Final day of Spanish Lessons.

Finally, I've finished the Spanish tuition I started over two weeks ago. I don't feel like I can converse though I do recognise about 50% of what I hear. It's really been an ordeal being sat and taught in quite a traditional method though apparently my accent is quite good. Not really any compensation when your vocabulary is about ten words. Tomorrow, off to Quetzaltenango or something like that at least.

Something crossed my mind when I was about to leave India when I was reading Madness and Civilisation by Foucault and it crossed my mind earlier today again. It related to the fact that there was a 'cure' for leprosy in the 1960s-80s that appeared to have finally assisted with the irradication of the disease. This appeared to happen shortly after the publishing of Madness and Civilisation and for me personally it did spawn a conspiracy theory. Personally, I think certain families are subject to more covert regime action than others, most of which would not be of a criminal nature, and thus not be investigated, and to a degree I think that the concepts of mental illness are in place largely to discredit the sufferer from stating what may or may not have happened to them. I think the issues of citizenship are dealt with using bolder lip-service than most and there are significant improvements to be made in the developed world. The reason I state that in relation to leprosy is that Foucault states that the asylum was to a degree born from the forms of segregation that were used for lepers and even the same buildings then were used to house the mentally ill. What struck me as a possibility was that there could have just been a programme of genetic cleansing in Europe, a realisation that disease was a good form of regime management, so why not continue to use the asylum.

I didn't do any research of any note into the possibilities that I was considering and while I would state that facilitated leprosy or mental illness for the purposes of regime management could be a possibility, apparently leprosy only affects about 5% of the population which makes the chance of there having been one of Europe's first genocides - could this have taken place? If the 5% statistic from the unreliable wikipedia are correct then perhaps this could be a real possibility. May be if I was Israeli I would have learnt pretty much everything there is to know about genocide, I can't say. It is pretty much a twentieth century term for extermination of a religious or ethnic group although the longer history of mass extermination may reveal more telling aspects of humanity.

For some time this struck me as being rather unusual in relation to Foucault and I don't imagine that the paranoid thought of leprosy being used for regime management purposes is ever going to gain any credibility - it's most likely the 5% with the susceptible genes sunk towards the bottom of the caste system and in some respects may have remained there. May be the Christian action in South India to release those who still experience the problems related to caste is under-rated in terms of it's importance - could there be more? Perhaps there could be greater appreciation of Indian culture for not irradicating leprosy as it was in Europe - through extermination?

I guess this genocide may have permeated the culture having been seen as a 'popular move' and led to other programmes of genetic cleansing across Europe which let me sadly say, may have had quite a significant level of support. Perhaps this should be one of the issues that is raised within Yad Vashem, Israel's holocaust museum of what may have been the most unjust interpretation of evidence that has taken place in the history of humanity - that genetic cleansing was a positive process. It is perhaps a failing of contemporary journalism that programmes of genetic cleansing may be in place, however, we tend not to state that this may also have taken place in the UK and been a significant part of our history. If monuments to the dead are so important in our culture should we have some monuments to those who were possibly killed for the health of present populations? I guess this is some form of conspiracy that will not gain any support and while I think there could be some form of nominal process and perhaps I should only dedicate the two oak trees near the centre of Sarehole Mill Recreation ground in Hall Green Birmingham - because to be quite honest journalists don't seem to give a f**k about informing the public adequately and politicians seem content to leave us disconnected from our history and culture. I can't imagine anyone would care.....

On the subject of leprosy-like activity being used to manage regimes, I've found some classic 80s fashion on youtube - Did Daryl Hall and John Oates look good to you at the time? Oh, you wish not to be a leper too, eh?

Museo De Cafe y Mayan Musica Museo.

Well, I've finally broken my duck and done something today. I must admit that there were echoes of the Duff Beer Factory from the Simpsons when I was in the coffee museum that is on the edge of town. The tour guides were pretty good and came across in a very warm manner that is difficult to fake - they did seem happy in their work which does make quite a difference. I managed to take dozens of shots of the coffee plantation which no doubt will resemble some of the shots I saw at SBPS but I guess I can at least get some form of original interpretation of them after working on them in photoshop for a while.

Guatemala is the seventh biggest coffee producer in the world and according to the tour guide it produces the third best quality coffee beans of the major providers. I think he also said there are only about seven different types of beans and all variations of coffee flavour are based upon different combinations of these and degree or roasting. Somehow I prefer it when I've only got things to blog about like the multitudes of American women who seem to be in Antigua to fall in love. Not with me but with anyone else I imagine. Reporting of factual information from the coffee museum, which contained production machinery made in Aberdeen, Scotland, does not seem to hold the same degree of interest.

The coffee museum is also adjacent to a Mayan music museum. Traditional Mayan music was quite interesting but somehow I managed to resist buying any CDs. It was a kind of discordant folk, to me at least, which reminded me of up-tempo high energy house music crossed with Theolonius Monk and the Wurzels. People will think that reference to the Wurzels is just some weak low jibe at Guatemalan-Mayan culture but I think the Wurzels are underestimated for their influence. Geldof would never have come up with the idea of live aid unless it had been for that song "I've got a brand new combine harvester". Why I didn't buy any CDs I don't know. Most of the people who were on the tour made some form of attempt at playing the instruments that were in the shop at the end of the tour and they were pretty tricky to play. We sounded worse than the folk music. Maybe I'll get macharina lessons when I get back to the UK.

Finally, I made it through present tense in Spanish and have now started to cock up all things possible about the past tense. At least I'm trying. Not that it's really worth bothering with at present. Tomorrow is the final day so hopefully I'll become fluent in Spanish in the next 24 hours or so.

The image above is nonsense really - the shot of the woman in the chemists. I don't know anyone who would class the attempt at capturing the nature of contemporary chemists in Guatemala. Perhaps with almost religious conviction someone will someday. One reason I was taking the weirdest shots in Nepal of half finished buildings was because of the Urban Geography course that I taught on - it has made me consider the nature of building materials and they how vary around the world. Having said that I did find myself taking shots of Guatemalan breeze blocks which are what most buildings here seem to be constructed from at present and what quite a large proportion of the buildings in Nepal were being made from. Long gone are the days of the earthquake-proof, four-foot-thick walls that the Spanish used to construct the buildings of religious significance from. Breeze blocks are probably not a good subject for conversation and I do recall wincing when a woman who was a researcher at the Faculty of the Built Environment, University of the West of England, was proposing Ph.D. research on the subject of 'pavements' in historic cities in the UK - important though it may be, I think there is not a great deal of interest in the subject of pavements nor Guatemalan breeze blocks. After giving the issues area of pavements just a little thought over the following years I would have to agree that it is a relevant subject matter for doctoral research especially because of their impact on an area. This is something that even Prince Charles wouldn't kick up a fuss about though.

One of the main means I've had of trying to regain some equilibrium has been through the work of Paul Weller of recent and having seen The Jam Going Underground in the last few hours it is a slight dig in the ribs to the establishment while still only playing along with consumerism. I don't think Weller was out just to make money because the venom in songs like Start and Eton Rifles is really just too much. It even matches the all time greats like Tommy Cooper's Don't jump off the roof dad which is as good as Ernie the fastest milkman in the west or Right said Fred by Bernard Cribbens. Oh to be a Lennonesque rock demi-god eh? Okay, so I've had a few beers.

The shots of the coffee plantation which I took today are online should anyone from SBPS be interested at Coffee and Mayan Music Museums. It's startling but I can't find a way outside the inspiration. Why do I bother this is so much like The Rebel that I can't believe it. Maybe I do end up with a landlady like Irene Stubbs modelling for me so I can make some form of lavish sculpture that is only fit for the insides of a town house. There's probably more effort made in undermining the arts in the UK than there is input into it which is perhaps a rather sad reflection on the country. I guess I conspire that the artists that do 'make it' in terms of public awareness at least may have uncovered something about the meaning of life and have consequently been put in a position where they can comment to the well informed who may read between the lines whilst the rest of the population are completely at a loss. These words sound familiar to me - I wonder who may have said this to me in the past. Where's my beret?

It makes me so angry I'll probably end up doing Porridge though there are some grounds to think that this won't happen. Ho hum, and back to the homestay.

Hungover in la casa de Verona.

One of the issues that struck me when I was working on the community newspaper, the Earlsdon Echo in Coventry, was that journalists must tend to be good at finding a new slant on what are in effect almost repeated stories. It was something that I found quite interesting within the context of a community newpaper group as each members of the group would have their own 'bag' and would offer repeated updates each month. This was something that I recognised as one of the main skills of journalism on this level after contact with the team on only a few editions of the rag. After spending a few more days in Antigua with very little to blog home about I do find this to be a similar situation, I do find that I'm not challenging myself and I'm not doing enough to have that facinating a blog to skim through.

I have been quite lazy and though I've attended my Spanish lessons I haven't done a great deal in the way of practicing. Spanish feels pretty comfortable as a language: there seems to be a great deal of regularity within the language in a way that I don't recognise in English and I may be speaking to soon, but it does feel like it's beginning to sink in. There were a few days right at the beginning of the course where I felt like I should get some form of prize for having learnt to say my name in Spanish. Now at least I have some form of hunger to be able to express myself in Spanish and really be able to communicate without this being that big a deal.

In terms of things I've been up to and whatever has been an issue of the day, nothing really has crossed my mind as that significant about the area as I don't really know a great deal about the rest of Guatemala and would find it difficult to compare the area with anywhere else in the country. The Lonely Planet guidebook states that Antigua is very much different to anywhere else in Guatemala and it defies explanation as to why the town is laid out so well and managed to maintain so much traditional character. Personally, I think there are probably quite a few former Nazis in the area and they have controlled the town planning significantly. It wouldn't surprise me - I've met a lot of Americans here but not that many Israelis. I was going to suggest to the manager of the school, Tecun Uman, that he only offers home stays with people who have been screened for any Nazi connections because it must cross a few people's minds from time to time.

I was half expecting one of those scenes from Father Ted where Ted finds himself in a room full of Nazi memorabilia owned by another priest, I forget the episode exactly. You walk into a homestay in Guatemala and find yourself having lunch with Goerball's secretary and Adolf Hitler's tailor's wife. Nice place apart from the Nazi links. I did wonder if the combination of sounds that was put together by 'The Destroyers' was in any way linked to combination of Latin sounds with Oompah pah bands from Germany. Maybe this would be a good way to lure out the Nazis in Guatemala. It's a long shot but it might just work. Maybe the Israeli government could fund the Destroyers to tour latin america.

Again, I was rather disappointed with my lack of creativity with regard to photography as I seemed to be following Peter's path again. I did realise when I was facing the one hotel that I took a shot of that I'd almost definately seen the images at SBPS - the shots aren't bad and they do make a reasonable photoessay by my standards at least - see Antigua chicken buses. I took a few other shots of the market, see 'belts' above, but I guess that they're just the same as Peter's as ususal. Some of the shots of Parque Central also looked very familiar when I saw them on my laptop yesterday evening when I downloaded them. I liked the one image of the one teenager standing provocatively near the boy who was shying away. It's a pleasant place to relax.

Lazy day in Antigua.

Whoops! Slipped into student mode and done nothing of any note today. It was quite tricky getting over my hangover, very hard work sometimes. I finally managed to get a few shots on my flickr photostream of Andy Hamilton and the Blue Notes at Symphony Hall Foyer on the 15th December 2007. It was a good gig as far as I can recall. I had a quick look at Garry Corbett's flickr site and it was good to see some shots of the gigs I've missed since I have been in central America. I did hope that there would be someone else or a few other people who would try to document some of the gigs at the Commuter Jazz after I started doing it back in 2005. While I've been doing it for longer Garry has really done well at producing very clear, crisp professional images that do a lot of justice to the performers. The images I was producing did tend to make them look a little taxed and sometimes a little out of place but I think they captured something of the gigs that most people may overlook. The shots I have of the Birmingham Jazz Festival from 2005 do make me feel a little nostalgic especially when I think of the gig at House of Frazer when the Paul Sawtell Quartet played in Knickers, Bras and Haberdashery. That was the section of House of Fraser they were in, not what they were wearing, should you have wondered exactly how liberal the midlands jazz scene is. I plan on reworking some of the negatives from the summer 2005 gigs one day though I can't imagine that this is going to be that near in the future the way things are going.

Having said all that I did manage to get some shots of the trip to Flores, Guatemala online at Flores Lagoon. The shots are passable but really nothing to blog about.

I'll make some attempt to photograph one or two of the live bands here in Guatemala and who knows maybe Levi French, Brian Connolly, Steve Ajao and others may find this enough of a link to play gigs here in Antigua one day in the future.

Day to Panejachel.

The lake surrounded by volcanoes and Mayan villages. The town away from it all. I forgot - rainy season, and it all seems very much like some distant idea. If there's so much cloud cover that virtually everything is impossible to see, it becomes a very different place. I took one of the tourist buses there to Panajachal and the shots I took while I was waiting for the bus tended to be better than those I took in Panejachel or on the way there. I wasn't blessed with good conditions today but I guess a good photographer would always aim at using the conditions to the best advantage. There was a strong and sudden downpour as soon as I got to Panajachel which made working very difficult though I don't know if there was a lot that I could do that I just didn't really attempt to do.

I don't wish to engage in self-beating to the extent that I could do over the lack of success I've had photographically since I've been here but I do feel that the best is yet to come. I haven't managed to capture the essence of the chicken bus, overcrowded, the fare-boy hanging out of the buses' folding door with all manner of individual trying to get through the crowd to get off at their stop. Today was so wet it was quite shocking. It did make me think about Romancing the Stone which I went to see when I was about 15 on an extremely damp day. It was a Sunday, mid-afternoon and I was sat soggy in the Odeon Queensway almost soaked to the skin as I was today watching a film about the escapades of Michael Douglas in a rainy season Guatemala. Some people may get unjustly romantic about tropical storms but I don't think they're that different in Plymouth, Manchester or in Birmingham.

The time I arrived in Panajachel was just after four and although I'd had a brief wander down to the edge of the lake I don't think that I spent longer than about thirty minutes there. The miscalculation that I'd made was that I could get back in the evening without any problems. The journey there was about two hours in a very nippily driven tourist van, which only had one accident on the way there with us knocking into a cyclist who seemed to indicate that the accident was his fault as he pulled at his cycle jammed under the van. Weaving in and out of traffic on half finished roads constantly speeding up and slowing down to overtake as much en route as was possible was just about as much as I could recall from the driving there. There does tend to be some onus on getting tourists off the chicken buses, the american school buses which have been bought up, painted lavishly and then put on the most local of local routes around Guatemala and to me there is not only little reason for this, it actually cuts out much of the more enjoyable aspects of life in Guatemala. While getting tourists off the chicken buses may be a priority (and for whatever reason the home office has elected to inform british subjects that chicken buses may not be safe, the tourist buses are driven by idiots who think that time is the only factor in a journey) getting them back on them should be a priority too. It was vaguely reminiscent of being on a happy bus at about 12.45 at night on the way home from Birmingham city centre to Hall Green in the late 1980's. There would occasionally be a driver who was keen to finish his shift and would burn the rubber of the double decker tyres like there was no tomorrow. Sometimes you would wonder if Nigel Mansell's part time job was to drive drunk people home to suburban Birmingham from the city centre.

Anyway, after a rather threatening journey there which involved scrapes and death defying stunts, I found myself in what felt like the wettest place on earth. It was only coming down at the rate of about an inch an hour or so and I didn't really think too long about staying the night in the town on the off chance of better weather the next day when I was as likely to find the day soggy again. The tour agencies I came into contact with tended to deny that there were any buses back, largely because the wanted to get me on one of the dangerous tourist buses back to Antigua the next morning at twice the cost of the local buses and I managed to get to a chicken but which took me via Solore to Los Chichuanos and then onto Chichatuanita. It was only about a four hour journey on the chicken bus at about half of the cost of the tourist bus.

It didn't take me long to get back to the house and get a few beers on the way. The fridges in the house are full at present largely because of the celebration taking place tomorrow for Lorena's birthday. She's the 'landlady' whose birthday it is tomorrow. Then out to find a place with internet connection and somewhere I can plug in the laptop which has a battery life of about twenty minutes at present. I'm sat in one of Antigua's trendier cafe's with film soundtrack blaring away behind the screen I sit and write on.

Today was as a result a day when I didn't manage to get on youtube and was spent trying to take in as much of the local culture as possible. Generally, I would imagine that Panajachel is somewhere this can happen but I guess that my mind was unfortunately very closed and the cliche of riding the chicken bus was all I was going to achieve today.

Into Lodgings and out of Ummagumma

So I've done a bunk from the 'trainspotting' hostel and finally made it into lodgings with a family for the next week. I'm in a house with three women and a small boy. I don't know if they're into women's lib but it wouldn't surprise me. There are four generations in the one house. One widow, the grandmother; a divorcee, the mother; and her daughter, the mother of the baby boy. They're a really nice bunch, the deceased father of the divorcee was a diplomat and spoke ten languages - the daughter who is rents the house for her family to live in speaks only about four. Tomorrow they cease speaking English to me - so presumably I'll have to use what ever Spanish I can muster to get by from now on.

The shot left is of the woman who collared me for the funds for the room I was staying in in Hostel Ummagumma. Very nice though she was to take a shot or two of, I do seem to find that it's better to take shots candidly rather than ask them to model directly (and after asking if it's okay to keep the shots). This is what happened with the woman whose profile I have used in the shots taken in Parque Central in the slide show 'Antigua Sunshine'. Models really to know how to act and unfortunately most people do tend to freeze up when they're asked if they mind a few photographs being taken. The shots I took today I think have echoes of Bardell about them but I don't know. They seem familiar to me especially 'drawing' in Antigua Sunshine. Try as I might to do something just a little different, I can't remember what Peter took until I get home and then I recall more shots from those he showed as SBPS. Ho hum!

Again I hit youtube last night after hours of trying to improve my Spanish vocabulary. It may be really sad and I may be missing out on a lot but I guess that I can't really do very much else other than try to get back to normal after years of feeling less than 100%. There was one of many small turning points last night when my base mood improved very suddenly. I think it was connected to moving out of the Hostel and into the family home that I'm now in - it may be connected to anything I guess but at present I'm just glad that things are improving. It seems a little ironic that I then find the improvement in my mood is stabilised further by checking out a bit of Hancock online, for instance the shows that he did in Australia which I don't think is that easy to get hold of in the UK. Watching the television play about Hancock's last weeks in the UK did make me wonder if he was the man behind the rock bands of the late 1960's chucking television sets out of hotel bedroom windows. It's more 'Hancock' than 'Keith Moon' to do things like that, surely the rebel should get more credit than he has received?

London skyline and urban design.

There have been a few issues relating to the London skyline that have required some attention recent and gladly these matters have made headline news. I personally aim to avoid criticising Prince Charles and others for taking this matter seriously and doing what may be necessary for much of the character of London to be altered, almost definitely on a permanent basis once planning permission has been granted to developers to build a skyscraper within the city. What I think tends to be interesting about the media portrayals of the debate is that there is quite often direct criticism of architects rather than attention paid to the Town and Country Planning Acts that can be passed through parliament and amended locally. I don't know if there is a tendency for the media only to comment upon issues where they can hold an individual responsible for the development of a building and thus point the finger at them for changing the character of a city but it does seem very bizarre when there could be democratic solutions offered and Town Planning restrictions placed on building within specified areas, including for instance the City of London.

On a trip to the Lake District last year one of the bus drivers who was talking as he drove commented upon the lack of freedom in the Lakes area to add PVC conservatories on the buildings in the area. I assume this is correct and that planning permission would be required but not granted for this type of venture - there is a policy which has resulted in the maintenance of the character of the area. Presumably the next step in the south east would be for politicians to offer some form of democratic solution and put in place restrictions on the height of buildings and for this matter to be decided democratically. I don't know if this is taking place to the extent that may be necessary but there should be more political debate on this matter as well as debate involving other public figures.

It's perhaps interesting to reflect on this issue in Antigua, Guatemala for a couple of reasons. There tends to be maintenance of a tradition design to the buildings here because of earthquakes more than anything else - the city has three volcanoes around it giving indication of the tectonic plate movements below. As a result most of the buildings in the area tend to be only one story high. There were higher ones built but owing to earthquakes they tend to be in the minority. Also, the buildings that have survived earthquakes, notably those built by the Spanish colonisers do tend to be of religious significance. This may be owing to the fact that religious buildings were at the time they were built seen to be one of the most significant elements of infrastructure to introduce but also because the style of religious buildings to a Catholic may also be slightly different to Protestants. There seems too a degree to be a desire to build some Catholic churches on the highest ground. I don't know if this is incorrect however, there does not seem to be the same tendency for this to take place in the Protestant churches. Whether this was in order to make churches more prominent and exude the power of God and the Church as some form of higher being is perhaps a misapprehension of mine. I maybe wrongly assume that 'the skyline' and debates around it may have some Catholic undertones to it that maybe don't reflect Protestant British character.

It was also interesting in Nepal that owing to an earthquake several years ago, many of the buildings were still being rebuilt and first and second floors were planned to be added on over a period of years which I presume is how a lot of English development may have continued for years. We're not in contact with either town planning or architecture as a nation any longer and probably haven't been for several hundred years.

There could be rather facile questions asked about the phallic nature of the skyscraper and the rather shallow addition it makes to a city's character as if it were some genuine indicator of a city's status which it is not. In Adelaide, when I was there ten years ago or so, another backpacker commented upon a postcard of the state capitals in Australia, that Adelaide was the only one which didn't have a skyline, as if this were of the least significance. Perhaps I should be more open to American urban design but this does not strike me as being of any importance. To me the skyline is not something that lifts an otherwise normal city to the status of a global city – this is not necessarily a significant indicator of a city’s prominence.

With a little knowledge of planning in the UK, as someone who is aware of general trends relating to the west side of the city being generally of greater wealth than the east, the high ground in the city being generally of more affluent settlements than the low and the centre being more valuable on the whole that the periphery high ground has always been important to us - perhaps as a safer space. This could perhaps be introduced into the design of high buildings - to reflect elements of our national character. It also does strike me as odd that Prince Charles is to a degree still anticipating to be referred to as 'your Highness'. 'Highness' being above, better or somehow superior to the lowness of me. Excuse me, but this does feel rather paradoxical. Who does he think he is?

The issue of why journalists have focused on architects as the villains of the piece does concern me, as this will no doubt cloud debate on the matter. Why the broader range of factors that shape an organisations desire for particular premises not outlined more frequently in the media as well may also contribute to divergence between the average member of the public's view on local architecture and the agenda of the corporation. This could perhaps be improved upon. Also, perhaps there are other means of resolving this apparent conflict. Is Canary Wharf of some symbolic importance, as if some ‘Excalibur’ protecting the rest of the city through it’s significance in the economy? Could symbolism of the architecture provide a means of compromise? Perhaps issues like this and others related to how design can shape the city could be part of social and personal education in schools?

There are many reasons for improving yourself through appreciation of the arts lets hope this link leads you to appreciation of the London skyline.

Still getting over the flu...

Well even though I can walk and concentrate to a degree I think I'm still a bit weak with the aftermath of the lurgy. Sadly, I hit youtube in my room again and have found some classic Genesis even if I say so myself.

Much of my time was spent watching the delightful Joni Mitchell. I spent too much time in my teens listening to tracks like My Old Man and For Free which is beautiful. Big yellow taxi is a classic, as is The Circle Game and Carrie. Really, not a lot is better than California. Even tracks like My old man on the Jonny Cash Show seem to sound good live. I even watched the videos made by Mac users, like River.

Joni aside, I hit a little bit of Blue Monday as well. This was not bad but I still like In the kitchen at parties to unwind to, or something like Echo Beach, or only you by Yazoo.

Yes, okay, very little happened today. It's been a very quiet day. Haven't done a damn thing. Practiced a little Spanish, lost my watch and found it again. Met a woman from San Fransisco at the same language school as me and then came home and slept because I only got a couple of hours sleep. Hopefully, I can do something tomorrow rather than just watch things like Helpless.

Antigua Thunderstorm.

Up late this morning. Saw Corrie and didn't get any verbal for not having made it to the lunchtime date that we had on Saturday. Managed to do okay in the Spanish lesson and found out a little more about my teacher's hobby of refereeing local non-league games. He said he had a good game largely because he had no problems refereeing it with difficult or contested decisions, rather than because the football was good. Mind you one of the referees in the same league had a gun pulled on him once for showing a red card. I don't know if things are comparable in the UK with the one non-league referee having a player who'd just been sent off drive his work van on the pitch and try and run the referee over during the game - let's face it we're just the same as them - only we don't have guns. Some of the phrases I learnt were suitable for singing at football matches - "Sus burros son viejo" sung to 'Go west' might catch on - it means 'your donkeys are getting old'. Maybe the gunners will sing it to Tony Adams when Arsenal play Pompey next.

Today there was thunder and lightning. It was pretty spectacular. Took a few shots and again when I got home I realised that they looked a lot like Peter Bardell's. Wish he would contact me and get the stuff on a website so I don't copy. Tomorrow, I have a salsa class in the afternoon and I would hope that I don't get overaroused if I dance with this American woman. I should be so lucky....

Fumigated - not me, the hostel.

Hurrah, through the cold at last. Now I'm just making miserable growling noises and coughing like a 60-a-day-chain smoker. At least I can move today, I spent most of yesterday and a little of this morning trawling youtube for more eighties classics. Why, oh, why do Depeche Mode appear not to take miming seriously? At some points they appear to be singing a different song altogether. Are they singing 'I just can't get a f**k!' - it makes no sense to me, maybe this is why Mike Read got a bee in his bonnett about 'Relax'.

At least I did something constructive for half an hour today. I had to because the hostel was being fumigated. It sounds bad but I guess it keeps the cockroaches at bay. The shots I took of a cloudy day in Antigua are worth a quick look at though they're not really that special. I don't feel to inspired photographically unless there's a lot of direct sunlight and even then the shots are not really worth waiting for.

At least I'm over the business of the flu, short lived though it was. It did come on pretty strong, I didn't know what was going on at first - I had the weirdest nights dreams when it was beginning. There were a series of three dreams: the first was almost a montage of hazy pain - like procol harem under water; the next was a vivid combination of boys from the black stuff and the Italian Job - it was almost like some form of gothic horror set underground involving inch thick grime, soot, coal, steam and choking fumes, continuous pursuit by the police and any other agency that may have reason to stop us doing what we were up to and a team that had no hope of carrying off the crime they were undertaking but somehow they managed to escape the onslaught of professionals doing all they could to catch them. There was constant shifting between levels, chambers and Victorian railway architecture influenced interiors (like Isambard Kingdom Brunel following a holocaust) - a filthier trainspotting; the third was rather much ruder but I was in a dorm with three women two of whom kept showing their legs to an unnecessary extent. Try as I might not to be influenced by this, I think they managed to permeate my subconscious, if you believe any of that nonsense. My Spanish isn't up to the point where I can object to sharing dormitories with scantily clad Israeli women, maybe one day.

I don't know if Irving Welsh based Trainspotting on a dream that was caused by the onset of influenza but it wouldn't surprise me if he did. It did cross my mind if trainspotting would have been considered more vulgar if it involved railworkers taking heroin - they seemed to be treated by some sections of the population as the lowest of the low when I worked for Central Trains.

I don't know what to do my time while I'm here my education wasn't good enough to get me through writing anything as much as a short story about the blackstuff-job though combining it with Kes if at all possible may have some form of virtues. Please click education "...We'll laugh about the thrashings I gave them...", is such a good line and tell me if you can watch without laughing please. Other scenes are just as good such as story sir? and cliche though it may be is very funny and saddening at the same time. It does make me wonder what it's like being a teacher seeing kids who have an extremely high chance of developing mental illness knowing this is very likely to happen and not being in a position to do a great deal. It must be tough. I've wondered how much prevention of mental illness should be debated as a political issue as there is a great deal of action undertaken to reduce the chances of mental illness being in effect passed down a family line though I don't think there is necessarily clear enough indication of what differences there will be between the political parties. Perhaps Kes was very much geared to raising the issue of building self esteem in the classroom which has certainly changed over recent years as Cathy Come Home was in raising the issue of homelessness. [There isn't any of the television 'Cathy Come Home' on youtube believe it or not, I'm going to write to my MP.]

There didn't seem to be very many down and outs in Belize although I didn't really go anywhere in the country that they were likely to be and what has surprised me here in Guatemala is that there do seem to be really strong divides between the upper class, the relatively poor working/middle class and the people right near the bottom socio-economically. I did think about asking a few people who work in agencies related to homelessness in the UK who I've met through work to consider doing some voluntary work in Guatemala as it seems to be readily encouraged. Hopefully, it's fruitful as well as being well intentioned.

I must eat....

Another day in paradise....

Well, another day, spent coughing and wheezing because of the dreaded lurgy I picked up. Ho hum. It's a little frustrating when the city your in is surrounded by three volcanoes, beautiful countryside and you've got a date with a woman that you have just met and you don't have the energy to get out of bed. It's a little frustrating but I guess that if you're away for three months this is going to happen from time to time. Only two days wasted though.

Getting blown away - somewhere safe where the flu don't stay.

So, sat in a hotel room in Antigua writing a blog that a whole two or three people read flued out with some terrible bug. I had to get along to the Spanish lesson this morning because I hadn't got around to cancelling it last night, not that I was busy. I'm afraid in the virtual world that I was inhabiting I only really managed to reminisce about the 1980s and watch a few things like this: Young Ones - Sick . Other people in the Hostel haven't managed to get the bin bags over my head but I have been running round to avoid them.

Earlier today, I also met a woman called Corrie who took me by surprise. I managed to resist cracking the joke by asking if her life had been 'a bit of a soap opera', I assume that as an American she probably wouldn't find it that funny. I was almost knocked back by the smile she gave me, it may be attributable to flu or some other state I was in but it made a real impact on me. The smile she gave may have made me think about Semisonic - Secret Smile but possibly more of Neil Young's Like a Hurricane. You have to wonder if the person who put the Semisonic images together was also suffering from flu and just killing a bit of time. Maybe it’s the thing to do if you like a song put some images together and stick them on youtube.

The lines in 'like a hurricane' "...and I'm getting blown away, some where safer that the feelings stay, I wanna love you but I'm getting blown away...." may reflect some form of similar feeling because sometimes that immediate attraction is so strong that it can kill off any chance of a reasonable relationship. Cynical that I may be I do just think after an experience like that today which felt like being pushed back a few feet merely with the glimpse of a smile which should have left me feeling just moderately okay. The line "...I am just a dreamer and you are just a dream, you could have been anyone to me...." could be something that I read too much into but I assume that old Mr. Young was just a little sceptical about what had led to this visionary experience he had of a woman, I presume a woman, who had a major impact upon him, he couldn't rationalise this. I wouldn't be surprised if he wrote it about Dylan and his wife, but I don't really know enough about them and this period.

Excuse the teen-indulgence here, Neil Young is really quite cool. John C mentioned a few weeks ago how good music was as a teenager and how this tends to be lost in your twenties leaving quite a gap. Listening to music alone was really all that was necessary to feel really damn good and Neil Young is possibly one of the few who can still lift me this much with tracks like 'hurricane'. In the one-person-eighties revival I had I couldn't avoid the conclusion that Suzanne Vega's Marlene on the wall was the best track of the decade but I didn't have anyone to discuss it with because I've tried to quarantine myself in the last 48 hours.

Still reflexive verbs to get to grips with and a more than a few nouns to learn in the next day or two. And, at mid-day tomorrow, lunch with the lady herself, Corrie. I think I should have said I was washing my hair really but I just couldn't say no. I don't think I'll get past pronouns with her, she knows a lot more Spanish than me. Ho hum! Hopefully I won't lose my head. It does make you wonder how the BBC got the reputation for quality productions looking back.

Out of interest, the lad in't photo up top is someone I saw in the Pokhara, Nepal. Leave a pile of cabbages around and someone is going to do somersaults on it, I say! All nonsense today, I've dropped too much lemsip to make any sense.

Cual es su nombre?

Ho hum, so the spanish is coming along okay and I've been set the task of writing a story using the vocabulary building information I've been given in the lesson. The only thing that strikes me as being worth writing about is the couple who probably woke most of the guests in the hostal up last night with very loud and reckless sex. No shame some people, and remember that's me saying that. I did spend a few minutes trying to guess which country the 'lady' who was participating was from, and yes you've guessed it - she was English.

To calm my nerves I added a few pictures to flickr from an ill fated trip to Edale YHA last year. I thought it was ill fated at this time but at least I managed to get some sleep and not get woken by wild bonking during the night. At least that's one thing that you can usually count on a YHA for Wet Weekend in Edale.

Still, I've got a story to write for my tutor and a Spanish lesson to get to at 8.00am tomorrow. It's a hard life.... by the way don't confuse the Antigua, Guatemala for the Antigua in the Leeward Islands, West Indies which is where the picture is of above.

First Spanish Lesson Today

Despite having to get up early for a Spanish lesson I have somehow managed to find the time to get some images on Flickr from a while back. The shots are very weak photographically but they do emulate some of the jazz that I've been watching online recently. See: Levi French at Commuter Jazz

If you check out what is on youtube at Miles Davis & John Coltrane - So what then you may have some idea of the type of image I was trying to come up with at Symphony Hall. It hasn't really worked completely though I dare say that Miles Davis never gave photographers dirty looks like Levi did when he thought I had knocked the plug out of the bass amp.

The name of the Spanish School is Tecan Uman and he was an indian famous for fighting the conquistadors - I hope I don't get into any punch ups in the school today.

Life in Antigua.

Well after a couple of days in Antigua I've finally managed to get myself along to a language school and get myself a quote on Spanish lessons. I don't think it's that expensive considering five days of one to one lessons works out as about 52 UK Sterling for four hours a day and about 68 UK Sterling for six hours a day which means the teachers aren't on a great rate of pay especially considering this is at one of the better established schools.

The title link above should take you through to a slide show on flickr for the shots of Tikal which are arranged to highlight the sense of the intruding jungle around the pyramids and remains. I don't think it works brilliantly but it does come work to an extent. I'm sure this type of thing has been done better else where and shots of Angkor Watt in Cambodia would probably make a better subject matter than the one I've chosen but hey limited resources etc. It's okay. It reminds me a little of the types of images that have been put together on youtube by music fans that are disappointed that there aren't videos to go along with songs that they love. Check out Kashmir if you've got a few minutes to spare. I thought the improvised Day in the life was a little better but almost certainly put together by amateurs. See Day in the life for this.

I've got a possible guitar teacher on the horizon as well which could be good. Hopefully he'll be as good value as the language school. I don't know if I'll make much progress while I'm here but it's a possibility.

I've managed to watch some classic Birmingham City moments on youtube since I got here which is a pretty sad undertaking in the UK let alone in Guatemala. Maybe I've got a Guatemalan counterpart in Birmingham at this very moment who's watching his home team on the web miles from home. The hostal I'm in is about 3.80 UK sterling a night including wi-fi access to the web so it's pretty good value for the room I have.

I've also managed to get around to sticking up some shots of Rachel Mainstone on Flickr which can be found atRachel at Katie Fitzgeralds which may look a lot like they were taken by a five year old but they seem to capture a little of the evening. I don't know if they somehow landed on my camera but I suspect that there was a little tinkering on that night.

Antigua: the pretty city.

I've been in Antigua a little over a day now. Yesterday was a bit of a wash out. I didn´t manage to get up until about 4pm after a nights travel from Flores on a bus that left at about 9.20pm and arrived in Guatemala City at about 6am. Then after about a one hour shuttle bus ride to Antigua I managed to find a cheap and nasty hostel. The people running it were pleasant enough though with some posadas there is a tendency for them to feel more like they are family homes, somewhere you perhaps should n't be. If you want to stay in a hotel then you get a hotel, posada is far more informal, moreso than a bed a breakfast.

Antigua is pleasant enough as a place to visit and because of the number of language schools in the area the shopkeepers tend to be a little more tolerant of poorly spoken spanish than anywhere else I´ve been in latin america. I´ll find a school to learn just a little more spanish at in the next few days and hopefully I´ll be close on fluent by the time I leave San Jose in a couple of months. As far as a place to be Antigua is a good location temperature wise as well, it´s rained here for the first time on this trip, though that was only for a few seconds.

If you´re wondering about the Blue Girl, I was having slightly blue-ish thoughts when I was buying my bus ticket from her. Ít may be one of the lines from the film ´A Beautiful Mind´but I don´t think I´ve looked at a womans face before and thought about it in terms of the mathematical equations that could be used to describe the curves and shapes within it quite as much as I did with this travel agent. This is surely the territory of total cliche to the artist and perhaps even the mathematician. Maybe just an attractive face.

Guatemala: Tikal, Crash Bandicoot and the lost images of SBPS.

It is a rather sad reflection on how cultured I feel when I get to a place like Tikal, which is an hour away from Flores, Guatemala, where I am currently staying and I the strongest link I have to the Mayan city ruins that are known as Tikal is that they strongly resemble the backgrounds in some of the Crash Bandicoot series on the sony play station. Tikal is quite astounding and well respected as a Mayan site of pyramids and burial grounds. It is indication of perhaps a very strong pagan desire to mark the passing of a loved one by creating a monument which is still relatively important in European culture despite the more superficially sophisticated processes relating to it. Maybe we admire the cultures despite their general demise because they managed to mark the loss of loved ones in a manner which has lasted until now. Perhaps they were sacred sites and this will always be respected across cultural boundaries, who knows.

The Mayan indian culture does start to get under your skin after only a short while in this country. It is only a very short period of time before things start to feel right in Guatemala especially. I have felt pretty comfortable here on the whole. I seem to have an inverse relationship with danger: the more dangerous a country is meant to be, the safer I generally feel. Perhaps I should think about a holiday in Afghanistan.

I guess also today was the day that I recalled the influence of the shots I took in India that resembled some that I had seen in South Birmingham Photographic Society Club events. There was a member called Peter Bardell, at least that´s what I think his surname was. He had also been to Central America, and shown pictures of his work at the club. I don´t know for definate, I think he entered a picture in one of the club competitions called ´cheap tomatoes´ and with no intention of copying what he had done, I found I had produced and images and finished it last night. Peter if you´re listening, please put your shots on ´Flickr´ the free yahoo site so I can see what you did here. I just want to avoid copying what you did and try to do something original while I´m here.

Wishing everyone at SBPS well, at least I hope that someone from SBPS reads this and can contact Peter who I think was living in Kings Heath the last I heard. Kind regards, Steve.

Last day in Caye Caulker

Finally, I've got the courage to leave the island. The ten days here has been really idylic in most respects. Early in the morning relatively speaking there's a boat to Belize City and then a bus straight through to Flores. Can't imagine that there'll be too many problems but the Foreign Office guidelines do warn against taking the chicken buses which the locals use probably to ensure the tourists can support the more expensive transport laid on for them.

Haven't read up on Guatemala yet and don't know where I'll be staying in Flores just yet though I hope everything remains as peaceful as things have been already. Mexico was just fine and there were no major disturbances and Belize has been a breeze. Like the atmosphere on the island. I hope everyone gets to come here one day in their lives.

There have been a few minor issues here and I find the lifestyle generally too laid back for me personally but it has made a bold impression on me how harmonious life in the Carribean can be. There certainly are problems here but I guess that I can't really make a contribution to easing them that readily and I assume several charities and the government itself support aid work here. I don't know how much of a contribution the British Government makes to British Honduras as was but I assume that there is some reason for them to continue being part of the Commonwealth.

Belize - Should I stay or should I go?

It has been over a week since I arrived in Caye Caulker. The blue green seas have not left me feeling any reason to leave. I do feel very much like I am staying where I belong to an extent and I do feel some affinity with the local situation here. For years I couldn't understand why my dad's carpentry skills were so poor. As a child there seemed no explanation for why his woodworking was quite so bizarre and now it seems relatively clear. He must have been Caribbean in a past life. The standard of all the hotels, where you can get a rather ramshackle little room for $25.00 Belize a night (about six pounds fifty sterling). It does remind me of the rabbit hutches that my dad made in the 1970s out of whatever 3" x 2" timber he could get his hands on. I kind of wait to be fed and watered like one of the rabbits but that hasn't happened yet.

There seems to be similar left wing politics in Mexico as there has been over the last thirty years in the UK. There is a push from the right to privatise much of what seems to run quite well and there could well be success in doing this. I assume similar politics are prevelant in Belize. Most of the locals here seem to support the socialists who I presume will try to stop this. I don't know how successful they'll be with this type of action. I actually feel so lazy here that I haven't really worked out what is going on to much of a degree.

It is better having been in the same place for over a week in terms of the reaction that I get from the staff in shops and in terms of the general service although I really should have done more than make a couple of snorkelling trips and lie in the sun on more than one occasion. Laziness is probably something that westerners want to explore here in the Caribbean than anywhere else. Loafing is an interest of mine and has been for as long as I can remember. As a Briton, we don't like loafing within our own culture, we tend to want to loaf in a more cosmopolitan manner whether it's through Buddhist mediation or Belize styled Creole culture. We should loaf and be proud, but alas we don't.

It does feel reminiscent of 1970s Birmingham hearing Creole styled accents around Caye Caulker and to an extent, I must admit that I think there is a very nice reminder of the phase of settlement in the West Midlands of the Black population. I used to go to Coventry City Centre to be reminded of 1970's architechture that I knew and liked in Birmingham, maybe if you do that and like it then possibly come to Belize to be reminded of some West Indian culture that is being forced underground.

Laundromat: This isn't photojournalism, is it?

I'm not making any serious attempt to enter photo journalism and I doubt that I would be able to sell any of these pictures but it was quite a good challenge while I was doing my laundry yesterday to try my hand at capturing what it was like to do laundry in Belize on a Saturday afternoon. As laundromats go, the semi-deco style does have at least some appeal as a building but the overall deccay is probably what would strike most people when looking through the 'Laundromat' images on FLIKR, if you use the link in the top right of the screen.

The sight of the pensioner walking down the road crossed with images of the vice closing in was meant to signify what life is like here for the elderly. Not too many have pensions so most really can't be described as pensioners. There are a lot of elderly men working on the Island of Caye Caulker and they seem to be relatively content here but I guess I'm just passing through.

I didn't set up the shots of the Lizard with the lump of chicken breast that he somehow can't manage to chew - it did seem quite unusual watching him attempt to eat it. In England I guess you may pay a trip to a park and feed the ducks in Belize I guess it's easier to feed a lizard while you're doing your laundry.

Some nice shots but really, this just isn't photo journalism, is it?

Health Promotion Theory:Contributions from Wayne Parsons Public Policy.

The aim of this piece is to cluster a few issues together which I think from my best recollection may be worth examining in order to assess health promotion and public health practice in their broadest forms. This is largely to position Baric’s settings approach alongside other health promotion practice in order to highlight the broader political environment that health promotion practice takes place within. The use of three levels of analysis of health promotion practice is argued to be potentially useful in terms of identifying processes in practice which can inform debate on potential changes likely to take place within the health service at large. These come from the structure used in Wayne Parsons book, Public Policy.

First, I would hope to make a point about theorising in health promotion, that it is largely a practice that has been unsuccessful in recent years. Occasionally models of health promotion have been described as ‘iconic’ in the sense they are a representation of practice, a post-hoc reconstruction, rather than being a determinant of practice in the field. In saying that they are used only to describe practice to outsiders to the field rather than being used to direct projects and programs of action. What I propose as an overall theory of health promotion as a mechanism for improving a locality’s health which reflects the politics of the lead organisations as well as the meso-level action which takes place within the settings approach. Macro, meso and micro levels of action of health promotion need to be considered simultaneously in order to ensure that ethics of health promotion practice are considered for all participants. Settings approaches as a meso-level of intervention tend only to be concerned with a particular level of action of health promotion and may as a result whereas the other levels of discourse analysis may indicate that there are more significant levels of action to consider at micro and macro levels of action.

For the purposes of defining roles within health promotion delivery three separate levels of analysis of health improving delivery are defined. The most strategic and highest in terms of the status of the personnel who would normally deliver this would be the macro level of analysis. Overall strategic responsibility for a locality rests with the Director of Public Health whose duties should include examination of qualitative and quantitative data for the locality in order to assess the most suitable types of intervention, combinations of these and means to evaluate against qualitative and quantitative measures. The role of the Director of Public Health is also to assess the nature of the political environment and to have staff in place who can best assist with the development of programs and projects which will ensure health improvement and illness reduction in order to best assist with the goal of dealing with health problems in the defined locality. Health improvement on this level involves assessment of opportunity and threat to project development and assessment of potential gains in health within the strategic context of sometimes thousands of staff. This will involve assessment of potential sites for action on a meso and micro level.

On a meso-level, concerned with organisational change responsibilities linked to dealing with health improvement through organisational change, that is through community, school, workplace or other specific locations for health promotion to be delivered within. Also, adapting existing health service practice through training and arguably organisational development the health promotion team would be seeking to deliver. This tends to work on a model of the Director of Public Health having the lead responsibility for shaping the nature of organisational change within their locality in order to assist with health improvements.

On a micro level, the individual management of health improvement through a one-to-one therapeutic situation could be seen to take place, that is the responsibility of health services staff and professions in related fields who deal with the public in individual interaction or small group interaction.

In some respects the management of population health will be an issue that is a concern for the general practitioner and the individual practice nurse who both may deal with micro level interaction for the majority of their working time. This does not of course preclude them from participating on the level of strategist in terms of their contribution to feedback on strategies and whether or not they are deliverable. Nor would there be a restriction on the general practitioner acting to influence the health and well being of the population for a smaller population size than is managed by a Director of Public Health.

The terminology may be a little cumbersome, the terms macro, meso and micro tend not to be widely used. This could of course reduce any well meaning impact and perhaps strategic, organisational and individual levels of action of public health and health promotion practice could be considered as being a more straightforward and user friendly set of terms.

An initiative like the World Health Organisation’s Healthy City initiative has aims to improve the strategic functions for a city wide area partly through the prestige that can be added through World Health Organisation accreditation for a local government initiative. This would normally involve public sector initiatives that make an impact upon the health and well being of individuals who live and work in the city. Through setting up a partnership body which has a responsibility to coordinate resources in a city more effectively there is potential for influence over the role that a Director of Public Health has although the same function should be served by a number of professionals in this situation in terms of the strategic roles within the health authority.

In terms of how potential advances can be made through examination of practice social theory can be used to highlight some of the processes of social change which are necessary to understand in order for more stakeholders in the change process to influence how resources are distributed in their locality. The research I undertook at M.Sc. level was concerned with the nature of the language that was necessary to use in order to establish an approach to health promotion using discourse analysis as a means to dissect several editorial articles which proposed various approaches to improving health and reducing illness. The articles drew heavily on a number of discourses and each approach to health was supported by drawing upon a number of diverse discourses. Discourses here is intended to convey an institutional dimension of language, in that an established means of dealing with situations or issues in life is dependent upon identifying roles and relationships between participants and language is used to establish the relationship between participants in this context. The notion that acknowledged relationships and how these shape power relations between individuals is what an ‘institution’ is stated to be, that it is a social phenomenon, rather that being an institution in a more Victorian sense where a body or organisation would be established through having a lead individual, premises and a role acknowledged by government. This new institutionalism, very different to the older style of institutionalism, is one area which is a necessary prerequisite for understanding how institutions can be represented in language and sometimes in language alone without material resources to support them. As an example of an institution that has presence in socieity I use psychoanalysis. Although there are recognised bodies still in existence that support psychoanalysis such as psychological associations, in terms of new institutionalism there could be deemed to be a relationship between psychiatrist and patient, the patient being comprised of several psychodynamic phenomena such as an id and an ego, the psychiatrist having the power to define the individual and the nature of the inner being in terms of the professional language, the discourses they use to define the relationship and exert power over the patient. There are also less overt discourses which exist in terms of for instance, between partners, between teacher and pupil, between members of the family. Each of these may be used perhaps inappropriately in certain contexts and set up certain conditions that will influence the behaviour of the individuals concerned, by drawing upon relational language which will strongly influence the use of resources and approach which is possible to take.

For an approach to health to be successfully adopted that approach would need to be related to, whether compared, contrasted or otherwise evaluated against other existing forms of practice currently used and then take effect through being preferred in certain contexts to other existing approaches to health improvement. The process of integrating what could be classed as a new approach to health promotion would therefore involve discussion in, for instance practitioner journals, appraisals within organisations which have a responsibility for improving the health of the population and within training organisations that have a responsibility to deliver on training health professionals. The social aspects of evaluating an approach to health would need to be considered in order to assess the extent of the integration between fields and disciplines. Before the process of culturally embedding concepts in society can take place there appears to be a necessary stage of embedding approaches to health in practitioner circles in order to alter the practice of the professionals who deliver.

What could be seen to be taking place on several levels is professional conflict in terms of thrashing out what may be most beneficial about changing the manner in which health promotion practice is delivered and for discussion on this to be recognised as offering key indication of how professional practice will be changing. This does appear largely to take place in the form of indication from senior management within in- house journals regarding professional development issues, however, there does not tend to be a form of manual to state what degree of confidence staff may justly have in certain political actors. Use of macro, meso and micro levels of practice could highlight more readily what forms of political action to monitor in order to engage in work confidently and arguably staff should be trained in how to assess the likely changes which are to be implemented in the relatively near future, rather than there being a change resistant NHS that has materialised through inappropriate induction to the organisation.

What could be expanded upon in terms of Baric’s settings approach is use of discourse analysis and related methods of sociolinguistics in order to more boldly define the social environments and the quality of the organisational terrain. Furthermore, the approach that was developed may largely and inappropriately be classed as being a meso-level of social action, concerned largely with impacts on an organisational level, rather than on the level of an individual, that is a micro level, or on a broader level, a more strategic macro-level.

The process of embedding concepts in society as a means to improving health may require some debate in order to highlight some ethical issues regarding the approach concerned. There is also more to this that just using the concepts alongside others in order to indicate favour as discourse analysis may indicate. The assumption that health information is not damaging and does automatically lead to improvements in health and well-being is frequently challenged and may be effective for certain sections of the population, the middle and upper classes who would readily respond to health advice and information, and damaging to other sections, who may be described as more working class, less responsive to changing behaviour patterns and ‘culture’ and more likely to reject heath information as disempowering or state controlled propaganda rather that acknowledging the potential benefits that may take place through adopting healthier lifestyles. Culturally embedding a concept may lead in the short term to improvements for the middle and upper class sections of the population and some negative impacts for the lower socio-economic groups concerned. What would be necessary in this instance is examination of how social change takes place across a number of levels of society according to socio-economic group. Research examining social change on stated socio-economic levels of society may have been called upon in the past in a relatively constant manner in order to avoid problems related to the need to examine cultures within a society and how social groups may differ greatly in terms of how they change. Examination of this and whether or not this could be classed as relatively successful should be undertaken on a regular basis in order to justify the manner resources are distributed on research concerning health and behaviour change.

The use of macro, meso and micro levels of action to define health promotion activity may have its benefits in terms of positioning a wide range of action that is geared towards improving the health of a population. It may assist practitioners who deal with the public to be able to view the context of their action in a broader strategic framework. Arguably, this may already take place however a bolder and clearer context for this to take place within may offer some benefits to practice. Utilising the levels of macro, meso and micro may also assist in identifying some of the potential areas for change in health promotion practice and offer a clearer rationale for how and why health promotion work is coordinated within a locality. As stated arguably, much of this will already be dealt with in middle and lower levels of management, however, there could be potential clarity to the role of health promotion worker by developing a broader model of health promotion practice which encompasses models of social and individual change on several levels simultaneously. There is also a question regarding the methods used to generate social change within health promotion practice and there could well be potentially enough in terms of activity in research already to determine questions about the processes of socially embedding an issues to lead to health gains. Various methods of social research may shed light on this issue and publication of a volume which indicates this may be beneficial to practitioners in the near future.

I would have to state that I have limited knowledge of the current NHS proposals for change and much of this that is stated may be a number of years out of date. There are a number of questions in my mind regarding the use of discourse analysis as a research tool that tends not to always deliver what it may be presented as being able to offer. The successes of discourse analysis from the one research project I undertook tended to give indication that the quality of analysis rests mainly upon having selected texts, that is language to examine and explore, that will highlight key points regarding the nature of the social environment. As a result I would encourage Directors of Public Health to consider the potential of the methodology as one of several resources available to explore the political environment in which they operate.

The degree of sensitivity to language use in has perhaps increased with the advent of political correctness and through civil rights movements concerning race and gender and some forms of discourse analysis may already be integrated into professional practice to a degree already. Norman Fairclough, an academic whose work has concerned the implementation of discourse analysis in a number of fields, makes several points of this nature in his texts on discourse analysis, particularly in relation to conventional manners, where someone well mannered will socially construct other people in a style which reflects positive qualities and may challenge negative implications of comments made about them in an assertive manner. To have no awareness of some of the main methods of discourse analysis may be very difficult for anyone in professional practice.

In some respects the notion of dividing public health practice in to macro, meso and micro levels of action may not offer any significant improvements as this type of structuring of health practice can occasionally be devisive and lead to unnecessary and unbeneficial conflict between professional groups. There are benefits perceived by a number of local government bodies which have to a degree maintained the interest in healthy cities as an initiative over a number of years and the structure added by using the WHO accredited approach has been of benefit to several cities. Arguably, there may not need to be more insignificant change and re-labeling of practice in order to satisfy academic whims.

There are other issue areas that strike me as being relevant to explore and one of these concerns the vast amount of literature that I collected on networks and partnerships. There is literature from a number of professional fields which may be worth exploring in terms of health promotion practice and perhaps formal contributions from health promotion on the literature may illuminate issues useful to trans-disciplinary professionals. Networks as a concept related to social interaction between stakeholders concerned with a particular issue have been studied and conceptualised on a number of levels and concepts of networks may provide some means of improving health promotion practice. There is a strong element of concern over the validity of exploring this type of issue when there is perhaps not strong enough interest in the academic contributions made through the research that has been undertaken. Is the literature on networks and partnerships of the least degree of relevance to health promotion practice?