Earth Day - 22 April

Today April 22 is Earth Day and in the usual way I find out about these things it was because Google has redesigned their logo for the day.

According to wikipedia earth day is a day to inspire awareness and appreciation for the earth's environment. First observed in 1970 now it hardly breaks the news (at least round here, except google of course).

So lets take a second and think of something beautiful in our environment that we might want to protect for future generations.

For me the humble cherry tree and the humble bumble bee, two things that are natures marvels and without protection, life would be a little bit less bearable. I for one would not want to be old telling my grandchildren that in my youth we had cherry trees with blossom just like confetti and we had bees that went buzz and made honey. If that future comes to pass, as an old man I could not bear to speak of what precious things we took for granted and lost on the tarmac path to progress. In my old age I want to sit under the cherry tree letting the blossom fall against my wrinkled skin as the bees buzz round the granchildren and me. I would want to reflect on the sea change in the first few years of the 21st century that lead to sustainable growth policies which worked in harmony with nature.

Think Tank - New ideas for the 21st Century - Your call up the civil action squad (The Sunday Times)

Charlie Edwards writing for the times suggests it is time for a civil protection volunteer force (CVPF). I have to say the name is quite important and the acronym even more so, I may have to think of something more suitable by the end of the article.

Not a month goes by where there is not an emergency in the UK. In almost every case emergencies threaten to overwhelm local and national resources, whether it be the emergency services or local councils. Most emergencies are dealt with by bringing in all available staff and working long hours. In the worst case with a prolonged disaster or emergency operation this would not work. Most organisation can only deal with an incident over the short term until national or more resources can be brought in. Alternatively due to the stretched resources emergency services sometimes only deal with life threatening emergencies.

According to Charlie this is why politicians from across the political spectrum are calling for a new civil protection force. A network or organisation of volunteers that are prepared for the threats and risks to the population.

I think Charlie has hit the nail right on the head. I work for a government organisation, part of which deals with emergency situations such as the snowstorms in Jan / Feb. I work in HR, while the snow storms were raging and one part of the organisation was struggling to cope with the unfolding crisis I was just struggling to get to work and all I did when I got there was to do the same as I ever do. In fact if there was an even worse crisis, as far as I know there is no official plan to redeploy me to the operational side of the organisation. There is a staff helpline to call in case of emergency but I have no idea what I might be told apart from to report to my nearest local office where I would, I guess, be given a job to do but as I am untrained in any useful task how much use would I actually be?

So my first point is that any public sector organisation which has any kind of an involvement in an emergency situation should have plans to redeploy all their staff to where the operational demand is greatest. In a sense all staff should have a secondary post which they would deploy to in a given emergency. Admittedly you might have a different post for each type of emergency but when the call goes out either in advance or as it happens, on national tv and radio you would know exactly what you would have to do and where to report to. Even if this was done on a voluntary basis it would double the capacity of these organisations to deal with incidents.

What Charlie suggests could double the capacity again with the a team of volunteers specifically trained to deal with emergency situations. The real fourth emergency service. I have been thinking about this and in a sense it is a civilian army. You might have the following platoons or units.

Command and Control: High level command and control officers to direct the volunteer response and liaise with other agencies.

General grunts: Units of extra people who would be an extra pair of hands, they could help out with anything.

Engineering corp: Builders, plumbers, electricians and anyone with any building or labouring experience.

Medical corp: all of the usual doctors, nurses, first aiders etc.

IT corp: Special IT units to repair IT infrastructure

Transportation corp: A vast fleet of lorries and drivers that could be co-opted in an emergency. Also cars, boats, helicopters and planes.

All of the corps could be trained to a basic level such as first aid and basic disaster management perhaps with specific courses for each type of incident. The Command and control and team leaders would receive specialist training courses to prepare them for emergency management. In terms of training compare the corps with the TA, every member would given up say 15 days a year to complete training.

The role of the corps would be simple, protect life and limb, support the emergency services and restore critical infrastructure and supply lines quickly. Some of this would include supervising other volunteer organisations with the command and control units representing and co-coordinating all volunteer help. On this, having just one contact for all volunteer help will make it easier for the emergency services and easier to co-ordinate a volunteer response to incidents.

This would strengthen our response to any incident and increase the safety and security of our communities. Ultimately it would save lives and perhaps make us appreciate the emergency services for the hard jobs they do and perhaps even help us to take responsibility for our own actions in an emergency so that the emergency services can deal with those really in need.

And finally, all we need to do is come up with a name and an acronym, how about the Civil response Emergency Volunteers (CREV). OK may need to work on that one some more.

One last thing, count me in, I will be happy to be part of the command and control unit to help supervise the deployment of CREV in an emergency.

Petrol, major rail projects and poor government policy

Gordon Brown is busy at the G20 summit trying to push a spending agenda to bring the world out of recession.

On the same day Gordon is saying that, there are two minor stories to suggest that he might need to get his own house in order before telling the world what to do. This is not to suggest I don't agree with Gordon's plan to use government spending to boost the economy but that doesn't stop me pointing out what are really some quick wins that have been missed.

After all the role of the voter is to hold the government to account.

Fuel Duty

Today there was a 2p rise in fuel duty which had been planned all the way back in November at the beginning of our darkest months / downturn / credit crunch whatever those media people want to call it today. I fundamentally agree that the price of fuel should reflect the true cost of car use in terms of the environment and emissions.

What I would argue is that the duty rise should have been postponed by six months. This is coming at a time when consumers and businesses are already suffering from a squeeze on their finances. This is just a kick in the teeth.

It is also money that will go straight into the treasury rather than be used on the high street. Think of it as a Vat rate cut in reverse, if you reverse the argument that the government used for the Vat cut then surely putting on the fuel duty raise will take money out of people's pockets and therefore stifle economic growth.

Taxation is often about smoke and mirrors but this is perhaps a step too far.

Major rail projects

A big aspect of the agenda is to invest in capital projects, several of which could be major transportation and railway projects. The good news is that the government nationalised the infrastructure of UK railways some time ago. So all it would have to do is loan money at very favourable rates which could be spent on major projects. There are lots of projects to spend the money on as well, several projects are in the planning stages and the government could bring several forward or just create new projects. The railways will happily make use of any money that the government cares to give it.

So are they doing it? The article would suggest probably not. Jarvis one of the main railway contractors who work on infrastructure projects has just cut 450 jobs citing network rail spending reductions as a trigger. Network rail have delayed projects and reduced spending causing a downturn in business for Jarvis and therefore Jarvis are having to trim there business to suit the new economic climate.

So if the government are not putting money into planned existing capital projects where exactly are they going spending this money they keep on talking about?

Great British Disaster movies

Yesterday I may have perhaps suggested there was no such thing as a genre of British disaster movies, so here are a few suggestions that might make up the Genre.

Great British End of the world / Disaster movies - A list in no specific order of anything in particular

Flood (2007) - Its coming straight for us.

A Freak North Sea super storm threatens London leaving Robert Carlyle to save the day.

28 days later (2002)

Virus sweeps the UK wiping out most of the UK population, this is the story of survivors

The Day of the triffids (1962)

99% of the population go blind and rabid aliens (experimental plants in the book) take advantage and start attacking people.

28 weeks later (2007) - It all begins again.

Robert Carlyle in another disaster movie has survived the original version of the virus from 28 days later (he wasn't in the original film) gets rescued only for the virus to escape yet again.

Shaun of the dead (2004) - It's just one of those days when you're feeling a little...dead.

A now undisputed cult horror comedy, British and best, Hollywood could not write and certainly would not produce a movie like this. No list would be complete without Shaun of the dead.

Population of London catch a virus, die and then return from the dead to eat the living. Shaun and friends must survive and escape.

Conclusion

After that I cant really think of any more British disaster movies and five films hardly makes a genre, however if anyone can think of any more I shall add them to the list, over to you Bobbicus.

Gone in 90 Seconds (New Scientist)

In searching around for something to write an article about I return to an old favourite of "the end of the world". This is one that keeps popping up every so often and is about how susceptible our electricity transmission grid is to solar storms. Its not just the electricity network either, its satellites and communication systems.

Of course there is a bit of movie fake realism to the start of the article, you can imagine movie voice over man coming on and saying:

"It was a time when our best friend became our worst enemy... it was a time when the life giving light became the plague of darkness...mankind at its darkness hour... a future in which people fear the dawn... Solar Storm 2012 coming soon to a screen near you. Certificate 15 with mild violence and on screen nudity."

Any way ... returning to reality and the new scientist article they have a much more sensible scene setter:

"It is midnight on 22 September 2012 and the skies above Manhattan are filled with a flickering curtain of colourful light. Few New Yorkers have seen the aurora this far south and their fascination is short - lived. Within a few seconds, electric bulbs (note from zephyrist: is that as opposed to gas bulbs?) dim and flicker, then become unusually bright for a fleeting moment (Another note from zephyrist: or in one word "blow"). Then all the lights in the state go out. Within 90 seconds the entire eastern half of the US is without power."

Just like in Hollywood the rest of the world doesn't seem to exist as usual the world ends in New York. Seriously can a UK director not come up with an end of the world film set in Bristol or something that isn't cheesy or just a comedy. Why is the British film industry based on period dramas or rom-coms with Hugh Grant or cheap comedies or gritty low budget crime thrillers. Where is the British block buster disaster movie?

Any way back to New Scientist again, rather than just a ramble through a myriad of thoughts about nothing much in particular.

The article goes on to mention 3 big hits about the days and years after the solar storm when the electricity network fails in the US:

4-10 years for the US to recover
72 hours of healthcare remaining
30 days of coal left (although if no power grid why would you need coal for power stations)

A Solar storm will spew out plasma balls from the surface of the sun which will hurtle towards earth and create a massive interference with the earth's magnetic field which in turn induce currents in wires of the electricity grid. Which will in effect overload the system blowing virtually every transformer in the system. With few spares and every transformer needing to be replaced it could take up to 12 months to manufacture and replace them. In the mean time how would we survive without a fully functioning grid network. Every aspect of our lives from fuel, transport, food, healthcare, water and heat depend on the electricity grid. It would be the end of the world as we know it.

Such events have happened before all be it before technology was so embedded in life. In 1859 the Carrrington event disrupted telegraph networks across the globe. In 1989 six million people went without electricity for 9 hours in Quebec during a minor storm.

Solar storms follow a cycle and the next maximum after this current period of calm is expected in 2012 and the question that new scientist asks is are we prepared?

We do have NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer(ACE) which can give us up to 15 minutes of warning before a solar storm hits, just enough time to minimise the effects of a solar storm on an electricity grid. However, ACE is coming to the end of its life, it becomes less reliable as time goes on and eventually it will fail. With no imminent replacement on the cards our early warning system would be gone and we might loose our last chance to avoid planetary disaster and the end of the first technological age of mankind.

Until then lets face the moonlight and dance...

February and the Customer Service Manual

February

It has to be said I cant remember much of February, I have worked two Saturdays out of the last three weeks, my full time day job, two evenings and for the last week I have had a really rotten cold. It amazed me quite how much snot a human can produce, at its peak I could have been selling two pints of snot a day.

Anyway I can now feel myself returning to normal and hopefully march should not be so bad.

The Customer Service Manual

I was in homebase shopping for light bulbs in my ongoing campaign to replace all the light bulbs in my house for energy efficient bulbs. The campaign is going well, all normal bulbs have been replaced and at homebase I secured replacements for the candle bulbs in my art deco lamp which just leaves some GU10 halogens and some R50 spots to be replaced. All can be replaced its just a question of finding a shop that sells the right bulbs.

Hence my trip to homebase which I have to say if you want a 60W replacement bulb which is a standard energy efficient stick then they have enough to refurbish Buckingham Palace. Everywhere you turned there seemed to be a bottomless 1 m square bucket. If that is repeated in every homebase in the UK then homebase must have billions of them, which given they last ten years is a bit pointless. Have I uncovered the great European Lightbulb mountain, are they unable to turn off the machine that makes them and every shop in the UK is having to hide them instore to avoid a national calamity?

If you want any other kind of bulb they had a few bits and pieces but no GU10 replacements or R50 replacements. Eventually I gave up and headed to the till with two candle bulbs, a plant and a pair of oven gloves.

The Checkout assistant had obviously been on the mandatory customer service course and was well briefed on the Customer Service Manual. The Conversation went as follows:

Checkout: Did you find everything you needed today?
Me: No, I was looking for some lightbulbs but your selection is a bit rubbish at the moment.
Checkout: Yes our selection is a bit rubbish at the moment.

Great, so the trick is to agree with the customer. The manual probably states sympathise or affirm the customer's comment to give them validation.

Although in this case they actually achieved less than nothing. Good Customer Service might have been to ask me what I had been looking for and would I like them to order some for me, or hold some when the next order came in. No, they let a slightly peeved customer walk off into the sunset. I will pop back there another time to see if they have the light bulbs back in stock but chances are they wont and so I will just have to order them off the internet.

If you are trying to improve customer service a half hearted by the book attempt is worse than nothing at all.

Snow watch snow day

Wow for the first time since I moved to Oxfordshire I have been unable to get to work by public transport. It was touch and go yesterday with a bus finally turning up. Today the bus turned up got half way there and then the bus drivers says the service is being suspended due to the heavy snow and it was heavy and they would be turning back so we would not get stranded. I would think I must have been on one of the last running buses in Oxfordshire this morning. Services were suspended at 0945 and I think I got back about 0900.

"Updated 06/02/09 0945

All services except the Oxford Tube have been suspended due to heavy snow."

-Oxfordshire Stagecoach buses website.

So here I am having a snow day, so who knows what I will get upto. Probably more posts later.

What a snow week

Well what a week it has been, finally got a solid three inches of snow last night, lots of good powder snow to wake up to this morning. It was the good fall of snow that was forecast in the linked article. Ok so Oxfordshire only made 3 inches but it was still good and who knows what tonight will bring.

Some useful tips from the AA in that article:

"If you are driving along and you cannot hear your wheels turning that probably means you are on ice."

-AA spokesperson

Of course there are other options that can be considered in such an eventuality if you are not on ice:

"If you are driving along and you cannot hear your wheels turning that probably means all that nagging about driving too fast by your passenger has finally burst your eardrum."

"If you are driving along and you cannot hear your wheels turning that probably means that your car is flying into open space having just driven over a cliff edge obscured by snow."

"If you are driving along and you cannot hear your wheels turning that probably means that the RAF have just airlifted another damn fool that tried to drive to work in 10 inches of snow."

"If you are driving along and you cannot hear your wheels turning that probably means that the hamster has run out of energy."

"If you are driving along and you cannot hear your wheels turning that probably means that you have adapted and installed skies on your car."

"If you are driving along and you cannot hear your wheels turning that probably means that your dreaming of the days when the roads were gritted."

I could go on, but I wont. By the way the standard disclaimer applies, these sounded funny in my head by the time they escaped out onto the internet they may have been the equivalent of a pair of Bermuda shorts in a snow storm. Just not funny or cool.

Then Barry Gromett, forecaster at the Met Office, indicates he needs to go back to college when he suggests:

"We're certainly not out of the woods yet"

I personally wasn't aware I was in a wood. Perhaps he means that next we will get a heavy wood storm with logflakes as big as your fist. Mr Cliche himself goes on to talking about fighting and cooking:

"It looks like the cold air will win the battle and it's a recipe for some more snow. "

The Winston Churchill / Gordon Ramsey approach to weather forecasting. We shall fight snow on the beaches, we shall fight snow on the landing grounds, we shall fight snow in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight snow in the hills; we shall never surrender unless you live in Gloucestershire in which case you surrender when you run out of salt. The Gordon Ramsey recipe approach of seasoning the snow with a bit of salt and some grit for texture just wont work any more. Plus the Gordon Ramsey approach of shouting at and shaming the snow is just a waste of time .

That it for now, I am off to battle the camera for some snow pictures which may be a recipe for blogging success.

More Snow heading our way

From Wednesday night through Thursday and Friday we can expect more heavy snow including a low risk of an exceptionally severe weather event in Oxfordshire, whatever that means. Although indications would suggest that it means between 10-20 cm of snow.

Watch this space. Photos from the early part of the week to follow soon.

Cold snap with possible snow showers ahead

Now we are moving into the traditional snow season the met office is making an early forecast for snow showers across the UK on Monday and a moderate chance of a severe weather event for the east coast.

Barack Obama: History Beckons

As the weight of history begins to settle around the shoulders of the first African-American President, the world waits with anticipation. The world has had a long wait and it now expects the change that has been promised to be delivered.

UK Parallels

In the past other leaders in the world have been elected on a agenda of change. That election was described as:

"an asteroid hitting the planet and destroying practically all life on Earth"

- Professor Anthony King, Essex University professor of government. (Source:wikipedia)

The election was the UK 1997 general election, Tony Blair and "new labour" promised an end to boom and bust, an end to Tory misrule and a return to government for the people and by the people.

The election was won due to Tony's charisma and a modernisation change agenda. Ok so there is a vast difference between the UK and the US but there are interesting parallels that can be drawn.

In 2007 Tony Blair left office in disgrace, the change agenda almost forgotten, and with Tony hated for his part in the IRAQ war and the "war on terror". In 4 0r 8 years is it possible that Barack will be leaving office in disgrace?

A future crisis

At some point in the future the Obama Presidency will be faced with a domestic or international crisis which hits hard and develops fast. Inaction would result in death and destruction and decisions must be taken based on incomplete and potentially unverifiable data. In other words it will be very hard to make the right decisive decision and history will be left to judge if it is the right one.

What will happen if a major hurricane like Katrina visits the US or another major terrorist incident like 9 /11. History will judge how a president reacts to such crisis but history neglects to mentions the pressures and realities on the day.

President Obama faces an immense day to day challenge as President of the USA but these events will be where true leadership is needed.

Hope

The hopes of the US nation and the world are not unfounded. Today we o stand on the edge of the beginning of the longest journey for change. The journey will not be easy, it will not be completed in one lifetime but it will be started and it will be completed because the world is united and committed to the future.

The inaugural address

Obama spoke with a certain amount of humility, how often do you hear the president of the United States declare:

"Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age."

It is very un-American to admit a weakness but in these times of global economic crisis perhaps it would have been naive and unrealistic not to have recommended the fundamental weakness that exist in the previously blemish free capitalist dream.

"...and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. "

Another reference to a much anticipated change in policy at the white house from an oil driven anti environment stance to sustainable development stance. This is definitely one issue where Obama and the US can make history. As one of the biggest CO2 emitters in the world the US has previously not engaged with environmental concerns always citing the threat and cost of reducing emissions against the health of the economy. At one point the US was even in the camp of believing that emissions would naturally reduce as technology improved. The US has not lead by example but with President Obama this is likely to change as Obama leads the world in the fight to save the environment.

"On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics. "

Whenever I read a statement like that the cynic in me takes over, every politician since the year dot, has trotted out worn out phrases, in America one favourite is proclaiming an end of bipartisan politics. So Barack may well seek to end the strangulation of politics but he will have a hard fight on his hands as people will very cynically return to type. This is not to underestimate his commitment and will to get the job done. I have high hopes but it needs to more than rhetoric.

I do like his speech, he does a great section of the speech talking about the people that have gone before and about why America is so great. From an American perspective it is a very passionate patriotic speak that really talks up the past, present and future of America.

Obama really does talk of a solid reform agenda in all aspects of American life and where America leads in areas such as the environment the world will naturally follow.

"They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint."

Another quote that resonates with humility and respect. A signal that what America has always know but never seemed to quite believe in, that is there are other means other than guns and war to settle differences. Perhaps Obama will invigorate world democracy through and with the UN with a fresh lead in how our difference can be resolved.

"We will not apologise for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defence, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you. "

As the world's last super power it was predictable that with any overture or expression of peaceful intention would have to be tempered by a reminder to those that think they make take advantage of this that if necessary America will fight back, America cannot be beaten and if necessary America will defeat any enemy that seeks combat.

"...but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment - a moment that will define a generation - it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all."

A reminder of the value to any country that those that choose to serve for the public good make one of the biggest contributions a person can make. A return to those values will no doubt help Obama to change the world for the betterment of all mankind.

One final sentiment which is going to echo round the globe as a new era of hope starts.

"So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have travelled. "

Snow Watch 08/09

Well no more weather warnings on the met office and mere hints at possible snow at some unspecified point during the week.

Avid Snow watchers will know that this means anything could happen but probably wont.

Snow Watch 08/09 Leg 4 ( 01/01 to 19/01 summary)

I am a bit behind this month so this is a catch up summary for snow events.

05/01/09 (sorry for mobile pictures, main camera ran out of battery power)


Aliens have landed in North Oxfordshire, they are hiding just round the corner. Those four lights are round the edge of the saucer estimated to be approx 30m across.
(ok maybe its street lights with a car just round the corner)







More evidence of snow in a north oxfordshire village.








07/01/09

There was a light dusting on the seventh which started to show up on the tarmac for a few minutes. Picture taken from a bus.








Week commencing 19 January 2009

Well on Thursday / Friday the met office had a yellow alert out for a possible severe snow event effecting the whole of England. As usual in cases of snow as it got closer to the day the threat diminished and there are currently no snow warning in force for England for this week. However, there is a good chance of some snow fall in the South of England this week, so keep your eyes peeled. Further updates will be posted... watch this space.

Clegg joins attack on VAT waste (BBC)

The political parties have taken every opportunity to criticise the Brown / Darling VAT plan. On the face of it you may think the whole thing is too small to make a difference but scientific studies have been done on whether it is better to give tax back as a big lump or as small amounts. I wrote about the research in 2008.

The VAT reduction is the equivalent of receiving lots of small amounts. Rather than save the money I just spend it again, injecting money back into the economy, in affect reducing my vat burden has given me more money to spend. This money will be spent across the whole economy saving jobs in all sectors until like capital investment / infrastructure projects which injects cash through a trickle down affect from some sectors into some other sectors.

I guess Nick Clegg has not read the research as he would want to spend the £12.5 bn on capital projects in schools and hospitals. A good idea and there is no reason why you cant also do this as well but it wont put money back into the economy through the pocket of every person in the UK and it does not reduce the pressure on the public at the time when we need all the help we can get.

The Lib Dems even tried to get the VAT reduction overturned. Sorry Mr Clegg although I usually support you I think the VAT reduction was a good innovative policy backed up by scientific research. Ultimatly it puts more money in my pocket and into all sectors of the economy which as I am sure you agree is a good thing.

You can say a lot about Gordon Brown and Alaister Darling but they do seem to know what they are doing with the economy and they are not afraid to try new and innnovative approaches.

The Review of 2008

Well what a year 2008 was, a grand total of 94 posts starting with the review of 2007 and ending with the great beaver escape.

With 94 posts I kept a nice solid average of 1.8 articles per week and although I was trying to get to 100 articles I didn't want to push it and I am very happy with the final result.

Snow watch continued through the early part of the year with lots of false starts and only the odd snow flake. However in November / December there were also some false starts making the 2008/09 season look slightly more promising.

In February I was woken from sleep by my first ever earth quake. In April I talked about my little theory of how really only one person is needed to decide a political election. In May one of my only two articles that month was an open letter to Steven Spielberg telling him how he could have done the new Indiana Jones movie Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) properly. In June there was a story about the first beaver dam in the UK.

In July I wrote about the rise of the urban shepherd. In August I wrote perhaps the best joke article of the year where I lampooned research about hearing pictures on the computer screen. In September I approached the entire range of subjects usually covered in my blogging including a playlet entitled "Single for Bicester Town". In October the credit crunch was really hitting hard and I wrote several articles about the capitalist economic model and the folly of chasing continuous growth. In November I wrote about the new tradition of the emergency Christmas box. Then finally in December just before Christmas I reviewed a heart warming best seller about mans best friend.

What a year it has been and what potential 2009 has for so much more.

Happy new year and have a good 2009.

And Finally: Nice work Mr Beaver (BBC)

It is a tradition in some countries including the UK / US to have an "And finally" story which is usually some cute or funny story to make the hellish world that has just been covered in the main news more bearable.

It is also tradition at least in the UK for the classic film called "The Great Escape" to be shown on tv at Christmas. This film tells the story of a daring escape of British prisoners of war escaping from a prison camp in Germany during World War 2.

Both of these thoughts will help me round off 2008 with the story of the Beaver great escape. In October 3 Beavers escaped from a farm in Devon, UK. Two were apprehended quite quickly but the third male beaver remains on the loose.

From the pictures on the news article he has really gone to town on some local trees. In a sense you have to admire his workmanship, he has done a better job than a man with a large chainsaw.

Apparently the beavers are licensed and are generally part of a wildlife photography business. They escaped through an electric fence and although the exact escape plan is unknown it is assumed the fence failed during local flooding allowing the beavers to escape.

"The names Beaver, James Beaver, licensed to log trees."

-Escaped Beaver talking to the local press.

They know where the beaver lives and are currently trying to entrap it with "honey pots" which are laced with female beaver scent and a gin & tonic shaken not stirred.

The interesting point that this does raise is that originally Beavers were native in the UK, so this is an interesting case study into what might happen if beavers were re-introduced. Although the area of release would have to be carefully chosen as the video suggests that many land owners would not be happy with a beaver on their land.

Well Mr Beaver, I salute you, keep up the good work.

Marley & Me

If you have ever loved a dog you need to read this book. It will bring back fond memories, you will laugh and you will cry. A book about a 97 pound bright yellow Labrador which grows from a fur ball to a force of nature. The book follows the ups, downs, heels and "incomings!" of life through the eyes and mostly tongue of a happy go lucky Labrador and the family that grows up around it.

Everyone that has every owned their own dog will find something in this book and everyone that thinks about owning a dog will find out what they have been missing.

I laughed and cried in this book, and one of my favourite snippets which just typifies a dog who just does what they want to, regardless, is when the dog features in a film. The whole scene is about a dog getting out the car with its family.

"Take one: The Van pulls to the curb. The instant the daughter slides open the side door, a yellow streak shoots out like a giant fur ball being fired from a cannon and blurs past the cameras trailing a red lead...
Take two: The Van pulls to the curb. The door slides open. The daughter is just beginning to exit when Marley huffs into view and leaps out past her this time dragging the white-knuckled and white-faced boy behind him...
Take three: The Van pulls up. The door slides open. The daughter exits. The boy exits, holding the leash. As he steps away from the van the leash pulls taut, stretching back inside, but no dog follows...
Take four ...The Van pulls to the curb. The door slides open. The daughter steps out. The boy steps out but with a bewildered look on his face. He peers directly into the camera and holds up his hand. Dangling from it is half the leash, its end jagged and wet with saliva."

- Extract from "Marley & Me" by John Grogan

I guess the one thing that everyone can see is their own dog in that. I remember Nobby the mad springer spaniel who would follow commands only if he felt like it, would get out of the car always first even if it meant jumping over everyone else in the car and who would always pull at his lead even if it was sometimes dragging you home when he was bored of walking.

I am so glad I finally got round to reading the book, I had been putting it off for ages, if you are doing the same then I urge you not to delay and pick it up now, you wont put it down.

To dogs and dog lovers the world over, cheers to best friends.

Has Obama made his first blunder? (BBC)

Cynical journalism raises its ugly head at the BBC. Usually I have a lot of respect for opinion articles from "our own correspondent" but occasionally they do get it wrong.

This is a very cynical piece of writing about President in waiting Obama and his recent choice to make Hilary Clinton his Secretary of State. Justin Webb, the BBC North America Editor suggests that this is his first mistake of his new presidency. The press is eagerly awaiting his first mistake like a pack of vultures waiting for a lion to die of dehydration in the desert. So, that is my first issue with the article, the suggestion that this is his first blunder of many. I like to think of President Obama as the last honest politician, yes he will make mistakes but they will be human mistakes there is no need to wish or look for the first mistake. Indeed it will not be the mistake that I will judge him on, it will be how he deals with it that matters.

An example of Obama as the last honest politician is in fact this appointment of Hilary Clinton, who if she continues to be Secretary of State will be in a prime position to challenge for the presidency at the next election in four years time. A cynical Obama would have ensured she was marginalised and not put in any kind of position which would boost her popularity or power base. The last honest politician, President Obama, would put the good of the government and his country first and given her the job.

Justin Webb then embarks on a long rambling diatribe about how Bill Clinton is only good for parties and speeches, he is pretty much only in it for himself and how he never achieved much in Office about from "that dalliance with Monica Lewinsky". Justin then makes a further leap to Hilary making her out to be some clinical cyborg and suggests their marriage is "the heart of the Clinton darkness". Fairly irrelevant rubbish which if the sexes were reversed could be considered to be rather old fashioned sexism. A serious politician which Hilary clearly is, cannot be judged purely on the behaviour of her husband, who is rather harshly judged himself.

There are another few paragraphs of snide comments about the Clinton's and suggestions that you cant get one without the other and that together they are trouble. This cynical journalism is written straight from the gutter and should the BBC be looking to re-organise the news department I would suggest that Justin Webb has become embittered by American politics and should be quietly moved on or retired.

President Obama, I have a feeling this will not be the last of these type of articles and I am sure you have a good positive media manager to stand above the hype and the vitriol. In any future hour of darkness can I suggest you take the Winston Churchill approach to the Media.

"We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France,
we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be,
we shall fight on the beaches,
we shall fight on the landing grounds,
we shall fight in the fields and in the streets,
we shall fight in the hills;
we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."

- Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain 4 June 1940

Fight them, the media wherever they may choose to do battle, fight them for the truth, the honesty and the moral high ground. Don't ever give up your position as the last honest politician.

What was going on there then?

I was off on one of my irregular visits to one of the outlying depots. This time I have been doing a grand tour updating the local HR managers on some process changes we are making. I tend to do most of the work with my manager helping with the bigger bits. My manager is more than happy to delegate these meetings to me as I know exactly what is going on and can brief it with no problems.

So my boss delegated responsibility to me to arrange and give this briefing. So I contacted the manager and suggested we meet up. She kind of dithered about it so I left it a few days, it went a bit quiet and when I bought it up again she told me she had contacted my boss to arrange the meeting. My boss had already passed it on to me so we kind of said fair enough, if they need a bit more senior manager hand holding then we can go do it together.

So we get there my boss (female) and me (male) to meet this HR manager (female). My boss does a quick intro and then hands over to me as I know all the detail. So I am going through everything and any time the HR manager asks a question she addresses it to my boss. Its almost like the entire conversation is between her and my manager and I am nothing more than an audio tape. This was accompanied with her generally looking at my boss and using body language to focus on my boss and not me.

It was very disconcerting and if the sexes were reversed so that I was female with two males you might interpret it as sexism. I find it difficult to believe it was sexism but equally I find it hard to believe she didn't talk to me because I clearly know my stuff and my area of work. I have a good reputation around the organisation and am known for my thoroughness.

My boss and I did talk about it briefly afterwards but she was none the wiser and it had made her feel a bit awkward as well, because she is completely confident with my briefing ability and would have happily left it to me. She had already tried to convince the HR manager that I was completely competent in giving the briefing.

So I don't know what that was about but it will be interesting to see what happens in the future.

Snow Watch 2008 leg 3

The Met Office have issued weather warnings for a severe weather event effecting the UK from Scotland down to the midlands. During Thursday there is a high risk of snow in the north decreasing to a moderate risk the further south you go to the midlands. Snow is expected to move westwards during Wednesday night falling as snow / sleet or hail.

Accumulations of 2 -5 cm of snow are expected with up to 10-20 cm in the far north on high ground.

Watch this space, who will wake to a covering of the thick white stuff, find out tomorrow.

What is the point of Woolworths? (BBC)

So woolies with a failing business model for the last few years has finally become the latest victim in the credit crunch/ recession / down turn or whatever it is being called today. As an aside it is comforting to know that the end of the world will be accompanied by a media friendly name which is supposed to make everything more acceptable.

Anyway woolies has lost its way and the decline has been ongoing for the last few years. You might say it started with the fall of the CD single although that was not the only reason for the fall from grace.

Fundamentally Woolies have tried to compete with everyone and in doing so has made the usual mistake of having too many general products and not enough niche products. What it does well is that it is the retail version of the post office on the high street. In my town apart from Tesco it is the only place on the high street you can buy things like light bulbs. One of the last things I bought from woolies was a kitchen bin which was a third of the price of the equivalent one from their only competitor on the high street.

Even I have started being put off by woolies, the stores seem cluttered and un modernised, the parquet flooring they all used to have is now replaced by cheap flooring. Woolworths is an institution like M & S and like M & S it needs to go back to its roots and discover the reason it was there in the first place.

Any radical revamp would involve cutting its lines by at least half, it needs to concentrate on key areas such as home wares, stationary and children's clothes. It needs to cut the rubbish like books, electrical goods and most of the entertainment isle etc. If the product category doesn't fill a good 5m row of shelving it should go. By all means have two different store inventories based on store size but products need to be comprehensive and fill customers needs. Dare I say it most of the cheap products also need to go. Price the own brand range based on the competitors, don't be the cheapest in the market place, be one of the cheapest with a reputation for quality and good value.

Stack it high and sell it low was never a good strategy for woolies, it never had that kind of brand. Woolies made the mistake of trying to compete against companies on the business parks which had lower overheads. Woolies key strength is that it is on the high street at the centre of the community, it has a range of products which can only be found in woolies on the high street, you didn't need a car to go get what you wanted. This is its strength and this is its core business and this is the home it needs to return to.

Woolies is not dead merely lost in the wood. It has a lot of potential and only needs the right person with the vision to push through the changes.

Christmas Box

I am all in favour of starting Christmas traditions and this one is one I am going to start this year.

To give a bit of background this comes out of several discussions about what I might want for Christmas. I like to think of simple presents for Christmas and I have fairly low expectations.

For my Christmas to be complete all I need are three things a good fiction book, a nice pair of socks and a bar of chocolate. As long as I get that I am content.

Christmas Box

This is a modern day version of a stocking.

1. The book must be a novel, no non-fiction allowed.

2. The socks must be nice and warm, no novelty or Christmas socks allowed.

3. The chocolate must be large and suitable for eating with the book.

No other items are allowed in the box. They must all be put in a box and wrapped up, outside decoration is left up to the gift giver.

Snow Watch 2008 leg 2

On Sunday morning there was a heated argument in the Northern Oxfordshire Snow Watch HQ about whether there had been any snowfall . Which contrasted well with the freezing temperatures outside.

There were definitely no snow clouds around outside, but there was a heavy frost or was it? The only evidence against it being a heavy frost was a small accumulation of ice on top of a bush. Frost does not usually occur in icy clumps on top of a bush so the natural conclusion is that at some point on Saturday / Sunday night in the wee small hours we had a small flurry of snow possibly leading to a light ground covering. As the snow turned to rain it washed all the evidence away.

So an early leg 2 turned out to be a bit of a damp squib at least in the south east of england.

However the bookies are giving 6/1 odds on a white christmas in london, not in actuality based on a weather forecast but more on the betting public who are putting far too much money on a white christmas so the bookies lower the odds to avoid paying out billions.

Local news...Fast Ticket Machines out of use due to a recent spate of thefts (Chiltern Railways, UK)

This is the kind of petty criminality that really, really annoys me.

I use these machines all the time and they are really useful, you generally don't have to queue at the ticket office window which generally saves about five minutes when you are running for the train.

Well it would seem that some gang of petty minded oiks have decided that the machines are soft targets for breaking into and stealing the cash. Sadly, Chiltern Railways have done the sensible thing and replaced them with machines that will only take cards. Although this does mean they may now become a target for card scammers.

Plus thanks to this gang the machines have been out of action for weeks inconveniencing thousands of people. Its at time like this I like to think that karma will soon catch up with the gang and they get exactly what they deserve.

When petty criminality affects the way we conduct are lives to such an extent somebody should really do something about it. The question as usual is exactly who?

2010 switch-on for wave project (BBC)

Cornwall may not be the centre of the universe but it is now going to be the centre for wave energy projects at least from 2010. A great big adapter is being laid on the sea bed so wave projects can just plug into the grid. Over 30 projects can be plugged into the socket.

The £28 million projects is currently in the planning stage but is expected to go live in 2010. It will be used as a test bed to see if ideas work. The benefit is there will no need to be create some expensive grid connection for a project that may not even work as the infrastructure will already be in place.

So good news for the environment, renewable energy, the UK and Cornwall.

Obama Dilema: Camp X-ray

Obama has rightly pledged to end the illegal detention of suspected terrorists in Camp X-Ray (Guantanamo Bay). It has been an insult to Human rights and democracy since the start.

However, Channel 4 news raised an interesting dilemma for Obama. Obama can try some of the suspects in a hybrid court where there is evidence but for about 100 detainees there is either no evidence or evidence compromised as it was obtained under torture. For these 100 the only fair course of action is for release, the only question is to where?

No country will accept them back and they cannot be released in the US. In both cases the public would be unlikely to stand for it and hence the dilemma.

100 detainees who can not be tried.
100 detainees that will not be accepted by any other country.
100 detainees that can not be released on US soil.
President Obama what are you going to do next?

If you happen to know the answer to that, feel free to email the White house, I am sure they are open to suggestions.

Leaders welcome G20 action plan (BBC)

Has the credit crisis bought about a new world order, is the G8 now dead, long live the G20.

Only time will tell but at least on economic matters the exclusive club has got a little more inclusive.

"There was a common understanding by all of us that we should take pro-growth economic policies. Whatever we do, whatever reforms are recommended, we need to be guided by this simple fact - that the best way to solve the problem is economic growth, and the surest path to this grown is free-market capitalism. "

-President George Bush

A quote which confirms that the world's most capitalist country still believes that economic growth can solve everything. If you believe in sustainable development this was quite a depressing sound bite. Sustainable development suggests another way of growing in harmony with our resources, neighbours and the environment.

What President Bush can not answer is what happens when we can not grow, or to grow costs too much as resources become scarce. This credit crunch may well be the first of many as anything we do today will only put a crash off and it will make it bigger and longer. Regulation can only delay the inevitable, it will not solve the problem, it is not a fix more a sticker plaster. Capitalism has a flaw in that it involves the relentless pursuit of growth.

The future in this case is not ours to see, que sera sera.

Osborne stands by economy warning (BBC)

Apparently George believes it is his job to tell everyone the truth about the economy.

George ' Mass Hysteria' Osbourne is basically going around doing a private Frazer from Dad's Army, "We are all doomed".

George, this is not helpful and not clever so frankly shut up. In essence unless you have some new ideas or a solution just keep quiet. Leave the people with some brains to continue this conversation and get on with sorting out the economy rather than scaremongering.

"The reason why sterling has fallen by more than 25% is because they don't believe Gordon Brown when he says Britain is better prepared than other economies..."

-George ' Mass Hysteria' Osbourne

I admit it took me a while to remember why the value of a currency drops, the reason is that when interests rates decrease investors withdraw funds from sterling and head for other countries with higher interest rates. The whole premise of capitalism is that the money chases profit, therefore less profit in the UK then the money goes elsewhere. It is not really a judgement on Gordon Brown, it is the equal and opposite reaction from dropping interest rates.

Obviously if as a politician you say that you cant get votes, our political system seems sometimes to be based on having equal and opposite opinions. Getting cross party agreement is the stuff of myth and legend.

Its also interesting to note that the conservative party itself don't have faith in Osbourne's economic skills having drafted in his predecessor to help with some of the fine detail of party policy. Big vote of confidence for poor George there.

The end of the world as we know it..

OK may be not quite the end of the world but the end intellectual debate and the dumbing down of the English language.

I am designing some new assessment materials at work based around communication skills, part of the folio is some group discussions. These group discussions have now gone out to consultation with our partner groups and I am collating the feedback.

One topic included the world "eradicate", one comment has suggested that we use the word "remove" instead, as people may not understand the word "eradicate".

I am all in favour of not over complicating things, I started nodding and thinking what a good piece of advice that was. Then I had one of those record screeching moments where the needle is taken off the record scratchily (that reference probably lost 90% of the audience but I shall struggle on, if you are not sure what a record is try wikipedia). If someone doesn't know a word it is not cruel or unfair to use it or a reason for me to change it, that is a reason for someone to pick up a dictionary or use the internet to look up the meaning.

To me the two words have distinctly different meanings so I feel it is important to use eradicate. The English language is currently rich with many great words for all occassions, we should not reduce it to a language where there is only one word for everything. What next, get rid of blue and call it light black, where do we stop, eradicate is a good word and I say it stays.

"Say no to the eradication of eradication"

My point is that everyone, if they dont know something should take the opportunity to learn and look it up. It should never be that if people dont know something its the other persons fault for not using the right word. Individuals need to take responsibility, develop themselves and protect the richness of the english language.

Another comment was that I cant use a discussion topic about insurance because some people might not understand the concept. Well if they dont that should form part of the discussion and if they dont, why dont they? Insurance is virtually fundamental to several aspects of life and surely it is a fairly simple concept. Even if you cant explain how insurance works you know about premiums, claims and have a vague knowledge of risk. Again we shouldnt avoid discussing things because people might not know, the things people don't know are the exact things we should be discussing. Humanities job is to learn and develop, there is nothing wrong with ignorance if you do something about it, if you ignore it and hope it goes away then the only person you are failing is yourself.

End of moan, join me next week when I tell you about the new course I have been on, "Effective moaning for professionals". Apparently it even comes with roleplays.

Twas the night before the American Election result

Twas the night before the American election and we the people of the world stand at a fork in the road. One way lies more of the same, the other lies the beacon of change, of hope and the dream that no one dared to dream.

One man tomorrow will be the president, one man will hold the future of millions of people in his hands, one man who has the potential to change the world beyond all recognition will, hopefully, take power.

Barack Obama is the one man to step forward, the one man to step up to the plate and to swing for all his worth. As the crowd clamber to their feet, they wait watching to see where the ball will land.

Today we stand on the precipice of history, tomorrow we fly or fall.

The future may start tomorrow, the future dreamed by Barack Obama and shared by the electorate he spoke to and who have heard his words.

Eagle

The eagle is over the yard arm. I repeat. The eagle is over the yard arm.

Early blast of Arctic air

It was a cold cold day today with weather flowing all the way down the UK straight from the Arctic.

What started as a subtle hint of sleet in the cold rain has turned to solid authenticated winter shows with the non vertical rain drops which can only be described as wet snow.

Nothing much to speak of but the rain is definitely a mix of rain/sleet and the odd bit of snow.

A very early start to the season with a snow flake before the end of October. Does this mean a cold snow filled season or just a normal winter?

Who knows what the winter will hold but as usual it will be watched with anticipation from Northern Oxfordshire, home of the Snow Watch.

Here's to a snowy season of 2008/09.

I have been thinking...

I have been thinking about one thing that will change the world. I have a spare £1 in my pocket and know that there are 60 million other people in the UK that have a spare £1.

Effectively then I have £60 million to make a small change to make the world a better place. I have £60 million because while some will give none a lot of people will give more.

So one small gesture to create a big gesture, to change the world.

If you expand that premise to the world there are 6.7 billion people so £6.7 billion to make an even bigger gesture.

The question is what could you invest £6.7 billion in, to really fundamentally change the world for the better for everyone.

£1 to change the world 6 billion reasons to do it.

Notes:

There is a part of me that wants to write in a post ironic modernism type of way after the above article "Zephyrist Aged 10 and a half". There is a certain idealistic naivety to the article that the entire population of the world could unite to make one change when often charities struggle to get just a few people to donate money.

There is another part of me that says the only people that have ever changed the world are the idealistic dreamers. They dare to dream the impossible, somehow and no one quite knows how, it becomes possible.

Leadership is about creating new realities, drawing people in and breaking down barriers. Great leaders dream both the dream and of how to make it a reality.

One thing I do know is that if you never think of something or never say it out loud you have strangled the dream at birth.

The ten and a half reference harks back to childhood where nothing is impossible, all the bad things don't exist and we can do anything if only we set our minds to it. Growing up is about finding out there are barriers whether in skill or talent or just what seems like luck. However much we want something sometimes it just wont happen.

At times like that it is easier to get cynical and look negatively at things. There is no point applying for that job, I wont even get an interview and they are probably not looking for someone like me. However, if you don't try, how do you really know you will fail. Even if you cant imagine the possibilities, all of them are out there.

Maybe I can't change the world all by myself but maybe if I keep generating ideas someone will pop along, pick it up and run with it.

Our only limitations are the limitations we impose on ourselves.

Palin, republicans, other animals and national forests (New Scientist)

In this weeks New Scientist two short news articles caught my eye.

"Alaska's beluga whales should be keeping their flippers crossed that Sarah Palin won't make it to the White House."

Apparently Sarah is not the whales best friend, she has made strenuous efforts to ensure that the beluga whales in the Cook Inlet in Alaska were not given enhanced protection and put on the endangered species list. She originally tried to claim there wasn't enough evidence to put them on the list but only managed to delay the listing for 6 months while a recount took place.

This was following on from the outrage she expressed when the polar bear was put on the endangered list. Alaska has even unsuccessfully sued for loss of revenue from oil and gas development resulting from putting the polar bear list.

So this year's Cruella De Vil 2008 award for a person most likely to have a stone heart when it comes to protecting the environment and clearly putting financial benefits above environmental concerns goes to Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Give it up for the wicked witch of the north!

In the interests of political balance Sarah may feel that the local economy of Alaska which is heavily dependant on the oil and gas industry should not be put last below animal welfare. Maybe she feels that in Alaska the rights of humans should be put first.

The other reason not to vote republican is because thanks to George Bush "roadless" areas of national forest totalling 230,000 square kilometres which is an area virtually the size of the UK is under threat from development such as phosphate mining or logging.

So if you care for the environment, really, don't even bother thinking about voting for Mcain and Palin.

The Sustainable Growth Development Party (SGDP)

The 22 point manifesto for a sustainable future.

1. We will only consume natural resources at a scientifically determined sustainable level.
2. We will only emit toxic/ waste gasses where necessary within predetermined sustainable levels.
3. Car use will be cut by 10% years down to sustainable levels.
4. Public transport will be increased by 15% each year.
5. Air use will be cut by 10% per year until a sustainable level is reached.
6. Income tax will be abolished.
7. Taxes will be based on inputs and outputs to the environment.i.e consumption of raw materials = inputs and emissions into environment = outputs.
8. Social projects for the poor will be funded by the tax system.
9. Inflation to remain below 1%
   
10. All Tax havens to be abolished.
11. Upper limit for income inequality. 1 to 30 across all sectors.
12. Banking system to have high capital / liquidity balances
13. Debt to be balanced by deposits.
14. More jobs in sustainable development.
15. More jobs in repair, recycling and maintenance.
    
16. More sustainable small businesses.
17. Reduced working week for all to 30 hours
18. Free trade between sustainable development countries.
19. Restricted trade with outsiders.
20. Restricted immigration and birth rate, population to be maintained at sustainable levels
21. Local goods for local shops in local markets.
22. New standards for product life, encourage long lasting products across all sectors.

This manifesto has been loosely derived from an article in New Scientist, 18 October 2008, "How we kicked our addiction to growth" pp 52-53.

It is very much rough thoughts and a starting point for further discussion. I may even pick a few points to expand on later, maybe development some specific policies for certain sectors such as transport.

Luckily I hit on a good name SGDP is a bit like GDP - gross domestic product. With a good name you can go places.

The Folly of Growth (New Scientist)

What I love about New Scientist is that they are not just a pure science magazine. With the recent credit crunch they ran a special issue on "The Folly of Growth - How to stop the economy killing the earth".

You see Capitalism is based on a false premise, that we must have continuous growth. The problem with that is with finite resources you cant have continuous growth as at some point resources run out, prices rise and you get shrinkage. This is the fundamental nature of boom and boost, the credit crunch and everything else that is wrong with the economy at the moment.

It means Gordon Brown is wrong, without infinite resources we cant beat the boom and bust cycle. All because of this one simple premise, which everyone can quite clearly see is wrong but no one wants to admit it because to do so would be to admit that capitalism which has worked for 200 years no longer works. A modern tale of the emperors new clothes.

It would suggest that Capitalism is just as flawed as Communism, in fact you could argue that it is more flawed than Communism as to solve the current credit crisis the governments had to move towards communism by part nationalising the banks and increasing government control of the banking system.

Of course with finite resources the logical economic system would be one that is based on efficient use of resources or more precisely sustainable development. So why do we not have a sustainable or steady-state economy already?

Well,such an economy would mean we would have to live within our own means, no more large debts, greatly reduced oil based travel, less hours worked, the redistribution of wealth from the poor, no benefits to saving and investing, and finally greater control over all aspects of our lives.

The transition period would be much harder as well, just think if tomorrow you were told you could no longer own a car, you had restrictions on the electronics you could buy and only 200 air miles for the year for your holidays. Ouch!

Of course there would be an upside, the end of consumerism, the end of boom and bust, less work, less stress, less inequality, living in harmony with nature rather than against it, better public transport, less pollution, stable prices, no income tax (tax would be on inputs and outputs to the environment), less road congestion, the end of global warming, the end of inflation, no more credit crunch, no more tax havens for the rich, stable population and much much more.

So lets look to the sustainable future and lets hope for the better tomorrow becoming reality.

I have to say all the articles in the new scientist special edition were great and are well worth reading, I may even post some more articles about sustainable development soon.

Credit Crunch Jokes (BBC)

This was a little nugget from the BBC. Amidst all the heavy news stories someone has collected all the jokes that readers have emailed in about the credit crunch.

My particular favourite is:

"Masked man holding a bank cashier up with a gun. Says: 'I don't want any money - I just want you to start lending to each other...
David, Cambridge, UK"

Post ironic modernism

I have invented a new art form, it is called post ironic modernism. I still have not quite worked out what it actually is or what constitutes post ironic modernism but I have a few examples.

Example 1 - Well Bupa, you did ask.


Example 2 - The alternative start to Love Actually, Debate Actually (if it helps imagine Hugh Grant saying it in the same style)

Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world I think about the "Have your say" pages at the BBC news site. General opinion is starting to make out we live in a world of nutters and madness but I don't see that. It seems to me that the population of the UK is some 60 million people and even the most popular posts are recommended by only 600 people which suggests that intelligent debate does still go on, just not on the internet. Often its not particularly dignified or newsworthy but its always there. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the stock markets were crashing as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people in the banks were messages of hate or revenge, they were message of thought and hope. If you look for it I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that intellectual debate actually is all around

A solid prudent plan that I heartly recommend to the house

This is a good plan and an even better plan than the American plan. This plan doesn't buy so called 'toxic debt' and make it a government and therefore taxpayer liability. This plan is about investing in the banking industry and potentially even turning a profit in the coming years when the crisis lessons.

This plan should solve the immediate crisis and though it is likely we will suffer a recession it is likely to be shorter and shallower because of the positive action the government has taken. For all the whiners out there who say we shouldn't bail out the fat cats they should bear in mind that a broken banking system will lead to deep recession or a complete collapse in the economy. At its best it will mean high unemployment and high inflation, at its worst it could lead to hyper inflation, housing crashes and the extreme devaluation of the pound. Doing nothing was never an option.

A lot of people are saying how it is costing the taxpayer over £2000 per person. Well it actually isn't, the government will borrow the money either from existing reserves, or by selling government bonds etc which are always in demand. They could even cut spending to compensate or in the worst case the £2000 could be reclaimed off people via the tax system over the next ten years.

Plus don't forget tax can be raised from businesses too or that higher rate tax payers could be made to pay more, £2000 per person is literally only the total cost divided by the number of taxpayers. It is another virtually meaningless statistic.

The government is used to sudden demands on capital reserves, natural disasters cause immediate demands. You may find that some of the £500 bn has already been budgeted for in the budget forecasts, it would be bad financial planning by the government if they had not allowed for contigecy funding.

If the worst came to the absolute worst then the government could just print more money or even sell off gold reserves, although both could cause inflation and the devaluation of the pound.

The other good thing is that we are not kissing goodbye to the £500 bn, some £50 bn of the money will buy banking stock as preference shares which means the government will own part of the banks and will get any profit made in preference to other share holders. There is quite a reasonable possibility of the government making a profit, after all when have you ever know a bank like Lloyds making a loss even in these crazy times.

Some of the money, £250 bn is only available as guarantees for bank loans so that will only have to be handed over if a bank defaults on a loan, I think within the next three years and again as everyone keeps saying most of the banks are perfectly well capitalised and unlikely to default on reasonable loan terms, they just cant cope with the crazy loan rates they are being offered at the moment so cant re-finance their debt.

The short term loans, £200 bn, should by and large be repaid with interest. So in all cases there is a reasonable chance we will get the entire £500 bn back plus interest. Even if we don't it is completely unlikely that we will loose any kind of large amount. Even in the absolute worst case once the money comes back into the government it would be hard to imagine any scenario where the government had lost more than £50 bn. This is simply because none of the UK banks are at risk any more. All of the banks with the heavy mortgage exposure have either been nationalised or taken over. All the remaining banks are well capitalsed with a good balance sheet and assest book.

Of course the stock exchange disagrees but this may be simply because the traders are in a blind panic. Once the dust settles and they run out of steam things should start to return to normal. Of course one of the reasons the market is falling is because a lot of people are making money off selling and buyers are too scared to re - enter the market in any great numbers. Once the buyers feel the market has bottomed out they should buy again. In all likelihood if we have a couple of days of peace the volumes traded will decrease, the sellers wills stop selling and the buyers will re - enter.

The icing on the cake if you like is that any bank signing up for this money will have to sign up to an FSA code of practice of executive dividend, pay and bonus payments. The final element of structural reform which can only strengthen the banking system and the economy in the future.

In conclusion, Mr speaker this is a excellent plan and I heartily recommend it to the house.

Project 10 to the 100th

I saw this ages ago on the google home page, Google are running a competition, in their words:

"Project 10¹⁰⁰ is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible."

I have entered one entitled:

"Help local people develop local sustainable energy projects through local resident run co-operatives."

You never know, one day it might just change the world.

If you have a world changing idea why not swing by google and submit it.

House votes down bail-out package (BBC)

Houston, we have a problem. Its not really one of those small problems its a huge global catastrophe.

The business news was fairly scary at the moment but at least there was vague hope and then a story like this gets out. This is why the Bank of England is independent from politicians. Sometimes some things are too important to get right to allow for political positioning and point scoring.

I think it would be fair to say that we are witnessing the beginnings of a global economic meltdown. I really, really hope that we are not about to go into an economic dark ages but with stories like this the outlook is looking very black.

President Bush has two choices, try and amend the plan and resubmit it or go back to the drawing board. Either way he better do it quick cos things are turning bad fast.

On the other hand here in the UK we are doing ok, with another small bank nationalised most of the structural changes in UK banks should be finalised. Plus the politicians are on holiday so they cant really meddle. However, given that the world economy is directly linked to the American economy all eyes are across the pond waiting with bated breath for someone, anyone to come up with a rescue plan.

Has anyone perhaps suggested to the UK MP's that at a time like this it might be useful if they could get back to work?

Playlet: Single for Bicester Town

Audrey Hepburn style girl meets cynic in very southern belle type playlet based in Oxford train station.

Intro: girl rushes across concourse towards the ticket window bumps into man staring up at the departures board.

Dave: Woa there, go steady.
Audrey: sorry more haste less speed, sorry excuse me..
Dave: certainly an interesting first impression.
Dave: I'm Dave and you are?
Audrey: Many things, but today I am Audrey.
Dave:Only today?
Audrey: Maybe.
Dave: I find you intriguing would you like to discuss this over coffee.
Audrey: Why not?
Dave: I will take that as a yes then.
Audrey: might as well, lead on Macduff.
Dave: Macduff?
Audrey: The scottish play.
Dave: Ahhh.

Both sit with coffee.

Dave: What is time?
Audrey: Why it is the tick following tock that shuffles us from birth through to the grave.
Dave: I'm sorry I think you misheard me, What is the time?
Audrey: time is immaterial, I simply don't have any.
Dave: Ermm OK.
[pause while sipping drinks]
Audrey: Are you sure I misheard you.
Dave: I think so.
Audrey: You see... I think you are just afraid of discussing something that reminds you of impending death.
Dave: I'm sorry I did not realise I was going to die this morning.
Audrey: Oh your probably not going to die this morning.
Dave: Only probably, well I can probably relax then, at least in a train station I am unlikely to be run over by a bus.
Audrey: True but only probably, one can not take any chances, one must be vigilant for the metaphorical bus at any time.
Dave: I have enough trouble with avoiding physical buses to be worrying about metaphorical buses.
Audrey: I can see that might be the case.
[Both pause to ponder]
Dave: It is a funny thing fate.
Audrey: I have never seen fate as being much of a comedian.
Dave: Was it fate that I met you today, and fate that you have no time.
Audrey: No, it is something much simpler than fate, it is the vagaries of a train timetable.
Dave: Yes it must be mildly annoying that trains don't leave the station when you want to.
Audrey: Mildly.
Dave: Still the company for coffee is quite good.
Audrey: Mildly.
[Pause while both sip]
Audrey: Are you scared of an impending death?
Dave: No, it is just that impending sounds so immediate.
Audrey: Oh its not, maybe impending was a poor word, maybe ultimate death would be more appropriate.
Dave: Maybe, although it sounds rather grand for what death actually is.
Audrey: Fate and death you are a very curious man.
Dave: You haven't been on a second date with me, then its destiny and Serendipity.
Audrey: My train goes in two minutes and look at that queue, I'll never make it.
Dave: You can buy a ticket at the barrier.
Audrey: I will have to rush..
Dave: wait...tell me if you are single.
[Audrey turns and smiles]
Audrey: Single for Bicester Town please.
Dave: Single...[Audrey turns and nods]... make that two singles.
Audrey: Two singles make a couple.
Dave: Only time, serendipity, fate and destiny will tell.
Audrey: Indeed.

Warning sounded on web's future (BBC)

Well it would appear that the BBC has finally worked out what the rest of us already know, you can't believe everything you read on the internet.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee (No I don't know who he is either, but with a "sir" in front of his name I am busy bowing down and tugging my forelock) has come up with the idea of a "trustworthiness" labelling system for websites.

Sir Tim has set up the WWWF, and to be fair trustworthiness is just one of his aims. He wants to make the web more accessible not just to those of us in the West. Sir Tim wants to expand the web beyond just text to reach those through the web who can't read or write. He also wants to increase mobile web browsing and the usage in Africa . Basically he wants to bring the web to the world regardless of wealth, ability, status and location.

A very noble endeavour.

My take on it is that we need to separate opinion from fact and make some attempt at peer review or evidence based labelling. If an article has credible supporting evidence or is more factual than opinionated then it gets a higher rating. Perhaps any news site could have assessors who are trained and vetted for suitability and experience, who can then rate articles.

The web is a very interesting place with every view represented but off the beaten track away from the main brands such as the BBC and CNN how do you know who to trust especially on the basis of one article. Trust can be easily built on a series of articles but on one short article it is more difficult to judge. This is where bloggers have their niche, they can earn trust and reliability from their readership but how many bloggers have internal standards or a code of practice.

The garlic bread older than me

I had a lovely M & S garlic and parsley baguette last night and while searching for the heating instructions noticed that it was:



Which would make it firstly a very well preserved baguette suitable for decades long space missions and secondly means that the baguette has been around several years longer than me.

Of course it is more likely just to be a product code or factory code and someone did not think through the unintended consequences of the layout of the packaging.

Love Actually is all around

I recently watched Love Actually again on DVD. Its a good film but what I like the best is the intro sequence.

Sometimes I take a moment when travelling through an airport or train station and look around to see the love that is shown in the intro sequence, sometimes its even me getting the love.

Just once I would like the words to come over the tannoy just so everyone can have a look round and see the love, but for now it remains on DVD.

"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport. General opinion is starting to make out we live in a world of hatred and greed but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often its not particularly dignified or newsworthy but its always there. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the twin towers as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge, they were all messages of love. If you look for it I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."

- Hugh Grant, Love Actually intro sequence

From West Wing to the real thing (The Guardian)

For the last few days I have felt that Barack Obama reminded me of someone and then it hit me there is a link back to the Presidential Campaign of Matthew Santos in "The West Wing".

It was the plain speaking approach of Obama that finally reminded me of Santos. Truth often follows fiction but according to the linked article fiction followed truth only for truth to follow on again, if you see what I mean.

My question will be, in the forth coming election will the "West Wing" story line have subconsciously prepared American voters to vote Obama. Will the fact that in the show Santos won prepare voters for a Obama victory, have the lines between the show, which was almost like a documentary at times, and reality somehow blurred.

New Google Chrome

So google have decided to enter into the browser wars. To be fair it was only a matter of time.

According to reports they have already captured 1% of the browser market share, I suspect due to the prominence of the download link on the google search page and that they are a reasonably trusted brand in the mainstream.

I for one wont be downloading, I like firefox and I love the culture and ethos behind it. I firmly believe in open source software and think it is about the true spirit of the internet. I do not want to get all my services from one provider especially one that seems to collect vast amount of personal data and web browsing habits for research purposes.

Google are good but I think in the same way we don't get internet explorer from Microsoft will be the same reason we don't get Chrome from Google. Firefox users like a bit of independence from any big monolithic company.

However competition is always a good thing and I would guess that some or all of the innovative new features in chrome will be built into the next version of firefox. Although in web browsing terms what would be really innovative these days. There are plenty of incremental evolutionary improvements but nothing recent has been completely revolutionary.

Office Productivity Tip

Its ages since I have written about anything office related.

I don't know about you but my email box is very busy and can get full very quickly. One of the great things I have found to stop emails disturbing my work is to turn off the automatic notification features. After all does any email really need to be looked at instantly, if it does then the sender is communicating badly as they should pick up the phone. Email may be a convenient way of communicating but it isn't an urgent method, if someone needs to contact me urgently they should pick up the phone, but be warned I screen my calls. I certainly don't feel the need to pick up a ringing phone.

Anyway by turning off the automatic notification I only look at my emails a couple of times an hour rather than the up to 14 times an hour I get an email, result better focus and concentration on other stuff I am actually doing and productivity increases.

Trust me, give it a go and see if it works for you.

Creative boost - revitalise the creative thought process

Announcing the launch of my latest web project.

This is a quirky little site based around random images designed to boost the brain, by making you think or perhaps look at things from a different perspective.

At the moment there are 40 random images but I am expanding them as I go and have invited other people to submit their own.

The best thing to do is go and have a look and see what you think.

Dear Google,

This is an open letter, mainly because I couldn't easily find out how to contact them.

I have several google things running and it would be really nice to switch between products via the my account link or even better some kind of drop down menu.

However the menu they do have which works very nicely isn't consistent across the product range. In some it is there in others it is the proverbial vanishing lady.

This is very un-google like behaviour, a simple solution that isn't properly integrated across the product range.

Anyway just to keep it simple, this small menu should always be in the top right hand corner of the screen no matter what part of google you are in so you can always get back to your 'my account' screen.


p.s. its not click able, its an image.

p.p.s. google should read this post within a day or so via the googlebot, but will anyone from google ever read the page and do something about it. Secondly, how long will it take them?

Review of Cloverfield

I saw Cloverfield last night on DVD and although normally monster flicks are not normally my thing just because they turn out to be cheesy. This one was quite good, it was fast paced and not overly gory.

The idea is that it is all shot from a personal video camera which helps add to the atmosphere.

For a monster movie where you never really find out much about what the monster is, it has an excellent plot. There are one or two bits which are hide behind the sofa cushion time but if you are looking for a good monster movie then this may be right up your street.

I particularly like the sequences down the subway tunnels, being underground, in the dark hearing noises always adds to the tension.

Camping for yummy mummies (The Guardian)

Don't let the title of the article put you off. This is the halfway house between a tent and a cottage, a rather posh tent with wooden floors and wood burning stove.

It looks very luxuriousness and has a bit of the Arabian nights about it. My only criticism is that it is aimed at families, hence the yummy mummy connection. Personally I think it would make a very reasonably priced romantic get away for a young professional couple.

The other good thing about this is that it is a good diversification project for farmers, if you look on the website you will find that the whole concept can be franchised out to a farmer. There are the usual key concepts to each site but from a farmers point of view well organised and a strong well behaved target market.

Quite an interesting concept and quite an interesting holiday.

Can anyone hear that picture (BBC)

This BBC article is about hos some people can hear what they see after a student reporting sounds from a screensaver.

There is even a test to try to see if you can hear pictures. I don't think I could hear anything but I could imagine the sounds of rushing a bit like a wave coming in and out.

Anyway her is my DIY test? Can you hear the dots?