How God Made The English, written and presented by Professor Diarmaid Macculloch

Yesterday I watched the last of the series on BBC2 How God Made The English, written and presented by Professor Diarmaid Macculloch.

Professor Macculloch is a revered academic, knighted in 2012 for his services to scholarship, so one would normally hesitate before criticising a person of his stature.

Notwithstanding Professor Macculloch's academic standing however, I feel bound to say that I found the arguments he put forward to be on the whole bogus, intellectually dishonest and comprised of a series of half-truths.

For instance, right at the start of the series he repeated the recently-developed canard "English people are confused about their identity".  Who are these English people who are so confused?  I've never met any.  He produced no proof to back up this statement.  He told us much later that his mother had French ancestry, and as his father must presumably have Irish ancestry it is possible that on a personal level Professor Macculloch may himself be confused about his own identity, but he has no right to extrapolate his personal feelings across a whole population.  Especially as identity politics is such a controversial subject in the United Kingdom.

Later (in yesterday's programme) he told us that only 5% of the DNA of the English population is Anglo-Saxon and the rest is indistinguishable from the populations of Ireland, Scotland and Wales (and most of northern Europe) and that this ancient population "came from Spain" about fifteen thousand years ago.

On the face of it this might seem a reasonable theory, but if you examine it more closely you can begin to spot the half-truths.  For instance Spain did not exist fifteen thousand years ago, and the post Ice Age migration started from a part of the European landmass that thousands of years later became Spain.  Perhaps Professor Macculloch assumed that everyone would know what he meant, but equally one suspects he is peddling the political message "there are no English people they are all immigrants and hence post-war mass immigration is justified".

Also, if the whole population of British Isles and northern Europe "came from Spain" thousands of years ago how is DNA technology going to pick up the later migration from northern Europe to the Roman colony of Britannia in the early dark ages?  It is possible the DNA mutated when it was in northern Europe, but if it had presumably Professor Macculloch would have advised us?  So another unconvincing grey area.

Returning to Professor Macculluch's statement that only 5% of the English population is of Anglo-Saxon ancestry, this statement is at variance with the research presented in Robin McKie's Face of Britain which tells us that DNA evidence reveals the population of English is 50% Anglo-Saxon and 50% ancient British (Robin McKie is Science Editor for the Observer).  Is it 5% or 50%?  Or are both assessments wrong and the correct narrative is the one written down by dark age commentators such as Bede and Nennius?

If I had the time I would identify other dubious statements made by Professor Macculluch.

Does any of this matter?

The biological "purity" of ethnic groups is a nonsense, and clearly demonstrable as a nonsense.  For instance there can be no more "English" author than John Betjeman, and yet his ancestry was Dutch.  Where Professor Macculloch is guilty of misleading us is by implying that only the English have mixed origins and that therefore this is just a big melting pot in which no-one has any indigenous rights (and therefore post-war mass immigration is justified, the English are not indigenous and have no indigenous rights etc etc).

No ethnic group anywhere in the world can prove biological "purity".

Therefore the English people have no more indigenous rights than any other nation, but equally they have no less indigenous rights than any other nation.

Professor Macculloch made a great fuss about telling us that Saint George was from the Middle East, which is such a well-known fact that one wonders why he bothered to state it.  But he failed to tell us that St Patrick wasn't Irish, St David wasn't Welsh and St Andrew wasn't Scottish.  So what was the point he was trying to make?

If English national identity is to be condemned as some kind of fraud, then surely Irish, Welsh and Scottish national identities are equally fraudulent?

All national foundation myths are, as the phrase implies, "myths".  This was true of the ancient Egyptians, the ancient Aztecs, the medieval English, the medieval French, the modern Chinese, the modern Indians etc.  This does not invalidate the importance of these myths in determining a community's self-identity.

Throughout the series I continually found myself watching Professor Macculloch and asking the question:  what are you up to?

A clue came right at the end where he gave a whole-hearted endorsement of multi-culturalism.  It was the big punchline of the series.  We're all just a big coffee-coloured melting-pot.

Professor Macculloch is entitled to endorse multi-culturalism and post-war mass immigration (which he omitted to mention has occurred against the wishes of the majority) but he is not entitled to dress this up as impartial historical fact.


How God Made The English was worthless propaganda - clever and well-researched and well-presented propaganda, but propaganda nonetheless.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01flnyq/How_God_Made_the_English_A_White_and_Christian_People/

I put off writing the magazine article - the past week at work

Monday

A hot and uncomfortable night so that I was unable to sleep.

So by the time I got to my desk I was already tired and wanted an easy day.

A meeting with Institute Director Vijay Singh to discuss quotes for various items of print.  I am unused to being questioned about what suppliers I use.  He wanted me to put work with a new supplier, but in the end left the decision up to me (I placed the work with the existing printers we use).

Then we chatted for about an hour, unrelated to the Institute's current projects.  He is interested in the tribal system in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan.  He goes to the region several times a year.

Very hot day, as if it were summer.

In the afternoon an enquiry from a national newspaper which I parried (we don't really talk to the press).

Later I prepared an article for a specialist magazine, and I will write the first draft tomorrow.

Tuesday

In the morning Abi Reed (Telephone Surveys manager) gave a presentation on her research on the social care system and the broader topic of social services.  It was a useful meeting and she had lots of new statistics.  Campaign Manager Keith Chandler was also at the meeting writing notes furiously.

I put off writing the article I had prepared yesterday.

In the afternoon a meeting with Keith Chandler to discuss a campaign related to social services.  It was very hard work.  I was unsure what he hoped to achieve (other than being seen to do something - he has been criticised by Vijay Singh for not doing very much).

The day ended with a presentation by Deputy Director Lois Cooper on the effectiveness of business organisations - almost everyone in the Institute attended this presentation, crammed into the corner office.  Lois Cooper is very overweight.  She walked up and down continually as she spoke.

The meeting with Keith Chandler stayed in my mind, and at home I continued thinking.  He is someone who has a record of behaving incompetently (and then blaming others for his mistakes).  Just before I went to bed I wrote down five things I need to do to place myself beyond criticism. 

Wednesday

This morning I wrote the campaign plan related to social services.  It did not take too long to produce a first draft.  I was helped by graphs produced by Abi Reed.

All around me the admin team were immersed in a mailshot.  It seemed archaic to do this sort of work in-house rather than use a professional mailing company.  However the admin team has its own internal politics which I have no interest in getting involved in.

Again I put off writing the magazine article although the deadline is approaching.

Vijay Singh told me that he is concerned about the way our "sister organisation" (and paymasters) were stealing too many of our ideas and presenting them as their own work.

Bright moon and Venus very prominent in the night sky.

Thursday

Almost all of the day was taken up by a meeting called by Vijay Singh to discuss the social services campaign.  Keith Chandler had not prepared for this meeting and Vijay Singh demolished his arguments.  Abi Reed was called into the meeting to discuss her research.

Friday

I finally wrote the magazine article.  I seem to do my best work at the absolute last minute.  Perhaps I need the fear of an impending deadline to motivate myself.

Owen Jones, in an article for today's Independent

And still the attempts at class war continue.

Owen Jones, in an article for today's Independent, argues that a small clique of privileged people are running the United Kingdom:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/owen-jones-were-now-governed-by-the-political-wing-of-the-wealthy-7601024.html

He seems unaware of the fact that to the average person in a queue in a Greggs bakery the Oxbridge-educated writer Owen Jones will be a privileged "toff" who doesn't have a proper job.

He also refers to The Sun being a "loyal Tory rag" presumably oblivious to the fact that for about fifteen years it was a loyal Labour rag, and when it changed sides in about 2009 the Labour hierarchy was so enraged we saw on the news a trade union leader ripping up a copy of The Sun in a fit of pique to the cheers of a Labour supporters.

It would have been more convincing to have ripped the newspaper up before it had changed sides.

In any case the support of The Sun is a curse, not a blessing.

Labour lost the Bradford West by-election because of a poor PR stunt

Is it possible that Labour lost the Bradford West by-election because of a poor PR stunt?

A good picture can win an election, but equally a bad picture can lose one.

When I saw the BBC film of Ed Miliband and Ed Balls and Rachel Reeves queueing up in Greggs to buy some working-class stodge for their lunch I knew immediately it looked a fake.

Let's just remind ourselves:  Ed Miliband is "Labour aristocracy" and an Oxbridge graduate; Ed Balls went to a public school and is an Oxbridge graduate; Rachel Reeves is an Oxbridge graduate.  None of them has ever done a real day's work or worried about how they will pay the electricity bill.  This is not to decry their achievement in going to Oxford or their commitment to making the world a better place, but they cannot queue up at Greggs among the lumpen proletariat and expect people to take the image at face value.

Is it possible that the voters of Bradford West saw the "pasty-gate" stunts of recent days and decided that whatever the problems the country faces the answer is not a faux class war led by the Labour party - especially when there was a real class warrior option in the form of George Galloway.

The Greggs photoshoot in my opinion undermined the Labour message by showing the Labour leaders to be trivial and opportunistic.

The best PR is communication founded on logical and compelling arguments that your target audience will find relevant and attractive.  “Knocking copy” seldom works (you might get away with knocking copy once, but you can’t keep on getting away with it).  The advice to Labour must be to work on their policies and let the PR plan flow from strategic messages they want to communicate.

Above:  screenprint of an image that appeared on the Daily Mirror website.  It looks staged and unconvincing.  Does Rachel Reeves with her Oxbridge degree really read the Daily Mirror?  She is not looking at the newspaper but staring fixedly at the camera.  Why has the photographer chosen such a low angle, which makes the trio loom over the viewer in a way that is unsettling?  Ed Balls is holding the carrier bag in a very odd way, as if he is unused to the experience of shopping.

Dishonest debate that is circulating in the media

Although I come from a working class family (I was born in Weedington Road in Kentish Town and my family lived for generations in Limehouse and Bethnal Green) I have no grudge against "toffs".  I knew David Cameron was a "toff" before I voted Conservative in the last election and despite all the Labour invective against "toffs" I will probably vote for his party next time.  My contempt is reserved for those "socialists" who hide their public school and Oxbridge backgrounds and try to act out being a class they are not.

My view is:  better the toffs you know than the ones you don't.

There was a ridiculous debate on Newsnight yesterday focussing on whether David Cameron knew the price of a Cornish pastie in Greggs.  Despite my working class origins I did not know the price of a Cornish pastie in Greggs until I bought one earlier today.  The cost was £1-40 (and it was lukewarm).

In any case I thought fattening foods like Greggs pastries were going to be taxed more to tackle the obesity epidemic?

Another dishonest debate that is circulating in the media is the fuel tanker drivers' threatened strike.

See http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/mar/27/tanker-driver-strike-responsible-standards

How is it possible for agency staff to undercut existing drivers by £9,000?  Presumably the agencies are using migrants from Poland.  And yet this is not reported in the media or challenged by the Unite union - the union's ideological myopia will prevent them challenging migration, no matter what damage it does to their members' true interests.

Which is why the union leaders are part of the problem.

Sicily Land of the Leopard Princes

Currently I am reading Sicily Land of the Leopard Princes - photographs by Jean-Bernard Naudin and text by Gerard Gefen.  The book illustrates the lifestyles of the Sicilian aristocracy from the mid-19th century to about 1920, and is meant as an unofficial companion to The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa.  Lavish colour photographs take up about eighty per cent of the book, with sections of prose and quotations from various memoirs.

I read The Leopard in 2000, and Roberto's The Viceroys shortly afterwards, and then on impulse purchased this book.  Coddled in shrink-wrap plastic the book remained in pristine condition for over eleven years on a table in my bedroom, about two hundred other unread books piled on top of it.  Eventually I worked my way down to it after numerous digressions and diversions.

Not sure why I find this class of wastrel Sicilian fops so attractive (perhaps it is the unconscious influence of Visconti).  Malthus argued that society needs a class of unproductive consumers to solve the problem of non-distribution.  Are belle epoque Sicilian aristocrats better in this role than twenty-first century bonus-acquiring hedge-fund managers?

Elected MPs have usurped power

The cash-for-access scandal continues, with former Home Secretary Jack Straw on the Today programme this morning making a very leaden attempt to score points.

None of the political parties has fully grasped the seriousness of the situation, which is likely to blow up in a similar way to the expenses scandal.

The political parties are reliant on "big money" because their membership base has collapsed (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12934148).  Their membership base has collapsed because the elected MPs have usurped power from local constituency party members and become completely disconnected from the people they are supposed to be representing.  Why be a member of a political party when you have absolutely no control over developing policy, ensuring election commitments are fulfilled, or recalling (and dismissing) errant MPs?

By limiting political donations to a maximum of £20 or £30 per party member the political parties will HAVE to build a wide party membership or cease to exist (and their place taken by new parties that are willing to be governed by their members).

I am also not happy about the role played by advertising in deciding elections (and this includes social media - we currently have a plague of asinine 140 character statements by our elected representatives, who presumably think they are "communicating" by means of this twaddle).

By taking "big money" out of politics and limiting their power to advertise the politicians will be obliged to communicate by calling on their constituents one by one and talking to them.  And not just at election time, but on an on-going basis.  If we can ally this to the removal of the Murdoch influence then democracy should be re-established and re-affirmed (rather than the present self-perpetuating all-party oligarchy).

An analogy can be seen in the music industry.  At one stage all music was live performance and the performers were directly connected to their audience (who would boo or clap or demand their money back).  Then recording technology intervened and "captured" the process of making music and "big money" usurped decisions on what music got selected and promoted.  Performers became disconnected from their audiences - to such an extent that there were periodic rebellions.  Then technology changed again, and music become more or less free of big money control.  Performers were forced to go out on the road to reconnect with their audiences.

Eighty years ago politicians had to connect with their constituents by canvassing and big public meetings.  Then communications technology made them think they could mostly just sit back and win elections through advertising and PR.  Now they must go back on the road and reconnect.

They imagine society as a continuous stream

I have been thinking a lot recently about society and how politics relates to it.

Some random thoughts:


In the minds of most people is a "myth" of a social continuum (although Jung thought it was more than a myth) in which society stretches back into the past and forward into the future.  This social continuum is where most people mentally "live".  They may have a shadowy idea of the past, they may have a tenuous idea of the future, but they imagine society as a continuous stream in which they and their families are located.

This social stream is an impersonal force which tends to include conformists, and exclude non-conformists.

On the whole the Conservative party emphasises continuity and conformity (social cohesian although it can also be seen as social repression) and Labour emphasises a process of renewal and safeguards for non-conformists (social inclusion although it can also be seen as social disintegration).

Conservatives broadly want society to go on the way it is, Labour broadly wants to stop and start again.

On the Today programme this morning actress Fiona Shaw read what she described as the greatest love poem of all time, at the end of which presenter Evan Davis said "very nice".

Although not in the same league as the Lord Levy shenanigans, the cash-for-access scandal revealed earlier today must make more compelling the need for strict scrutiny of the funding of political parties.

Just as democracy is founded on one equal vote per person, so political funding must be based on one equal donation per party member.

Only members of political parties should be allowed to donate to party funds, and it should be capped at £20 or £30 (and no state funding and trade union bloc financing).

That will make politicians work harder at getting members and make them much more accountable to those members.

He gave a long lecture - the past week at work

Monday

The Institute's offices comprise two floors. 

On the ground floor is the telephone surveys room (not large) and a tiny office with three glass walls for Development & Innovation manager Tim Watts.  The rest of the ground floor is occupied by the "Library" alternatively known as the "Reading Room".  Entry is via a metal door into a musty-smelling windowless area crammed with metal shelving packed with journals, articles and unpublished manuscripts.  Also thousands of books.  An equal number of books are still in cartons stacked at the back.  When the Institute moved from London the old Library had been packed up in a haphazard manner and never fully unpacked (mainly because there is not enough room in the new premises). 

The Library is run by three staff, nominally reporting to Institute Director Vijay Singh but with a "dotted line" (on the organisation chart) of responsibility to Alec Nussbaum in the Institute's sister organisation.  This dotted line allows Alec Nussbaum to visit the Institute without seeking Vijay Singh's advance permission.  There have been many arguments and manoeuvrings on how to remove the dotted line and place the Library under sole control of Vijay Singh.

Upstairs you enter the Reception area, comprised of four comfy armchairs and a coffee table overlooked by the Reception desk.  If you turn right you come to the admin area, marketing (where I sit) and the Campaigns Room.  Also the Director's suite (a long room with a board table at one end, two sofas facing each other in the middle, and Vijay Singh's office area at the end).

Opposite side of the floor, behind screens, is the Accounts area, and the Deputy Director's office.

I was only at work during the morning, having the afternoon as holiday.  I got a surprising amount done, briefing Joey on designing a publication, proof-reading, writing a letter.  Vijay Singh away, so there were no meetings.

Tuesday

Holiday.

Wednesday

Holiday in the morning, and I made the mistake of going into the office in the afternoon.

Lots of irritating e-mails from the Institute's sister-organisation - are they planning to take us over?

I did some copywriting, commissioned some photography, and looked through a new database.

Admin supervisor Pat B came to me with the news that she thought admin assistant Angela was anorexic.  What am I supposed to do? (even supposing her analysis is correct).  I told her to go to Deputy Director Lois Cooper.

Thursday

During the morning the admin section (adjacent to my desk) were carrying out a mailshot, which was quite disruptive.  I proof-read a leaflet and replied to e-mails.  Then worked on a presentation.

Everyone asked to stay late, and crammed into Vijay Singh's office.  He gave a long lecture on how the Institute is going to develop over the next few months.  He covered the white board on the wall with intricate flow patterns.

Friday

Barely time to establish myself at my desk this morning than the arrival of PK, editor of the magazine published by our sister organisation.  I was given the task of looking after her, which was a demanding experience.  Lunch in Vijay Singh's office - vegetarian sandwiches bought at Tescos by Pat B.

I got the impression that PK was just visiting the Institute to get a day out of her office.

More scandalous revelations about A4E on yesterday's Newsnight (stopped me switching over to Question Time).

But the point is continually missed that A4E was a New Labour creation.  It is not possible to understand that organisation and how it got such a hold on government contracts (and the imaginations of civil servants within the old Department of Employment) without seeing it in the context of an instrument of New Labour policy.  Yes, David Cameron gave a role to A4E founder Emma Harrison, but this would have presumably have been on the recommendation of civil servants.

The rot set in back in 1991/92 when Tony Blair was Shadow Employment Secretary and developed the policy ideas that Emma Harrison latched onto.

Owen Jones had become confused

Andrew Neil entirely demolished Owen Jones on This Week last night.

Owen Jones had become confused over whether assets worth £1 million were the same as income worth £1 million.

Having made the point Andrew Neil could have restrained himself, but the prey-instinct was too strong and he lunged forward again and again.

Owen Jones is a difficult commentator to categorise.  He has done a lot of valuable work in analysing and defending a section of society that cannot defend itself.  However he continually interprets his work through the prism of ideology, which tends to undermine his arguments (instead of letting the facts speak for themselves).

What the Budget might mean

The Budget was held yesterday in which the Chancellor laid before Parliament the government's tax and spend programme.

Since yesterday there has been an enormous amount of comment about what the Budget might mean for various demographic groups in the United Kingdom.

Which makes me ask:  what group is most influential politically (by which I mean will take political decisions as a result of this and succeeding budgets until the election).

On the whole I think the most influential group is the one where spending is more or less equal to expenditure.  These are households which are just managing to survive the current economic situation.  They may not be able to pay off their credit cards but they can meet the monthly payments.  They may not be able to pay off the capital on their mortgage but they can pay the interest.  They may not be able to go abroad this year, but they can manage a short break in the United Kingdom.  They grumble about rising prices but by making modest economies they can afford most (reasonable) things their lifestyle requires.

This just-getting-by demographic is huge.  At the moment they are worried about the future but also congratulating themselves that they are surviving.  If the Chancellor can bring this demographic safely through to 2015 and beyond without any upset they will probably reward his party with their votes.

Interesting obituary by Lawrence Joffe of Pope Shenouda III in yesterday's Guardian.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/18/pope-shenouda-the-third

Mothering Sunday or Mothers' Day

Today is Mothering Sunday or Mothers' Day. 

Professor Ronald Hutton described how a religious event during Lent has transmuted into a festival celebrating the modern cult of the family.  The Book of Common Prayer prescribes the Jerusalem Mater Omnium epistle for this day.  Ritual foods include a plain simnel cake, pork stuffed with bay leaves and peas ("Carlings") cooked in butter.

Everyone was relieved when the taxi arrived

Monday

In the morning I wrote a press release and then chased progress of a brochure.

It always surprises me when something I have written has a measurable effect on the behaviour of people.  It is as if I have a power I do not properly understand.  To me it is just writing.

In the afternoon the Institute's Director, Vijay Singh, carried out a surprise review of all purchasing decisions I have made since joining the organisation.  I suppose he was checking for any illicit activity (supplier favouritism,  lack of competitive quotes, hints of kickbacks etc).  He found nothing.

Tuesday

At my desk I was silently appalled at the magnitude of some of the projects I have been given.  The Institute certainly does not lack ambition. I sent some sharply-worded e-mails to various people complaining about the delays they are causing.

Late morning a meeting with Vijay Singh and Deputy Director Lois Cooper, going through a new policy process line by line.

In the afternoon I was asked into a meeting with Vijay Singh and Campaign Manager Keith Chandler.  Everyone complains about the number of meetings we have to endure, but progress is not really possible without them.  Keith Chandler was very defensive throughout this meeting and just agreed to whatever Vijay Singh said.

Wednesday

The morning spent preparing a new leaflet - writing the copy and sourcing the illustrations.

In the afternoon a review with Vijay Singh of communications.  I was as critical of Keith Chandler as I felt I could be without sounding as if I were playing office politics.  Vijay Singh's chubby face appeared quietly satisfied, as if I were giving him ammunition he intended to use.

Almost all the afternoon spent fruitlessly searching for the "right" photograph for a brochure.

The working day ended with a discussion with Vijay Singh about the visit of the Media Relations team from our "sister organisation" - he was contemptuous about them and said they could offer us nothing, but we would have to tolerate their interventions.

Thursday

I found myself becoming annoyed this morning, mainly because I have so much to do and have to rely on people who are either lazy or obstructive.

As I suspected, a photograph the Institute had commissioned proved to be totally unusable.  I had to ask the photographer to do it again.  More delays.

The Media Relations deputation arrived - two people.  I arranged tea for them which we had sitting on the easy chairs in the Reception area, and then gave them a guided tour of the building.  In the ground floor Library assistant librarian Matthew showed us round while assistant librarian Gary said "yeah, yeah" at meaningless intervals. 

Then into a meeting with Vijay Singh in which the two Media Relations people gave us the benefit of their advice for an hour and a half.

I think everyone was relieved when the taxi arrived to take them back to the station.

Friday

Arriving at my desk I scanned in lots of paper that is related to a new project.  Creating electronic versions somehow seemed to tame the information and made it easier to organise.  Using the scanner also seemed to be mildly therapeutic.

Late afternoon I interviewed an "opinion former" (he came into the office, which was a rare concession given our incognito status). 

Bridget O'Farrell's last day before going off on maternity leave.  I talked to her about her early life in Sligo and how poor her family had been.  She produced a tray of cream cakes to give to everyone, and was given a card signed by all of us.

Rainforest

Apparently there is a Brazilian law that requires all rainforest purchased privately must be cleared.

This means that no rainforest can be purchased for conservation.

Surely this cannot be the policy of the current Brazilian government?

Surely Gary Younge should have covered for the Guardian the Cameron visit to the Obama White House?

Or does Gary Younge only do highly-selective "reporting" that illustrates a particular viewpoint?

His silence seems very odd considering his enthusiasm for all things Obama.

Serious domestic political and economic analysis and interpretation is missing

Rather fatuous Newsnight yesterday, making economic predictions for the next fifty years.

As economic predictions over the next fifty days are often wildly inaccurate, the prospect of a fifty-year prediction is ridiculous.

Perhaps they just wanted to be sensationalist and frighten the gullible with nonsense scenarios.

For instance, would anyone in 1962 have been able to predict how 2012 would turn out?

Since the departure of Stephanie Flanders and Nick Robinson Newsnight has struggled to re-establish its credibility in political and economic analysis.  The reporting and interviewing is fine.  Science coverage is excellent.  Foreign affairs excellent.  Occasional studio debates usually good.  And the quirky Stephen Smith items work more often than they fall flat.

But the serious domestic political and economic analysis and interpretation is missing.

Yesterday I switched it off at 10.40pm, which I have rarely done before.

I read at the weekend that the United Kingdom is the fourth largest foreign investor in Brazil.  

That seems to put Argentine claims about Latin American solidarity over the Falkland Islands into perspective.

Whatever soothing comments the Brazilian politicians make to their southern neighbours they are not likely to upset their fourth largest source of foreign investment.

Also it is not clear how Argentina is going to afford an expensive military adventure when they cannot afford to pay their American creditors following the financial collapse of 2001 (unless they plan to "buy" the military hardware and then default on the payments).

Cross In Hand

Recently I was in the Royal Exchange and wandered out the back door into that little alley between Cornhill and Threadneedle Street.  While I idly waited I looked up and saw above one of the doors a cross formed by four hands.  And in a Lake Isle of Innisfree moment I was transported (imaginatively) to Dorset and the scenes when Tess of the D'Urbervilles visits the Cross In Hand pillar.

This pillar is a real feature of the landscape and is described here:  http://people.bath.ac.uk/lismd/dorset/churches/batcombe.html 

Setting up systems - the past week at work

Monday

For some reason I couldn't sleep and just lay in bed conscious of the passing hours.  Eventually I must have dozed.  Then at 7am I got up, as tired as when I went to bed.

As soon as I arrived I was in a meeting with graphic designer Joey who had driven up from south London to take a brief, even though I had been prepared to brief him via e-mail.  He seemed painfully eager to please, so perhaps work is short at the moment.  He had news of Kate who I used to work with, also squabbling between Alan and Ian.

I updated my list of things to do, which is immense - although somehow things manage to stay on course.

A lot of the projects I am working on entail setting up systems, which is why they are so time-consuming.

Tuesday

I had allocated the morning to writing a report, although incoming e-mails distracted me.

Joey arrived with a rough design.  It was four pages too short and when I pointed this out he over-reacted in blaming himself and gulping with nervousness.  I'm not sure what made him behave like this as I was not complaining in any way, just pointing out the error.

In the afternoon a meeting with the Institute's Director Vijay Singh.  To my surprise this went well.  Afterwards all the staff (eighteen of us) went to a local hotel to mark Vijay Singh's birthday - we stood awkwardly in the gloomy Victorian bar, the only people in the place.

Wednesday

Most of the day spent on policy development. 

Thursday

The brochure Joey has been working on is now at proof stage.  Former secretary Judith breezed insolently through the offices.  In the afternoon I raised purchase orders.

A big directory project is looming, and I keep putting off the planning stage.

Friday

In the morning I wrote the text of a new brochure.  In the afternoon I wrote an article for a magazine.  A meeting with Finance Manager Marcia Walsh to discuss various reports I want the system to generate.

In the dull period at the end of the working day I researched buying a new car.

Watching Question Time yesterday you would think that left-wing firebrand Will Self, with his cor blimey accent, was from a working class council house secondary modern background.

But on Wikipedia his biography is listed as comfortable family wealth, public school and Oxbridge.

The man is a fraud and a closet toff.

Report by Rick Folbaum on Fox News about "pink slime"

Horrified to see a report by Rick Folbaum on Fox News about "pink slime" - this will probably give me nightmares.

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/03/08/pink-slime-combo-connective-tissue-scraps-hidden-in-your-kids-lunch/

What will happen when the Leveson process finally comes to an end?

The Leveson Inquiry proceeds with its business.  Scandal and corruption revealed throughout the British establishment.  It somehow makes the wrongdoing sound even more outrageous to have the facts rolled out in the ponderous dull style of the Inquiry.

But what will happen when the Leveson process finally comes to an end?

The Leveson website says:  "What will happen after the report? How will the findings be used? It will be for the Government to decide how to take forward the recommendations in the report."

Which makes me suspect it will all be brushed under the carpet.
 
Heads must roll.
 
In particular Rupert Murdoch's head must roll.
 
It is obvious that foreign ownership of British media means that it is less accountable.
 
We need a law banning ownership of newspapers by non-British people. 
 
If that means losing The Times, The Evening Standard and The Independent it will be a price worth paying.
 
We cannot tolerate the level of corruption that Leveson is revealing.

Badenheim 1939 by Aharon Appelfeld

Have just finished reading Badenheim 1939 by Aharon Appelfeld.  I bought the novel at Jewish Book Week.  Previously I have read The Healer and To The Land Of Reeds.

Badenheim 1939 is about humanity's capacity for self-delusion.  Of always hoping for the best when the evidence all around suggests otherwise.  A panglossian outlook.

Beautifully translated.

Interesting editorial in the Chicago Tribune (based on a report in the New York Times) about assessing teacher accountability.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-teacher-0303-20120303,0,6644359.story

If improved education and skills is the main engine of productivity in mature economies, it is likely that the teaching profession itself is going to come under increasing pressure to achieve "productivity".

A Little Stranger by Sarah Waters

I have just finished reading A Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.  At 500 pages it is a long novel, and the length put me off reading it for about a year.  However it is so well written, and the story is so compelling that when I began I read it in about a week.

The house in the novel reminded me of Brodsworth Hall in Yorkshire, and I kept looking at the guidebook to Brodsworth, so perfectly did the descriptions match.

The novel has many themes, and in particular is about the power of the mind and the imagination.  It is also a very evocative description of the decline of the gentry families in the years following the Second World War.  Comparable in importance to the 1981 Play for Today Country.

Jonathan Beale (talking to Maxine Mawhinney on BBC News 24) gave an interesting analysis of Barak Obama's speech to AIPAC earlier today.

The speech was full of coded messages.

"That was heavy going" - the past week at work

Monday

I have been so busy recently that I have not had the time or energy to update this blog.  So I let it languish for a couple of days and found this so liberating that I considered shutting the site down completely.  But after a little thought I decided to keep it going - perhaps to 2014 when it will be ten years old.

I woke a little earlier than usual after only about six hours sleep.  I went round the house collecting up the dry cleaning.  Then I drove to work.

During the morning I had to give a debriefing to Director Vijay Singh about my visit to the "sister organisation" on Friday.  The sharp questions he addressed to me indicated he had already received a report from someone else about the visit.  But on the whole he seemed satisfied by my day at the head office.

Lunchtime entirely taken up with the dry cleaners (parking, walking, waiting etc).

Quite a lot of progress made in the afternoon with various projects.  Nothing spectacular, just steady progress.  A lot of the hold-ups come from waiting for other people to do things.

Tuesday

A meeting in the morning with Development Manager Tim Watts (aged late twenties, short red hair, very pale blue eyes, ponderous and slow but essentially a good person who does not cause trouble). 

Interviews were being today held for two junior posts, with various hopefuls arriving and departing.

A new purchasing policy has been circulated by e-mail and I read through it (Marketing has one of the largest budgets in the Institute).

In the afternoon I worked on a marketing plan for the consultancy services the Institute offers, although I think it is unlikely that the sales targets for this consultancy can be met (it is a very esoteric service).

At the end of the day only Vijay Singh and myself were left in the building.  He stopped by my desk and confided his thoughts about the Institute.  This was so out of character that it surprised me - he usually projects the impression of someone who stands completely alone.

Wednesday

The morning I spent preparing for the review meeting to be held in the afternoon.

At the review meeting I mainly just observed proceedings.  The session consisted of Vijay Singh firing difficult questions at Tim Watts and Deputy Director Lois Cooper.  Their responses were rather shambolic, and Vijay Singh began to bully them into admitting they had failed.

The meeting went on past 6pm and on the stairs going out Lois Cooper said to me "That was heavy going".

Thursday

In the morning I went to the surgery for a routine blood test then drove to work, arriving about 11am.

Vijay Singh is away for two days and I was looking forward to using the time to catch up.  But after yesterday's disastrous review Lois Cooper and Tim Watts wanted me to help them with their Development projects.  This meeting took a large chunk of the day, Telephone Surveys Supervisor Abi Reed also joining us.

The whole afternoon spent replying to e-mails, an exhausting process.

Friday

Interesting morning considering lifestyle profiles for various databases we hold.  I find this sort of analysis fascinating.  "Who are we talking to" is the heading of my report on the subject.

Mid-morning a call from the surgery saying the doctor wanted to see me.  This led to a few hours worrying about my health.  Eventually I rang the surgery back and was fairly reassured, but it was a warning that I cannot neglect my health.

Almost the whole lunchbreak spent queueing at the post office and the bank, and collecting my dry cleaning.  Occasionally I think of Joseph Roth's description about superfluous his life was, and I think it could equally apply to myself.  In the car park I sat in my car reading for fifteen minutes, glad to be away from the babble in the office.

The afternoon spent purchasing various photographic images.

Remove all party funding except subscriptions

It's not often I agree with Owen Jones, but he has identified a genuine issue in his piece for the Fabian Society http://owenjones.org/2012/02/19/fabian-society-a-new-class-politics/

Owen Jones writes:  Above all, the case has to be made about representation. Less than one in twenty MPs hail from an unskilled background; more than two-thirds come from a professional background. The issues facing working people as they are made to pay for a crisis not of their own making will be not be addressed unless the middle-class closed shop of Westminster is cracked open.

However his solution, to rely on the Trade Unions to get more working class people into the House of Commons, is flawed.

The Trade Union leadership is part of the elite and no longer represents the ordinary members.  By the time someone gets to a senior position in a trade union they have become so thoroughly politicised that they no longer care (very much) about ordinary people.  The trade union leaders are part of the problem not the solution.

The way to ensure Members of Parliament become genuinely representative is to remove all party funding except subscriptions from ordinary party members with a maximum subscription of £20 per member.

That way parties will be forced to build large grass-roots memberships or cease to exist (and obviously large memberships will make MPs more accountable).

Another helpful move would be to legally prevent political media advertising except for manifestos.  The emphasis should be on requiring all prospective MPs to completely canvass their constituencies, preferably on an on-going basis.  That way they cannot help but become accountable to the ordinary people and have to explain their voting record.

And I think the ASA should be asked to look at statements made by politicians in manifestos, social media etc and evaluate whether they are legal, honest truthful and decent.

We live in a remote area and never usually hear any aircraft.

But the last three weeks or so there have been droning aircraft overhead two or three times every evening.

The only place they could come from are the RAF bases in the centre of the county.

Are they getting ready to bomb Iran?

The Take On Me cafe

Above:  while I was in Wandsworth Road on Sunday I walked along to have a look at the Savoy Cafe.  As Kim's Cafe this was the location for the 1985 A-ha video Take On Me directed by Steve Barron.  Being a Sunday the cafe was shut.

Above:  (screenprint) few cultural artifacts evoke the 1980s as powerfully as the Take On Me video.  Innovative use of animation combined with highly stylised production and a theme of escapism from the mundane world.  It is also highly romantic in narrative and visual treatment.

Above:  (screenprint) the Take On Me cafe has even received attention from serious artists.

Article in the Observer by Rowan Moore

Above:  Sunday morning I read this article in the Observer by Rowan Moore arguing that modernist social housing did not fail society, society failed modernist social housing.  Looking at the example of the Pruitt-Igoe estate in St Louis (in America) Rowan Moore listed the all the external factors that led to the decline of the Pruitt-Igoe estate.  It was a well-written piece but ultimately unconvincing.

Above:  Sunday afternoon I was in Lambeth and I paused to look at the Westbury Estate (Durrington Tower in the foreground, Amesbury Tower just visible behind).  Someone moving from a substandard property into one of these flats in the early 1960s would initially experience a feeling of relief, but for most people this relief would turn to feelings of alienation.  It's not hard to see why.  The towers are obviously alienated from their surroundings and from the cultural-historical continuum that most people inhabit (either consciously or unconsciously).  Putting people into this disconnected environment made many of them react in a number of negative ways - depression, flight (for those who could afford it), rejection.  At it's most extreme limit rejection took the form of anti-social activity and vandalism.

Above:  a few streets away is the Larkhall estate - social housing constructed in the late 1920s.  This Neo-Georgian estate has all the features that modernists would abhor - reddish-brown brick laid in English bond, stucco surrounds, weatherboarded spandrels, casement dormers, chimneystacks, sash windows, a little Gothick tracery, relief sculpture panels, iron railings etc.  Although modernists deride this construction as worthless pastiche Larkhall gives its residents a sense of dignity, status and identity that is callously denied the residents of the Westbury estate (I use the word callous, as the architects of the Westbury towers have placed their professional egos above the feelings of the people who have to live in their designs).

I would be surprised if the real cost of building the Westbury estate towers was any cheaper than the real cost of building Larkhall.

Above:  debased classical capitals on display in the Victoria & Albert Museum.  In my opinion including classical motifs in social housing projects will reassure the residents of their social worth and social status, and help them move towards self-actualisation within society.  Modernism ultimately failed because it is based on breaking the cultural-historical continuum and placing residents in a "year zero" that few of them are psychologically-equipped to cope with.

"Full of airheads" - the past week at work

Monday

Planning my work for the week took nearly two hours (I did other things as I organised my tasks for the days ahead).  Director Vijay Singh has been critical about the amount of time marketing projects are taking, so I am careful to involve him in the planning so he can see the lack of co-operation from the other managers in the Institute.  Especially the backsliding by Campaign Manager Keith Chandler.

The latest campaigns are targeting professional associations.  We are not really looking for a response.  It is enough that the material is tacitly accepted (which involves labour-intensive personalisation).

Lunch with a friend at the Sycamore Hotel. 

I had to work late to clear outstanding tasks.  When I left the office the business estate was absolutely silent.  The award-winning buildings standing like model exhibits in an architectural show.

Tuesday

Vijay Singh warned me that tomorrow's joint marketing meeting would be "rough".  Apparently opposition has been building to the demands I have been making on the other managers.  As these demands are in response to Vijay Singh's initiatives it is disappointing that he is not giving me more backing.

In the afternoon a fatuous meeting with a delegation from Sweden.

Wednesday

A big feature of my working day is the sudden request for information.  I was wrong-footed a number of times in the first weeks.  Now I have learned to anticipate what sort of questions are going to be asked.

The joint marketing meeting was held in the afternoon starting at 1pm.  We sat round the table in Vijay Singh's long office - Campaign Managers Keith Chandler and Callum Smith, prissy Alec Nussbaum from the Institute's "sister organisation", and Peter Whitgift from the Birmingham office (aged late fifties, grey-haired, thin lined face, black-rimmed glasses, black suit sprinkled with cigarette ash, wary eyes).  It was not a good-tempered meeting and I defended myself as best I could.

6.30pm by the time we finished.

Thursday

During the morning a meeting with Vijay Singh.  He wanted to know what I thought of the joint marketing meeting and the people involved.  I get the impression that he doesn't really know how to control the management team.

Friday

To the "sister organisation" in London for a series of briefing meetings with various departments.

Vijay Singh had warned me that the organisation was "full of airheads" but we needed to keep them on our side as they provide so much of the Institute's funding.

The offices are in a utilitarian 1970s block among red brick Victorian terraces in Earls Court.  Quite a performance to enter the building through "security".  Head of Publications came down to collect me, and I followed her up several floors, numerous security doors opened with an electronic pass.  Each floor held about fifty people, crammed into little cubicles.  The workforce overwhelmingly female (but the senior managers mostly male).  The female employees are either young and professional or middle-aged and do not need to work (this was said to me several times).

After talking to Head of Publications I went into a meeting with the Editor of the organisation's magazine.  She was in her late forties yet seemed to be clinging to her teenage years with peroxide hair, improbable clothes, laboured use of teenage argot.  She had a Mancunian accent and all the time we talked she fidgeted with a packet of cigarettes - she was entirely caught up in her own world and did not seem interested in anything I had to say.

Finally to the Head of Policy & Research, an elderly American woman with a New England accent and a surface geniality and amiability that masked an absolute refusal to co-operate in any way.  We discussed in a desultory fashion various possible research projects, although it was made clear to me that none of them would get off the ground.  As the meeting came to a close she gave me, with unmistakable malice, a huge heap of research data.

Night had fallen by the time I got home - bright slither of moon in the clear midnight blue of the starry sky.

Joseph Roth talk at Jewish Book Week

Last Sunday I went to the Joseph Roth talk at Jewish Book Week, held at Kings Place.  Dennis Marks talked to Michael Hoffman.  I made notes:

The Austrian end of empire has warnings for the end of the British Empire.


With Roth there are always two versions of everything.


Roth's Austria was always in retrospect, in hindsight.


His imagined Austria was his homeland.


Galicia produced Hassidic Judaism in the eighteenth-century.


He was a compulsive falsifier or liar - there is more freedom if people cannot categorise you.


He said that no-one in the world was as superfluous as he was.


Roth hated national states and loved the monarchy which was his home.


(Michael Hoffman):  The EU has a lack of soul and aesthetics, and is largely money-driven.

Above:  poor photograph of Dennis Marks on the left and Michael Hoffman on the right.

When I think of Somalia the images that come to mind are:

The film Black Hawk Down.
News reports of pirates in the Indian Ocean.
The loyal retainer in Out of Africa by Karen Blixen.

Very interested to hear on the Today programme about the summit on Somalia being held in London today (the Somali Prime Minister was interviewed).

Stuart Emmrich writing in the New York Times

London Fashion Week - Stuart Emmrich writing in the New York Times:

http://runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/21/in-london-more-to-see-than-just-clothes/?hpw


"It was a beautiful, contemplative space, and for the next half hour, I sat there in blissful solitude..." - I plan to go to this place and experience this for myself.

In a decline?

Is the Guardian / Observer in a decline?

Above:  The Guardian last Saturday had a front page article about the scandal of migrant children held at adult detention centres.  It was only after you had turned the page and read the continuation that it became clear that the events referred to 2004 and were the responsibility of the previous (Labour) government.  To misrepresent the facts in such a way is not a good sign of editorial integrity.

Above:  The Observer last Sunday had a front page dominated by a non-story about how the Olympic games would interfere with ambulances taking sick people to hospital.  On Broadcasting House on Radio 4 Sunday morning they were openly laughing about this ridiculous front page (former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair was particularly scathing).  Does the Observer have such contempt for its readers that they think they can publish any old rubbish and have it accepted?

Above:  last week Marina Hyde wrote in The Guardian about Rupert Murdoch and his plans to launch The Sun on Sunday.  Marina Hyde is usually never knowingly nice about anyone, but her piece about Rupert Murdoch was of such gubernatorialy-focused unctuousness that I wondered whether she was covertly asking for a job at the new publication.  A good editor should have struck this piece out.

In any case, I think it is going to be difficult for The Sun on Sunday to replace the disgraced News of the World.   The brands are totally different, and Rupert Murdoch is essentially launching a "me too" product (and as we know, me-too products seldom do well).  The News of the World built up its brand over 163 years, representing a huge investment in terms of brand awareness.

Just as QD Stores is struggling to replace Woolworths so I think The Sun on Sunday will struggle to replace the News of the World (unless Murdoch spends a fortune on television advertising).

I managed to watch Daily Politics at lunchtime.  Another discussion about youth unemployment without a single mention of the impact of migration.  There are a million unemployed young people and a million (recently arrived) eastern Europeans in the United Kingdom.  Various "experts" will tell you that the two facts have no relation to each other, and that the Poles and other assorted Europeans are not directly taking jobs that would otherwise have gone to young people.  However this argument ignores the displacement effect - the migrants take jobs that would otherwise have gone to British job seekers and these jobseekers then take jobs that would otherwise have gone to young people.  The effect is the same.

The impact of migration is not mentioned in debates on youth unemployment because the politicians have no answers to the problem.  They prefer to hide behind weasel words that "prove" migration is not really a problem.  The British government needs to negotiate directly with the the Polish and Latvian governments and tell them to stop exporting their unemployment.

What will happen when the restrictions on the movement of Romanians are lifted?  Conditions in Romania are so bad we can expect a significant portion of the Romanian population to move West.  Are the politicans just going to wait until this happens?

Certainly Damian Green needs to go - he is not capable of controlling the situation.

"I feel a lot better about my targets" - the past week at work

Monday

Director Vijay Singh returned from holiday and called a meeting of the managers in which we had to update him on everything that had happened while he had been away - the meeting took up the whole day and finished late.

Tuesday

I was one of the first in. 

All of the morning I worked on the Communication Plan for Private Individuals.  I was pleased with the way it fell into shape.  In the late afternoon a meeting with Vijay Singh and Surveys Manager Abi Reed to discuss the plan.  We were in the meeting four hours, and all my suggestions were accepted.  "I feel a lot better about my targets now we have this plan" said Abi Reed.  7.29 by the time I got home.

Wednesday

A lot of the day spent consolidating notes made at various meetings and translating them into action points on my To Do list (which is vast).

In the afternoon admin assistant Denise Cavandish retired.  The send off performed by Vijay Singh with various presents.  Denise Cavandish cackled her mirthless laugh and made snide comments right to the last.

Thursday

Most of the morning talking to list brokers about various databases we may purchase - areas of the population the Institute wants to research.

Friday

Another of the presentations - this time not entailing an overnight stay.

Looking back over the week it seems so banal that it is hardly worth keeping up this work diary.

Tescos is advertising vacancies for no payment (other than JSA and expenses)

I was shocked beyond belief that Tescos is advertising vacancies for no payment (other than JSA and expenses).

This was reported on Newsnight yesterday, and when I switched over to Question Time the Tescos recruitment policy was being denounced by Owen Jones in his usual gobby style (with former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott wading in).

However I hope that this scandal is not going to be blamed on the Coalition government (which rather seems the angle John Harris is taking http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/16/work-free-tesco-job-advert ).

Tescos rose to a position of unassailable hegemony during the New Labour era and I recall that Gordon Brown chose to launch the 2010 Labour election campaign in a Tesco store.

I also recall that Left-wing think tank Demos once proposed a Tesco store on every council estate as a way of driving forward regeneration.

And as usual no acknowledgement that excess labour supply via migration is causing the problem (you get called a "bigot" if you even try to suggest this).

So perhaps we should remind John Harris, Owen Jones, John Prescott etc that it's "time to own your own history" (as Gary Younge is fond of saying).

Alex Salmond is shooting his mouth off about the viability of Celtic FC

Reports that Alex Salmond is shooting his mouth off about the viability of Celtic FC if Rangers FC goes under (not that there is a serious possibility of this happening).

Presumably Alex Salmond is afraid Celtic will apply to play in the English League.

Would he ban this?

Landon Thomas Jr must be some kind of idiot

Rubbishy article in the New York Times about youth unemployment in London.  The journalist, Landon Thomas Jr, manages to write 1,400 words without mentioning that ONE MILLION Poles have moved to the United Kingdom over the last few years and have taken all the starter jobs that would normally go to young people (the "NEETS" Landon Thomas Jr mentions).  Employers prefer to employ Poles because they are desperate to work however low the wage, do not complain and do not know their employment rights.

Effectively employers, with the connivance of politicians, have imported a class of Polish serfs.

This has happened without any democratic mandate from the United Kingdom population.

Presumably Landon Thomas Jr must be some kind of idiot not to notice this.

Also I am not happy about the generally hostile tone of the New York Times coverage of the United Kingdom - they always find a negative sneering angle, no matter how distorted this makes the article.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/16/business/global/for-london-youth-down-and-out-is-way-of-life.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp

Investment in agricultural research and innovation shapes the type of food we eat

Interesting article by Tom MacMillan in the latest issue of Living Earth (the magazine of the Soil Association).

He argues that investment in agricultural research and innovation shapes the type of food we eat.

The government should be investing more in organic solutions instead of always backing the big vested interests.

Today is St Valentine's Day

Above:  Vivienne Westwood has designed a box of chocolates for the special St Valentine's Day catalogue for London store Fortnum & Mason.

Today is St Valentine's Day.  This year the day seems to be used in marketing campaigns more than ever, including a full page ad for Liberty in today's Guardian.  Possibly this is the most commercial St Valentine's Day yet.

Is this just the relentless onward march of commercialism?

Or is there are more subtle trend at work?

Professor Ronald Hutton, in his great work The Ritual Year, noticed that there is a tendency for the great public celebrations of the past (Christmas, Easter etc) to become absorbed into household life and become private family events, celebrating specific sections of the family (in the case of St Valentine's Day young lovers are being celebrated).  As "Society" jettisons the religious observances of the past it seems that individuals and families are taking up responsibility to mark the ritual days of the year (assisted by commercial goods and services).  Are they doing this consciously and willingly or unconsciously and instinctively?

Moody's is worried about the lack of growth in the United Kingdom economy

Credit rating agency Moody's says there is a possibility that the United Kingdom might lose its triple A rating (apparently not a strong possibility, but it might happen).

Moody's is worried about the lack of growth in the United Kingdom economy.

I am not economist.  I listen to all those clever people appearing on the media talking about "kick starting", "pump priming" and all that stuff about Keynes versus Hayek and it all seems just noise.  But I do know about public moods and public sentiments and public opinions.

Therefore I can tell Moodys:

There will be little internal recovery and growth until the ordinary people "feel good".  They will feel good when they have paid off their private debts (mostly credit cards, but some mortgage reduction) and saved a modest amount (£3K?) in case of calamities such as losing their job.  When that happens they will "feel good" about the future and start spending money and sustained significant growth will happen.

The good news it that a lot of this is already happening.  My guess is that we are probably close to a tipping point already (but I am not an economist).  Small businesses are supposed to be expanding, which is always a good sign.

The pound has fallen against the Euro which should help exports (although I am not happy about the way the politicians have tied us into the EU economy with all its record of lying governments, political interference and economic incompetence).

Organised crime gang

Currently watching Newsnight discussing the arrests at The Sun newspaper.

On the whole, from my perspective as an ordinary member of the public, I think "organised crime gang" is a reasonably fair description of that publication.

When I looked at Marina Hyde's biography on Wikipedia I noticed that she was a former Sun journalist.  The reason I point this out is that her writing (now for The Guardian) has a spiteful vituperative tone that is consistent with the output of The Sun.  Is it unfair to ask whether Marina Hyde, when working at The Sun, had any place within the "organised crime gang" and the "swamp that needs to be drained"?.

Templar cross on a continental shield

I have been away for a couple of days and returned feeling exhausted.

Staying at a large country house hotel, I had some free time Friday afternoon and walked through the snow to look at the village.

The church was open and I had a look round and found this heraldic carving.

As you can see, it shows a Templar cross on a continental shield (although the carving was English and included English text) with the crescent device that indicates it was used by a second son.

The shield is between the wide-open legs of a naked woman, indicating the origin of the family's bloodline.

Below the shield is a chalice.

On the scrolls at the side are what appear to be numbers.

Very mysterious.

Currently watching a discussion on Newsnight about low wages in the retail sector.

No-one is mentioning the obvious factor - so long as there is unlimited supply of labour coming into the country evil employers like Tesco will continue to drive down wages and expect the state to subsdise employees they could EASILY afford to pay correctly.

Close the import of labour and supermarkets will have to compete to attract labour.

Marina Hyde only has about three articles which she endlessly recycles.

Her acticle in today's Guardian was so over-familiar that even skim-reading it was a bore.

Looking at her biography her background is comfortable family wealth, public school, Oxbridge - and as usual with such people she can't resist telling the working classes what to do.

Following the Capello resignation, if John Terry is found innocent the whole FA board will have to resign.

And Hugh Robertson MP should learn to keep his mouth shut (I thought the Tory party was going to get rid of people with his kind of grossly privileged life record? - public scool, army officer, high finance and now Tory MP and he still finds time to claim £23k in second home expenses despite being within commuting distance of Westminster).

What do "Planners" do all day?

When I first started work at a London ad agency as a trainee copywriter I had only a hazy idea of how all the departments fitted together. New Business and Accounts were fairly obvious, but "Traffic", "Account Handling" and "Studio" were more nebulous. Especially I did not understand "Planning".

What do "Planners" do all day? You might think they have a master strategic role planning all the work of the agency, but you would be wrong. Planners actually seem to have no real power, and no defined area of responsibility.

One day a very senior director explained to me why agencies (the good ones) have Planning departments.

In the old days, by which he meant the 1960s and early 1970s, most of the clients were Sales directors. They were people with lots of authority to take decisions, were usually risk-takers, and wanted big campaigns to stimulate sales.

Dealing with these clients was easy.

Then from about the mid-70s onwards clients developed marketing departments. As well as the Sales director there was also a Marketing manager sitting in on client meetings. Agencies began to meet resistance to the big simple campaign ideas and an increasing emphasis on customer research, customer attitudes, even customer complaints about the product.

Therefore agencies developed Planning departments. The role of the Planners was to match the marketing people for each client, try to understand how they looked at the world, and to overcome any objections they might have to the agency's pitches. This often meant doing the client's marketing work better than the Marketing manager concerned.

From the late 1980s onwards the position changed again. Human nature being what it is the Marketing managers got lazy and often expected the agencies to do most of the marketing work and come up with most of the marketing ideas (which they then claimed the credit for when internally reselling to their boards). The best use of Planners was to integrate them into the account handling process so that the clients became dependent on them and could not easily switch agencies without experiencing a significant loss of marketing expertise.

But this is just one agency. Every agency is different. Planning is no doubt a continuously evolving process.

Above:  from today's Huffington Post.

It is difficult to think of any PR stunt more ridiculous - does the Argentine football league want the world to laugh at them?

Labour is not coming back any time soon

What a bad-tempered bitter article by George Monbiot in the Guardian today!

He is basically saying that the British electorate is "too stupid" to vote for the right kind of representatives (ie ones that agree with George Monbiot).

The reason the electorate did not support the Labour party at the 2010 election and does not support it now is because of the record of the last Labour government.  Far from being too stupid to vote Labour, the electorate is too wise to trust a party that consistently, over thirteen years, betrayed our trust.  I cannot see Labour winning the next election in 2015, which is why Ed Miliband is right to plan for the long-term (the 2020 election).

Presumably George Monbiot's anger is because he also realises that Labour is not coming back any time soon.

All the tainted generation of Labour "big names" needs to pass away (in the Lords as well as the Commons) before the party will be re-electable.  And then it will depend on having innovative new policies.  Plus a positive outlook (negative campaigning will just backfire).

After one of Margaret Thatcher's election victories in the 1980s (I think it must have been 1987) Labour MP Tony Benn was so enraged he said the Left would "take to the streets".  Commentators responded to this revolutionary call with laughter.  For the good of democracy I think we need to laugh at George Monbiot now - for all his intelligence and public-school education (and comfy family wealth which allowed him the luxury of being a "writer") the man is a fool.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/06/right-stupidity-spreads-enabled-polite-left

In a funny sort of way the recent snow has made the house warmer - think because all the small gaps that usually let in draughts have frozen up.

If Fabio Capello believes John Terry should captain England he should ignore the FA and make him captain.

The whole country would support him.

The FA's behaviour has been so unreasonable that I am surprised it has not been challenged in the courts.