Rav Casley Gera

Just watched McCain conference speech again. It’s good, but the crowd aren’t listening to the best bits. The first time he tries to talk seriously about the economic crisis, he’s drowned out by chants of “USA! USA! USA!” But then he goes on to talk about cutting taxes, and the crowd goes insane. Which, quite possibly, sums up the whole reason the McCain campaign failed.

I’ve come to the conclusion the ‘culture wars’ aren’t really about class resentment. People will elect and adore a toff if they think he’ll listen to them. The trick is to do just that - to listen. Not to pander, not to switch positions, not even to try to be like them - but to listen. And trust ‘em with the truth. Say, I know we disagree on gay marriage/abortion/lipstick/whatever, but we agree on the things that are most important right now, and I’m asking for your trust and help in turning them round. Obama’s stadium speech did that. He needs to do it more.

The truth is, it’s not ridiculous to prefer a less capable candidate who you feel gets you, to a more capable one you fear doesn’t. For people who don’t have time to read up on every candidate’s economic plan, or discuss in detail the success or otherwise of the surge, a candidate’s character has to matter. Obama has to swing it back to policy, because he won’t win on character. But he also has to acknowledge that people’s concerns about character are natural and legitimate, and pass a kind of minimum standard of honesty and humility, before policies can become the focus.

Obama’s smile is almost everlasting. We didn’t see it once last Thursday, but you know it’s there, underneath. That energy- the joy inside him - the joy inside him, as well as the solemnity - is what makes him inspiring

I wrote this a couple of days ago after watching “The Audacity of Hope”. OK, I was drunk

Brown’s exhortation to cut food waste, though probably entirely sensible, demonstrates once again how badly his administration lacks the instinct for the mood of the public that served Blair’s so well. Had he said this a year or so ago - when there was actually quite a lot of concern about food being too cheap - it would have appeared prudent, honest and sensible. Now, though, it pricks people’s resentment rather than their guilt, making him seem puritanical and unsympathetic.

UPDATE: Martin Bright agrees with me.

I have long believed that the vast majority of people in Britain are racist.

Put simply, most people - including, i suspect, many black people - feel far more nervous walking at night around young black men than young white men. This is based, in part, on the slightly higher black crime rate. But it nevertheless is racism, because it makes assumptions about individuals, and alters our reactions to them, based purely on the colour of their skin.

Until we stop talking about racism as a rare and evil crime, and instead recognise it as something we’re all capable of, we’ll never have a real conversation about it.

But I’ve said this to friends and they’ve looked at me like I’m mad. What do you think?

UPDATE: This article on the American election cites interesting evidence about the widespread nature of this sort of instinctive racial stereotyping.

The Fed’s cutting interest rates, reviving the banking markets, all to the good. But the sub-prime repossessions didn’t really kick in until the rate rises of ‘07, right? So isn’t the whole crisis kind of the Fed’s fault anyway??

Alistair Darling made a mistake using “stability” as his budget watchword, I reckon. Hearing the word “stability” just makes me think of “instability” - it’s one of those words that isn’t as resonant as its antonym. “Prudence” works, because when has anyone heard George W. Bush trying to scare everyone with the risk of “imprudence”?

why are goals always compared to 1990 levels? The Millennium Development Goals were designed in 2000 but are all measured against 1990 levels. And the EU emissions reductions targets, agreed in 2007, are also against 1990 levels. Why? Do the bureaucrats of transnational organisations all really love Twin Peaks? And isn’t it kind of cheating? If I lost ten pounds in two months, and then loudly declared my intention to lose a stone (against the levels of two months previous), that goal wouldn’t actually be that demanding, now, would it? I think I’m going to aim to increase the amount of my time I spend in a godforsaken office by 50 hours a week compared to 1990 levels. Oh look, finished!

Poor Hillary. Everyone calls the near-crying a sign of weakness, but I kept wondering watching it if she was putting it on. Why is she so damned hard to trust?

Update: Oh. Clearly not everyone thinks so.

Update 2: But thinking about it, surely this makes it more likely she was putting it on?

Update 3: See! Even she thinks so!

A few more random Madrid thoughts:

• Those who bemoan the demise of the sit-down lunch in London and elsewhere would like it here. It’s very, very hard to get takeaway food, or much resembling fast food, really. A languid bocadillo over a beer in a tiny cafe is more the Madrid style, which I very much like, now I’m used to it.

• Graffiti notwithstanding, Madrid is, I think, the most beautiful city I’ve visited. From the shambolic, but completely charming old centre to the deft neoclassical elegance of the Palacio Real, it’s a stunner all over. And unlike many cities with a rich pre-20th century architectural heritage, it’s embraced modernity with gusto. The Paseo de la Castellana, the long avenue that divides the old town from more recent Northeastern areas, is packed with impressive buildings from the 70’s and 80’s banking and insurance boom, notably the Peurta de Europa (see below). Underwhelming in film and from a distance thanks in part to its bland location, it’s awe-inspiring up close.

• The city also has a truly impressive slate of parkland to its East. From the three spaces surrounding the palace - the exquisite Plaza de Oriente, the Campo del Moro, which was closed when I went past, and the Jardines de Sabatini to the North with some excellent surrealist sculpture - to the massive Casa de Campo, kind of Madrid’s answer to Hampstead Heath, accessible by cable car from another excellent space, the Parque del Oeste.

First sights:

* Hostel is astonishing glow-white slab of ultramodern, and shares space with the local drama school, which is both nice and bizarre.
* McDonald’s appears to have exactly the same menu as in the UK. Bit disappointing.
* Euros aren’t as cheap as I thought.
* The hostel charges an extra 4 euros a night to the over-26’s. I feel like a paedophile just being here.
* Madrid has a serious grafitti problem (see picture). I saw a maid standing in the doorway of an upmarket-looking apartment block, but she couldn’t budge the mass of spray-paint all over the door.
* Also saw a dreadlocked white guy, early twenties, presumably homeless, shaving hastily in a car wing mirror.
* I walked behind a TV interview, and will therefore be on Spanish TV.
* Sat in a cafe eating fries with garlic mayonnaise, watching Spanish TV (not looking out for my cameo), I was struck by the tacky presentation of Spanish daytime TV, with on-screen captions and idents that could have been from the early 80’s. And the program, which seemed to be enitrely celebrity gossip (Spain invented the modern celeb mag, of course, with Hola! - which begat Hello!), didn’t feature a single American or British celeb. No Winehouse, no Beckhams, no Britney. Perhaps, I thought, all this talk of globalisation is nonsense. Perhaps TV is the great local medium, maintaining individual cultures, local obsessions. Then I noticed the background music to the feature I was watching was “Matinee” by Franz Ferdinand.

PA100166, originally uploaded by Rav Casley Gera.