Last night I signed up to a Twitter account @SamBurnsPI and suddenly had a severe case of twitter block. I've never really got into tweeting despite it being a thoroughly acceptable form of social networking. The whole point of Twitter is that you are rewarded for having something interesting or funny to say in a concise manner. Facebook is the complete opposite. Inane comments get ridiculous amounts of feedback and people feel motivated to go into the most insignificant details of their life and talk about them as if they were Anne Frank. Its not until you start tweeting that you realise how bloody hard it is to say something that people will read and follow. Tonight I have tweeted about the fact that Jupiter is in close proximity to the moon. If that isn't a Facebook comment I don't know what is. Maybe I should tweet the fact that I have a cup of tea and really feel like eating a cheese sandwhich.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Melanie Phillips and a Headache from Hell
Saturday morning headache. Up late last night watching starship troopers. A clever film in its own stupid way. I don't know what is scarier - a war with giant insects and arachnids or the perverse world view that the future inhabitants of Earth had. I think I may be looking into things too much. Melanie Phillips was on Question Time on Thursday which always gets me worked up. It surprises me that people will read and listen to such hateful nonsense. I particularly enjoyed her rant about Richard Bransons suggestion that drug use should be decriminalised. In one foul swoop she dismissed an entire country as useless, denounced Richard Bransons report as false and quoted an unnamed "more authoritive" report that said that Armageddon had been the result of the Portuguese drug policy. She rounded it off by agreeing that drug users weren't criminals making the whole diatribe a complete waste of time but somehow failing to dent what seems to be an impenetrable shield of self-satisfied smugness. She had in two short minutes given us a clear example of shoddy journalism and how facts get in the way of right wing thinking. Watch it on iPlayer its a treat. She was so effective at being utterly contemptible that the token Tory Liz Truss MP had relatively little to say. For the sake of fairness I should also point out that David Lammy would have done a lot better if he actually was Howard from the Halifax adverts and that any point he was making could not get through the noise generated from the annoying advert alert ringing in your brain.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Where is the debate in the UK?
Why is debate so dead in the UK? Do a video search on Google for Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Noam Chomsky and you will find lots of full length videos of debates at universities all over America. People seem to debate like rubbish pop acts tour in this country. Two outlandish contrarians get together and have a go at each other in front of a bunch of university students who then take it in turn to stand up in front of a microphone and ask either extremely complicated seventeen part questions or questions that have been asked and satisfied thousands of times. Then the whole road show goes on to the next college.
We have Question Time, Any Questions, The Big Questions and Jeremy Kyle. Three of which attempt to be proper debating shows but run into the usual problem of TV in that they are restricted by time and an apathetic audience. This means that unless someone is saying something that has been said a hundred times before Dimbleby has to jump in and cut them off. The other show runs into the problem of trying to appeal to simpler life forms and is required to take breaks so that the drool can be mopped up off the floor.
Can we be less interested in ideas in this country than they are in the States? A place where politicians doubt the science of global warming because of the story of Noah. A place where intellectualism has as much bad press as Communism. Where the Christian far right utilise their political influence to bring about Armageddon. How can such a place out debate us?
I suspect that the problem is that in the UK we pretty much take whatever the idiot in charge wants us to believe to be gospel. It takes a lot to get Britain protesting on the streets. The coalition government have had us protesting a number of times so far which really should be some indication that they are really taking the piss. But still they know they can march on with cut after cut, privatising what little the state has left and ultimately we will let them get on with it. The upshot of this is that nobody has to win the argument. The press also have a tendency to fall into line on the big issues. Who needs to debate a foregone conclusion.
Personally I find this sad. The argument hasn't been won and there are some very important issues in the political arena at the moment. Namely :- defence, the role of the government and its relationship with the wealthy who have bankrupted the world, environmental issues, resource issues.
We have Question Time, Any Questions, The Big Questions and Jeremy Kyle. Three of which attempt to be proper debating shows but run into the usual problem of TV in that they are restricted by time and an apathetic audience. This means that unless someone is saying something that has been said a hundred times before Dimbleby has to jump in and cut them off. The other show runs into the problem of trying to appeal to simpler life forms and is required to take breaks so that the drool can be mopped up off the floor.
Can we be less interested in ideas in this country than they are in the States? A place where politicians doubt the science of global warming because of the story of Noah. A place where intellectualism has as much bad press as Communism. Where the Christian far right utilise their political influence to bring about Armageddon. How can such a place out debate us?
I suspect that the problem is that in the UK we pretty much take whatever the idiot in charge wants us to believe to be gospel. It takes a lot to get Britain protesting on the streets. The coalition government have had us protesting a number of times so far which really should be some indication that they are really taking the piss. But still they know they can march on with cut after cut, privatising what little the state has left and ultimately we will let them get on with it. The upshot of this is that nobody has to win the argument. The press also have a tendency to fall into line on the big issues. Who needs to debate a foregone conclusion.
Personally I find this sad. The argument hasn't been won and there are some very important issues in the political arena at the moment. Namely :- defence, the role of the government and its relationship with the wealthy who have bankrupted the world, environmental issues, resource issues.
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
On a Walk to Cassiopeia
It's ruddy dark is the polite way of putting it. I finish work at 17:30, go home have some tea and then take the dog for a walk. She is a black labrador who likes running around in hedges and upsetting less fortunate creatures who have spent all day in fear of death from the next step up in the food chain. The problem is that a black dog running along a black line of hedgerows in the pitch black makes it hard to keep up with her. I have equipped myself with a bloody good torch but even so it can be difficult.
There is a positive side to this. On nights like last night you look up and see an array of lighty dots in the sky. Thanks to Google Skymap on my phone I can get an insight into what I'm looking at. I've always had a passing interest in astronomy. It was the kind of thing I was saving up for retirement (if I ever get there). Jupiter is quite prominent at the moment. It is quite easily the brightest dot on display. Last night I pointed my phone straight up and saw a W-shaped constellation. It was quite distinct and when I lined it up with the sky map it informed me I was looking at Cassiopeia. You have no idea how satisfying it is to point up at a cluster of stars and say "that's Cassiopeia". This is a fringe benefit of having to walk the dog at night. Finally I get to look at the stars.
It can be quite an uplifting and terrifying experience contemplating the immensity of the universe. I am reminded of Zaphod stepping into the perspective machine. When I listen to the Rachmaninov Vespers it is this immensity of scale that comes to mind, I challenge anyone to listen to that music and not be moved by it. The universe is a wonderfully quiet place. One slightly unpopular planet in the western spiral arm of a galaxy called the milky way is a bit noisy but apart from that it is golden silence. And emptiness. With the odd ball of fire.
It's normally at this point I am transported back to reality by some religious nut leaping out at me and shouting 'a ha, you see you are religious. Now you must follow me and do what I tell you' Christopher Hitchens has made the point on many occasions that it is not beyond the capabilities of the rational to experience those numinous feelings. One of the great crimes of religion has been to steal terms for their own meaning. So now it is impossible to be spiritual without being religious. This is me at my most spiritual. It is a wonderfully calming feeling to know that no matter what crap is going on here. As far as the universe is concerned its not even worth registering.
Today I shall look up the story of Cassiopeia so when I go out tonight I can put some drama to the constellation. All I know at the moment is that Cassiopeia was an incredible vain person. A bit like my dog really who is absolutely convinced of her own power of cuteness. Maybe I should have called her Cass.
There is a positive side to this. On nights like last night you look up and see an array of lighty dots in the sky. Thanks to Google Skymap on my phone I can get an insight into what I'm looking at. I've always had a passing interest in astronomy. It was the kind of thing I was saving up for retirement (if I ever get there). Jupiter is quite prominent at the moment. It is quite easily the brightest dot on display. Last night I pointed my phone straight up and saw a W-shaped constellation. It was quite distinct and when I lined it up with the sky map it informed me I was looking at Cassiopeia. You have no idea how satisfying it is to point up at a cluster of stars and say "that's Cassiopeia". This is a fringe benefit of having to walk the dog at night. Finally I get to look at the stars.
It can be quite an uplifting and terrifying experience contemplating the immensity of the universe. I am reminded of Zaphod stepping into the perspective machine. When I listen to the Rachmaninov Vespers it is this immensity of scale that comes to mind, I challenge anyone to listen to that music and not be moved by it. The universe is a wonderfully quiet place. One slightly unpopular planet in the western spiral arm of a galaxy called the milky way is a bit noisy but apart from that it is golden silence. And emptiness. With the odd ball of fire.
It's normally at this point I am transported back to reality by some religious nut leaping out at me and shouting 'a ha, you see you are religious. Now you must follow me and do what I tell you' Christopher Hitchens has made the point on many occasions that it is not beyond the capabilities of the rational to experience those numinous feelings. One of the great crimes of religion has been to steal terms for their own meaning. So now it is impossible to be spiritual without being religious. This is me at my most spiritual. It is a wonderfully calming feeling to know that no matter what crap is going on here. As far as the universe is concerned its not even worth registering.
Today I shall look up the story of Cassiopeia so when I go out tonight I can put some drama to the constellation. All I know at the moment is that Cassiopeia was an incredible vain person. A bit like my dog really who is absolutely convinced of her own power of cuteness. Maybe I should have called her Cass.
Monday, November 21, 2011
The Economic Mess - A Layman's Perspective
Is there any such thing as a non-layman when it comes to economics? If there are people out there who claim to know 'what's going on', how did we get into this mess? More to the point why are we still listening to these people. The word austerity has become very notorious lately. Popping up in speeches and news reports all over the place. Maybe if we had a cut on the utterance of this word people would, on the whole, feel a bit happier.
The banks are also getting some rough publicity at the moment. This is hardly surprising seeing as the general consensus is that the role of the bank is to just throw lots of money at a baying crowd of shopaholics who go off and buy lots of gadgets and clothes and then declare bankruptcy a few years later. Maybe it's a case of once bitten, twice shy. They are not lending and for good reason. The last time they did they pumped up a 7 trillion dollar bubble in the US housing market which popped and brought us to our current predicament. All the recent actions of the major banks can be understood when you think about their actual role which is to make money. This is not a cynical point I'm making. It is enshrined in law and because they were 'too big to fail' we bailed them out. They learned the lesson and we hate them for it.
Sound pretty right wing don't I? How can anyone possibly defend the banks in all of this? Don't worry this is just the pragmatist in me trying to look rationally at the situation. If only we had done the same 30 odd years ago. The 'neo-liberal experiment' as it is often called by its detractors, centred around a simple notion which was: the wealthy and advantaged need incentivising to make more money. Everything else was just rationalising around that point. Suddenly it was patently obvious that wealth trickles down from the top like a wonderful champagne fountain. The entrepreneur was canonised and the efficiency of the market was cast into stone as the bedrock of a new faith. What was one of the easiest ways to incentivise the wealthy to make more money? Give them public assets at knock down prices. Because private industry is exposed to the efficiency of the market they must be able to do a better job and make money whilst doing it. Now when inflation is a big concern we have energy companies putting private profit over public welfare - again as they are legally bound to do, and there is nothing we can do about it.
The solution to this mess? It's hard to say after all I'm not economist, if I were I'd probably be in charge of Italy. We have Europe in major trouble with back bench tories ringing their hands in glee, whilst America is chasing its tail with the tea party just vetoing anything Obama does to try and stimulate the economy. I think a change in attitude from the government would be a good start. It needs them to recognise that the wealthy and advantaged don't need incentives to make more money. In fact it is the natural tendency of private power to exploit the weak and that the role of a benign and liberal government is to protect the weak from the strong and powerful. Maybe with that as a guiding principle not only would we find a solution to the economic mess, politics might reconnect with the public.
The banks are also getting some rough publicity at the moment. This is hardly surprising seeing as the general consensus is that the role of the bank is to just throw lots of money at a baying crowd of shopaholics who go off and buy lots of gadgets and clothes and then declare bankruptcy a few years later. Maybe it's a case of once bitten, twice shy. They are not lending and for good reason. The last time they did they pumped up a 7 trillion dollar bubble in the US housing market which popped and brought us to our current predicament. All the recent actions of the major banks can be understood when you think about their actual role which is to make money. This is not a cynical point I'm making. It is enshrined in law and because they were 'too big to fail' we bailed them out. They learned the lesson and we hate them for it.
Sound pretty right wing don't I? How can anyone possibly defend the banks in all of this? Don't worry this is just the pragmatist in me trying to look rationally at the situation. If only we had done the same 30 odd years ago. The 'neo-liberal experiment' as it is often called by its detractors, centred around a simple notion which was: the wealthy and advantaged need incentivising to make more money. Everything else was just rationalising around that point. Suddenly it was patently obvious that wealth trickles down from the top like a wonderful champagne fountain. The entrepreneur was canonised and the efficiency of the market was cast into stone as the bedrock of a new faith. What was one of the easiest ways to incentivise the wealthy to make more money? Give them public assets at knock down prices. Because private industry is exposed to the efficiency of the market they must be able to do a better job and make money whilst doing it. Now when inflation is a big concern we have energy companies putting private profit over public welfare - again as they are legally bound to do, and there is nothing we can do about it.
The solution to this mess? It's hard to say after all I'm not economist, if I were I'd probably be in charge of Italy. We have Europe in major trouble with back bench tories ringing their hands in glee, whilst America is chasing its tail with the tea party just vetoing anything Obama does to try and stimulate the economy. I think a change in attitude from the government would be a good start. It needs them to recognise that the wealthy and advantaged don't need incentives to make more money. In fact it is the natural tendency of private power to exploit the weak and that the role of a benign and liberal government is to protect the weak from the strong and powerful. Maybe with that as a guiding principle not only would we find a solution to the economic mess, politics might reconnect with the public.
Jobs for the Young - Red Tape and Bullcrap
How many times have you heard someone say we have to deregulate employment law to help stimulate the economy? Not many? You obviously don't watch Question Time, listen to Any Answers or watch the politics show or watch anything with a politician in it. That's ok. Politicians are full of crap and this is an excellent example.
One of the many roles I am involved with is hiring and firing. In order to hire someone you offer them a job, give them a start date and ask them to bring along their P45 and a couple of pieces of id. This onerous process is fraught with potential danger. Luckily you get twelve months to change your mind. At any point during the first twelve months you can dismiss the lucky candidate on a whim. This usually follows a four week trial period for which our new valued employee has worked for free in order to prove their worth.
The spanner in the works occurs when an employee has a track record of sticking around or a medical condition. Things can get pretty awkward then. Those unreasonable employment law people have decided that such an employee has 'rights'. This makes it very difficult to pull the trigger. It's not impossible to fire someone in this situation but it means you have to start jumping through hoops to do it. Could this be the red tape that needs to be trimmed?
This brings me to the subject of works contracts. It used to be the case that the contract worked in the employee's interest. It basically said if you turn up to work regularly and don't be a complete tool you will have a job. Now the contract is just another weapon in employee relations. Examples of typical clauses put into work contracts or statements of particulars are 'seeking permission to engage in work elsewhere', 'come in to work when we tell you', 'you will get fired if you so much as sneer at the boss.'
A major burden shovelled onto the shoulders of our employer is the fact that they have to pay their staff. And that even though they pay them for it, they can't run them for 24 hours a day. That darn 48 hours per week limit is a real affront to the right of workers to do what they are told. Hard work is character building, if we could pay them less they would have to work more which means they would be thoroughly decent. People you could almost respect.
Have no doubts, when people talk about bureaucracy and employment law, they are talking about your working conditions. About getting rid of that pesky minimum wage, about the limit to the standard working week, about health and safety. Deregulation normally means placing the burden of a cost associated with some business onto the tax payer. In this case it's cashing in on the rights of the disadvantaged in order to promote growth. Basically making money by exploitation. A policy theoretically abandoned in 1833 with the Slavery Abolition Act.
One of the many roles I am involved with is hiring and firing. In order to hire someone you offer them a job, give them a start date and ask them to bring along their P45 and a couple of pieces of id. This onerous process is fraught with potential danger. Luckily you get twelve months to change your mind. At any point during the first twelve months you can dismiss the lucky candidate on a whim. This usually follows a four week trial period for which our new valued employee has worked for free in order to prove their worth.
The spanner in the works occurs when an employee has a track record of sticking around or a medical condition. Things can get pretty awkward then. Those unreasonable employment law people have decided that such an employee has 'rights'. This makes it very difficult to pull the trigger. It's not impossible to fire someone in this situation but it means you have to start jumping through hoops to do it. Could this be the red tape that needs to be trimmed?
This brings me to the subject of works contracts. It used to be the case that the contract worked in the employee's interest. It basically said if you turn up to work regularly and don't be a complete tool you will have a job. Now the contract is just another weapon in employee relations. Examples of typical clauses put into work contracts or statements of particulars are 'seeking permission to engage in work elsewhere', 'come in to work when we tell you', 'you will get fired if you so much as sneer at the boss.'
A major burden shovelled onto the shoulders of our employer is the fact that they have to pay their staff. And that even though they pay them for it, they can't run them for 24 hours a day. That darn 48 hours per week limit is a real affront to the right of workers to do what they are told. Hard work is character building, if we could pay them less they would have to work more which means they would be thoroughly decent. People you could almost respect.
Have no doubts, when people talk about bureaucracy and employment law, they are talking about your working conditions. About getting rid of that pesky minimum wage, about the limit to the standard working week, about health and safety. Deregulation normally means placing the burden of a cost associated with some business onto the tax payer. In this case it's cashing in on the rights of the disadvantaged in order to promote growth. Basically making money by exploitation. A policy theoretically abandoned in 1833 with the Slavery Abolition Act.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Redditch - Centre of the Universe?
The place I call home. I am like a moth to it's light. I have tried to escape but alas I have consistently failed. Not only do I live in this shady little non-suburb of Birmingham, I work here too. I do my shopping in one of the three major supermarkets and consider it my civic duty to support the local cinema. I am one of the very few of my generation to be born in this strange little town, there was no maternity ward in Redditch in 1978. It is a leafy little town, shunned by Birmingham as being out in the sticks and too working class to exist as an equal amongst the small villages that surround it. An embarassing part of Worcestershire that scoops up the detritus from the nationally mocked Birmingham.
It is a town without history. A replica of a map from the 18th Century on my wall shows: Bordesley, Beoley, Alvechurch, Iplsey but no Redditch. It is a new town. Little factories are scattered amongst the trees to provide low paid and dirty jobs for workers with no aspirations beyond a 52" high definition 3D tv on which to watch soaps and reality tv shows. There is an abundance of pubs which are filled with men who barely speak to each other during the week. At the weekends these sleepy establishments turn into rough houses where over inebriated thugs go on the rampage.
There are two real things that stop me from leaving Redditch. Firstly I can't afford it. Secondly I don't really buy into this grass is greener elsewhere malarky. I haven't travelled a lot but when I have it has quickly become obvious to me that the place I am visiting is just as much a crap hole as Redditch or unbearably snooty. As I turn off at juntion 3 of the M42 I breathe a sigh of relief. I can sense the feeling of malaise take over again. The Redditch brand of apathy is particularly addictive, before long I am comfortably melancholic and looking forward to a good moan about the lack of entertainment in my silly little town.
It is a town without history. A replica of a map from the 18th Century on my wall shows: Bordesley, Beoley, Alvechurch, Iplsey but no Redditch. It is a new town. Little factories are scattered amongst the trees to provide low paid and dirty jobs for workers with no aspirations beyond a 52" high definition 3D tv on which to watch soaps and reality tv shows. There is an abundance of pubs which are filled with men who barely speak to each other during the week. At the weekends these sleepy establishments turn into rough houses where over inebriated thugs go on the rampage.
There are two real things that stop me from leaving Redditch. Firstly I can't afford it. Secondly I don't really buy into this grass is greener elsewhere malarky. I haven't travelled a lot but when I have it has quickly become obvious to me that the place I am visiting is just as much a crap hole as Redditch or unbearably snooty. As I turn off at juntion 3 of the M42 I breathe a sigh of relief. I can sense the feeling of malaise take over again. The Redditch brand of apathy is particularly addictive, before long I am comfortably melancholic and looking forward to a good moan about the lack of entertainment in my silly little town.
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