Eco holiday In Brecon Beacon 2

Holiday home in Beacon Beacon is really beautiful. Apart from the wood burner that gave the heating to the compound we found another interesting feature. A renewable energy source.  A micro turbine housed in a small hut that our landlord Chris described as his pet project. It's a micro hydro power project generating 5 KW when full throttle. 

mini turbine housed in here

Chris found a water source on top of the small hill. It's about 40 m drop to below. He put a large pipe and directed the water stream down to the small turbine unit. 

turbine is below 

power generation unit with Chris

mini generator 

Mini plant

metering

In full throttle unit would generate 5 kW per hour. For 24 hours this would generate 120 KWh of electricity. Chris claims this is enough for his farms  daily needs. Any extra electricity generated would be feed back to the main grid. Specially late night and mid day when they don't use much energy.  Our children were very interested to see this mini hydro power generating unit. 

Water from the turbine unit released to this small stream.

How this works:

I took this explanation from the website quoted below.

"Micro hydro power is the small-scale harnessing of energy from falling water. Hydraulic power can be captured wherever a flow of water falls. The vertical fall of water, known as the “head”, is essential for hydropower generation (fast-flowing water on its own does not contain sufficient energy for useful power production). Hence, two quantities are required for production of hydropower: a Flow Rate of water and a Head. The capacity of a micro hydro power plant is usually between 20 and 500 kW."

Source: 

Invest in micro hydro power plants

Eco holiday In Brecon Beacon 1

holiday cottage 

Recently we went for a holiday in Wales again. Generally we would go to wales at least once a year. What attract us is the beautiful hillsides,  hikes in valleys and mountains and beautiful waterfalls and yes, the quietness of the surroundings. You don't here buses, cars trains and horns the usual noises from london. It's quiet at night and you can sleep with your window open.  Wales is bit more like upper hill country in Sri Lanka where I am originally from. Most of the landscape seems familiar. This time round we stayed in a converted barn in a farm called "The Beast barn" in Brecon Beacon. It's owned by farmer Chris and his wife Liz.

What we have noticed first was how beautiful and clean was converted barn - cottage we stayed in.

the kichen 

living room

There was a small wood burner to provide the heat to reception room. But house was rather warm and cosy. There was no need to fire it.

beautiful wood burner

House was quiet warm. Then we saw the big wood burner in the outside shed. The wooden oven produce the necessary heat and the hot water for the cottages and to the farmer's house. There is a water jacket around the burner. The water carries the heat from the burner and the same heat used to make water tanks hot as well. 

Chris the farmer with his wood burner

small but enough to heat 3 houses

heat exchanger

the heat exchanger used to heat the water that flow through the pipes. Chris collect the debris and wood from his own farm. It's a quite large farm.
This link explains how the heat exchangers work.

Wood and other debris for the burner

This is the first part of a series of articles I will be writing  about this holiday. 

Link to : the Beast House Barn.

Trump have to be rescued from own establishment he represents

I am completely perplexed by the current news items. For example in "the Independent" article points to " CIA boss John Brennan says Donald Trump "doesn't understand Russia". According to the writer it's a scathing attack on President-Elect. Well, it's all about that infamous Trump-Dossier.

Next news item is MI6 chief used Trump dossier details in key speech on Russia. Mind you both are intelligence agencies.  One is from US itself and other one is United Kingdom who for years and years had "that special relationship" with US.

Now, it seems to me that they are afraid of one thing. That one single  interesting fact that comes up always. it is like when you throw a tennis ball deep down into a pond. It comes up always. The so called relationship with Putin and Trump.

What kind of relationship is that?  I don't really think anyone know about that yet.  Outgoing Obama administration deported some Russian diplomats accusing them of hacking democratic contenders emails, changing public opinion against Clinton and also changing outcome of the US presidential election. Pretty crazy ha?

What's worrying for me is this? Exxonmobil's contract with Russia.  Russia has vast oil reserve in Siberia, Arctic and Black sea They have a contract with Russia's biggest oil company Rosneft for over $1 billion. Russia today reported that much in February 2015.  However, European Union and United States (That is Obama-Clinton Administration) imposed sanctions relating to the Energy Sector. Sanctions over Russian invasion of  Crimea, Interference of Syria or whatever But for Energy Sector?  The biggest assets of western world, Middle East and Russia is oil. Are you carazii?  (Or crazy for that matter) Wars happened for energy resources and money.

Rosneft and Exxonmobil connection go as far as 2013, 2014 when they did joint projects.  Does anyone want to let go of a $ 1 Billion deal and future oil revenue for that matter? See then Donald Trump enters the stage. If the Russian wants to change the outcome of  American presidential elections this is their chance. Obama is already somewhat unpopular in US and in the world over Syria. Russia and Putin backed the correct horse.  Well their horse won. And there is this hacking scandal. Do you beleive it? Why not I may say.

And who is the future secretary of State, I may ask? Rex Tillerson.  Well who is that? He dealt with Russia and Puting on behalf of  of ExxsonMobil.  First thing I would say that President Elect Trump will do is to  lift sanctions against  Russia. And then Rosneft and ExxsonMobil contract's  will be back on track.

Now there is no problem except Donald Trump is saying CIA mislead him about Russian Hacking scandal.  Security chiefs are criticising him and  He criticize them. What I am saying is this is dangerous.

We want free world to be free world. We want president of united States of America to be in safe hands. American's voted for him. Although he lost the popular votes he won by the electoral system. We can't argue with that.  Yeah, its is strange that he won with that low margin. Hey, Remember "Forest Gump"- "Shit happens." Anyway I can't see that he is that bad.

Although I can't see he is going to be president for a long time either. I kind of see some sort of an impeachment process hanging above him. It seems to me  part of the American (and British for that matter) establishment is dead against him . I wonder where the people stand in here. On Which side? Mr Trump's future will depend on that.

Brexit plus plus means that both the US and the UK have FASCIST governments

I actually copied this from a comment to an article published in "The Independent" news paper.
It's written very thoroughly and I thought I should post it here.

Brexit plus plus means that both the US and the UK have FASCIST governments.

 Centre ground is dead in the US and the UK because they both have ANTI-DEMOCRATIC election systems which lead to two strong political parties in constant conflict and total confrontation. 

 In other European countries (apart form the UK), coalition governments are the norm and the election systems have at least some proportional elements. So the political discourse is based on consensus and searching for a compromise. 

 A proportional system with coalition governments creates a lot of space for establishment of new political parties and splintering of existing parties as political opinions diversify and the circumstances and values in the society change. New parties have a chance of making it to the parliament and even to the coalition government. 

 On the other hand, the anti-democratic two-party system in the US and the UK leads to vicious counter-productive in-fighting in the two dominant political parties (see Trump vs other Republicans, Clinton vs Sanders, and the total in-fighting in Conservatives and Labour). Any splintering would make the splintered new party in effect unelectable. Moreover, these anti-democratic systems leave the two major parties open to be HIJACKED by extremists, which is why now both the US and the UK have fascist governments. 

 In both the US and the UK, the people are very badly educated about the basic principles of democracy and in particular about how democratic systems in OTHER countries work (in the UK also about how the EU works). They are brainwashed into believing that the system in their country is the best and the most democratic. 

 In both the US and the UK, it is allowed to pour absolutely huge amounts of private money into political parties and political campaigns, thus making the system of political elites deeply inherently corrupt. The politicians are sold to their financial donors. 

 Both the US and the UK have serious problems with their brainwashing media (owned by powerful individuals) spouting aggressive lying propaganda day in, day out. It is easy for extremist demagogues to con badly educated brainwashed people via lying divisive rhetoric, spreading of hatred and promising a land of milk and honey to vote for their political agenda, where the extremists are only interested in grabbing more power to themselves and do not care about the people. 

 It is shocking to see how easily the poorest and most vulnerable people are conned into voting against their obvious interests: the people in the US vote against public medical care (because they have been brainwashed into believing that public healthcare is an evil communist thing) and the people in the UK against the EU (because they have been brainwashed into believing that the EU is an evil dictatorship to be blamed for everything). 

In both cases, people are blissfully ignorant, hence easily manipulated. In both the US and the UK, people have delusions of grandeur of own nation due to toxic political rhetoric, with slogans about the US/UK being the greatest nations in the world (when they are in reality by far the most dangerous countries in the world in the last decades with undemocratic political systems). 

 Democracy is not a static state. It is a long-term PROCESS. Democracy has nothing to do with politicians. Democracy resides with active, well-educated, critical, well-informed and well-organised PEOPLE. Both the US and the UK have very rigid ARCHAIC systems, with huge powers of political elites. The UK does not even have a written constitution. And the US has a written constitution which the Americans are brainwashed into regarding as some untouchable holy scripture. Both the US and the UK do also not even have a proper separation of powers (legislative - parliament, executive - government and judiciary – courts), which is the basis of modern democratic systems. They both also have the UNdemocratic archaic requirement for the voters having to register themselves (whereas in European countries the voting right is regarded as an AUTOMATIC unalienable democratic right). 

All other European countries have similar democratic systems based on written constitutions and shared modern European democratic principles. These shared democratic principles were established and are maintained and gradually improved via cross-border exchange of ideas, initiatives and experiences with different elements of democracy at all levels (from constitutional law experts to ordinary people). The democratic systems in European countries change gradually as the circumstances, the values and the needs of the people change. Unlike the US, European countries gradually change / modernise their written constitutions too. We all regard democracy as work in progress (and this of course also includes the EU – we need to work together to gradually make it even better). Both the US and the UK have HUGE democratic deficits. They do not even have democratic systems in any modern sense of the word!

By Ajda Slovenia 

original Link: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-presidential-election-centre-ground-theresa-may-brexit-a7406786.html

Realism Art exhibition - Hermitage Museum - St. Petersburg

Hermitage museum was founded by Catherine the Great of Russian Empire in 1764. It is one of the oldest museums in the world. It was opened to the public view by Tsars since 1852. After the revolution Soviet Authorities were careful to preserve over 3 million artefacts.

During the second world war Hermitage Museum was hit by German bombs. The main building was damaged heavily. During the  blockade by the Germans most valued artefacts were removed to different safe places.   After the war Hermitage building was restored to the former glory.

We went to Hermitage museum  to see creations  of famous artists like Picasso, Monet etc. I will post those pictures in my next blog post. What we unexpectedly visited was the exhibition called "Realism" showed in General Staff Building.

I remember during the time of the  soviet union everyone talked about Socialist Realism in art. However most of the socialist artworks, films ended up singing hosannas to socialist system of governance and to Soviet communist party. Heavy debate raged in countries with socialist traditions to follow such a rigid worldview. Therefore it was quite interesting see such a theme again in Russia.

This is  the part of the introduction:

"Why is realism such a relevant topic today? The realisms Project at the hermitage is an attempt to answer that question. The project is based on a multilateral conversation about the form and idealogy of realism, which encompasses the entire permanent display in the General Staff Building, where the collection of nineteenth to twenty-first-century art is housed since 2015.

Rich in terminology, the twentieth century knew many "Realisms": Hyper-, Sur-,Photo-,Social, magical Realism and many more. Since the end of the century, the realistic trend has been making itself felt and arousing greater interest. the original foundation of the realist approach - the search for reality - is a simple creative method which is aimed at self-knowledge. From a narrative art in the Old master's paintings, realism today has developed into a technically and psychologically complex system of references which deals with a subjectivist view of the objective world.

Perceptions of reality change and depend on the current personal and social priorities. Now this has become relevant once again. Art absorbs such changes and produces a different image of reality every time. the works of contemporary artists represented at the exhibition offer their own references. Each of them, nevertheless, is a clear blueprint of existential experience of the time, with a potential for metaphors, allusions, codes, symbolic meanings and cultural associations.

The Hyperrealist sculpture F*ck'd(Couple) (Gary Tatinstian Collection , USA) by the American artist Tony Matelli uses a technically innovative method to imitate the visceral poignancy and touching nature of the sensual reality."


The other two artists contributing the exhibition are American Artist Jim Shaw and British Painter Mitch Griffiths. British artist's works are closest to the paradigm of classic realism.

21st century boy by Mitch Griffiths

A work featured in one of Griffiths' earliest solo exhibitions, this sharply satirical piece explores how modern society worships wealth, status and fame. The crown of credit cards may symbolise the narcissistic pseudo-values which dominate in today's society of mock kings and false idols.

Gorgon - Mitch Griffiths

A direct reference to Caravaggio's painting of Medusa, the Gorgon queen who, according to Greek mythology petrified those who gazed upon her. However, Griffith's Gorgon is so saturated with oil that her eyes are sealed shut and her power curbed, calling into question the human cost of commercial and industrial interests and demonization of those who stand in the way of industrial 'progress'

"There have always been two schools of thought in painting: That of the idealists and that of Realists. "-Theophile Gautier

Weight of Panic - Mitch Griffiths

They Love me, They Love me Not - Mitch Griffiths United Kingdom

Picture above and below questions the body worship through exercise regimes and obsession with weight.  Next picture shows a man obsessed with his body and women with her face while woman standing next to her lost one of her breast from cancer.

Drone - Mitch Griffiths

"Exploring the commercialisation and glamorisation of armed warfare in certain media outlets which borrow their imagery from computer games, the very title of this work is direct reference to a particular type of pilotless aircraft or missile.  It represents the contemporary disconnect between the zombified viewer and the real horrors of war. The sexualised female soldier and the smartphone tied to her gun underscores the unreal nature of this image. "

Bridge of Genes - Mitch Griffiths

"This painting communicates the historical ties between fathers and sons. A reference to the popular trope in renaissance painting wherein each figure clasps the tools of their trade, falling leaves appear to capture the passing of time through generations, both dividing and bringing together the parent and child."

Triptych First Person Shooter - Call of Duty -  Mitch Griffiths

Modern Warfare - Mitch Griffiths

Finest Hour - Mitch Griffiths 

"The title of this Triptych alludes to a type of video game in which a shooter must move towards their goal by killing everyone in their way.  The artist depicts a British Soldier who is displayed to take part in international conflict and where  every day faces moral choice between following his duty and committing a crime."

The things they carried - Mitch Griffiths - Amid a backdrop of smoke and destruction, a soldier is hauling away a young refugee women who has been forced to flee her homeland. Perhaps a reference to the contemporary devastation of the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria, this work evokes the tragic fate of displacement as well as the image of a 'savior of culture' and his inevitable historical role.

"Thouh the objects themselves may be painful to see, we delight to view the most realistic representations of them in art - the forms, for example, of the lowest animals of dead bodies. The explanation is to be found in a further fact: to be learning something is the greatest of pleasures, not only to the philosopher, but also to the rest of the humanity, however small our capacity for it. The reason of the delight in seeing the picture is that one is at the same time learning - gathering the meaning of things.".- .Aristotle

Closet - Ilya and Emiliya Kabakov

Complete exhibition is in my facebook page and in Google+. If you copy please make sure you mention artist's names and place of the exhibition.

Links to the exhibition information 
About Mitch Griffin

The last one standing

We were in St Petersburg last week. iT's amazing. We met this Russian lady called  Irina who showed us where our apartment is. Allowed to use her mobile and also accompanied us to the apartment. We just asked her help us to find the place. That's all. We did not know her before.

We realised people in St petersburg is amazingly kind and helpful. Wow . This is not I was reading in media in England. Certainly did not expect that.

Ah well, when we called Irina next day she came over and showed us Aleksandrovsky Summer Garden  and Mikhailovsky palace. 

I wanted to see any Lenin statues survived or not. I heard one is in Ploshad Ilicha i.e Ilicha Square. Ilich is Lenin's second name.  So I went there and found the Lenin's statue. he is alone standing proud, looking at river Neva. All his revolutionary friends statues were removed long ago.

When I went to several churches rebuilt by Russians after 1991 I found Romanov's burial sites. Romanovs are the last rulers from Russian Empire. Bolsheviks killed them.  They could have spared their lives and deport them to another country perhaps. Now they have own shrines in Russia. Russian aristocracy used church burial grounds and even inside the churches to bury their loved ones.  Vladimir Putin is killing 2 birds from one stone. Royalist are happy that he allowed Royalists,Dukes, Lords and ladies to have their burial grounds and pompous lifestyle returned to them.  Communists are happy that Putin allowed to remain Lenin statues and other communist memorabilia.  Religiosniks are happy that he allowed to rebuilt all the churches destroyed during the socialist era.  They are at each other's throats but Puting is their friend. Machiavellian politics of Putin is wining the day. 

Attack on Democracy- From the British Labour Party

We were waiting it for so  long. Finally it arrived. The chilcot inquiry report. I watched with some sort of schadenfreude how Jeremy Corbyn tore into Blair Project. That horrible decision to invade Iraq on such a flimsy ground created a mayhem in Iraq and so  many people lost lives.  It's an illegal war. Whatever Saddam was doing he was not an immediate threat to UK's security. We don't forget Saddam killed many kurdish nationals using chemical weapons. But there were other ways to tackle that.

Tony Blair could have waited, get UN approval and get world on his side before unilaterally supporting US. British soldiers lost their lives to an an illegal war. Their heroism and commitment to the country is invaluable. But the this failed political project put their honour in line. That is unforgivable. Jeremy Corbyn in a rally in 2013 denounced the plan to invade Iraq. Around 2 million people walked in london protesting it.

Now the very same labour party is in turmoil again. They engineered a coup against their Leader Jeremy Corbyn.  Around 172 members of the parliamentary labour party does not want him as a leader. British people voted to leave the European union but that is not Corbyn's fault. Yes, it is true that most labour heartlands voted for brexit. But it is hardly the Corbyn's fault. They were voting against Cameron. They were voting against austerity measures imposed by the David Cameron's government .

Whenever a capitalist government facing a  deepening economic crisis they would whip up nationalism. In western Europe this nationalism turn to petty racism against immigrants. They would say Immigrants are responsible for all the mishaps.  In fact it is the immigrant population driving the economy up in most suburban areas.

The reason why Angela Merkel want immigrants in her country is obvious. Germany does not have enough workforce. They have more people in pension age than young woking population. 

Now the British labour party apparatchiks seemingly ignore this economic situation and the failures of the conservative government. Their inability to understand the labour members wishes, harming the party.

Angela Eagle already dropped out from the race. Now Owen Smith trying to portray the members he is the better choice. If you are radical as Jeremy Corbyn what's wrong with supporting Jeremy?

Labour party executive committee created a strange rule to stop Labour party members who signed recently from voting. They have to pay extra £25 within 2 days to register.  Otherwise they don't have vote.

They are saying these people are either trotskyists or from other small parties. May be. However in that case these so called trotskyites must be from very large parties with huge membership. Do we know any trotskyite party like that with thousands of members?

Labour party apparatchiks actually behaving like Old Soviet communist party apparatchiks. They don't want to listen their members. Actually they are afraid of members.  Do we ever heard of this type of comedy before?
 British media in unison are unleashing propaganda against Jeremy Corbyn. Why? Is Jeremy Corbyn the real threat to the establishment, who for years mislead the people together with the very same unscrupulous Media? 

Chilcot Inquiry and the 172 Back Stabbers

I was surprised when Bremain aka remain campaigners had Tony Blair as a supporter. Tony Blair is a Europhile. We all know that. After all Europe supported his ambitions. Most European leaders had reservations about American President Bush and his Iraqi campaign, but they still  tolerated it for greater good. Supposedly to keep European unity as well. So Blair is in indebt to them.

However Jeremy Corbyn is not on the same boat. He did not support the Iraqi war.  But most of the 172 labour MPs who want to oust him supported the Iraq war.
Does anyone remember the brave six  Red Caps massacred  in Iraq? They did not have any military backup. Most of the British Troops were pulled out from Iraq after the war. Therefor their death is due to bad military planning and weak political leadership. Blair or Bush had no plans to set up a proper government structure and security   for Iraqi people. What followed was a blood-bath of ordinary iraqis by various extremist groups.

Tony Blair and those who supported the war are in for Judgement day.

We all know that Chilcot inquiry will come out on 6th of July 2016.

Now it seems to me all those Labour MPs are in line to get a great shock. In that case Jeremy Corbyn has an easy chance to present a case against them to Labour Members to de-select them. In my opinion they want to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn before that. So they are pushing for his resignation. Most of the print media, BBC, Web media are behind this campaign cunningly. Is  anyone out there finding them?

BBC shows only the clip that Cameron who is responsible for this disastrous referendum telling Corbyn to go. Not the Corbyn's reply.

All the other web sites and newspapers are no better.

This conspiracy is nothing to do with Brexit Vote. Most labour members voted for Brexit because they had real concerns about immigration. They had concerns about welfare cuts, job losses. Jeremy Corbyn admitted that much. But he also mentioned workers rights, maternity leave, paternity leave and all other laws and regulation we managed to establish thanks to EU. So he was 7 out of 10 for EU. That's a principled and honest stand from him than the most e liars we saw on Brexit campaign bus.

They promised £50 Million for NHS and later retrait, that because of the single market . To stay in a single market a country has to allow the free movement. Also we have to pay at least 177 million pounds as in Norway if such an arrangement to be agreed.

I hope sincerely country can get-out from this mess.  But not at the expense of a single honest politician I noticed in british political stage. Corbyn.

Brexit or Brit-IN - Leave or Remain Debate

It looks like immigration is the biggest problem British people are complaining about. The problem exaggerated by the recent immigration due to Syrian war. British people are afraid that most of the immigrants eventually will end up in UK.  Given the situation and behaviour of French officials I can't blame them. They are normally turn the blind eye to refugees in Calais.

On the other hand people who emigrated to Britain half a century ago are blaming recent EU immigrants for job loses, house shortages and school places. That's also true.  Bangladeshi and Indian curry houses complain that recent changes to the law means it cost them more to bring chefs and other specific personnel from the relevant Asian countries. Minimum wage should be around 30,000 pounds to invite anyone with work permit and they say  they cannot afford to pay that much. They claim that they are forced to close their businesses. They want the laws to change specifically again for immigration purpose, so they can get cheap labour from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Most care home workers in UK are from African origin and from Asian countries. Prior to recent European migration most of the unskilled jobs in hospitals, hotels and catering industries were done by Asian and african migrants.

European migration from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, kosovo  and other countries changed that. There were job losses among minority communities. These minority communities more or less concentrated in big cities.  Therefore earlier migrants from Asian and African countries want to support Brexit. They want their jobs back.

Then we have UKIP supporters, Nazi Pegida supporters and English Defence League supporters  who want to stop immigration altogether. They want to claim country back for white Majority.   I.e they don't like any migrants and that will include Asian and African migrants.  What they don't know is, as a result of the 2011 census the White British population was estimated 51,736,290 (81.9% of the UK total population). UK is a white majority country any way.

That's the hilarious situation here. These groups want to support  the Brexit for completely opposite reasons.


Then we have Boris Johnson and conservative right who want Britain to leave EU to claim back country's lost sovereignty allegedly.   I am sympathetic somewhat to their claim as Euro bureaucrats are not a very popular bunch these days. There are quite a few blunders committed by them and they are ignorant to the criticism.  For example roughly €114 million is spent every year to move the European Parliament between its Brussels and Strasbourg seats every month, according to a new assessment by the European Court of Auditors. It says here For decades, the European Parliament has been on the road once a month. "Between 3,000 and 4,000 people, among them roughly 800 MEPs, their assistants, employees and interpreters move 400 kilometres from Brussels to Strasbourg. Their workspaces are empty for 317 days per year."

Then there is accusation that Britain pays 350 million per week. Now that figure is wrong. Britain's actual payment is around £250 million.  Here are the figures.  UK's net contribution is £8.5 billion.  That is because of the rebate as well. Uk get 4.5 billion back from EU from Total Contribution of 12.9 Billion.

Another side who want Britain to leave Europe is Russia. Russians know very well that European ambition to admit  Ukraine and Moldova to Eu would be in disarray if Britain leaves.

 Germany's Angela Merkel's soft touch for Syrian and other refugees and her dealing with Turkish President Erdogan does not go down well with British public. There are worries that Merkel may do a backhanded deal to give millions of Turks free visas to enter Europe and Britain would be flooded.

I actually think there are problems but European migration is not bad for Britain. I can see that places like Walthamstow, Edmonton in London got a really good makeover after migrant numbers swelled. Businesses were booming. Most of the EU migrants are actually working rather than claiming benefits. Here are EU migrant numbers.

If UK political leaders can reduce EU bureaucracy and unnecessary spending, if they can avoid creating a European Bureaucratic state I don't see any good reason to leave.  To guide EU to better democratic institution UK should be in not OUT.

A reply I received from my wife Ines who is German national living in UK.

Just some thoughts From Ines:

1. This shows how the UK is protecting human rights of people who flee the war!

2. EU expansion since the 90s has filled job places or created more jobs - but also increased the average salary of Uk citizen :

If all European workforce will leave  - commonwealth workers will have to fill the places of qualified nurses, doctors, care staff!

3. Every EU country can interpreted the immigration laws to their own needs:

Germany introduced a new law - to allow immigrants from Syria to settle in places where population is at very low level - no overcrowding and housing issues in bid towns anymore, also integration and language courses are a must and any criminal offences leads to extradition - its up to the UK government to deal with their own issues!!!

4. English people are the least informed about EU (LSE Study) and media uses fear and anger instead of knowledge to convince people  - racially prejudices has risen steadily since 2001 and it will destroy this society!!!

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/27/-sp-racism-on-rise-in-britain

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2015/nov/27/brits-least-knowledgeable-european-union-basic-questions

Which other lies do you need to convince you of your right choice??

Britons among least knowledgeable about European Union ... www.theguardian.com There is an ongoing argument about whether the UK government should launch an information campaign about the European Union before the in/out referendum on EU membership.

Racism on the rise in Britain | UK news | The Guardian www.theguardian.com The findings come as political leaders struggle to deal with the rise of the UK Independence party, which campaigned on an anti-immigrant, anti-EU platform and has ...

First Teacher's song

Your film was very impressive and I was very touched by the way you translated the simplicity of the life in Kazakhstan to the scenes in Nepal using Sri Lankan actors. I believe you have chosen the right people to represent the main parts and you touched upon everything what is important in life   - dejection, sadness, aggression, friendship, hope, love and using a wonderful scenery as a background. 

Although I felt that you tried to show the feeling of love between the two characters not as one which is develops out of admiration but instead as a love at first sight. Maybe this is the Sri Lankan way?!

I liked also the scene at the station when everyone understands that he reciprocates her love by letting her go   her own way and giving her the opportunity to live a fulfilled and self determined live. 

 
What I was missing though was the wonderful book ending to show the reconciliation with faith, when she, a successful lady, returned to the village and avoids shyly her first teacher and love - but decides to write the story and poignantly states her will to reconcile. (not only with her first love but also to apologize for taking credit - where credit was due to the ones who earned it - namely him - (I believe this could be an example to politicians and other people in Sri Lanka when they take credit for things accomplished by others.

I also felt that your character of the girl at 15  seemed to be portrait as a frail, vulnerable and weak  (overwhelming sobbing - which for me spoiled the last 20 min of the film) but in the book she is a much stronger willed girl, who was eager to learn and looking for her own freedom . Assuming that your  target audience consists of a mixture of young and old Sri Lankan people  - the character of the girl could have been a perfect example  for Sir Lankan women to overcome the male dominated society and to be able to find their own way in life!

I wish in your next movie you choose a story as beautiful as this one but also that you could bring about a modern context to it regarding relatable  issues among the people in the modern society (including Sri Lanka). Looking forward to your next movie!

I loved the way you used instead of the unfinished painting an unfinished piece of music script as a frame for the story - what a brilliant idea!

Ines baumann

(This is review about the Sinhala film Guru Githaya)

The Man who knew Infinity - A film about a mathematician

The brilliant performance by Jeremy Iron (who previously starred in the films 'Lolita' and 'Dead Ringers') and Dev Patel ('Slumdog Millionaire' and 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel') as Dr Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan in the film 'The Man Who Knew Infinity' delighted our whole family. I went to watch the film with my wife and daughters. One of my daughters is very artistic and other one is really good at maths. They both loved the film. I believe the film is very artistic, sensitive, very emotive and at the same time it gives you an idea about mystery of the mathematical world and mathematicians.

 I love maths and one of my other heroes of Indian origin is Dr Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who found the Chandrasekhar limit (related to stars).
 Ramanujan's story fascinated me earlier on, perhaps because I did that Astrophysics course in Queens Mary. 'He could have gone on and solved the puzzles about 'Black Holes'' they said. 'How?' I asked.

On his deathbed, he mentioned 'theta functions' in a letter to Dr Hardy. Theta functions are supposed to be super -symmetric. Oh, I know, when we talk about supersymmetry, etc. something else comes to mind: 'string theory'.

A team of mathematicians later proved that theta functions indeed mimicked modular forms. They also found out that  expansion of mock modular forms helps physicists compute the entropy, or level of disorder, of black holes. Had Ramanujan lived to see that day, he would have added more functions.

He did not have any formal degree, but his brilliant mind produced amazing formulas of pure mathematics. One cannot call him anything other than a born genius. He thought Hindu goddess 'Namagiri' gave these formulas to him as her divine thoughts.

Ramanujan faced lot of hardship in India; he did not have a job in his earlier years. With his young wife and mother depending on him, Ramanujan needed the money to survive. He then found a job as a tax clerk. There was another clerk like that who also invented special theory of relativity later. But that genius, who turned out to be famous Albert Einstein, was more lucky than Ramanujan, because he lived in Europe.

After reading a letter Ramanujan sent to him, Dr Hardy invited Ramanujan to Cambridge, in England. Many of Dr Hardy's colleagues were against the idea. When Ramanujan was in England, he was not treated well. Racism arose, and there were many incidents due to Ramanujan's origins, but Dr Hardy and his friend Dr Littlewood trusted Ramanujan and his abilities. Dr Hardy pushed Ramanujan to produce the necessary proofs to his mathematical formulas and functions so he could publish them. Dr Hardy and Ramanujan were not similar in character and they did not share the same cultural background. Ramanujan was also a strict vegetarian and this led to the difficulty that he did not have enough nutritional food while World War 1 was raging across Europe.

Yet this beautiful friendship with the renowned professor and self-taught genius blossomed, therefore helping the future of mathematics immensely. For example, there is the Ramanujan - Sato series, Ramanujan's PI formulas,  Continued Fraction and mock theta functions, to name a few. It is an interesting fellowship - Dr Hardy was an atheist while Ramanujan, a devout Hindu, thought his God spoke to him through his formulas. 

His brahmin origins prevented him going overseas for his further studies at first. Finally, his mother relented and with his wife's blessing as well, he set sail to England. His religious upbringing played a big part in his later life in England; it caused him to live more like a hermit, working hard on his amazing mathematical formulas.

He did not have good food during the First World War, as was previously mentioned. He did not ask much help from Dr Hardy, hiding his needs and his pain of not living with his beautiful, loving wife. His mother, on the other hand, hid letters meant for Ramanujan from her daughter-in-law. Ramanujan was soon diagnosed with tuberculosis and treated in England, but never recovered fully.

In his final days, Ramanujan was accepted as a 'Fellow of the Royal Society' (FRS), the second Indian to do so, and finally as a Fellow of the Trinity College. His work was stolen in Cambridge and he was harassed a lot, but he ignored those mishaps as a true gentleman.

He returned to his wife and mother, and within a year he died, leaving his young wife a widow. He was only 32 years old. I think England and Cambridge did not take care of him properly. His work on fractions was stolen and it was found by someone else in Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1976.
These are now on Display at Cambridge.

The film does not reveal all of these incidents, but it does do a certain justice to this brilliant mathematical genius.

Sources:
1.  http://www.businessinsider.com/researchers-unlock-formula-mathematician-srinivasa-ramanujan-2012-12?IR=T
2. http://www.britannica.com/biography/Srinivasa-Ramanujan
3. http://ajitvadakayil.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/fractal-mind-of-srinivasa-ramanujan.html
3. Picture from: http://www.famousscientists.org/srinivasa-ramanujan/

I had Syrian friends.

I had Syrian  friends when I studied in Soviet Union.  They were not refugees. They lived under Hasad Senior Hafez Al Asad. They could travel anywhere. Their women can drive cars and hold driving licenses. (Do you know a country that does not allow that ,  by any chance?) They could study including women (unlike Afghanistan I may say). Education was free (Including university education) . Muslims - Shia and Sunni, Christians of several denominations , some hindus lived side by side. No troubles. And then  his son came to power and nothing much changed. They had little bit of oil and some wealth. And some from the west  called him a dictator - Bashar Assad. He did not allow fundamentalists to take over the country.

Someone intervened we know who? Now Country is a mess and Syrian refugees are everywhere. There could well be terrorists among them we don't know. But before anyone posting any rubbish,  blame the people who created the crisis in the first place.

Assad may be a dictator. But we have seen worse.  Why we could not allow Syrian people to change their leader other  than impose it on them by some powerful country?