Before and after the flood

When I woke up in the County Hotel, Chelmsford, on Friday after the Essex Book Festival event for Spartacus Road, the insect-like TV was showing news pictures, taken from the air, of a tidal wave rolling across fields towards a distant road of cars.

The last house I ever owned in Essex was beyond the flood defences; and, whenever  I slept there, in the bird sanctuaries of St Osyth, I would often imagine the sea storming over our heads. So did others. It was not a popular house for visitors.

So somehow the first pictures from Japan seemed reasonable - even appropriate - for an Essex boy returning home.

It would be good to see them again. No scene of destruction can match a moving wave and a line of drivers with no sense that something bad is five fields away..

All images of a flood are in their essence 'befores and afters', a genre that we carry around in our heads. What was it like? What is it like now?  The 'before and after' used to be a standard trope of journalism - but never can it have been deployed as inexorably as in these ABC pictures I've just picked up - late, I'm sure.

And how pleasant it must be for Colonel Gaddafi. Nothing he does to rebel towns looks much compared to the devastation of Japan. Imagine him sliding back between these befores and these afters and feeling both virtuous and human.

 

Comments

[Truthlord]

Its That Ghaddfi Man Again,Its That…..I suppose I have been reading the political and world affairs in newspapers etc for about sixty five years-yes don’t gasp because I only look with my black hair and slim physique about 45-but I can say clearly that there has NEVER EVER BEEN SUCH an evil time in the world as at the present moment –and regarding Libya.One of the great things about Libya is that Stothard has never been there-it is a Stothard free zone so to speak –however since I worked for five years at a British style school –GCSEs and all –for non Libyan/Academics children- I know the place somewhat.Of course since no one ever reads Stothards blogs my words are really wasted but here goes… Ghaddafi is a dictator and autocrat…but so are all Muslim countries .Its in the nature of the religion which is autocratic.the name Islam means I submit…to my position in life- rich or poor. Gaddafis regime has created an excellent and remarkable welfare state.There may be some wealth inequalities but compared to other Muslim states there is far less inequality than in most European states.Its hospitals health clinics roads and public housing in stylish blocks of flats are superb.When I was there in the mid eighties there were problems –the socialism was extreme the department stores were largely empty and perhaps the inertia of the Arab was a problem but those days are gone as the regime has opened up to a free market economy. Given its superb climate-everyday at ten AM in the morning an uplifting English summers day (and climate is important to happiness) most British people would describe Libya as paradise on earth. So whats the problem.There is no doubt that socialism is a problem for many Muslims. It nags at them like indigestion even though it is the only solution for their poverty stricken or unequal societies.It is not too difficult to stir up fundamentalist feelings among either the lowest classes or clever rogues.Many people imagine that America,fighting the Taliban and Al Queda in Afghanistan etc is against Muslim fundamentalism.That is totally wrong. Ossama Ben Lladen ,Al Queda, and the Taliban are American CIA creations.Indeed Ben laden has not been captured because he is probably tipped off by his CIA friends.Muslim fundamentalism has been used by the CIA to destroy Americas greatest enemy –socialism –in Afghanistan Yugoslavia Iraq and now Libya.There have been suggestions that CIA Muslim operatives were connected with the London bombings –and why not-anything that damages London is good for America.But what is so terrifying is the level of lying of misinformation the western worldspress are directing against Libya. What can be the reason for this? I have an idea about this.I have noticed that whenever in the company of Jews I have mentioned Libya everyone freezes Libya is hated and feared by Jews and Israelis.Why is this? The answer is that unlike other Muslim states you cannot sneer at its hypocracy –with rulers praying one day and gambling away fortunes the next nor sneer at poverty stricken Arab boys selling their sisters. Libya is a perfect prosperous socialist state with pretty girls driving to work in their BMWs and no one with any worries .What about Gaddafi?Sadly I must say Gaddafi irritates me. Thirty years ago he was a handsome energetic revolutionary. Then he became a Beduin mystic always meeting people in his tent,staring up at the heavens screwing up his eyes never looking at people when speaking…this style must irritate people who in fact support his regime,it allows him to be described as mad.And doing this in a Libya with 134% mobile phone penetration—-greater than America where the young are constantly using the internet..this was not a wise move…Now we see the BBCs John Simpson saying..its been suggested that government forces are using human shields---what kind of mischievous ^reporting ^is that…and never being filmed in front of a block of flats only in the middle of some wrecked road-- or have women phoning…we have no hospitals or schools ---when the universities produce superbly trained graduates often taught by visiting British professors—and the hospitals are often better equipped than those in Britain I have always been hesitant to suggest that the western worlds media is ultimately owned run or manipulated by Jewish interests but in the Libya business their cover has been blown.Bringing Libya down will be a great victory for the CIA ,Muslem fundamentalism and Americas war against socialism.Above all it will be a great victory for Israel as it sees the most civilized and advanced Arab state turned to rubble….

[Clayton Burns]

It is my theory that if Sir Peter were the visionary that he claims to be, he would have had these remarkable photos well before the disaster happened. What is the use of a prophet who has to wait for data from the media?

John Lee Hooker. "Tupelo." The greatest performance ever on a flood. Almost as good as his "Hobo Blues." On YouTube.

[Did you read about the flood?
It happened long time ago, in a little country town, way back in Mississippi
It rained and it rained, it rained both night and day
The people got worried, they began to cry,
"Lord have mercy, where can we go now?"
There were women and there was children, screaming and crying,
"Lord have mercy and a great disaster, who can we turn to now, but you?"
The great flood of
Tupelo, Mississippi
It happened one evenin', one Friday evenin', a long time ago,
it rained and it started rainin'
The people of Tupelo, out on the farm gathering their harvest,
a dark cloud rolled, way back in Tupelo, Mississippi, hmm, hmm)
Wasn't that a mighty time,
wasn't that a mighty time?
Wasn't that a mighty time,
a mighty time, that evenin'?
It rained, both night and day
The poor people that had no place to go, hmm,hmm
A little town, called Tupelo, Mississippi
I never forget it and I know you won't either].

[Clayton Burns]

TRUTHLORD has missed his calling: a YouTube duet with Alexandra The Bikini, cultural analyst:

Alexandra Wallace, UCLA Student, Films Racist Rant:

"Hi. In America we do not talk on our cell phones in the library...I'll be typing away furiously, blah blah blah, and then all of the sudden, when I'm about to, like, reach an epiphany, over here from somewhere, 'OHH Ching chong ling long ting tong? OHH'...".

TRUTHLORD: "–however since I worked for five years at a British style school –GCSEs and all –for non Libyan/Academics children- I know the place somewhat."

Perhaps you know the place, but you know not yourself--GCSEs and all--. That is like an American implying that we should all swallow down the SAT and get white.

"Ghaddafi is a dictator and autocrat…but so are all Muslim countries .Its in the nature of the religion which is autocratic.the name Islam means I submit…to my position in life- rich or poor."

This is just crude, abrasive essentialism. You are typing too fast for your brain to catch up.

"perhaps the inertia of the Arab..."--"perhaps the parasitism of the Jew"--"perhaps the frailty of the female."

In your fevered rhetoric, literally anything goes. Why not "the intellectual limitations of the blacks," "the natural inferiority of the dark races"?

"clever rogues"--the slippery other. They are at it again. Those Arabs.

"Indeed Ben laden has not been captured because he is probably tipped off by his CIA friends."--If the CIA could get ahold of "Ben laden," they would not bother with water boarding. He would have no chance of surviving the encounter.

"But what is so terrifying is the level of lying of misinformation the western worldspress are directing against Libya."--This is paranoid and delusional. The evidence is patent in video, and even in Gaddafi's treatment of the foreign media.

"I have always been hesitant to suggest that the western worlds media is ultimately owned run or manipulated by Jewish interests but in the Libya business their cover has been blown."--You are a disgusting racist, "Truthlord." What a pretentious and silly name. No wonder you need to hide. Yet still a man is known by his shadow.

"Above all it will be a great victory for Israel as it sees the most civilized and advanced Arab state turned to rubble…." Fever, Truthlord. Madness. Gaddafi is a murderer who would make Macbeth turn pale.

A visit to the hospital is in order, Truthlord. Only the profession of psychiatry can deal with your issues.

[Shelley]

Always amusing to hear the "experts" clear their throats and assure us that they will "learn the lessons" from the current nuclear disaster so it will "never happen again."

[Lord Truth]

Sorry Clayton-what I thought was a fairly balanced comment seems have upset you.Of course its dangerous to criticise the rulers in any autocratic state-but its probably dangerous to criticise Jerry Adams in a Boston pub-what matters is how do the achievements of a regime compare with the disadvantages As for misinformation go to todays BBC News website and find the article headed -Tripoli Living in Fear -There is a photo of a rather crummy Arab souk type street with the description- Many of Tripolis Shops are Closed.The street is indeed at the entrance to the old town souk-completely empty when Iwas there -Iused to delight in walking round it in the silent afternoon sunshine--the inhabitants all living in blocks of relatively luxurious flats.....In recent years its been developed as a tourist attraction-certainly I cant imagine any Libyan shopping there when there are many modern shops and department stores with supermarkets....But the BBC with all its huge resources has to give the usual misrepresentational image of a dirty old Arab street market Its a small example of the BBCs tricks but they do so many of them as does CNN...Its terribly depressing to know the lying situation the media presents us with-and for the BBC its particularly shameful.