And now a reminder to russian artists that Vladimir Putin has no sense of humour

A few months ago I posted a few items regarding Connor Casby and his satirical portraits of BIFFO - not the Beano bear but the Big Ignorant Fucker From Offaly as the Taoiseach Brian Cowan is less that fondly known (see here, here and here).


Mr Casby faced the annoyance of BIFFO and his humourless Fianna Fail cohorts (He is never called the Big Happy Fellow From Offaly) but it was as nothing compared to wrath faced by a Russian artist last month:

A Russian artist was arrested by the secret service after depicting prime minister Vladimir Putin as a woman. Alexander Shednov (also known as Shurik) portrayed the Vladimir Putain in a tight, low-cut dress with long hair and large hoop earrings. The image was a protest against Poontang in trying to return to the Kremlin for a third presidential term.

The artist had attempted to beam the portrait onto the main administrative building in Voronezh, his home city, on Russian Independence Day last Friday. But Shednov's artistic statement did not go down well with the FSB, the Russian state intelligence agency.

He was arrested and, according to claims, he was questioned for seven hours and beaten. Friends said his flat had also been searched and some of his paintings removed. Shednov faces a court charge of inappropriate behaviour.

Personally I think Putain looks good in a dress but the earrings make him look cheap and tarty.


There is a lot of nonsense about Putin being an ultra-manly macho man. Personally I think his publicity photos hint of something a little more flamboyant lurking just beneath the surface...

A sad reminder to civil servants to be careful what you post online at work

Today’s Telegraph carries an item regarding the sacking of Lisa Greenwood, from her £16k a year civil servant at the Department of Children, Schools and Families.

Miss Greenwood, 38, posted an anonymous message on the internet at the height of the furore over abuse of the second home allowances. Rather foolishly she posted the comment from a work computer. Her comment was traced back to her work email account.

Miss Greenwood had been angered by Miss Blears's ability to avoid paying capital gains tax on the sale of her designated second home. On May 13 she posted the following comment anonymously, on the political website They Work For You: "How dare you wave a cheque about on national TV, saying that you are sorry. You are only sorry that you have been caught. You are a disgrace (including all the other honourable members). Why haven't you been sacked?"

Miss Greenwod, who had worked for the DCSF for seven months, was brought before a disciplinary panel and dismissed on May 22.

"A written warning I could understand, but I was shocked to be sacked," she said. "It has been extremely upsetting that I have been sacked for having an opinion. When the scandal broke we had all been discussing it at work, despite the civil service code. It was just the same in writing that everyone else had been saying at work and discussing openly in the office."

A DCFS spokesman said Miss Greenwood had been found guilty of gross misconduct and had brought the Government department into disrepute. "The civil service has a clear code of conduct for its employees, which states that civil servants should be politically impartial and not act in a way that could damage the reputation of their department."

Even though there was a lot of justifiable anger at the venality of our Members of Parliament, Miss Greenwood was foolish to post the comment from work. Although her comment was anonymous and she did not identify herself as a civil servant, it would have been pretty obvious from her ip address that she was posting from a government department. Had she waited until she got home nobody would have been any the wiser.

That said, I think the DCSF were needlessly heavy handed in their approach. Looking at her salary Miss Greenwood was a probationer in a very junior post (probably an Admin Assistant or maybe an Admin Officer). A verbal or written warning would have ensured that she would have kept her own counsel at work in future.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s 5,000th Days of Detention

Today marks the 5,000th day of incarceration for Nobel Peace Prize Winner (and who should have been the real leader of the Burmese state in 1990) Aung San Suu Kyi, The brutal scum that make up the Burmese junta must have thought that by putting her out of circulation she would have been forgotten by the world. How wrong they were! That said the response of the world could and should have been far more robust than it has been.

We are reminded by Andrew Buncombe in today’s Independent on Sunday that Aung San Suu Kyi will spend the day in detention accompanied by two women. At present she is being held in a "guesthouse" in the grounds of Rangoon's Insein jail. For the six previous years she in a lakeside house with no television, radio or phone.

As is (or should be) well known she has been charged with violating the terms of her house arrest after an American swam to her home and spent the night there. As Andrew Buncombe reminds us her real “crime” was to win an election nearly two decades ago. Moreover, she strikes fear in the heart of the vermin Than Shwe and his junta because even now she can do something they never could for all their brutal force – and that is to unite the Burmese people.
Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, The National League for Democracy (NLD), won a landslide election victory in 1990. But this election was simply ignored by the junta. It was at that time that the opposition leader was first imprisoned, for a period of three years.

She has spent almost 14 of the past 19 years under house arrest. On occasion, the junta has made clear it would release her if she agreed to leave Burma but she has always chosen to remain a part of her country's struggle. In 1999, while temporarily free, she faced the agonising choice of visiting her dying husband, the British academic Michael Aris, who had been refused a visa to enter Burma. Fearful that if she left she would never be allowed to return, she stayed in Burma without seeing her husband again.

Mark Farmaner, of the Burma Campaign UK, said the reason for her continued detention was very simple. In a country that has been brutalised by violence and the fear of violence, ordinary people will still, in private, whisper about the "the lady" and how she could help fix their broken land. "It might be one of the most brutal dictatorships in the world but they are terrified of this one woman," he added. "They hoped by keeping her detained the world would forget about Burma, but the opposite has happened. The fact that she has now spent 5,000 days in detention should shame world leaders who have tolerated this situation."

Ms Suu Kyi is just the best known of an estimated 2,000 or more political prisoners being held by the regime. I hope that the day comes and comes soon that the Junta will be swept away into the sewers of history, stopping first to receive a very long dose of what they have inflicted on these people.

Heidi Berry - Up in the Air

American born (but British raised) singer covers song from Husker Du's Warehouse: Songs and Stories. I have a soft spot for Heidi Berry's music. It is a shame that she hasn't released an album since 1996. I would strongly recommend looking out for Pomegranate, an Anthology that was released in 2001. It can be picked up quite cheaply on Amazon.

Ghost Dances

This version is performed by the Houston Ballet. I saw the Ballet Rambert perform it twice in 1982 and 1983 (The first time in an attempt to impress a girl, the second time because I loved it so much the first time. I didn't go back with the girl...)

UN General Secretary delivers a speech for deaf ears

The Sydney Morning Herald published an extract of a public speech by UN General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon (above) that outlines his vision for a democratic Burma.

Ban told an audience of diplomats, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations at the Drug Elimination Museum in Rangoon that the military regime must free the Aung San Suu Kyi and introduce other reforms for the good of the country's people.

"I am here today to say: Myanmar, you are not alone. We want to work with you for a united, peaceful, prosperous, democratic and modern Myanmar. We want to help you rise from poverty ... work with you so that your country can take its place as a respected and responsible member of the international community, but let me emphasise: neither peace nor development can thrive without democracy and respect for human rights. Myanmar is no exception."

Than Shwe, brutal thug

Junta chief Than Shwe (above) earlier Saturday refused to let Ban visit Aung San Suu Kyi, who is in prison facing trial over an incident in which an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside house in May. Ban Than Shwe's snub as "deeply disappointing" and said in his speech that all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, "should be released without delay".

Ban also urged the junta to ensure that elections promised in 2010 should be free and fair. Critics say they will be a sham that will allow the ruling generals to entrench their power."The upcoming election, the first in 20 years, must be inclusive, participatory and transparent if it is to be credible,"

I agree whole heartedly with the words and the sentiments of the General Secretary. Sadly I cannot imagine them cutting any ice with the brutal thugs that run Burma. A case of fine words falling on deaf ears, sadly. There’s a fat chance of the junta giving up the levers of control... Prising the levers out of their cold, dead hands is a thought though

An unpaid advert on behalf of North Korean beer

North Korea has foregone the launch of another missile to launch a tv advert instead for a local brew. .

Extolling the virtues of the product of Taedonggang Beer Factory the advert features young women in traditional Korean dress serving trays of beer to men in Western suits and a thirsty worker holding a mug of frothy beer.

Billed as the "Pride of Pyongyang", the advert promises drinkers that the beer will help ease stress."It represents the new look of Pyongyang," the two-and-a-half minute advert says. "It will be a familiar part of our lives."

The beer has been in production since the Taedonggang Beer Factory bought a British brewery in 2002 and shipped it back to North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, said to have a fondness for fine wines and brandy, has taken a personal interest in the brewery. "Watching good quality beer coming out in an uninterrupted flow for a long while, he noted with great pleasure that it has now become possible to supply more fresh beer to people in all seasons," North Korea's state news agency, KCNA, said after he visited the brewery in 2002."

Comments following the article on the BBC website indicate that is is a bit sour, can be of variable quality, sometimes cloudy, but not bad.

Even if it were to make its way to the UK I'm not sure if it would become my favourite tipple. I'd probably try a bottle out of curiosity though

I would like to thank a visitor from British Columbia who came to look at my most recent photo of Ted a few hours ago. He ior she was visitor 500,000 to the Poor Mouth. Thanks and haste ye back. There's freshn drivel (almost) every day!

Photo Hunt - Pink

The theme for this week's Photo Hunt is pink. For once I don't need to do something like a blue work shirt by Thomas Pink. Here are two blooms from a little Sempervivum (house leek) that is growing in a small gap in the wall of our front garden.

Still life with Ted, Corkscew, DVDs and Television

This week's entry for the Friday Ark and Carnival of the Cats.