I have just been reprimanded by a co-contributor for getting bogged down in politics and neglecting to report on the many activities which took place up here at the weekend. To start with I have a load of jobs that ought to be done and weather conditions are holding them up. So here is my report. On Saturday I had to fetch my weekly paper but before this could be done I had to deliver Sian and a large quantity of greenery and flowers to be used in the St..Margarets Flower Festival. Local people have supported this annual fundraiser in several ways for over 30 years. The tradition is that most displays include home grown flowers, not an easy task at this time of year. By 10.00 am a large collection of flowers has appeared and some flower arrangers have already completed their works of art, some even on the Friday. Others are still arriving to start their creations, while others are in their kitchens baking cakes for the tea which always follows the Festival Service.
The flowers delivered I set off to get my paper. I soon realise that the holidays are with us as there were a lot of vehicles on the road. Suddenly I see posters advertising strawberry teas from 2pm and supporters are gathering outside another small church delivering tables and supplies. Having negotiated the small traffic jam that has gathered I pass on to the next village where the next traffic jam is due to the Country Market which is attracting large numbers customers to buy local produce, craft materials and yet more tea and cakes.
Luckily there is still a good supply of newspapers at the shop. On my return journey I negotiate the two congestion zones previously mentioned and safely negotiate the on coming horse boxes, stock trailers and more customers heading for the valley events. A message on the answering machine tells me that various additional supplies are needed for the Flower Festival so off I go again, but not before noticing a forgotten essential artefact for Sian’ arrangement which is accordingly stowed in the boot of the car.
Not long after the main bulk of the arrangements are completed the group of the remaining group is disturbed by the arrival of a heritage tour party who have arrived in what seems like a large white whale of a bus. They were probably responding to http://www.visitherefordshirechurches.co.uk/
Having negotiated flowers and buckets the party is soon seated with the tour guide explaining the unique features of the church. Cameras flash, postcards are bought, and donations made. Motorists in the lane are no doubt negotiating the latest surprise to be placed in their way. Soon peace descends as the coach leaves to trim the hedges on both sides of the lane with its expensive wing mirrors.
Elsewhere a music course is taking place, walkers are up on the ridge getting soaked, bookworms are trawling the shelves in Hay while I still have yet to trawl the sheds for the bring and buy stall which will form part of the aforementioned afternoon tea event, alongside yet more cakes and vegetables on the produce stall. Meanwhile the grass has grown another inch and another bit of the old shed has fallen off. Nothing happens in the countryside.
Dacier
Friday, 31 July 2009
Saturday, 25 July 2009
Look Out its Wildlife! Expletive Deleted or, Will there still be honey for tea?
Five years ago we built a conservatory from a kit. It has been a brilliant project and when it is finally finished with a bit of under floor heating it will be one of the most used rooms in the house. Unfortunately, it is also much loved by bees, particularly bumble bees. We are both well aware that these creatures are under threat, and in turn so are we, due to their importance in food production. Unfortunately the bees ( both Bumble and Honey) do not seem to appreciate their own importance.
The trouble is, that once they are in, it is the devils own job to get them back. There are two sky lights, two opening windows, a front door and a set of double doors. Whilst these seem to be very convenient means of access, our humming friends are completely blind as to their utility as a means of escape from being roasted under the double glazed, heat reflecting roof.
Initially we are all sympathy and rush to the waiting implements which we use to evict them. A small rock pool fishing net and a feathery duster on a stick. Once they have landed on the duster, the net is used to trap them while one of the doors is approached. More often than not they make their escape from this device before the said door is reached. Several attempts later the creature is flying away into the garden to continue its important work and we can sink back into an ecological state of self satisfaction with a job well done.
Catching up with the papers can then resume until once again the dreaded buzzing of entrapment starts up once more. The implements, still close at hand, are brought back into action, and the poor bumble bee, since it is they who seem to visit the conservatory more than their honey colleagues, is eventually shaken free just outside the front door. Even before the armchair is reached where the newspaper still awaits a full read, the bumbling bee has made two right hand turns and flown back though the double doors to resume its vain attempt to reach the blue sky by bumping against the glass ceiling. Oh........!!! Expletive deleted. (Please add appropriate word or words of your own choice).
Dacier
The trouble is, that once they are in, it is the devils own job to get them back. There are two sky lights, two opening windows, a front door and a set of double doors. Whilst these seem to be very convenient means of access, our humming friends are completely blind as to their utility as a means of escape from being roasted under the double glazed, heat reflecting roof.
Initially we are all sympathy and rush to the waiting implements which we use to evict them. A small rock pool fishing net and a feathery duster on a stick. Once they have landed on the duster, the net is used to trap them while one of the doors is approached. More often than not they make their escape from this device before the said door is reached. Several attempts later the creature is flying away into the garden to continue its important work and we can sink back into an ecological state of self satisfaction with a job well done.
Catching up with the papers can then resume until once again the dreaded buzzing of entrapment starts up once more. The implements, still close at hand, are brought back into action, and the poor bumble bee, since it is they who seem to visit the conservatory more than their honey colleagues, is eventually shaken free just outside the front door. Even before the armchair is reached where the newspaper still awaits a full read, the bumbling bee has made two right hand turns and flown back though the double doors to resume its vain attempt to reach the blue sky by bumping against the glass ceiling. Oh........!!! Expletive deleted. (Please add appropriate word or words of your own choice).
Dacier
Friday, 24 July 2009
Sexism and Inverted Ageism at the Ministry of Truth (A.K.A. the BBC)
The Ministry of Truth situated in Upper Regent Street has been sailing on in its stationary southerly course for many years. Its top officials are each paid more than our Great Leader and their moral compasses are so close together that they spin like a primitive electric motor. Their latest slogan for the masses is currently being drafted and at its present level in the decision making process the draft reads, ‘Old Blokes Good, Old Birds Bad’. This draft originated in the lower basement but it is yet to reach DG level on the top floor. At some point on its progress through the various floors of decision it will be lost to sight in the mists of moral confusion to those who come and go through the massive bronze doors of the foyer in an attempt to keep their contracts and earn a living.
The enemies of the people, previously known as critics, claim that the Ministry of Truth only likes blokes when they are too clever or popular to ignore and like birds only when they can dress windows. These vicious attacks on the people, the people being the Ministry of Truth and the Great Leader himself, (for there are no other people as such, and if there were, they would have little idea of what the truth might be, or had been), are continuously denounced by various spokespersons through the broadcasts of the Ministry of Truth.
The most dangerous rumour is that the Ministry of Truth should be renamed as a Corporation. That it should no longer be the property of the proles, (these used to be ‘The People’), but should become a private organisation called the BBC. This snappy title is now sarcastically being said by the enemy of the people to mean the ‘Bimbo Broadcasting Corporation’. Such calumny will not of course be tolerated and the Director of General Listening and Viewing will be looking to appoint a few more youngish blokes with accents from the acceptable, or estuarine, provinces, to redress the absence of clever women. This will cost millions of pounds but it would remove the need for such whimpish types as actors, musicians and artists who can start treading, or painting, boards again. The DG’s purchasing of more property, cookery, and reality shows could of course be maintained with its full compliment of Yummy Mummies.
The few pockets of resistance who will try to claim that such vaporised people did in fact exist will be met by an attempt to hide all back issues of the Radio Times so that the proles will be ignorant of the glorious past of arts programmes, costume dramas and variety spectaculars. The enemies of the people are already re-writing the motto in the foyer to read, ‘And nation shall speak profit unto nation and all people are equal except young birds are more equal than old ones’ and alleging that spokespersons are already being trained to claim that, ‘youth is wisdom and age is foolishness’.
With gratitude and apologies to George Orwell and his book, 1984. Essential reading for our present and future times.
Sian Bach Sion (New Contributor: will be added to the Contributors List when we find out where it has gone)
The enemies of the people, previously known as critics, claim that the Ministry of Truth only likes blokes when they are too clever or popular to ignore and like birds only when they can dress windows. These vicious attacks on the people, the people being the Ministry of Truth and the Great Leader himself, (for there are no other people as such, and if there were, they would have little idea of what the truth might be, or had been), are continuously denounced by various spokespersons through the broadcasts of the Ministry of Truth.
The most dangerous rumour is that the Ministry of Truth should be renamed as a Corporation. That it should no longer be the property of the proles, (these used to be ‘The People’), but should become a private organisation called the BBC. This snappy title is now sarcastically being said by the enemy of the people to mean the ‘Bimbo Broadcasting Corporation’. Such calumny will not of course be tolerated and the Director of General Listening and Viewing will be looking to appoint a few more youngish blokes with accents from the acceptable, or estuarine, provinces, to redress the absence of clever women. This will cost millions of pounds but it would remove the need for such whimpish types as actors, musicians and artists who can start treading, or painting, boards again. The DG’s purchasing of more property, cookery, and reality shows could of course be maintained with its full compliment of Yummy Mummies.
The few pockets of resistance who will try to claim that such vaporised people did in fact exist will be met by an attempt to hide all back issues of the Radio Times so that the proles will be ignorant of the glorious past of arts programmes, costume dramas and variety spectaculars. The enemies of the people are already re-writing the motto in the foyer to read, ‘And nation shall speak profit unto nation and all people are equal except young birds are more equal than old ones’ and alleging that spokespersons are already being trained to claim that, ‘youth is wisdom and age is foolishness’.
With gratitude and apologies to George Orwell and his book, 1984. Essential reading for our present and future times.
Sian Bach Sion (New Contributor: will be added to the Contributors List when we find out where it has gone)
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
Village Pubs: Decline and Fall?
I grew up in a pub and spent much of my teenage years both sides of the counter. I like to think I know what a good community pub should be. More correctly, I like to think I know what a good landlord is. If you get that right you get a good pub. Our own local pubs keep going and I hasten to add that the following comments are not prompted by these valued community assets, but by my experiences generally.
Firstly, the landlord should be hospitable. So many landlords seem to think it is their mission in life to defy you to have a pleasant time. The customer needs a place to sit and have a quiet drink, not a table set out for dinner. On entering you should not be confronted by a wall of people drinking at the bar who are not being served but have claimed the counter as their own territory. It doesn’t have to be a silent temple but a choice is nice. Real beers and ciders at the right temperature should be on offer. A monopoly of gaseous drinks tells me that the management have no skills and might as well be running milk bar. You should not be poked in the eye by a thoughtless pool player who has forgotten that a cue has two ends. If there are others waiting I do not expect to be asked, ‘Whose next?’ in a sulking tone of voice, which is really saying, ‘Why are you here?’
It doesn’t have to be ‘refurbished’, because atmosphere probably ended up on the builders skip with a load of other treasures, like hand pumps. I don’t think it has to be entirely non-smoking either. A smoker’s bar, properly ventilated with access to a non smoking purchasing counter elsewhere, should have been allowed where space permitted. Food could be served and consumed elsewhere in such circumstances. Choice again. Before the ban I had stopped visiting pubs unless I could sit outside. Now, if I want to sit outside I have to get up wind of the smokers if I can. Otherwise I leave. OK, you might claim that non-smoking pubs will improve customers’ health. In that case stop people drinking as well if you really think that smoking and drinking will not take place elsewhere while the pubs die due to bureaucratic strangulation. Occasional live music is also a good idea if choice can be maintained.
Ideally, a pub should be somewhere where you can strike up a conversatio, not places where vows of silence apply. Old style country pubs with their big settles either side of an ingle nook used to encourage conversation, an art which modern society discourages in the interests of privacy. Granted, talking in railway carriages has never been a strong point for the British, but many pubs seem to be adopting this custom. Before pubs were ‘refurbished’ quiet assignations were catered for by the different types of bars. Saloon, Public, Private and Snug Bars, even a Jug and Bottle cubicle, could all exist side by side. Now vast acres of beer soaked carpeted hall seems to be the ideal for many brewers and landlords alike.
Here again, ‘landlord’ now seems an archaic word, with ‘manager’ seeming to be the brewers preference. What with higher alcohol taxes, the smoking ban and a lack of good landlords, it is surprising that the increasing rate of pub closures is not worse. Brewers seem intent on narrowing profit margins for their tenants and stoill expecting the pubs to thrive. Rather like supermarkets and farmers I suppose.
If pubs are to succeed in small communities they must first get the message I read outside a good pub on our recent travels, ‘the pub is the hub’. Ironically the notice board on the church next door displayed no name, denomination or services or vicar’s name. It did however have a formal notice stating that someone was applying to be buried there. If the closure rate continues the village pub will go the same way, and bad landlords will have played their part.
Firstly, the landlord should be hospitable. So many landlords seem to think it is their mission in life to defy you to have a pleasant time. The customer needs a place to sit and have a quiet drink, not a table set out for dinner. On entering you should not be confronted by a wall of people drinking at the bar who are not being served but have claimed the counter as their own territory. It doesn’t have to be a silent temple but a choice is nice. Real beers and ciders at the right temperature should be on offer. A monopoly of gaseous drinks tells me that the management have no skills and might as well be running milk bar. You should not be poked in the eye by a thoughtless pool player who has forgotten that a cue has two ends. If there are others waiting I do not expect to be asked, ‘Whose next?’ in a sulking tone of voice, which is really saying, ‘Why are you here?’
It doesn’t have to be ‘refurbished’, because atmosphere probably ended up on the builders skip with a load of other treasures, like hand pumps. I don’t think it has to be entirely non-smoking either. A smoker’s bar, properly ventilated with access to a non smoking purchasing counter elsewhere, should have been allowed where space permitted. Food could be served and consumed elsewhere in such circumstances. Choice again. Before the ban I had stopped visiting pubs unless I could sit outside. Now, if I want to sit outside I have to get up wind of the smokers if I can. Otherwise I leave. OK, you might claim that non-smoking pubs will improve customers’ health. In that case stop people drinking as well if you really think that smoking and drinking will not take place elsewhere while the pubs die due to bureaucratic strangulation. Occasional live music is also a good idea if choice can be maintained.
Ideally, a pub should be somewhere where you can strike up a conversatio, not places where vows of silence apply. Old style country pubs with their big settles either side of an ingle nook used to encourage conversation, an art which modern society discourages in the interests of privacy. Granted, talking in railway carriages has never been a strong point for the British, but many pubs seem to be adopting this custom. Before pubs were ‘refurbished’ quiet assignations were catered for by the different types of bars. Saloon, Public, Private and Snug Bars, even a Jug and Bottle cubicle, could all exist side by side. Now vast acres of beer soaked carpeted hall seems to be the ideal for many brewers and landlords alike.
Here again, ‘landlord’ now seems an archaic word, with ‘manager’ seeming to be the brewers preference. What with higher alcohol taxes, the smoking ban and a lack of good landlords, it is surprising that the increasing rate of pub closures is not worse. Brewers seem intent on narrowing profit margins for their tenants and stoill expecting the pubs to thrive. Rather like supermarkets and farmers I suppose.
If pubs are to succeed in small communities they must first get the message I read outside a good pub on our recent travels, ‘the pub is the hub’. Ironically the notice board on the church next door displayed no name, denomination or services or vicar’s name. It did however have a formal notice stating that someone was applying to be buried there. If the closure rate continues the village pub will go the same way, and bad landlords will have played their part.
The Destroyers at Sheep Music Festival:19th July
Sian and I must be fans as we have never been to a music festival before and so since we could make this our first, and combine it with seeing the Destroyers, the idea was irresistible. Their blend of Balkan, Gipsy and Klesmer music combined with other European influences creates a unique musical experience. Add their rip roaring speed of attack, and the poetic lyrics of Paul Murphy and you are in for a breathtaking set. With their debut single already out, Out of Babel and an album due any minute now, you should be hearing a lot more of them. Money. The Glass Coffin Burial of Professor Zurinack and Methuselah Mouse were among the dramatic numbers delivered. The audience on Sunday was packed into the festival’s biggest venue and there were few spaces in the crowd. With the forthcoming CD due their set was a great advert for those new to the group. The audience was made up of all ages and we were pleased to see we weren’t the oldest old bloggers present. The group has a good following in Presteigne (Powys,Wales) having appeared here before, but there were quite a few around us who had not had the ‘Destroyer Experience’ before. Needless to say expressions of puzzlement and surprise soon gave way to appreciative attention.
The beat and volume ( excellent level and mix) soon got us all dancing and joining in and I have rarely seen so many people smiling for such a long time while jumping up and down. I am more used to reviewing books rather than festival performances so it will probably be less embarrassing for all concerned if I strongly encourage all those who haven’t seen them live to visit their blog for a list of venues. Get that smile ready.
The strong percussion drives the combination of brass, fiddles, and guitars, not to forget the accordion and hurdy-gurdy. With its klesmer influences the essential presence of the clarinet makes this a remarkable combination of some twelve or more musicians. After an hour you should feel quite in need of a sit down ( that’s probably just us thgough) and wondering how the band have kept playing, dancing and prancing across the stage while producing their unique sound, especially when we learnt this 6 pm set was just one of many gigs in the past week, having just travelled from Bridport in Dorset..
You can check all this out at http://thedestroyers.co.uk/blog/ but this is a band which must be experienced live to get the full musical impact and for the ‘Destroyer conversion’. Although there were many excellent performers still to come in the closing hours of the festival, the impact of this group seemed to dull the senses for anything else and the feelings of exuberation and well being are still with me now as I write this review.
I’ve just remembered, I have been to a festival once before, it was the last Beaulieu Jazz Festival in 1960 which ended in a riot. According to Wikepedia I now learn it was between traditional and modern jazz fans, a ‘sub-cultural clash’. And there was I thinking they were just a bunch of drunks. I left just as the constabulary were arriving.
The beat and volume ( excellent level and mix) soon got us all dancing and joining in and I have rarely seen so many people smiling for such a long time while jumping up and down. I am more used to reviewing books rather than festival performances so it will probably be less embarrassing for all concerned if I strongly encourage all those who haven’t seen them live to visit their blog for a list of venues. Get that smile ready.
The strong percussion drives the combination of brass, fiddles, and guitars, not to forget the accordion and hurdy-gurdy. With its klesmer influences the essential presence of the clarinet makes this a remarkable combination of some twelve or more musicians. After an hour you should feel quite in need of a sit down ( that’s probably just us thgough) and wondering how the band have kept playing, dancing and prancing across the stage while producing their unique sound, especially when we learnt this 6 pm set was just one of many gigs in the past week, having just travelled from Bridport in Dorset..
You can check all this out at http://thedestroyers.co.uk/blog/ but this is a band which must be experienced live to get the full musical impact and for the ‘Destroyer conversion’. Although there were many excellent performers still to come in the closing hours of the festival, the impact of this group seemed to dull the senses for anything else and the feelings of exuberation and well being are still with me now as I write this review.
I’ve just remembered, I have been to a festival once before, it was the last Beaulieu Jazz Festival in 1960 which ended in a riot. According to Wikepedia I now learn it was between traditional and modern jazz fans, a ‘sub-cultural clash’. And there was I thinking they were just a bunch of drunks. I left just as the constabulary were arriving.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Meat Free Mondays – can it work?
From what I have seen Meat Free Mondays has caused more discussion in the vegetarian and vegan world rather than where it matters with us omnivores and unfortunately the message they are getting is more than likely putting them off.
So the concept of meat free Mondays - could we do with a little less meat in our diet? I would say yes, we could. With the obesity rate in this country on the up then we need to get smarter with our diet and reduce damaging intensive farming. This does not mean that Meat Free Monday leads to a meat free diet. The point about meat free Monday, in my mind as an omnivore is that it is exactly that. Its not a transition point from being a meat eater to a vegetarian, it’s a choice that on one or two days a week you chose not to eat meat.
However from the conversations on the guardian and on the facebook group about meat free Monday it seems that all the vegetarians and vegans involved in the discussion think that people should move to a meat free diet. The majority of comments, ranging from the tame to the abusive, are all about meat free diets. I have retorted with my own comment that they should create their own campaign and facebook group called meat free week/life and leave the argument for Meat Free Monday to continue on a discussion about eating less meat.
It would be interesting to see if meat free Monday really got anyone to change their diet. My thought is that hopefully it will just start a mind shift and people are starting their journey caring about what they eat and the impacts it has on the world around us. It is more realistic to get the whole world to alter their diet and reduce their consumption than get a minority convert to vegetarianism or veganism.
Currently I am campaigning with Birmingham Friends of the Earth about fixing the food chain, and it’s a far from perfect world out there. However, we do not want to attack the farmers, but help them to move to planet friendly farming.
The focus of the campaign is on soya being imported from South America that is being fed to our livestock in the country and in South America, guess what? They are ripping up the rainforest to plant soya. So how can we help? By getting the government to enable our farmers to grow their own feed for their animals. There is 700 million EU subsidies going into intensive farming and this could be invested with our farmers to help them grow and feed their own animals. This would be better for the farmers and better for our food security.
So going back to meat free Mondays, an example I have been given where this has been working is where a school changed to have one day a week meat free. Then for the other days of the weeks they were able to invest in organic meat or fish. Meat Free Monday is all about making smarter choices and its not about having a go at the UK farmers, which quite frankly have enough to worry about.
So the concept of meat free Mondays - could we do with a little less meat in our diet? I would say yes, we could. With the obesity rate in this country on the up then we need to get smarter with our diet and reduce damaging intensive farming. This does not mean that Meat Free Monday leads to a meat free diet. The point about meat free Monday, in my mind as an omnivore is that it is exactly that. Its not a transition point from being a meat eater to a vegetarian, it’s a choice that on one or two days a week you chose not to eat meat.
However from the conversations on the guardian and on the facebook group about meat free Monday it seems that all the vegetarians and vegans involved in the discussion think that people should move to a meat free diet. The majority of comments, ranging from the tame to the abusive, are all about meat free diets. I have retorted with my own comment that they should create their own campaign and facebook group called meat free week/life and leave the argument for Meat Free Monday to continue on a discussion about eating less meat.
It would be interesting to see if meat free Monday really got anyone to change their diet. My thought is that hopefully it will just start a mind shift and people are starting their journey caring about what they eat and the impacts it has on the world around us. It is more realistic to get the whole world to alter their diet and reduce their consumption than get a minority convert to vegetarianism or veganism.
Currently I am campaigning with Birmingham Friends of the Earth about fixing the food chain, and it’s a far from perfect world out there. However, we do not want to attack the farmers, but help them to move to planet friendly farming.
The focus of the campaign is on soya being imported from South America that is being fed to our livestock in the country and in South America, guess what? They are ripping up the rainforest to plant soya. So how can we help? By getting the government to enable our farmers to grow their own feed for their animals. There is 700 million EU subsidies going into intensive farming and this could be invested with our farmers to help them grow and feed their own animals. This would be better for the farmers and better for our food security.
So going back to meat free Mondays, an example I have been given where this has been working is where a school changed to have one day a week meat free. Then for the other days of the weeks they were able to invest in organic meat or fish. Meat Free Monday is all about making smarter choices and its not about having a go at the UK farmers, which quite frankly have enough to worry about.
Monday, 20 July 2009
Book Review: 'Here Comes Everbody!'
'Here Comes Everybody; How things Change when Everybody Comes Together' by Clay Shirky: Penguin Books [London] 2009 344 pp including acknowledgments, bibliography/notes and index. £9.99.
I am beginning to see so much happening that confirms the view of this author that I thought it was worth digging this review out of the archive now I am beginning to see why my daughter put me on Twitter.
This book is essential reading for those involved in politics, pressure or special interest groups. The internet means that small and large groups alike can come together and pursue their collective aims. The bloggers, FaceBookers and MySpacers escape the cell. (See earlier posting).
From business theory the author leads us through to the dynamics of networks, communications between groups and web communities, and the sociology of the web. The developments which have made sites like Wikipedea, My Space and Face Book possible are chronicled. Perhaps the most significant development for the individual computer literate is the new ease of publication which makes this posting possible. Without the net it would have to be placed with a journal willing to take it. The reviewer would not be taken on trust so a good contact, track record or luck would be needed to get it into print. Without factors such as these it would not be read by anyone other than the reviewer. Now, as explained by Shirky, we are all our own publishers at no great expense and no risk of wasting time or the costs of failure. All the conventional routes are avoided. With the aid of one or two connections it might be seen by many. Examples of such escapes into a wider context are given as examples of how things have changed. The earthquake in China, the Tsunami and the London bombings are some of the examples of how the new technology breaks the news so quickly and often gets things done.
The strength this book is found in the way the author manages to bring many different topics together to show how a new way of doing things has emerged. For the outsider the description of how Wikipedea was developed shows the potential of collaborative work taking place well away from the conventional routines of publishing. If you ever wondered why the age of the ‘amateur’ writer is so looked down on by conventional journalists, then you need not wonder long. According to Shirky they are waiting in line for their turn to disappear like the scribes before them.
Examples of the ease of organising to express grievances are also given. To take on a government or a company as an individual will be no more than a stand on principle, which brings no results, unless others take up the cause. But with the ease of joining together the game has changed. The students who had taken out accounts with HSBC were not pleased to hear, at short notice, that their interest free overdraft facility was to be withdrawn. Dispersed customers were found through Facebook and HSBC suddenly found there was a co-ordinated force planning to demonstrate at their HQ. The plan was scrapped. Only this week M&S conceded on the big bra premium they were charging.
Those parts of the book which go into computer programme development and the theoretical material could be hard going for some. but these glimpses into different worlds are worth it. You are reading about a major convergence of factors which cannot be reversed, or stopped. With an internet connection we can all be in the crowd and hear the cry, ‘look out, here comes everybody!’. Will it be a really ‘Open Society’?. ( See Karl Poppers book) Is this a new mob rule or a correction of an imbalance of power? Is this a new democracy? One thing seems certain, the new tools of liberty are out of the box and they can never be put back. However, they might be difficult to find should the lights go out.
Dacier
I am beginning to see so much happening that confirms the view of this author that I thought it was worth digging this review out of the archive now I am beginning to see why my daughter put me on Twitter.
This book is essential reading for those involved in politics, pressure or special interest groups. The internet means that small and large groups alike can come together and pursue their collective aims. The bloggers, FaceBookers and MySpacers escape the cell. (See earlier posting).
From business theory the author leads us through to the dynamics of networks, communications between groups and web communities, and the sociology of the web. The developments which have made sites like Wikipedea, My Space and Face Book possible are chronicled. Perhaps the most significant development for the individual computer literate is the new ease of publication which makes this posting possible. Without the net it would have to be placed with a journal willing to take it. The reviewer would not be taken on trust so a good contact, track record or luck would be needed to get it into print. Without factors such as these it would not be read by anyone other than the reviewer. Now, as explained by Shirky, we are all our own publishers at no great expense and no risk of wasting time or the costs of failure. All the conventional routes are avoided. With the aid of one or two connections it might be seen by many. Examples of such escapes into a wider context are given as examples of how things have changed. The earthquake in China, the Tsunami and the London bombings are some of the examples of how the new technology breaks the news so quickly and often gets things done.
The strength this book is found in the way the author manages to bring many different topics together to show how a new way of doing things has emerged. For the outsider the description of how Wikipedea was developed shows the potential of collaborative work taking place well away from the conventional routines of publishing. If you ever wondered why the age of the ‘amateur’ writer is so looked down on by conventional journalists, then you need not wonder long. According to Shirky they are waiting in line for their turn to disappear like the scribes before them.
Examples of the ease of organising to express grievances are also given. To take on a government or a company as an individual will be no more than a stand on principle, which brings no results, unless others take up the cause. But with the ease of joining together the game has changed. The students who had taken out accounts with HSBC were not pleased to hear, at short notice, that their interest free overdraft facility was to be withdrawn. Dispersed customers were found through Facebook and HSBC suddenly found there was a co-ordinated force planning to demonstrate at their HQ. The plan was scrapped. Only this week M&S conceded on the big bra premium they were charging.
Those parts of the book which go into computer programme development and the theoretical material could be hard going for some. but these glimpses into different worlds are worth it. You are reading about a major convergence of factors which cannot be reversed, or stopped. With an internet connection we can all be in the crowd and hear the cry, ‘look out, here comes everybody!’. Will it be a really ‘Open Society’?. ( See Karl Poppers book) Is this a new mob rule or a correction of an imbalance of power? Is this a new democracy? One thing seems certain, the new tools of liberty are out of the box and they can never be put back. However, they might be difficult to find should the lights go out.
Dacier
Oh no! It’s that man again!
To my mind a retiring characteristic is sometimes sad because the person concerned can sometimes have a lot to offer in the line of good company. Unfortunately it seems that this is a characteristic which does not seem to be possessed by politicians. It is now widely recognised that Winston Churchill took on one premiership too far and that Margaret Thatcher would have done herself more good by retiring gracefully to a more therapeutic life style. Tony Blair is no exception. I was one of the many who now have to confess that I thought he would make a big difference for the better. I now feel betrayed and embarrassed while he no doubt thinks he did a great job.
If a great job includes expanding police powers, undervaluing the right to silence, more privatisation, failing to see that the bankers were taking us to the cleaners, failing to maintain a public housing programme and going into two wars, one without the kit and the other without the truth, then the boy done well. That is no doubt why he became a peace envoy for the Middle East and the promoter of inter faith knowledge, and now, could become President of the European Union. Surely he has done enough. Having recently seen his speech to his annual conference some fourteen years ago about how the elderly would no longer have to put up with poverty in their retirement etc .and then hearing the news last week that the present government is still coming up with ideas for self-funded insurance policies for residential care. I decided I had had enough exercise in the cringe department.
With New Labour’s betrayal of their voter base and more and more grand promises that cannot be delivered, ( and with earlier promises being broken e.g. the troops in Afghanistan will get everything they want!), I am now one of the electoral homeless awaiting some credible politicians to come up with some deliverable policies which might actually do something about the accumulating problems of youth unemployment, social injustice and so many other problems on the downward spiral of incompetence that has got this nation where it is. One thing I am pretty certain of is that whether or not Mr Blair becomes President of the European Union will make not a bit of difference, apart from making EU summits a bit awkward for Gordon.
If a great job includes expanding police powers, undervaluing the right to silence, more privatisation, failing to see that the bankers were taking us to the cleaners, failing to maintain a public housing programme and going into two wars, one without the kit and the other without the truth, then the boy done well. That is no doubt why he became a peace envoy for the Middle East and the promoter of inter faith knowledge, and now, could become President of the European Union. Surely he has done enough. Having recently seen his speech to his annual conference some fourteen years ago about how the elderly would no longer have to put up with poverty in their retirement etc .and then hearing the news last week that the present government is still coming up with ideas for self-funded insurance policies for residential care. I decided I had had enough exercise in the cringe department.
With New Labour’s betrayal of their voter base and more and more grand promises that cannot be delivered, ( and with earlier promises being broken e.g. the troops in Afghanistan will get everything they want!), I am now one of the electoral homeless awaiting some credible politicians to come up with some deliverable policies which might actually do something about the accumulating problems of youth unemployment, social injustice and so many other problems on the downward spiral of incompetence that has got this nation where it is. One thing I am pretty certain of is that whether or not Mr Blair becomes President of the European Union will make not a bit of difference, apart from making EU summits a bit awkward for Gordon.
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Gordon, do you Remember Vietnam?
I know Bew Labour politicians are not too hot on history but our author PM, especially one who has written a book on Courage, should be a bit more locked into what is going on before his eyes, day after day, week after week and, sadly, month after month. Why Vietnam should be remembered is because it was the home coming body bags that proved the last straw for the American public in the undermining of the war effort. Warriors on push bikes were difficult to defeat. The Taliban are fond of their lightweight motor bikes and Improvised Explosive Devices and the region is well known for it’s artisan gunsmiths. Thank goodness the huge losses the Americans took in Vietnam have not happened but I would have thought that if the PM wanted to win this war he ought to listen to the people who know an awful lot about that unpleasant business and to have some regard for history.
Some nameless characters got the procurement of helicopters wrong some time back now, not the commanders trying to cope in Afghanistan now, and it wasn’t them who decided to cut expenditure on defence. The reason we haven’t got enough Chinooks lies somewhere within a government which has cut back on defence spending in time of war to near 2.2% of our Domestic Gross Product. If this bloody war, and bloody it certainly is, is so important to maintain a terrorist free Britain then we ought to start listening to those who know how to fight a war and starting to pay for it through the anonymity of the tax system. Instead we are paying with the lives of youngsters and top notch soldiers who sadly will never be nameless now their names are being carved on memorials and written in Books of Remembrance throughout the land.
Gordon Brown is now well established in our political history as the dithering PM. At the moment we are again witnessing the denial stage. How long will we have to wait for the next stage, a belated change of policy, when we a shift from the ‘Land Rover War’ to the helicopter war? Since conjuring up helicopters can’t be done immediately the Government is cornered and I would estimate that we will have to wait for about another 50 respectful homecomings in Wootton Basset, before we see a new policy which seeks to get Gordon out of a corner his old Treasury department gas created. It might be sooner if that rate increases, but without helicopters any new policy will have to be pretty good.
Gordon, I would suggest that a quick call to your predecessor in his Ivy League college would probably allow even him to do some research for you on the body bag count and its political consequences for the US Government as it came to terms with defeat in Vietnam. I would also suggest you buy one of those new combined moral, political, historical and financial compasses, as your present model is clearly not up to the job. You should also remember that Iraq and Afghanistan are first wars where are fallen are being brought home to remind us youngsters are being killed. There is still a slim chance that we might win this war which you claim is so crucial. If not, then you had better line up the air troop transporters for an ignominious withdrawal, or should that be a fleet of buses for the overland journey. Going by coach is so much cheaper.
Dacier
Some nameless characters got the procurement of helicopters wrong some time back now, not the commanders trying to cope in Afghanistan now, and it wasn’t them who decided to cut expenditure on defence. The reason we haven’t got enough Chinooks lies somewhere within a government which has cut back on defence spending in time of war to near 2.2% of our Domestic Gross Product. If this bloody war, and bloody it certainly is, is so important to maintain a terrorist free Britain then we ought to start listening to those who know how to fight a war and starting to pay for it through the anonymity of the tax system. Instead we are paying with the lives of youngsters and top notch soldiers who sadly will never be nameless now their names are being carved on memorials and written in Books of Remembrance throughout the land.
Gordon Brown is now well established in our political history as the dithering PM. At the moment we are again witnessing the denial stage. How long will we have to wait for the next stage, a belated change of policy, when we a shift from the ‘Land Rover War’ to the helicopter war? Since conjuring up helicopters can’t be done immediately the Government is cornered and I would estimate that we will have to wait for about another 50 respectful homecomings in Wootton Basset, before we see a new policy which seeks to get Gordon out of a corner his old Treasury department gas created. It might be sooner if that rate increases, but without helicopters any new policy will have to be pretty good.
Gordon, I would suggest that a quick call to your predecessor in his Ivy League college would probably allow even him to do some research for you on the body bag count and its political consequences for the US Government as it came to terms with defeat in Vietnam. I would also suggest you buy one of those new combined moral, political, historical and financial compasses, as your present model is clearly not up to the job. You should also remember that Iraq and Afghanistan are first wars where are fallen are being brought home to remind us youngsters are being killed. There is still a slim chance that we might win this war which you claim is so crucial. If not, then you had better line up the air troop transporters for an ignominious withdrawal, or should that be a fleet of buses for the overland journey. Going by coach is so much cheaper.
Dacier
Wednesday, 15 July 2009
Blogging By Candlelight Again ( See an early old blog) and the Length of Blogs
Those few who have seen these blogs may have been put off by their length alone, never mind the content. Yesterday one professional journalist gave voice on radio to her opinion that she was depressed by twitter and the blogosphere with the vast amount of banality it encourages. Sorry, I must have missed something in the popular press and have failed to discover the high minded content hidden behind the yob headlines of the red tops. I try to avoid banality, inevitably fail, but at least I have used more words in achieving it when it occurs. I have purposely built some banality in for the journalist concerned, although I have not dignified her by managing to remember her name. She is probably a very good journalist for all I know, but I also think that journalists do not have a monopoly of valid viewpoints and, even in my case, I am entitled to think that there is just a chance that something worthwhile might trickle down from my viewpoint on these beautiful hills.
This is all prompted by the fact that everything I want to write about seems to demand about 600 words. Sadly the blog posted just before this one could have taken even more words, but I think it was well worth a few more words than usual.
It was inspired by the blog I now provide a link to and I am very grateful to its author for having made me get round to writing something I have been meaning to do ever since I started inflicting my blog on unsuspecting surfers. If you ever thought civil libertarians protest too much then take a look at:-
http://monaxle.com/2009/07/08/section-44-in-chatham-high-street/
If you think this is an isolated incident try to rent out Taking Liberties directed by Chris Atkins. It is also widely available to purchase on DVD. See where all the new authoritarianism has come from and where it is all going. We have been through oppressive times before, but never with so much technology in the hands of those who also have all the power. Not voting, keeping quiet and watching your fellow citizens put into vans will lead in turn to your trip in the van, by which time there won’t be anyone left to write a blog about you. All rather far fetched? Yes it might be, and lets hope so, but do you really want to take the risk? Perhaps the power of the people’s internet technology must now be applied in favour of civil liberties so as to counter the State technology and rules which steal them. It is working with consumer campaigns that have already been successful against M&S, HSBC and now a mobile phone directory inquiry service. Mark Thomas has already started. Why should politicians with so much power need to worry about your liberties when they have been so busy of late taking so many liberties of their own? No more than the general citizenry who never go out late and never experience the use of police powers exercised against them. From my experience, down too many years I care to remember, they will not have found the encounter a model of customer service. As great libertarians of the past have said, the best citizens are those who are critical of their government and the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Being critical should not lead to your loyalty being questioned. The dream is still worth keeping alive. Banal? I do hope so, but I still believe such things nonetheless.
Dacier
This is all prompted by the fact that everything I want to write about seems to demand about 600 words. Sadly the blog posted just before this one could have taken even more words, but I think it was well worth a few more words than usual.
It was inspired by the blog I now provide a link to and I am very grateful to its author for having made me get round to writing something I have been meaning to do ever since I started inflicting my blog on unsuspecting surfers. If you ever thought civil libertarians protest too much then take a look at:-
http://monaxle.com/2009/07/08/section-44-in-chatham-high-street/
If you think this is an isolated incident try to rent out Taking Liberties directed by Chris Atkins. It is also widely available to purchase on DVD. See where all the new authoritarianism has come from and where it is all going. We have been through oppressive times before, but never with so much technology in the hands of those who also have all the power. Not voting, keeping quiet and watching your fellow citizens put into vans will lead in turn to your trip in the van, by which time there won’t be anyone left to write a blog about you. All rather far fetched? Yes it might be, and lets hope so, but do you really want to take the risk? Perhaps the power of the people’s internet technology must now be applied in favour of civil liberties so as to counter the State technology and rules which steal them. It is working with consumer campaigns that have already been successful against M&S, HSBC and now a mobile phone directory inquiry service. Mark Thomas has already started. Why should politicians with so much power need to worry about your liberties when they have been so busy of late taking so many liberties of their own? No more than the general citizenry who never go out late and never experience the use of police powers exercised against them. From my experience, down too many years I care to remember, they will not have found the encounter a model of customer service. As great libertarians of the past have said, the best citizens are those who are critical of their government and the price of liberty is eternal vigilance. Being critical should not lead to your loyalty being questioned. The dream is still worth keeping alive. Banal? I do hope so, but I still believe such things nonetheless.
Dacier
Who are the Subversives Now?
According to the OED a subversive can be someone who seeks to demolish or turn upside down or overturn and so if your views or actions are seen as having this effect expect to be on the awkward squad list kept by your local Special Branch Officer. I would now like to add the names of various politicians and police officers to that list since they are now the new subversives. The power of the people has been turned upside down, if it were ever the other way round, and this stolen power is now increasingly used against them.
According to our own publicity the United Kingdom is described as a ‘liberal democracy’ .This means different things to different people. What it means to me is a system based on that old fashioned phrase, rarely used now by politicians of the Blair years, and even more rarely, understood, ‘The Rule of Law’. I do not know who taught Tony Blair British Constitutional Law or indeed if he ever studied it to become a barrister, before that is, he became a failed Prime Minister, but if he did, he seems to have been unconvinced by its core teachings.
This is surprising because the Rule of Law is fairly simple to grasp, even by those who merely gargle at the fountain of knowledge. Basically, government is to be by law, rather than the whims of rulers or their officials, all are equal before the law and have access to it, and it is the courts, not government officials, who rule on the interpretation of law. There are one or two fuzzy edges about where administrative tribunals and the like fit in, but these are no longer seen as a threat to good government. The threat to the Rule of Law today seems to come from our elected governments which seem ever eager to create more and more discretions for more and more ‘officials’. The keenness for privatisation and the ‘war on terrorism’ has combined to blind our politicians to what they are doing.
The point which the Blair generation and many of its apparatchiks either never learnt, or chose to forget, is that in seeking to protect our Liberal Democracy from the enemy within or without, you risk destroying the thing you cherish. It is rather like getting the balance right in the countryside. Once a beauty spot is discovered all sorts will rush to see the beauty and unwittingly destroy it with their traffic jams, car par, gift shops and theme parks. Stop everything happening and you deny others the chance to experiencing what only an elite few could enjoy. In the context of civil liberties if you get the balance wrong and make things too easy for the police we all pay the price through facing more and more difficulties, especially if you want to be a participating and critical citizen in the political process.
The product of the Blair years is a path to the destruction of liberal democracy. I never understood the phrase, ‘Town Air is free air’ but the meaning fell into my lap in a small museum a few years ago. When people were more or less enslaved by feudalism the big change would be that of somehow becoming a ‘freeman’. One route would be to acquire a small strip of land in a town, since that brought the status of freeman. How that was achieved I have no idea, but when I go into our big towns today and see the tooled up police walking the streets, followed by their reserves in the form of Community Support Officers, followed by the private security guards, thug wheel clampers and the like, and see it is all being observed by the CCT cameras on every street corner, in every shop and at every car park, station and shopping mall, ‘town air’ is now suffocating. The dust which spread out from the Twin Towers is no longer grit but has been atomised by our politicians and has blinded them. Those politicians who have wielded power both before and after 9/11 in an attempt to impose Law and Order, have subverted the Rule of Law. They, not their critics, are the subversives now.
Dacier
According to our own publicity the United Kingdom is described as a ‘liberal democracy’ .This means different things to different people. What it means to me is a system based on that old fashioned phrase, rarely used now by politicians of the Blair years, and even more rarely, understood, ‘The Rule of Law’. I do not know who taught Tony Blair British Constitutional Law or indeed if he ever studied it to become a barrister, before that is, he became a failed Prime Minister, but if he did, he seems to have been unconvinced by its core teachings.
This is surprising because the Rule of Law is fairly simple to grasp, even by those who merely gargle at the fountain of knowledge. Basically, government is to be by law, rather than the whims of rulers or their officials, all are equal before the law and have access to it, and it is the courts, not government officials, who rule on the interpretation of law. There are one or two fuzzy edges about where administrative tribunals and the like fit in, but these are no longer seen as a threat to good government. The threat to the Rule of Law today seems to come from our elected governments which seem ever eager to create more and more discretions for more and more ‘officials’. The keenness for privatisation and the ‘war on terrorism’ has combined to blind our politicians to what they are doing.
The point which the Blair generation and many of its apparatchiks either never learnt, or chose to forget, is that in seeking to protect our Liberal Democracy from the enemy within or without, you risk destroying the thing you cherish. It is rather like getting the balance right in the countryside. Once a beauty spot is discovered all sorts will rush to see the beauty and unwittingly destroy it with their traffic jams, car par, gift shops and theme parks. Stop everything happening and you deny others the chance to experiencing what only an elite few could enjoy. In the context of civil liberties if you get the balance wrong and make things too easy for the police we all pay the price through facing more and more difficulties, especially if you want to be a participating and critical citizen in the political process.
The product of the Blair years is a path to the destruction of liberal democracy. I never understood the phrase, ‘Town Air is free air’ but the meaning fell into my lap in a small museum a few years ago. When people were more or less enslaved by feudalism the big change would be that of somehow becoming a ‘freeman’. One route would be to acquire a small strip of land in a town, since that brought the status of freeman. How that was achieved I have no idea, but when I go into our big towns today and see the tooled up police walking the streets, followed by their reserves in the form of Community Support Officers, followed by the private security guards, thug wheel clampers and the like, and see it is all being observed by the CCT cameras on every street corner, in every shop and at every car park, station and shopping mall, ‘town air’ is now suffocating. The dust which spread out from the Twin Towers is no longer grit but has been atomised by our politicians and has blinded them. Those politicians who have wielded power both before and after 9/11 in an attempt to impose Law and Order, have subverted the Rule of Law. They, not their critics, are the subversives now.
Dacier
Tuesday, 14 July 2009
Country Driving: (Pt.III)
Consideration, really is key. This is tested to the limit when trying to get by oncoming vehicles. Delivery vans don’t seem to have reverse! Other drivers can’t or won’t reverse. I was always told to note passing places as you went by them. Many drivers have no idea what to do and will sometimes drive past a passing space even though they have already seen you. This is particularly annoying when they do it coming down a hill towards you. On our recent travels in Somerset one four by four on the school run, seeing us coming up hill with a string of parked cars to our right, decided that it would pull out round the parked cars to its left and engage in a war of wills. I had nowhere to go except reverse 30 yards downhill to where the parked vehicles ceased. Needless to say I kept my revs up until the four by four decided to reverse three car lengths back up hill and observe two rules of the Highway Code at once. Well done, engaging the brain and leaving a bit earlier for your appointment at the school gates is so much better more civilised. I of course gave the usual polite countryside acknowledgements by means of a raised finger without taking my hand off the wheel
The fact is we need and welcome road users in the countryside. Without them we would not be a viable community that has valued schools, village halls, sports clubs, churches and chapels, and sometimes a few remaining and imperilled pubs. The countryside’s diversity and variety serves many functions of which leisure and agriculture are interdependent parts of a fascinating whole. We have met some holiday makers that have even complained at the narrowness of our lanes and the amount of agricultural traffic. Sadly this rarely now includes the movement of livestock along the roads because agriculture of the old style is in decline and rules and regulations of one kind or another can makes it a risky and for hill farmers an unrewarding business. Although I must report that lamb prices are currently improved.
After the awful plague of foot and mouth had passed it was a joy to look out of the window and see the lane filled with a flock of sheep being taken to new grazing. There were so many that the lane became a flowing stream of wool. No doubt some holiday makers would find all of this a terrible inconvenience but they forget that one of their reasons for a holiday should be relearning the art of slowing down.
For viable communities to remain, the countryside and what makes it work, has to be understood and appreciated by the majority who do not live here. That inevitably includes an understanding of the utility, variety and impact of traffic and that private cars are now an essential presence due to the demise of the country bus and a wide range of local facilities.
Dacier
The fact is we need and welcome road users in the countryside. Without them we would not be a viable community that has valued schools, village halls, sports clubs, churches and chapels, and sometimes a few remaining and imperilled pubs. The countryside’s diversity and variety serves many functions of which leisure and agriculture are interdependent parts of a fascinating whole. We have met some holiday makers that have even complained at the narrowness of our lanes and the amount of agricultural traffic. Sadly this rarely now includes the movement of livestock along the roads because agriculture of the old style is in decline and rules and regulations of one kind or another can makes it a risky and for hill farmers an unrewarding business. Although I must report that lamb prices are currently improved.
After the awful plague of foot and mouth had passed it was a joy to look out of the window and see the lane filled with a flock of sheep being taken to new grazing. There were so many that the lane became a flowing stream of wool. No doubt some holiday makers would find all of this a terrible inconvenience but they forget that one of their reasons for a holiday should be relearning the art of slowing down.
For viable communities to remain, the countryside and what makes it work, has to be understood and appreciated by the majority who do not live here. That inevitably includes an understanding of the utility, variety and impact of traffic and that private cars are now an essential presence due to the demise of the country bus and a wide range of local facilities.
Dacier
Monday, 13 July 2009
Citizen Professionals
Ever since I read and reviewed Here Comes Everybody: How Change Happens when People Come Together by Clay Sharky ( see book review in old blogs) I have been looking at events from a new viewpoint. Things usually change because the Government wants the change to go that way but it is not always clear who is prompting the moves for change. Interested parties, expediency, ignorance and intolerance can all underlie a move for change and government by the people becomes government by some of the people for all. Naturally the mechanics of doing it otherwise can become very complicated , but the power and creativity of the inter-net contains the seeds of alternative ways of doing things.
At one end of the spectrum are the events in China and Iran which show that the techno generations can be a bewildering force for the geriatric leaderships to grasp. Blaming foreign governments will not be an excuse which will protect them from a growing anger which sadly can end up with the oppression of a Burma of North Korea, but might just lead to disintegration. It might take fifty years or more but it will come, perhaps sooner as the internet expands and causes a more creative global politics than I can imagine. Like all forces it can go for the good or bad options, but with global survival an increasing issue, lets hope that self-preservation of the species will become a unifying force.
This leads to two small conclusions. With increasing youth unemployment, what does the internet offer. Although some may have reservations as to the standards of Blairite higher education, we are likely to have one of the best qualified unemployed group of young people we have ever seen. My advice is to take your chosen specialism further by going on-line. For writers finding that their are no jobs in journalism, put thought to key board and get started, possibly with others, to make your voice known. For lawyers with no training contract, or job, do the same. Being a participating citizen today needs some kind of legal qualification just to get some sense out of a dilatory local authority or an oppressive wheel clamping gang. Don’t get me started on garages and other so called services industries. More and more advice could be provided though self help groups who not only help but develop their expertise. I have no clear ideas how these could be developed for medics, scientists of various types, let alone accountants, but with so many young people being denied the chance to apply their chosen discipline, its up to them to get together and take up the challenge the internet provides.
The second conclusion thought is that the older generation of politicians in this country don’t seem to appreciate the power of the internet which is waiting to cause their fall. When Gerry Springer appeared on UK TV recently he pointed out that the older generation are disconnected from the techno-generation and that the new politics is gathering speed while the old politicians don’t get it. I would add that they are too busy out shopping for new feathers to line their nests with, rather than log on to these new ‘internet highway thingys’, as some might try to put it. So Happy 20th Anniversary World Wide Web thingy, they aint’t seen nothing yet!
Dacier
At one end of the spectrum are the events in China and Iran which show that the techno generations can be a bewildering force for the geriatric leaderships to grasp. Blaming foreign governments will not be an excuse which will protect them from a growing anger which sadly can end up with the oppression of a Burma of North Korea, but might just lead to disintegration. It might take fifty years or more but it will come, perhaps sooner as the internet expands and causes a more creative global politics than I can imagine. Like all forces it can go for the good or bad options, but with global survival an increasing issue, lets hope that self-preservation of the species will become a unifying force.
This leads to two small conclusions. With increasing youth unemployment, what does the internet offer. Although some may have reservations as to the standards of Blairite higher education, we are likely to have one of the best qualified unemployed group of young people we have ever seen. My advice is to take your chosen specialism further by going on-line. For writers finding that their are no jobs in journalism, put thought to key board and get started, possibly with others, to make your voice known. For lawyers with no training contract, or job, do the same. Being a participating citizen today needs some kind of legal qualification just to get some sense out of a dilatory local authority or an oppressive wheel clamping gang. Don’t get me started on garages and other so called services industries. More and more advice could be provided though self help groups who not only help but develop their expertise. I have no clear ideas how these could be developed for medics, scientists of various types, let alone accountants, but with so many young people being denied the chance to apply their chosen discipline, its up to them to get together and take up the challenge the internet provides.
The second conclusion thought is that the older generation of politicians in this country don’t seem to appreciate the power of the internet which is waiting to cause their fall. When Gerry Springer appeared on UK TV recently he pointed out that the older generation are disconnected from the techno-generation and that the new politics is gathering speed while the old politicians don’t get it. I would add that they are too busy out shopping for new feathers to line their nests with, rather than log on to these new ‘internet highway thingys’, as some might try to put it. So Happy 20th Anniversary World Wide Web thingy, they aint’t seen nothing yet!
Dacier
Saturday, 4 July 2009
Short Breaks and British Caterers
At the moment we don’t take long holidays, although we should. It can get a bit exhausting surrounded by 100 or more jobs waiting to be started, or in my case, to be finished. The absence of new blogs for a while is explained by the fact we took a short break to Somerset and North Devon.
Experiencing British vacation catering can be very amusing. Among our gems of messed up orders so far this season are, ‘No onions please’, we got onions, ‘Soup of the Day and Roll please’ no bread at all, ‘a salad sandwich please’, ditto. The last two in spite nearby bakers’ window bulging with perfectly good bread. Is all this just code for, ‘We can’t be bothered really’, or, ‘we are bored and will generally mess you about.’.
The trouble is that if you want a quiet time of rest and refreshment you are out of luck.. Take for example our wish for a late breakfast. Firstly, the promoted breakfast ‘special’ on the notice outside, which included fried bread was not on the menu at the table. The waitress insisted that we had to pay an extra 60p if we wanted fried bread even though all the other components were exactly the same. Reluctantly we ordered the extra, although in my case I substituted toast, also 60p. However, it still rankled and puzzled me so I asked for the menu to be explained by the proprietor who had just finished her fag break at one of the two outside tables. We eventually moved there as the restaurant itself was already above 25 c, possibly due to the fact that the old conservatory frontage had no roof lights and even if the rotary fan near its peak was working, it would only have delivered more hot air downwards.
. Apparently it was because it was a new menu and we would not be charged the extra 60p for the fried bread. I held my peace re the toast and looked forward to the bill. I was not disappointed. The meal as stated on the menu was charged the same as the special offer plus the cost of the toast, which had now become an extra £1 not the 60p! Again, the proprietor was approached and it was a mistake. I cut a lengthy explanation short by saying that with the two special breakfasts plus the coffees I was prepared to pay £13.80 and no more and proffered a £20 note. This was accepted and the waitress got my change from the till. It was a pound short! Needless to say my protests led to a correction. I wished the proprietor a good summer and left. These errors could not be put down to the level of custom. There were only two other customers when we turned up so the mistakes were not due to them being busy. We should have seen what was coming because a mistake over their bill was being sorted as we walked in.
Our final experience of British hospitality was to visit a rather posh hotel on Exmoor. Two elderly ladies who had booked a table, after deliberating over the blackboard specials, were warned as they went to place their order, that a table of fifteen had arrived un-announced and had now ordered. Consequently whatever they ordered would take some time. Since they were worried about eating late, they left. When I asked for a dish of olives and some bread this was also impossible. The place looked pretty quiet for 7.45 pm on a Sunday when food was only served until 8.30 pm. What was the point of booking? Come to that, what is the point of some of these so called ‘hospitality’ preofessionals? Our best meals were at a seafront chippy and a tapas bar, so it was not all bad news.
Dacier
Experiencing British vacation catering can be very amusing. Among our gems of messed up orders so far this season are, ‘No onions please’, we got onions, ‘Soup of the Day and Roll please’ no bread at all, ‘a salad sandwich please’, ditto. The last two in spite nearby bakers’ window bulging with perfectly good bread. Is all this just code for, ‘We can’t be bothered really’, or, ‘we are bored and will generally mess you about.’.
The trouble is that if you want a quiet time of rest and refreshment you are out of luck.. Take for example our wish for a late breakfast. Firstly, the promoted breakfast ‘special’ on the notice outside, which included fried bread was not on the menu at the table. The waitress insisted that we had to pay an extra 60p if we wanted fried bread even though all the other components were exactly the same. Reluctantly we ordered the extra, although in my case I substituted toast, also 60p. However, it still rankled and puzzled me so I asked for the menu to be explained by the proprietor who had just finished her fag break at one of the two outside tables. We eventually moved there as the restaurant itself was already above 25 c, possibly due to the fact that the old conservatory frontage had no roof lights and even if the rotary fan near its peak was working, it would only have delivered more hot air downwards.
. Apparently it was because it was a new menu and we would not be charged the extra 60p for the fried bread. I held my peace re the toast and looked forward to the bill. I was not disappointed. The meal as stated on the menu was charged the same as the special offer plus the cost of the toast, which had now become an extra £1 not the 60p! Again, the proprietor was approached and it was a mistake. I cut a lengthy explanation short by saying that with the two special breakfasts plus the coffees I was prepared to pay £13.80 and no more and proffered a £20 note. This was accepted and the waitress got my change from the till. It was a pound short! Needless to say my protests led to a correction. I wished the proprietor a good summer and left. These errors could not be put down to the level of custom. There were only two other customers when we turned up so the mistakes were not due to them being busy. We should have seen what was coming because a mistake over their bill was being sorted as we walked in.
Our final experience of British hospitality was to visit a rather posh hotel on Exmoor. Two elderly ladies who had booked a table, after deliberating over the blackboard specials, were warned as they went to place their order, that a table of fifteen had arrived un-announced and had now ordered. Consequently whatever they ordered would take some time. Since they were worried about eating late, they left. When I asked for a dish of olives and some bread this was also impossible. The place looked pretty quiet for 7.45 pm on a Sunday when food was only served until 8.30 pm. What was the point of booking? Come to that, what is the point of some of these so called ‘hospitality’ preofessionals? Our best meals were at a seafront chippy and a tapas bar, so it was not all bad news.
Dacier
Friday, 3 July 2009
Country Driving: (Pt.II)
Having recently endured the thrills of Devonshire sunken lanes and the rock faces of the descent into Lynmouth I am even more puzzled why people drive as though they are the only people likely to be using the so called country road they are on. The hazards round the corner are many and dangerous. Take your pick from a straw trailer, horse box, stock lorry, heating fuel tanker, feed lorry, pre-mix cement tanker, and sludge emptier.
The white van driver trying to hit all his delivery targets also awaits. Those who send these poor souls out into the unknown think that the timings can be the same as in town. As we have few streets there are no street names, house and farm signs are not guaranteed, and in any case, the houses and farms may lie hidden down even narrower lanes and tracks. We can now spot a lost driver of this type. The most frustrated could have been driving round in circles for an hour or more with little help from Sat Nav which has no qualms in sending articulated lorries by routes where wing mirrors become hedge trimmers. Other road users include riders, pedestrians and cyclists. Often these are unsuspecting holiday makers who are unprepared for the petrol head holiday maker or youngster who has no fear.
On the other hand pedestrians are no better. Of course this is an oversimplification because most pedestrians are in fact drivers but their mental partitioning is impressive. As we approached the Lynmouth cark park under the cliff at a stately 10 miles an hour the worst hazards were drivers making their way into the town by walking in the middle of the road, sometimes backwards whilst beckoning other members of their party, or spread right across the road while trying to read the parking charges. Tempting though it was to sound the horn this was thought inappropriate as some of the obstructions seemed more than capable of staging a heart attack.
There is still some good driving to be had but it has to be done in the more rugged terrains such as on the moors or higher parts of Wales. With the school holidays and the inexplicable demise of the reverse gear we shall soon be grounded until September when school goes back and only the grey market holiday makers have to be guarded against, until autumn really kicks in with a few westerly gales.
Dacier
The white van driver trying to hit all his delivery targets also awaits. Those who send these poor souls out into the unknown think that the timings can be the same as in town. As we have few streets there are no street names, house and farm signs are not guaranteed, and in any case, the houses and farms may lie hidden down even narrower lanes and tracks. We can now spot a lost driver of this type. The most frustrated could have been driving round in circles for an hour or more with little help from Sat Nav which has no qualms in sending articulated lorries by routes where wing mirrors become hedge trimmers. Other road users include riders, pedestrians and cyclists. Often these are unsuspecting holiday makers who are unprepared for the petrol head holiday maker or youngster who has no fear.
On the other hand pedestrians are no better. Of course this is an oversimplification because most pedestrians are in fact drivers but their mental partitioning is impressive. As we approached the Lynmouth cark park under the cliff at a stately 10 miles an hour the worst hazards were drivers making their way into the town by walking in the middle of the road, sometimes backwards whilst beckoning other members of their party, or spread right across the road while trying to read the parking charges. Tempting though it was to sound the horn this was thought inappropriate as some of the obstructions seemed more than capable of staging a heart attack.
There is still some good driving to be had but it has to be done in the more rugged terrains such as on the moors or higher parts of Wales. With the school holidays and the inexplicable demise of the reverse gear we shall soon be grounded until September when school goes back and only the grey market holiday makers have to be guarded against, until autumn really kicks in with a few westerly gales.
Dacier
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Big is Generally Ugly
Having analysed the political flyers for the EU elections and seeing we now have two BNP representatives I have reached a conclusion as to how I feel about the EU. In theory it looked quite a good idea back in the sixties when Gen DeGaulle didn’t want us in. When the UK went in without a vote it seemed worth a punt. When we voted to stay in without really knowing what we were voting for, some thought, well were in, it looks a bit early to get out. Some 25 years later we are still in, but we are now part of an unsustainable structure which like the universe is constantly expanding from the big bang that set it in motion, World War II. I now fear we are the human debris settling to the ground in the dust of ignorance. Judging by the EU election leaflets, and the results, I think that is the condition which many politicians and bureaucrats prefer. Or, it could be, that being a bit stupid themselves, they have no idea how to reverse that state of ignorance. Since rulers prefer ignorance I doubt this latter point.
I have always suspected big organisations. They usually seem to concentrate rather too many unpleasant people at the point of the pyramid. This might be sour grapes on my part, having never been invited to rise to such lofty heights. On the other hand I am sufficiently arrogant to think that I could hardly do a worse job, and I could do with the money. Many years ago I was at a meeting when one of the lightweights who was busily floating skyward to the summit of the pyramid, pointed out with all the gravitas he could muster, which wasn’t a lot at the best of times, ‘Ya know, some of you had better realise that small is no longer beautiful’. At the time I suspected he was getting at some of us greener types, thinking we were green behind the ears rather than in our life style expectations. Alternatively he could have been reading ‘Readers Digest’.
Coming from such a person this shallow prose has been enduring proof for the last thirty years that I was right to suspect big cars, building projects and super constitutional arrangements, and even big ideas, as something which for the most part can have ugly, not beautiful outcomes. I am glad to say that Mr Gravitas minor rose to the top of a rather small pyramid in a rather small pond, so perhaps he now realises that small is rather beautiful after all.
And that is how I think about the EU as presently constructed and operated. Since the political parties can’t present specific arguments for or against I shall take refuge in the following small but not beautiful thought. In the short term the EU might be able to better regulate the environmental disaster we have created for ourselves, it might be able to improve the welfare of the masses, but in the long term I fear it’s massive superstructure will drift away from them, taking democratic principles with it before crashing down in a pile of expensive political masonry. This is not to say the European idea should be abandoned. It is more a case of recognising the dangers of high rise living and seeking a return to more humane, co-operative living. Now that would be beautiful.
Dacier
I have always suspected big organisations. They usually seem to concentrate rather too many unpleasant people at the point of the pyramid. This might be sour grapes on my part, having never been invited to rise to such lofty heights. On the other hand I am sufficiently arrogant to think that I could hardly do a worse job, and I could do with the money. Many years ago I was at a meeting when one of the lightweights who was busily floating skyward to the summit of the pyramid, pointed out with all the gravitas he could muster, which wasn’t a lot at the best of times, ‘Ya know, some of you had better realise that small is no longer beautiful’. At the time I suspected he was getting at some of us greener types, thinking we were green behind the ears rather than in our life style expectations. Alternatively he could have been reading ‘Readers Digest’.
Coming from such a person this shallow prose has been enduring proof for the last thirty years that I was right to suspect big cars, building projects and super constitutional arrangements, and even big ideas, as something which for the most part can have ugly, not beautiful outcomes. I am glad to say that Mr Gravitas minor rose to the top of a rather small pyramid in a rather small pond, so perhaps he now realises that small is rather beautiful after all.
And that is how I think about the EU as presently constructed and operated. Since the political parties can’t present specific arguments for or against I shall take refuge in the following small but not beautiful thought. In the short term the EU might be able to better regulate the environmental disaster we have created for ourselves, it might be able to improve the welfare of the masses, but in the long term I fear it’s massive superstructure will drift away from them, taking democratic principles with it before crashing down in a pile of expensive political masonry. This is not to say the European idea should be abandoned. It is more a case of recognising the dangers of high rise living and seeking a return to more humane, co-operative living. Now that would be beautiful.
Dacier
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