Click here to see the video in HD

Another Sunday, another visit to Speakers Corner.  My brother is down visiting at the moment so I took him with me, and luckily I got to use his excellent Sigma 18-50mm f2.8 lens, which is perfect for this sort of photography.  After using the lens today it has quickly jumped to the top of my wish-list!

Today’s speakers corner was a little than different than usual as it had moved slightly.  Because of the Royal Parks Half Marathon route going right throughout the corner it was shifted a little closer to Marble Arch.  Last time this happened it had a negative effect because there was less space and some of the Speakers decided not to come out.  Luckily that didn’t happen today.  All the regulars were there and there was at least one new Speaker (at least i’ve never seen him before).

Anyway I hope you enjoy the video, and if you want to see it in all it’s HD goodness click on the video to head over to my Vimeo page.

This is my first ‘political’ post in quite a while, but having read a lot of the rubbish coming out of the American healthcare debate in the last few weeks I wanted to make a few points. In the last few days those opposed to healthcare reform in the US have taken to claiming how bad the NHS is here in the UK and how if such a system were implemented in America the elderly and disabled children would be subjected to death panels. Much of this over-the-top nonsensical information is being pushed by those ‘noted’ healthcare experts Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity. Two people who I wouldn’t believe a single thing they said. To my mind from what I have heard they appear to be deliberately misrepresenting the reforms efforts in the Senate and the House of Representatives to stir up fear and hatred. But rather than just call them out as the idiots they clearly are, lets actually look at their criticisms of the British system.

As the Guardian reported this morning there have been a number of reports from right wing sources in the US that claim if Ted Kennedy lived in the UK he wouldn’t get treatment for his brain tumor. This is patently untrue and shows that these people have either done no research on the British healthcare system or simply don’t care about accurately reporting the facts. The truth of the matter is that Kennedy would recieve excellent treatment in the UK, he wouldn’t have to spend time wondering how he might afford his treatment or whether his insurance provider would cover the cost. He wouldn’t have to worry about his premiums being raised after the fact. The truth is that the NHS does not discriminate on the basis of one’s ability to pay, not to mention if Ted Kennedy didn’t want to use the public option he has the choice to go to a private service and pay for it himself (or have a health insurance service pay).

The next person the US right-wing anti-reform movement tried to claim would be killed in a British system in scientist Stephen Hawking. Now this is even more ridiculous for one main reason – Hawking IS British and received his treatment from the NHS. I mean come on, how lazy are these people that they can’t even be bothered to check the guys nationality. Furthermore Hawking released a statement today basically stating that the NHS far from trying to kill him, actually saved his life and he wouldn’t be where he is today without the British public healthcare system.

So given that these attacks on the NHS are fundamentally flawed you have to ask the question why? Why are these people so opposed to an improved healthcare system? Why are they intent on blocking reform by any means neccessary? I think the simple answer is profit. The groups that are really pushing the anti-reform agenda tend to have links to insurance companies, or pharmaceutical firms. They dress themselves up as genuine grassroots movements representing the interests of the patients, but the truth is they are firmly in the pocket of corporate America which has no interest in the well being of the patient, but which is primarily concerned with its profit margin.

Now i’m not arguing that there isn’t some genuine concern about healthcare reform, of course there is, as there is with any substantial policy shift, but to try and scare people with stories based in fantasy is dishonest and irresponsible. The healthcare reform that is currently being proposed would see a massive expansion of healthcare, covering millions of people who currently can’t afford it. I’m lucky, I’m British and I never have to worry about healthcare, I know the NHS will be there if I need it. In my opinion the UK has a far superior healthcare system than the US because of its universal coverage.

Clearly i’m not the only one that feels this way as earlier today on Twitter one of the top trending topics was #welovethenhs

I’m not the only one in my family that enjoys going to Speakers Corner, my brother does as well.  So this past Sunday, during his short visit, we headed to Hyde Park to listen.  I decided to use the opportunity to film some more footage and do a third Speakers Corner video, the result of which is below.

We hadn’t really planned on staying too long at the corner, but the Speakers were on top form and we were enjoying it too much, especially my brother.  So we ended up spending quite a bit of time there listening to about five different speakers.  As usual Diane was there and was drawing the largest crowds.  Also in Hyde Park that morning was a run for charity so quite a few of the runners joined the crowd after they finished.  One of the highlights of this visit was hearing Diane trying to criticise these runners who were raising money for cancer charities!

All the speakers, except one, took a largely religious theme this time with two Speakers holding bibles and two others sharing their views on religion.  One of the Speakers (the lady in Pink) ended up in a discussion with my brother – you can see the end of her retort 3 minutes, 48 seconds into the video.  Unfortunately I wasn’t filming the start but the whole thing was hilarious.

As always the Speakers were equally thought provoking, crazy, maddening, confused and inadvertently hilarious.  Hope you enjoy the video. 

So yesterday I predicted that Gordon Brown was on the way out of Number 10 because of the actions of James Purnell, indeed I even thought he might quit within a week.  Well today i’m not as sure.  While today could certainly not be described as the best day ever for the Prime Minister (far from it actually) it didn’t appear to be the knockout blow many were expecting.

Sure, we had quite a few Cabinet resignations including Hoon and Hutton, but the reshuffle appears to have gone off ok.  Some believed that after Purnell’s resignation and public criticism of Brown others in the Cabinet would follow suit, but in reality that didn’t happen.  John Hutton, who used to be a major critic of Gordon Brown, today stressed his support for Brown despite his resignation.  Of course that’s the public view, whether this is still his feeling in private remains to be seen.

However I think the worst aspect of all of today’s events was Caroline Flint’s resignation letter, announced during the Prime Ministers reshuffle press conference!  Her letter was a very personal attack on the Prime Minister who she accused of using her and other female ministers as “window dressing”.  Flint has been replaced as Minister for Europe by Glenys Kinnock (former MEP and wife of former Labour Party leader) – who saw that coming?  And Sir Alan Sugar becomes Lord Alan Sugar and a sort of Business Tsar!  Could make the next series of the Apprentice interesting!

Anyway no matter how bad different people think the day was, it certainly seems clear that the Prime Minister has no intention of standing down at least in the short term.   The Guardian is reporting that those Labour MPs plotting against the PM plan to regroup this weekend and start again next week, will it be enough to topple Brown?  I’m not too sure.

For the last week or so I’ve been working on a new website for my photography. Well that website is now up and running, to take a look pop over to photographyandpolitics.com. Of course the new website doesn’t replace this blog, I’ll still be posting here on a regular basis, but not all the pictures on the blog will make it to the website, and vice versa so you may want to check both.

The photos on the website are all available as prints, for more information just contact me via the website or at my new email address simon@photographyandpolitics.com

So i’m back in London and on my first full day back in the city i’m already photographing a protest!!  This time its the protest outside the Israeli Embassy in London against Israel’s military in the Gaza strip.

Today’s protest came as Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip entered its fourth day.  The protests, outside the Israeli Embassy on Kensington High Street have taken place since Sunday and look likely to continue all week.

Yesterday’s protest led to clashes with the Metropolitan Police and seven people were eventually arrested for public order offences.  At one point an Israeli flag was set on fire.  In contrast today’s protest was more peaceful with protesters remaining behind the police barriers and making no attempt to push past them.

Barack Obama ran a very successful campaign for the Presidency (obviously!), part of that campaign was his utilisation of a whole host of modern communication techniques.  This ranged from having his own Flickr account giving a behind the scenes look to his campaign, to the effective use of YouTube – on election day alone the Obama campaign uploaded 14 videos!  They uploaded more than 1,800 over the whole campaign.  Of course the most famous use of modern technology by the Obama campaign was the way the VP pick was announced – by text message.

But it wasn’t just the Campaign’s use of these technologies that marked out this campaign against the ones gone before, supporters and supporting organisations have also used them to great impact.  Some of the biggest Youtube successes during the last year have been related to either Obama and McCain.  But it was mainly Obama that benefited from this support.  Perhaps the most famous YouTube video was by Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas.  His “Yes We Can” video has been viewed more than 13 million times.  His new video “It’s a New Day” (below) looks set to be another big success.

But it’s not just the use of technology that made Obama a modern candidate, there’s something about him that appealed to a new generation of voters.  Whether that was his age, or something else i’m not sure, but Obama certainly connected with this new generation in so many ways that McCain could never have hoped to.  This is clear just from Obama’s coverage in places like Rolling Stone magazine.  Obama has been on the cover of Rolling Stone three times in seven months, this is unprecedented, not just for a politician but for a musician.  Only John Lennon had the same number of covers in the same period.

The only question that remains is whether Obama can now be a modern President.

I was going to try and limit the number of videos I linked to up to November 4th, but I just couldn’t resist posting this song I saw today on YouTube.  It’s both clever and funny!

The next four days will be dominated by the election, and it will be no different on this blog.  Even though I’m British i’m a massive Obama fan and really want to see him in the White House.  Over the next few days there will undoubtedly be a number of election posts.  It will all start with photos from an Obama rally in London tomorrow.

My dream job is to be a Photojournalist, i’d love it!  And the thing i’d love to photograph more than anything else would be a US Presidential election.  Sadly I can’t exactly see that happening anytime soon.  

So I was pretty pleased when I heard today of a new photography exhibition in London called My America which focuses on the Presidential election (2004 and 08).  The photographer Chris Morris, made his name in War photography but has now turned his lens on Presidential Politics.  Along with the exhibition (which i’m going to see this weekend) he also has a new book out.  I can’t wait to see it.  The gallery’s website is www.hostgallery.co.uk  

You can also see a video about the exhibition here

UPDATE – I would definitely recommend the exhibition.  It is quite a small gallery, but its a great selection of photography.  So good in fact I bought the accompanying book.  I actually had the whole gallery to myself.

I thought both Candidates were on good form last night at the Al Smith Dinner, with both having some very funny lines.  McCain surprised me because I never imagined him being able to tell a joke or being funny!  Saying that I stil thought Obama was the more entertaining of the two.

This sort of thing would never happen in the UK!!  Our politicians might tell the odd self-depricating joke, but never a whole speech!