Jackie Napper's blog

Iceland asked for a second statue to replace monument stolen for scrap

Cod War forgotten as Hull finds £40,000 insurance to honour links with its old deep sea fishing rivals

Ties which survived the bitter Cod War and intense economic rivalry over fishing are to be marked by an unusual Yorkshire expedition to Iceland.

The Lord Mayor of Hull, whose deep sea trawlers were the main UK victim of the 1970s dispute, is hoping to secure a bronze replacement for a 'friendship statue' which given to the city in 2006 by the Icelandic fishing community of Vik-i-Myrdal.

To Hull's embarrassment and shame, the statue was stolen in July by presumed scrap metal thieves who were caught on CCTV but have not yet been identified. You can watch a clip of the incident here although the goings-on are distant and in the dark.

The theft caused outrage in the port and shock in Iceland, where the unhappy episode of the Cod Wars has always been seen in the context of centuries of intimate fishing links. Vik and other small ports were involved in the rescue or sheltering of many Hull trawlers caught in bad weather in seas whose cold can kill within a few minutes.

The Lord Mayor, Coun Colin Inglis said:

They were amazed at the that anybody would do it. They just can't believe that someone would stoop so low. It was important for us to make it very clear to them how much we valued what had been done with this project project and what this statue meant to us.

His visit follows budget work in Hull which has found £40,000 insurance money to pay for a replacement of the 1.8m (6ft) statue, which was made by Icelandic sculptor Steinunn Thorarinsdottir and called Voyage. Thorarinsdottir is expected to make a mould from her sister-statue in Vik which represents a similar figure staring and calling out to sea and also commemorates the Hull link.

Two men were arrested after the theft but released without charge and a £1500 reward ? matching the probable value from any scrapyard prepared to break both the law and the industry's code ? has failed to produce break-through information. After the theft from Victoria Pier, facing Hull's major visitor attraction The Deep, Inglis accused the thieves of "an assault upon the traditions and culture of this city."

Thorarinsdottir said that her inspiration for both statues came from people who made their living from the sea, and their families who had to live with the fear that they might not return. She said at the unveiling of Vik's aluminium piece:

Of all the art projects I have been involved with, this has been by far the most special and meaningful. It has been a privilege to work with Hull City Council, and I hope the monuments in Hull and Vik are a lasting tribute to the close relationship between our two communities.

Fishing disputes over Iceland's extension of her territorial waters began in the 1950s and ended with the humiliation of Royal Navy warships by nippier Icelandic fishing patrol boats whose crews knew their patch backwards. The initial effect on Hull's economy was disastrous, but Icelandic food processing and other plants have subsequently invested in the Yorkshire port and helped its revival.

Martin Wainwright

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2011/sep/20/hull-iceland-statue-theft-vik-i-myrdal

John Howard Mike Huckabee Saddam Hussein Hu Jintao Kim Jong Il

Sep 20, 2011 4:05:37 AM

Letters: Red tape challenge to ministers' thinking

I am sure most Guardian readers would agree that rules protecting our health and the world's wildlife are worth keeping even if they don't always increase GDP. But it seems ministers need reminding. They have asked the public to visit the Cabinet Office's "red tape challenge" website by 21 September to comment on which environmental regulations should be scrapped to encourage economic growth. This is an opportunity to send a message to the government that laws to protect the environment can actually make for a healthier population and more efficient economy. Regulation is vital to provide the long-term certainty investors need when making decisions on which markets to develop and where to expect growth. It keeps our food, farming and water supplies safe and unpolluted. And it protects our remaining wildlife.

Guardian readers should visit the "red tape challenge" website and make their views heard to help ensure that the right regulatory structure remains ? one which can direct investment in the most appropriate way to deliver the "green economy" the government has promised.
Joan Walley MP
Chair, Environmental audit committee

??Your report on "shameful shoe box homes" (14 September) highlights the harmful consequences of deregulation. Minimum space standards for housing were abolished during the Thatcher era, in a previous war on so-called red tape. The market has responded by cramming in more smaller rooms per house and more units of housing per hectare, maximising profit. Minimum standards must not be left to the market when they affect essentials of life such as shelter and food.
Stewart Brock
Taunton, Somerset

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/sep/19/red-tape-challenge-ministers-thinking

Tea Party Joe Biden John Boehner Sarah Palin Sean Hannity

Sep 20, 2011 3:05:24 AM

Martin McGuinness as Irish president? You never know | Fionola Meredith

In country hurt by severe economic decline, disillusioned voters could well elect the former IRA man

Martin McGuinness has said his past as an IRA commander should not be a barrier to becoming president of the Republic of Ireland. The truly extraordinary thing is that he may be proved correct. It's an audacious gamble, but McGuinness and the redoubtable Sinn Féin electoral machine are betting that his latter-day incarnation as a peacemaker will cancel out any lingering repugnance among the Irish electorate for his ruthless paramilitary past.

It won't be an easy ride, of course. During the brief election campaign McGuinness's personal history will come under fierce scrutiny: he'll receive endless demands for answers, explanations, apologies and demonstrations of remorse. The raw pain of victims of republican violence is still an almost palpable presence, and we'll be sure to hear from them. Sinn Féin members are skilled in deflecting awkward questions through bluster and counter-claim, but these could be the toughest yet.

Yet all those power-sharing days spent chuckling with Ian Paisley are now paying off for McGuinness: the logic being that if the most trenchant and vociferous opponent of violent republicanism can recognise him as a statesman, what do voters in the republic have to worry about? McGuinness has been befriending "the other side" for a while now. At his party's recent annual conference, he told delegates he saw unionists as "brothers and sisters to be loved and cherished". His firm friend, the Presbyterian clergyman David Latimer, repaid the compliment by describing McGuinness as "one of the great leaders of modern times". Again, it all goes to shore up and enhance his preferred image as a visionary, a poet, an open-minded man of peace.

McGuinness has received support for his candidacy from the brother of an IRA victim. Mark Eakin, who lost his eight-year-old sister Catherine in the 1972 car-bombing of Claudy village, said he thought McGuinness, then second-in-command of the Provisionals, would make a good head of state: "He now wants to have a good Ireland. I think everybody has to step back and bite the bullet."

Eakin chose an uncomfortable but strangely apposite metaphor to make his point. But for many younger voters in the Republic thoughts of bombs and bullets are ancient history: outside their own experience and thus drained of horror. Sinn Féin's anti-establishment rhetoric plays well with some members of this younger generation. They have been hurt by the severe decline of the Irish economy and like to hear a bit of insurrectionary talk laced with a half-remembered whiff of cordite. (Sinn Féin's perceived lack of policy substance won't matter too much here: the office of president is largely a ceremonial one.)

McGuinness's vow, if elected, to only draw an average salary ? ?35,000 ? and donate the rest to the state will also appeal to broke and disillusioned voters. There are other factors, too, that will lift McGuinness's prospects. He is a complex, charismatic figure ? less dour than Gerry Adams ? and his inclusion in the race will inject life into an otherwise dull campaign. What's more, due to the fragmented nature of the electoral field, if McGuinness gets more than 20% of the vote there's a real chance he could carry off the prize.

So can the Irish electorate really swallow such a man as the global ambassador for their country? Can voters accept a head of the armed forces who, until a few years ago, didn't recognise the legitimacy of the Irish army but was part of a paramilitary movement that itself laid claim to that name? It may sound improbable, but stranger things have happened on these shores. If voters can accept the purifying narrative of McGuinness's path from Provo to peacemaker, he could be in with a fighting chance.

Fionola Meredith

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/19/martin-mcguinness-as-irish-president

Wu Yi Viktor Yushchenko Nancy Pelosi Speaker Pelosi Tea Party

Sep 20, 2011 2:05:11 AM

A Better Way to Rank Our Schools

Paul Glastris, RealClearPolitics
Back in the 1990s, when the American economy last bestrode the globe, many smart people observed that the secret to our success was our system of higher education, said to be "the finest in the world." These people weren't exactly wrong. America's colleges and universities really were, and are, key to the country's greatness. They produce the research and human capital that fuel the economy. They help Americans who are poor to become Americans who will prosper. And they shape the thoughts and ethics of the young Americans who will someday lead the country.But...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/09/19/rcp_education_special_report_111363.html

Sarah Palin Sean Hannity Harry Reid Mitch McConnel Rush Limbaugh

Sep 20, 2011 1:05:26 AM

President Obama Settles on a Reelection Strategy

Steve Kornacki, Salon
The "Buffett principle" that President Obama will apparently embrace Monday morning is a lot like the jobs plan he unveiled earlier this month: The fact that it has little chance of being codified is practically beside the point.According to reports that broke Sunday night, Obama will present the following line demand as the congressional deficit reduction supercommittee formulates its plan: If the final blueprint calls for Medicare and Social Security cuts without demanding more revenue from the wealthy, he’ll veto it. Apparently, Obama will unveil his own $3 trillion...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/09/19/president_obama_settles_on_a_reelection_strategy_263768.html

Osama bin Laden Tony Blair Sam Brownback Laura Bush George W. Bush

Sep 20, 2011 12:05:08 AM

The GOP Consensus Is Terrifying

Ed Kilgore, The New Republic
By the very nature of political journalism, the attention of those covering the 2012 Republican presidential nominating contest tends to be focused on areas of disagreement between the candidates, as well as on the policy positions and messages they are eager to use against Barack Obama. But there are a host of other issues where the Republican candidates are in too much agreement to create a lot of controversy during debates or gin up excitement in the popular media.Areas of agreement, after all, rarely provoke shock or drive readership. But the fact that the Republican Party has reached...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/09/19/the_gop_consensus_is_terrifying_263795.html

Nelson Mandela Paul Martin John McCain Evo Morales William Mountbatten-Windsor

Sep 19, 2011 11:05:35 PM

Obama Gives Up on Obamaism

David Brooks, New York Times
I’m a sap, a specific kind of sap. I’m an Obama Sap. David Brooks The intellectual, cultural and scientific findings that land on the columnist's desk nearly every day.David Brooks and Gail Collins talk between columns.When the president said the unemployed couldn’t wait 14 more months for help and we had to do something right away, I believed him. When administration officials called around saying that the possibility of a double-dip recession was horrifyingly real and that it would be irresponsible not to come up with a...

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/09/19/obama_gives_up_on_obamaism_263824.html

Speaker Pelosi Tea Party Joe Biden John Boehner Sarah Palin

Sep 19, 2011 10:05:22 PM

Giants Lead Rams 21-6 After 2nd Quarter

Enlarge Associated Press

St. Louis Rams free safety Quintin Mikell (27) celebrates with Ben Leber (59) after intercepting a pass during the first quarter of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 19, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Associated Press

St. Louis Rams free safety Quintin Mikell (27) celebrates with Ben Leber (59) after intercepting a pass during the first quarter of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 19, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Associated Press

New York Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw (44) is tackled by St. Louis Rams free safety Quintin Mikell during the first quarter of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 19, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Associated Press

New York Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks falls into the end zone after catching a pass for a touchdown in front of St. Louis Rams cornerback Bradley Fletcher during the first quarter of an NFL football game Monday, Sept. 19, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) ? Michael Boley sped 64 yards with a botched lateral that the St. Louis Rams didn't pursue until it was too late, helping the New York Giants to a 21-6 lead at halftime Monday night.

Earlier, Hakeem Nicks caught a 3-yard touchdown pass in a game featuring a head coach, New York's Tom Coughlin, and a former coordinator who helped him win a Super Bowl in Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo. And Domenik Hixon's juggling catch in the end zone gave the Giants their halftime margin.

Sam Bradford's backward pass went off Cadillac Williams' hands and Williams stood up straight as Boley pursued the ball on the ground. Nobody could catch Boley as he made it 14-6.

It was the first TD of Boley's seven-year career.

Hixon followed a bobbling catch by Mario Manningham for 31 yards with his own acrobatics. He beat Craig Dahl, had the ball bounce off his chest, reached out and juggled the ball twice before hauling it in while lying on the turf in the end zone.

That score came with 21 seconds left in the second quarter.

Early on, New York's defense looked like it could still use "Spags" running it when neither Deon Grant nor Aaron Ross touched down Danario Alexander on a long pass. Alexander tumbled to the ground, got up and ran about 25 more yards to finish off a 68-yard play to the Giants 1.

But the Rams couldn't punch it in and settled for Josh Brown's 21-yard field goal and a 3-0 lead.

Spagnuolo's defense held the Giants on the next series, but rookie Greg Salas muffed the punt and New York recovered at the Rams 38.

A 23-yard pass interference penalty on cornerback Bradley Fletcher led to Nicks beating Fletcher in the left corner of the end zone for the score and a 7-3 lead.

The Rams came right back, mostly using a no-huddle offense and protecting Bradford as he hit Brandon Gibson for 27 yards and rookie Lance Kendricks for 26. The drive stalled at the 7 and Brown added a 25-yard field goal.

The Giants came out crisply, only to be victimized by a recent problem: the turnover. After Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for 27 yards on three carries, and Eli Manning had a 16-yard completion to Manningham, the quarterback underthrew a wide-open Manningham and Quintin Mikell made a diving interception at the Rams 14.

The Rams were without three injured starters: star running back Steven Jackson, leading receiver Danny Amendola and cornerback Ron Bartell.

New York got back its top defensive lineman, Justin Tuck, who missed the opening loss at Washington with a neck injury. But the Giants previously had lost three defensive starters, with linebacker Jonathan Goff and cornerback Terrell Thomas out for the season.

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Source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=140616544&ft=1&f=

John Boehner Sarah Palin Sean Hannity Harry Reid Mitch McConnel

Sep 19, 2011 9:05:07 PM

Tom Friedman Is Confused on Climate

Ross Kaminsky, American Spectator
In a recent New York Times op-ed, Thomas Friedman called Republican presidential hopefuls Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann "crazy" because they doubt man-made global warming. But his argument smacks of the desperation of the Cult of Algore as it sinks under the weight of science, Solyndra, and logic.After beginning with his ad hominem attack, always the refuge of those who know they're about to lose an argument, Friedman makes one error of logic after another.

Source: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2011/09/19/tom_friedman_is_confused_on_climate_263794.html

Noam Chomsky Bill Clinton Hillary Clinton Tom DeLay Elizabeth Dole

Sep 19, 2011 8:05:22 PM

Vince Cable: progress postponed | Editorial

The party of progress was told that progress would not be possible any time soon, because Britain had got much poorer

"Well, that was all doom and gloom. "The instant verdict on Vincent Cable's conference address from one elderly Liberal Democrat on the floor said it all. The party of progress was told that progress would not be possible any time soon, because Britain had got much poorer. In having nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat, the business secretary might have claimed to be Churchillian. Instead, he likened his work with the Conservatives in the face of slump to Clement Attlee's move into coalition in the face of Hitler. Well, if we are going to play that game, it is pertinent to ask whether the Lib Dems have instead embraced the great recession's appeasers. Dr Cable painted himself in a tradition of progressive prudence, citing Cripps, Jenkins and Clinton. But none of these cut their way out of a slump; the closer precedents are Brüning, Howe and Hoover, a pantheon in which few Lib Dems would wish to worship.

Coming to grips with the swelling national debt is unavoidable over the years ahead, but the right way to do that is through careful cuts that engage steadily with the chief prospective pressures, most notably the rising demographic tide. The wrong way to do it is to force through lopsided austerities and yet barely tax. Worst still is to do this to a timetable dictated by politics rather than economics.

It is true that Dr Cable's promised "stability" would be sweetened by a second S, "stimulus". His interview in Saturday's Guardian hinted that this might mean capital investment being concentrated on infrastructure projects with the biggest returns, and perhaps being brought forward a little. It seems doubtful that the accounting conventions which Whitehall works to would allow the latter; if you doubt the ability of such obscure rules to distort government's choices, just look at the PFI. And if Monday's Financial Times is right, one particular deficit figure which the government targets is about to be revised for the worse, raising the possibility that even quicker cutting might be decreed. More fundamentally, when the direct effect of the cuts is to drain demand by around 2% of national income a year ? a figure close to annual growth in more typical times ? even ingenious tinkering with the balance of spending is likely to be overwhelmed.

When Dr Cable stepped away from the deficit, he also trod away from George Osborne: "People accept capitalism, but they want responsible capitalism." All hail to that. It is the debate of our time. He won deserved applause for the planned partial breakup of the banks, but there was little explanation of how a recovery powered by "cars not casinos" would be brought about. Asking John Kay to review stock market structures will produce intriguing ideas, but if the minor coalition partner really is going to force through serious changes, it would be a good idea if it knew what these were by this stage in the game. As for Dr Cable's third S, "solidarity", there was a welcome defence of the wealthy paying their share, and a promise to shine a light on corporate pay. Let us hope these things are done. Conference heard, too, about a Royal Mail employee ownership scheme, but less about the wider sell-off of which it is one modest part. If the concern is to decrease the pay gap, how will that be done through privatisation? When did privatisation do anything other than widen it?

Bruised by a hard year in office, Dr Cable attempted little of the crowd-pleasing tricks that raised eyebrows last year; instead he was doggedly loyal to Nick Clegg. He was funny at moments, particularly in ribbing Labour, whose conference will also be overshadowed by big economic questions that it, too, has failed to answer. He also sounded honest and intelligent, as he always has. Something, however, has changed. The great gadfly of the credit crunch joined the ranks as a purveyor of the conventional wisdom.