Payment by results

That nice young man Darling has announced his reforms of the general banking system. I've not found the enthusiasm to go into the nitty gritty but it seems that he has merely done a bit of a tune up round the edges. No major change in the supervisory system which remains with three major parties involved. Just a bit of finger wagging at bonus schemes. This after the greatest banking melt down for a very very long time.
I had hoped to see that the banks would be denied the opportunity to indulge in what is little more than gambling. There needs to be a firm foundation of banks that will serve the basic needs of customers. No get rich quick plans coming out every day. No take overs. Just plain vanilla attention to serve clients with terms, conditions, plans and charges all pre-determined and immutable. These staid and proper banks would never get into any circumstance that needs them being supported from central funds.
There is a need for cowboys to cater for the risk-takers. I have heard the term 'casino bank' and that seems about right to me. Players in a casino know the risks they run and a few spins of the wheel can strip them of everything they have made at the table. If one of the casino organisations were to go down the pan - so be it. They would not cause any major movement in the finance world and there would be no question of rescue, part-nationalisation or support. The term 'casino' would serve as a warning to those who would do business with them and they also would be on their own if things went tits-up. No great need for supervision; there would be clear and unambiguous rules and audit would be frequent and rigorous.
The question of bonus payments needs attention. The mantra is that the employer must pay inflated salaried and promise bounties for performance if they are to get the employee they desire. Nonsense. High demands and expectations by the prospective CEO or whatever are nothing other than blackmail. "Pay me this or I will go elsewhere" The system needs to be such that there is no elsewhere that will pay him the inflated salary and benefits from performance. If banks and other employers refused these high rewards to all, the idea that they had to meet the blackmailer's demands would fall by the wayside. Rugby clubs have wages caps where their total wage bill must not exceed a stated sum and these work. If the cap is £1 million and the employer wants to pay Mr Wonderful £900K - fine. All he has to do is fund the rest of his Board on the £100K that is left. There would be no £90 million transfer deals as in soccer if the agent and player knew no one would pay more than £30 million.
There should be other controls. The high cost of motor fuel and the instability of the market is artificially created. Getting a 50 gallon drum filled at the well head remains the same this week as it did 26 weeks ago. It is the machinations of the traders that cause the ups and downs. Trading on oil supplies must be barred. Only in the last few days we have seen how a trader went on a late night binge and caused a heck of a lot of trouble. The refiners all have long term contracts with those blessed with oil in their ground and it should be these that govern prices. Having a fixed price for crude would bring to a halt the nonsense where oil countries manipulate prices by raising or lowering the amount released on to the refiners. I have used oil as an example only. The same system should apply to all things capable of being traded in futures markets. These 'positions' also effect prices where costs to produce and market is steady but the cost of the item varies wildly.
I do not know enough of the, to me, murky world of the venture capitalist but the sale of deals here suggests it is something that needs control if it is not to damage a nation's economy. They are drawn into deals where they smell vast and quick profit as shark smells blood in the water. Fine. But there must be firm controls set up such that what they do is isolated from routine banking and should work alongside the 'casino' banks on the same terms. If they want to play no limit poker and go all-in and someone has a better hand - tough. Do not come crying to me.

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A new dimension

I've mentioned my attraction to country music. I use the free Spotify which has resources far in excess of iTunes and it plays in the background. I've got my own playlist which must have over 1000 tracks. Anyway, I came across a German country singer Tom Astor, It is really weird hearing a vocal in German that one knows so well in English. He sometimes sings along with the original artist and the mix of them in English and him in German is fun. Go and listen on the link.

I have some Spotify invites if anyone thinks they might want to get started.

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Civic duty

My civic duty score is increasing.

Last night I attended a Council Meeting on the subject of the Jim Clark Rally through our town. Clark was the local boy made good in car rallying and Formula 1 racing cars. Every year, there is a motor rally based in Duns. Quite unique as local roads get shut off for normal traffic to let the big beasties have a run at speeds up to 145 miles per hour. No 60 mph limit those days.

This years held a few weeks back broke new ground in having one section run through the middle of the town. Residents and visitors were strictly marshalled as to where and when they might be about in the hour or so prior to the start of the stage. I put my 'even Hitler didn't get to tell me what to do in my own home' hat on and felt pretty negative about the whole thing. In the event, my stroppiness was noticed and I was treated very well and properly.

One concern that did stay was safety. I live in the Market Square and the course came into the Square and then made a 90 degree right turn to go down a street leading off the Square. The Big Boys in the International class came up to this corner at about 100 mph and drifted sideways into the turn. A crowd of about 200 gathered on the outside of the bend and, whilst there were straw bales in position, the bales were not secured. A car hitting them would not be slowed but would merely slide on with the straw as a battering ram. Three cars that I saw did have difficult negotiating the corner but were brought under control without too much damage and no injury. Somewhat proved my concern for potential tragedy.

I wanted to comment and chose to go to the Council meeting. I was one of about 50 mostly middle aged men and women. I had expected it would be mainly boy racers with a sprinkling of coffin dodgers attending out of boredom with life indoors. The majority of attendees had notebooks and recorded the to and fro of the debate. Some had drafted what they wanted to say. I got to make my observation without it being seen as a complaint and had a full and constructive answer.

I was encouraged by what transpired. I'll do it again (so long as it does not qualify me as a 'coffin dodger attending out of boredom'). Just another sign of how we seem to have a very good community spirit up here.

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A Fine Day Out

We went to the Royal Highland Show yesterday. First time attending such event for some while; we regularly used to do the Game Fair, The Kent, the Kilnsey and the Great Yorkshire Shows and occasionally the Scottish Game Fair. Norma likes the sheep; I like the bulls and the pigs. Fine food producers are out in force and free samples are everywhere so we go around opening and closing mouths like fish in a bowl.

Weather was fine. Sunny but with a few small clouds added to a breeze to keep it from getting too hot. The live stock was in fine order. We lasted about five hours before the aged feet gave up on us. As we were leaving, the Queen was just arriving and we had front row position as the motorcade passed us by. We waved – hope that made her day!

At events such as these, I always take along a helium-filled balloon which gets tied to the radio aerial so we can spot the car in the row upon serried row of cars. We saw our balloon well enough but it was tied to another car. Luckily I had noted other clues and we got home OK. Before driving off, I went back to the Ali Baba car and cast free the balloon. Hope they were there searching until midnight! Bastards – what a low trick was that?

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We live in troubled times

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We live in troubled times.doc (67 KB)

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Back to the BoomBox days

Back in the day when it was not some sign of race to heave a massive box on the shoulder and hip wave along. Volume, of course, had to be deafening. Or maybe just sit around a musical packing case with a few cold sherbets and maybe a herbal cigarette or two. Hit Playlist and retreat!

More credibility issues

There cannot be anyone left who has any faith in the integrity of our elected representatives. Just when they should all be concentrating on getting back to people we can trust, they introduce procedures expressly designed to withhold essential information from us. We are no longer entitled to know the disposal of serious and dangerous criminals within the legal system.
I can see the touchy-feely agenda that this comes from. I might even understand how these faulty-gened individuals are processed. We have had numerous examples where dodgy characters have been let go and slip back into the abusive or threatening conduct that got them locked away in the first place. Even tagging is no guarantee. I do not regard imprisonment as being an opportunity to teach the offender how to behave or learn how to exist in a civilised community. No - all I want is him kept away from me. So long as that is achieved, they may do as they wish with crims. Hulks on the Thames worked in Dickens' times. Hard labour is what I expect not soft treatment and slip-shod assessments as to the risk to the public.

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No confidence

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Eastys as opposed to Westys

A couple of years back, courtesy of #1 son, I visited Berlin. I had never had a great desire to you there whilst I was serving as a soldier in Germany - the formalities of getting in and out put me off.
We went into what had been East Berlin and also into the former East Germany. I was entranced. The place seemed to have been in a time warp and the brash face of West Berlin seemed a million miles away. It was a bit like The Third Man come alive. I found myself wondering if we might find a night club a la Cabaret with off key oompa pa pa band and fat hostesses.
This note was inspired by an album of photographs which well show the state of the place that is now in my memory.

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Outed

There had been a lot of debate in British BloggerLand following police authorities stance that officers should not blog. So far as I am aware, all of the posters used a pseudo-name anyway and took steps to ensure that they could not be identified by what they wrote about. Two or three decided as soon as the banning order came out that the cake was not worth the candle and closed shop. Others took more effort at scrambling their stories. some resented the order and became quite defiant. Others just carried on as if there had been no force instruction.

A recent court case seems to have laid down a precedent when the blogger's right to anonymity was challenged by a newspaper. The High Court has refused to preserve the anonymity of an award-winning policeman who has blogged about the force and government ministers.Mr Justice Eady refused an injunction to prevent the Times identifying serving officer "Night Jack". The judge said said blogging was "essentially a public rather than a private activity". Night Jack's lawyer said preserving his anonymity was in the public interest. Hugh Tomlinson QC said the thousands who communicated via the internet under a cloak of anonymity would be "horrified" to think the law would do nothing to protect their identities if someone carried out the necessary detective work to unmask them.

Richard Horton, a detective constable with Lancashire Constabulary, is named as the author of NightJack. Horton tried to obtain a High Court injunction to prevent the Times from revealing that he was the author of the blog, which the paper claims reveals confidential information about criminal cases that can be identified. In April NightJack was awarded an Orwell Prize for political writing. Today, the blog appears to have been deleted by the author. Quite what the Times thinks it has achieved from all this is beyond my comprehension. The blog has gone and with it an insight into how his force operates - that material alone was worth praise. The media are very firm in their stance that they will not reveal their sources of information so we seem to have double standards here. A sad day methinks.

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Outfaced and twittered am I

Seduced by a twit

I used to have a blog to which I contributed on a irregular basis. It ran for almost ten years. Sometimes it attracted comments or complaints but never so often that it became a chore. Occasionally, during days when I was fighting The Black Dog, it came out somewhat acerbic or failed to show up at all. On balance, I enjoyed it but it was never ever near to becoming a major part of my life.

What I did get serious about in the blogging context was reading the work of others. After a while, I had so many listed as Favourites that I decided to get a blog gatherer and that led me to Bloglines. I got to know about RSS feeds and every day I would have some 50 or so blogs which generally ran into 250 or so threads. The wide range of topics on which one could find a blog amazed me. I started dreaming up really obscure interests and never failed to find that someone somewhere was providing a blogged opinion.

Then someone got me onto Facebook. I did not think that it and I would get on but I stuck with the messaging. I see it as a form of email but without spam. I've only a small circle of virtual friends; mostly family but with a couple of others picked up along the way. From one of these, I was shown Twitter. Again, initially I did not see what we might have in common but I lurked on the edges and eased my way in.

Now, it seems that most of my free time - of which I have plenty as befits a 76 year old coffin dodger - is spent catching up on my electronic world. If I had half the short term memory that I used to have, I'd be unbeatable in a general knowledge quiz.

I think I have adjusted well to the IT age.

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No Blackshirts here

Considerable huffing and puffing about the BNP result. I cannot join in with the condemnation. Whilst I recognise that a leopard cannot change it's spots the BNP of today is far removed from that of just five years ago. They have laid out their policies. Have a look at these. Is there anything there that is so very threatening? If you were viewing these without any sight or mention of BNP, would you be repulsed? Every heading is a topic that regularly draws much discussion. Each item on that agenda is an important one that deserves the fullest possible airing. If I questioned main stream doorstep canvassers on their manifesto on these ideas, would they be so very different?
So, why are the mainstream parties so determined that these matters shall not be debated? Much is made of 'hate filled' policies. One has only to listen to PMQ on Wednesdays when the leaders of the Lib Dem and Conservative parties tear into the down and out PM to see and hear 'hate filled' performances. The current leaders of BNP are well aware that the old swastika-tattooed image and style does them no favours. They used to be their own worst enemies.
There are only two of them anyway. Not one single thing they say will ever be taken up - maybe only after another group has massaged it and removed the BNP association. They will be the grit in the oyster. Not very nice people with some not very nice ideas? The recent expenses revelations and events involving Members who 'go for walks' in the park late at night clarify that there are rogues in every party.
Whence the calls for banning them? As I understand it, they were elected in a democratic manner in exactly the same way as were representatives of those now seeking to disenfranchise BNP followers. If we can survive with former IRA killers as members, I am sure we can get by with two fat blokes.

Adding a touch of class?

Very reflective. I like this.

Flint tools

I wrote about Caroline Flint bemoaning the status she saw being given to her in Brown's Cabinet. To me, a very simple event. Woman spurned and all that.
I have just read the comments of someone far more erudite than I. It does change my opinion but it sure as hell makes a lot more of it. One might even think her action was in any way significant.
The vast acreage of forest being sacrificed to detailing all the ins and outs of what is going is shameful. Analysis of what, why and who serves little purpose. I can accept rational examination if it serves to illuminate ways ahead but so little of the blizzard of newsprint does that. I wish I could do it.

Window dressing

Caroline Flint resigned from the Cabinet in a hissy fit. Her resignation letter included the complaint

Several of the women attending Cabinet – myself included – have been treated by you as little more than female window dressing.

So, must we take it that she was forced into this sort of image by the Prime Minister?
You reap what you sow was a phrase of my dear old granny Witch.

Measles

This is lifted from another web blog. I find it very very persuasive and wonder why 'someone' in officialdom has not used it to further the cause. We had a small blizzard of publicity over the school exclusion unless immunised proposal. That just raised animosity with me and I am sure it hit others in a negative way that Dahl's effort completely avoids.

Here's Roald Dahl's impassioned plea to get your kids immunized. I live in East London, where we have live measles afflicting otherwise healthy kids who could have been vaccinated against them, but whose parents have been duped by a falsified claim that vaccinations are linked to autism (here's a non-falsified claim: measles leads to permanent disability and even death).

I remember when my daughter got sick and broke out with measle-like spots when she was too young to have had her vaccination against the disease. As I contemplated the possibility that my daughter might be permanently disabled or even killed because gullible people were choosing not to vaccinate their kids, I wanted to start wringing necks.

Dahl had a child die from measles, and he was determined that no other child should die needlessly from fear and ignorance.

Here in Britain, because so many parents refuse, either out of obstinacy or ignorance or fear, to allow their children to be immunised, we still have a hundred thousand cases of measles every year. Out of those, more than 10,000 will suffer side effects of one kind or another. At least 10,000 will develop ear or chest infections. About 20 will die. LET THAT SINK IN. Every year around 20 children will die in Britain from measles. So what about the risks that your children will run from being immunised? They are almost non-existent. Listen to this. In a district of around 300,000 people, there will be only one child every 250 years who will develop serious side effects from measles immunisation! That is about a million to one chance. I should think there would be more chance of your child choking to death on a chocolate bar than of becoming seriously ill from a measles immunisation. So what on earth are you worrying about? It really is almost a crime to allow your child to go unimmunised. The ideal time to have it done is at 13 months, but it is never too late. All school-children who have not yet had a measles immunisation should beg their parents to arrange for them to have one as soon as possible. Incidentally, I dedicated two of my books to Olivia, the fi rst was James and the Giant Peach'. That was when she was still alive. The second was 'The BFG', dedicated to her memory after she had died from measles. You will see her name at the beginning of each of these books. And I know how happy she would be if only she could know that her death had helped to save a good deal of illness and death among other children.

How far and how fast?

Would you run?

For a couple of months, you have been dealing with the nice-sounding female at one of your firm's suppliers. Formal talk came to social and down to chat. After a while of this, you suggest you meet up for a blind date dinner. It may just be your imagination but you have the idea it might lead to home-brewed coffee?

Meet-up point is a rather chic restaurant you reserve for this sort of engagement. You are known and will get service that might be deemed impressive. The bill - with a small amount of discretionary understanding from your boss - might be a business expense.

You get to the venue just about right for time. A quizzical maître de greets you and says that your companion is already there. He nods towards the woman on the right here.

So, I say again - how far and how fast?

Grieving husband takes first steps back to a normal life

The husband of saddo Jade Goody is back in circulation.
Let us hope he is unable to get his paws on the money she demeaned herself to get for her children.