'The Apprentice' is back

Sir Alan Sugar starts the long gruelling process of whittling down 16 entrepreneurial wannabes down to one who then gets the six figure salary and becomes Sir Alan's latest apprentice.

The reason this is classic viewing is that we have all worked with managers like this. They know best and have all these wonderful ideas which often go wrong. If it does go wrong it is certainly not their fault, it was the team that implemented it. If the worst comes to the worst they can always move on to the next company or project with their reputation intact.

I call them 'pigeon' managers, they come in crap over everything, then fly off leaving the rest of the team to clear up the mess. You can often find them re-inventing the wheel, trying something again that didn't work five years ago, talking in business code or schmoozing with the high and mighty.

The candidates are the usual mix of entrepreneurs, managers and assorted others. It will take a couple of weeks to get to know the different characters but it was nice to see they all started off by making the same mistakes as in previous series. Did these people bother doing any research?

Week 1 was coffee selling and as in most of these tasks there were a couple of simple ideas that the teams needed to grasp. In this project it was to get your stock levels right and get the location for your mobile vending van right.

The boys team had a minor problem with the stock when they bought the coffee but nothing major and they made good use of the mobile coffee van.

I was not overly impressed with the management skills of Jadine, she had two very good salesmen on the mobile van and she interfered with them and held them back. Had the other team been a real threat this could have lost her the match and possibly her job. Iron control will not work with these type of people, they need a certain amount of autonomy and more freedom when they are winning. You only need to step in if things are going wrong.

Jardine also got obsessed about the eclipse branding insisting that all cappuccinos had the eclipse logo sprinkled on the top. This is fine but brand is for long term customer loyalty and repeat visits, there was absolutely no need to be obsessed about it when they only had one day.

The girls team failed completely both with stock and the mobile van. The people Andy let take control of those key operations were incompetent and he needed to step in. Ultimately he paid the price Sir Alan values leadership skills and clearly sees it as a skill that cannot be easily trained or developed but must be present in some form.

I have no doubt that both Sophie and Gerri will be back in the boardroom as they will make the same mistakes again. If Andy had not taken the bullet it would have been a difficult choice between the two but I think Sophie would have gone, she just doesn't seem to have the business acumen that Sir Alan wants. Although it is still early days and time will tell.

The BBC website is good although I wanted to mention that giving Jo from last year a column is a bit of a mistake. Sadly she is a member of the HR profession and was an example last year of everything that is wrong with HR.

Next week is all about doggy products, should be interesting.

Eyescapes

Click on the link above to navigate through to the Eyescape gallery or read about it in a NewScientist article.

Rankin, a london based photographer has taken macro pictures of eye irises.

The variety of colours and patterns are truly amazing. Sadly you have to go to his website for a picture as there is not a sample I can put up for your viewing pleasure. Well worth a look though.

Looking into eyes is sometimes thought of as looking into the very being and existence of a person. Eyes themselves can be very expressive displaying the full range of emotions. All this makes them intrinsically interesting and this macro view of different irises by Rankin is truly fascinating.

You could almost loose yourself in the photographs just as you can sometimes loose yourself in someone's eyes. No longer will it be possible to categorise someone as having just brown eyes.

US troops would have prodded buttock apparently

Sometimes you have to wonder about the Americans, some of them take things a bit too far.

This Independent article has some brilliant quotes from military officials from the US and UK about the difference in rules of engagement between the two countries. The example that is used is the recent capture of UK Naval personnel by Iranian troops.

It makes for a fascinating concise insight into the differing military stances by both countries although I would suggest that the British way is more diplomatic.

The American view:

"The unique US Navy rules of engagement say we not only have a right to self-defence but also an obligation to self-defence. They [the British] had every right in my mind and every justification to defend themselves rather than allow themselves to be taken. Our reaction was, 'Why didn't your guys defend themselves?'"

- Lt-Cdr Erik Horner , Executive Officer USS Underwood
(Same task group as HMS Cornwall)

The British view

Referring to the British rules of engagement "...very much de-escalatory, because we don't want wars starting ... Rather than roaring into action and sinking everything in sight we try to step back..."

-Admiral Sir Alan West, Former First Sea Lord

Zephyrist's sunday night briefs - week 12, 2007

Well this week saw the budget where Gordon Brown made finance look like magic. No one is quite sure whether they are better or worse off. Even the media have got themselves all confused.

Whilst everyone else was busy with trying to decipher the budget these are some of the articles I have been reading this week.

Journalists - lazy, lying scandalmongers, all of them. So yes, I'd love to be one for a day (Guardian Comment)

Stephen Merchant, half of the creative team behind "The Office" writes an article deploring the lack of professionalism in modern journalism. He suggests that a large amount of so called journalism involves journalists looking up rumours on the internet.

In a way I think that is only half the story, these days it is published or be damned, any media organisation can always retract at leisure. All media outlets in 24 hour news tend to change stories as they progress, so any rumour can be published and changed later, after all if they don't publish it someone else will.

Time change marks end of an era (BBC)

The time signal on the BBC, the beloved 'pips' of the British psyche are changing location. They will now be sent from Anthorn, Cumbria rather than Rugby, Warwickshire.

Fascinating, no really, well maybe.

Highway shut for butterfly travel (BBC)

In Taiwan a butterfly migration route crosses a major highway. So this year to protect as many of the butterflies as possible the Taiwanese government have put in several measures including closing down one lane.

What is truly stunning and must be an amazing sight is that they cross the highway at a rate of 11,500 per hour. Such an exact figure also makes you wonder how they counted them.

My National Security Letter Gag Order

Something from across the pond. The Americans in their hunt for terrorists are playing a bit fast and loose with due process. This article is more about the secrecy that surrounds such demands rather than the ethics of obtaining information. It also exposes the attempt to gag anyone that would seek to question the legality of such requests.

Well that's it another week of my briefs, enjoy.

Darfur letters

The Independent reports that a coalition of European intellectuals have written to the leaders of the EU delivering a critique of the EU's failure to stop the violence in Darfur.

The letter itself is a damning criticism of the EU for its failure to act. Its accuses the EU of impotence, turning a blind eye and being hypocritical.

The writers point out that the EU born out of the atrocity of World War II in an attempt to prevent such atrocities happening again is avoiding its responsibilities. Comparison is made to the lack of EU action in Srebrenica where 8000 men were massacred by Serb paramilitaries.

At this time of celebration of 50 years of the EU how can we drink champagne and celebrate our triumphs whilst quietly brushing problems under the carpet.

"Has the European Union - born of atrocity to unite against further atrocity - no word to utter, no principle to act on, no action to take, in order to prevent these massacres in Darfur? Is the cowardliness over Srebrenica to be repeated? If so, what do we celebrate?"

The letter goes on to say what it believes Europe is about, a common shared purpose that puts the rights of mankind first:

"It [Europe] is an inherited culture which sustains our shared belief in the value and dignity of the human being."

In stating their convictions in this shared culture of European nations the writers call on the leaders to live up to those values and give no quarter to any person who would carry out such brutal actions. They call for immediate stringent sanctions upon the leaders of the Sudanese regime.

They finish the letter by saying that only when we have done this will we truly be able to celebrate.

"Let this action be our gift to ourselves and our proof of ourselves. And when it is done, then let us celebrate together with pride."

The letter was written and published in the Independent by:

Umberto Eco
Dario Fo
Günter Grass
Jürgen Habermas
Václav Havel
Seamus Heaney
Bernard Henri-Levy
Harold Pinter
Franca Rame
Tom Stoppard

Brief Darfur update:

The situation in Darfur has not eased since I last wrote. The Khartoum government continues to refuse to hand over the alleged war crimes suspects and government forces continue to restrict humanitarian aid agency access to refugees (Source: BBC).

First Great Western listens

I previously gave First Great Western a bashing over the poor service they had been giving to passengers since the December timetable. They have now made further improvements to ease over crowding.

They are to be congratulated over making these improvements and I look further to more service enhancements in the near future.

Microwave plan for colossal squid (Source: BBC)

This article tickled my sense of humour.

About a month ago fishermen caught this giant squid off Antarctica which weighs in at 495 kgs and 10 metres in length. Since it was caught it has been kept frozen and scientists want to study it but first have to work out a way to defrost it.

Hence the requirement for a giant microwave, anyone know the timing for it, how many hours on the defrost setting?

I also liked the handy little size comparison chart the BBC have provided where a London bus is used as reference point.


So now we know you can fit one sperm whale in two London buses and have a metre left over.

We also know that a sperm whale is equivalent in weight to five London buses.





Source: BBC

Snow Watch 2007 Update

There is snow on the pavement, they think its all over, it is now.

Well on the second day of spring, winter gave a last flurry of snow. I awoke in the early hours (06:30) of this morning to find a find a layer of snow across the ground. Sadly it quickly turned to rain and the fallen snow soon vanished.

So here unless it snows again tonight is the last picture of snow for the winter. I would have taken some more but the batteries ran out.

Mars: The Plan

It could be turning into a bit of a Mars week.

The latest discovery from Mars is that there is enough water locked up at the South Pole to cover the planet in an ocean 11 metres deep. Surf's up dude.

Which got me thinking, it reminded me of that Arnold Schwarzenegger film, Total Recall, where at the very end he starts an alien machine which appears to melt ice which then gives Mars an atmosphere.

Could this be a cunning plan, melt the ice cap to provide oxygen from the water. Although I am not sure what you would do with the left over hydrogen because burning it in Oxygen would just create water again.

How Terraforming Mars Will Work (How stuff works article)

This suggests that in order for water to exist in liquid form we would first have to create a greenhouse effect to warm the planet. Sounds a bit ironic to me.

What it does say is that the earth had a similar atmosphere until photosynthetic bacteria developed on earth. So why not put some of these bacteria on a rocket and blast them off to see if we can start terraforming Mars.

Lets say the atmosphere is taken care of so we can start melting the ice. The article suggests that solar mirrors focusing sunlight to melt the ice may be an option.

Admittedly this may take centuries but at some point we will have a planet capable of supporting life with water and a breathable atmosphere. Then we can finally move in.

As well as this grand plan I want to suggest that rather than waste time with sending people to the moon, send them to Mars, after all the moon will never be more than a transit station where as Mars has real potential.

Of course a problem with any mission to Mars is the time taken to get there and the isolation. Any round trip with any prolonged stay on Mars would have to be in the five year time span and the crew is always going to be small with maybe four being a practical complement.

So any crew is going to have to be mentally tough, I was thinking that we are probably looking at the kind of people that travel around the Arctic and Antarctic by foot and husky dog. The rugged Ray Mear's survival types with the mental toughness and resourcefulness to survive. They will need to survive as any trip to Mars will be inherently dangerous, there is a good chance they would not make it back or be marooned in space with no hope of rescue.

The recent discovery of the seven caves could provide any team with a ready made base, seal the entrance and you would have an airtight home, which could with a bit of clever engineering be given a breathable atmosphere so that the Mars residents would not have to wear space suits all the time.

Having said that I do not think that all these dangers should put us off going and aiming to eventually set up a permanent colony on Mars. Obviously I am not expecting this all to be completed in my lifetime but I would like to see the first steps taken by humanity on the red planet.

Snow Watch 2007 Update

Well leg 3 turned into a bit of a damp squib. There was a brief sprinkling of snow overnight Sunday / Monday which left some snow on top of all the cars

On Monday there was plenty of sleet / hail showers but no real snow.

The met office has now withdrawn its weather warnings for all areas except Scotland, so that is probably the end of leg 3 and possibly the end of the season.

However, don't worry in the summer I can always do thunder watch 2007.

Zephyrist's sunday night briefs - week 11, 2007

Well another a busy week of things, although really some parts of the media seem obsessed about how David Cameron parts his hair and whether it is an indication of his politics Cameron hair - the barber did it (BBC Article).

Yawn, bored already, its all a bit like prime minister's question time at the moment where all everyone does is try to make jokes about when the prime minister will finally leave and his special relationship with Gordon Brown. Sometimes you have to wonder about sections of the media and politicians whether they have better things to be doing with their time.

Anyway onto my briefs which I think will now be a regular Sunday night feature:

Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai 'beaten up' (BBC Article)

Robert Mugabe does not believe in freedom of speech, to be an opposition party activist in Zimbabwe means you get persecuted. Following a recent rally where the opposition criticised Robert Mugabe and his government for continuing economic problems including inflation running at 1700% Morgan Tsvangirai the leader of the opposition was arrested and pretty much beaten to a pulp.

All they were doing was exercising their democratic rights, something we in the western world take for granted.

Biggest RNLI rescue is remembered (BBC Article)

I have the greatest respect for the men and women of the RNLI. There are are not many people who would head off into a force 9 gale to save lives. Even fewer would do it on a purely voluntary basis, but these crews continue to put the safety of people around our coast first.

These crews have realised that someone has to go out into the eye of the storm to protect life and it might as well be them. There is no question of them not going out, they are on call all year round. If someone needs their help they put to sea to make the difference and help those in peril on the sea.

The largest rescue in the RNLI's history was remembered on the 17th March 2007. This day marks the centenary of the rescue of 456 passengers from the stricken SS Suevic by the Lizard, Cadgwith, Coverack and Porthleven life boat crews. The rescue took 16 hours in thick fog and a strong gale.

"It must have been terrifying and yet they went back to the Suevic time and time again. I, and the present day RNLI volunteers at the Lizard have nothing but admiration for what they all achieved."

-Historian Peter Greenslade, RNLI Honorary Secretary

Wave energy set to turn the tide (BBC Article)

In last sunday's briefs I posted about wave power off Spain. This is an article about a similar wave farm being set up off the coast of Scotland.

'Cave entrances' spotted on Mars (BBC Article)

This sounds a bit like the start of a sci-fi horror movie, beware something dark this way comes.

NASA have spotted what looks like seven caves on the side of a volcano. Scientists have suggested that these natural structures may be capable of protecting primitive life from the harsh Mars environment. The caves have been named the seven sisters and been given names of Dena, Chloe, Wendy, Annie, Abbey, Nicki and Jeanne.

10 legit ways to get cheaper rail fares (BBC Article)

UK rail tickets are often really strange and it is always difficult to get the cheapest price unless your are in the know. So the BBC have kindly written an article on 10 ways to get cheaper fares.
It did not particularly help me with any of my usual train journeys but you never know, it is bound to be useful to someone.

The fight to copyright Mother's Day (BBC Article)

As it is mother's day you can find out about the history of the day and how the original creator became horrified at the gross over commercialisation of it all. It might make you think.

Snow Watch 2007 Update

**Flash** **Flash**

Sleety / snowy /rainy showers with strong gusts. Nothing special

**end of flash** **end of flash**

1000 new rail carriages for UK Railways

On the face of it this is a simple story. The Government has promised to build 1000 carriages and lease them to the train operating companies[1]. This is equivalent to a 10% capacity increase or roughly one years growth. All this to help reduce overcrowding.

However, Stock is already available from the leasing companies and several franchise holders have recently put modern units off lease which could be used else where. Plus in an emergency there is plenty of Mk3 carriages which could be used with diesel engines (Although potentially more costly). For a good analysis of some of the considerations on off lease stock and hire possibilities see this forum post

It would seem that franchise operators have already proved that they could increase capacity but they are just not interested. Indeed some operators have already suggested that the cost of leasing extra stock to ease overcrowding is the responsibility of the government (See wikipedia: FGW stock cuts).

Bearing all this in mind it is clear that the government has now had enough. Last year it ordered an investigation by the Office of the Rail Regulator into an alleged monopoly by the three train leasing companies[2]. The government estimated that the leasing companies were over charging by up to 50 million a year.

The ORR looks likely to refer the issue to the Competition Commission [3] having found that the leasing sector had:

"higher prices and lower quality of service than would be the case in a more competitive market"

As a response to this Angel Trains one of the leasing companies has pulled out of negotiations with Virgin Trains over new trains citing the ongoing uncertainty due to the investigation [3].

So in what appears to be the latest move in a high pressure game of rail chess the government has stated that it will build 1000 new carriages and lease them direct to the train operating companies.

Basically this is sending a clear message to the train leasing companies that if they are not prepared to act fairly then the government will cut them out or undercut their prices. In a sense the government is attempting to force competition onto the rigged market.

I agree with the Liberal Democrat transport spokesman Alaister Carmicheal that the government should allow network rail to act as a leasing company to give the better integration between the operators and the infrastructure. This would create two partners in running a train rather than the complicated three partners at the moment.

So the real story is not the extra thousand carriages but the real commitment by the government to create structural economic change in the industry.

Snow Watch 2007 Update

The met office have now upgraded their severe weather early warning which warns of possible disruption due to heavy snow.

This now includes Oxfordshire with an increase from below 20% to a 30% risk of severe disruption.

This warning is in force from 0600 on Sunday through to 1200 on Wednesday.

The met office is predicting snow showers with strong winds, with some showers merging to give longer spells of snow potentially giving accumulations of 2-5 cm at low levels. Any snow fall is expected to melt during the day but freeze over night.

The bulk of the showers are expecting to cross central England during Monday.

Further updates as the situation becomes clearer.

Happy St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's Day to all.

Quick Quiz: Who was St Patrick and why is he celebrated?

Well not surprisingly in a survey by the Manchester Irish Festival almost 2/3 of people could not answer that question. Most people thought of it as a day to party and drink Guinness.

Here then are some quick facts:

• St Patrick was an Irish missionary who spread Christianity through out Ireland.
  
• One of his legends is the story of how he drove all the snakes out of Ireland.
  
• The shamrock is attached to his feast day because of the symbolism connection with the holy trinity of the Christian faith.
  
• St Patrick's Day is thought to be the anniversary of his death.

Snow Watch 2007 - Leg 3

This could be the final bit of snow this year, so late in the season could this be a bit of a non event.

The met office have warnings out for the coastal areas, Northern England and Scotland. It looks like from early indications that the snow will not affect central and southern counties. For these counties the temperature remain quite reasonable at 6 or 7 degrees Celsius with a less than 20% risk of snow.

I will of course keep an eye on the situation and update as necessary.

Darfur - International community response "pathetic"

Report condemns Sudan over Darfur (BBC article)

UN investigators have issued a damning report against both Sudan and the international community.

The Sudanese government has been accused of orchestrating and participating in war crimes including: murder, mass rape and kidnapping.

Jody Williams, a winner of the nobel peace prize, has described the response of the international community as "pathetic". She goes on to compare the situation to Rwanda and plainly asks why the international community does nothing, indeed she and her team of investigators have framed the language of the report to push for action.

"There are so many hollow threats towards Khartoum, that if I were Khartoum I wouldn't pay any attention either"

"It is more than a tragedy. It was after Rwanda that people said 'never again', and here we are again."

- Jody Williams, Head of Mission,
High-Level Mission on the situation of human rights in Darfur

There is criticism from both the team and the UN that Sudan actively blocked investigation by the team by refusing access to Darfur.

The Sudanese government continues to maintain its innocence and claims that western governments are exaggerating the situation. This continues to be difficult to believe given the lack of co-operation from Khartoum.

European members of the Human Right Council in Geneva are expected to call for a censure motion but it is expected that this will be resisted by African states. An impasse will be reached and there will be continued inaction.

On the 17th January 2007 14 humanitarian agencies issued a plea for help (UN Daily news 17th January) stating:

"In the face of growing insecurity and danger to communities and aid workers, the UN and its humanitarian partners have effectively been holding the line for the survival and protection of millions, that line cannot be held much longer."

The plea makes stark reading and ends with a final warning:

"The humanitarian community cannot indefinitely assure the survival of the population in Darfur if insecurity continues."

"Solid guarantees for the safety of civilians and humanitarian workers is urgently needed. At the same time, those who have committed attacks, harassment, abduction, intimidation, robbery and injury to civilians, including IDPs, humanitarian workers and other non-combatants, must be held accountable."

Jonathan Freedland has written up an editorial commentary,The legacy of Iraq is that the world stands by while Darfur burns, in the Guardian, as an intro he compares Darfur with the situation in Bosnia in the 90's and talks about what happens when the media reports such atrocities.

"I once spoke to a journalist who had covered the war in Bosnia in the early 1990s. He said that he and his colleagues kept heading into harm's way, because they believed that once the world knew of the horrors they had witnessed, the world would be stirred to act. They filed their reports and waited. Soon enough, they understood. The world knew what was going on - and yet it did nothing. For some of those reporters, this experience broke their faith in the power of journalism. For others, it broke their faith in their fellow human beings."

-Jonathan Freedland

He goes onto agree with me that by in large such pleas as the 17th January UN plea have been largely unreported and ignored by the world at large. His headline comment I think detracts from the main message, trying to compare Darfur to Iraq is irrelevant . His final comments are apt as he refers to our ability after every atrocity to say "never again", yet happily pretend that such things no longer happen.

"But the fact of it [the world having done nothing] still stains our world. At the end of this month, leaders will gather to celebrate the 50th anniversary of what became the European Union. They will make fine speeches, declaring that after the horrors of the second world war the only moral course was "never again". If those words reach all the way to Darfur, how hollow they will ring."

-Jonathan Freedland

It seems that the mainstream media still continues to ignore the situation and you have to wonder what will stop this insult to our own humanity.

Once more unto the pile of work

My desk has been like a bomb site lately, it looks like a paperwork bomb has exploded. There is only one casualty me.

One side affect of stress is less patience with people. Usually I am the "extra mile" guy, willing to go out of my way to help people, take on other people's problem's and sort them out myself.

At the moment I have enough problems of my own so I am a bit fed up with people bringing me problems they could quite happily sort out themselves. Usually I help them but to a lesser extent than I normally would, after all they should help themselves for a change.

So people ring up, bring their problem to me and the response that springs to mind is that "I don't care" which reminded me of the following except from the Film "The Fugitive" (1993).

Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford)I didn't kill my wife.
Deputy Marshal Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones): I don't care.

That was also another bad day at the office. Sadly I am not the Tommy Lee Jones of the recruitment world, if I was my interviews would last 2 minutes and be something like this:

Tommy Lee Jones (Fast talking no pauses, shouting and in the candidate's face moving round them): You walk into a room and there is a bomb on the table, What do you do? The bomb has two wires, a battery, circuit board and some C4. What do you do? There is a blue, red, white and grey wire? Do something! The timer says 20 seconds, what do you do? Think!

Candidate: ermmm...
(one second later)
Tommy Lee Jones: Boom! your dead! Next!

Tommy Lee Jones: there is a bomb on the table...

Zephyrist's Sunday night briefs

Well what with it being a busy week for me and one thing or another there are a few articles I have just not had the time to write. As they relate to current events I thoughts I would write some quick briefs and thoughts on some headline news and some lesser news items you may not have caught.

Wave farms show energy potential (BBC)

A BBC article telling us about a plan by Scottish engineers to deploy an offshore wave farm off Portugal.

This has plenty of implications for the UK as we have lots of suitable ocean waves off the West coast of Scotland and indeed there are plans to build an offshore farm soon. Unfortunately, unlike wind power this technology is very much in the development stages but with our own home grown engineering talent and a bit of investment from the government wave power could soon be a viable, renewable form of energy.

The political power of the network (BBC)

This article is an interesting piece about the power of the internet and how it relates to democracy and politics.

In the article there is a note of caution that although the internet stimulates debate, it doesn't always translate to involvement in the democratic process.

Is e-democracy now a reality (BBC)

This is on the same lines as the previous article and explores how much the internet is moving into mainstream politics. You can now read politicians blogs, watch youtube videos and sign electronic petitions, how far will e-democracy go?

US time switch set to save energy (BBC)
Y2K again? Daylight time may baffle computers (CNN)

The US have changed their summer time schedule. They now go to daylight saving three weeks earlier in the spring and end it one week later in the autumn. The idea behind it is to save energy, cut costs and as a side effect cut emissions.

I always like to visit CNN for the American prospective on stories. Two things of note from the CNN article, first I love the little summary at the top because Americans obviously cant even manage to read a short internet article and second note the cynical tone of the article regarding the energy saving idea.

"This is nice for after-dinner strolls and might even save some energy (which was Congress' motive)..."

My final thought on the story is that if America can do it why cant we, that would help towards our 20:20 target (20% by 2020).

Don't mention the polar bears, Bush tells US scientists (Independent)

This a long running saga where the bush administration censors the scientific community and forbids them to mention anything that might be at odds with bush policy. It tends to be around things such as the environment, global warming and carbon dioxide emissions.

This story relates to a leaked memo from the US department of the interior which suggested that matters not up for discussion in Arctic region countries included climate change, polar bears and sea ice. So whatever you do don't mention the polar bears.

The US department of the interior is currently in consultation to decide whether the polar bear should be listed as an endangered species.

That concludes my briefs on Sunday.

Oxford to Milton Keynes rail link

In the 1960's there was a rail link between Oxford and Cambridge which was informally known as the Varsity line. After the cost cutting of the sixties all that was left was a freight line from Oxford to Bletchley and a shrivelled passenger link between Bletchley and Bedford.

There has been talk for some years of resurrecting the full link or at the very least the western end Oxford to Bletchley and therefore to Milton Keynes. Suggestions have included a link from the line to the Chiltern Railways London line which would give a second main line between Oxford and London or a full main line between Cambridge and Oxford.

Nothing much has been done about such grand plans but the link between Oxford to Milton Keynes seems more likely. This latest study continues to add weight to the argument laying out a business plan that supports two trains an hour and reports that the initial cost would be minimal. This report forms part of the supporting information for the plan to be approved by the government.

There is funding around, several large building projects in Bicester such as the South-West housing development and the Bicester Village expansion have put aside money for the Oxford-Bicester rail link improvements. Indeed the idea from the business case is that such projects would help fund the project and that this would be a condition of planning consent.

It looks likely that Chiltern railways will be the eventual operator, as they look to connect up to Aylesbury which is an existing freight spur off the line. They seem the natural operator of the line and have a solid track record in large railway projects. Laing Rail, the parent company of Chiltern Railways is one of the partners of the report which lends further support to this idea.

Given the anticipated housing and traffic growth in the Oxford - Milton Keynes arc this public transport link is essential. Yet the government still seems to be hoping that someone else will build it and even disinterested in encouraging the project.

The government should make this a priority as soon as possible. There is only a few miles of track that need to be built between the freight line and Bletchley, so a passenger service could be started within six months. The passenger service could start with the one train an hour at relatively modest speeds, but at least it would be a start rather than this continuous discussion that we have had for the last six years.

According to this latest report the rail link will not open for another five years, finally opening in the first quarter of 2012. There has been talk of this before but hopefully this report means that the line is finally a reality and not just an expensive paper exercise.

Energy efficient light bulbs - Now that is a bright idea!

In my article, UK to miss CO2 emissions target way back in May 2006 I suggested that one measure would be to introduce a 5% environment tax on normal light bulbs. As you may have seen in this weeks news the EU are thinking about going further by introducing an outright ban by 2009. This follows in the footsteps of the Australian government who have put forward similar proposals.

This proposal is one part of a bigger raft of proposals to cut Carbon Dioxide emissions. The central commitment is a 20% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2020 or a 30% reduction if other countries such as the US commit to the target as well. The proposals are a good solid mix of everything, commitments to renewables, energy efficiency, grid issues, better regulation, robust energy reviews and greater EU partnership work.

The ordinary light bulbs days are numbered and not before time. The phasing out of incandescent light bulbs was always going to be a necessary evil. Although cheap we must move on from such in-efficient technology. As the energy efficient bulbs begin to take over they will get cheaper and the variety will increase. By the time the measure is passed into law we will wonder why we had not done it sooner.

Certainly in my house I am down to the light bulbs which are currently difficult to source from high street shops but as they burn out I am committed to replacing even these with new energy efficient bulbs.

On a final note the Independent article has some great quotes from EU ministers.

"I assume the light bulbs in the presidential palace are energy-saving but I don't know - I'm not in charge of that really."

-Lech Kaczynski, President of Poland.

What you mean no one says to the president, "Mr President, Bad news a light bulb need changing, what do we do?".

"Not quite bright enough so sometimes when I'm looking for something that's dropped on the carpet I have a bit of a problem"

-Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany
talking about her gloomy flat.

Could she not just buy a bulb with a higher wattage?

And finally for the last word, I will leave it to a green MEP to explain why we should go ahead and say goodbye to the light bulb.

"Banning old fashioned light bulbs across the EU would cut carbon emissions by about 20 million tonnes a year - and save 5 - 8 bn euros a year in domestic fuel bills."

- Caroline Lucas, Green MEP.

Sources:

EU agrees renewable energy target (BBC)

Europe sees the light over energy-saving bulbs (Independent)

Blair hails 'bold' EU deal to slash carbon emissions and boost renewable power.(Independent)

Preparation, Preparation, Preperation

Muggins here was interviewing again, I was supposed to be having an administration day catching up on paperwork but I got dragged in.

Any recruitment person will tell you that one of the biggest mistakes you can make as a candidate is failing to prepare for an interview. There is probably only one scenario in which you would not need to bother with preparation. You must have done a similar job with a similar organisation for the last ten years and this is your tenth interview for a similar job in a similar organisation this week and even then I would still advise spending five minutes going over things in your head.

Thinking of candidates failing to prepare lead me to Tony Blair's famous speech of "Education, Education, Education" which he made to the labour party conference in 1996.

"Ask me my three main priorities for government, and I tell you: education, education, education."
(I could not find the full text of the speech but the quote is referenced from this BBC article)

My version therefore for prospective interview candidates is:

"Ask me my three main priorities for successful interviews, and I tell you: preparation, preparation, preparation."

-Zephyrist, 9th March 2007

Jobs are hard enough to get at interview without candidates self selecting themselves out by failing to prepare. I know I have been on that side of the table as well.

Now in a homage to Scrubs I am going to do a JD style summing up. Imagine some nice backing track while the scenes change from one character to the next with the following voice over:

"Some people prepare, some people prepare to fail, others fail to prepare. As for me, I just prepare for the best and worst that life has to throw at me."

Interviewing

Interviewing today, so for a change it was a good day, although there was a small matter of talking to children to deal with first.

The first interview of the day is always a bit of an unknown quantity. I usually start with a polystyrene cup of coffee in my hand praying to whoever might be listening that if they get me through this first interview, I promise to be good in the future. For the umpteenth time I whine in my head that yet again I have started the interviews as earlier as possible leaving myself a bit flustered.

Of course by this time I have fetched the interviewee or victim up from reception and made a bit of small talk while trying to remember which interview room I am using today. Then there is the fact that they don't know where they are going so they are constantly two paces behind me so I having to lean over my shoulder, make small talk and try to avoid tripping over my own feet as I plod up the stairs. Multi tasking the HR way, absolutely no chance with out a decent cup of coffee preferably filter possibly fair trade. Although I think the canteen hasn't yet heard of fair-trade yet, I am still trying to persuade them that black crunchy bacon described as crispy is possibly against the trade descriptions act.

So anyway the candidate is now lost in the block I call home to the point where I could take them back to the front door and say the interview panel is just through here and then kick them out back into the fresh air. After some interviews I sometimes think that the candidate would have preferred that quick death rather than the slow laboured lingering death rattle that they suffered at interview.

In the room its time to get comfy, unfortunately, for the candidate we use chairs which are mini sofas. You have the choice of almost reclining horizontally and coming across un-interested or leaning forward and intimidating the interviewers. I am never really that intimidated but there have been some nasty incidents when I thought the candidate was going for my coffee. Difficult decisions for the interviewee but I am still wondering whether I can survive the interview without a refill.

On to the questions and contrary to popular belief I have not judged you yet, I wait till after we have marked the questions, bit traditional I know. Then I judge you and when weighed in the balance you may come out wanting or you may not but it will be your answers in the next 30 minutes that will decide.

Onto the questions, we have some standard ones like strength, weaknesses, what would your colleagues say about you, tell me about yourself etc etc. Every answer different, but I am still somewhat amazed that otherwise intelligent people have not practised the answers. If you don't get these right you stand no chance with the section two questions. I know its a bit hard to get your head round the idea that there are standard questions but do you think we have a questions department, Noel Edmonds moonlighting with interview questions out back.

Section 2 "What if" questions. Usually by this time I am starting to pay attention unless you have sapped my will to live in part 1. If you have potential but seem to be fluffing the answer I will try to help by asking follow up questions. Little tip any follow up question must have an answer I don't waste valuable air in asking trick questions.

So there you are sitting in front of me, you have no idea what I am thinking and I have no real idea what your thinking, and somehow we still have half an interview to get through. If I am unlucky the section 2 questions turn into an applicant monologue. What you think is a thorough, concise answer actually translates into a long rambling answer where the interviewer starts to catch ever third second.After the interview the members of the panel have to reconstruct your answer from scrappy notes like a jigsaw. "I have an edge with a small dog", "Oh I have the dog's ball". Well you get the idea.

If your good and I am lucky you will breeze through the "What If's?". You have done your research, you are smarter than the average bear and you are actually vaguely interested in the job.

Then my final job is to close it "Do you have any questions?". Sometimes said with a sigh as I finally put you out of your misery and let you relax or sometimes with a prayer that you don't get out your small list you prepared early and ramble on for another thirty minutes.

All done. Time to go, collect up your stuff and I take you back through the maze, taking you down the same corridor twice just to see if you notice. More small talk, "how did it go?...yes you did seem a bit nervous...was it your first interview..what are you doing for the rest of the day? and so on.

Back to the door and it feels like I kicked you out of the door into the cold cruel world knowing that behind closed doors I am discussing your fate and giving you the gladiatorial thumbs up or thumbs down.

Actually I am just on my way to get a refill on the coffee and quickly read up on the next applicant and decide whether I need to probe a bit further on anything on their CV.

Then the second becomes the third, are we on the fourth / fifth, is it lunch time yet ?. Sixth rolls on to seven drags through to eight and we arrive at the bun fight.

The bun fight is where everyone on the interview panel starts throwing buns around, or having scored everyone, if as usual there is no clear winner we start arguing minor points. She has solid customer service experience, ah but this one had good team leader experience, yes but he didn't answer this question well.

Finally members of the panel start to group together and in the end it starts to narrow down until you have two people to choose from. I know and the rest of the panel knows they could both do the job and we have no evidence to suggest who would be the best for the company, we are not psychic. So the panel sits and argues, and at this point I am usually huddled quietly round a coffee hoping the the line managers will agree on something, anything please. So I sit, wait and watch for a kink in the argument, some small point of difference or promise. I throw the hat into the ring and make a decision, if they go my way we take that applicant, if they disagree with me we take the other applicant. If they dither I threaten them with interviewing another 8 people next week, strangely enough no manager has every dared take my offer.

Secretly, when we get down to the final two I sometimes just want to flip a coin, it will make no difference in the long run. Or make a decision and appoint both to learn who was the better candidate and what we missed at interview. It becomes a sliding doors moment, two futures, two paths, this decisions changes the world. Well it might do, prove me wrong.

Then I rewind the tape and start over, but this time all the actors and all the stories are different but the coffee reassuringly remains the same.

Please Note: Although the above may come across as cynical, it could not be farther from the truth. I hope I am a friendly interviewer and try to help people wherever I can and even if they are not suitable I endeavour to offer some constructive feedback.

I love interviewing and would happily do it day in day out. I never get tired of people and all the different stories and approaches they have.

Democracy: The Uncomfortable Reality

The uncomfortable reality that is unpalatable to some people is that the solution to any problem is not going to please everyone or as the headline on the BBC article puts it "Blanket policies just don't fit".

This article tell us about one woman's experience when she attended a Downing street forum where 60 citizens attended to discus policy decisions. The information gathered from what in reality could be described as a focus group is then fed back to the cabinet.

The 60 people were spilt up into small group with a government mentor whose role seems to be to ask reality check questions and record the discussions.

It quickly became obvious that there were some uncomfortable realities for government and democracy.

• The 80/20 rule: This group found that the best way to take a decision was that if 80% of the group felt it was a good idea then it could go ahead leaving 20% of the group disagreeing.
  Scale this up and it is easier to see how protest groups become so large, they are the 20% that we cant please. If we gave them what they wanted there would be another 20% and so on and so fourth.
• Leadership and communication: Rather than increase public involvement people prefer good leaders who communicate effectively.
  In reality this suggests that people are happy to let people drive public policy if they are seen to be a good leader and members of the public feel they are kept well informed. There is also reason to believe that if the public is better informed then they may be more tolerant when things don't quite go according to plan.
  This may be why "Teflon Reid" does better than most labour ministers, his communication skills and interview technique are good even those his departmental results are often very poor.
• Want more services / don't really want to pay for it: this is the age old problem, the group were asked to debate whether they wanted more police officers on the streets. Strangely enough everyone said yes. Then the mentor interjected and posed the question "Are you willing to pay for it?". After much shuffling of feet the answer came out as "Not really".
  This is what we as the general public always do, we talk about how rubbish services are but refuse to pay any more taxes towards them. Part of the answer has been ring fencing, a certain tax increase goes to a certain project or department budget such as National Insurance which is used to support the Welfare state.
  Of course ring-fencing cant really be extended to a basket of taxes where you pick and choose which ones you support. In the same way that we cast a vote and give politicians free reign with defined limits to govern we have to give the government our tax pound and trust them to spend it wisely and in the best interests of the majority and the UK.
  Alternatively it is often said that government is inefficient and that's where the money can come from. Again that is part of the solution but you have to trust people that when they say they cant make that much in savings you have to give them more money.
  At some point down the line new services will need new money
  

These forums are seen as more spin by critics but it gets people talking about politics and helps bridge the gap between the electorate and the elected. There is also the chance that politicians who are often said to be detached from the realities of life will learn something new and then that something can be adopted as policy.

This kind of group discussion is the kind of thing that I would expect the new citizenship lessons for school children to cover. I hope they will have such opportunities to learn about the mechanics of Democracy, warts and all.

UK Lunar Eclipse

In my haste to post things last night, I forgot to introduce the eclipse. A lunar eclipse is when the earth is between the sun and the moon. The moon moves into the earth shadow and then out again. When fully in shadow the only sunlight that reaches the moon is refracted through Earth's atmosphere and this is what gives it the reddish colour during total eclipse.

21:35

First shot, shooting with the low light was difficult and I think there is a bit of camera movement but you can just see the shadow starting on the bottom left.





22:07

Bit more of the shadow across the moon, Not sure about the square shadow on the left side of the moon, probably camera movement





22:26

Three quarters of the way to total eclipse, just a bit of camera movement







22:45

According to the BBC article this was the first minute of the eclipse, the moon has just moved into full shadow.





23:03

Sadly my camera could not pick up the moon in shadow in all its red glory, the top of the moon remained lighter at this point in the eclipse and if you really strain your eyes you might be able to make out the lighter semi-circle of the top of the moon.




There you have it a total eclipse of the moon in 5 blurry shots. For better pictures taken by members of the public check out the BBC's "In Pictures" feature for the eclipse.

Random Thought: Hydrogen Fuel Cell Cars

Hydrogen Fuel cars react Hydrogen with Oxygen to produce energy to drive the car, with the only exhaust product being water. These cars are expected to come into use in the next twenty years.

If every car is pumping out water vapour does this mean we will be driving around in a permanent fog?

Will the extra water vapour end up forming more clouds and increasing the amount of rainfall in the area? Will places like London have a permanent drizzle?

Surely that amount of water vapour must do something?

Government Inspector allows wind farm to go ahead

I previously called for the government to take positive action to push wind farms through the planning process. Well it seems that one brave government inspector has done just that.

Following a planning enquiry objections have been overruled and the wind farm which will supply enough electricity for 7,000 homes will be completed within the next 11 months.

There are only 8 wind turbines to be built but of course all the usual objections were bought up of them being an eyesore etc etc. Well the planning inspector saw through it all and after weighing up the pro's and cons decided that the pro's tipped the balance and gave his approval.

So kudos to the unnamed planning inspector. At least somebody in government is helping to reach the 2010 renewables target.

By my rough calculations 7,000 homes is only 11.2 MW but then again every little helps.

Railways: First Great Western and Franchises

(Sorry the attached link is the only on-line news article I could find, obviously the media are bored of First Great Western and commuter woes.)

Following a meeting between Thames Valley MP's and the Secretary of State for Transport it has been announced that Network Rail and FGW have come up with a 40 point recovery plan.

I heard on BBC breakfast this morning that they plan to revise the timetable in May and that the Secretary of State has made unsubtle suggestions that if they don't get their act together the franchise can always be taken away.

Finally Teresa May does something, only four months after it all started with the December timetable.

FGW is not well liked since the December changes, just look at all the websites and news stories about them since December 2006. Ever since the new franchise came into play it has gone down hill and opinion is divided on who to blame, the government for micromanaging the franchise agreement into a completely unworkable plan or FGW putting profits before passengers.

Either way it was past time for the government to take action.

I think that the government should go further with franchise agreements. Franchises should include annual capacity enhancement targets. After all the idea is for rail passenger growth so why not target it. Both Franchise Holders and Network Rail should be set annual targets and then the partnership between the operator and the infrastructure can work together to improve capacity.

Option1 : % annual increase in passenger seat kilometres.

A multiplier of the previous years passenger seat kilometres. i.e. if passenger seat kilometres in previous year was 1000 and the multiplier was set at 5% then the passenger seat kilometres target in the coming year should be 1050 passenger seat kilometres and trains should be planned appropriately.

Option 2: Maximum seat utilisation.

This is a simple percentage like 75%. which would mean that 75% of a trains seats would be taken with 25% being free. Of course this would not apply to just one train but over a group of trains.

For example trains for these options might be grouped as follows and could be sub divided by a line or region:

• Morning peak
• Afternoon peak
• Week day (Mon-Thurs)
• Friday
• Saturday
• Sunday
• Evenings
• Overnight

Both options would work well in conjunction with each other and could be used to push franchise holders to grow traffic.

Network rail would also have its own target of capacity enhancements and route availability. These might be number of trains per hour over any given line or area or maximum capacity targets for freight and passenger trains could be set or specific bottlenecks could be targeted. There could also be targets about the kilometres of new track laid or new route availability.

Not only do these targets need to be measured and set but I would also like to see action plans laid out by the companies on how they intend to achieve these growth targets and a genuine consultation period with their stakeholders.

In reality the government needs to find a way to build in capacity enhancements to the rail industry so that the industry is challenged to grow capacity, not to manage capacity to maximise profits.

First Great Western have shown what can happen when such regulation is not present, companies will happily put profits before passengers.