Poppy brouhaha, farewell to Rummy, no to IBB, missing Gukira& looking for a new mobile network

I remember as a child in Nigeria the teacher selling and us wearing red poppies in primary school. I'm not sure I knew what they were for but I remember pulling at the black disc in the centre which always reminded me of a sweet, and I remember my shock that it was plastic. I was probably about four then. Looking back I suppose that was when Nigeria still remembered its war heroes on the 11th of November following the British tradition honouring the end of the First World War on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918. Later it switched to the 15th of January, honouring I think the end of the Nigerian civil war or the military coup of 1966- not sure which. Similarly instead of the poppies, we had red vaguely heartshaped symbols with the Nigerian flag and a bleeding heart in the middle. This tradition continues.....I give this history because poppies are in the news here in London- yesterday in the free Metro newspaper given out on the tube, a certain person wrote in from Doncaster chastizing non-white Britons for not wearing the poppy. She/he argued that he had noticed that it was mostly whites who wore the poppy and stressed that the soldiers whose memory the poppies honoured had died for everyone- white and non-white. There were no figures to back his assertion- just something he/she had noticed. Predictably it drew angry responses today, one chastizing the correspondent for trying to turn the whole thing into a race issue and others attacking the broad generalizations in his statement. Another black person said he/she refused to wear the poppy because the contributions of non-white soldiers had been ignored by the British establishment...and so it went on. Then on the radio this morning, a Christian group Ecclesia called for a white poppy, which Christian pacifists could wear, arguing that the red poppy glorified war and blood....... I wore a poppy last week on my way to a meeting in Scotland, simply because I felt sorry for the elderly veteran selling them outside the train station. But on getting to my meeting I was the only person under 40 wearing one- never mind that I was the only black person in the room.....who'd have thought poppies could cause such a fuss?

Rumsfeld's gone and I cannot hide my glee. In many ways he epitomized the casual, sneering arrogance of the Bush administration and this was evident in many of his photographs- or perhaps I just imagined the sneering smugness driven by my antipathy to his utterances and policies. I wonder though if it isn't a deft move by Dubya to put the Democrats on the wrong foot... A kind of "Okay you asked for Rummy to go and he's gone, watcha gonna do about Iraq now?" The new nominee for Defence secretary is described as a realist where Rumsfeld was a neo-con ideologue so perhaps good things may yet come from this...

In what was obviously a sad moment for Nigeria, the amoral military dictator- almost single handedly responsible for entrenching a kleptocratic culture in Nigeria- picked up a nomination form for the presidential primaries of the People's Democratic Party yesterday. With his glamorous fashion-plate Evita-like wife beaming at his side he spoke eloquently as always of how he had come to seek the votes of the Nigerian people. Knowing him and his Machiavellian tendencies, I worry for my country and am almost driven to make the kind of vow that die hard military apologists made in the hey day of the Abacha regime, when they swore to leave Nigeria if Abacha was not allowed to continue as President. I cannot help thinking that if, we Nigerians by omission or commission allow Babangida to return to power it will make it difficult for many not to be convinced that the country has a death wish....He says he believes in democracy - let us tell him in no uncertain terms that we want no part of him and his cabal. Any of our IT whizzes up for an anti-IBB website?

Meanwhile Omoyele Sowore of Saharareporters continues to serve up stories of the misdeeds of Obasanjo's close aide Andy Uba who was indicted in the US for bringing in USD 170 000 undeclared in cash on the presidential jet. The court documents can be seen here http://saharareporters.com/eLibrary/
As long as people like these continue to be clasped close to OBJ's expansive bosom, and continue to be promoted for higher office (in Uba's case as governor of belaguered Anambra State) his frequent anti-corruption noises will continue to ring hollow in the ears of people like me, even if foreigners are taken in.....

Returning to the blogosphere, I note a gap where Gukira, the highminded, beautifully written blog of Keguro Macharia, a Kenyan postgraduate student in the US used to be. He tells me he's concentrating on his dissertation and will be back. I have however stumbled, courtesy of Jeremy of Naijablog on Funmi Iyanda's blog http://fiyanda.blogspot.com/ . Years ago, I loved Funmi's column in Tempo, the Lagos evening newspaper . Called Jisting, the writings of an opinionated female- it hit the spot totally. Ah the ebb and flow of the blogosphere....

Finally I would appreciate recommendations for a mobile telephone provider in the UK, having had it up to here with Orange. Right now I have a headache having been on hold for twenty five minutes and then being passed from Directory Enquiries to Billing and back trying to sort out errors on my bill. I'm finally told to write a complaint to a given address as this is the only way they deal with complaints- a mobile phone company asks me to write a letter- not call? Not even threatening to leave the network wakes them up....They claim it's the same with all the other networks but if anyone knows a network that at least picks up their customer service number within 10 minutes, please let me know..... (I know 10 minutes is still a lot but Orange have forced me not to aim too high)......Dang if I had a couple of hundreds of million quid maybe I could set up my own all singing and dancing customer focused network....

Mulling over paradoxes, unhugged hoodie and sneaking lunch

Still haunted by the plane crash and asking myself whether it's time to head home, so frustrated by all the ineptitude and madness. And then as I toss and turn and mull over this decision, there's the rational voice saying "Yes, I appreciate your desire to contribute and your frustration but what exactly are you going to do when you get there?" I suppose I could try and get a job with one of the new telecomms companies or the new mega super banks or join the 4X4 driving brigade of NGO employees....or what? Or perhaps I could run for local government chairman- but then I'd need to win the party nomination first and spend lavishly and maybe not even get elected..... or perhaps I should wait a bit more and try and do an Okonjo Iweala- ie build up your international credentials to a point where you can leverage them as bargaining chips into a position where you can actually achieve some change- but even then look how she ended up....

Work is as hectic as ever, interspersed by a visit to Buckingham Palace and the paradoxical pleasure in saying to the taxi driver "Buckingham Palace please" and walking up the red carpeted gilt encrusted hallways and stairways to the drawing room and meeting the Queen- she's small and bustling and grandmotherly with a dazzling warm smile that vaguely reminds me of my own late departed grandmother- even though their lives couldn't have been more different. I suppose that's the essence of the human, or maybe I'm just star-struck. I feel less guilty about this than I did at the time because even some of my more senior tightlipped English colleagues did confess to a frisson of excitement at the prospect of being in the palace and in the presence of Her Majesty.....

The paradox of Anambra State underlines the paradox of Nigeria. The news that the first female governor has been sworn in should ordinarily be a thing of joy until you begin to read of the sordid machinations that led to the "impeachment" of the substantive government and how half the impeachment panel and the Chief Judge all come from the new "governor's" village. I met the impeached governor Peter Obi once in London and was struck by how impressive, human and humble he appeared. I was also impressed by his sticking through for three years with the legal case after he was rigged out in 2003 and finally taking up office only this year. And then this.....

It's cold on the streets of London now, feels like someone turned on a huge airconditioning system- one minute it was warm and we were walking about in thin cotton shirts and then the next it's out with the heavy gear- the scarves, the gloves and the hats and caps. I'm just sticking to my very warm hoodie picked up in Vancouver earlier in the year...it's brilliant- a garment for all seasons.....I haven't had many hugs though in spite of David Cameron's hug-a hoodie exhortations....I live in hope....

Have just finished Aminatta Forna's Ancestor Stones- the story of four women growing up in Sierra Leone. It's beautifully written in lyrical almost poetic language but the chop and change between the lives of the four sisters is sometimes difficult to keep up with......

Have discovered a new place for lunch tucked away in the basement of an office building- the most fantastic Thai food- egg fried rice, vegetables and a meat dish( changing every day) I suspect it should not really be open to the public (is a canteen for workers) but I was taken there by a colleague and have not been accosted yet on my frequent return visits to the venue.... and the food is so delicious that I keep going back each lunchtime. It certainly beats the sandwich man...

Good to hear the news from the US elections. After the elections in 2004 when I stayed up till 12 30 and then went to bed thinking Kerry had won, and then waking up to learn that Dubya had won a second term I promised not to bother this time. At a meeting on Monday I was sitting next to an American who was surreptitiously filling in her postal vote- she voted Democrat I was pleased to notice and I flashed her a smile and a thumbs up....so waking up to the news that the Democrats had taken control of the House was good. At least hopefully the smug arrogance of Dubya and his team cannot continue- they will need to engage and negotiate which is no bad thing for democracy. I'm not sure why I'm so passionate about the US elections but I remember getting into heated arguments with some Nigerian friends and relatives in the US in 2004 who were going to vote for Bush because of his position on "family values" When he won, I couldn't bring myself to speak to some of them for a while.....

Meanwhile on Iraq, the Democrats say a change in policy is needed but stops short of calling for withdrawal. The other side says we must not cut and run with one gentleman saying that there will be scenes reminiscent of Saigon in a few months as a result of the Democratic victory. I was on the anti-war march in London with 99,999 others but I honestly do not know what the way forward is- either way it seems there will continue to be mayhem and bloodshed in the area for a while to come....

Too numb to blog

Has anyone seen the manifest for the aeroplane that crashed in Nigeria on Sunday? I can't seem to find it anywhere.

It was like deja vu, Sunday morning leaving church, phone vibrates. Plane crash in Nigeria, Sultan of Sokoto feared among the victims. Run home and switch on the television, BEN TV (the so-called Nigerian network) showing some cash madam's birthday party in some church hall in London. BBC News 24 and Sky News only talking about the two children found dead in Corfu and then the twenty people killed in Iraq that day. Absurd as it sounds I begin to compare body counts. My disaster is bigger than yours- 104 bodies versus 20 something versus......I know I know don't blame me just so frustrated especially as I can't seem to get through to my folks in Naija. Finally get through and they have only just heard....Finally catch something on CNN. Only the next day do I begin to realize that people I know have been on that flight. Been in a state of shock ever since. Trawling the Naija blogs today, there's a welter of opinions. I am numb. What does it take I ask you, what does it take for my people to say thus far and no more?

In another month or so it will back to business as usual....until the next time?

I feel so helpless, so numb

Greyness, painting, muddledness in Nigeria and wanting

Gosh, I really am slacking on the blogging front. It's not like nothing's happening- loads are but I just get sucked up by other stuff and so don't get round to blogging. Perhaps it's something to do with the grey days that are fast upon us here. There's something about the greyness that almost seeps into your soul as My talking beginnings muses on his blog.... http://mytalkingbeginnings.blogspot.com/2006/10/sigh.html

Had a good weekend even if the all day rain yesterday made any and every thing that required any energy an unappetizing prospect. I still managed to drag myself to the National Portrait Gallery to meet friends for the David Hockney exhibition that just opened. I just love the man's use of colour- it's so vibrant and warm, but then I like colour. I also admired his photographic collages which made very interesting viewing. I was quite interested in a series that detailed portraits of all the people who had visited his California studio one year, and was struck by the absence of a single black person. But later down a few rooms there were paintings of an African American doctor, a close friend. Should I have noticed, or am I becoming paranoid?

Dinner on Saturday night with friends in their modernist flat in the East End. Crab done in three ways- a souffle, dressed in its shell and as a tart with smoked fish. Delightful. Amazing views of the Thames and fireworks exploding everywhere over London- we debate whether they mark the end of Ramadan or Diwali- no one seems to know for sure.....

I still do not know what to make of the events in Nigeria. Everyone I speak to at home is convinced that there is some grand plan by Obasanjo to foment chaos and render next years elections unworkable. Yet there is very little in the public domain to confirm or deny this. I suppose the people at home are privy to all the little tittle tattle that in Nigeria is often better than any formal media for communicating happenings in government. I do find it strange that only a few months to the elections, all remains so quiet on the campaign and manifesto front.....

The police say they have found the killers of one of the governorship aspirants who was murdered recently in Ekiti State. I would ordinarily congratulate them except that there already seems to be much murkiness and things that do not add up in the alleged confessions. On the subject of murders, it's twenty years this month that Dele Giwa, the journalist was killed by a parcel bomb while Babangida reigned as president. No one has ever been found guilty of his murder. In a few weeks it will be five years since Bola Ige, serving attorney general was killed while Obasanjo reigned as president. No one has ever been found guilty of his murder either. When I think of all the murders that have happened and been solved in the years that I have lived here, I wonder what it would take to just find one set of these Nigerian killers.....

I have just started reading Ahmadou Kourouma's Allah is Not Obliged- a fictional account of life as an African child soldier. It's quite different from Uzodinma Iweala's Beast of No Nation, to which it will no doubt be compared. I'm loving the humour in Allah is Not Obliged and can almost visualise the cheeky war hardened little boy narrator......

It was good to see the veil debate put in perspective. Apparently less than 10 000 women wear the veil.The majority of Muslim women in the UK do not wear the veil. In a country of over 50 million, debating the veil issue surely seems like really really high priority

I want to go and see the Velasquez exhibition and I want to go and see Caroline or Change- the new musical set in civil rights America that's written by Tony Kushner and I want to read the new Ngugi wa Thiongo and I want.....that'll have to do for now

Really back this time

Okay, so it's been nearly three clear weeks since my last post. Got sent to the US at rather short notice for work and it was pretty hectic so I wasn't really able to post. Not that the dizzying whirl of events in Nigeria and the UK made things any easier- from the debate about Muslims wearing veils and the media brouhaha over Madonna's adoption (or not) of a Malawian boy to the rash of impeachment notices in Nigeria- it's been dizzying to try and keep up. Anyway I'm back now and hopefully will be a bit more regular.

Virgin Atlantic have got it right with their new in-flight entertainment system. I was able to watch a number of fairly recently released films I'd been meaning to see, and the ability to pause, rewind and fastforward each film meant that you didn't have to stay in your seat with your bladder bursting for fear that you'd miss an important part of the film. I watched Scarlett Johansson in The Black Dahlia, a James Ellmore thriller set in the thirties with a suitably complex plot which I often found difficult to follow but the sight of the lovely Miss Johansson more than made up for it. Meryl Streep turned in a sterling performance in The Devil Wears Prada which wasn't a great film..I suppose no one said it was but which was funny. Richard E Grant's WahWah was also good to watch- a tale of a young English boy growing up in Swaziland in the last days of colony there as his parents' marriage falls apart. It's autobiographical and very well made. I was fortunate enough to read his account of making the film- the Wah Wah Diaries almost immediately after watching the film and it was great to gain insights into the challenges that it takes to bring a film from concept to the big screen at a seminar near you.

I'm looking forward to going to see The History Boys- the film of Alan Bennett's play which I went to see at the National two years ago and which had me leaving the theatre musing on my teachers and knowledge and learning and how I have come to be the person I am today. I thought it would be very UK specific but it was a hit on Broadway and has now been made into a film....

While I was away Kiran Desai won the Booker Prize, beating favourite Sarah Waters. I'm looking forward to reading her book especially as I didn't think Waters The Night watch was Booker material, much as I'd enjoyed it.

Looking at the attempted impeachment of Peter Obi in Anambra State, I wonder when the people of Anambra State will say enough. After all that they have endured over the last few years and the way that Obi came to power, having doggedly fought his claim through the courts for three years, you'd think they'd stand up for him. I have met him once in London and he seemed an entirely decent person with the right attitudes and values. Impeaching him will serve no useful purpose. But perhaps the forces against him may find that this is one manipulation too far for the longsuffering people of the state.

There's a ferment in Nigeria and while it may feel uncomfortable I welcome it because I'm hopeful that it portends well for our democracy. As the various players brief and counter brief against each other, the people will hopefully see our "leaders" for what they are...

Although some suggest a gameplan by Baba to create chaos since he failed to secure his third term...we'll see

Back again

I cannot believe how long it's been since my last post. And yet so much has happened at work, at home, on the national and the international stages...where do I start

In true English fashion I'll start with the weather- or the lack of it- today's been drab and dark with the pissy kind of rain that never quite seems to make up it's mind whether to fall properly or not. Last week, we did have a tropical, get-drenched-dashing-between-your-car-and-your- front- door type storm which beat down on everything in sight. Hwever because there are no zinc roofs here, I missed the drumming sound which as a child often had me convinced that the roof would soon give way to the insistent pounding...

The Conservatives have just finished their annual party conference and everyone seems to agree that Cameron put in a good performance. The question remains why the UK public- at least in the opinion polls are still very cautious in handing him their wholesale endorsement. To hear his people tell it- we all love Cameron but are skeptical of the Tory party- once famously referred to (by Teresa May its then chairman no less) as the "nasty party". Granted what she really said was that they were perceived as the nasty party but the quote stuck. Others argue that it's his image is everything, content is nothing approach to policies that are making the public wary. Whatever it is, his task of projecting the image of an inclusive caring sensible Tory party certainly wasn't helped by the utterances of some of his members. See http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article1799471.ece for what I mean

Have just finished reading a book that I stumbled across in the library last week. It's called Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Skeptical Muslim and it was well-written and very informative- tracing the Pakistani-born British Muslim author's journeys as he seeks to make sense of his Muslim faith in a contemporary setting. I found it very educatibve in understanding the history of the various strands in Islam- Shia, Sunni, Ismaili, Sufi and the Islamic contribution to Western civilization. What made the book fascinating for me was that the author wasn't writing from the perspective of one who had repudiated Islam, he was still obviously a committed Muslim, but was quite willing to question that faith. I did bristle at his repeated reference to Nigeria as a Muslim country and felt like firing off a letter to him to put him straight but on reflection, thought I'd just mention it here.....

I'm intrigued by the mysterious blog: stopsexpredators.blogspot.com which played a major role in the scandal engulfing the Republican Congressman Mark Foley who had to resign this week following the emergence of "inappropriate" correspondence between him and underage interns....amazing how it's blown up into such a huge issue. I'm sure all the jostling is to do with the forthcoming Congressional elections....

Saturday morning I woke up to a voice articulately laying out to one of the BBC Radio 4 interviewers the argument that the US and the West were responsible for the fighters who had overrun Pakistan. It turned out to be Pervez Musharraf, the military president of Pakistan and even though I'm no fan of his (I've heard horrid tales of what the military there have got up to in plundering the nation's resources- sound familiar anyone?) his argument was compelling...

At midnight on the 1st of October as I made my way to bed, I realized that it was Nigeria's 46th Independence Day. I still remember how awed we were as children to hear the that India was celebrating its 40th independence anniversary...and now we are 46, perhaps the continuing Obasanjo-Atiku brouhaha are the growing pains of a nation finally stretching towards maturity...

The cold creeps in, Cherie& Gordon, dreaming of meatpie

It's beginning to feel quite cold in the mornings and the evenings and I suppose that soon I will have to dig out my warm clothing, swop my light soled summer shoes for my thicker soled winter ones and begin to contemplate the cost of heating.....

The barbecue the other night was a qualified success- getting there was a nightmare as there were so many roadworks going on and the Northern Line was closed so I couldn't get on the tube. I was amazed at how intolerant of traffic I had become- I, veteran of three hour long sweltering, packed solid, no movement traffic jams almost throwing a tantrum because of an hour's delay.....Anyway the food and company more than made up for it- even if there was no meat proper- the burgers, sausages and salmon were just right- and unlike the case at many barbecues I've been to, the host actually managed to produce well-cooked, juicy food without burning any of it.....

Yesterday I decided to be adventurous and had a Jamaican meat pattie for lunch. What I had really wanted was a Nigerian meat pie and the patty did not quite measure up. Cornish pasties which also look like meat pies and which I've tried as a subsitute have ended up being stuffed with more vegetables than meat which as every Nigerian knows is the first no-no for a real meatpie.....the sort that Kingsway used to sell with thin, crusty, flaky pastry and thick savoury meat before they morphed into Mr Biggs and started selling the mass produced starchy nonsense that they sell now.....Perhaps I'll just have to make my own....

The news here is filled with stories of the Labour Party conference- it appears that the verdict on Gordon Brown's speech yesterday was good but not great. But it was overshadowed by the allegation that Mrs Blair had been seen saying "Well that's a lie" when Mr Brown spoke of his warm and productive working relationship with her husband- Tony. Apparently there has never been any love lost between Cherie and Gordon- and she hasn't really refrained from showing it.... I suppose not being a politician she can afford to be more frank than her husband.... Amazing how little things change...look what I was blogging about a year ago
http://uknaija.blogspot.com/2005/09/leaders-squabbling-with-their-vices.html

The political jostling in Nigeria continues to unfold- with allegations of Senators being bribed to impeach the Vice President- and refutals and various "leaders of thought" and senior citizens calling on the President and his vice to sheathe their swords as their exalted offices are "being damaged" by the ongoing feud. As far as I'm concerned, both parties should continue with their revelations- I believe the whole process strengthens rather than weakens the Nigerian democratic process......

I'm reading and enjoying Howard Jacobson's Kalooki Nights which was also longlisted for the Booker this year.Jacobson, himself of Jewish heritage explores Jewishness in a half humorous, half serious way that is engaging. You can almost sense in the writing the author's own struggle with what it means to be a Jew as he paints various perspectives including that of the Orthodox Jews, Liberal Jews and atheist Jews.....it's a great book and one which I approached with some skepticism but am enjoying....

Nigeria- cui bono,where's Prezza, image politics and recent reading

I seem to be going through another period where finding time to blog is difficult. It's been a busy time work wise, but I hope it eases off soon. The problem with being away for such a long time is that by the time you come back, so much has happened it's difficult to know where to start.... Anyway here I am....

Neither of the two gladiators- Obasanjo and Atiku- has been impeached yet and it appears that they may not be anytime soon. It was interesting to see them both, dressed in identical blue robes at the funeral of the generals who died in the plan crash last week. How they can continue to exchange social pleasantries while each plots the other's downfall continues to intrigue me. But then Blair and Brown have long elevated that to a fine art. The evil genius himself, IBB lurks in the background and I wonder what role he has to play in all of this...as the lawyers say cui bono? Who profits from the Atiku-Obasanjo face off

Meanwhile in the UK, John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister seems to have completely disappeared from public view after his double fiasco earlier in the year- his affair with one of his secretaries and then being pictured playing a game of croquet during working hours while he was supposed to be deputising for Blair- not evn during the recent heightening of the Blair Brown face off did we get a glimpse of good old Prezza....

An opinion poll in yesterdays papers show Cameron beating Brown on most questions put to the people. The only question where Brown scored higher was on who would be more able to make difficult decisions. Brown was thought to be more arrogant, less of a team player and had a less likeable personality. I'm seriously beginning to think that if the Labour party wants to hold on to power, they'll need to get someone young and fresh to compete with Cameron- in this media age of politics, poor dour Gordon doesn't just cut it...Will the Labour party dare do the unthinkable?

On the subject of image politics, I read TIME magazine's cover story on Segolene Royal, the frontrunner for the Socialist Presidential nomination in France. She's another example of someone using image and media-friendly perceptions to get ahead in the opinion polls. Reading some of the criticisms about the lack of policy content to her campaigning, I was reminded of Cameron whose content free policies haven't stopped him from tearing ahead in the polls.... Besides perhaps it's time France with its much vaunted egalite got a woman in the top job as the UK and Germany have...

On the reading front I've just finished Peter Carey's Theft which was longlisted for the Booker Prize. I enjoyed it on several levels especially the insights into the art world. I've just started Kalooki Nights which was also longlisted for the Booker. I'll see how I get on but it looks promising. Meanwhile Doreen Baingana's Tropical Fish which I thoroughly enjoyed a while back is now out in paperback in the US. I'm surprised it never got published in the UK, especially as it contains not one but two Caine Prize shortlisted stories.....don't be put off by the short story tag though- they all kind of hang together tracing different aspects of the lives of three Ugandan sisters. Here's an article she had published in the Guardian a while back http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1540698,00.html

Meanwhile the sun's out and I'm off to a barbecue- friends making the best of the last bit of sun before the chill descends...

Catching up, the Queen, and the mystery of Booker prizes

You turn your back and so many things happen at once. The last week has been so hectic work wise that I've had no time to blog. Or perhaps that's just a lazy man's excuse. From the Pope's speech and the furore it caused to the continuing mudslinging between Obasnjo and Atiku in Nigeria to the armed forces plane crash to the march for Darfur yesterday- it looks like the world has been far busier than I have.....

I just wish the National Assembly would get their act together and impeach both Obasanjo and Atiku, leaving the Senate president to preside over what would then hopefully be a level playing field as there would be too little time for the Senate President to rig himself into the presidency...dare I wish?

Went to watch The Queen, Stephen Frears' new film starring Helen Mirren who plays Her Majesty so well it's uncanny. The film is set in 1997 around the events when Diana died and watching Martin Sheen play the young ambitious newly elected Blair you begin to remember why his election was greeted with such excitement. It's a great film and has some great cinematography ofthe stunning landscapes around Balmoral, the Scottish royal retreat where the Queen is holed up with the royal family at the time they receive the news of the Princess' death. There's one shot where the deep red of Her Majesty's lipstick is echoed in the deep red border of her Hermes scarf and the deep red of the blood running from a stag that has been shot on a neighbouring estate which of course is supposed to echoe the sense of Diana the huntress turned the hunted.....At the cinema where I watched it, the audience roared at a scene where Tony Blair asks his secretary to put Gordon Brown on hold...

Just finished Caine Prize winner Segun Afolabi's excellent collection of short stories- A Life Elsewhere which was poetic and evocative of a displacement echoed in the lives of many immigrants. I'll look forward to his Goodbye Lucille which is due out next year....

I'm reading Theft by Peter Carey which made the Booker longlist but failed to make the shortlist. I'm still reeling at Sarah Waters' The Night Watch being the favourite for the prize. I read it ages ago and while it was quite entertaining, I hardly thought it Booker material.....still I suppose the judges must have seen something in it that I missed...

On a final note it appears I might be "meeting" the real Queen before the year runs out on some work related stuff. As iconoclastic as I claim to be, I guess there's enough of the old colonial mentality in me to thrill at the thought....

Humid days, a radical solution, Little Miss Sunshine and Dhaliwal's Tourism

Monday September 11 - humid and hot with the earthy scent of a sky pregnant with rain. Yet the rain does not fall and it feels like I am breathing steam when I walk out to lunch. The weather is almost tropical and reminds me of home- is it global warming or just one of those days- who knows?

The war of the vices -the Obasanjo-Atiku and Blair-Brown sagas continue to unfold. While in the UK there appears to be a temporary truce as the truth slowly sinks into the skulls of Brownites and Blairites alike that they haven't been elected to spend the time squabbling like nursery school brats; in Nigeria VP Atiku ratchets up the heat by heading for the courts. I read the report of the "investigative panel" the president set up and I wonder where in the Nigerian Constitution this panel fits in.......at least in the UK everyone sort of knows the framework within which the fight is conducted...oh well! I'm increasingly being drawn to the neither/nor option in both cases- dump Blair AND Brown in the UK and dump Atiku AND Obasanjo in Nigeria.....

Went to watch Little Miss Sunshine over the weekend- it's the kind of dark comic tale of a dysfunctional family where you never quite know if it's okay to laugh. For me the best scene is one where a smarmy serenades the contestants in a beauty pageant with America the Beautiful as they strike suggestive poses and their dolled up faces grin. Problem is they are all under ten years old and if you think kiddy beauty pageants are ok- you really should watch this film......

Have just finished Tourism, by Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal. It's no surprise he gave Gautam Malkani's Londonstani such a harsh review- they're kind of in the same market....Tourism is an okay read-with liberal instances of equal opportunity provocation- everyone in modern London from the working class to the middle class to the rich are slagged off, as are every ethnic group from the author's own Sikhs to blacks to whites (or honkies, as the author persisted in calling them) I've never actually heard that phrase used except in books and comics from the 7os USA but then perhaps I've lived a rather sheltered life. Apart from the provocation, there's lots of fairly graphic sex but frankly it feels like a hodge podge of scenes and ideas and thoughts cobbled together.... Nevertheless there are some great scenes of contemporary London and certain echoes ofAlan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty- in the way in which outsiders enter the circles of the rich in London and are corrupted....

Parallel political drama at home and abroad

Roughly a year ago, I blogged about theparallel feuds between the leaders and their "vices" in the UK and in Nigeria http://uknaija.blogspot.com/2005/09/leaders-squabbling-with-their-vices.html

Imagine my surprise therefore to find a year on, the simmering feuds bursting to the surface suddenly, unexpectedly- In the UK, Brownites forced Tony Blair to announce today that he would not be attending the Labour conference next year as Prime Minister. This announcement did not seem to go far enough for the Brownites who wanted a firm departure date and promised to keep baying for blood. What the reaction of the Blairites would be, who can tell? There were rumours of a heated confrontation between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown yesterday, alleged to be the worst ever between the two men.

Meanwhile back in Nigeria, the long simmering cauldron of bitterness between Obasanjo and his vice president Atiku bubbled over as the President sent a request to the Senate requesting the impeachment of his vice president, on the alleged grounds of corruption. As the Atiku camp struggled to fight back, potentially with a proposed impeachment of the President, I wondered if a scenario I've long hoped for would come to pass- a situation where Nigerian leaders dished the dirt on each other- it'll be interesting to see how this plays out...

Who would have thought that this would all come spinning into the open now- have the holidays had anything to do with it? Perhaps plans were honed and polished during the recess and are now being put into play....

Blair, Brown, disloyalty and Okija, female foreign ministers, recent reading and Isioma Daniel

The whole fuss around Tony Blair and his leaving date seems to have reached a new peak or trough(depending on whose side you are on) overnight. Only yesterday morning Blairites were insisting that it would be premature and damaging to set a leaving date and then by this morning, they were all over the place loudly saying that the Tone would be gone by next summer. Whether this had anything to do with the leakage of a planned triumphal victory tour of the country by the Blessed Blair early next summer was unclear but it was obvious that there had been an orchestrated message sent to the Blair loyalists to let rip. What was crystal clear to all observers was the hilt of the dagger sticking out of Gordon Brown's back....in all the interviews, the Blairites made it clear that there was no anointed successor and that the field for the succesion was open to all comers. While I have had my reservations about whether or not Gordon Brown can pull off the feat of leading Labour to a fourth election victory, I can't help but feel that he has been massively betrayed by Tony Blair who appears to have reneged on whatever formal or informal agreements they had had when Brown stepped down for Blair in 1994....Perhaps Brown should have considered dragging Tony to the infamous Okija shrine and made him swear there like some Nigerian politicians do to their acolytes, and then he wouldn't be where he is now....

For some reason I was thinking recently about Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and then my thoughts turned to female foreign ministers as she's since been replaced by another woman- Professor Joy Ogwu- and it then occurred to me that Nigeria, Israel, the UK and the US all currently have female foreign ministers- Tzipi Livni, Margaret Beckett and the delectable (!?!) Condi. Googling to see if any other countries did led me to this very interesting website http://www.guide2womenleaders.com/foreign_ministers_current.htm which has details of female leaders globally (complete with pictures)...

Just finished Atonement- Ian McEwan's novel published in 2001 which I had been meaning to read after I enjoyed Saturday. I was initially skeptical and unsure where the story was going but the ending definitely packed a punch- really great, thoughtful book. At the moment I'm reading what would probably be the equivalent of blogs from 1940s England- diaries kept by various ordinary people as part of the Mass Observation project http://www.massobs.org.uk/introduction.html now published in book form in Our Hidden Lives. It's very interesting to see what ordinary people made of the end of World War II, the Nuremberg trials and other historical events

I see Obasanjo has carried out another of his minor reshuffles exchanging the Ministers for Communications and the Minister of Works- what this really means six or so months to the end of his tenure, who can really say?

Meanwhile 7 months to the Nigerian presidential elections, there's a deafening silence as far as candidates putting forward their manifestos- perhaps they are still waiting for an anointing at Okija or whichever shrine has taken over as the anointing venue of choice for aspirant Nigerian leaders....

Finally, if like me you have ever wondered- "Whatever happened to Isioma Daniel? (the NigerianThisday reporter whose article on the Miss World beauty pageants in 2002 allegedly set off an orgy of violence) There's an update here- http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/isioma.html

Fighting colds, Blair's regret and critics on Adichie

Not a great weekend not least because I appear to be battling a filthy cold- i wonder if I picked it up on the plane. I hate colds because of their ambiguity-You know the feeling- you're not really unwell enough to completely drop out of life and yet you just feel like crap and like crawling into bed and staying there forever....

Tony Blair must be regretting the day he let slip the statement that he would not serve a full term following his reelection last year. Ever so often the UK media descends into a frenzy trying to speculate and get him to name the date. Brownites, acolytes of the taciturn Chancellor (the presumed anointed successor) leap into the fray and talk about how Blair's continued presence is a liability to the Labour party. The Tories watch, cautiously egging them on from the sidelines and rumours swirl of a final treachery in which a third party, a dark horse is anointed in Gordon Brown's place at the last minute. This morning, one of the leading contenders for dark horse- Alan Johnson the Education secretary was on the radio to talk about the new school meal standards Labour were introducing- away with deep fried food and semi-processed "meat" and in with fruit and veg- but all the interviewers wanted to talk about was whether he had any plans of running- like a true politician, he refused to be drawn, one way or another, simply repeating "I've made my position clear and I have nothing to add" in a rather unhelpful manner.

Stuck in bed over the weekend, I devoured the Guardian and was pleasantly surprised to see two Nigeria-related items in the Review section- one was Diana Evans' account of her reading tour of Nigeria facilitated by her publishers- Jeremy and Bibi of Cassava Republic and Naijablog fame http://books.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1863011,00.html and the second was a distillation of two reviewers views on Chimamanda Adichie's Half of a Yellow Sun http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,1862903,00.html Both reviewers were generally positive, but the Times reviewer was upset at the effeteness of the only major white character in the book, Richard whom I quite liked. The Telegraph reviewer however was upset that the book was not longlisted for this year's Booker Prize, a sentiment echoed by the Independent in an earlier interview http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/features/article1219876.ece

Over the weekend, with my cold and blocked sinuses I yearned for some hot pepper soup, but a friend brought me the next best thing- beef chilli ramen from Wagamama- as I slurped the noodles, crunched the onions and chewed the beef, I could feel myself getting better. ....

One year on: Back from Canada, Loving Almodovar and Adichie, thinking of human rights & a silly restriction

Back in the UK now. The last three weeks have been exhausting, exhilaring and invigorating all at the same time. Great training time and now I feel ready to take on whatever challenges the future holds at work- great feeling. I'm desperately hanging on to that feeling as I go through the nearly two hundred e mails that were waiting at work. I used to look at people at work talking about how many e mails they had to work through as rather sad- a kind of "My e mails are greater than yours" kind of thing- but now I find myself indulging......

I kind of liked Canada- the bits I saw- it seems to have its heart in the right place- the people are generally warm and friendly in a way that I liked and appreciated and I fell in love with their governor general- the Rt Hon Michaelle Jean http://www.gg.ca/gg/index_e.asp after watching her on television- the petite Haitian-Canadian who only came to Canada in 1968- is an impressive asset. I don't think that she could attain a similar position anywhere else in the world.....

Monday went to see the new Almodovar film Volver (Return) starring Penelope Cruz and Carmen Maura. It's an amazing film rich in visuals, vibrant colour, humour and textures plus a quirky, subversive plot- all the hallmarks of an Almodovar film. I still can't believe that I had never even heard of Almodovar before I moved here. It was only thanks to a Mexican classmate that I went to see Talk to Her (Habla con Ella) when it came out a few years ago and then I got hooked. There is this one scene where Cruz is chopping red peppers and as you watch the shot of the grey blade of the knife biting again and again into the redness of the peppers, you can almost hear and feel the crunch. In another scene Cruz is washing up at a sink and there is this amazing shot from above framing her cleavage and the sink with the water running and swirling.......I'm no film sophisticate but Almodovar's films resound with the very essence of Spain- a country I'm growing to love more with each visit.....

I've just finished Half of a Yellow Sun- Chimamanda Adichie's new work and it is stunning - the broad canvas, the sweep of the characters, her exposition of a time and place- Biafra- that Nigeria and Nigerians have never properly exorcised are all remarkable. Now I understand why the phrase Dickensian keeps recurring in the critics reviews of the book. It's an amazing achievement- and quite different from Purple Hibiscus. I was initially skeptical looking at the heft of the book that it could keep me engaged but I was engrossed from page one to the very end.

I've also recently finished Geoffrey Robertson's Crimes Against Humanity: the Struggle for Global Justice- the tome written by one of the UK's foremost human rights lawyers-though dense and legalistic in areas was an illuminating and inspiring exploration of the evolution of internatonal human rights law. He is scathing on the African Human Rights Charter and I can only hope that in the 7 years since the book was published the new African Union has taken a new look at the charter in the spirit of the "African Renaissance"

On the flight back from Canada, no duty free shopping as far as spirits or perfumes was allowed- it seemed slightly silly that while the bottles were clearly visible on the trolley that the stewardesses pushed through the aisles, passengers were forbidden to buy in the spirit of the ban on liquids.....

Oh by the way, just realized it was the first anniversary of this blog six days ago. To everyone who's dropped by- Thank you

Crab cookouts and musing on African hippies

Yesterday we were invited to a crab cook out by one of the local staff here. I was not quite sure what to expect but it turned out to be something like a barbecue except that instead of meat being barbecued, it was crabs being cooked and served with melted butter. I'm not sure that the crabmeat, delectable though it was was worth all the work needed to crack the shell and the claws to get at the morsels....I did enjoy the salads though

After the crab cook out, we drove out to visit what would probably have been described as a hippy commune in the 70s, but is now probably referred to as a sustainable community- ecologically sound, environmentally friendly and awash with dreadlocked and multiply pierced surfer and alternative types. It struck me on our way back having enjoyed the organic smoothies and bran muffins that were on offer that I had never seen a hippy of African/black origin. Raising this in the car, my English colleague offered that it's because the whole hippy-surfer-alternative lifestyle is a specific rebellion against affluence. I wondered about this on the journey home- I mean I have African friends who lead what would be regarded as alternative lifestyles but their ethos is significantly different.....

The homeward journey begins tomorrow as we head to Toronto.....

Thinking of "home", thoughts of Canada and reading Upstate

Yet another snatched opportunity to blog. We are slowly coming to the end of our training and I honestly cannot wait to get back home to London- the concept of London as home is one I still struggle with...but as the youth here so eloquently put it- whatever!

Canada is a funny mix, a halfway blend between the US and the UK- it's evident in the language and the architecture and the food- fish and chips, that quintessential English dish can be found on just about any menu here, but then so can barbecued ribs and burgers and other solid American fare. Some parts of Toronto with their towering skyscrapers and perfectly laid grid street systems draw manhattan to mind and yet others with their red brick Victorian neighbourhoods leave you wondering whether you are in an English village. The Canadians are friendly- much friendlier than the reserved English, but not the over the top sickly sweet friendliness of their cousins to the South..... I could go on and on. Another thing I don't understand is why Canada is seemingly unknown/uncovered in the international media. I mean before arriving here three weeks ago, I did not know who the Canadian prime minister was... and I don't regard myself as poorly informed. But maybe I am!

One similarity between the Canada and the US is in the toilets- I've never understood why American (and now Canadian) toilet bowls have water levels coming up almost halfway to the top, as opposed to the UK and Nigeria, where the water is way down in the bottom of the pan. Is it part of the abundance of North America- they can afford to fill up their pans just that bit more?

I have just finished Kalisha Buckannon's excellent novel -Upstate- which tracks through a series of letters, the love story between two African-American teenagers in Harlem. I was sceptical at first, wary of what I felt would be sickly sweet sentimentalism, but it was a tightly written powerful insight into the lives of young urban African Americans in contemporary America. It had echoes of Random Family, Nicole LeBlanc's deep and moving account of the ten years she spent following the lives of a number of Latina women in New York.

Another snatched chance to blog, worrying about inflight entertainment and musing on liquid soap

Finally managed to get a few minutes off what is a punishing schedule to drop a few lines here. We're just outside of Toronto where the International AIDS conference is going on at the moment and each time I go into Toronto, I see lots of conference delegates wandering around. I've spotted quite a few Nigerians as well...no surprise there. The newspapers and television are filled with stories about the conference.

I hear you are only allowed one book on board UK flights and that has to be bought from duty free after you have checked in everything else. I'm frantically trying to work out which fat book I've been dying to read to take with me on the flight back in two weeks. the prospect of an eight hour flight with Air Canada's abysmal in-flight entertainment sends shivers down my spine. I can just see myself exploding in a rage of boredom induced air rage

In the hotel where we're staying instead of soap and little bottles of shampoo etc, there's a plastic dispenser on the wall with nozzles for shampoo, conditioner and liquid soap. I still can't get my head around the concept of liquid soaps and shower gels- I like the comforting heft of a cake of soap in my hand- perhaps a carryover from when I was a child and not allowed to bath myself - I remember the first time I was allowed to hold the soap myself- maybe that's why I miss my solid soap now...

I see there has been another murder of a governorship aspirant in Nigeria- I hope this is not what 2007 is going to look like..... and all the IBB EFCC shenanigans- what on earth is that about?

Ok, break over, back to work now...

A snatched chance to blog, terror and current reading

Finally, a snatched chance to blog in between what have been a very hectic few days. I arrived in canada and plunged straight into work. Hectic days, but very interesting. On the plane I read Marie Fatayi-Williams' tribute to her son, For the Love of Anthony and at many points found myself close to tears, I think the girl in the next seat must have noticed and so asked to see what I was reading. It's not fantastic writing, but in some ways, it is the homespun heartfelt nature of it that is it's greatest strength. In the book, she is particularly critical of the UK Police and the Government in their dealings with the families of the deceased and queried whether the government was doing enough to prevent a recurrence. By the way, fellow Nigerian blogger Molara Wood is quoted in the book, even if incorrectly she is referred to as Molara Woods.

This morning, I wake up to the news that the UK is at high alert following a discovered terrorist plot to blow up planes to the UK. To think that only yesterday I was strolling through Heathrow, dashing to reach the baggage drop off before it closed. I had already checked in online- but one of the problems with checking in online, is that it induces a sense of complacency- I found myself dashing to get to the airport on time, having dilly-dallied on a number of issues. At this time, the details of the suspected plot are unclear but if it is true that there were British Asian Muslims behind the plot, then I can't help but reflect on how they might be making things more difficult for the people whose cause they claim to be espousing. Only last week, the most senior Muslim police officer in the UK police said that the way in which the police were implementing anti-terror laws risked alienating young British Muslims. His comments provoked a flurry of debate, with some arguing that the police were only doing what they had to do, and if anyone was "collateral damage", then tough. If these allegations turn out to be true, then it will appear as if these hardliners have been vindicated....

Joe Lieberman has lost the Democratic nomination for the US Senate after receiving the "kiss of death" from George Bush. Apparently at the last state of the union address, as Dubya made his way out of the congress, he planted a kiss on Liebermann's cheek. Liebermann has paid dearly for "sleeping with the enemy" as Democratic activists upset by his closeness to Dubya's policies,especially his support for the Iraq war helped ensure that he was not renominated for the seat that he has held in the Senate for many years. It is suggested that he might run as an independent. Is the Democratic lion finally waking up from its slumber?

I'm currently reading Claire Tiffany's Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living which was nominated for the Orange Prize but lost to On Beauty. It's a gem of a book, the simple humour-inflected anguage evoking a different time and place is completely charming. Highly recommended!

Finally I note that Chimamanda Adichie's new book Half of a Yellow Sun is to be launched in London next Wednesday. I wish I could be there, but will be stuck here in Canada....

Last day at work and meeting visiting old friends

It's my last day at work for three weeks and I'm struggling to clear my desk. I'll be off to Canada on a training course and as I suspect I'll be very busy, I'll try to keep blogging but I suspect my blogging may be intermittent. We'll see....

An interesting weekend largely filled with visiting and meeting up with the various friends and relatives visiting from Nigeria in the usual summer holiday onslaught. thankfully this time, I haven't actually had to play host to any, but just getting around, catching up with everyone is quite a feat. It's a strange feeling, dashing half way across London to meet some old classmate or friend and their families, and then struggling to make the most of the couple of hours you have together before dashing off to the next rendezvous. How do you compress the events of the last two years into a hurriedly snatched hour, interspersed with buying rounds and pub lunches, with many of the visitors raring to get on with the shopping that is the high point of the London holidays for many of them.

Forget Trafalgar Square, forget the museums and galleries, forget the tourist attractions of London, for many of my friends visiting from Nigeria- Jermyn Street, Oxford Street , Liverpool Street and Finsbury Park markets are where it's at....

As I walk home on Sunday night to meet a pulsating rooftop party on one of the houses on my street, I reflect on how much I and my friends have changed, and how much we've stayed the same.......

Appreciating Okonjo-Iweala's achievements

Now that the news of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala resigning (or Okonjo-Wahala, as she half-jokingly referred to herself in an interview with the UK Guardian this week) http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1540043,00.html from the Nigerian cabinet has been confirmed, I think it's important to note her many achievements which are detailed in the Guardian interview. It is very sad that someone who had sacrificed so much and who had contributed so much could be discarded in the shoddy way that she has been. Obasanjo is obviously sending a clear message to Nigerian professionals abroad- come back home and contribute what expertise you can so we can use and dump you.

In some ways I'd seen Dr Okonjo-Iweala as a role model- she had travelled abroad for higher education, attained a position where she was INVITED home to Nigeria to contribute, and because she had been invited and was confident of her competence; and because she had not lobbied anyone for the job, she was able to go into office and take tough decisions and produce results. In 2003, the Nigerian rumour mills were agog with the story that she had resigned her job after President Obasanjo had reneged on their original agreement to put debt management firmly under her portfolio as Minister of Finance. As the story put it, she had already packed her bags and booked her flight back to the US when the President realizing she meant business, had to appeal to her octogenarian professor father to ask his daughter to reconsider. True or not, she did continue in the role of Finance minister and managed the enviable feat of negotiating Nigeria's exit from the Paris Club, the first African country ever to achieve this. Many criticized her policies and some suggested that the debt buy back was not the best deal that Nigeria could have negotiated; but all agreed that her practice of publishing revenue allocations introduced a level of transparency never before seen in economic management. It is also instructive that there has been no whiff of corruption around her person- even the rumours that have swirled have only extended as far as her wider family members- no mean feat in a country where her actions would have meant that many would have been keen to smear her.

Her financial and economic achievements have been widely acknowledged but I would like to celebrate a part of her that did not often get acknowledged- her simplicity.

In Nigeria where flamboyance is the order of the day, Ngozi's consistent dressing in simple ankara cloth often accessorized with simple beads or coconut shell jewellery sent a powerful message to the Nigerian public. She showed that you did not have to be swathed in yards of lace, silk or satin and draped in tonnes of gold to be an effective or powerful woman. Her blunt speaking and sharp mind made her an alternative role model for young Nigerian women everywhere and earned her the respect of the international community.

It is sad that some Nigerian commentators see her decision to resign as a sign of an ego problem. It is no such thing. It was an act of pride and dignity from a fulfilled, capable and self-aware professional woman. She was left with no other choice, following the humiliation that she had received in the last two months. Reading her resignation letter, it's interesting that while she quotes two reasons for her resignation- urgent family reasons and having completed her assignments, the President's reply only acknowledges the first- the family reasons.

When all is said and done, President Obasanjo has not been fair to Dr Okonjo-Iweala, who had borne the brunt of criticism that she and others like her were responsible for creating a veneer of credibility around a corrupt and intellectually bankrupt government.

Yesterday was another sad day for Nigerians everywhere whether we realize it or not. Some of us who were hoping some day to follow in her footsteps will now have to re-evaluate our strategies

Breaking News? Okonjo-Iweala resigns?

Just got an e mail from the intrepid Omoyele Sowore of Sahara Reporters fame (he of the Gbenga Obasanjo interview and other allied citizen-journalist coups) alleging that Ngozi Okonjo Iweala has resigned from the cabinet http://www.saharareporters.com/dn001.php?dnid=98 Hardly surprising, if it's true- seeing my earlier post today about her being removed as chair of the economic team while she was away in London negotiating further debt relief. Interestingly enough, another Nigerian blogger, Ayoke had wondered in what may now seem to be a prophetic post, whether the time hadn't come for madam Ngozi to throw in the towel.....

How will the international lenders react? How will the other members of the economic team react? How will the vast majority of Nigerians who have even if grudgingly accepted her achievements in the economic realm react? Will it mean that the coffers of carefully husbanded foreign reserves will now be thrown open?

We'll see what unfolds tomorrow...

Looks like it's true...there's a report from Reuters quoting the Nigerian government http://snipurl.com/ucfs

Cooler days, the complexity of radical Islam & what's up between OBJ and Ngozi?

It looks like the really hot days are gone now- apparently July was the hottest summer in the UK since records started being kept. It's been fun, but it's also good to be able to open the blinds in the office now and not worry about having hot, sticky, stinky feet by the time the work day draws to a close.....

I'm reading Jason Burke's book On the Road to Kandahar:Travels Through Conflict in The Islamic World. He's The Guardian's Chief Correspondent and the book is basically about his travels in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan over the last 15 or so years. It's not terribly easy to read, there seems to be something missing, something too dispassionate and structured about it. It doesn't work as a particularly engaging narrative and if its primary point is analysis, then why all the personal vignettes many of which really add little to the whole argument? Or to put it another way it simply smacks vaguely of a cut and paste job- putting together what I suspect are various articles that have appeared in print elsewhere- into a book. What it does offer are interesting insights into how the image of a monolithic, terrorist, radical Islam that is sweeping the world is false and belies the myriad subtle differences and complexities that make up the Islamic world in 2006. It's a theme picked up in this week's Europe edition of Time magazine which I've enjoyed tremendously- it has a very good analysis of why it's wrong for the US to lump Hamas and Hizbollah, who have very specific, fairly local agendas in the same broad terrorist bag with Osama and others who have more grandiose global agendas. And there's a section on the meeting of East and West, retracing the footsteps of Marco Polo, in beautifully written prose, including a bit on Sri Lanka by one of my all-time favourite writers- Pico Iyer. The East West theme is a recurrent one these days but what the TIME stories offer are beautiful insights and images of what it is like in the new boom cities of China.

So, Obasanjo fires Ngozi Okonjo Iweala as head of the economic team, while she is in London negotiating further debt relief, coming only weeks after she was removed from Finance to Foreign Affairs. There's obviously something deeper going on than we ordinary people are privy to- I wonder if my initial synthesis of all the rumours is true- ie Obasanjo holding something over the Amazon which is allowing him to act this way- It'll be interesting to see what the international reaction will be, especially in the light of madam Ngozi's credibility in Western financial circles...... At times like this, I wish I was still in Abuja where the rumour mills worked 24/7 in situations like this, but where often through the chaff you could sift out the fine kernels of truth.....

Still no takers on the immigration campaign, I see..... Or perhaps on the scale of the problems facing Nigerian women, people think the ability to get a passport is quite minor. Fair enough, I know the women in my village aren't clamouring to be given passports but I personally believe that symbols are also important and powerful.....

Scotland Yard's poisoned chalice, unimpressed by Londonstani and Alentejo Blue and a ridiculous requirement

Scotland Yard has just been handed a poisoned chalice. Detectives from Scotland Yard have arrived in Nigeria, at the invitation of the Nigerian government to help unravel the truth behind the assassination of Funsho Williams, the politician brutally murdered in his bedroom in Lagos last week. Call me a cynic but I suspect the motivation of the Nigerian governement in inviting them. Working in unfamiliar terrain, arriving almost 24 hours after the event and lacking the necessary infrastructure/materials (CCTV etc), I suspect they'll have their work cut out. And if they fail, I can just imagine the Nigerian government crowing "Well, even the experts from Scotland Yard couldn't crack it, so you can't blame us, can you?"

I finished Londonstani and my verdict remains- readable, insightful but not a great book. Not even the not wholly plausible last minute sting in the tale saves it from being an average read. And to think some people were actually talking about it being nominated for the Booker...

Ditto for Alentejo Blue, Monica Ali's latest book, after Brick Lane. It's beautifully written- great prose and vivid pictures, but there's just too much going on. As she attempts to chart the lives of the inhabitants of a Portuguese village in the Alentejo, it feels as if she's trying to cram in every snapshot, every vignette, every story thread that she's ever stumbled across in the Portuguese village where she apparently owns a house with her husband. She should probably have focussed on four major characters max, or as an alternative written a much fatter book to allow all the different stories play out properly.....

Two weeks ago, I had an e mail forwarded to me from a friend. Apparently the Nigerian Immigration Service had cancelled a whole bunch of passports and circulated the numbers without informing the passport holders. So some people had found themselves refused entry at airports because their passports had been cancelled. I was sent a link to the NIS website http://www.immigration.gov.ng/index2.htm to make sure that my passport was not on the list displayed there. Thankfully it wasn't but what I did stumble across was this list of requirements for obtaining a Nigerian passport , http://www.immigration.gov.ng/passportypes.htm which for married women apparently includes a letter of consent from their husbands. There is no similar requirement for married men. Not too long ago, Jeremy Weate of naijablog published a post that began "it's 2006 abroad but in Nigeria it's 1956". That post provoked a lot of angry comment. Methinks that as far as this ridiculous requirement stands it's the 19th century in Nigeria. Do Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Dora Akunyili and Oby Ezekwesili and the rest of Obasanjo's amazons know about this requirement? I sense an opportunity for a brief, effective campaign, any takers?

Some good news,reading Londonstani, musing on stubbornness and another callous murder

Had some good news last night, just as I was leaving work. My phone rang and I took it out, answering casually, lazily"hellloo?"..... Is that Uknaija? the crisp, clipped voice said- It's Y here from Company Z.... It took a while for the words to register and for me to realize that this was a very important telephone call and a company topshot at the other end of the phone. "I was just ringing to let you know that we thought your proposal was the most credible and innovative and we will be going with it? We'll be sending out detailed paperwork tomorrow but I thought I'd let you know" And then the voice goes on to ask..."Are you surprised?" Am I !!!! "I'm stunned" is my response. The timing couldn't be better as I'd had a bit of a blip at work this week.....

On to the library where I bagged two of the books that had long been on my hit list- Gautam Malkani's Londonstani about a group of British-Asian "rudeboys" growing up in Hounslow and Monica Ali's Alentejo Blue set in a Portuguese village. Both haven't had great reviews, but I'd read an excerpt from Londonstani in Prospect a while ago and was intrigued by the experimental language in which it was written- a mishmash of Cockney, African-Caribbean, South Asian and hip-hop gangsta slang. I'm about halfway through and can see why the reviewers weren't so excited. It's a great and original theme exploring what it means to be a young British Asian man in London in 2006, but you can't help feeling that the author's trying too hard to over-analyze and extrapolate and theorize at the expense of the credibility of the story and the characters. And you can tell that the author writes for the Financial Times-he litters the book with economic phrases and arguments, sometimes putting them in the mouths of his characters in a way that detracts from the story. Perhaps he needs to write another non-fiction book outlining his economic theories. Nevertheless, it's an interesting story so far and gripping enough to keep my attention and the insights into another immigrant culture are valuable. I'll finish it off over the weekend.

To celebrate my good news I went with a friend to dinner at this fab new restaurant- we had lobster, potato and rocket salad to start and then slices of duck breast with caramelized endive in a peppercorn sauce and turnip gratin. The main was fabulous with the bitterness of the endives cutting the rich duck meat but also softened by the caramelization process; and the peppercorn sauce providing a spicy counterpoint to the richness of the creamy turnip gratin. Washed down with glasses of cold crisp, white wine, sitting on a quiet terrcae high up above the city, it was another delightful summer

On the radio, a representative of Muslim Brotherhood declaring that Israel has no right to exist as a nation, despite several attempts to make him modify his assertion, he is adamant. Meanwhile Israel thanks the international community for "giving it permission" to go ahead with its Lebanon campaign, and declares that everyone still in South Lebanon must be a terrorist as they had long been given notice to evacuate the region. As if it were so simple. With attitudes like these, it's unlikely that there will be progress made in peace talks. Sad but true.

Even sadder and more depressing is the news of the brutal callous murder of Funsho Williams, the grey bearded affable engineer who had consistently for the past ten years made no secret of his ambitions to rule Lagos State. Stabbed several times and then strangled in his own home by unknown assailants in spite of a heavy police armed guard, the news this morning was an ominous portent for politicking ahead of the 2007 elections. The Inspector General of Police has vowed to track down those responsible, but I can't help thinking of the long list of unsolved murders- from Chief Bola Ige, the late Minister of Justice assasinated in his own home to Chief Dikibo, Marshall Harry- and how we were also promised that "the perpetrators would be brought to book" One of the prime suspects in the Ige case today sits in the Senate as a "Distinguished Senator". Until we entrench accountability, the principle that actions have consequences, into our national life, we will sadly continue to see brazen instances of murder such as this.

A dark day, musical memories and reading dark Shriver

It's going to be one of those days, when you wake up and you just feel like going straight back to bed and staying there- not eating, not sleeping, not doing, just being. Looks like it's time for a break from work. I've got one coming up in a couple of weeks, but I'll need a tremendous amount of willpower to get through the next few days.

Yesterday, walking past some houses, I overheard someone playing Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" and I was taken back instantly to the first time I heard the song (or maybe it wasn't the first time, just the one time it became etched in my memory). A darkened living room somewhere in the posher sections of Festac Town, a bunch of teenagers trying to feel too cool for school- the boys huddled in conspiratorial groups in various corners; the girls coalescing, laughing loudly- too loud, maybe to hide their nervousness, and then the first notes of this song blare out and the open space in the middle of the dance floor is packed with writhing bodies, and I am in the middle of it all......

Strange how some songs are indelibly associated with certain memories- Sister Sledge's Frankie will always conjure up memories of a "lit day"(Lit coming probably from the fact that these events usually happened under the guise of a Literary and Debating Society Day- though very little literature or debating went on) as our school social events were then called with three girls strutting in unison, rhythmically swaying to the sound. They were from the American styled private school, not far from us and were allowed to wear make up with their school uniforms, which made them seem incredibly sophisticated, and made them the object of hatred for girls from the myriad other schools around......each time I hear the opening bars, I remember those three girls, all respectably married matrons now in far-flung corners of the globe, strutting their stuff, snapping their fingers and swaying ever so slowly to the beat.......

I'm currently stuck in the middle of We Need to Talk About Kevin- Lionel Shriver's Orange Prize 2005 win. It's haunting and disturbing-tracing the life of a teenage mass killer through letters from his mother to his father. I've wanted to read it for a long time, especially because many of my friends who have children said they had found it particularly disturbing. I haven't been able to put it down- but perhaps it's partly to blame for my low mood today....

Impressed by Virgin, unimpressed by Yahoo and the delights of an English summer weekend

Not a bad weekend. Friday saw me at Heathrow, seeing off friends going back to Nigeria. They were flying Virgin Upper class and I was impressed by the service, the pick-up limo, the luggage whisked through check in, etc etc, especially as it contrasted so starkly with me seeing off a friend's father flying business class back to Nigeria on KLM recently whose treatment left a fair bit to be desired. Two of his three suitcases were overweight, which I grant was his fault but the disdain with which the check in staff treated him, as he struggled to repack and redistribute the weight was appalling. This is the second time I've been impressed by Virgin. The first was my last trip to New York when I was well-impressed by the entertainment system- each seat had it's own video/television which you could pause and restart as needed, without being held captive by a centrally coordinated film system. In addition, the array of new films they had was impressive. Sadly on the flight back, it was the bog-standard central system.

At a party Friday night I find myself chatting to this guy who works for Yahoo. I make a mock cross-sign when he tells me who he works for and he asks why. I cite the case of the Chinese bloggers and he responds by saying that what the media reports fail to recognise is that their China offices were stormed by gun-wielding Chinese police. I'm skeptical and make this clear, and then he makes a comment which I find worrying. After all, he says, people haven't got any choice- they'll need to keep using Yahoo and Google because they are the best available, no matter how much they hate their policies. For their sakes, I hope he doesn't work in strategy, because I think that while people may not have choices now, dissatisfaction with the status quo is a potential growth area and a potential chink in the armour of the big guys. The attitude of "You have no choice" seems shockingly similar to New Labour's laid back attitude and look where it's leading them......

Saturday I'm at a dinner party and our host has prepared the loveliest roast chicken with roast potatoes. We eat outside in the Zen influenced garden and for once, I can actually understand a bit of what the fuss about English summers is all about. The first course is an amazing Stilton ice cream- a juxtaposition of cold and savoury which is perfect for a summer dinner....

On Sunday, to Tate Britain to see the Howard Hodgkin retrospective- I'm skeptical when a friend invites me but the vibrant colours and the way in which he is able to convey moods through colours and brushstrokes has me glowing gently all day....

All through the weekend the Middle East crisis preys on my mind- and I am particularly touched by the plight of the Lebanese people- the grass suffering as it is trampled,caught between the elephants of Hizbollah and Israel.....

Cooler weather now but incensed at avoidable tragedy in Nigeria, reading Burroughs and watching a family

Yesterday was scorching hot and we actually had an e mail at work detailing that we could "dress down", reminding us that we should drink plenty of fluids and asking that we monitor the temperature in our offices as there are apparently legal limits to how hot it can be in an office....

Thankfully today there's still good weather but there are more breezes and it's not so brain-fryingly hot....

Sad to read in the Nigerian newspapers today of a collapsed building in Ebute Metta in Lagos in which twelve people were killed. Two things that incensed me were- first, the fact that the developer had apparently been given permission for a two storey building but had ended up building a four storey building; and second, the fact that the rescue efforts were hampered by the absence of the necessary heavy equipment needed to rescue those trapped in the rubble. In the end, equipment was borrowed from a construction company........the lack of value attached to human lives in Nigeria still haunts me....

And in a reminder that accidents happen everywhere, 25 people were taken to hospital after one of the game rides at Alton Towers, a major theme park here, malfunctioned. I've always been wary of these fairground rides- call it my Naija unsophisticated naivete- but the thought of being hurled high up into the sky by a contraption is one that I'm uncomfortable with. Now, now, I can hear you snigger- but you fly so often in planes- I know- it's perverse and illogical but it's me.

I finished Augusten Burroughs' Sellevision yesterday and I found it quite funny, in direct contrast to his two previous books- Dry and Running With Scissors which were touted as being very funny but which I struggled to finish.

Last night, having a drink in the bar with friends, there was this very interesting family-Grandfather, father and son and a rather glamorous woman of a certain age who I assume was wife/mother- they seemed to be Greek or Turkish and the two older men click-clacked on their worry beads the whole time they were there. Father, brash and successful in his sleek blazer and large gold watch downed Scotch after Scotch to the irritation of distinguished, dignified, grey-haired grandfather who vociferously upbraided him in their language. Wife and son, disinterestedly flicked through what looked like brochures for one of the local universities, as their husband and father scowled in resentment at his father's chastisement. With the scowl on his face, I imagined I could see him as a little boy being chastised like this by his father and putting on the very same scowl, which education, money and success could not erase.....

London is hotter than Abuja- who'da thunk it

Just realized, looking at the BBC website that it's 32 degrees here and only 29 degrees in Abuja today......but as my colleague pointed out, the difference is that in Nigeria it's normal and expected and so you're kind of geared up for it. Here, there's allegedly power outtages and computers freezing and roads allegedly melting....and there are predictions that the temperature may even reach 37 degrees this week. Now if that isn't global warming, tell me what is....

Still hot, eating at Nyonya, arguing about the Middle east and musing on the Natwest 3

The heat wave continues and so the weekend passed in a blurry haze of exposed bodies, the slap of flip-flops (bathroom slippers, as they were less poetically known in Nigeria) and invitations to barbecues. It was a restful weekend despite the heat and I was able to snare a couple of books that I had wanted for a while from the library. First on the list was Lionel Shriver's We Need to Talk About Kevin which won the Orange Prize last year. It's been so in demand at the local library that I've only just got my hands on it. I was also able to get hold of Everyman's Rules for Scientific Living which was shortlisted for this year's Orange Prize. I'll be reading them in the days ahead, while lying on my couch after work sipping margaritas or perhaps a menta fresca- a non-alcoholic cocktail of mint and apple juice whic I first tasted over the weekend.

Saturday saw me at Nyonya a very nice Malay Chinese restaurant near Portobello Road. I first went there about a year ago and it was good to see that it was still doing good business and that the Nasi Lemak was still as good as ever. Described as a hawker favourite in Malaysia, the meal consists of coconut rice served with a chicken curry, fried mackerel (fried crunchily bone dry like you would get on the streets of Lagos), groundnuts, half a boiled egg, cucumber slices and sambal( a hot, sweet peppery sauce a bit like a fiery Lagos stew). I've never been to Malaysia, but the meal did seem authentic- you could almost imagine the hawker deftly slicing the hardboiled egg in two and then sprinkling a few groundnuts over the top....it was a great meal, not like the usual Thai, Chinese or Indian to which my experiences of Asian food have largely been limited....and the restaurant is one worth checking out. Funnily enough it isn't miles away from Angies, my favourite Nigerian restaurant on the Harrow Road, the only place that does jollof rice with that smokey, burnt flavour reminiscent of Nigerian party jollof rice...

Now to more somber thoughts- the face off in the Middle East. I got into another argument at the weekend. A friend had condemned Israel's heavy handed rsponse and I had agreed but pointed out that it was unclear what Israel was supposed to have done in the face of the kidnapped soldiers. His response was that Israel should have in a mature way sacrificed the kidnapped soldiers by refusing to negotiate with the kidnappers and therefore undermined them. I wasn't so sure as I felt that part of the Israeli national ethos is that sense of every citizen knowing that the state will go to extraordinary lengths to secure your future, and perhaps this is what Israel was trying to maintain......

Speaking of states and their citizens, many of the commentators on the Natwest 3 got failed to get to the heart of the issue. The Natwest 3 are the British bankers who were allegedly involved in the Enron scandal and who, having unsuccessfully tried to fight extradition, were extradited to face charges in the US last week. They were extradited under a bilateral treaty between the UK and the US, which while it has been ratified by the UK Parliament, is yet to go through Congress in the USA. What rankles me (and I suspect many others) is not the question of whether these men are guilty or not and whether they deserve punishment or not. It is the knowledge that NEVER would the US meekly hand over its citizens if the positions were reversed......this is clear from the way they blocked any possibility of US citizens appearing before UN tribunals- this I suspect is at the heart of the public outcry against extradition which produced an unlikely coalition of human rights campaigners and City businessmen, driven, I suspect by different motivations.....

The day before, words versus headbutts, two arrests and making headway with Soyinka

Tomorrow is a big day work wise and so I am in that kind of place where everything appears anti-climactic; and sitting at my desk and looking out on to the sunlit square opposite with skimpily dressed men and women sprawled basking in the sun, I get the sense that I can hear the buzzing of the heat, as if the air is treacle thick, yet clear......

A few days ago on the train I fell into a heated argument over whether or not Zidane was justified or not. While I chanted my mantra, long honed in my childhood playground "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me", my friends were as resolute in saying that sometimes words could cut as deep if not deeper than blows.....as the temperature in the train carriage soared, so did our passions, as we slung our arguments back and forth....in the end we stopped as normally-reticent London tube travellers swung their heads in our direction.....I've mused on this, long and hard but still struggle to accept that the spoken word, no matter how hateful can be equated with physical violence, but perhaps this is coloured by who I am and my experiences........

This morning on the news, Tony Blair's tennis partner and confidant Lord Levy is arrested on suspicion of peddling peerages. Perhaps this cash for peerages scandal, innocuous as it seems may end up having more serious repercussions than we think......

Meanwhile, back home in Naija, Mike Adenuga, the multibillionaire Chairman of Globacom the telecommunications company who's alleged to have close links to Babangida was apparently also arrested and is now under investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, just as the Vice President Atiku Abubakar's bank records are seized by "security operatives" Obviously the stakes for 2007 are rising, especially as Atiku and Babangida recently met to join forces towards 2007

Last night I stayed up late reading Wole Soyinka's "You Must Set Forth at Dawn" I'd tried a few months ago and lost interest, mired in the dense opacity of the first few chapters but yesterday lying on the couch, I went back to it and ploughed through, and once past the first few chapters am now enjoying it...as eclectic and inscrutable as the man himself

Miliband, an idea and Wiwa's new post

Rumours that the youthful David Milliband is being considered by the Blairites as a replacement for beleaguered hapless John Prescott. The idea is that he will fend off any potential disloyal Labour candidates or people from Gordon Brown's camp which could potentially weaken Blair.....

I'm instinctively distrustful of Blairites, as I am of most ideologues and yet there's something about the idea that's attractive. Labour needs someone young and fresh if they are to counter Cameron with his "hug-a hoodie" and "intelligently planned immigration is good for us" and "hey look I cycle to work" messages.....

It's sad but true, that in modern politics, image is pretty much half the battle won, and for all that Labour may snipe about Cameron's "content-free" policies, it's largely his image that's propelling his ascent in the polls. Gordon Brown will never be a match but perhaps a smart young Deputy might help. It doesn't have to be Milliband- just someone young, smart, articulate and media-friendly.......dare the Labour party think radical?

Meanwhile I see Ken Wiwa has joined the Nigerian government as a special assistant to the President on conflict resolution. I hope it all works out for him, that he isn't just being used to buy credibility.Plus, is he ready for the cut and thrust of Nigerian politics? I wonder what his uncle Owen who was long involved in the Ogoni struggle (before fleeing into exile in Canada) thinks.

Addicted to news

As a child in what was then affluent Nigeria, my parents subscribed to various foreign magazines from TIME magazine and Newsweek to Africa and West Africa. And so every Monday morning, the newspaper vendor who came by on his motorcycle would bring that week's edition of these magazines as well as a raft of local newspapers and magazines.

Looking back now I realize that in that vendor and our relationship can be traced the story of the Nigerian economy. For from him zooming round on his motorcycle, he stepped down over the years as the economy deteriorated- first to a bicycle and then -to peddling his wares on foot. Similarly we stopped buying the foreign magazines and then reduced our order of local magazines and then stopped having him deliver, only going to the stand where he had ended up, and buying when there was something particularly newsworthy. Otherwise, as a member of the Free Readers' Club (the jocular name given to those that could not afford to buy but who would hover around newsstands browsing and copping a free read), I would hover around and browse....until one day, even free reading was banned and Vendor (as we called him) brought in a new rule......even to browse, you had to pay a fee.....

Why I am remembering this just now, I'm not sure, but it only serves to remind me how precious my 24/7 access to BBC and Nigeriaworld and all the other news outlets is, or should be.....

Meeting Ken, a bit of NY in London, Italia,enjoying Emer McCourt and a rash ban

A funny old weekend. At the RISE anti-racism festival in Finsbury Park, organized by the Mayor of London I bumped into the man himself getting orange juice for his two delightful kids, who seemed to be having the time of their lives. It's funny how people look larger than life in the media, Ken Livingstone always comes across as this dapper, vibrant, powerful figure. Yet on Saturday in his old T-shirt and jeans, slightly wearied by the sun, he just looked like another middle-aged father frazzled by his toddler children.......The festival was fun and a great day out, and coming so soon after July 7, there was no better time to celebrate the theme : London United.......

During the week, walking down Cheapside near St Paul's in the City, as the traffic poured down the street, I suddenly spotted a yellow New York cab making its way down the street. Then a second and a third. I'm not sure what it was about, but it made me (and a couple of other bystanders I suspect) execute a double take. You know the kind of feeling where you're thinking "Am I dreaming or is it real? Where am I? New York or London?" Someone thought it might be in solidarity with London over the anniversary of the 7th of July bombings.....

Then last night, the World Cup finals which I watched in a local pub- I shouted myself hoarse with the bubbly Italians that seemed to swarm all over London in their blue Azzuri shirts and the red-white -green tricolore. I wondered if there were any French living in London at all. There was one lone voice in the pub who occasionally chipped in with a brave "Allez le bleues", but he was no match for the Italian contingent who sang, danced and were generally as over the top as all the stereotypes- witness the carryings-on by the team themselves when they went up to receive the cup. I was supporting Italy for two reasons- first because of their dazzling performance in the semi-final against Germany and second because I was incensed to read that some French people were not supporting Les Bleues because they were not white enough......with that I thought, if you can't all get behind the team, then you really do not deserve to win. I did feel for the individual French players though, who played with passion. Particularly Zidane and his moment of madness and Thuram who cried like a baby when they lost and Henry stoic in defeat......Now that the World Cup and Wimbledon are both over, what will occupy our minds and conversations, at work, on the train and in the pubs?

I just finished Emer McCourt's debut novel Elvis, Jesus and Me, about two siblings growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. It's written in a very humorous tone and yet there are deep dark issues that she manages to explore humorously without trivializing them....

On a final note, I understand the Nigerian video censors board has banned the film The Da Vinci Code from being shown in Nigeria, which is sad and symptomatic of the closed-mindedness that seems to be sweeping across my country. A faith that cannot stand questioning, perhaps needs to be re-examined......and by banning it, the Board has only given it more prominence, painting it with the attractiveness of the forbidden

A controversial question, being Italian and memento mori

Sunday was hot and humid and as I dragged my weary feet through the greenery of Hyde Park, wishing that I could strip off my shorts and shirt and plunge into the cool pool of water running through a shaded cove in the park, I came upon a Middle Eastern family on a similar stroll, the boys and men all dressed in cool white tobes, the women swathed in black abayas. At the risk of provoking controversy, I couldn't help but think "Who on earth decided that women should wear black, a colour that from my early physics lessons I recall, absorbs heat in soaring temperatures?" And that men should wear cool heat-repelling white? Convention, culture, religion? It did seem rather unfair to my ignorant simplistic mind......

It's official, I'm Italian now. After the dazzling performance of Italy in their semi-final match against Germany, I can't help but join the Italian fan team. I've already blogged before about how Wole Soyinka calls the Italians the Nigerians of Europe -from the flamboyance to the garrulity to the relaxed attitude to rules exemplified on my first visit to Italy by the two carabinieri I spotted smoking right under the no smoking sign in the airport, it's obvious we share a lot in common....so come Sunday I'll be screaming Italia with the rest of them.....

John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister has got himself in yet another muddle. Following quickly on the revelations of an affair with his diary secretary and an unfortunate photograph of him playing croquet on the lawns of the grand mansion that was part of his perks of office, comes the revelation that he had spent a weekend at the ranch of Philip Anschutz, a US billionaire who is hoping to get planning permission to open the UK's first super casino; and that Prescott (or Two Jags as he used to be fondly known because of his two official Jaguar vehicles) had held meetings with him no less than SEVEN times in the last two years. Allegedly they had discussed their shared fondness for William Wilberforce, the abolitionist who was born in Hull, Prezza's constituency. The reaction of the Labour Government to this new scandal shows just why they do not get it. How can they not see the incongruity of someone who made much of his starting life as a ship steward becoming so seemingly dazzled by the lifestyles of the rich and famous? It is the pure arrogance of power that has dogged their every step in the recent past. Perhaps it's inevitable, having been in power as long as they have. I think the Romans had it right, when they had someone walk beside conquering generals in their victory parades, muttering in their ear "memento mori- Remember thou art mortal" Perhaps that's what Tony Blair and Obasanjo need, a constant reminder of their mortality and infallibility.

Oh, by the way I read Cloth Girl over the last two days and it's a good read- it starts off in a slightly pedestrian way but it picks up and is particularly interesting in the way it explores Ghanaian and English cultures and attitudes in the 40s and 50s.The language and style may be a trifle simple, but it's a gripping story of two women, one English and one Ghanaian in colonial Accra and how their lives become intertwined......

I finally read the Nigeria story in Tokyo Calling and it's called The Flyover and is set near Balogun market, under the bridge- I think the author captures the sense of Lagos well andI was only sad that it was so short......

Next up on my reading list- two novels by young British Asians- Gautam Malkani's Londonstani and Nirpal Singh Dhaliwal's Tourism

Heartbroken over England's loss,trying to make sense from rumour & a saddening assault on free speech

Who would have thought that after my last post that I would be so upset by England losing to Portugal? But there was something about the heart with which they played with ten men against eleven that won me completely over. Aaron Lennon and Crouch were both playing with all their hearts and you couldn't but wish them well. Every minute from the 62nd when Rooney got sent off was a cliffhanging, lip-chewing one....and when it all ended in tears, I found myself with a lump in my throat as well....It was such a shame that Rooney fell victim to the provocation, but then when all's said and done, he is ONLY a 20 year old....I'm sure there'll be lessons for him in this. To add insult to my English friends' injury, France won THEIR match, going on to the semifinals. At the end of the England Portugal match, my friends had said, "Now we're supporting anyone but France"....Oh I said "Do you dislike the French more than the Germans then?" "Of course" they all spat with one voice, leaving me yet again bewildered by the hierarchical nature of these intra-European rivalries.....

Had friends visiting from Nigeria over the weekend with disparate rumours about why Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala was moved from Finance. One school of thought was that it was to clear the path for building up a war chest for the 2007 elections. The other (less complimentary) was that it had to do with the brouhaha over commissions for the debt buy back. I've come up with my own theory- a middle ground combining both: in order to build war chest, commissions brouhaha is waved in the air to secure acquiescence...or perhaps there is no shred of truth in it all.....

Freedom of speech is under threat both in Nigeria and the UK. In the UK, Steven Jago was arrested under the Serious and Organized Crimes Act for carryinga placard and copies of a Vanity Fair article entitled Blair's Big Brother Britain outside Parliament. News of this led me to go out and buy Vanity Fair so I could read the offending article by Henry Porter, a columnist in The Guardian. I must say the picture he paints is quite scary, but what is even scarier is the deafening silence from the press and members of the public. Why on earth should demonstrations be banned within one kilometre of Parliament- a radius that very conveniently includes 10 Downing Street? Security measures are already in place and tourists are free to mill about so it cannot be about that. Or perhaps the police are worried about spontaneously combusting placards? The mind boggles......

Taking a leaf from our erstwhile colonial masters, the Nigerian State Security Service arrested journalists who questioned the safety and security of the newly acquired presidential aircraft were arrested and charged with sedition.

Since Tony Blair recently put in a proposal for a new executive plane, perhaps he'll be taking a leaf from his good friend Obasanjo if any dare criticize the move......

Disarming honesty, books to look forward to and echoes of 7th July

At the train station last week, I was in a hurry and so rushed to use the newly installed machines thinking I could avoid the queues that way. Precious minutes after, the silly machine spewed out my credit card with a signal saying "Sorry this transaction cannot be completed at the moment"....gritting my teeth I went to join the now even longer queue, certain that I'd missed my train. Sure enough I had and so I complained to the gentleman behind the counter. In a burst of extraordinary frankness he confided that the machines weren't always very good at processing transactions, and that he hoped that this state of affairs would continue because he would be out of a job when the machines started to work promptly and efficiently. Honest as he was I did wonder if it was wise saying this to a stranger, after all for all he knew I could have been a manager in the train company......

Browsing in Daunt's, a lovely oak panelled independent bookshop I stumbled across recently, I noted a number of new books which will surely keep me busy in the weeks ahead.The great thing about Daunt is that their books are arranged in geographical sections, so going to the USA section, you can find anything from the latest biography of Condi Rice to Philip Roth's latest novel, to a California travel guide.

In the Africa section, I saw Aminatta Forna's novel- Ancestor Stones. Having enjoyed her The Devil that Danced on the Water, a memoir of her father, one of Sierra Leone's leading early politicians, I'm looking forward to seeing her turn her gracefully eloquent hand to fiction. Also catching my attention was The Cloth Girl, set in mid forties Ghana, written by Marilyn Heward Mills who's half Ghanaian and half Swiss. It's not often we find contemporary books set in that era so am looking forward to it as well. Monica Ali's second novel Alentejo Blue which hasn't received great reviews, also caught my eye but I'm sure that after the runaway success of Brick Lane, anything that she produced subsequently would struggle with the critics......Finally Marie Fatayi-Williams who eloquently and courageously summed up the grief of many the day after her son Anthony was killed in the July 7 bombings has written a book explaining how she got through those dark days. Proceeds will go the Foundation set up in her son's memory. Anthony son of a Muslim father and a Roman Catholic mother, scion of English and Nigerian heritage was a potent symbol of the senseless killings of last year......

Disappointingly while the Nigerian section in Daunt had the Bradt travel guide and a few Chinua Achebe novels, there was no Soyinka, not to talk of Adichie, Atta, Abani, Afolabi, Habila. It made the shelf look a bit sparse which is such an unfair representation. Which maddens me- because let's imagine a book lover strolls over to Daunt's and thinks "Hmmm I'd like to read something Nigerian" and then saw the sparse offering they'd think nothing much was happening in Nigerian literature. Which of course is patently untrue. So when even an alternative, off the beaten track bookshop still struggles to stock popular, prize winning books by Nigerian and African writers, how are they supposed to make a name for themselves?

At the moment I'm reading and enjoying Rana Dasgupta's Tokyo Cancelled, a sort of contemporary rendering of The Canterbury Tales- several travellers are stranded at an airport when their flight to Tokyo is cancelled and they end up passing the time telling stories, there is a surreal, medieval quality to the tales which is compelling. I'm looking forward to the story set in Lagos.....

Our five days of summer are here and as I prepare to go and watch England play Portugal I wonder if the English will end up stumbling their way to the World Cup. Watching Brazil is sheer poetry, the fluidity of movement, the balletic passes, England always ends up getting there, but with only the occasional flash of brilliance. In any case I'll be flying my St George flag, got free with my evening newspaper yesterday..... I noticed the vendor hesitate before offering it to me, perhaps he wondered if I'd find it offensive- I didn't.....

Yesterday, half the London underground was closed suddenly at rush hour and as I tried to make sense of the conflicting reasons the staff gave, I hoped and prayed it was nothing more sinister.....