Krakow

Of course there is so much more in a visit to Poland that the horror of Auschwitz and we certainly were bowled over by the beauty of Krakow and the surrounding countryside. These are just a few pictures of some landmarks in the city.

Here is the ‘Solidarity’ office in Plac Sczcepanski:




The Florian Gate:





St Mary’s Church in the main Market Square:






The Cloth Hall which contains masses of craft shops, mostly selling Baltic amber:





Wawel Cathedral & Castle and the River Vistula:





What can never be shown in a photograph is the warmth of the welcome afforded us by the people of Krakow. It is genuine warmth based on a pride in their city that they are eager to show to visitors. If you’ve pondered visiting Krakow, then my advice is go as soon as you can. We managed to fly for an amazing £30pp return. Excellent restaurants, cheap beer and vodka, what else could you possibly want?


nick

Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II Birkenau

We visited Auschwitz on Friday. First to Auschwitz I and later took the short drive across to Auschwitz II Birkenau. It’s difficult to know what to write to describe the experience of being within the compound of both camps. For me personally, there were several images that I’d been accustomed to through history lessons and the media. The mountains of shoes, suitcases, spectacles and human hair are as shocking as the word 'shocking' can describe. The ‘Death Block’ at Auschwitz I evoked thoughts of torture and cruelty that simply go beyond the realm of humanity. The often screened image of a line of twins walking through the camp to take part in Mengele’s cruel experiments came to mind at the spot were it had been filmed.




At Auschwitz 11 Birkenau, the image of the Tower is the first thing you see as you drive to the small car park. Once inside, the railway yard is as it was and it is easy in the mind’s eye to see a steam locomotive with a long line of cattle trucks being unloaded at the same spot. The walk along the line towards the Crematoria then passes the location where tables were set up and so many had their fate decided there and then. Standing where thousands of new arrivals had been directed either Left or Right to decide whether they went immediately to their death or began to try and survive is a humbling experience.






I recently read this debate on the future of Auschwitz as it crumbles away through time. Having been there, I am convinced that the site needs preserving for our future generations. Apart from the site of the murder of approximately 1.1m innocent people, Auschwitz also represents the story of the Polish nation's struggle to exist against the best combined efforts of Hitler and Stalin. Of all the countries involved in the 2nd World War, none lost as high a percentage of its population as Poland. When we as a nation, rightly still honour those who gave their lives in the 1914-18 conflict, it must surely be too soon to decide on the fate of this monument.




nick

Why so long to prove innocence?

There has so far been only one winner in this case. 27 years in prison for a crime you haven’t committed is a life wasted, justice has yet to be served for Teresa De Simone, her family and friends are left knowing the real culprit has walked free for far too long and Police officers did a shabby job in convicting an innocent man. I sincerely hope the real perpetrator of this heinous crime is swiftly identified and made to pay for the damage he’s caused. I do wonder why it's taken so long to carry out the DNA tests that have proved Mr Hodgson's innocence though. Surely this technology was available at least 10 years ago?


nick

Racism in the Police? Nope, apparently just good Policing!

Sometimes I read a report in the media and I’m simply nonplussed at what someone will try and make us believe. After CCTV operators in Cheshire targeted Everton’s Nigerian midfielder Victor Anichebe because he was ‘acting suspiciously’ outside a jewellery shop in Knutsford, the local Police then humiliated the fella even further by not only challenging him as to what he was doing there (he’s currently wearing a plaster cast on his leg), but during the following "heated dialogue" took the decision to handcuff his friend. Cheshire Police reckon officers were sent to the scene because they’ve had a series of robberies at jewellers. I wonder if they’d attended if it had been Julie and me casually looking in the window?

After some time out, the Cheshire Police’s. website is again available. In regards to Race Relations Legislation they say:

"The Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended by the Race relations (Amendment) Act 2000) Section 71, places a general duty on all specified public authorities, which includes every police force, to promote race equality. They must have, when carrying out their functions, due regard to the need to:

• Eliminate unlawful discrimination
• Promote equality of opportunity
• Promote good relations between persons of different racial groups

Effectively this means that the Constabulary needs to look at all our policies and functions and identify where they may impact upon particular ethnic minority groups either positively or in a negative way and examine how they could be amended to comply with the General duty.

An initial audit of the Constabulary policies has been carried out. The issue that has emerged is the need to improve monitoring in a number of areas."

Ya don't say!!


nick

UPDATE
An apology was the only thing they could do in the circumstances.

Way past the time to get tough on the debt parasites!

I welcome this news that action is being taken against these websites deliberately misleading consumers by using website addresses similar to non-profit organisations. As someone who has witnessed the aftermath of the trauma that accompanies debt, I can vouch for the levels of deceit employed by companies in order to boost their share of the market.

If anyone offers to help you out of your debt problems and in order to obtain that help, you need to go further into debt, they are not your friend. If companies are not licensed, they should face prosecution. It really is past the time for tougher regulations against these parasites!



nick

Would anyone mourn the loss of ITV?

It’s easy to take today’s sizeable range of television channels for granted, but it’s not so long ago that there were three. BBC1 & 2 and ITV. Two colossal broadcasting giants going head to head like Finn MacCooil and the Buggane.

Times change and despite all the early ridicule heaped upon the new kid on the block by the old guard, Sky flourished and inspired a plethora of broadcasters who scramble for our attention 24 hours a day. One of the old giants adapted as best it could and eventually learnt to adjust its style to suit the modern time. The other giant couldn’t adapt to the new circumstances at all and all the decisions it made always turned out to be the wrong one. They took on a Chairman who had been everywhere else before and may have run out of fresh ideas. They wasted £120m on a website that had already reached its peak and was heading for a downturn. They took on Formula 1 at a huge cost and ruined it by putting advertisements on at the best bits, they employed Clive Tydsley to commentate on football, they dumbed down Saturday evenings to the point of embarrassment, they threw in the towel on nighttimes and settled for ‘Nightwatch with Steve Scott’, they employed Clive Tydsley, they handcuffed themselves to Ant and Dec for a ludicrous amount of money, they couldn’t broadcast a Merseyside derby without showing advertisements when the winning goal was scored and worst of all, they employed the ‘Old Trafford announcer’ Clive Tydsley.

Of course the Giant conveniently blames the economic downturn for all of its woes as it now seeks to lay off 600 employees in Leeds and London. Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of broadcasting union Bectu, rebuts those claims and says "This is because of the mismanagement of ITV and has been going on for longer than the current credit crunch," He claims that the Giant's management has been more interested in looking after shareholders and senior management, rather than staff and viewers and accuses it of giving up on its public service broadcasting remit after announcing it was going to move more towards popular entertainment programmes! Sheesh, how low can their Saturday output get?

I can’t think of one programme I now watch on ITV. If it ceased broadcasting today, would I even notice it had gone? In fact once the big digital switchover takes place and it simply takes up one space amongst a bouquet of channels, would the majority of viewers miss it?


nick

Come on you Spurs!

Good luck this afternoon fellas, make it a St David's Day to remember. We were given no chance last year against an equally strong Chelsea side, so hopefully history will repeat itself and we can start to improve on what so far has been a dreadful season.


nick


UPDATE

ah well, not to be. On the 'up' side, 120 minutes and we kept Man Utd out, so perhaps we can start keeping some clean sheets in the league.