Murder City: New Orleans, no longer the Mardi Gras?

Once upon a time the southern US city of New Orleans, at the mouth of the Mississippi river, was a place famed for its jazz and bohemian culture. The world famous Bourbon Street and French Quarter were home to musical greats such as Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima and Professor Longhair. Mardi Gras, the yearly carnival celebrated everything historical and unique about the Big Easy. But no longer is the city famed for its gumbo and Cajun and Creole mix.

Most people remember the devastation in 2005 caused by Hurricane Katrina. A storm so powerful that it breached the city’s ageing levees and flooded 80 per cent of the municipal. In some places, the water reached above 15 feet, destroying all houses and businesses. It is estimated that around 1,464 people lost their lives as a result of Katrina.

French Quarter (travelgrove.com)

Restoring the old city has been no easy feat. Not only have engineers had to fix the levees and demolish storm-affected buildings. Politicians have had to deal with the difficulties of a disparate population (evacuated to different states during Katrina), a housing shortage and most notoriously the rise in civil disobedience. New Orleans is now bearer of the unfortunate title ‘Murder City’.

The USA still has one of the highest homicide rates in the developed world at 4.8 per 100,000 people. In New Orleans, the homicide rate is ten times higher than the national rate. Last year 199 people were murdered, meaning that for every 1,700 citizens, one of them became a victim. The problem appears to be getting worse. Hitherto, there have been 45 more victims than this time last year. A recent poll among New Orleans residents reflects these numbers. Crime is now deemed to be the biggest problem according to 62 per cent of the poll, ahead of issues like education and housing.

The HBO drama ‘Treme’ set after Katrina tries to reflect this. Ordinary citizens try to resume their lives, but are hampered by maladministration and the ever increasing, fear of crime. The Mayor of New Orleans recently stated on the record that it had become “the single most important issue facing our city”.

Homicide in America is in decline, particularly since the peaks of the 1980s. In fact, 2011 was the first year since 1965 that homicide did not make the country’s top 15 list of ways to die according to the National Centre for Health Statistics. Cities notorious with crime, the likes of Baltimore, Washington D.C and Detroit have made steady improvements, whereas New Orleans has bucked the trend.

Similar to the streets of south Chicago, the patterns of violence are not necessarily gang or drug related. Residents have voiced the ‘ordinariness’ nature of the killings. The New Orleans Police Superintendent called it “uncommon endings to very common fights”. Guns are being used to resolve traffic disputes. At the end of 2011, stray bullets ended the lives of two toddlers.

Crime scene (nola.com)

The statistics do not lie. In New Orleans murder is the number one cause of death among black males age 16-24. A Federal survey showed that almost 87 per cent of victims were male and 91.5 per cent were black. Ninety per cent were killed with firearms. Forty per cent were in their 20s, 13.5 per cent their teens.

For a city that has dealt with so much in the past ten years, it makes the violence seem unimaginable. In the years after Katrina, the murder rate actually came down. Why then the sudden spike in deaths? Local organisations put it down to the lack of education and employment opportunities. It can often be put down to sheer boredom. Living in tough neighbourhoods, where prospects are low and crime is high; the cycle of violence is sustained and pervasive. Carrying a gun is necessary for protection and commands respect. One community activist claimed that youngsters only respected and listened to him because he had a murder to his name. It is unsurprising to learn that trust in the police is non-existent and inevitably witnesses rarely see anything or come forward.

All around neighbourhoods in New Orleans lasting tributes are being made to the spiralling number of deaths. One company sells customised clothing that prints pictures of the dead for friends and family. Perhaps more vividly, one website tags the ever increasing locations of the murders. One church has a created a memorial that lists the names of the fallen, akin to any war monument.

Seven years after Katrina, the rebuilding of New Orleans will have to continue.

Fabrice Muamba: Heart conditions and sport

The collapse of Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba has left the world of football praying for the former England under 21 player's life. During the sixth round FA Cup tie against Tottenham Hotspurs, Muamba fell to the ground and received resuscitation on the pitch, after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest. Muamba was taken immediately to the London Chest Hospital where he remains fighting for his life.

The reaction from both sets of players and fans only highlighted the shock and worry about the 23-year-old’s life. When similar events occur people are understandably concerned, but many will wonder why such events can happen in the first place. The questions that routinely arise are how such a defect could go undetected and how can someone so fit suffer from a heart attack?

Sportsmen and women suffering from heart conditions are not new to sport. There are countless examples of athletes collapsing on the pitch, some dying and some going on to survive. Fans will recall the deaths of footballers Marc Vivien-Foe, who died during an international match for Cameroon, and Antonio Puerta, the 22-year-old Sevilla full-back, who died after numerous heart attacks during a Spanish league match against Getafe. Real Madrid and European Championship winner Ruben de la Red retired after suffering from a syncope and former Ajax midfielder Evander Sno suffered a heart attack, only to restart his career installed with an internal cardiac defibrillator.

Samuel Eto'o and Rigobert Song remember Foe.

Most heart-related deaths suffered by over 35-year-olds are attributed to cardiac disease, whereas similar incidents for a younger age group usually account for an inherited heart condition. The UK charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY) believe that every week twelve ordinary and fit youngsters die from genetic heart disorders, many of them treatable.

Heart screening in the UK is not routine for most youngsters. Whereas in Italy, authorities will not allow you to train professionally until you have had your heart screened. All Olympic athletes, NFL and Premier League players all receive routine heart screening during their careers too. Electrocardiograms (ECG) or echocardiogram are available on the NHS if you are referred to a cardiologist by a GP. Tragically, they are also provided to a family in the aftermath of a heart-related death within the family.

It must be recognised that increased or intense sporting activity does not induce the risk of suffering from a heart condition. Miguel Indurain, the five-time winner of the Tour de France, had a resting heart beat of 28 bpm – mainly down to the fact his heart is 50% bigger than an average person. This is not harmful, nor does it increase the risk for subsequent heart conditions. Risks are only enhanced if an athlete uses drugs to increase their performance. This may account for the high proportion of deaths in professional entertainment wrestling.

The issue for some athletes affected by genetic or congenital defects is the natural increase in thickness of the left ventricle chamber. Intense cardiovascular sports will naturally see the heart enlarge, as it attempts to provide more oxygen for the athlete. This again is not a medical problem. Doctors say that since it is pumping out more blood with every contraction, a fit person’s heart does not need to beat as often and is therefore in better shape. The unnatural growth, also known as ‘hypertrophy’ makes the heart wall excessively thick and the fibres arranged unnaturally. Therefore abnormal heart rates like ventricular fibrillation (VF) or ventricular tachycardia can lead to apparently fit and well people to drop dead. Perhaps most sadly is the fact that defects like Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) or Long QT are treatable.

Sergio Ramos remembered Puerta after Euro 2008 success.

These players’ deaths are haunting and we can only hope that Fabrice Muamba goes on to make a full recovery. It is worth noting that although death is a tragedy, it enhances the notoriety of such diseases. Research shows that pre-screening in Italy has reduced deaths by around 90 per cent. Charities like CRY and the British Heart Foundation want defibrillators to be compulsory at every football stadium. The Western Isles of Scotland now screens all youngsters and the University of Ulster has a screening centre after the death of the young rugby player John McCall.

These deaths are tragic but we can only hope it goes on to save many more lives.

The EU: Ode to joy or not?

The internal strife emanating throughout Europe is transforming the union into a concord of disharmony. In streets and city squares, hoards of protesters commune to aim their vitriol at lacklustre governments and impugned banks. The years of cheap credit and profligacy have returned to haunt many nations as their debt-ridden treasuries have been forced to implement austerity measures in return for financial bailouts. In Madrid, protesters known as los indignados (meaning ‘the outraged’) have occupied the Puerta del Sol, rejecting the punishing measures accepted by its government. Meanwhile in Athens, Syntagma Square has seen months of violent clashes between riot police and demonstrators, as the Greek government implemented tough austerity measures in return for EU loans. Dublin, Lisbon, London and Rome have also seen a surge in protests and occupy movements, all in reaction to the prospect of cuts to welfare and an unreformed financial sector. What is most noticeable about the swelling in anger is the increasing distrust and hostility between nations. Germany, the central political and economic power is increasingly being slurred with Nazi characterisations, as it forces the ‘feckless’ Greeks to accept the tranches of bailout money. The open antagonism between the prudent Northern Europeans and their reckless Southern cousins is opening tensions to the sustainability of the whole fiscal and political union.

Yet as the continuous infighting continues, many of Europe’s other countries are beginning to lose sight of the European dream. Welcomed in from beyond the frosty realms of the Iron Curtain, Eastern Europe is discovering that the party they thought that was inviting is not as welcoming as they previously thought.

Many policy chiefs in the corridors of power of Brussels believed that a larger political union would create a stronger economic union. To an extent they were correct; here was the world’s largest and most successful internal market. All countries from the Eastern bloc yearned to join; even some North African countries sought membership. The European Union had the benefits of close political and defensive ties with America, multilateralism and a form of welfare capitalism. How the tides of fortune have ebbed away.

Countries that EU technocrats may have one day expected to join are weighing up their options. Georgia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan resent Europe’s hesitancy and hypocrisy. In fact, the West’s biggest proponent in the former Soviet bloc, President Saakashvili of Georgia, could flout the constitutional rules and run again for Presidency in 2013. Why should any of these countries listen to hedonistic messages of prudence when the European Central Bank is printing money to buy debt from its own shambolic economies? Even Hungary, an EU member, is flouting union rules over budget-deficit targets and media freedom. Turkey appeared to go cold over Europe many years ago. Russia is happy to see former satellite states return to the fold.

What about that great American hope? The US was once the Baltic States biggest and most loyal admirer. Countries like Poland were steadfast in their support of NATO and happy to commit men on the ground in war zones. Not to mention America’s new missile defence shield, to the chagrin of Russia. Yet, American foreign policy is heading west once again. The geopolitical and economic shift to Asia is seeing American strategy head towards the Pacific and the emerging markets. No longer is Europe the primary frontier. Obama’s decision to abandon the shield and along with the EU’s inexistent foreign policy is turning the once idealistic Poles and Czechs into hardnosed endorsers of Realpolitik.

The EU’s decision to prevent the Euro from failing will see a new era of internal relations. Closer fiscal relationships will only mean tougher stances on imprudence. The collective voices of the right in Northern Europe will no longer tolerate the spending cultures of countries like Italy and Greece. EU expansion will certainly be welcoming to countries of the Balkans but it might not be as jovial as they thought.

Sport and the Law: Dwain Chambers and David Millar

There is an excellent quote from The Simpson’s in the episode when Springfield is chosen to host the Olympic Games. The Head of the IOC delivers a speech to the people declaring:

“People! People! Please. You are forgetting what the Olympics are all about. Giving out medals of beautiful gold, so-so silver and shameful bronze.”

In fact, the iconic British broadcaster David Coleman in his commentary of the 400m hurdle final in Mexico 1968 famously said: “Who cares who’s third?” unaware that Britain had picked up gold and bronze.

As the spotlight turns to London this summer, athletes will be looking to take home the medal that they have always dreamed to win. Years of practice can be rewarded or destroyed in a matter of seconds. The precedents set by the likes of Usain Bolt or Michael Johnson only add to that desire. It is unfortunate that some athletes are willing to overstep the mark to achieve those dreams.

Chambers

Athletics is a sport that has been tarnished by drugs cheats down the years. No one forgets the industrial scale doping within East Germany and the stripping of Ben Johnson’s 100m gold medal in Seoul. Many have retold their story and tried to qualify their reasons for substance abuse, yet it still does not seem to restore their integrity.

The Court of Arbitration will soon be ruling whether the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) lifetime ban on athletes found guilty for drug use can be upheld. In late 2011, the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) ruled that British sprinter Dwain Chambers, who has served a two –year ban for the banned substance THG, should be able to compete if he meets the necessary qualification time. They ruled that the BOA’s lifetime ban was ‘non-compliant’ with the WADA code. The ruling in Lausanne will see whether the BOA’s belief that the presence of athletes who deliberately cheat within Team GB would damage team morale, atmosphere and cohesion.

If the BOA loses, it may also see the cyclist David Millar able to compete.

The interesting debate between the two sides is the argument of whether it is in the legal interest or the sporting interest. If an athlete has served a ban for drug misuse then should they be able to compete on legal grounds or not compete for ethical purposes?

Millar

Both Millar and Chambers have competed in other events since their return to sport and both have done the media rounds and written books to exert their contrition. However, maybe it is only in the reactions of men or women who have competed against cheats that we should derive our judgement. The former British sprinter Darren Campbell was stripped of his 4 x 100m relay gold in the 2002 European Championships after Chambers’ positive drug test. Likewise, Michael Johnson was forced to hand back his 1999 World Championship and 2000 Olympic gold’s in the 4 x 400m relay after Antonio Pettigrew and Jerome Young were found guilty of substance abuse. These honest athletes were cheated out of medals themselves and forced to bear the indignity thereafter.

The CAS may overrule the BOA meaning both Millar and Chambers are legally eligible to compete. We shall see what reaction they receive from the fans; legally cleared, but morally never.

Goodbye guru: Steve Hilton leaves

After a week of headlines questioning whether the Prime Minister David Cameron rode Rebekah Brookes’s ex-police horse, the Prime Minister may be looking to the Cheltenham Festival for a change in fortunes both nationally and within his own party.

The departure of Steve Hilton, the chief of strategy and the so-called architect of Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ comes as a blow at a decisive time. Hilton, a former advertising executive and a long time friend of the PM, is taking a year sabbatical to California to teach at Stanford University. He has stated that he does intend to return to the post before the next general election. Should Cameron be worried and does Hilton’s departure open growing concerns?

Hilton arriving for work.

Over the past few months, the coalition government has seen a dip in fortunes in the press and politically. The Labour party have managed to castigate, successfully, the government’s Health & Social bill and much more focus is being placed on the lack of growth in the British economy. A couple of months ago, Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, was certain to win the Mayoral elections in May, now polls show him to be neck and neck with Labour’s candidate Ken Livingstone.

Since coming to power in May 2010, the coalition government have managed to pass through a great deal of radical policy. In education, the academies bill has given schools the potential to govern themselves and just last week the House of Lords passed the welfare bill that caps benefits at £26,000 per household. The localism bill plans to give further powers away from Whitehall.

Yet, Hilton’s departure shows the growing frustration from within Number 10. Mr Cameron and his aides appear now to be managing every policy decision, far from the style of government they had planned when they first arrived. The Prime Minister has had to intervene on numerous policy initiatives including: public owned forests, wild animals in circuses, the EU, but most notably the health bill and the economy.

Hilton’s plans for the ‘Big Society’ and less red tape for businesses appear to have been put to one side. There are growing frustrations of the Liberal Democrats and their often bizarre requests to delay legislation. Only last week in Cabinet, the Business Secretary Vince Cable was supposedly rebuked for the lack of growth policies coming out of his department. Not to mention the Deputy Prime Minister’s attempts to reform the House of Lords. At the same time, Cameron has to deal with a growing unrest from his backbenchers, who feel policy is being hijacked by the Lib Dems. Prime Minister’s Questions have repeatedly seen cheeky questions of whether Clegg is a ‘goodie’ or ‘baddie’ or why certain Lib Dem ministers have not voted for government bills.

This day-to-day reactionary politics appears to have been the reason why Hilton has left for now. His departure leaves Cameron without another key advisor, a year after Andy Coulson’s decision to leave. For now, Cameron will be glad to see the Health bill finally pushed through the House of Lords and a reshuffle in the spring may allow him to clean up some of his flagging departments. Ultimately, a return to growth and a re-election for Boris would be better than a 100-1 outsider in the Gold Cup.