Christmas, Nigerian salad, teargas and DC again

It's the week before Christmas and things have been frantic at work - in the way that it happens as everyone frantically tries to meet deadlines before the shutdown that is Christmas. I wonder if that shutdown is global.....it certainlyused to happen in Nigeria when I lived and worked there and it happens here as well. Although theoretically offices remain open, it's more or less acknowledged that only "skeletal services" will be maintained till the New Year.....

It's interesting contrasting Christmas here and Christmas at home- here it's bitterly cold and everyone eats and drinks too much trying to keep warm. Christmas in Nigeria for me is the haze of the harmattan, that sharp dry smell of burning fields- which you kind of get here- only it's blazing indoor fires- while at home it's farmers setting fields ablaze to clear the dried grass and crops.........there's food as well, but it's chicken or goat and rice and moimoi with dodo and salad- Nigerian salad of course, nothing like the wimpy leafy things you get served here when you ask for a salad. I'm talking sardines, corned beef, hardboiled eggs and baked beans - in addition to the usual suspects- the lettuce, carrots,cabbage, tomatoes and onions all laced with a hefty dollop of salad cream.....not exactly what nutritionists have in mind when they sugest salads as healthy alternatives.....

I haven't blogged for a while largely because I've beenvery sad and angry, reflecting on the Nigerian situation, a propos of the Sosoliso plane crash in Port Harcourt. Over the weekend I was pleased to see that a group of mothers including Marie Fatayi Williams, whose son died in the London bombings had gone on a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with the mothers who had lost their children in the plane crash. Shocking however to read how they were tear gassed by Nigerian policemen, one of whom inanely complained in an interview that the women's action was capable of giving Nigeria a bad name....I suppose demonstrating could give Nigeria a worse name than the string of aviation disasters....it makes you wonder what planet some of these people live on.....The Inspector General of Police later apologized on behalf of his men, but the harm's already been done. Meanwhile the President continues with his kneejerk responses, sacking aviation officials indiscriminately but sparing the Minister who has been widely criticized. Why can the President and his advisers not see that selective actions that suggest the shielding of favourites are part of why many are so sceptical of anything he tries to do?

David Cameron (DC) continues his onslaught against Labour, giving his first newspaper interview to the Left leaning Observer, and calling for (among other things) the British to take asylum seekers to their hearts......hmmmm, he's certainly making the right noises, and I can see him swaying middleground voters.....