So, not too good, is it! Last time I posted was October. Its not as if there hasn't been plenty to write about. Problem is, as ever, finding the time. I did write a list of things I might get around to writing about a little while ago, but it is not that long and is hyperpolitcalgeekery at its best. For example, would you, Dearest Reader (there might be one of you!) be interested in my musings on the basic political dichotomies (left/ right; liberal/ conservative; statist/ market-based) and how they relate to modern British and American politics? Well?
I'm motivated to write about it as I am forever fascinated by the fact that people (i.e. the voting public) don't seem to (and why should they be expected to) know what, generally, the parties stand for. Knowing that, for example, the Tories are naturally inclined to shrink the state and are essentially ideologically opposed to state provision of things 'the market' can provide would help people realise that they should take any Tory promise about the safety of the NHS with a big pinch of salt. Last time I blogged (October 2010. I apologise.) about how many of the ongoing cuts were all about ideology, and not really about saving money, and the evidence for that just keeps coming. Tuition fees are a great example, as in the short term, they front-load more debt on to the public purse than simply leaving things alone would have done.
I guess the crux of this is that people are always saying "they [the parties] are all the same as each other", which is of course complete nonsense. There are fundamental, almost religious differences between what the parties stand for and the ideology that informs that. There are places where they will agree, and those areas may have grown since the removal of Clause 4, etc, but it is just plain wrong to think that the same decisions would have been made since last May if we had a Labour government. There are important, fundamental differences, and lots of people never really learn what they are, or get a chance to think about them (they have better things to do, right!)
I guess, the point of all of this is 'think'. There are important philosophical and moral questions in politics, and just because most media coverage is all about simple sloganeering, and the media looking for the *smallest* of differences between people in the same party, doesn't mean there is something deeper to actually consider.
- - - - -
On another note entirely, I found out today that the first Rival Schools album in 10 years came out on Monday. I love Rival Schools. I love Rival Schools so much that I bought a Rival Schools t-shirt at University and when it was so badly worn it was no longer wearable (after, like 8 years), I had my wonderful Mum make it into a Rival Schools cushion. It is *still* on the lounge sofa, despite my awesome wife's attempts to have me move it somewhere else!
Still, I raise this point 'cos 1. I am muchos kinder bueno excited about it and 2. It puts to the test my ability to be rational about things. I have explained (1), but (2) requires some further fact based exposition. For this I am going to use the wonderful mechanic of the LIST:
1. I am obvioulsy going to buy this new record.
2. I am 75% through digitizing my (stupidly large big) CD collection
3. I should just download the new album. I could then listen to it STRAIGHT AWAY!
4. But I am unsure about downloading it as I kinda still prefer CDs (Artwork! Inlay cards! These are some of life's simplest pleasures, no?)
5. However, point 4 holds even though when the CD arrives I will just upload it to my computer and my iPhone and hardly ever look at the physical copy.
6. Logically, I should simply download the new Rival Schools album RIGHT NOW!
7. It's also more eco-friendly to download it. If I keep buying physical copies of music, I am WILLFULLY DESTROYING OUR BEAUTIFUL PLANET. (This is bad, FYI).
8. But I remain unsure that I might well be happier buying the CD.
9. The same argument is currently going through my head about the new Elbow album as well (I have all the others on CD, see...)
10. At some point I accept that I will have to stop buying physical copies of music.
11. I DON'T REALLY WANT TO!!!
Anyhow. That's enough of a list. I will not make a decision now as I have, I feel, left you on the edge of your seat wondering what decision I will make. Also, I now need to post in the next few days with the EXCITING news of my decison!
WUNDERBAR!
Onwards!
Levin
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Sunday, 17 October 2010
It's not just the economy, stupid...
Yeah...
So, not too great not to have written stuff for basically two months, is it! This posting shall therefore be a fascinating thought splurge about the first thing to occur to me about what has been going on in the world since my last post:
It's not just the economy, stupid...
It is becoming increasingly apparent that many of the recent decisions the government has made are more about ideology than anything else. While we are being told time after time after time that cutting the deficit is the main aim, there are decisions being made that actually make little sense financially. One such contradiction was rather eloquently explained in an article by Polly Toynbee last week(1), and concerns the so called 'bonfire of the quangos' which was announced only a few days after Sir Phillip Green finished his report into government waste.
Green reported that increased centralisation of government spending and procurement would be the best way to save money. How do you best centralise government procurement and spending? Either within departments or (all together) in quangos.
So there's a bit of an inconsistency with the government toasting all these quangos when they are in fact very likely to save money. For the uninitiated, they tend to exist as a way of centralising functions across a service (e.g. education, health, policing) and that these central functions tend to be more economical than individual schools, hospitals or police forces doing things individually. They also tend to help set national or professional standards, and they tend to mean that something approaching 'best practice', or 'best value' is achieved nationally.
Scrapping Becta (the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency), who procure the best computers and programmes for schools as effectively and cheaply as possible,leaves the alternative now that "all headteachers will be on their own, thumbing through brochures, subjected to marketing calls from sales reps trying to bamboozle them with gizmos and super-new electronic teaching aids that may be the best or the worst. Even if teachers succeed in choosing the best, they will get the worst prices without mass purchasing"(1).
A frequent cry from Tories is 'let teachers teach' and 'cut red tape' - getting rid of quangos like Becta means less time for teachers to teach. It moves 'red tape' into the teachers' in tray, and asks teachers in each school to make decisions they may not have been trained for, rather than leaving these decisions in the hands of other professionals who can make a decision for schools nationally.
On top of this, reports have suggested that the cost of the current round of quango cuts will equal the savings they make, and that the same agencies we have now could run for 10 years before there is a financial benefit from getting rid of them (newsflash, if you sack people, they need redundancy pay, and you'll still have leases you are obligated to pay, and... etc).
So these cuts are not about reducing the deficit, or saving money, they are part of a small state agenda that the public are far less enthusiastic about than the government (who knew what the Tories stood for before the election, they never said). So what is the result of cutting quangos like Becta? Lots of people out of work, with less money to spend to help avoid a double dip recession (and we need to be spending, according the deputy of the Bank of England (3)), and who may eventually need state benefits since the chances of getting a job in the current economy are awful...
Call me naive, but aren't we better off with people in decent jobs so they can support their families? Aren't we better off with professionals in place to help drive best practice and best value? Aren't we better off when professionals like head teachers and doctors are supported by organisations that aim to make their lives easier? Aren't we better off with headteachers spending their time running schools and teaching children, rather than deciding whether the next lot of PCs are coming from Dell or not?
That's enough from me. This has been a bit of a heavy one, eh!
Onwards!
Levin
References: (1)
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/11/sir-philip-green-quango-waste
(2) www.guardianpublic.co.uk/quangos-cuts-savings (3) www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/sep/28/spend-save-economy-bank-england-chief
So, not too great not to have written stuff for basically two months, is it! This posting shall therefore be a fascinating thought splurge about the first thing to occur to me about what has been going on in the world since my last post:
It's not just the economy, stupid...
It is becoming increasingly apparent that many of the recent decisions the government has made are more about ideology than anything else. While we are being told time after time after time that cutting the deficit is the main aim, there are decisions being made that actually make little sense financially. One such contradiction was rather eloquently explained in an article by Polly Toynbee last week(1), and concerns the so called 'bonfire of the quangos' which was announced only a few days after Sir Phillip Green finished his report into government waste.
Green reported that increased centralisation of government spending and procurement would be the best way to save money. How do you best centralise government procurement and spending? Either within departments or (all together) in quangos.
So there's a bit of an inconsistency with the government toasting all these quangos when they are in fact very likely to save money. For the uninitiated, they tend to exist as a way of centralising functions across a service (e.g. education, health, policing) and that these central functions tend to be more economical than individual schools, hospitals or police forces doing things individually. They also tend to help set national or professional standards, and they tend to mean that something approaching 'best practice', or 'best value' is achieved nationally.
Scrapping Becta (the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency), who procure the best computers and programmes for schools as effectively and cheaply as possible,leaves the alternative now that "all headteachers will be on their own, thumbing through brochures, subjected to marketing calls from sales reps trying to bamboozle them with gizmos and super-new electronic teaching aids that may be the best or the worst. Even if teachers succeed in choosing the best, they will get the worst prices without mass purchasing"(1).
A frequent cry from Tories is 'let teachers teach' and 'cut red tape' - getting rid of quangos like Becta means less time for teachers to teach. It moves 'red tape' into the teachers' in tray, and asks teachers in each school to make decisions they may not have been trained for, rather than leaving these decisions in the hands of other professionals who can make a decision for schools nationally.
On top of this, reports have suggested that the cost of the current round of quango cuts will equal the savings they make, and that the same agencies we have now could run for 10 years before there is a financial benefit from getting rid of them (newsflash, if you sack people, they need redundancy pay, and you'll still have leases you are obligated to pay, and... etc).
So these cuts are not about reducing the deficit, or saving money, they are part of a small state agenda that the public are far less enthusiastic about than the government (who knew what the Tories stood for before the election, they never said). So what is the result of cutting quangos like Becta? Lots of people out of work, with less money to spend to help avoid a double dip recession (and we need to be spending, according the deputy of the Bank of England (3)), and who may eventually need state benefits since the chances of getting a job in the current economy are awful...
Call me naive, but aren't we better off with people in decent jobs so they can support their families? Aren't we better off with professionals in place to help drive best practice and best value? Aren't we better off when professionals like head teachers and doctors are supported by organisations that aim to make their lives easier? Aren't we better off with headteachers spending their time running schools and teaching children, rather than deciding whether the next lot of PCs are coming from Dell or not?
That's enough from me. This has been a bit of a heavy one, eh!
Onwards!
Levin
References: (1)
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/oct/11/sir-philip-green-quango-waste
(2) www.guardianpublic.co.uk/quangos-cuts-savings (3) www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/sep/28/spend-save-economy-bank-england-chief
Sunday, 15 August 2010
Marketing tips...
I am a bona fide atheist. Nothing could make me interested in joining a church, or an organised religion. That's not to say that I don't have a set of beliefs, etc. It's just to say I don't believe in any kind of creator or a guiding hand. I try to be Alan McRational, and I like me some of that thing called 'evidence' - give me a randomised control trial over one of the gospels any day... (that pretty much comes with the territory when you are a researcher).
Anyhow, loads and loads and loads of arguments about the whole religion/ atheism debate abound, and I don't really want to get into them here. People have largely made their minds up, and I'm not trying to make anyone change what they believe (which is why I get so annoyed at religious door knockers coming to my home and trying to change my mind). In any case, (a) the God Delusion and (b) the Origin of the Species make the arguments for atheism/ evolution (and anti organised religion/ creationism) better then I ever could. But anyhow. I have some marketing advice for religions and the religious. Hummus.
Yep. Hummus.
Don't look so surprised! Everyone *knows* hummus is *amazing*. In fact, I was thinking just the other day that hummus may well be the greatest thing ever invented. Sod fire, sod the wheel and sod sliced bread[see note 1 below], hummus beats it all. Hummus is indescribably *brilliant*.
So how does this relate to the better marketing of religion? It's simple really; in heaven, don't promise 72 virgins, don't promise ambrosia, don't promise angels on white clouds, promise this. A sea of hummus with warm-toasted-pitta-bread-islands. Easy.
*** Note 1: The saying "the best thing since sliced bread" is perhaps the most stupid sentence in the history of humankind. Why? Well if someone says "get some *nice bread* in for tea/ supper" (delete according to socio-economic class ;-) ) they don't mean for you to get a loaf of Mighty White, they mean a nice big crusty *uncut* loaf that you can carve huge wedges out of. So, "the best thing since sliced bread" actually means "the best thing since someone went and cocked up something that used to be awesome and replaced it with something decidedly average". Sliced bread is to food what Fonzy jumping the shark is to TV, in other words.
Enough!
Onwards!
Levin
Anyhow, loads and loads and loads of arguments about the whole religion/ atheism debate abound, and I don't really want to get into them here. People have largely made their minds up, and I'm not trying to make anyone change what they believe (which is why I get so annoyed at religious door knockers coming to my home and trying to change my mind). In any case, (a) the God Delusion and (b) the Origin of the Species make the arguments for atheism/ evolution (and anti organised religion/ creationism) better then I ever could. But anyhow. I have some marketing advice for religions and the religious. Hummus.
Yep. Hummus.
Don't look so surprised! Everyone *knows* hummus is *amazing*. In fact, I was thinking just the other day that hummus may well be the greatest thing ever invented. Sod fire, sod the wheel and sod sliced bread[see note 1 below], hummus beats it all. Hummus is indescribably *brilliant*.
So how does this relate to the better marketing of religion? It's simple really; in heaven, don't promise 72 virgins, don't promise ambrosia, don't promise angels on white clouds, promise this. A sea of hummus with warm-toasted-pitta-bread-islands. Easy.
*** Note 1: The saying "the best thing since sliced bread" is perhaps the most stupid sentence in the history of humankind. Why? Well if someone says "get some *nice bread* in for tea/ supper" (delete according to socio-economic class ;-) ) they don't mean for you to get a loaf of Mighty White, they mean a nice big crusty *uncut* loaf that you can carve huge wedges out of. So, "the best thing since sliced bread" actually means "the best thing since someone went and cocked up something that used to be awesome and replaced it with something decidedly average". Sliced bread is to food what Fonzy jumping the shark is to TV, in other words.
Enough!
Onwards!
Levin
Monday, 2 August 2010
Inherited stupidity...
Some of the really stupid things prior owners of my house have done:
1. Removed the period features in some - but not all - of the rooms.
It wasn't enough to remove the nice period features, no... this act of idiotic cultural barbarism had to be done in an inconsistent and basically random manner...
2. Putting patterned and textured wallpaper - on the ceiling.
In what universe could that ever make sense? Oh, the 1970s? Well it seems to me the 1970s has some apologising to do... if only for making the 1980s possible...
3. Fitting the kitchen sink so low it blocks the stop tap.
Yep. If you want to turn the water supply to the washing machine off, then you need to take the sink out of the kitchen worktop. Brilliant.
4. Building a fake 'wall' out of relatively flimsy wood in the bathroom. Next to the shower head. Then tiling over it and - one can only assume - hoping the magic water-vapour-fairies* stop the wood ever getting damp.
Idiots.
5. Putting big slabs of asbestos on the shed roof. Correction: on two-thirds of the shed roof...
The inconsistency is what drives me mad! If you're going to put/ leave asbestos on something, why put/ leave it on two-thirds of it?!?!
Any tales of inherited stupidity you care to share?**
Onwards!
Levin
*There's no such thing as magic water-vapour-fairies. Sorry to disappoint.
**You lose points for the answer "The Presidency of George W Bush". Too obvious.
1. Removed the period features in some - but not all - of the rooms.
It wasn't enough to remove the nice period features, no... this act of idiotic cultural barbarism had to be done in an inconsistent and basically random manner...
2. Putting patterned and textured wallpaper - on the ceiling.
In what universe could that ever make sense? Oh, the 1970s? Well it seems to me the 1970s has some apologising to do... if only for making the 1980s possible...
3. Fitting the kitchen sink so low it blocks the stop tap.
Yep. If you want to turn the water supply to the washing machine off, then you need to take the sink out of the kitchen worktop. Brilliant.
4. Building a fake 'wall' out of relatively flimsy wood in the bathroom. Next to the shower head. Then tiling over it and - one can only assume - hoping the magic water-vapour-fairies* stop the wood ever getting damp.
Idiots.
5. Putting big slabs of asbestos on the shed roof. Correction: on two-thirds of the shed roof...
The inconsistency is what drives me mad! If you're going to put/ leave asbestos on something, why put/ leave it on two-thirds of it?!?!
Any tales of inherited stupidity you care to share?**
Onwards!
Levin
*There's no such thing as magic water-vapour-fairies. Sorry to disappoint.
**You lose points for the answer "The Presidency of George W Bush". Too obvious.
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Musical Musings
I love me some music, yes indeedlydoo. I don’t listen to new stuff anywhere near as much as I should though. This is largely due to shoddy updating of my digital music (I am old school, and still buy CDs – so sue me (NB this is not an actual invitation to actually sue me. I also would imagine your grounds for doing so would be more than a little dubious)). So it was pretty good a week or so ago when I got hold of (and subsequently placed in my CD player (and pressed play, you bloody pedant)) the ‘new’ albums by Broken Bells and The XX. Both of them are much goodness. In fact, I would say The XX album is the best début I’ve heard since the Strokes’ ‘Is This It’ back in 2001.
Broken Bells are Dangermouse (not the cartoon character, the renowned producer) and the singer from The Shins. The Shins are good, by the way, as are actual, real, physical shins. Physical shins are sometimes underrated, I feel. Celebrate your shins. They are now officially body part of the day. Well done, shins. We will celebrate with a concert by The Shins (NB – we won’t).
The XX (or is it ‘the xx’, or ‘The xx’? It really is far from clear, and frankly, not exactly important (I have now just checked on Wikipedia, and it appears to be ‘The xx’, which I must admit somehow offends my slightly anal sense of order. I think it should be ‘The XX’. Capitals are innately more satisfying. (Oops, I’ve done the brackets-in-brackets thing again, bad me))). (Returning to the point) ThE xX (hell, lets go upper-or-lower-case-crazy!) are concerned, I feel like I am coming to the party a bit late, with my first listens to the album (imaginatively titled, ‘xx’ (yes, actually ‘xx’, though it should of course be ‘Xx’ – capitals, dear boy) being a few days before they got a Mercury nomination. I will now be shunned by all the cool indie kids (I am 30 years old and should not be hanging with the kids – further proof of this being that I just used the phrase ‘hanging with the kids’. Twice).
I remember before I went to University how important music was to me, and how every spare penny would go on the latest CD by whoever (yeah, well done the younger me, getting much use out of the second ‘Space’ album these days, are you? (N.B. The first one is, I maintain, still a slice of quirky-pop gold)). Point is, those days when you would argue about someone’s music taste and who was good and ‘rubbish’ seem so long ago. I can’t keep up anymore. It’s a young man/ woman's game. And I’m only 30. But then, I don’t want to be one of those people who are old enough to know better still reading the NME, do I?
In summary: Broken Bells and The xx are goodness. I should listen to more new music. I also need to spend a weekend digitising loads of my more recent CD purchases (but then I would have to use iTunes - urgh...).
Onwards!
Levin
Broken Bells are Dangermouse (not the cartoon character, the renowned producer) and the singer from The Shins. The Shins are good, by the way, as are actual, real, physical shins. Physical shins are sometimes underrated, I feel. Celebrate your shins. They are now officially body part of the day. Well done, shins. We will celebrate with a concert by The Shins (NB – we won’t).
The XX (or is it ‘the xx’, or ‘The xx’? It really is far from clear, and frankly, not exactly important (I have now just checked on Wikipedia, and it appears to be ‘The xx’, which I must admit somehow offends my slightly anal sense of order. I think it should be ‘The XX’. Capitals are innately more satisfying. (Oops, I’ve done the brackets-in-brackets thing again, bad me))). (Returning to the point) ThE xX (hell, lets go upper-or-lower-case-crazy!) are concerned, I feel like I am coming to the party a bit late, with my first listens to the album (imaginatively titled, ‘xx’ (yes, actually ‘xx’, though it should of course be ‘Xx’ – capitals, dear boy) being a few days before they got a Mercury nomination. I will now be shunned by all the cool indie kids (I am 30 years old and should not be hanging with the kids – further proof of this being that I just used the phrase ‘hanging with the kids’. Twice).
I remember before I went to University how important music was to me, and how every spare penny would go on the latest CD by whoever (yeah, well done the younger me, getting much use out of the second ‘Space’ album these days, are you? (N.B. The first one is, I maintain, still a slice of quirky-pop gold)). Point is, those days when you would argue about someone’s music taste and who was good and ‘rubbish’ seem so long ago. I can’t keep up anymore. It’s a young man/ woman's game. And I’m only 30. But then, I don’t want to be one of those people who are old enough to know better still reading the NME, do I?
In summary: Broken Bells and The xx are goodness. I should listen to more new music. I also need to spend a weekend digitising loads of my more recent CD purchases (but then I would have to use iTunes - urgh...).
Onwards!
Levin
Friday, 23 July 2010
Twenty miles!
I may well be everso slightly insane.
20 miles is a long way, isn't it... Yeah... And I have only gone and agreed to walk 20 miles. At night. In London. In September. It's another charity walk, and its for a cracking cause. But 20 miles! Blimey! That's a long old slog... at night! Madness! So who is it for I hear you ask, my dear reader, well... Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres (see www.maggiescentres.org) - and this is what they do:
A Maggie’s Centre is a place to turn to for help with any of the problems, small or large, associated with cancer. Under one roof you can access help with information, benefits advice, psychological support both individually and in groups, courses and stress reducing strategies. You don’t have to make an appointment, or be referred and everything we offer is free of charge.
As you can see. it's really really important stuff and almost certainly (*aside* most certainly certainly) worth walking 20 miles for (20 bloody miles! Argh! Hurty feet ahoy!). Centres like this are an amazing service to offer people when they are in need, and I am sure it is something everyone can relate to. Doubtless I will do some sponsorship bothering at some point soon (you have been warned). In the meantime I have two 'training walks' of about 12 miles each to worry about in the next few weeks - ARGH!
On another tangent altogether, I have a top weekend ahead, with a BBQ at Clare and Mikes, and a visit from Claudia and James, who I have not seen since Jess and I got married. Looking forward to it very much. WIN!
Onwards!
Levin
20 miles is a long way, isn't it... Yeah... And I have only gone and agreed to walk 20 miles. At night. In London. In September. It's another charity walk, and its for a cracking cause. But 20 miles! Blimey! That's a long old slog... at night! Madness! So who is it for I hear you ask, my dear reader, well... Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres (see www.maggiescentres.org) - and this is what they do:
A Maggie’s Centre is a place to turn to for help with any of the problems, small or large, associated with cancer. Under one roof you can access help with information, benefits advice, psychological support both individually and in groups, courses and stress reducing strategies. You don’t have to make an appointment, or be referred and everything we offer is free of charge.
As you can see. it's really really important stuff and almost certainly (*aside* most certainly certainly) worth walking 20 miles for (20 bloody miles! Argh! Hurty feet ahoy!). Centres like this are an amazing service to offer people when they are in need, and I am sure it is something everyone can relate to. Doubtless I will do some sponsorship bothering at some point soon (you have been warned). In the meantime I have two 'training walks' of about 12 miles each to worry about in the next few weeks - ARGH!
On another tangent altogether, I have a top weekend ahead, with a BBQ at Clare and Mikes, and a visit from Claudia and James, who I have not seen since Jess and I got married. Looking forward to it very much. WIN!
Onwards!
Levin
Thursday, 22 July 2010
Power Monkey!
A conversation this morning, as Jess was struggling to wake up:
Me: Time for your shower, monkey...
Fuzzy-headed Jess: I am the 'Power Monkey'?!?!
Me: Erm...
Fuzzy headed Jess: Ooh ooh ah! Ah!
[monkey noises are much less satisfying when typed, I am sure you'll agree]
Me: Erm...
My wife is 29 years old.
She is also, evidently, a comic genius. And wonderful.
Onwards!
Levin
Me: Time for your shower, monkey...
Fuzzy-headed Jess: I am the 'Power Monkey'?!?!
Me: Erm...
Fuzzy headed Jess: Ooh ooh ah! Ah!
[monkey noises are much less satisfying when typed, I am sure you'll agree]
Me: Erm...
My wife is 29 years old.
She is also, evidently, a comic genius. And wonderful.
Onwards!
Levin
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