Liberia - the story so far

So I have been here a few days now, working with an NGO to help build communications capacity in the President's office. It has been interesting and challenging work. I have been talking to lots of people, drafting protocols, writing strategies and running workshops. I am loving it. What is always wonderful about working in a different country is discovering unexpected cultural differences. One of the team here (she is British) was talking to a Liberian colleague about prioritising issues. She started talking about instituting a traffic light system, with each issue given a red, amber or green flag dependent on their urgency. She started to grow slightly alarmed by the blank look on her colleague's face. How was this a difficult concept to grasp? She tried to explain again. More blank looks and then it dawned on her - they don't have traffic lights in Liberia. A concept that we use in the UK all the time makes absolutely no sense here. It does make you wonder how much else we take for granted when we speak. In a country where they don't play cricket, would they necessarily know what I mean when I talk about getting on the front foot? It reminds me of the look on by American friend's face when driving down a highway in the US, I commented on the trees that had been planted on the central reservation . . .

Flag Day in Monrovia

So yesterday was Flag Day here in Liberia, a public holiday to honour the national pennant. The flag itself (The Lone Star) is from the family of flags based on the Stars and Stripes and Liberians are very proud of it. It was an excellent holiday. Lots of children parading in their uniforms, speeches and prizes. Moreover, it meant that I had a day to explore Monrovia, a vibrant, busy city. On the face of it, strangers could be forgiven for not immediately spotting that the country had been ravaged by a civil war that only really came to an end about six years ago. Shops and businesses are open, markets are bustling and ships are being unloaded at the port. But take a closer look and you will see burnt out buildings all around town. One of the most incredible is the old Hotel Africa, a vanity project of President Tolbert,built to host the 1979 Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Summit. The hotel complex had swimming pool in the shape of Africa and 51 beach villas, one for each African head of state. It cost US$ 36 million, a staggering amount especially then, especially given the economic plight of the country. Today it is a ruined shell, gutted by months of bombardment during the last years of the civil war and subsequently stripped of everything from the tiles on the walls to the copper pipes of the plumbing system. As for the beach villas, well most of them have fallen into the sea.

Liberia - the adventure begins

So first impressions - hot, sticky, damp. I have arrived in the middle of the heaviest rainy season for years. It is a bit like being in a Somerset Maughan story.

The country is still recovering from years of a brutal civil war. The first President to be elected democratically and fairly, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, came into power in January 2003 and her government is desperately trying to rebuild the country. The challenges are huge to say the least. Roads, power and clean water are still in short supply, especially outside the capital. They need more medical workers, more teachers, more professionals across the board. The process of reconciliation and nation building is necessarily slow. People needs jobs. But based on my first hours in the country, it would appear that they have hope. And that has to be a good foundation.

Do you still get a UB40?

Technically, I am unemployed. I left Grayling at the end of July and don’t start my new job (more about which later) until September. So August has been mine – five whole weeks to use as I choose. Free time is a luxury I haven’t enjoyed since 2003 when I left Downing Street and had a month or so before I joined Grayling. It is also a luxury I struggle to enjoy completely. I get bored easily. I spent the first two weeks of freedom on holiday in France (a week in the hills near St Emillion and another in Biarritz). It was wonderful – sunshine, good food, good wine, good company – in spite of the eye-watering exchange rate.

Last week was, however, very different. I spent the week on what you might describe as personal admin – I registered for a course, sorted out my ISA, renewed the buildings insurance on my flat, had a bit of a tidy of said flat. Dull, dull, dull. I did spend some time with my niece and nephew (Toy Story 3 is very good but don’t bother with the 3D version), which was very enjoyable but the rest of week was boring. If it hadn’t been for the hours of television I had saved on Sky+ I am not sure how I would have managed.

I have greater expectations for the coming week. I am writing this at Brussels Airport where I am waiting to catch a flight to Monrovia (via Accra). Yes, I am en route to Liberia where I am going to do some pro bono work with an NGO. It is all very exciting. All I can be sure of is that the high levels of humidity there (naturally it is the rainy season) mean that my hair will be huge. I will report on it and my other adventures over the coming days.

[Actually WiFi in Brussels airport did not allow me to upload this yesterday so I am doing so now from Monrovia overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and yes the barnet is big.]

No tea for racist Griffin

The words "good on the Queen" are not ones I would normally utter. They rank alongside "I just can't get enough of the gym" and "I love it when it is cold". But today, I feel I can. Ok the chances are it wasn't QEII herself that issued the decree (but wouldn't have been brilliant if it was) but Buckingham Palace today told the racist Nick Griffin that he was no longer welcome at this afternoon's garden party. Why was he invited in the first place is a good question. The answer apparently is that he is an MEP representing the North East of England and as such gets an automatic invitation. However, Griffin was a bit too cocky about the invitation, he blogged about it, he boasted about it, he invited his racist supporters to suggest topics of conversation he could raise should he meet Her Majesty "over the cucumber sandwiches". This vulgar and unpleasant behaviour gave Palace officials all they needed to uninvite the man, on the grounds that he had abused the invitation, using it for overtly political purposes and thus increasing the security threat and discomfort for other guests. Griffin of course wasted no time in scuttling over to the nearest broadcast studios to attack the Palace and the liberal media for being undemocratic. Quite the reverse, for the first time in a long time I feel my views have been represented. Well done, Liz.

Burqa banning bonkerness

So the French are moving towards banning the wearing of the burqa in public. last week the French National Assembly passed a bill prohibiting the wearing of full faced veils in public. The legislation will have to be approved by the Senate before becoming law - there is a vote scheduled in September. Apparently there is a large degree of public support for the ban in France where it is being positioned almost as feminist measure, empowering Muslim women to throw off the shackles of their oppressive male relatives. While I am sympathetic to that view, the ban in my view is bonkers. French law makers assume that this form of dress is being adopted as a result of coercion when the evidence would suggest that in France at least the few women who do wear full veils are choosing to do so on their own volition. It may be inexplicable to many of us, but that doesn't stop it being true. The fact is that lots of people wear lots of thigns which we find inexplicable. The pre-pubescent teens wearing micro-minis, the men who are old enough to know better trying to get away with low slung jeans, clogs - I don't get any of these but there is no justification for banning them. Just as there is none for banning the burqa.

Peer review

Well, what a month! For political enthusiasts (ok, geeks) like me, the past few weeks have been tense and intense. Now that the dust is beginning to settle, we have time to think about some of the changes the new government wishes to make. Some of them good, some of them bad. Some will look more far reaching than they actually are. And some will completely transform our democracy. One such change is reform of the House of Lords. As a passionate democrat, you would think that I would be in favour of a wholly-elected Upper Chamber. And I am pretty sure I should be. But I am not. I believe that there is a role for appointed peers. I don't mean peers who get to wear ermine as a leaving present from the House of Commons but peers who are are appointed because of their experience and contribution to civic society. Peers like Joel Joffe, Robert Winston, Helen Hayman, David Ramsbotham, Mary Warnock and dozens like them. They bring real expertise and offer a completely different perspective which I fear would disappear in a wholly elected Chamber. So if asked, I will be saying yes let's review and reform the system but let's not throw any babies out with the bathwater.