Monday, February 25, 2013

An Evening At Honda

In the autumn of 1994, while staying with my aunt and uncle in North America, I remarked that they had been driving the same car for seven years. It was a second-generation Honda Accord, the best-selling Japanese car in the US from 1982 to 1997 and one of the most reliable vehicles ever sold. When I asked when they planned to get rid of it, they said, ‘When it conks out.’ Well, conk out it did, but only after having done 250,000 km (155,000 miles). They replaced it, not surprisingly, with ... another Honda.

I have driven three of them myself, most recently an eighth-generation Civic, with the same impressive results. So, when I received an invitation to the UK’s Honda HQ for ‘an evening with special guests’, I thought I should make every effort to attend. More decisively, so did one of my sports-mad sons.

The two of us entered its newly-built chrome-and-glass edifice and could not help but notice a bright red Honda NSX  ultra-sleek, 2-door coupé, all-aluminium V6 engine, drivers backside six inches from tarmac  just inside the front doors. When I said good evening to a smart young lady wearing the company logo, she told us that this particular NSX used to belong to Ayrton Senna (1960-94) (Figure 57.1), one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time, tragically killed during the San Marino Grand Prix, indeed the most recent fatality on an F1 track. Without asking, my son opened the drivers door, jumped in and clasped both hands around the wheel. ‘Get this, Dad! So, naturally, I took out the camera and obliged (Figure 57.2).


Figure 57.1: F1 legend Ayrton Senna with his Honda NSX

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Figure 57.2: My son, with that same car, twenty years later

Copyright © 2013 Paul Spradbery

F1 is not the only motor sport to feature the Honda name. In the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), it currently holds the drivers’, teams’ and manufacturers’ titles, and has dominated the sport in recent years (Figure 57.3). The car itself is based around the newly-designed European Civic 5-door hatchback, with a 300 BHP 2.0-litre turbocharged engine and revolutionary aerodynamics. We looked across the room and there it was (Figures 57.4 & 57.5).


Figure 57.3: Honda’s two drivers leading the way in 2012

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Figure 57.4: As seen in the BTCC

Copyright © 2013 Paul Spradbery


Figure 57.5: If only his feet could reach the pedals

Copyright © 2013 Paul Spradbery

The special guests turned out to be very special indeed. They were the current Honda BTCC drivers, and BBC Top Gear regulars, Matt Neal and ‘Flash’ Gordon Shedden (Figure 57.6). Matt  like me, 46 years old – was BTCC champion in 2005, 2006 and 2011, and has also won European TCC races. The reigning (2012) champion, however, is his younger teammate, ‘Flash’, 34. Both were approachable and seemed more than happy to spend their spare time with those who enjoy and support their particular sport (Figure 57.7 & 57.8).


Figure 57.6: Messrs Shedden and Neal on the podium, yet again, in 2012

Copyright © 2012 Honda Motor Europe Limited


Figure 57.7: A treasured photograph ...

Copyright © 2013 Paul Spradbery


Figure 57.8: ... and autographs from Matt and ‘Flash’

Copyright © 2013 Paul Spradbery

This year’s ten BTCC races take place across the country from March to October, beginning and ending at Brands Hatch. Full details of racing schedules are available from  http://www.btcc.net/html/racedates.php. The fourth race, incidentally, will be at Cheshire’s Oulton Park on 8th and 9th June. Our tickets are already booked (Figure 57.9).


Figure 57.9: At the end of a memorable evening

Copyright © 2013 Paul Spradbery

With immense gratitude, and the best of fortune, to all at Honda UK.

Copyright © 2013 Paul Spradbery

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Seceding Catalonia

In his masterpiece Homage To Catalonia (1938) (Figure 56.1), el escritor Inglés George Orwell (1903-50) described Andalucíans as being so different from Catalans that it beggared belief that they were the same nationality. Indeed, Spanish unity, be it cultural or political, has for some time been a tenuous concept.


Figure 56.1: Orwell’s first-hand memoir of civil war in Catalonia provides ample evidence, and justification, of its uneasy alliance with the rest of Spain.

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Seventy-five years on from Orwell’s memorable account, the Catalan independence movement has been helped considerably by Spain’s current economic woes. It is a truism that whenever a multiracial/multicultural country experiences severe hardship, people necessarily become more social, and tend to segregate along the most natural ‘faultline’, which is often ethnicity. Catalans, increasingly, are perceiving themselves to be more Catalan and less Spanish (Figure 56.2). This divide is currently being enforced further by Catalonia being the wealthiest of the autonomous communities. There is increasing resentment now borne by its inhabitants towards poorer, less economically productive regions, as the latter demand a disproportionately large share of public expenditure. Andalucíans, for example, are considered to be especially lazy. It is a perfect example of the perennial argument regarding wealth redistribution: who deserves it, and to what degree? Moreover, if the takers outnumber the givers, then the former will be able to secure a permanent mandate at the ballot box.


Figure 56.2: One of many Catalan independence demonstrations from last year

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Other regions, too, have aspired to full secession from postwar Spain. The most notable is the Basque region, in the Northwest. In 1959, a separatist organization was formed in defiance of the Franco dictatorship. Its paramilitary arm, Euskadi Ta Askatasuna, or ETA, instigated violent offensives for more than half a century, before finally declaring a definitive ceasefire in 2011.

The Catalans’ strategy is different. It is – as yet – peaceful, more dignified and shows astute understanding of Spain’s political dynamics. They seem to know that when the State is strong, it can be broken only by armed insurrection, which leads inevitably to a massacre of innocents and is probably more open to failure than to success. During the Franco years (1936-75), Catalan culture was ruthlessly suppressed. Books were destroyed and its language outlawed throughout public institutions.

When the State is weak, however, as is presently the case, there is increased scope for tough and fruitful negotiation. Catalonia’s prime minister Artur Mas has already instigated the secession process. Last November, separatist parties won 49% of votes in the Catalan parliamentary election and a 59% majority demanded a referendum on secession. Naturally, Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy has opposed these plans and insisted that a referendum cannot be held without central government approval. We shall see (Figure 56.3).


Figure 56.3: For how much longer will mail from Catalonia bear a Spanish stamp?

Copyright © 2013 Paul Spradbery

A similar campaign is currently underway in Scotland. Its ruling Scottish National Party aims to withdraw from the United Kingdom. An in-or-out referendum will probably be held within five years. Scotland, however, is different from Catalonia. For a start, its native language is scarcely spoken. More crucially, and to be very blunt, it is an economic basket-case. In Scotland, one in three working adults is employed by the (British) State. It survives only by means of massive (UK) government subsidies, courtesy of mainly English taxpayers who, like Catalans, are beginning to resent it. If the question of Scottish independence is settled by Scots alone, it would seem unlikely to happen, as they might be reluctant to lose such a huge quantity of public (i.e. other people’s) money. Sovereignty, be damned; I suspect that financial expediency would trump every nationalistic principle on the table. If, however, English voters are given a say in it, the Scottish Nationalists’ wish might, ironically, be granted by those from whom they wish to separate.

Then there is the matter of the Evil Empire itself. Separatist politicians from both Catalonia and Scotland have expressed a similar intention to bring about an independent nation within the European Union (my italics). That would be a very strange kind of independence. In reality, they would be exchanging one ‘foreign’ authority for another. Rejoining the EU would by itself be a legitimate aim, I admit, but only a thundering hypocrite would attempt to sell it as self-rule.

Where else in Europe might secession occur? There are several other candidates. The Flemings and Walloons in Belgium have never been easy bedfellows. Italy has been unified only since 1861 and its pretence to political stability is a long-standing joke. Separatist movements exist in twenty-four other European countries, including Germany. As the economic crisis deepens ever further, the fires of separatism could well become stoked with increasing vigour. My guess is that within two or three generations, the political map of Europe will have been redrawn. It will begin in Catalonia.

Copyright © 2013 Paul Spradbery

Monday, February 18, 2013

The Living (Brain) Dead

More than twenty years ago, I spent several months working and living in Manchester. On arrival, I was entirely unfamiliar with the layout of England’s third largest city (population half a million). Working smack-bang in the city centre while living several miles to the east meant that I had to find my road bearings pretty quickly.

Navigating congested city roads, wondering constantly what lies round the corner, can be tricky even when nothing exceptional is going on. Unfortunately – just my luck – something was. The government had just sanctioned the construction of a 19-mile urban tram network, stretching from Bury (10 miles north) to Altrincham (9 miles south), and bisecting Manchester city centre by means of an elaborate zigzag. The contract was signed by Minister of State for Transport Michael Portillo in June 1990. I landed in July.

Throughout that unusually hot summer, the city was a vast construction site. The proposed trams were to run alongside buses and cars on existing roads (Figure 55.1); and tram stops, complete with substantial platforms, were required every few hundred yards. It was chaotic. I arrived to discover about a dozen different traffic diversions, all colour-coded on ad hoc signposts, with motorists doing their valiant best to survive both the congestion and each other’s impatience.


Figure 55.1: Tramlines crossing Manchester city centre

Copyright © 1993 Neil Clifton

After a really crazy first week, I began to work out routes from every A to every B, despite straight lines being prohibited, and found a few convenient rat-runs among the murky backstreets. So adept did I become at bypassing temporary traffic lights, had my new job been as a taxi driver, I would have quite fancied my chances.

When the transport infrastructure was complete, all the diversions became redundant. They were, however, all I had ever known. The absurdity that remained was of knowing my way round the city but only by going ‘round the houses’. Shortly thereafter, and before I could refamiliarize myself with the most direct routes, I left Manchester for good. It was healthy brain exercise, if nothing else.

This morning, I read a bizarre account of lousy navigation which made my efforts to conquer the Manchester maze appear commendable. A 67-year old Belgian woman, Sabine Moreau, set off on a 38-mile journey to meet a friend off the train. Unbelievably, she ended up in Zagreb, Croatia – 900 miles away. Some wrong turn. The absent-minded Madame Moreau passed through Germany, Austria and Slovenia, refuelling several times, until realizing somewhat belatedly that she ‘was no longer in Belgium’ (Figure 55.2). Such was her faith in her TomTom satnav device, not to mention her mindblowing lack of common sense. (I wonder what she made of the Alps. Did she think she was crossing the ‘Belgian Mountains’? Ye Gods.)


Figure 55.2: I hope Mme Moreau’s friend is not still waiting at the railway station.

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Today’s dependence on satnavs has become a lazy substitute for map-reading and spatial awareness in general. It obviates the need to think (Figure 55.3). Even rudimentary knowledge of direction and relative location becomes lost. Seville lies due south of Salamanca. Would a satnav slave from either place know this? Perhaps not. The dangers of delegation to technology are, firstly, that geographical knowledge becomes ever more superficial, and if a prosthetic device malfunctions, Mme Moreau rides again.


Figure 55.3: Use it or lose it.

Copyright © 2012 Tim Brown

Just as well the poor woman never worked in Manchester during the summer of 1990. She might still be going round and round – or, even worse, the wrong way along a tram track.

Copyright © 2013 Paul Spradbery