So when the local journalist I work with suggested parking illegally near a courthouse, I said okay, noticing everyone else
was doing it. And that’s when I got a lesson in Pakistani parking control.

When we returned, our car was gone from its spot, but not far.

A forklift had gently lifted the car and placed it on the sidewalk. And the driver was doing the same thing to dozens of vehicles.

He arranged the cars so they were pretty much boxed in, making a quick getaway impossible.

His partner, the ticketing officer, explained what was going on.

“This is reserved parking for the lawyers who work at these courts and they’ve designated vehicles with stickers to mark them and they are the only ones allowed to park here,” he said.

Okay, we knew that.

But why a forklift and why put them on the sidewalk? Why not just tow them away?

Turns out, there is a very practical answer.

“There’s not a good registration system for vehicles here, so we can’t fine people online or through an electronic system so we lift the cars and put them somewhere where the drivers can’t get away,” the parking officer said. “Then we fine them to ensure the fine is paid.”

And it works. We paid our fine, the equivalent of just over 2 dollars, and we watched dozens of others do the same with very little grumbling.

It was a sight to watch as car after car was lifted, carried, set down and then lifted again and returned to their owners as the fines were paid in.

And one other notable point: turns out the police who monitor parking and the highways have been praised by anti-corruption group Transparency International for their integrity.

That’s no small feat in what is otherwise one of the world’s more corrupt nations.

It has been more than two years since she was last in the country.

She talks to anchor Marco Werman and gives us a glimpse into life there.

Well, they might be if they were allowed to drink beer. Pakistan bans alcohol for Muslims – who represent 97 percent of the population.

But get this. There’s a brewery and distillery not far from the capital of Islamabad. A brewery that’s doing a booming business.

To get there, you have to navigate the checkpoints in the city of Rawalpindi, a place better known for its mix of mosques and military installations. First, you can smell it – the unmistakably yeasty scent of brewing hops.

Then you hear it. Rattling and clinking along the production line, it’s bottle after bottle of beer, here in a country where booze is banned for all but a very few.

But Murree beer has time and history on its side.

Murree Brewery started business way back in 1860 at a brewery in the resort town of Murree, in the foothills of the Western Himalayas. British colonialists built it to brew ales for thirsty soldiers. But when Pakistan gained independence, the Bhandara family took over.

“It’s more than a business, it’s been in the family since 1947, seven decades now. It’s not only me, it’s not only my family that’s associated with this company. There are grandchildren of people whose grandparents worked here,” said Isphanyar Bandara, the third generation CEO to take on the challenge of running Murree.

Business was good until 1977.

That’s when Pakistan’s then leader Zulfikar Ali Bhutto banned alcohol as a way to court the support of conservative Muslims.

Today, the Rawalpindi brewery sounds as old as it looks as I enter the brew house. The Victorian era buildings haven’t changed much – and beer is made pretty much the old fashioned way, according to Murree employee Sabih-ur-Rehman.

“We add hops for flavor and bitterness and we also add yeast.”

As a Muslim, ur-Rehman isn’t allowed to taste this product nor any of the gin, rum, vodka or 21-year-old whisky.

Neither are the several hundred employees of the plant.

Under the law, only non-Muslim Pakistanis and foreigners are allowed to purchase alcohol. And they’re only able to buy it in a handful of gloomy bars that are hidden away in the corners of five star hotels.

It’s just one of the rules that more than frustrates CEO Isphanyar Bhandara given the amount of bootlegged booze that enters the country.

“Imported alcohol – I mean beer and spirits – is coming into Pakistan being smuggled into Pakistan free of duty,” he said. “The government does not earning a penny. That is coming and no one is making hue and cry.”

Bhandara is also prohibited from advertising. But what he finds most infuriating is the government’s refusal to allow him to sell his products abroad.

“If we start exporting, Pakistan I think, will be taken in a positive sense, I think more than as a fundamentalist state. Today Pakistan has a very bad image in the world exporting terrorism and suicide bombers and such a like but today if Pakistan was to export it will give a good image to our tarnished image.”

Despite Bhandara’s loud complaints, despite persistent lobbying by his late father, who was a well-connected politician in addition to being a brewmaster, the laws are not about to change. Indeed, as conservative Islam has gained influence in Pakistan, the number of legal liquor outlets has shrunk.

As a forklift operator steers another shipment of beer towards a truck, it’s undeniable that business is good. So what explains the boom in sales?

Well, it’s an open secret really. Many Muslims will swill a beer or sip a whisky, though only in private. When I put the proposition to Bhandara, a sly smile spreads across his face – do Muslims in Pakistan drink?

“Is the sky blue? Is the sky blue?” he asked with a laugh.

Bhandara may laugh, but he knows his brewery presents a troubling paradox for Pakistan. So he tries to keep a low profile inside the country.

“You didn’t see any bodyguards outside my office, I’m a nobody so we don’t give interviews to the local media but we try not discuss religion.”

It’s those kind of compromises and quiet understandings that have allowed the beer to continue to rattle down the bottling lines inside the brewery, quenching the thirst of so many in a nation that’s officially dry.

The court’s actions have raised the stakes at a time when the government has also faced pressure from the military. And it’s raising questions about whether the court is overstepping its boundaries and threatening the country’s stability.

The district court in the city of Rawalpindi looks more like a bazaar. There are lots of crowds and outdoor stalls.

But the merchants here are selling legal services – a man taking affidavits, another copying documents for files. In this chaotic maze of buildings and alleyways, the way to find the actual courtrooms is to look for the lines, long lines. Safraz Mahmoud is here, waiting for his day in court. And he said he’s been waiting for a very long time.

“The court system is really slow. Five six year I am coming here. That case (should take) maybe one, but year it take five or six years,” he said.

Mahmoud said he’s come to court hundreds of times to try to resolve a dispute with his nephew over a parcel of land. He must travel far to get here and it costs him time and money.

Down another lane, lawyer Imran Abbasi went over a file with a client in his one-man office. No grandeur here, just a single desk, a few chairs and a lawyer who is fed up with overloaded courts that he said are leading to injustice.

Abbasi cited the case of one client, charged over two years ago with murder, who is still far from knowing when he’ll have his trial. Abbasi listed the endless reasons the case keeps being adjourned.

“One day one advocate is not present, the other day the other opponent advocate counsel is not present. One day the police did not bring the accused from the jail One day the learned magistrate the judge has been on leave.”

He said he could go on and on.

Then there’s the other problem, highlighted, said Abbasi, in the court that deals only with anti-corruption cases. He said he can’t get anything done there without paying bribes.

“This is disastrous for our lower courts Corruption is at peak in that court,” Abbasi said.

For Abbasi, there’s not only frustration. There’s an acute sense of disappointment and betrayal. In 2009, he was one of hundreds of lawyers arrested for demanding the reinstatement of the sacked Supreme Court Justice, Iftikhar Chaudhry.

Chaudhry got his job back.

But critics say the Chief Justice is now so focused on fighting battles with the government, he’s ignoring the problems he should be addressing within the justice system. Others, like lawyer Anis Jilani, blame the government.

“Frankly speaking, the system and democracy cannot function if the institutions continue to clash like this,” Jilani said.

Jilani has watched as the Chief Justice steered the court into unfamiliar territory, protecting the little guy. Chaudrhy’s court has intervened in cases involving discrimination and municipal planning decisions.

Just a few days ago, the court announced it was demanding answers surrounding the deaths of more than a hundred people given tainted heart medicine. Jilani said that Chaudhry is only doing what needs to be done to hold government to account.

“Where he feels things are going out of control and the government is unable to handle the situation, he intervenes,” Jilani said. “He has this knack of grabbing and realizing the right opportunity. You can say, he has his hand on peoples’ pulse and he knows what people want.”

But it’s rulings like today’s contempt notice against the Prime Minister that are setting the court on a collision course with the government.

In conspiracy-rich Pakistan, some believe the court is doing the military’s bidding, a military that has had its own clashes with the government. Jilani discounted that, along with critics who say unelected judges are overstepping their authority.

“Someone has to intervene,” he said, “and I think it’s much better for the courts to intervene than the armed forces.”

In unusually candid remarks, Mr Obama said the strikes targeted “people who are on a list of active terrorists”.

Pakistan says drone raids violate its sovereignty, although it is believed to have given them its tacit support.

The US government does not routinely speak publicly about drone operations, which have killed hundreds in recent years.

Mr Obama made his comments during an hour-long video “hangout” on Google’s social network, Google+, which was also streamed live on YouTube.

Laura Lynch reports from Pakistan.

In a “60 Minutes” interview broadcast by CBS Sunday, Panetta reiterated that someone in the Pakistani government must have known where Osama bin Laden was hiding.

The Pentagon chief also admitted that a Pakistani doctor helped the CIA find bin Laden’s compound last year.

And he expressed concern about the doctor, who’s been arrested by Pakistani officials and charged with treason.

Leon Panetta was in charge of the CIA when Navy Seals staged their dramatic raid inside Pakistan, killing bin Laden.

Weeks later, a Pakistani doctor, Shakeel Afridi, was arrested.

Afridi may yet face treason charges after being accused of running a fake vaccination program as a way to gain access to bin Laden’s compound for the CIA. Panetta told “60 Minutes” he’s worried about how Afridi is being treated.

“This was an individual who in fact helped provide intelligence that was very helpful with regards to this operation,” Panetta said. “He was not in any way treasonous towards Pakistan, he was not in any way doing anything that would have undermined Pakistan. As a matter of fact Pakistan and the United States have a common cause here against terrorism. And for them to take this kind of action against someone who was helping to go after terrorism, I just think, it was a real mistake on their part.”

Pakistan was embarrassed by the raid and accused the US of violating its sovereignty.

Back then, anti-American sentiment was running high – one Gallup poll suggested 85 percent of Pakistanis disapproved of US leadership. It wasn’t always like that.

“I have been to America when I was a young officer. I did one of the training courses there and that was the F-16. I have some very fond memories of the people I interacted with,” said Retired Pakistani Air Force Marshall Shahad Latif.

Latif remembered the good old days when he worked side by side with American pilots, learning to fly US made warplanes. But Latif said all those years of teamwork doesn’t give Panetta a right to criticize Pakistan for how it treats Afridi – someone who Latif believes must face consequences for working for the CIA.

“What are Americans to think in a situation like this where a man who apparently helped the world get rid, helped the world get rid of Osama bin Laden is being held and accused of being a traitor in this country?” I asked him.

“This is a difficult proposition that you put up. But apparently the fact he passed information I think he does come in the bracket of a traitor,” Latif said.

Political analyst Imitaz Gul takes a similarly hard line. It doesn’t matter to Gul that Afridi’s apparent target was bin Laden – it matters that he was passing secrets to the US and withholding them from Pakistani authorities.

“You know, it’s really easy to argue against it or argue for it. But it depends who is arguing it. The Americans probably think they can probably get away with everything,” Gul said.

Gul knows American officials have lost faith in Pakistani intelligence – believing they actively cooperate with sections of the Taliban in Afghanistan. And in the “60 Minutes” interview, Panetta said that while he had no evidence, he believed that someone in the Pakistani government knew bin Laden was hiding in their country.

So, plenty of bad feelings on both sides, said Gul. And not made any better by a November cross border clash with US troops that left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead.

“These relations continue to suffer from mistrust. So as long as this perception stays, I think there will be enough reason for the Americans to be wary or suspicious of the Pakistani establishment and the Pakistani establishment on its part is suspicious of the American long term planning,” Gul said.

There have been some attempts to repair relations. US drones are reportedly flying over northern Pakistan again. And the parliament in Islamabad seems poised to reopen the border crossings for NATO supplies that were closed by Pakistan in an act of retaliation.

Still, the resentment toward America doesn’t appear to be dissipating. And that probably means the Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA bag bin Laden shouldn’t expect to get off lightly in his own country.

Robert Law (Photo: Laura Lynch)

Law says he uses it for almost all his crops, because his land is inherently very low in naturally-available nitrogen, which plants need to thrive.

Law is hardly alone. The invention of nitrogen based fertilizer in 1909 helped fuel a global agricultural boom, and it’s been crucial in feeding a growing population ever since.

But a growing number of scientists say that boon to our food supply has come at a big cost—massive nitrogen-based pollution.

Mark Sutton, of the Center for Ecology and Hydrology in the United Kingdom, sums up the dilemma: “We’ve known for many years that using nitrogen for fertilizer is a great thing for farming to increase productivity,” Sutton says. “But there’s a whole range of threats resulting from this nitrogen leaking into the environment.”

Nitrogen itself is an inert gas that’s necessary for life. But Sutton says we’re changing it into forms that are harmful, overloading the environment with it, and throwing the natural nitrogen cycle out of whack.

Nitrogen compounds running off farmland have led to water pollution problems around the world, while nitrogen emissions from industry, agriculture and vehicles make a big contribution to air pollution.

“Massive cost” from Nitrogen Pollution in the EU

Sutton says the cost of all of these impacts is immense. Last year he was part of a team of 200 scientists from 21 countries who studied the problem in the European Union. They calculated the dollar value of the damage of nitrogen pollution at between 90 and 400 billion dollars a year.

That’s “a massive number,” Sutton says.

The cost comes to both the environment and human health. For instance, Sutton says, particulate air pollution caused in part by nitrogen shortens the lives of many Europeans by more than a year.

Overall, the EU report estimated that the cost of nitrogen pollution in the EU is more than double the value that nitrogen fertilizers add to European farm income.

“So these are significant issues,” Sutton says.

The EU study is the first to calculate these costs in Europe. But Alan Townsend, an ecologist at the University of Colorado, says nitrogen pollution is “unquestionably” a global problem.

Townsend says the US is also a major hotspot, and that big problems are emerging in China, Southeast Asia and Latin America.

The impacts of nitrogen pollution can be hard to recognize. Big environmental disasters like oil spills tend to grab all the attention, Townsend says, but “there is essentially a nitrogen spill everyday.”

The irony is that in the right places and chemical forms, nitrogen is valuable stuff. Every ounce of fertilizer that runs off a field into a river is a waste of resources and money.

“Solutions are Right in Front of Us”

But Townsend says it’s a problem that shouldn’t be that hard to solve.

“This is not one of those problems where we sit around scratching our heads and say, ‘Man this is going to be a disaster, how are we going to deal with it, there’s nothing we can do,’” he says. “A lot of the solutions are right in front of us. It’s just about moving down that path.”

That path includes increasing the use of technology to cut nitrogen pollutants from power plants and vehicles, which is already widely used in the US and Europe.

Cutting nitrogen pollution from food production is a more complicated challenge, but Townsend says on the farm field itself, it comes down to a simple principle: use fertilizer more efficiently.

“We have to approach it as an efficiency problem,” he says. “How do we maximize the benefits that we’re going to get from this stuff and minimize the unwanted consequences?”

Farmworker Mark Moule (Photo: Laura Lynch)

His tractor now sports a small computer console with which his farmhands can ensure that each field gets only the exact amount of fertilizer it needs, depending on the crop, the season and the weather.

“We just program each individual field as we come to it,” says Law’s farmworker Mark Moule. ”Just press start and finish and one minute you’ll be putting 50 kilos on per hectare next minutes it’s a hundred and fifty.”

That kind of precision helps reduce the amount of nitrogen that runs off farm fields into nearby streams. It can also help save money on fertilizer.

Economic & Demographic Challenges

But this kind of technology is expensive, and many smaller farms can’t afford it.

For his part, Law is willing to look for even more efficient ways to use fertilizer. But he warns that Britain and the rest of the world face a growing challenge when it comes to feeding a growing population.

“The area available for farming in this country is getting smaller each year,” Law laments. “Roads are being built, towns are being built.”

It’s a global trend—less farmland and more mouths to feed. And that will only add to the challenge of getting rid of the excess nitrogen we’ve been putting into the environment.

James Beaton (Photo: Laura Lynch)

James Beaton has been playing his beloved set of bagpipes for 40 years.

The Project Manager of Scotland’s National Piping Center is a proud Scot and a natural performer.

For Robert Burns’ season he likes to play a tune called “A Man’s A Man For A’ That” which is generally played at Burns’ suppers.

Funny that he’s choosing a Burns tribute to unity at a time when much of the talk in Scotland is of separation.

Beaton knows his history and heritage well.

The pipes were played by Scottish warriors as they went into battle against the English but both nationalities have shared a government for more than three centuries.

So, while Beaton may feel separate and distinct as a Scot, particularly when it comes to his country’s cultural heritage, he’s not so sure about standing completely alone.

“Yes, I am a bit torn,” he says. “ I think culturally yes but certainly the economic uncertainty with the way the economic situation is at the minute it’s quite, quite difficult.”

Those promoting independence have long argued that revenue from the oil that’s being pumped out from under the North Sea will cushion any economic blows.

There was also past talk of joining forces with Ireland and Iceland or joining the euro but those ideas have been put aside as currencies and countries have crashed.

And yet, there is still lively debate, across Scotland, about the idea of going it alone among Scots of all backgrounds.

Preparing ingredients for haggis pakora (Photo: Laura Lynch)

It’s another busy night at Mr. Singh’s, a popular Indian restaurant in Glasgow – it’s Indian with a distinctly Scottish twist.

The waiters wear turbans – and kilts and this night, one chef is teaching a group of guests how to make one of the restaurant’s signature dishes: haggis pakora!

That’s haggis, deep fried in a coating of Indian spices and served with a dipping sauce.

Satty Singh – the third generation self-described Scottish Sikh who runs the restaurant, understands the emotional attraction of independence.

His father and grandfather still recall the celebrations that marked the end of British colonial rule in India.

And yet, Singh doesn’t want to let go.

“I’m just a big believer in ‘don’t mend something that’s not broken’ and for 300-odd years it’s happened, because it’s one island,” says Singh.

And among aspiring haggis pakora makers in the restaurant, there’s a big split.

“When it comes to the independence vote, I’ll be voting for independence. I mean look at the natural resources we’ve got here. The will to win and the determination to make it a success I think would boost Scotland forward.”

“Personally I really like being part of the bigger picture of the whole UK side of things and I reserve judgment as to how the whole independence is going to go as a state. I always think it’s always nice to have big brother there as well.”

“I’m as yet undecided. I think you’ve got to weigh up the pros and cons and I do think there will be a lot of pros and cons with it.”

The debate will continue here and across Scotland until the fall of 2014 when the vote is set to be held.

Despite the promises of a brighter future, public opinion polls have consistently indicated support for independence is frozen at about 35 percent.

That’s why the government is talking about giving voters a third choice – one that would give Scotland autonomy in all areas except foreign affairs and defense.

This day that’s dedicated to Scottish pride, poetry and cuisine, now also marks the date that the contest for Scotland’s future begins.

Private clinics have a “moral duty” to remove banned PIP breast implants from women they operated on, the UK says.

Czech and German health authorities both recommended on Friday that women in those countries with PIP implants should have them removed.

France banned the PIP implants, found to be made with industrial silicone, in 2010 and 30,000 women were advised to have them removed.

The World’s Laura Lynch reports from London.

Gary Dobson will serve a minimum of 15 years and two months, and David Norris 14 years and three months.

The pair were sentenced at the Old Bailey under guidelines in place at the time of the attack and as juveniles because both had been under 18.

The judge, Justice Treacy, described the crime as a “murder which scarred the conscience of the nation.”

Dobson, 36, and Norris, 35, were the first people convicted over the fatal attack on Lawrence by a group of white youths near a bus stop in Eltham on April 22, 1993.

Speaking outside court, Stephen Lawrence’s mother Doreen said the minimum terms imposed “may be quite low” but she recognized “the judge’s hands were tied” and thanked him for his sentencing remarks which acknowledged the stress the family had suffered for 18 years.

Laura Lynch reports from London.

Read more

“So this is the humble paper clip here and its origins date back to the late 19th century,” said the museum’s Nicola Ryan.

Yes, that’s right – paper clips.
They are one of 36 items chosen for the Hidden Heroes exhibition.

Ryan said that these objects tell stories about our everyday lives and that we normally take for granted.
“When we start to actually look at how they are invented or why they are invented and how we use them and the fact that their design has lasted for hundred, maybe two hundred and in some cases three hundred years with very little alteration and it is a very simple design that’s hardly changed much at all,” Ryan said.

The items are all decidedly low-tech, including one of Ryan’s favorites, the teabag.

Ryan explained that the teabag was invented when an American tea trader was shipping samples of tea to his customers in small silk packets. His customers would put the tea, along with the silk pouch, into hot water to test the color, texture and taste.

“They did not realize they had actually invented the first teabag,” Ryan said.

The idea for the exhibit came from a company called Hi-Cone, the proud maker of the plastic six-pack holder for canned drinks.
Ton Hoppenbrouwers, Hi-Cone’s European director of sales said it wasn’t hard to choose the other everyday inventions.

“The secret behind it is that they have a great use to us but they are as the Americans call it, idiot-proof. Once you see them, you know how to use it and they are of great use to you in everyday life,” Hoppenbrouwers said.

Further down the hall is another example of invention by accident, according to Ryan; the wire coat hanger.

Ryan said one day a man named Parkhouse arrived at work to find that all the coat hooks had already been taken. As he looked around for a place to hang his coat, he noticed some wire lying on the floor and bent it into the shape of a coat hanger.

“That is the basic shape of the coat hanger we still use today,” Ryan said.

The curator of Materials Science at the museum, Sue Mossman, may routinely deal with higher-minded exhibit, but she says this one has left her intrigued.

“What is of interest are the people who thought it up, the stories behind it. And sometimes the story of this production and the process that went into the final moment; because sometimes it’s not a eureka moment sometimes it’s a few steps before you get the perfect product,” Mossman said.

The full list of featured inventions
ring binder, barcode, pencil, bubble wrap, paperclip, shipping container, snap fastener, rawl plug, egg box, preserving jar, rubber band, light bulb, reflector, adhesive tape, coat hanger, Velcro, tin can, corkscrew, tissue, ballpoint pen, Lego, ear plug, Post-it Note, sticking plaster, zip, umbrella, baby’s dummy, six-pack carrier, safety match, tea bag, milk carton, clothes peg, folding ruler, condom, carabiner

Ryan said that is what happened to the simple but oh-so-useful rubber band, jointly credited to a British man, Thomas Hancock and an American with a familiar, rubber related name, Charles Goodyear.

Both of them invented a way to vulcanize rubber which means you can make it sticky and stretch it. And back on November 21, 1843 they obtained a patent to make rubber bands and ever since then it’s demonstrated the elasticity of rubber and a combination of its simplicity and aesthetic appeal.
“Where would we be today without the simple rubber band?” Ryan said. “It hasn’t changed in design. It still looks and feels exactly the same and we just take it for granted but it’s been around for over a hundred years.”

Today’s technological wizardry produces gizmos that catch our eyes and our imagination, but chances are a lot of them won’t have the staying power of the things we consider mundane. The things we can’t do without.

The industry used to be full of high-fliers and to an extent, it still is, but this year, thanks to continuing economic turmoil and the “Occupy” protests bank bashing appears to have reached new levels.

With all the uncertainty over the Euro and the continuing economic gloom in Britain, it’s been a stressful year on the trading floors of the big banks in London’s financial district; apparently a little too stressful for one senior bank executive.

The surprising news broke at the beginning of last month.

“Shares in Lloyd’s Banking Group have fallen by almost five percent after its chief executive announced he was taking long term sick leave. Doctors say that Antonio Hortas Osorio is suffering from fatigue due to overwork”, said the BBC.

Hortas Osorio was recruited to run Lloyd’s earlier this year, after British taxpayers bailed out the banking group in 2008. His may have been the most high-profile case of banking sector stress but addictions counselor Richard Kingdon, said he’s certainly not alone.

“Especially with the climate at the moment is not helping as well, you know. A lot of people are under a lot of stress and a lot of pressure. It’s not a good time to be up here at the moment, you know. The bankers are being kicked by the media so I don’t think it’s doing much for people’s esteem,” said Kingdon.

Kingdon set up a practice, called City Beacon, in the financial district two and a half years ago to treat bankers with addiction problems. He said he has seen a steady flow of clients, those who embraced a fast paced, big spending lifestyle fueled by alcohol and cocaine.

George, a banker who asked me not to use his real name, is a client of Kingdon’s. He said when he was using, he’d be out doing drugs and drinking every night of the week. He would then spend the weekend sleeping.

George said he has been clean for two years; so he has a pretty clear-eyed take on the tumult in the City these days. He is also quick to add that there’s been much less substance abuse in recent year, but he says not everyone has the ability to handle the financial storms that are hitting them.

“Everybody’s losing money, it’s not a very happy place. There’s a lot of fear, uncertainty. I’m pretty fine with it. I don’t know how they (other bankers ) cope with it. You wouldn’t get the truth out of them anyways. They’d just tell you they were fine. The whole city’s based on fear anyway,” he said.

Those inside the bank buildings may well feel fear, but it seems many who work outside its boundaries believe it is a place where the greedy squander money: taxpayers’ money. They saw the government bail out some of the banks, then watched as bank executives were rewarded with bonuses.

Just a few weeks ago, the BBC aired a documentary called “When Bankers Were Good.” The host, satirist Ian Hislop, made special mention of the suicide of one banker back in 1856 after his bank went bust.

“You see it’s that Victorian shame again. Noone is suggesting that those responsible for the current financial crisis should do the equivalent and all go and throw themselves off tall buildings in Canary Wharf. Well not all of them obviously. But as a sign of repentance it is fairly impressive. Certainly a lot more convincing that giving yourself a bonus and saying it’s time to move on,” Hislop said.

Vilified, stressed and scared, it does not sound like a good time to be a banker, but many young people are still itching to get onto those trading floors.
A twenty-one year old intern, who refused to be identified, said he loved the work.

“The worst thing I could imagine is sitting at a desk just processing or number crunching. At the moment I’m sitting there and I’m hearing news first hand and I’m seeing how markets react first hand to some huge events in the current crisis. It’s very exciting,” he said.

He said he worked hard to get the one-year work experience. Though he hears the public anger aimed at bankers, it that does not deter him from planning a career in banking.

“I think there’s a lot of other people in this country and around the world that exploit the public and public opinion a lot more than bankers do, but people have chosen to publicize bankers as the public hate figure and almost scapegoat them for everything,” he said.

A more world weary George who has spent two decades in the business, admits to feeling the sting of the public’s condemnation.

“Yeah I do feel that. It’s not very nice is it, to be in a job where nobody likes you,” George said.

He does not thing the criticism is justified.

“I don’t’ think I’m educated enough to really comment on it, but I don’t think it is. We’re good for the economy, but it’s easy to point the finger at us, I suppose and maybe it should be the politicians.”

In the runup to Christmas, thousands of city workers flocked to bars and restaurants, celebrating the season, perhaps toasting their survival and relative good fortune, but Geroge said the uncertainty lingers.

“2008 was hard, but then 2009 was good because of it so – and now? Same sort of thing is happening, we’re weathering the storm as we did in 2008 but the next couple of years will be good because of it. It’s tough these day.”

The New Year is not likely to change much for those who work and worry on the trading floors and the executive offices of what is still is one of Britain’s most important sectors.

They also know it’s unlikely many in Britian here will spare them a vote of sympathy.

“The Iron Lady” stars Meryl Streep. The film has already stirred considerable debate in Britain where Thatcher and her legacy remain controversial.

Margaret Thatcher’s rise to power in the macho world of British politics seems a perfect fit for the silver screen and an admitted challenge for Meryl Streep.

Streep, mastering yet another accent, steps into Lady Thatcher’s pumps, dons her pearls and takes on the critics.

Streep has admitted she was not a fan of Thatcher during her time in power. The actor says taking on the role gave her a chance to challenge her own prejudices

“I wanted to capture whatever it was that drew people to her and whatever it was that made people just have a special venom for her as a public figure,” Streep said in an interview with the BBC.

Streep may have been talking about the past, but the fact is, more than two decades after Thatcher left office, she still sparks strong feelings among the British.

“I don’t think she was a woman I would have ever wanted to meet,” said Liz Hoggard, a columnist and as a self described left wing feminist who is no fan of the former Prime Minister. So Hoggard was more than a little surprised to receive a very special invitation a few weeks ago.

“It was the dinner party of the year, I’ll never stop talking about it,” Hoggard said. “It was incredible. We all got this email saying would you like to come to see an early screening of “The Iron Lady” and then have a private supper with Meryl Streep? Twitter just went crazy as the women that were invited compared notes.”

Hoggard said it was a clever idea to gather together some of the country’s best known female journalists, show them the film and then subject them to Streep’s charm and even her home made baking. Hoggard said Streep baked her guests an “American apple cake.” It may have been enough to win them over to the actor and her performance, but Hoggard said most of them – lifelong critics of Thatcher – were not about to change their views.

“And around that table there were some very strong left wing political voices who loved her portrayal who found the film fascinating but who were fundamentally worried or dissatisfied by it because they felt it was going to end up in complete Thatcher worship.”

Richard Vinen of King’s College in London has chronicled the history of Britain under Thatcher. Vinen was quick to list what she would consider her policy successes such as breaking the power of unions, privatizing government enterprises and deregulating the financial sector. He argues it is a legacy that her successors on the other side of the aisle – Labor party’s Tony Blair and Gordon Brown – embraced.

But Vinen says there was a social cost to Thatcher’s rule.

“Britain does become a more divided society under Thatcher. There it is relevant to talk about very long term legacies,” Vinen said.

That division played into what Vinen called an outright hatred of Thatcher.

“And sometimes hatred for her has replaced any serious reflection. So it’s almost like she has become a voodoo doll a kind of fetish that the left can use they can say I’m still left wing because I hate Mrs. Thatcher without having to do anything that is actually left wing,” he said.

The movie does not just portray Thatcher in her prime, it also shows her in the grip of dementia, as she holds conversations with her long-dead husband.

Those scenes have upset her supporters.

But columnist Liz Hoggard, who never spared much sympathy for Thatcher before, was moved to admire a woman who broke through so many barriers.

“I brushed away a tear let’s put it that way,” Hoggard said.

If the film toys with the British psyche, if it tears the bandages off the old wounds from the Thatcher era, it may be at least partly because Britain’s only female prime minister herself was never one for sentimentality.

Just recently, her personal secretary told an interviewer that Thatcher always loved being called The Iron Lady.

What is the first word or phrase that comes to mind when I say the name Margaret Thatcher?

Strong character, really very strong character.

Loathsome. Hated, hated everything about her political philosophy.

It was my era and she was brilliant, absolutely. If we had another woman prime minister like her I think we’d be put on the right road.

What is the first word or phrase that comes to mind when I say her name Margaret Thatcher. That awful woman, yeah that awful woman. It’s not often in my lifetime that you’ve had a nasty vindictive person as a head of government.

Respect, commanding, dominance but with respect. Did a good job.

Laurent Gbagbo (Photo: VOA/M.Motta)

By Laura Lynch

The man who used to lead Ivory Coast has become the first former head of state to appear before the International Criminal Court.

Laurent Gbagbo appeared in the court at The Hague on Monday to face charges of crimes against humanity.

Now a prisoner, Laurent Gbagbo stood before a panel of judges as a suspect accused of orchestrating bloodshed and violence.

His stone-faced expression before the court was a stark contrast to the animated man who tried to cling to power for weeks after a disputed presidential election last year.

The country slipped into a civil war that costed about 3,000 lives. French backed forces supporting challenger Alassane Ouattara eventually arrested Gbagbo.

He had been held under house arrest for months until last week, when ICC prosecutors arrested him and flew him to The Hague.

Monday, Gbagbo complained about the process.

“With regard to the way I was brought to The Hague, I was surprised by how it happened,” Gbagbo said. “If I had been told that I was being arrested and flown to The Hague, I might have agreed. But once again, we were deceived.”

The former president said he had no notice of the arrest.

One of his lawyers, Habiba Toure, said he was flown out of the country before he had a chance to properly consult with his legal team.

“It was completely illegal,” Toure said. “The Ivorian authorities didn’t respect the process because the president Laurent Gbagbo didn’t have the time to defend himself. We didn’t have the time to speak with him, to explain to him what happened. He was transferred brutally.”

One of his advisors, Alain Toussaint accuses the court of bending to the will of France, which backed Gbagbo’s ouster from power.

“The International Criminal Court has become a pathetic tool, which France uses to advance its dark political designs, orchestrate Africa’s political affairs, put its own friends in power,” Toussaint said.

Complaints over Gbagbo’s arrest are fuelling criticism of the way the court operates.

That isn’t surprising to Geoffrey Nice. He prosecuted former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. Nice said by going after Gbagbo while there are still accusations of atrocities against his rival Ouattara, the court is taking a risk.

“Critics of the processes and recent practice of the International Criminal Court raise as a possibility that the court really becomes involved in conflicts by selecting one side over the other,” Nice said.

But the chief prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, suggested Ouattara and his supporters are under investigation.

“I said very clearly, this is the first case, not the last case,” Moreno-Ocampo said.

“We’ll do a sequence of cases not all together where we follow different evidence and we bring more cases during the coming year.”

There is another challenge for the ICC as it takes on the case against Gbagbo – a sense that there are too many Africans on trial, Nice said.

“There has been talk within Africa of countries withdrawing from the ICC because of its apparent focus on Africa to the exclusion of other countries,” Nice said. “This would be a matter of great concern from those who want the ICC to succeed.”

It is a reminder that the court, still trying to establish its legitimacy, hasn’t been embraced by the United States, Russia or China and it’s why the case against Gbagbo will be watched so closely.

The government disputed that two million people had joined the action, with Prime Minister Cameron saying “it looks like something of a damp squib” at Prime Minister’s Questions.

“Our rigorous contingency planning has been working well,” Cabinet Minister Francis Maude said later in the day.

“Throughout the day it has limited the impact of the strikes significantly and as a result the majority of key public services have remained open.”

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber accused the government of “rhetoric today … as predictable as it has been shallow.”

“The biggest strike in a generation cannot be dismissed as a damp squib,” he said.

“Uniting so many people in such strong opposition to their pension plans should give the government pause for thought. They now need to give the negotiations real content. Unions wants to achieve a fair settlement, but it takes two to reach a deal.”

In the Commons, Prime Minister Cameron said he thought the government had made a “very reasonable, very fair offer to public sector workers.”

“I don’t want to see any strikes, I don’t want to see schools closed, I don’t want to see problems at our borders, but this government has to make responsible decisions,” he said.

But union leaders accused the government of failing to engage in proper negotiations in recent weeks.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis said that the last time unions met Treasury ministers was Nov. 2, adding that “this idea that negotiations are continuing is just not true.”

Maude disputed that, saying formal discussions with the civil service unions took place on Tuesday and that talks would take place with teaching unions on Thursday and with health unions on Friday.

A TUC spokesperson responded: “There have been informal exchanges but nothing that could be described as negotiations at the national level.”

Chris Keates, head of the teachers’ union NASUWT, said: “We’re in this position today simply because the government had not entered into genuine negotiations at an earlier stage.”

Labor leader Ed Miliband said he had “huge sympathy” for people whose lives were disrupted by the strike.

But he said he was “not going to condemn the dinner ladies, nurses, teachers who have made the decision to go on strike because they feel they have been put in an impossible position by a government that has refused to negotiate properly”.