It's Monday morning and there is little to be cheerful about, apart from the weather, that is. Another scorcher but probably the last day of these high temperatures. As from tomorrow I'll have to stop pretending I'm on holiday somewhere in southern Europe and face the fact that I'm still here in the UK.


Top of my list of things to be grumpy about: the gut-churning images coming out of Syria. The weekend was surreal on many levels. Street party at Clegg's, Eurovision, the weather, senseless killings and a continuing sense of disbelief at the the appalling human rights record of ...the IMF. This says it all really: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/staggers/2012/05/christine-lagardes-tough-love-insult-greece 


Sadly, I think the majority of the public are blissfully unaware of the murky past of the IMF. This is an opinion based on nothing much but I am doubtful that your average person in the street has anything more than a vague notion of who they are and what they stand for let alone the havoc that follows in their wake wherever they 'intervene'. Hopefully the unguarded outburst from Christine Lagarde in the Guardian last week may alert a few astute members of the public of exactly where they are coming from.


I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the concept of human rights. It's one of those things that are invoked or ignored according to the will/need of the  situation. With the benefit of distance, the US provides a useful example. Do I need to elaborate? Well, a quick glance through the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights coupled with a brief analysis of the insitutionalised racism that continues to blight that country should be example enough. 


I am also a little uneasy of the philosophical roots of 'human rights', steeped as it is in liberal philosophy and individualism. Too much to think about on that one, especially on a Monday morning.