BEYOND NORTHERN IRAQ: STUHUGHESIRAQ@MAIL.COM

I’m finally home in west London after the Plane Journey From Hell.

We boarded BA 633 on schedule and headed down the runway bound for London Heathrow.

But during the taxi one branch of the air conditioning on our Boeing 767 packed up; not a problem…unless the cabin filled with choking smoke mid flight.

The plane returned to the stand, the engineers got their spanners out, and after about an hour we were back on our way. But something was still clearly not right. My ears started blocking up repeatedly, as though I’d suddenly picked up a head cold.

The captain came back on the tannoy. The pressurisation system had failed.

Back to the stand. More engineering.

By this time some lily-livered passengers were getting edgy.

They wanted off.

The captain said they could disembark and promised they could pick up another flight in the morning. I was dismayed by their lack of confidence in the world’s safest form of travel but understood their misgivings. A coach pulled up alongside the plane and about a third of the passengers left – far more than I expected (a sign of the paranoid times we’re living in.)

Then, disaster struck.

Just as the (cowardly) passengers were preparing to return to their terminal they received word from the Greek ground staff that they WOULDN’T be allowed to change to a morning flight free of charge because they’d CHOSEN – of their own free will – to walk while the captain was still trying to get the plane airborne.

Pandemonium. Tears. Raised voices. Accusations.

Some financially challenged waverers got back on board, deciding to put budget before safety. Others threatened to sue BA for ever-increasing sums.

More delays as the Athens handlers tried to recover the cowards’ bags (personally, I think they deserved to forfeit their luggage on account of being cheese-eating surrender monkeys.)

Finally, after almost five hours on the tarmac, the engineers changed the oil and air filter, topped up the windscreen washed and cleared us for take-off for the third time, although by this time our ETA had slipped from 2115GMT to 0145GMT.

This time the engines started, the wheels rolled and we headed skyward, leaving the cowardly cowards who’d disembarked to fight it out at Athens Airport for an alternative flight home.

I tried to convince the BBC team I was travelling with that – like Captain Scarlett -- after my accident in Iraq I’m indestructable. No plane will crash while I’m on board (although try telling that to cameraman Mo Amin, who died in a plane crash some years after losing his arm in an explosion.)

Ultimately, though, we were all far more reassured by the words of our captain. As a father and husband, he said, there was no way he was going to take off if he thought the plane under his control was suspect.

He didn’t want to die, any more than we did.

YOU'RE ALL WELCOME AT BEYOND NORTHERN IRAQ....

Even those of you who search google for "19 years old girls pissing in nappies."

You know who you are...although I'm not sure this site is quite what you're looking for.

OLYMPIC BLOGGING: THE VIEW FROM ATHENS



Here in Athens, the signs that the Olympic Games are just months away are inescapable – and it’s not just the Olympic adverts and billboards that assault you from the moment yuou step off the plane . The city is one big building site; Roads are being dug up, tram lines laid, stadia built, and the skyline is studded with cranes.

There’s no doubt about it – the pressure is on.

Greeks are all too aware that the world expects them to fail. It’s a matter of fundamental national pride that the country proves wrong those who believe Athens won’t be ready in time for the opening ceremony on August 13th.

The logistics involved in hosting the Games are breathtakingly complex: A budget of almost 2 billion Euros to prepare for 5.3 million spectators watching 28 sports in 35 different venues, covered by 21,500 media representatives and policed by 41,000 security officials. Yesterday, I visited the International Broadcasting Centre, where I’m likely to be based for the duration of the Games. At the moment it’s just an empty shell of breezeblocks and steel. It’s difficult to believe that for a few weeks in August it’ll be home to thousands of journalists and technicians and powered by enough electricity to maintain a city of 40,000 people.

From what I’ve seen, the signs that the city will be ready to host the Games are generally encouraging – the main Olympic Stadium is taking shape and the new Olympic roads are gradually opening up. Still, the timetable for completion of some of the major projects is nailbitingly tight. Any unforeseen delays, however small, could cause huge problems. The feeling here is that the weeks running up to the start of the Games will be like an episode of “Changing Rooms” with builders rushing frantically to apply the paint and put the carpets down before the owners arrive to see their transformed house.

Ultimately, though, everyone knows that even if there’s traffic gridlock on the streets and chaos outside the Olympic villages, provided that the athletes are happy and the events look good on television then the Games will be judged a success.

Not that many Athenians will be watching. For one thing, the relatively high ticket prices mean many of the city’s residents can’t afford to see the sports taking place in their own backyards. For another, thousands of people who live here are planning to escape for the mad month of August. They’ll be heading abroad or to their hometowns. There’s big money to be made renting out city centre apartments while are the Games are on.

Other Athenians, though, are choosing to stay put. The Olympics represent a huge cash bonanza for the city. Bar owners, hoteliers, shopkeepers and taxi drivers intend to make hay while the sun shines.

So, with just over 200 days to go until the Olympic flame returns to the spiritual home of the Games, the countdown is very much on. Will Athens be ready in time? The city has no choice but to ensure that it is.

It's 25th years to the day since Vietnam invaded Cambodia and ended the Khmer Rouge's genocidal rule.

A quarter of a century on, those responsible for that dark and bloody period in Cambodia's history still have not paid for their crimes.

Many of the Khmer Rouge leaders have already died -- at peace and at liberty. Those still alive are advancing in years.

At last there are signs of some sort of justice for the estimated 1.7 million Cambodians murdered under Pol Pot's tyranny in the form of a UN sponsored tribunal.

But any convictions that follow will be too little, too late.

BBC News: Cambodia marks fall of Pol Pot
CNN: Cambodia marks Khmer Rouge fall

Belatedly, I've just spotted that some of the work done in Cambodia by myself and Sean Sutton from MAG has been posted online. Despite what it says on the webpage the photos are Sean's, the words mine.

THE LIGHTS ARE ON BUT THERE’S NO-ONE HOME



Ian Flintoff of London SW6 asks in the Guardian’s Notes and Queries section (which doesn't seem to have been reproduced online):

“Why are television news reporters made to stand in all weathers outside public buildings at funny hours, such as the Foreign Office late at night (when everyone has clearly gone home) or No 10, when the reporter hasn’t even been inside or spoken to anyone?”

A very, very good question, Mr Flintoff. It’s one of the great mysteries of television news. But remember – it’s not just the correspondents who have to stand around like morons in the cold for hours waiting to do lives on location in order to give a “sense of place” to the viewers at home….and anyway, they’re paid enough to be expected to grin and bear it. Spare a thought instead for us lowly producers, as well as cameramen, soundmen and satellite truck operators who are also freezing their brass monkeys off behind the lens. If I added up all the hours I’ve spent standing in the dark outside Number 10, an EU summit venue or another live position where absolutely nothing was happening I could probably write off the community service I’ve still got to complete.

That’s why I try and stick to radio whenever possible. You can say you’re at the summit of everest when you’re actually lying in a jacuzzi surrounded by Thai hookers and the listeners won’t know any different (not that I would, you understand.)

NEWS THAT'S HARD TO SWALLOW



Various media outlets are carrying the story today that people with dementia are receiving unequal drug treatment.

A survey of NHS spending on dementia drugs has found that one Northern Ireland health biard is spending £10 for every person over 65, compare with just £1 in Lothian, Scotland.

And the survey was carried out by statisticians from...Pfizer.

Which makes....Aricept.

Which is..."the number one prescribed Alzheimer's drug" (Source: Aricept website).

That’s not to say that “postcode prescribing” isn’t a problem. I’m sure it is. Certainly in my own case I’ve been told that I’ve been able to receive more expensive prosthetic limb components (which are “prescribed” just like a course of medication, although they’re harder to swallow) because the health authority in Wales I get them from is relatively well funded compared to, say, another authority in London.

Nevertheless, it’s clearly in the interests of Pfizer to highlight the fact that spending on Alzheimers drugs varies widely across the country despite the recommendations of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) that the drugs should be available to all that need them.

If health authorities can be named and shamed into spending more on dementia drugs, Pfizer will sell more Aricept and make bigger profits. It’s a simple and obvious equation.

The Department of Health has said that it’ll look at any evidence that Nice guidelines aren’t being followed, suggesting that Pfizer’s publicity offensive is already paying off.

If I were editing a news bulletins today instead of working out here in Athens I would feel very uncomfortable about running this “story” at all. It treads too fine a line between News and PR.

Campaign group Reporters Sans Frontieres has published its annual tally of journalists killed, injured and censored.

As with several other such reports published recently, it makes for grim reading.

Describing 2003 as a "black year," RSF says 42 journalists were killed. Every other indicator was also up: arrests of journalists, physical attacks, threats and censorship all increased alarmingly.

This week, my TV licence fee and yours will help pay for 45 hours of coverage from the 2004 Lakeside World Professional Darts Championship.

Every time I switch on the television at the moment I seem to be confronted by Bobby "Mr Glitter" George and Ray "Ugly Bastard" Stubbs propping up the bar at at Frimley Green.

Check out the BBC's darts coverage and you'll find match reports from the Lakeside in the Sports section. Phil "The Power" Taylor and Ray "Dutch Bloke" Barneveld are mentioned in the same breath as David Beckham and Paula Radcliffe, which seems ludicrous.

Why don't we go one further and put Pro-Am celebrity masturbation in the sport section as well, alongside tonsil hockey.

But with synchronised swimming and beach volleyball now recognised as Olympic sports, maybe it's just a matter of time before Ted Hankey and Mervyn King slug it out at the oche for a gold medal.

Talking of which, I'm heading to Athens at the crack of dawn to get a first look at preparations for the Athens Olympics, where I'll be spending a chunk of my Summer.

Details to follow...

Just spotted this story on the Reuters newswire.

It may raise a smirk but in fact it raises a very serious issue.

As I found in Cambodia in November, most Cambodian amputees have woefully primitive artificial limbs -- if they have them at all. I often felt ashamed and embarrassed comparing my state-of-the-art prosthesis with those worn by most Cambodians -- and reported on it for the Today programme at the time.

(Read more about one charity's rehab efforts for Cambodian amputees here.)

Cambodia blames old legs for shaky Games showing

PHNOM PENH, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Cambodia's disabled athletes are blaming their relatively poor showing at a recent regional paralympic games on old and outdated artificial legs.

The deeply impoverished nation's team of 13 men and two women won 10 medals at the Second ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Para Games in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi last month.

However, the squad was disappointed to fall short of the 13 medals, including six golds, notched up at the inaugural Para Games in Malaysia in 2001.

"We earned fewer medals because the athletes used more than three-year-old artificial legs," Yi Veasna, head of the National Paralympic Committee, was quoted as saying in the Cambodia Daily newspaper.

Despite contributions from Cambodia's revered King Sihanouk and Prime Minister Hun Sen, athletes had to make do with old legs worth only $1,000, compared to modern $8,000-limbs for competitors from neighbouring countries, he said.

Cambodia, which is slowly emerging from decades of civil war including the 1970s Khmer Rouge genocide, is still littered with landmines and unexploded bombs, leaving it with one of the world's highest disability rates.

ICELAND: NOT JUST VIKINGS



Since I got back from my New Year break I've repeatedly come up against "What has Iceland ever done for the world?" type cracks, a la "bet you can't name 10 famous Belgians."

For a population on a par with that of Cardiff, Iceland hasn't done badly, especially when you compare it with Cardiff's most famous sons and daughters (Charlotte Church, me and...er.....Shaking Stevens.)

So, in an attempt to silence the critics, here's a list of 10 GREAT ICELANDERS (apart from Björk):

Jon Stefansson: Basketball player. Joined NBA side the Dallas Mavericks after stints with KR Reykjavik and TBB Trier of Germany. He was named the Icelandic League Player of the Year in 2002 and was member of the All-Domestic Team and played in the Icelandic League All-Star Game.

Snorri Sturlason: 1179-1241. Celebrated Icelandic historian. Snorri is the author of the great prose Edda and the Ileirnskringla or Sagas of the Norwegian Kings.

Magnús Ver Magnússon: Alias "The Champ," aka "The Taurus of Iceland." Four-time winner of everyone's favourite truck-pulling-with-teeth-fest The World's Strongest Man and "the greatest winner in power athletic of all times." Born in Egilstaðir, you wouldn't want to cross Magnús in a dark fjord.

Hofi Karlsdottir: The Icelandic beauty queen was hotly tipped to win the Miss World pageant in 1985 -- and she didn't disappoint, returning north with the tiara and the sash. Journalist Ricardo Guiraldes, who covered the pageant for a Chilean newspaper in 1985, commented: "When we journalists put our eyes on Miss Iceland there was no doubt that she would become Miss World. She's one of the most stunning women I've ever seen!"

Baltasar Kormakur: His name sure doesn't sound Icelandic -- a result of his Catalan-Italian-French Icelandic roots. However, the director's debut feature "101 Reykjavik" -- about a slacker's dysfunctional family life -- ushered in a New Wave of Icelandic cinema. Kormakur tries to show a new side of Icelandic society. "I don't necessarily identify myself with the Icelandic filmmakers," he says. "It pisses me off that big multicultural cities want to see romantic images of Iceland, old food and old clothes, and we fall into that pit of giving them that."

Bubbi Morthens: Born in Reykjavik in 1956, Ásbjörn "Bubbi" Morthens moved with his mother to Denmark at the age of 13. After failing to school he returned to Iceland and took up work in the fish factories. However, after becoming interested in the music of Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly, Bubbi went on to become one of Iceland's best-loved musicians, both as a member of the group "Utangardsmenn" (The Outsiders) and as a solo artist.

Olafur Eliasson: Is he Icelandic? Is he Danish? No one seems quite sure, but in the confusion Iceland is claiming him as one of theirs. Born in Copenhagen of Icelandic parents, Eliasson attended the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen from 1989 to 1995. He has participated in numerous exhibitions worldwide and his work is represented in public and private collections including the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Deste Foundation, Athens and Tate. He's currently wowing the art-going world with his installation The Weather Project at the Tate Modern in London.

Eidur Gudjohnsen: The Reykjavik-born footballer started his career with Valur Reykjavik before making the move to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven in 1994. After overcoming injury he joined Bolton Wanderers and at the beginning of the 2000-2001 season made it to the Premiership, signing a five-year deal with Chelsea.

Halldor Laxness: The undisputed heavy-weight champion of Icelandic literature, Laxness won the Nobel Prize in 1955. He published his first book, Barn Natturunnar when he was 17 and went on to gain recognition as a writer with the 1931 novel Salka Valka. It is the novel Independent People, however, which is regarded as his masterpiece -- and the encapsulation of the spirit and values of Iceland.

Briet Bjarnhéðinsdottir: Born in 1856, Briet worked as a teacher and in 1885 became the first Icelandic woman to have anything published in the country -- an article on women's education published under a pseudonym in a Reykjavík newspaper. She went on to lecture on womens' rights and later edited a magazine for women. Briet established the Icelandic Womens' Rights Association to press for female suffrage, leading the way for voting rights for Icelandic women. Iceland would later become the first country in the world to elect a woman as head of state: Vigdís Finnbogadóttír was president of Iceland from 1980 to 1996.

Following on from my earlier link to the Sunday Herald article about alleged Kurdish involvement in Saddam's capture, the NY Times fleshes out the details of a reported deal that's shaping up between Washington and the Kurds.

"The Bush administration has decided to let the Kurdish region remain semi-autonomous as part of a newly sovereign Iraq despite warnings from Iraq's neighbors and many Iraqis not to divide the country into ethnic states," the Times claims.

Looks like the White House could be gearing up to repay the favour for leading them to the Ace of Spades, under the guise of time pressures for Iraqi self-rule to be established.

I'm finding Shattered -- the new Channel 4 Reality TV show from the makers of Big Brother -- strangely compelling.

The show, in which the contestants try to go a week without sleep in order to win up to £100,000, represents a new sadistic landmark in the Reality TV genre.

For me, sleep is as much a recreational as a relaxational activity. I'm usually hard-pushed to stay conscious for 7 hours without a lie-down, let alone 7 days.

So, first thing tomorrow morning I'm taking these pitches to the bosses at Channel 4:

Starved: 12 contestants...60 days...zero calories.
Hijacked: ...In which the last entrant to succumb to Stockholm Syndrome wins a luxury holiday in Sweden.
Tortured: Filmed entirely on location at the former S-21 detention camp in Phnom Penh, Tortured pits former Khmer Rouge guards against a group of hopefuls aiming to walk out with 50 grand -- and the majority of their fingernails intact.

A belated audioblog from the interview I did with Julian Worricker on BBC Radio Five Live on Christmas Eve, now I've finally tracked down the archive recording.

The full interview with myself and Steve Priestley from MAG was 15 minutes long, so I've edited the "highlights" down to a more easily digested 8'15". The file is 1.4Mb.

Audioblog: Julian Worricker Interview (.mp3)

I've just booked next week's flight to Washington DC, where I'll be working for 3 weeks.
No prizes for guessing which flight I chose not to travel on.
BBC News: Washington flight delayed again

Scotland's Sunday Herald has more on alleged Kurdish involvement in the capture of Saddam Hussein.

The paper's Foreign Editor, David Pratt, senses that a deal may have been engineered between the Kurds and Washington:
"If the Kurds did indeed capture Saddam first, and a deal was struck about his handover to the US, then it’s not inconceivable that the terms might have included strong political and strategic advantages that could ultimately determine the emerging power structure in Iraq.

The Associated Press has a preview feature, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia on Wednesday.

Apologies to everyone who's had their name knocked off the Guest Map...I've had a string of e-mails from people thinking I've deliberately deleted them.

Not so.

The reason is that the suppliers of the service, Bravenet, charge $10 a month if I want to be able to have more than 100 entries.

I do -- but not at that price.

Let me know if any other companies are offering a similar service at a lower cost.

Today's juxtaposition of headline and photograph award goes to CNN.
Poor Princess Anne -- she can't help the way she looks.

Meanwhile, shock news in this New York Times headline; Presidential hopeful Howard Dean is an amputee!

Once again, Iceland didn't disappoint -- and New Year in Reykjavik reminded me why the country is my favourite in the world.

Amazingly, the weather stayed crisp and clear, although unfortunately too cloudy to get a glimpse of the Northern Lights.

I can recommend the low-key but clean and efficient Hotel Leifur Eiríksson, right in the heart of 101 Reykjavik, the Blue Lagoon (an obvious tourist stop-off but rightly so. Lying in the warm waters watching the stars never fails to disappoint) and a new discovery on this trip -- the Laxnes Horse Farm, in Mosfellsbær, an easy 30 minute drive from Reykjavik; beautiful Icelandic horses and breath-taking scenery.

I'm not sure what it is about Iceland that's so enchanting -- the clear city air? The melodic language, virtually unchanged since the time of the Sagas (although what they're saying is anyone's guess)? I just love the place...if only it weren't so expensive. However, a £5 pint in Reykjavik is worth 3 pints in some dingy London watering hole.

I'm still mystified, though, by the much-vaunted Icelandic nightlife. Yes, there are plenty of fine bars and clubs and it's not difficult to have a great night out along Laugavegur, but even in the early hours of the morning, the city's nightlife is not a patch on other European capitals. Don't believe the hype -- come for the scenery instead.

However, my personal recommendation is the suitably mellow Dillon Bar. Quiet and cosy, with a friendly and chatty clientele and great music it seems to have escaped many of the mainstream guidebooks. It's Reykjavik's Best Kept Secret!

The highlight of the trip was the spontaneous and awe-inspiring New Year fireworks display which turned peaceful Reykjavik into a war zone. Here's a short videoblog of the occasion -- it's 1'21" long and is a 1.5Mb download. As always I've kept it at a relatively low resolution -- if you'd like it at higher res, just drop me an e-mail:

Videoblog: New Year's Eve in Reykjavik (.wmv)

More Icelandic treats tomorrow, but here's one great link I picked up over there...Tonlist, a new website showcasing Icelandic music past and present, which the option to download 25.000 songs (for a fee.) Even so, there are plenty of demos and clips to get a feel for what's happening on the Icelandic music scene.

Iceland's also got a particularly rousing national anthem, which you can download here.

The Sunday Times reports on the story involving Tomb Raider star Angelina Jolie that was doing the rounds when I was in Cambodia recently:
Sunday Times: Star caught up in FBI baby buying probe (.doc)
Sunday Times: Star caught up in FBI baby buying probe (.txt)