The Jones sociological treatise is constantly on hand

Question Time last night was followed by This Week.

It was an interesting programme, although the most interesting (probably) part - Mehdi Hasan's report on the 2011 Census - was nixed due to a power cut (of course, it goes without saying that multiculturalism has failed).

In the rest of This Week Andrew Neil referred to Independent journalist Owen Jones as "hard left", which must have provoked guffaws of laughter among the ultra-left guardians of ideological purity.

The Owen Jones report purported to have been filmed at his flat in London, although we were shown an apartment of such stupendous untidiness that it is doubtful it actually exists outside the temporary confections of the BBC props department.  The prevalence of 1970s brown throughout chez Jones also pointed to the fact that this interior was constructed to illustrate an affinity with the lifestyle choices of Arthur Scargill (now a fashion icon according to Newsnight).  However it was the shelves of books that most caught my eye.

Books do furnish a room as X Trapnel once advised.

I have tried enlarging screen shots of the bookshelves but cannot make out any of the titles except for the Owen Jones opus magnum Chavs, which appeared in both of the bookshelves we were shown.

Was this the same book, moved about? (surely the BBC would not attempt product placement, especially not after Andy Burnham's statement on 11th March 2009).

Or are we supposed to believe that in the households of the hard left the Jones sociological treatise is constantly on hand for reference (in the same way as in the homes of the devout the Bible is constantly near, although in the homes of the very devout the Bible is known by heart).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pdy1k/This_Week_13_12_2012/

This does not mean the primacy of a secular insititution over a religious institution

Above:  an official image of the monarchy and a symbolic image of the Anglican state religion are combined on the current 2nd class Royal Mail stamp - Monarch and Church literally stamped upon one of the major institutions of state communication (and private commerce).

Writer Will Self was mistaken when he said on Question Time last night that the government controls the Anglican church.  He seemed very confused about what Establishment means.  Although a prima facie observation of the political settlement in the United Kingdom might lead one to conclude that the Government is all-powerful, this is not actually the case.

The Government gets its power and authority from the Crown, not from the people.  The Crown gets its power and authority from God as mediated by the Anglican Church and confirmed in the sacrament of Coronation and Annointing (and also Acclamation and Election - "election" in this sense meaning chosen by God).  You might argue that the Crown is supreme Governor of the Church of England, but this does not mean the primacy of a secular insititution over a religious institution but rather that the monarchy is part of the Church and the Church is part of the monarchy - they are so intertwined that one cannot unravel them.

Of course Wilf Self would no doubt dismiss all this with a slew of strong language, and indicate that the people could sweep this nonsense away in a weekend.

I would not be so sure.

Personally I think in any clash today between Crown and State the people would rally to the monarch, the royalists would win and it would be the revolutionaries who were decapitated in Whitehall.

The pursuit of celebrity wife Sally Berkow for £50k compensation

Sunny Hundal (and many others) are questioning the pursuit of celebrity wife Sally Berkow for £50k compensation following her libel against Lord McAlpine (falsely insinuating he was involved in the most disgusting criminal acts).

In the Guardian Roy Greenslade asks for Ms Berkow's punishment to be "proportionate"  http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2012/dec/13/lord-mcalpine-twitter?CMP=twt_gu

For proportionality to be brought into the equation one has to make a judgement on Sally Berkow's motives in making her false accusation.

Was this just an example of stupid impetuosity by someone well-known for her babbling incontinence on social media?

Was this a genuine error by a long-standing campaigner for justice in the area that was under speculation?

Or was this a deliberate attempt to smear the Conservative party, irrespective of the damage done to Lord McAlpine, and in the process gain an advantage for her own party (she is a member of the Labour party and campaigns for that party).

My view is that she knew exactly what she was doing and in a premeditated action libelled Lord McAlpine hoping that enough mud would stick to damage the Conservative party at the next election.  Therefore one has to ask if someone had employed a "black arts" PR agency to carry out negative campaigning of this kind, what would they charge?  Considerably more than £50,000.

Sally Bercow needs to be advised that she is getting off lightly.

Prospect article by David Goodhart, director of Demos

Very perceptive and considered Prospect article by David Goodhart, director of Demos and Prospect’s editor at large  http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/blog/2011-census-immigration-white-flight/

You can test some of the issues by simply asking a group of people (customers, friends, work colleagues) how many BME friends they have.  You will get the (perhaps pavlovian) answer "loads".  But when you drill down with more nuanced questions you find these are not really friends at all - especially they never visit each other's homes.

On Newsnight the huge rise in immigrants was discussed

The 2011 Census figures were published yesterday showing a massive rise in immigration over the last ten years to the alarm of some commentators and the delight of others.

On Newsnight the huge rise in immigrants was discussed by a panel that included AC Grayling, Bonnie Greer, Douglas Murray and someone from the LSE.

The unbalanced nature of the panel, with only Douglas Murray critical of immigration, caused some surprise, with comments such as this one by journalist James Robinson.  However public bodies such as the BBC have a statutory obligation to positively promote the benefits of "diversity" and therefore on the topic of immigration the BBC cannot be impartial.  If they had attempted to be impartial they would have been breaking the law.

In the Newsnight discussion Bonnie Greer made a series of provocative remarks delivered in that bland somnambulant style of hers, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for democracy to be set aside, for politicians to lie to the electorate, and for millions of foreigners to be given entry to the United Kingdom against the will of the majority.

"This is not going to be reversed" Bonnie Greer told us firmly.

Perhaps she is right.

But the historical record does allow for other outcomes.

The English (Anglo-Irish) migrants to southern Ireland reached 15% of the population but were reduced to 3% of the population due to the activities of the IRA.

The French (pieds-noir) migrants to Algeria reached 15% of the population but were reduced to effectively zero due to the activities of Jabhet Al-Tahrir Al-Watani or Front de Libération Nationale.

The "white" (English, Dutch, French etc) migration to South Africa reached 20% of the population in 1960 but has since fallen to less than 9% (and is still falling) mainly due to the activities of the ANC in the period 1961 to 1994 and the subsequent ANC political ascendancy.

Therefore there seems to be a point, when foreign migration reaches the 15% to 20% mark, when further migration provokes insurgency.

Wretch 32 - 'Black and White'

But i remember being eight
Thinking how do i get a chain?
Now i gave mine away
Because the goals got to change
Or you get caught offside in the crossfire

The reason i never had a heart
Is because i never had a chance
Playing monopoly thinking will i
Ever get a yard?

Now i want to see my people
Evolve sho

You know you’re your own man
When you’re giving advice to your
Old man

I just wanna be heard

Understanding the B demographic 7

There are strong indications that the latest male generation of the demographic is distinct from all previous generations:

1. They have been excessively influenced by the criminal justice system.
2. Their experience of unemployment has been deeper and more profound than previous generations.
3. Attitudes towards women have changed from an old-fashioned patriarchal sexism to a contemptuous animosity.
4. A questioning about their identity - with some evidence of a quest to develop a new identity, often expressed as being on a personal journey.
5. A rejection of education, politics and activism.
6. A creative awakening of music and creative lifestyles.

The young B demographic is:  male, age groups 18-25 and 26-34 (and possibly 35-44 but this is to be confirmed); socio-economic groups C2, D, E; geographic location urban, particularly inner city.

"Did you like what you saw..."

Seldom can there have been a more cringingly ponderous interview than Jon Snow on Channel 4 News this evening talking to three "kids" (including two girls who cannot have been aged more than 15) about their sexual habits, carrying out the inquiry in the style of an ancient Edwardian great uncle who could have been invented by HH Munro.

"Did you like what you saw..."

Indeed.

http://www.channel4.com/news/generation-sex-the-new-rules-of-the-playground 

"Why are marriages in church the red line?"

"Why are marriages in church the red line?" asks Mark Ferguson on the LabourList website (actually he asks Why is marriages in church the red line?)  http://labourlist.org/2012/12/david-cameron-has-shown-leadership-on-equal-marriage-ed-miliband-hasnt/

Mr Ferguson seems unaware of the eschatological implications of allowing the State to decide the sacraments of the Church - for many (perhaps most) Anglicans this will be a warning sign.

Of course, you either believe this or you don't.

And do the West Indian constituents of Diane Abbott, particularly those God-fearing West Indian ladies she used to refer to on This Week, know what side she is taking over the gay marriages issue, and how "brilliantly" she is undermining opposition to the gay marriage laws?

Did no-one think to check Maria Miller's record on expenses?

Is everyone in the House of Commons so mired in greed and tainted by the expenses scandal that the Prime Minister is not able to form a Cabinet that does not include dodgy expenses claimants?

Did no-one think to check Maria Miller's record on expenses?

Or were they hoping it would all blow over and be forgotten.

£90,000 of taxpayers money!  Is she going to pay this back?  Difficult to see how she can carry on as a minister - it's an open goal to UK Uncut.

Rascals - Fire Blaze

And nah it won't change and no you cannot relate
Cah my world's different, a new day a new wave

"Rascals against the world" - signifies alienation but also the defiant elan of a closed community.

 











Drinking up whatever's in my cup
And we live it up cause it feels right
Rip him up if he's spitting tough
And we'll hit him up cause we kill guys
Physically or mentally
 

 











We running London town
We'll raise the underground
Nah fool you ain't f*cking with a Rascal

Hooded youths with baseball bats running through smoke - perhaps a reference to the riots of 2011 which was a momentous time for the demographic and one of the few occasions when it was able to intrude into the consciousness of the mainstream culture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfc0jd1525o

Understanding the B demographic 6

The demographic is aggrieved with the obsessive way the older generations focus their attention on equality rights - a struggle they regard as irrelevant when compared to the more acute issues in their lives.

The demographic is aware they possess a cultural power, particularly through music (and also to a lesser extent film and poetry), but is uncertain how to use that power.

The demographic resents the automatic association made between their generation and anti-social behaviour.

Immense frustration at the inability to break free from the constraints of poverty.

Although the demographic has achieved a certain degree of solidarity, this feeling of brotherhood is based on a celebration of negative attributes (anti-education, derogatory towards woman, celebratory of criminal lifestyles) that most of them privately admit they do not subscribe to.

The demographic is openly contemptuous of community leaders and community workers who try to influence their behaviour.


The young B demographic is:  male, age groups 18-25 and 26-34 (and possibly 35-44 but this is to be confirmed); socio-economic groups C2, D, E; geographic location urban, particularly inner city.

King Edward VII Hospital hoax tragedy

I hesitate to add anything to the tsunami of comment that has followed the King Edward VII Hospital hoax tragedy.

And there is surely nothing more trite and self-publicising than the comment of celebrity wife Sally Bercow who sends out her "heart" (whatever that is worth) to both the victim AND her tormentors in this sad case.

But I do feel I need to question Ms Bercow's assertion that the "Aussi DJs... could never have foreseen this tragedy".  Hoaxes of this kind are essentially examples of cruelty - a cruel and vicious sense of humour.  It is the nature of cruelty that it must be ever more extreme to satisfy its audience.

Therefore it was only a matter of time before hoaxes of this kind (which began in a harmless enough form back in the 1960s) eventually began to target hospitals and destroy nurses.

Is there not enough cruelty in the world without Aussi DJs adding to it? 

Arrest of political activist Luke Bozier

I am uneasy about the apparent hounding and subsequent arrest of political activist Luke Bozier.

Obviously if there has been any wrong-doing the police must investigate.

But there is also the sense that this has been a political assassination.

Who has carried out the assassination, and what is their motive?

And also there is considerable disquiet over the way Louise Mensh has precipitously dropped her former business colleague (and presumably her friend) despite the fact that people are innocent until a court has proven guilt - has this woman no sense of loyalty (perhaps we already know the answer to that question).


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9734548/Luke-Bozier-arrested-over-alleged-indecent-images-of-children.html

Highly controversial policy

I'm not at all happy about the unilateral decision to introduce genetically modified food into the United Kingdom.

Environment Secretary Owen Paterson says that people are already "unwittingly" eating GM food, and that therefore the the status of the food needs to be legitimised.

Mr Peterson seems to think that simply because he and his government colleagues have been incompetent over the policing of food safety he is then justified in assuming he has agreement in going ahead with this highly controversial policy.

"You know what this reminds me of, the end of Major's government when they knew they were going to lose and they were just pushing through policies willy-nilly 'cos they could not be sure when they would be back in power again".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20664016
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9734602/Speed-up-relaxing-of-rules-on-GM-crops-says-Downing-Street.html 

It would have been easy to topple down into the torrent

It was a mistake to have gone out this afternoon.  The cold penetrating.  The lanes covered with mud.

I stopped to take a picture of this 18th century bridge, the shallow arch praised by Pevsner.  The river lower than last week, and the water almost clear (immediately after the rain it had turned a thick brown colour).  The grassy slope was steep and the grass wet, and in my weak state it would have been easy to topple down into the torrent.

The documents were all neatly laid out, there was a flask of hot tea or coffee (it was impossible to tell which, just that it was black and hot), and a key with a note on how to lock up.

I only stayed about half-an-hour before deciding that if I didn't go home I would collapse.

The journey back was difficult - aching all over and feeling sick.  As soon as I got home I fell asleep for three hours.  Now I feel simultaneously very hungry and also unable to face any food.

Living On A Prayer - the past week at work

Monday

Most of today I spent working on the planned relaunch of the Institute's website.  It was last renewed in 2008, so is due an update.  Vijay Singh (the Institute's director) wants it to have more "interactivity" without saying what exactly he is thinking of - I'm not a mind-reader.

Also a meeting with Peter Whitgift from the Institute's small Birmingham office.

Tuesday

To London for Alec Nussbaum's Mid-point Assessment meeting.  All the departments were represented, held at a hotel, not Head Office.  As we went into the darkened seminar room deafening music was playing - Bon Jovi's Living On A Prayer (part of the Nussbaum attempt to be "modern" despite the disapproving grimaces of the attendees, or perhaps he was relishing the disapproving grimaces).  

On the train up to London Vijay Singh gave me a lecture on social media security - I am confident there can be no lapse, even this blog is published through a third party and has been from the start (the other Andrew).

Wednesday

Bitterly cold day, and because of the stone floors the downstairs rooms of the house did not become warm, no matter how much heating was put on.

Even driving to work I was assailed by urgent terse e-mails from Head Office about how to handle any media enquiries.  Events today are making everyone feel tense.  I went out at midday to get away from it all.

My appraisal is next week - I hope it goes well.

Thursday

I coped with various supposedly urgent tasks.  

Most of the day I spent arranging for the Institute's back catalogue of publications to be accessed via the new website.  Long debate on whether we will charge for these - we need the money, but also the whole point of the reports is to disseminate ideas as widely as possible.  Katie from accounts helped me with this, which was unusual as she is usually the least helpful person in the building.  

In the afternoon I began drafting another report - this is the sort of work I do best.
 
Friday

Morning off work to attend a doctor's appointment (actually I just saw the nurse).  Everything seems to be alright - the aftermath of the pneumonia.  I still feel unsteady at times, and I seem to be able to induce this giddiness just by thinking I am about to fall (I have tried this).

I am so weary of being ill.

I was out of the surgery by 10, and thought I would go home and have an early lunch and then go on to work.  But once I was back in the house I became distracted and it was 1pm when I set off.  Arriving at the office no-one seemed to have noticed my absence this morning.

Westminster Abbey

I agree with Lucy Mangan that last night's documentary on BBC2 (first in a series of three) was exceptionally well-made, although I think she may have missed the point about charity - the Church of England is not just about social work and Anglican institutions cannot be reduced down to materialist arguments (the ointment could have been sold and the money given to the poor etc).

What is genuinely interesting is that Westminster Abbey is an institution that has not been properly analysed and assessed yet.  That it is an important institution and a cornerstone of the Establishment is indisputable.  That it both exercises and confers power is beyond doubt.  That it contains within itself many smaller institutions is fascinating.  How it all fits together and works is what I am hoping this series will reveal.  What I am convinced of is that Westminster Abbey enshrines (perhaps literally) the soft power that controls national identity, national memory, national mission.

http://afroml.blogspot.co.uk/2009/03/westminster-abbey.html

Dateline London

Dateline London, that most civilised of discussion programmes, included Independent writer Owen Jones earlier today.  He adapted well to the Dateline London style of polite listening and measured intelligent responses (unlike his appearance on Question Time where he attempted to silence the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions by shouting incoherently).  The check shirts are becoming a cliché but perhaps he is worried about being denounced on Twitter as a class traitor if he appeared in a suit (and here you can detect the middle class insecurities of Owen Jones - no true working class person would have any qualms about appearing in a suit, as Derek Hatton demonstrated in the 1980s).

Owen Jones has announced that he is writing a book about the Establishment.  His own career might be regarded as a case study.  Anti-establishment activist to New Establishment media personality (one can hardly get more New Establishment than Dateline London) with the ultimate Old Establishment goal of... what exactly?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01pd19h/Dateline_London_08_12_2012/ 

Chip - Londoner feat Wretch 32

Chip - Londoner feat Wretch 32 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7AOoqksLMc

With the Union Jack sofa, British bulldog, and Bud Flanaganesque Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner playing, this could be Nigel Farage's living room.  What are we to make of this iconography?  Is it "reclaiming" elements of Britishness; is it a yearning to enter the national cultural mainstream; or is it just a flaunting of symbols designed to annoy the older generations (one can imagine the disgust of Gary Younge or Benjamin Zephaniah)?

"...a little bit of yards in me they shooting, no they recording me..." 

"...Niggas claim they in it for the long run but I leave them dead..."

"...Cops wanna pop us..."

Understanding the B demographic 5

The demographic is effectively at war - intercultural war, inter-generational war, and a war with the opposite gender.

There is also, for some, the issue of "war" related to the state enforcement of the prohibition of illegal substances.

Need to ask how much of mainstream politics is relevant to the demographic - certainly macro decisions affect their lives, but are they conscious of this; can we say that the demographic has a political awareness; how do they approach participation in the political process?

One can say that compared to the "struggle" the demographic feels in everyday life, the wider political struggle is insignificant.  In many ways this relates to their exclusion from participation in economic life.  Whether they are self-excluded or excluded as a result of some other factor remains to be established.

A picture emerges of terrible neglect - neglected education, poor housing, high unemployment, little access to credit facilities, neglect by older generations, neglect by their nominal political representatives.

The young B demographic is:  male, age groups 18-25 and 26-34 (and possibly 35-44 but this is to be confirmed); socio-economic groups C2, D, E; geographic location urban, particularly inner city.

Back to 1942 directed by Feng Xiaogang

I was at home this morning and saw on CCTV a discussion about the new film Back to 1942 directed by Feng Xiaogang.  The discussion involved political opinions by Victor Gao (about how much Chang Kai Shek knew about the famine), aesthetic comments by Raymond Zhou from China Daily ("he has stripped the movie of all commercial and entertainment elements... this is a movie that makes you think...") and an assessment from film-maker Emily Liu ("there are hopes for the overseas market").  I will look out for this film when it comes to London.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zwc-rfdC8c

The gay marriages bandwagon

There was a sort of dismal inevitability that the Reverend Giles Fraser would jump on the gay marriages bandwagon.

Can you imagine the embarrassment he must be causing to his parishioners (most of whom I guess will be elderly ladies who will have a very hazy idea about what the consummation of a gay relationship involves).

The only true marriages are sacramental marriages.  Anything else is not a marriage, as Giles Fraser must know.  If the Anglican hierarchy had any moral courage they would insist that all civil registrations, of whatever orientation, are redesignated civil partnerships (because that is all they are - voluntary contracts that can be rescinded at will).

The error was made in 1836 by allowing civil registrations to be called marriages.

It's not a battle that the American military can win

Just from a practical perspective if I were advising the American government on PR I would suggest finding Bradley Manning mentally ill, putting him in a secure home for thirty six months then quietly letting him go. 

Otherwise this David and Goliath struggle risks becoming archetypal (in the Jungian sense) and spawning creative interpretations that will become "fact" whatever the real facts of the case (one can imagine a feature film directed by George Clooney, with Justin Timberlake in the lead role, and all the unnecessary clothes-removing that has taken place adding sexual prurience, and all the left-wing film reviewers bigging it up intellectually, and the film opening at the Sundance Festival, and Cannes giving the movie the Palme d'Or just to spite Hollywood etc etc).

It's not a battle that the American military can win (or should really care about winning), and may provoke an unwelcome Dreyfus-style upheaval in future years.

Assange however is fair game and they should go for him as hard as they can.

Mongolia

Today's far-flung visitor to this blog is from Mongolia.

As far as I know this is the first person from Mongolia look at any of the 2,822 pages on this site.

When I was a school in Luton (one of the worst comprehensive schools imaginable) I stupefied the whole class in a general knowledge quiz by answering that the capital of Mongolia was Ulan Bator (not a fact that I learned from that school - the teacher had included it in the quiz confident in the belief that no-one would know). 

Anyway, mention Mongolia to me and I think of expert horse riding and open-air wrestling.

Welcome Mongolian visitor - e-mail me to introduce yourself.

Understanding the B demographic 4

Questions to be addressed:

What is the outlook, belief system and sense of direction for this demographic?

What forces in society have shaped their attitudes? 

What elements in our culture have defined these people?

There seems to be a way of dividing the demographic into three overlapping segments - those who follow specific cultural "influencers"; those who have been defined by sociological issues; and those who are on a rite of passage journey.  Will need to test all this with more interviews.  In particular, need to address the widespread belief (which many dispute) that this demographic is in a state of emotional stress and breakdown.

The young B demographic is:  male, age groups 18-25 and 26-34 (and possibly 35-44 but this is to be confirmed); socio-economic groups C2, D, E; geographic location urban, particularly inner city.

"Everywhere we go we feel like strangers"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=jubKVp_hpE0

Wonderful by Angel (who was born in Shepherds Bush).

"Everywhere we go we feel like strangers" - is this an indication of alienation?

Pipsqueak presenter Evan Davis throwing a tantrum with the Chancellor of the Exchequer

Astonishing to hear on the Today programme this morning pipsqueak presenter Evan Davis throwing a tantrum with the Chancellor of the Exchequer.  Like a badly behaved child for five minutes the BBC presenter indulged his temper and insulted one of the most senior officers of state.  We know it was for five minutes as Evan Davis sheepishly admitted as much later in the programme (although at the time it seemed to go on for ages).

A more professional interviewer (John Humphrys for instance) would have kept his temper and simply asked the question again using different words and in a more forensic style.

Not for the first time I concluded that Evan Davis was an idiot.

How much public money did Evan Davis waste through his temper tantrum?  The ten past eight interview is a premium slot, and if five minutes of this had been sold commercially it would have generated a very considerable sum of money.  Perhaps the BBC can fine its errant presenter by estimating the amount and deducting it from his wages.

Later in the programme Nick Robinson referred to the incident as a "spat" which seems to have been an attempt at damage limitation - it was hardly a spat, it was a great loss of self-control unrivalled in radio broadcasting.

Understanding the B demographic 3

The older generations are portrayed in terms of "struggle" (a rather exaggerated struggle one thinks) and it is possible that the younger age groups feel crushed by continual reminders of what their parents had to "fight" for.

There is no question that the various historical myths are unreconcilable - the history myth of the B demographic, the history myth of the wider minority community, and the orthodox history myth of mainstream national society.

Three elements are recurring in the B demographic - poor educational achievement, poisonous inter-generational relationships, irresponsible attitudes to parenting.

The B demographic is:  male, age groups 18-25 and 26-34 (and possibly 35-44 but this is to be confirmed); socio-economic groups C2, D, E; geographic location urban, particularly inner city.

Rejection of society?

http://killerhiphop.co.uk/g-frsh-ft-krept-n-konan-l-o-n-d-boy-lyrics/

Gettin money by the thousands
If money really talks then my n**** I’m shouting

Is the use of the n-word an example of introspective self-hated; of  self-hated commodified and purveyed to an audience eager to "buy" self-hated; or does it represent the reclamation of the former language of oppression and repression?

Note the lead singer is wearing a t-shirt with the image of a Guardsman.

The parabolic arch indicates the location is the Kingswood Estate in Syndenham Hill.

Contemptuous attitude towards women?  Or an iconoclastic attitude towards all social conventions, indicating a nihilistic rejection of society?  Or are they just having a laugh?

I am genuinely mystified by the significance of the £93 taxi fare.

A tabby cat with a white stomach and paws

Bitterly cold night.  On the drive home from work I go through a built up village - it's more a commuter settlement than a real village, and has very heavy traffic through it.  As I drove along a busy section of the little high street I saw a small animal in the road obviously hit by a car and struggling to get up.

A little further on I managed to turn into the forecourt of a hairdresser and then drive back to where the animal was.  Lots of traffic in both directions.  I stopped my car at the side of the road and walked over to take a closer look, the traffic going past me slowly on either side. 

The animal was a tabby cat with a white stomach and paws, now lying still on the road with blood pouring from its half-open mouth.  Someone joined me - he was wearing a yellow fluorescent jacket, which had the effect of stopping all the traffic in both directions.  I picked the cat up and took it over to the pavement and laid it down.  It was clearly dead, but at least the owner will be able to recognise it and know what had happened (if it had been left in the road it would have been completely destroyed within half an hour).  The traffic began moving again, and as I waited to recross the road a car stopped (again stopping all the traffic on both directions) and a young woman with long blonde hair called "Thank you for doing that" several times, as if she couldn't think of anything else to say.  Very sad incident.

By all accounts Ed Balls delivered a poor performance at the Autumn Statement this afternoon.

Even Cathy Newman on Channel 4 News told Rachel Reeves that the Shadow Chancellor "was all over the place".

Idle their time away

Isn't it time that texting was banned in the House of Commons chamber?  We do not pay MPs to idle their time away when they are supposed to be concentrating.  If we are to have a social media integrated into the legislature what do we need MPs for anyway - we might as well all have the ability to log-on to a virtual parliament and vote directly on the business of the day.

Tom McTague is the Daily Mirror's Political Correspondent.

Understanding the B demographic 2

This demographic is in search of meaning - they are culturally adrift.  They have rejected the cultural narrative of older generations and have retreated (is retreated the right word?) into a self-referencing narrative that is immediate without past or future (is this necessarily a bad thing - they are living in the moment, which is supposed to be good is it not?).  This is accompanied by a pessimistic outlook on life.

High rates of self-defeating activity and law-breaking which older generations ascribe to self-hatred (self-hatred is a cliche in my opinion, but the idea is repeated several time that this demographic is wallowing in self-hated and that self-hated has become a cultural product that they enjoy).

Supposedly the demographic receives undue attention from the police (but why? - if it is as a result of excessive law breaking then they can hardly complain the attention is undue).

Contemptuous and exploitative attitude towards women.

Compassion on whose terms and according to whose cultural norms

Report on the Today programme this morning about a new campaign announced by the Chief Nursing Officer for nurses to show "compassion" to the patients they are supposed to be looking after.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20583115

Also this morning the All Party Parliamentary Group for Migration drew attention to the number of migrants working in the United Kingdom as carers:  https://twitter.com/APPGMigration

Is there a connection between the increasing lack of compassion among nurses and carers and the increasing recruitment of nurses and carers from overseas?

It would seem logical that nurses and carers drawn from the communities where they live and having a sense of vocation towards their neighbours will have more compassion and commitment than a globalised workforce paid the bare minimum and moving continually around the world to the places where they can get the best deal (this would also hold true I suspect for the higher paid categories of doctors, consultants and other specialists).

Of course these globalised healthcare workers will be professional.  They would not be employed otherwise.  But "compassion" is culturally-specific - when we ask for compassion we need to specify compassion on whose terms and according to whose cultural norms.

Why don't we just recruit people from within the United Kingdom and train them to the standards we expect?

Is it co-incidence that the recent surge in UKIP support has occurred at the same time as the BNP and EDL have collapsed?  Have far right activists moved from the two moribund organisations into UKIP and are driving forward that party?  Are we seeing a consolidation among the far right?

Nicki Minaj is shown crowned as a queen

As a counterpoint to the sneering on Twitter about the concept of monarchy it is worth noting that Nicki Minaj is shown crowned as a queen in her latest video Freedom (directed by Colin Tilley, and filmed in Dungeness in Kent):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54zpFh0KuK0
http://www.videostatic.com/vs/2012/11/director-colin-tilley-on-nicki-minaj-freedom.html

Ability to project stability

In the general outpouring of euphoria that is surrounding the announcement today from Clarence House there is a more serious point to consider about the monarchy as an institution.

The birth of a child to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will ensure the direct line of succession for the next 100 years at least.

The monarch is Head of State, and also ultimate head of government, head of the Established Church, head of the army, head of the judiciary, head of the civil service and final source of authority for a vast multitude of public services, bodies and corporations.

This ability to project stability into the future is a strong national asset.

It reassures everyone (both internally and externally) that there is not going to be any sudden change, that things will go on much the same for as long as anyone can see.

In a country where power has traditionally be exercised through institutions, the monarchy is an institution that has not made a serious slip since the mid-1930s.  It's an example other institutions could learn from.  Continuity, service, self-restraint, duty, application, hard work (to the point of indefatigability).

Historical counterpoint:  http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/12/3/1354553312572/Diana-pregnant-story-Guar-001.jpg

UPDATE

This surprised me:

IPPR report Oceans of Innovation - 24

"Eric Ries in The Lean Startup describes the need for rapid iteration of concepts through active customer feedback. The Education and Human Capital Requirements Roundtable called for building ‘a resilience into education systems, improving their ability to respond to rapidly changing needs by allowing for as much 30 per cent or more customisation and adaptation.’ In essence, education systems need to think like the ‘lean startups’, finding these innovations from within the systems or from the emerging ecosystem of education start-ups that are able to tackle market needs faster than ever before" - I suppose in a way the Academy system can be viewed as "lean start-ups" so perhaps Michael Gove is ahead of the curve in this respect.

"In emerging markets around the world, these schools, often charging less than $5 a month, are able to deliver better educational outcomes at less cost than government systems. Some countries have seen these as a threat to public education dominance, and are stifling the schools with legislation. Others, such as Punjab in Pakistan have seen them as a complement to the public system, choosing to fund them and increase access to them. Indeed, around the world, while the evidence is mixed and the idea controversial, it is our view that choice, vouchers for low-income students and the encouragement of alternative providers are likely to become increasingly important ingredients of systems which combine effective whole system reform with serious innovative capacity" - this is a very important paragraph and one that you should read several times.  I am especially intrigued by the reference to choice, competition and education vouchers - this could have been written by Dr Rhodes Boyson thirty years ago!  Education vouchers would transform the educational sector in the United Kingdom and also open the public schools up to children from ordinary backgrounds.

"...to be successful in the 21st century, systems need not only to drive forward whole-system reform, based on the evidence; they also need the capacity to innovate, to learn from that innovation and continuously improve the system" - I am a little disturbed by the way this report uses "reform" and "revolution" interchangeably as if the meaning for both words was the same.

"We need perhaps the first truly global generation; a generation of individuals rooted in their own cultures but open to the world and confident of their ability to shape it" - do we need a truly global generation?  Where is the democratic consent for this?  Who will control this trans-national generation?

"...an education revolution will be required. It will need to be based not just on the growing evidence of what works, but on the capacity of the systems to innovate. It will need to unleash the leadership capacity that the next 50 years will demand" - we cannot agree to revolution (reform of course, but not revolution). 

A deficit of 217,000 engineers by 2017

Article by Karan Bilimoria in today's Observer arguing (not very convincingly) that immigration is good for business (good for profits obviously, as Developing World migrants are cheaper to employ and are not aware of their employment rights). 

This article is then backed by a formal leader editorial saying how foolish it is to curb immigration by "students".

The leader blandly states that unless immigration is allowed the United Kingdom will have "a deficit of 217,000 engineers by 2017" (five years away!).  This is a shocking and astonishing statistic.  How, at a time of blighted lives and increasing hardship for young people, can this deficit be contemplated?  Presumably there are not enough school-leavers sufficiently educated to be able to fill university places in engineering and then go on to fill the thousands of postgraduate places that this statement implies.  Was there ever a more devastating indictment of the teaching profession and their dumbed-down ways, that they cannot enthuse and educate young people for lucrative and highly-skilled careers in engineering?  The teaching profession needs a bloody big boot up its collective backside.

Of course, a contributing factor may be that companies find it cheaper to employ overseas engineering graduates than train their own.  The answer is for a complete halt to the importation of engineering graduates.  British companies will then have to fund the training of British graduates or do without.

Emma Harrison's career

Article in today's Observer by Rajeev Syal and Solomon Hughes about Emma Harrison, former head of employment placement firm A4E.

In an account of Emma Harrison's career her involvement with the Labour government has been entirely omitted.  This is incredible.  Emma Harrison WAS Labour's employment policy, and A4E made £80 million from Labour's New Deal.

Lies of omission are still lies.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/dec/02/emma-harrison-dividend-payment 
http://afroml.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/more-scandalous-revelations-about-a4e.html 
http://afroml.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/cruelty-she-is-responsible-for.html

To understand UKIP

Written up from memory:

"To understand UKIP today you have to go back to 28th November 1990.  As soon as Margaret was out of the way there was a review of the candidates list and anyone who was associated with Margaret's camp was replaced.  They were terrified she would try to come back.  The result was a lot of people suddenly got onto the list who were, to put it frankly, rubbish.  Then fast forward fifteen years and Central Office had to chuck all these no-hopers off the list.  So now they are going across to UKIP in what can only be described as a fit of sour grapes."

Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis

Have finished reading Imperial Bedrooms by Bret Easton Ellis.  It was sort of OK until the last twenty pages when the descriptions of violence became obscene and I threw it away (very rare for me to throw books away - actually put them in the rubbish).  He is an exceptional writer with a sort of rococo-nihilist style that is very affecting.  But he ruins his books by trying to include plots which are so far-fetched they are derisory.  He is useless at narrative drive.  If ever there was a writer who needs to be told write about what you know it is Bret Easton Ellis.

He could write a really great book if he would remember he is a Jane Austen not a Raymond Chandler.

Bonfire

Winter bonfire.

Bright sunshine without any heat.  Bitter cold freezing air.  Frost still on the ground in the afternoon.

The Philippines

Welcome to my readers in the Philippines.  Unfortunately all I know about the Philippines has been gained from a chapter of Barbara Tuchman's The Proud Tower in which she describes the uneasy American conquest of the archipelago.  I sometimes give donations to World Villages for Children which maintains a Catholic orphanage in the Philippines (http://www.worldvillages.org.uk/WhoWeAre.aspx )

Also I briefly worked for a company off Shaftesbury Avenue where there was a belligerent American manager whose favourite saying was:  I will be back (usually delivered as a kind of managerial threat).

Anyway you are very welcome to this site and do e-mail me if there is any further information you require.

Appear positive without actually agreeing to anything - the past week at work

Last Friday (23rd) we went away to a "planning session" with a grandee who is the most significant of the Institute's members (there are 150 members and they effectively own the Institute).  I went down there in Vijay Singh's car with Marcia Walsh (Vijay is the Institute's Director, Marcia is the Acting Deputy Director).  We arrived late and parked under a cedar tree, rabbits scampering away in the headlights.  Almost immediately we had dinner - sausages and mash, what looked like tinned peas, banana custard pudding.  All the talk was of UKIP, which bored me silly.  My room was on the attic floor, long narrow corridor, none of the other rooms furnished (and seemed to be junk rooms from the couple I looked into). 

Everything in my room creaked - the floorboards creaked, the doors creaked, the bed creaked.  Had to use a bathroom on the next floor down, unheated and antiquated.  When I woke the next morning I opened the casement window and looked out at the foggy view.

The whole day we spent planning for the Institute's AGM in February.  The grandee is totally on our side, and absolutely opposed to Alec Nussbaum's proposed merger of the Institute into one of the Head Office departments.  One thing I didn't know - although the members pay an average of £1,000 subscription each year, most only pay a couple of hundred pounds and the rest of the money is made up by the grandee who said he could give more financial support if necessary (none of us knew this, which made us look stupid, but more importantly Alec Nussbaum will not know that the Institute has the capacity to be financially independent of head office).

Monday

Just as well I was twenty minutes early this morning as the management meeting had been brought forward to 9.30 and I had to rush to write my report, just printing it out as the meeting began.  The meeting lasted three and a half hours.  I came under attack from Vijay Singh for lack of opinion and analysis about key demographics we should be targetting.

Tuesday

Most of the morning I spent doing some media research (key groups of opinion formers can be quickly defined by the magazines they read, especially valuable for analysing female demographics).

In the afternoon I purchased e-mail databases ready for some research.

Wednesday

I travelled to London for a day at Head Office.  The whole of the first floor had been rearranged so I had to wait about awkwardly while a desk was found for me to sit at.  A meeting with David L to discuss the exhibitions programme - we got on quite well.

In the afternoon a meeting with Alec Nussbaum and Kathleen Q to discuss the Institute's AGM.  I had to be very careful not to give anything away, but merely to listen to Alec Nussbaum's proposals and appear positive without actually agreeing to anything.  He still thinks the AGM will last an afternoon instead of two days.

Afterwards down to the Lower Ground Floor for a publications meeting.

Thursday

A day off to compensate for working at the weekend.  Vijay Singh rang while I was still in bed and I had to brief him on yesterday's meeting.  When I finally got up (at 11) I spent the day reading and sleeping.

Friday

Frost on the lawn this morning as I left the house.  When I got to the office Gary (Assistant in the Institute's library) was waiting by my desk with a heap of articles I had asked for.  The system went down for a couple of hours, and all work came to a stop.

Usual soporific Friday afternoon.

Eupeptic

One new word I learned from Keep the Aspidistra Flying was "eupeptic" which in the sense Orwell uses it means an idealised healthiness (he was describing an advertising hoarding).

I tried to find a modern example of a eupeptic family and came across this idealised family group advertising a Welsh seaside resort.  In the referencing form of a casual "snapshot" photograph, the illustration shows a half-naked family of four on a beach with the cold-looking Atlantic in the background (note the white surf crashing on the sand) and more than half the sky covered in cloud.  Father and son have Celtic red hair, mother and daughter have Saxon fair hair.

Bonnie Greer claimed yesterday she is one of the "voiceless people" and yet she is on Sky News Press Preview airing her views on every topic you can imagine.

IPPR report Oceans of Innovation - 23

"...set high standards; monitor whether they are being achieved; provide excellent teachers who improve their teaching throughout their careers; ensure well-trained, well-selected principals or headteachers; and then reorganise the system’s structure so that it becomes a dynamic driver of change rather than a static bureaucracy – a driver of quality rather than an enforcer of compliance. John Hattie has probably done more than anyone else to summarise and make practical the evidence on each of these elements. His most recent book Visible Learning for Teachers is a masterly synthesis" - this all sounds very laudatory until one reaches the bit about dynamic driver of change.  Who is in charge of this dynamic driver?  What is the change that is being driven? 

I don't wish to be alarmist, but where is the democratic oversight of all this? 

"Increasingly, a science or quasi-science of effective delivery in government is emerging. A number of countries around the world have adapted and refined the approach developed by the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit (PMDU) in the Blair administration and demonstrated real progress – Malaysia, Ontario in Canada and the California state university system are just a few examples in APEC countries. In the US, the Education Delivery Institute is supporting more than a dozen state education systems in the adoption of this proven approach" - this is very depressing.  Government as process, implemented by political technocrats (or technocrat politicians if you prefer).  I thought Blairism was thoroughly discredited?

"High Tech High is one such island – a network of schools that was and is ahead of the pack in the global move towards a 21st-century education. Through project-based learning and community internships, students take on real-world challenges and come up with innovative solutions, rather than focusing on rote memorisation of concepts. Teachers are empowered to create forward-looking, innovative lessons to inspire students. The incredible results speak for themselves: 100 per cent of graduates are admitted to college, 35 per cent of college-goers are the first in their family and 30 per cent enter the maths or science field (compared to an average of 17 per cent)" - not convinced by this I'm afraid.  What do you think?  It sounds wonderful, but a network structure is hard to control democratically (parents will be easily bamboozled).  Project-based learning is all too easily disconnected from the thousand-year continuum of of Western culture.  Empowered teachers means what exactly - whose power are they being given?  Who is deciding what are the "real" challenges in the world?

http://www.hightechhigh.org/

George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Have just finished reading George Orwell's Keep the Aspidistra Flying.

It is a strongly autobiographical work describing how someone from the upper-middle class rejects capitalism and consumerism and voluntarily joins the dispossessed - living in squalid bedsits and lodging houses, doing semi-skilled work, half-starving when his money runs out at the end of the week.

The experience of grinding poverty is horrendous, and it is a measure of Orwell's skill that he is able to make the reader mentally inhabit the world he is describing.

Eventually the main character is redeemed through romantic love and rejoins bourgeois society.

"Gordon Comstock" is a type that is familiar today - the comfortably well-off, Oxbridge-educated right-on Labour activist who is longing to be classed as one of the workers (satirised in the 1990s by Pulp:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuTMWgOduFM ).

Did you know that George Orwell was pro-Life?  When Gordon Comstock's girlfriend becomes with child (after a sordid tryst in grimy sheets in a Lambeth lodging house) she raises the possibility of abortion.  The suggestion is rejected as disgusting.

IPPR report Oceans of Innovation - 22

"Among the most promising experiments in education today are the developments in hybrid schooling, which combines great teaching, great technology and much more independent learning. However, it is important to note that technology alone and not integrated into the learning day rarely results in improved learning" - possibly the best educational technique is that of the personal tutorial where a student has to work independently on a piece of work and then defend it on a one to one basis with a teacher who is a specialist in that field.  The tutorial system works extremely well at the more academic of the public (independent) schools.  Obviously to extend this system into state schools will require a great many more good-quality teachers, but there is no reason why the teaching profession cannot be expanded if it can be proved to generate national wealth in the way this report suggests. 

"...teachers become enablers, activators, connectors, facilitators, mentors and challengers as well as sources of expertise" - this sounds like a shirkers charter to me.  The difficulty with non-traditional forms of teaching is the tendency of teachers to just coast along doing the minimum.  If the activities are non-traditional how will the students and their parents know when they are being short-changed by the more lazier members of the teaching profession?

"...education reformers are seeking to design a system for 20 years ahead, teachers struggle with the present and parents remember the system of 20 years ago: the conceptual gap is therefore 40 years – a major communications challenge which governments and educators often underestimate" - this emphasis upon "experts" planning for the future sounds sinister I'm afraid.  Where is the democratic accountability?  The United Kingdom's state schools are in the mess they are currently in because of the "education reformers" who destroyed the old system in the 1960s and 1970s and gambled everything on comprehensives which brought everything and everyone down to the lowest common denominator.