Who needs a hand?

On Wednesday, New Zealand cricketer Jacob Oram wasn't sure his finger, injured attempting to catch a skied ball during the recent series against Australia, would heal enough to allow him to play in the World Cup. If not, he was considering amputation:

"If it means cutting the finger off, if that's the worse-case scenario, if that's the last resort, I'll do that, there's no way I'm missing this."

I don't know whether I'd be willing to lose a finger if it could gain me a place in the World Cup. Some would say his priorities are crazy, but I suspect most of us can at least understand the sort of thinking that would lead to that desperation. Fingers are fairly small, some are less important than others, and Oram has a chance to do something very important in his thinking at least - play in a World Cup. He is willing to decide that the World Cup means more to him than his finger.

Jesus told his disciples to cut off their feet and hands and pluck out their eyes if they caused them to sin. I have heard a lot of discussion about whether Jesus is speaking figuratively or exaggerating, or whether we should take it literally. It is interesting that in the book of Mark, this instruction appears in chapter nine, just a couple of chapters after Jesus tells his disciples that a whole smorgasbord of evils come from within, out of men's hearts. Whatever you make of that, Jesus' explanation is quite straighforward: It is better to enter life/the kingdom of God than be physically whole and thrown into hell. He accompanies this with a vivid quote from Isaiah to illustrate what hell is like.

This isn't an exaggeration, it is a simple statement of priorities based on logic that is hard to argue against. Just as Oram believed it is better to play in the World Cup with nine fingers than to have ten and miss out, Jesus says eternal life is more important than things like hands, legs and eyes, let alone fingers and World Cups. As it turned out, Oram didn't have to go through with his decision and will play without amputation. Our practical response to Jesus may not be to get out the axe or call the surgeon, but it probably is fairly drastic. Does that put us off, or are we desperate for the kingdom of heaven too?

Bouncing through the year

The year is marching on, and while there was no leaping, spring has sprung upon us. I still need my jumper, though.

St David is said to have died 1018 years ago today. I wonder if that's why the daffodil became a symbol of Wales.

Trouble training

After the fatal derailment in Cumbria last Friday night, I expect the Virgin Trains people have better reasons to be worried about losing customers than damage caused by ticket stamp wielding train managers. More seriously, thank God that there were so few casualties in such a high-speed derailment. The driver of the London to Glasgow train, Iain Black, is being called a hero for staying in his seat and continuing to drive the train after it had left the rails, rather than trying to protect himself.

(Not the best photo I have, but it seemed the most appropriate. 10 points for naming the station this Virgin Voyager is at, and 10 more if you can guess where it was headed last Friday night.)

Welcome to the Pig

春节快乐!

Another "Happy New Year!", as it is now the third day of the Chinese Spring Festival. We had a great meal at the Tab on Saturday night, with plenty of dumplings and other food.

It is now the year of the pig or boar. Apparently pigs will eat anything, which is probably why we call people greedy pigs. Before you are tempted call someone a smelly pig, however, remember that they don't sweat and have a very good sense of smell.

Pigs are generally quite tasty, although someone did tell me that some Chinese traditions say that a person should not eat the animal of their birth year. I never did like chicken anyway.

How many roads?

Last week on the train, the "train manager" managed to hit me in the head with her ticket-punchy-thing after checking my ticket. She really wasn't having a good day, as she also said we were in Milton Keynes when we were in Stockport, and told us we were arriving at London Euston instead of Manchester Piccadilly.

Of course, she was very, very apologetic, and seemed upset because she thought I wouldn't travel with them again again. I suppose I might avoid an airline if they had particualrly bad service and there were other flights I could take instead, but should I really take an extra hour or so and go via York to get to Manchester? Should I just avoid route 7, or all Virgin trains, and take the slow Silverlink service to get to Birmingham?

Not having a car or a driving licence, driving would be quite impractical, even if it weren't slower than the train. Walking might be enjoyable, but it would take a bit longer than I'd like. If I did walk, however, I'd like to find a nice route along canals, not walk down the middle of the road like the woman I saw this morning. I don't know what she thought she was doing, but she definitely didn't impress the drivers. Vehicles have enough trouble passing each other on that stretch, without trhowing pedestrians into the mix!

What colour is your Hair?

In the last month or so, the issue of racism has repeatedly popped up in the news. For at least a week, the airwaves and front pages were full of discussion of whether Jade Goody's actions on the British Celebrity Big Brother were racist. Then last week it was revealed that the man so often labelled a racist by subcontinental cricket fans, umpire Darrell Hair, is suing the International Cricket Council and the Pakistan Cricket Board for racial discrimination.

I don't know what went on in the Big Brother house, as I don't watch the show (and not only because I am liable to be shot for even accidentally pressing the "4" button on the remote while it is on), but I gathered that Jade Goody did not treat fellow housemate Shilpa Shetty very well and made remarks referring to her race. At least one talk show asked the question, "Is Jade racist or just a bully?". But why should it matter? Is bullying any worse if it is racist? Alternatively, is it any less bad if there is no racism? Surely bullying is wrong whether it occurs because the victim is of a different background, less skilled at something or because of jealousy.

It is good to speak out against racism, but surely there is something wrong when we imply that similarly bad actions would be ok if committed for other motives. At the same time as Goody was dominating the news, it was reported that a judge in a racial harassment case told the offender "Next time call him a fat bastard and don't say anything about his colour." I'm not sure that calling a doctor a "fat bastard" is really on the same level as saying you want an English one, not a "Paki",* but the incident does highlight the extra importance that is given to anything that can be called racist.

On the topic of racial insults, the Australian advertising watchdog has decided over the summer that the word "pom" is ok, but not "whingeing pom". It is a funny situation, somehow acknowledging that many people use the epithet in a friendly rather than derogatory manner and yet it is clearly a racial term. No doubt the "British People Against Racial Discrimination" who complained have actually at some point been called Poms in circumstances more often associated with other ethnic slurs.

The Hair affair seems quite ironic, in a sense. Several of his controversial actions have been to the detriment of subcontinental cricketers and teams, and they are often blamed on his racism. Now he is trying to turn the tables and say that his removal from umpiring top level cricket after the debacle that was Pakistan's forfeited test at the Oval last year was racist. The event definitely did generate a lot of racist comments especially from Pakistani and Sri Lankan fans. It is also true that Hair seems to have shouldered a bit too much of the blame, when West Indian umpire Billy Doctrove should have been at least nearly as responsible. I would definitely say that Hair has been unfairly treated by the ICC, but the reasons for this definitely aren't simply racial, but to do with Hair's personal history. It is a great pity that race has to come into it. If Hair's treatment was unfair, it is wrong, whether or not it was racial discrimination. Similarly, if his actions as an umpire, undoubtedly courageous, were unfair rather than just misguided, stubborn or even correct, he should take the blame, whether he was racially motivated or not.

The race issue can often be a red herring, and singling out racism as worse than other offences can in my opinion be harmful, but it is worth thinking about why it is singled out. Obviously, racist actions offend a whole group and not just the direct victim, meaning that there are plenty of people eager to support the victim and condemn the perpetrator. However, there is much more to it than that. Racism is targetted because it so common. It is there - people do object to "Paki" doctors, but don't ask for skinny ones. It is also often blatantly unfair. Not only has been behind so many horrible crimes, but it has led to general mistreatment of whole groups of people. We should stand up against any unfairness, and not just unfairness based on race, but racism is so big that stamping it out would make a big dent. On top of that, racism is like a virus, easily bred and spread through whole groups of people in the same way that a whole race will be offended and/or scared by it. For all these reasons, it is right to stand against racism, and try to stamp out even small instances before they grow, but only as one particularly virulent form of wrong.

(*"Paki" in British English is a usually derogatory term to refer to people from the Indian subcontinent, although in Australia it is more likely to be a simple abbreviation of "Pakistani" without any connotations or application to non-Pakistanis. The polite British term is "Asian", which to Australian ears would be more likely suggest East or South-East Asians, except perhaps in the context of cricket.)

Trees

Here in England, the many deciduous trees show the seasons in a way the Australian evergreens don't. The lack of leaves clearly shows that it is winter, and sometimes it can seem gloomy compared to the greenery of summer. However, I've come to see that bare branches can be very beautiful - covered in snow, appearing through the mist and especially against the bright blue sky on a clear sunny day.

This morning as I was waiting for a bus, some trees across the road formed not only a fine silhouette, but a playground for a pair of squirrels. They scurried around the trunks and along the branches, leaping from branch to branch in a way that defied the apparent delicacy of the thinnest branches. At first it seemed that they were chasing each other, but then I saw that the very slightly larger one in the lead seemed to be stopping and waiting for the one behind, making me think it was a mother teaching a child the art of tree-scampering.

These grey squirrels are considered pests, as they have been introduced from North America and increase in number rapidly, displacing the native red squirrels. Some of the plans to remove them and protect the red squirrels probably have merit, but while I watched these two run around until the bus came, I was jsut glad to see any squirrels at all.