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.