Dolce & Gabbana advertisement

Fabulous Dolce & Gabbana advertisement in yesterday's Guardian. 

Everything about this ad works - the position (inside front cover), the size (half-page), the use of full colour.

Above all, the creative impact is superb - brave and confident use of a wonderful photograph combined with the Dolce & Gabbana logotype (nothing else!). 

There are so many ways in which this photograph works, but I am particularly impressed by the figure of the woman.  I have no idea who the photographer is, but I would guess he is an Italian fully cognisant of Renaissance iconography.  This is a classic "madonna", and the gaze of her sunglass-shielded eyes is one of rapture (note the tiny starburst in one of the lenses, as if she is exhibiting the Stella Maris).

Above:  detail from Guido Reni's painting Disputa "the spotless Virgin in glory adoring the name of God".

All desire (sexual desire, material desire, desire for power etc) is supposed to be sublimated desire for the presence of God (did EH Gombrich say that? I can't remember).

Above:  recently I read Richard E Spear's book on Guido Reni and his work.  For all his prurient speculations about Guido Reni's sex life it is a very dull book and towards the end I was just skim-reading.  I bought the book ages ago and it became lost under heaps of other books so that I have only just worked my way down to it (published in the mid-1990s it was in pristine condition and still shrink wrapped).

What will happen to the Liberal Democrats

Above:  quote from Andrew Rawnsley in today's Observer.  He is a very experienced political commentator.  But in this instance I think it is possible he may be wrong.

On Sunday Politics this afternoon Andrew Neil interviewed Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.

Everyone is waiting to see what will happen to the Liberal Democrats in the council elections on 3rd May, and to draw conclusions for the general election in 2015.

My own view is that the demise of the Liberal Democrats can only benefit the Conservatives.

Since the mid-1990s there had been an unofficial, barely acknowledged, "get the Tories out" agreement between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.  In Conservative seats where Labour was second Liberal Democrats would vote Labour.  In Conservative seats where a Liberal Democrat was second Labour supporters would vote Liberal Democrat.

The 1997 landslide and subsequent Labour victories only make sense if you factor in Liberal Democrat votes.

The Coalition pact of 2010 broke that unofficial understanding between Labour and the Liberal Democrats (in that respect David Cameron proved himself to be a master of strategy).

Therefore as Liberal Democrat support evaporates their vote will atomise in a mercurial fashion, but the chief beneficiaries in the 2015 election can only be the Conservatives.

The May council elections need to be analysed with caution.  The pattern to look for is what happens in council seats where Conservatives are second to Labour or second to Liberal Democrats.  That might indicate what will happen in 2015.

Always I have the feeling I am trailing behind deadlines - the past week at work

Monday

My PC crashed this morning so that I had to ask IT officer John Johnson to fix it.  He chatted amiably while he worked ("I used to be an assistant professional golfer... didn't get paid much, just fifty-five pounds a week for long hours... used to work in a Ford showroom...").  His conversational manner switches oddly between great confidence and hesitant nervousness.  His fingernails bitten down to the quick.  Wearing a polo shirt and chinos (because he crawls around fixing things he is excused from wearing a formal shirt and tie).  Faint scent.

Although I had allocated most of the day to write the copy for a new publication, most of my time was taken up organising photography for the illustrations.

I also had to liaise with Deputy Director Lois Cooper and Development Manager Tim Watts.  As usual, it took a great deal of effort to ensure they did things properly.  Lois Cooper complaining of stomach pains.

I stayed until 8pm writing and redrafting copy.

Tuesday

Another day spent writing copy.  I am dependent on Tim Watts supplying me with the research properly interpreted, and this he is very slow in doing.  I found myself getting irritated at his failure to deliver things on time.

Again I worked until 8pm, Lois Cooper also working late.  She said that Accounts Manager Marcia Walsh had once complained to Director Vijay Singh about Campaign Manager Keith Chandler's involvement with the freemasons.  Vijay Singh had told her off (implying he was also a mason).

 

Wednesday

"Have you prepared" Vijay Singh asked me just before the planning meeting began.  Actually I had done no preparation and had to hurriedly gather papers together.  As well as Keith Chandler and Vijay Singh, Alec Nussbaum attended representing our "sister organisation" and Peter Whitgift was there from the tiny Birmingham office.  The meeting went well.  It was my turn to be in the chair, and I worked through the agenda.  Alec Nussbaum talked the most.

Lunch was brought in - rolls and pastries and orange juice.

After lunch a long discussion about the new database to be set up and the literature that needs to be prepared.

The meeting lasted five hours.  Afterwards I returned to my desk where the new publication still had to be worked on.  Gradually it is getting done, but always I have the feeling I am trailing behind deadlines.

Once again I worked until 8pm, Vijay Singh and Lois Cooper also staying late and helping with the publication.

Thursday

Today I reached the point with the new publication when I knew it would all be done on time.

And at last the photography has been done to everyone's satisfaction.

Vijay Singh complimented me on chairing the meeting yesterday:  "We did well, we achieved all our objectives."  This mystified me, as I had not been aware that we had been following any covert agenda.  I suppose anything that keeps Alec Nussbaum happy must be considered an achievement.

Office Manager Bridget O'Farrell, who has been away on maternity leave, brought her four-day-old baby into the office.  "His name is Niall" she told us.  "After the River Nile?" quipped Vijay Singh.

I worked until 8.30 pm, helped by Lois Cooper.

Friday

I had intended to make progress with the publication today, but a long three-hour meeting intervened, combined with demands for case studies from our "sister organisation".

Compared to Saint Thomas a Becket?

Canon Giles Fraser started a weekly column in the Guardian today.  It was advertised in the right-hand corner at the foot of the front page of the newspaper.  Is Giles Fraser happy to allow himself to be compared to Saint Thomas a Becket?

Steve Evans talking about Germany's asparagus harvest

Normally I enjoy From Our Own Correspondent on BBC Radio 4, but the programme earlier today was marred by Steve Evans talking about Germany's asparagus harvest.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17753372

He shouted his piece as if he was standing about five feet away from the microphone, which added a hectoring tone to the broadcast.

He also talked very slightingly about British seasonal food, saying that the tradition of seasonal food had been "lost" in the United Kingdom.  Possibly for urban media luvvies inhabiting a city-based bubble of ignorance and social dislocation this may be true.  But for the majority of people who live outside the city sprawl seasonal food is celebrated just as much as it is in Germany.

Stephen Evans also repeated the urban myth "We know that chicken tikka massala is the British national dish".

How do we know this?

I cannot find any evidence to support this other than a throw-away remark in a speech by Robin Cook.

If there is no evidence about chicken tikka massala being the British national dish perhaps the BBC could stop repeating it.

Or does the BBC no longer care about accuracy?

The Land of Veiled Women by John Foster Fraser

I am currently reading The Land of Veiled Women by John Foster Fraser.

It is an account of the author's "wanderings" in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.  It's dated 1908, but that adds to the charm.  Also it's nice to read about the Muslim world without all the current tensions and assumptions intruding.

I am trying to learn more about Africa.

I have at least one reader in Gabon - I country I know nothing about.

Hale

Warm sunshine in the morning turning to heavy rain.

Then hale began to fall, so remarkable I went outside to take a closer look.

The ferocity of the halestorm was such that the tiny new buds on the trees were dashed to the ground.

Despite being really busy at work today I managed to watch Daily Politics at lunchtime.

Agnes Poirier said she would move back to France if Sakozy loses the French presidential election.

Shelter earlier today

Press release issued by Shelter earlier today suggesting pressure on rents (http://blog.shelter.org.uk/2012/04/when-you-are-told-your-rent-increase-is-not-a-rent-increase-that/?appeal=1051300 ).

But there is no mention of the impact of inward migration on the availability of private rental properties.

If you even hint at such a link you will be called a bigot (or worse).

And yet it is impossible for one million Polish people (to take one migratory group as an example) to move to the United Kingdom and not outbid existing tenants for rental properties, especially as they are willing to tolerate occupation levels that most people would regard as outrageous (one three-bed semi occupied by ten or twelve people is not unusual).

The migrants have to live somewhere.

You might blame the landlords (and their agents) for profiteering in this way, but it would be illegal to discriminate against Polish people (or Irish people or non-Eu migrants etc) and only rent to local people.

You might say the landlords should say no to the offers of higher rents, but this is expecting too much of human nature (I would guess that most buy-to-let landlords fear interest rates going up and want to maximise rents in case this happens).

You might say that the government should impose rent controls, but when this was tried in the past all that happened was that the supply of private rental properties dried up - rent controls can only be considered in tandem with an expansion of Council Housing (which can only happen if taxes go up to pay for the investment, unless the government borrowed the money and there is zero chance of that).

Buy-to-let landlords are a demonised section of society, but most of them are not fat cats.  Most seem to be elderly people putting their lifetime savings into property (often combined with a mortgage paid for by the rents) because pensions and annuities have performed so badly over the last ten years.  It is no accident that the buy-to-let sector in the United Kingdom took off in the years 2000 / 2001 following Gordon Brown's tax raid on private sector pensions.

The most straight-forward solution is to reduce inward migration, but you will be called a bigot if you even try to raise that suggestion.

Is the "opt out" trade union political levy any different to the PPI mis-selling scandal?

Above:  the main editorial in today's Guardian addressed the issue of party political funding.

The more I think about the trade union political levy the more convinced I am that it cannot stand up to scrutiny.

Is the "opt out" trade union political levy any different to the PPI mis-selling scandal?  Big companies and corporations try this "pre-ticked" scam every so often, and almost always have to abandon it in the face of legal review or consumer watchdog condemnation.  How can the trade unions get away with this?

Presumably the levy is intended to "buy" for each member political representation from the Labour Party?  If the levy is not voluntary but has been "pre-ticked" by the trade union then surely it is illegal and the Office of Fair Trading needs to intervene?  Surely the Labour Party realises that money gained through such a technique is not worth having?

Instead of going down the "pre-ticked" route why don't they simply sign up Labour Party members at the same time as they enrol people into the trade unions?  They will have access to the trade union membership lists.  Selling Labour Party memberships is no different from any other subscription sales campaign - all they have to do is demonstrate the features and benefits of Labour Party membership in a way that convinces people to buy.

I also want to see the Tory Party convert itself into a mass-membership organisation.

Political institutions are too important to be funded by vested interests.

There is no place for big money in politics - it corrupts everyone and corrupts everything.

Currently watching Press Preview on Sky News - so far it has been very acrimonious.

The trade union political levies

Political funding of political parties has been in the news today, including the trade union political levies.

It is not all that easy to opt out of paying the political levy if you are in a trade union.

There are many examples of local shop stewards who have a cosy relationship with local managers - the union official and his/her mates get looked after in return for not causing trouble (and the rest of the workers are just drones to be exploited).

If you want to opt out of the political levy you have to have the courage to challenge the shop steward and get a form out of him/her and hope there will be no repercussions in the future (last in the queue for overtime, no protection from a bullying supervisor, first on the list for job displacements etc).

But you only have to look at the general election voting figures to realise trade unionists do not automatically vote Labour.

"Opt out" subscriptions are a form of inertia marketing and are highly unethical.

Would we tolerate insurance add-ons that were opt-out?

What did I do today? - the past week at work

Monday

Bank holiday.

Tuesday

More complaints from a printer about not getting enough of our work (they had been the main supplier until I carried out a review).  "I felt gutted over the weekend" the print company's MD told me when he called into the office this morning.  I talked to him politely but I do not trust him an inch and I suspect he will go over my head in an attempt to get the contract back.

Answering e-mails took up an unreasonable amount of time.

In the afternoon liaison with Deputy Director Lois Cooper about innovation and development - she is so disorganised that nothing concrete came out of the meeting. 

Wednesday

A review meeting with the Institute's Director Vijay Singh.  Despite his reputation for being unreasonable, I seem to get on with him quite well.  He praised the work I have done so far.

In the afternoon a meeting with Vijay Singh, Lois Cooper, Development Manager Tim Watts and Telephone Surveys Manager Abi Reed.  The meeting lasted over two hours and focused on innovation and development.  Once again the work of Lois Cooper and Tim Watts was criticised.

 

Thursday

What did I do today?  I was in the office all the day but cannot think of anything significant that I did.  A long conversation with Lois Cooper about networking (something Vijay Singh is very keen on).

Friday

 At last the publications list for the next six months is decided.

Now that the projects have been pencilled in I can begin to draft the research into a coherent set of arguments.

The "misconstrued" Livingstone remarks about wealthy Jews

Ken Livingstone, candidate for London Mayor, has been repeatedly associated with anti-semiticism. 

You might think that this is an easy enough slur to throw at someone.  Also something difficult to refute, since most anti-semites are likely to say their best friends are Jewish.  And is it likely that Ken Livingstone would be stupid enough to put his re-election at risk by promulgating a racial theory that most people would regard as mad?

So as routinely as these accusations against Ken Livingstone arise, one tends to just put them to one side as a misunderstanding, a complex argument misinterpreted, a phase simply taken out of context.

But always little niggles of doubt remain.

For instance, in an article about Ken Livingstone in today's Independent (on pages 14 and 15 alongside the main Opinion column) the writer Owen Jones explains away the "misconstrued" Livingstone remarks about wealthy Jews.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/owen-jones-the-1-per-cent-have-an-interest-in-demonising-ken-livingstone-7640660.html

Nothing wrong with this you might think.  In an important election one would expect the Labour claque to rally round their candidate (although the last paragraph of the article does tend to damn Ken Livingstone with faint praise - "an imperfect Labour candidate").  Even Jonathan Freedland's public withdrawal of support for Ken Livingstone is not likely to derail his campaign.

Therefore eminent columnist Mehdi Hassan (who writes for the New Statesman and the Guardian) is to be expected to produce an article endorsing the Livingstone cause:


http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/apr/11/dont-want-boris-vote-ken

Again, nothing wrong with this you might think.

Except...

...only a couple of months ago Mehdi Hassan himself used the phrase "Jewish financier" in an entirely gratuitous reference to David Cameron's ancestry

 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/12/steve-jobs-david-cameron-immigration).

"Wealthy Jews", "Jewish financier", "Gnomes of Zurich" - only a short step away from actually saying "Elders of Zion" is it not?

So you can see why I hesitate.

Ken Livingstone makes a slighting reference about the Jewish community.  Shortly afterwards a leading and highly respected Asian-heritage journalist endorses the Livingstone campaign.  Am I "misconstruing" all this, or are these people talking to each other in code?

One of the (admittedly trivial) aspects of the opening-up of Burma is the possibility of Jonathan Meades giving a televisual tour of Naypyidaw (perhaps with Pyong Yang and the palaces of Saddam in an analysis of how architecture can be used to intimidate and over-awe).

Stella Creasy MP

The G2 section of the Guardian today had a big four-page article on Stella Creasy MP. 

Stella Creasy is Labour MP for Walthamstow.

Yet another "rising star" in the political elite who has an Oxbridge background.  The article mentions her father was an opera singer.  Her Wikipedia entry mentions she has aristocratic relations.

And yet the article includes a full page full colour photograph of her sitting in a pie and mash shop (with what suspiciously looks like a cafe latte ). 

This member of parliament is entitled to have a comfortable middle class background, a la-di-da Oxbridge degree and to slurp cafe lattes while being interviewed by the high-brow press.

What she is not entitled to do is pose in a pie and mash shop as if she was working class.

Pie and mash shops are part of MY culture not hers.  My father wasn't an opera singer he was a welder.  My grandfather didn't have aristocratic relations he was a refrigerator engineer (and before that a porter for a coal company).

I mention this because people like Stella Creasy, by posing as working-class, are appropriating a culture they have no right to.

There was nothing romantic about working class poverty, and thank goodness my grandparents and parents managed to get out of the East End, but that doesn't mean their past can be colonised by cultural tourists such as Stella Creasy.

And on the subject of Oxbridge, how is it that these two institutions have such a stranglehold on the "glittering prizes" (to quote Adam Raphael)?

Oxbridge graduates are not noticeably more intelligent than other graduates. 

And yet this finishing school for the elite grabs every position of power and influence that's going.

It matters little that half the entry every year comes from "bog standard" comprehensives - the Oxbridge experience will co-opt these people into the elite.

I'm not complaining about this.  I know that life is not fair.  But I do object to Oxbridge graduates sitting in pie and mash shops, or queueing up at Greggs, or drinking from enamel mugs as if they were mere hoi polloi like the rest of us.

It's the hypocrisy that is so objectionable.

Easter Sunday

Today is Easter Sunday.

At the morning service, in altostratus clouds of incense, we sang:

Light's glittering morn bedecks the sky
Heaven thunders forth its victor cry.

Unusual newspaper review on Sky News last night with Henry Bonsu (Oxbridge graduate) indulging in a sort of sexist jeering of Carla Bruni Sarkozy.

There are many valid reasons to oppose Sarkozy, but dissing his wife as some kind of bimbo is not one of them.

I suppose Henry Bonsu was just a tokan invitation to the news review - no-one really expected him to behave responsibly.

Michael Gove's education reforms

Surprising editorial in today's Independent endorsing Michael Gove's education reforms (surprising because the Independent, despite it's title, is a left-wing publication).

In the same newspaper Owen Jones attacks the government for betraying young people and giving them an astonishingly bleak future "colder, hungrier, lonelier, duller, less secure, more indebted and, overall, poorer."  He blames cuts in government grants and benefits for this projected outcome.  It is an alarming article.

However it is not state grants that will provide a better future for young people but good education.  It is the education professions (especially the teachers) that have most betrayed young people with indolence, incompetence and modish social experiments.  In that respect Michael Gove's reforms are essential.

Good Friday

Today is Good Friday.

Easter is a festival of light, with the moon and the sun at an optimum state (this has been explained to me several times, but I still don't entirely understand it).

Earlier today Bach's St John Passion was broadcast in its entirety on BBC Radio 3.

Ritual food on Good Friday includes hot cross buns.  According to Professor Hutton bread baked on Good Friday had miraculous and curative properties - possibly there was a placebo effect from eating this holy bread.  Hot cross buns, marked with a dough cross, are still widely consumed on Good Friday throughout the United Kingdom.

Debate on Newsnight yesterday featuring the candidates for London Mayor.

Although I agree with Ken Livingstone that reducing tube fares would have a regenerative effect on the local economy, he would be the wrong choice for Mayor.

He looked old and tired, and did not radiate enthusiasm in the way that Boris Johnson did.

Ultimately political success is a transfer of enthusiasm from the politician to the voter.

The other two candidates were nothing-people.  They had no real contribution to make.  Pointless having them there.

Newsnight yesterday discussed the Bradford West shock by-election result and its implications for politics more generally.

Jeremy Paxman crushed George Galloway, which was worth seeing.

Jeremy Paxman was in turn trampled upon by Lord Bell, which again was worth seeing.

Anything rather than go out and meet the ordinary people

On yesterday's Sunday Politics Michael Dugher made the dubious statement about the Bradford West by-election:  "I think this was the first by-election in history fought and even won on social media".  This claim was requoted by Juliette Jowit in an article in today's Guardian.  But is it true?

If you go to George Galloway's Facebook page you find that there are 83,000 "Likes".  This is not the same as 83,000 supporters (as Juliette Jowit maintains in her article).  A "Like" is an ephemeral momentary jab of an index finger by anyone anywhere around the world - to interpret these eighty-three thousand finger jabs as committed support from people within the Bradford West constituency is stretching credulity.

If you go to George Galloway's Twitter site you can see he has 67,000 followers.  You can look at who these followers are (and if you were a thorough journalist, actually do a survey on them).  They are a disparate group, even including Guardian journalists, but from my brief overview they do not strike me as being Bradford West residents.

In any case Bradford West is a very poor constituency - is it likely that the disadvantaged and dispossessed who voted for George Galloway are the sort who can afford laptops and the kind of indulgent lifestyles where social media is a significant factor?

It seems to me that Michael Dugher MP is trying to find excuses for what must be reckoned a lamentable performance by Labour.  He is trying to imply that forces outside of Labour's control were responsible for the defeat of the Labour candidate.  In reality, Labour probably lost because their team was lazy and complacent.

If Labour had carried out a full canvass of the constituency so that everyone on the electoral roll was marked, then had tellers at all the polling stations, and then "got the vote out" on the night it would have been impossible for them to be taken by surprise.

But politicians (all parties) are too lazy to do this with any degree of consistency.

They would much prefer to issue Tweets and update their Facebook pages.

Anything rather than go out and meet the ordinary people (which is what George Galloway seems to have done).


https://twitter.com/#!/georgegalloway


http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/apr/01/labour-muslim-women-bradford-west

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01dzbg7

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.