel sick to the bottom of my stomach, I believe every person has a right to a life free of abuse, and in and around Bahrain there are discussions as to whether the cancelled Formula 1 race should go ahead.  In Bahrain, where the government is responsible for the sectarian atrocities against it people, there is no moral case for doing business with the regime, and the race is business.

... as Damon Hill said of Formula 1 and the FIA, "If the bottom line(money) is the only criteria, then it (the criteria) is a bad one".  He continued "You cannot say that anything is for sale regardless of the moral position that contradicts ...".

I for one as a follower of Racing since the days of Graham Hill, Damon's father, will not watch Formula 1 from Bahrain, if the FIA restores Bahrain to the Formula 1 calendar the question I must ask myself is "will I watch other races".

No, I don't think so, because if the FIA return to Bahrain there is a tacit support by the FIA for the suppression of humanity, an unacceptable condition for any business or Government.

When they look at Britain, the people of ...

North Africa, the Middle East and other less than than democratic countries must feel the jackboot of tyranny like nothing we can imagine.

In the United Kingdom last week we were offered a different way to elect our democratic representatives, the vast majority declined ...... whilst in Syria the scum Assad and company sent armoured troops to suppress a wish for democracy.

In Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland we went to the polls to determine our preferred political shape, the democratic process gave exactly what was asked for, In Wales we preferred Socialism underpinned with Conservative and Liberal Democratic values, Nationalist elements are being slowly rejected democratically ..... whilst in Libya Gaddafi punished the people by dropping cluster bombs on men women and children who wish for freedom.

In England there were local elections to select by secret ballot ...... whilst in Morocco King Mohammed has yet to fulfil his promise of democratic reform and to end government corruption.

In Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Persia there are no people, only a subjugated mass of humanity ...... it is time the people of these countries threw off the yoke of serfdom and embraced democracy.

Here in Wales and the United Kingdom, there were no secret police on the streets last week, no aircraft dropping bombs to influence the voters, corruption is dealt with by the law (imperfect possibly), and we have freedom of religious expression ......... and we still complain, aren't we lucky we can complain, complain in the knowledge that there will not be a knock on the door during the night, a knock that is followed by a dissenting brother being dragged into the night never being seen again .......