I am not sure what Britishness means, but, from what I hear, it has something to do with celebrating diversity, embracing and empowering communities, and working together for a vibrant society of respect and equality and democratic values — from which ugly rash of words I am led to imagine that it is some frightful disease engineered and released by a committee of sociologists, Fabians, and women with “ethnic” earrings.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
[phone camera] thence to bluetooth and here
Well all right - you've all been doing these things for the past few years, along with your Black Berries et al but I've been in Russia, don't forget.
So today, when I stepped out of the car close to the Wales /England border and took a happy snap, little did I know how easy it would be to bluetooth it to the Mac and thence into the post. Wonders of modern technology.
So today, when I stepped out of the car close to the Wales /England border and took a happy snap, little did I know how easy it would be to bluetooth it to the Mac and thence into the post. Wonders of modern technology.
[deed poll] puts them out of their misery
Many surnames came down from occupations, as you know - Thomas Cooper, Thomas Brewster, Thomas Tucker.So from where was the surname Crapper derived?
[artificial conflict] beloved of the politicos
Beauty is beauty and home is home, wherever it is."The new generation, the new Russians who indulge in the consumer society remain very hostile to the West. They still see things through an East/West prism. They still believe that Nato is an offensive bloc surrounding Russia, they truly believe that one of these days one of the military exercises they organise will turn out to be real. They think very differently."
I think I'm in a position to say I know the Russian way of thinking and the above is true in some aspects, except that it is not as hostile as the quote makes out. In fact, the following is closer to the mark:
In the epic struggle between capitalism and communism, the ultimate winner is consumerism.
Like every citizen in every country, the Russian and the Brit want a slice of the consumer pie.
That is modern Russia in a nutshell - shop at all costs and buy the best brands on the never-never, with the most accessories possible . When you wake up, you might have to go to work, an irksome thing to many Russians but the spin-off is that you can shop in your breaks and after work. The palaces of glitz have sprung up everywhere and even if you can't afford to buy, you can pretend you are buying, the shopgirl helps you try on those new tops and skirts and you feel you're part of the jet-setting Gucchi and Armani set, the dream of most Russians.
Whereas the west has become gradually weaned off the Christian social mindset, the new god being consumerism, the Russians bypassed that Christian social mindset, having emerged from the godless communism of the USSR and something had to step into the breach once nanny had gone.
It wasn't going to be Christian compassion and sane values, especially as The Church had done zero to help the ordinary Russian during the totalitarianism. So politically, the average Russian has inherited his parents' and grandparents' prejudices, the media has told him what America is up to now, he prefers to leave it to Moscow to take care of and hopes Moscow leaves him in peace to get on with the shopping.
No one has rejected democracy - it's just not interesting.
Here in Britain, there is deep dislike of Russians at the official level but I've noticed the ordinary Eastern Europeans, at ground level, seem to be tolerated in the society. However, this is soured by both what is happening above and in the immigration conundrum. The attitude of both Russians and Brits worries me as it has been whipped up by these factors and plays on the natural fears on both sides.
I am in daily contact with both Russians and Brits, ordinary folk and I can vouch for the fact that neither have horns, neither wish the destruction of the other as they have other things on the mind like jobs, homes and family. In this confusion over what the politicos are telling us, there is a great danger that each of the peoples will be isolated from the other more and more, to the point where, if the politicos say the other side has done something dastardly, the common man will gladly spring to arms and march off to slaughter his hated foe.
It's the old, media fed illusion all over again. Apart from the scramble for rationed resources, there is no deepseated nationalistic reason for conflict whatsoever. It's all been whipped up, artificial. Take this one and this one. They say "Russia" did this, "Britain" did that. Since when did the discredited ones at the top earn the right to be called Russia or Britain?
People are people the world over. They are proud of their ethnicity, they think they're the best people in the world, they're nationalistic, they welcome visitors from abroad to stay with them, they like to travel, they have foibles, they are human.
That's all there is to it.
[windows] not the operating system
By windows, I mean the opportunities we get, which then close down and are lost forever.Admittedly two films triggered this off.
The first, a mind-numbing piece called The One and the second, the Sith episode of Star Wars. The concept, of course, is that chances arise and if grasped, then we move on to the next part of the adventure. If we don't, we stagnate or fall into something even direr.
Some of you have managed to build up your nest egg and are entitled to a calm, dignified retirement, which you must no be doubt worried about at this difficult time. Some of us have somehow, through a conjunction of circumstances and with a flawed mental set, not managed that in the first place.
My life so far has been a series of windows and there is a hunger inside to just settle down and become a good citizen, somewhere where the authorities accept me ... but it never seems to turn out that way. It seems that many of you are trying to do the opposite just now - trying to get out and forget all your woes.
At this moment there is a fair amount of posting on this blog and while it seems as real and permanent as it did in Russia, it is in fact an illusion.
I must move on from here in the not too distant future, as I have over the past months and the blogging will cease again for some time. This time the freefall must cease and it must be my own place and my own subsistence job. It may be a tall order getting internet connected this side of Christmas, as each autumn day brings us closer to winter but I'll try to get posts up.
There's constant mail from Russia just and it involves getting winter clothing over here and so on and every move is to get set up, to start putting roots down again.
In The One, when a person was teleported, he first broke into fragments and then these fragments were brought together and reunited at the other end. In real life, many fragments are forever lost and replaced by new ones, not unlike cells in the body.
This is double-edged.
For better or worse, this hunger to reunite the fragments and just make a go of life had almost got there in Russia. Stupidly [in hindsight], all remaining property, money and the like had been gathered into the one flat over eight years, networks were in place and the life there was one of dignity, respect, not bad hours and reasonable money in Russian terms.
Fool that I was in thinking it could continue and as some of you know - one stroke of a bureaucratic pen and it was back into freefall. Bureaucrats - the second scourge of society.
Getting off that, as it's a fruitless thing to dwell on, my friend noted ,at one point in The One and the Sith, just how many films these days pursue the same theme of the move to threat, the destabilizing of society, the bureaucratic tightening, the sea of troubles and then the flawed earthly Messiah who becomes increasingly convinced he's a god, a deliverer [did you see Brown's recent speech], sweeping in to the rapturous applause of people hailing the chief [anyone remember 1997 or the Nuremburg rallies], only for the screws to be slowly tightened, bit by bit, according to the Grand Plan.
Last minute false messiahs are as illusory as the rest of the business. Solace can be found but not in them, nor in a circle of stones.
Monday, September 22, 2008
[unreconstructed] and richer
Disgraceful example of out and out sexism
Men who grow up thinking women should stay at home may be labelled "old-fashioned" - but could end up well ahead in the salary stakes.
A US study, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, suggests that they will consistently out-earn more "modern-thinking" men. On average, this meant an extra $8,500 (£4,722) a year.
One UK psychologist said men inclined to wield power in their relationships might also do this at work.
[tourism] dangerous these days
Check out these paragraphs about the same topic and see how much meaning you derive from them. Then click on the video and see if that enlightens you further.
Now try the video.
Dix-neuf personnes, dont onze touristes européens, ont été enlevés dans le sud-ouest de l'Egypte, près du Soudan, par des hommes armés qui réclament une rançon, a annoncé lundi le ministère égyptien du Tourisme. «Il s'agit de banditisme et non de terrorisme», a tenu à indiquer le ministère dans un communiqué, sans préciser la date de l'enlèvement des otages, le lieu de leur détention, ni le montant de la somme réclamée par les ravisseurs.
Ihre Geiselnehmer sollen Gebirgsnomaden sein: Die in Ägypten entführte Reisegruppe mit fünf Deutschen ist außer Landes gebracht worden - laut Regierung in Kairo befinden sich die elf Touristen nun im Sudan. Die Suche nach dem Versteck läuft, doch das Terrain ist schwierig. Kairo - Dramatisches Ende eines Urlaubstrips: Fünf Deutsche, fünf Italiener, ein Rumäne und mehrere ägyptische Begleiter sind in Ägypten Opfer einer Entführung geworden. Die Urlauber waren in der Wüste in der Nähe der Grenze zum Sudan unterwegs.
Now try the video.
[minimum wage] beneficial or detrimental
The minimum wage in the UK at the moment appears to be £5.52 an hour and in the U.S.A., the federal minimum wage is $5.85 per hour, effective July 24, 2007.Proponents say that the net effect of a minimum wage policy guarantees a base living standard for all workers, does not significantly effect unemployment, increases work ethic, stimulates the economy through consumer buying, decreases social welfare payouts and helps business.
Opponents say that the net effect is to hurt small business by excluding low cost competitors, reduces hours worked by workers,raises prices of goods and creates inflationary pressure, causes outsourcing and hurts the really disadvantaged in the lowest positions, making some employable people now unemployable. This then adds them to the welfare system.
They say that the policy should be one of maximizing work opportunities by encouraging small businesses, topping up wge packets with earned income tax credits and indirect money saving across the board, e.g. reduction in hidden taxes.
Anyone in my current position needs to have enough to cover, flat rental, gas and electricity, transport to and from work and a minimum for food. The flat rental cost needs to be below that and in this part of the world can be around £90 a week if you're lucky, with up front costs to get started.
Against that is unemployment benefit of £56.20 on current information [which I'm not eligible for] and housing benefit of around £50 [which is possible]. For someone who has lived here for years, that then leaves, in round terms, about £15 for all utilities, clothing, transport and food. For me it doesn't. For many graduates, tricky little clauses in the eligibility for the dole effectively exclude them.
In realistic terms, once employed, these benefits disappear anyway and one is reliant on the weekly wage which, if you work a 35 hour statutory week, comes out to £193.20 per week. The advantage, if one works a rotational shift, is that one can find other work as well. Such work is available and living, though very tight, precluding any frills and subject to landlords bumping up the rental in line with inflation, is a possibility. Just.
From an employer's point of view, using my friend's analogy, if you have, say, a flower delivery service, you need to have people to deliver flowers. Assuming you run a good business, then you'll be paying above minimum wage, plus rebate on usage of the employees' cars. Otherwise you won't be attracting employees who have a certain amount they're paying out to survive.
The higher the minimum wage goes, the less people you can employ and the harder they must work to compensate. Thus the higher the turnover of staff and the more you need to retrain, before even looking at taxation and the like. With no minimum wage, you can employ far more people at a lower rate, this stimulates the economy in a small way but you are just one of many and the economy overall benefits.
It seems a sort of catch 22 to me. Maybe you could look over this post and tell me where the fallacies are and what it missed. I don't claim to have any authority in this matter.
Those Commercials
I remember as a kid seeing some of the best commercials I've seen in my entire life. True, there have been some good commericals this year but these are some of my favorites:
I still use these bags today!
Make 7-Up yours!
Classic Halo 3 commercial
One of the best Super Bowl commercials I've ever seen in my entire life! I still remember laughing the first time I saw this, way back when!
Wassup!!!!!!!!!!
This reminds me of when I went to Sardinia, not speaking a word of Italian. I said in Spanish (and they understodd me) that I'd like some chips and water. Keep in mind this was at 10 p.m. at night. They say, "Prego!" (You're welcome). I look at them and ask, "Prego?" They say, "Prego!" This goes on back and forth for about two minutes until the waitress had enough and walked away.
A good way to end this roundup.
I still use these bags today!
Make 7-Up yours!
Classic Halo 3 commercial
One of the best Super Bowl commercials I've ever seen in my entire life! I still remember laughing the first time I saw this, way back when!
Wassup!!!!!!!!!!
This reminds me of when I went to Sardinia, not speaking a word of Italian. I said in Spanish (and they understodd me) that I'd like some chips and water. Keep in mind this was at 10 p.m. at night. They say, "Prego!" (You're welcome). I look at them and ask, "Prego?" They say, "Prego!" This goes on back and forth for about two minutes until the waitress had enough and walked away.
A good way to end this roundup.
Those Songs...
Alright, so we all know those songs whose lyrics have passed into pop culture long after their heyday is over. Well, two of them I knew quite well but had not heard them. The first is "Rock the Casbah" by the Clash. I was going to embed it here but they don't allow embedding. Anyway, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAkfHShATKY
I had heard about the song some time ago in a computer game review book back in the mid '90s and finally heard it for the first time in 2006.
The second video needs no introduction:
I actually got dressed up as an Egyptian pharaoh for Breakfast Club, like I usually do. The first video they're blasting from the TV in the bar when I got inside nice and early at 7 am yesterday before the game was this song. Someone looked at me and said, "Hey man! You gotta get up there and dance! You're dressed the part!" Indeed, I was...
I had heard about the song some time ago in a computer game review book back in the mid '90s and finally heard it for the first time in 2006.
The second video needs no introduction:
I actually got dressed up as an Egyptian pharaoh for Breakfast Club, like I usually do. The first video they're blasting from the TV in the bar when I got inside nice and early at 7 am yesterday before the game was this song. Someone looked at me and said, "Hey man! You gotta get up there and dance! You're dressed the part!" Indeed, I was...
Sunday, September 21, 2008
[password mystery] who and for what
I didn't intend to post again this evening but a curious thing happened today and we were discussing it. Certain ideas occurred to us as to what it meant.
Basically, this came to one of my emails but not the usual one:
Someone seemed to want to sign in to bloghounds email, which is the one we use for new membership requests. This person pretended that he/she had lost the password and asked for it to be sent. The weakness in this argument is that how would he/she know where it would have been sent? And why would anyone want to get into the bloghounds email anyway?
The alternative was that he/she was not interested in getting in but wanted to go through the question and answer thing to get them to send the password but somehow didn't get the answers right. Again, why would anyone want the bloghounds password? It only works with that account and there are other passwords for the other sections.
Any ideas on this?
Basically, this came to one of my emails but not the usual one:
Sorry, we are unable to release your password because the information
you have provided does not match our records.
Details of the request:
For account: bloghounds@email.com
Password be sent to :
Request from IP address : 41.207.15.136
Request Date/Time : 2008-09-21 14:27:08 GMT
Someone seemed to want to sign in to bloghounds email, which is the one we use for new membership requests. This person pretended that he/she had lost the password and asked for it to be sent. The weakness in this argument is that how would he/she know where it would have been sent? And why would anyone want to get into the bloghounds email anyway?
The alternative was that he/she was not interested in getting in but wanted to go through the question and answer thing to get them to send the password but somehow didn't get the answers right. Again, why would anyone want the bloghounds password? It only works with that account and there are other passwords for the other sections.
Any ideas on this?
[new uniforms released] for pollies and bankers
Calvin Klein* have released new uniforms for the pollies and the senior bankers to more accurately reflect their level of competence and allow the general public to see one coming.
On the left, a white suit symbolizes the pollies' preferred image but the black tie and shoes symbolize their hearts and level of competence.
On the right, this remarkable suit will now enable you to recognize a banker approaching a decision and allows you to intervene before he does any more damage.
Calvin Klein are confident the uniforms will catch on with the general public, if not the wearers themselves.
* Disclaimer: Calvin Klein wish it to be known that they have released nothing of the kind.
On the left, a white suit symbolizes the pollies' preferred image but the black tie and shoes symbolize their hearts and level of competence.
On the right, this remarkable suit will now enable you to recognize a banker approaching a decision and allows you to intervene before he does any more damage.
Calvin Klein are confident the uniforms will catch on with the general public, if not the wearers themselves.
* Disclaimer: Calvin Klein wish it to be known that they have released nothing of the kind.
[miracles] believer or sceptic
Really like this one - here is the summary:
* Martyr in Naples from 305 A.D. had his blood collected by a nun into a phial - blood now dried, of course;
* Twice a year, on specific religious festival days, the blood turns liquid;
* Locals believe if it doesn't liquify, disaster will strike;
* Five times it hasn't liquified and disaster struck, last time in 1980 when 3000 died;
* Sceptics say it is the moving of the phial on those two days which turns the blood liquid - rest of the year it stays untouched. Some say thixotropy.
Do you believe in miracles?
[murder] when is it and when isn't it
Categories of murder and manslaughter, in general and simplistic terms
United Kingdom
Murder with malice aforethought [including transferred malice], attempted murder, manslaughter voluntary and involuntary [death by dangerous driving a sub-category] and accident. There is no duress or necessity in English law. There is mens rea [guilty mind] and strict liability [statutory].
United States
First problem is dual sovereignty - state or federal. Under the general term homicide, murder is included, with degrees.
1st Degree is pre-meditated, planned out or particularly cruel. 2nd Degree is not planned out. 3rd Degree may be called manslaughter in some places.
Canada
Closer to the US in the two degrees and then manslaughtrer and infanticide.
Australia
Varies by state, generally as in English law but in NSW, provocation is a defence and in Victoria, killing an unborn child when it might have been born is an offence.
To specific situations
You'll remember the man who stabbed an intruder in his house who carried a machete and was jailed for stabbing him 16 times. The judge considered he'd used excessive violence and had meted out his own punishement. This one brings in all manner of considerations and we've just been discussing it.
I took the point of view that when the burglar entered the front yard, this was trespass and needs discretion - what if it was kids chasing their lost football? However, the moment there is an attempt to force entry to the swelling, the law must change to Englishman's home is his castle and it doesn't matter a damn how much violence you used to protect your family.
My friend mentioned a US state, [perhaps Texas, not sure], where if you gun down an intruder, they give you $5000 and any legal fees plus the county will sue the court which passes a negative judgement against you. That sounds only a little OTT to me but it seems to have reduced crime of this nature by 40%.
Considerations and opinions on them
Discretion
The whole homicide legislation needs to be rewritten into priority order by degree and nuance, with fixed penalties attached to them, except for 10% discretionary leeway to take into account specific instances such as those below.
Mitigating circumstances
Including intent [mens rea], severity, reasonable care, justification and result.
More situations
* Wife drives him out of his tree with her nagging yet hasn't left him - he snaps, doesn't know his own strength in his rage.
* Wife stores up the hatred of an abusive husband for years and then plans and carries out his killing; alternatively, she snaps one night and stabs him.
* Euthanasia.
* Two youths play a game of chicken with guns - very real possibility of death or accident, weapon goes off and kills one youth.
* Assassin aims for a politician, politician moves at the last second and bullet kills his wife instead.
* Assassin is CIA Manchurian Candidate [diminished responsibility].
* Monster threatens society e.g. Stalin.
United Kingdom
Murder with malice aforethought [including transferred malice], attempted murder, manslaughter voluntary and involuntary [death by dangerous driving a sub-category] and accident. There is no duress or necessity in English law. There is mens rea [guilty mind] and strict liability [statutory].
United States
First problem is dual sovereignty - state or federal. Under the general term homicide, murder is included, with degrees.
1st Degree is pre-meditated, planned out or particularly cruel. 2nd Degree is not planned out. 3rd Degree may be called manslaughter in some places.
Canada
Closer to the US in the two degrees and then manslaughtrer and infanticide.
Australia
Varies by state, generally as in English law but in NSW, provocation is a defence and in Victoria, killing an unborn child when it might have been born is an offence.
To specific situations
You'll remember the man who stabbed an intruder in his house who carried a machete and was jailed for stabbing him 16 times. The judge considered he'd used excessive violence and had meted out his own punishement. This one brings in all manner of considerations and we've just been discussing it.
I took the point of view that when the burglar entered the front yard, this was trespass and needs discretion - what if it was kids chasing their lost football? However, the moment there is an attempt to force entry to the swelling, the law must change to Englishman's home is his castle and it doesn't matter a damn how much violence you used to protect your family.
My friend mentioned a US state, [perhaps Texas, not sure], where if you gun down an intruder, they give you $5000 and any legal fees plus the county will sue the court which passes a negative judgement against you. That sounds only a little OTT to me but it seems to have reduced crime of this nature by 40%.
Considerations and opinions on them
Discretion
The whole homicide legislation needs to be rewritten into priority order by degree and nuance, with fixed penalties attached to them, except for 10% discretionary leeway to take into account specific instances such as those below.
Mitigating circumstances
Including intent [mens rea], severity, reasonable care, justification and result.
More situations
* Wife drives him out of his tree with her nagging yet hasn't left him - he snaps, doesn't know his own strength in his rage.
* Wife stores up the hatred of an abusive husband for years and then plans and carries out his killing; alternatively, she snaps one night and stabs him.
* Euthanasia.
* Two youths play a game of chicken with guns - very real possibility of death or accident, weapon goes off and kills one youth.
* Assassin aims for a politician, politician moves at the last second and bullet kills his wife instead.
* Assassin is CIA Manchurian Candidate [diminished responsibility].
* Monster threatens society e.g. Stalin.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
[clandestini] and the islamic increase in italy
As many of you know, Welshcakes has run quite a few posts on the clandestini problem in Italy, for example, here, here and here.
An infernal scene, it is played out daily on the vast concrete wharf that dominates the tiny Italian port of Lampedusa. There is no moaning, no wailing, just the deep drone of boat engines churning water, the shout of coast guards mooring, a seagull's cry. On land, safe and at last shaded from the vicious 40-plus-degree heat, the relief is palpable, if fleeting.
Between January and August, nearly 20,000 people made the perilous overland journey to the coasts of Libya or Tunisia, to cross the Mediterranean and land on Italy's southernmost territory, the islet of Lampedusa. Many have already spent weeks, months and even years on the road and once on the coast, must entrust what little money they have left to the local criminal syndicates that traffic in human beings, and smaller and ever more dangerous boats.
Infernal indeed when humans are reduced to flotsam and jetsam. No one denies the terrible waste in it as thousands die BUT there is another side to it too:
According to latest Italian official statistics, Muslims make up about 34% of the 2,400,000 foreign residents living in Italy as of January, 1, 2005. To these 820,000 foreign residents of Muslim heritage legally residing in Italy, another 100,000-150,000 should be added, as Muslims represent, according to annual estimates by the Italian association Caritas, about 40% of Italy's illegal immigrants.
Many of the clandestini landing in Italy are only using Italy as a gateway to other EU nations, due to the fact Italy offers fewer economic opportunities for them than Germany or France, and because among the clandestini Italian society has a reputaton of being more hostile to them.
For example:
Recent points of contention between native Italians and the Muslim immigrant population include the presence of crucifixes in public buildings including school classrooms, government offices, and hospital wards.
In Italy, Muslims are up against a hard nut. So they move on. Screeds have been written about the problems of Islam in Europe but an address by Frits Bolkestein of the Netherlands, put a neat analogy:
Alluding to the E.U.'s aspiration to become a multinational state, he drew listeners' attention to the fate of the most recent European power with that aspiration, the Austro-Hungarian empire just over a century ago. Austrians were culturally confident (Liszt, Richard Strauss, Brahms, Mahler, and Wagner were working in Vienna). They were prosperous and proud.
The problem was that there were only 8 million of them, and expanding their country's frontiers brought them face to face with an energetic pan-Slavic movement. Once the Empire absorbed 20 million Slavs, it faced difficult compromises between allowing the new subjects to rule themselves and preserving its own culture. Rather like the E.U., the Empire was past the point of no return before it realized it was going anywhere in particular.
Commenting on Bruce Bawer's book While Europe Slept, one reviewer wrote:
Underneath its surface tolerance and secular welfarism, there lurks something very sinister in the Europe of today, something that the sanctimonious political correctness and anti-Americanism of the elites cannot cover up anymore.
There is nothing left of classical liberalism in Europe today - what is most disgraceful about the current European mindset is the phoney tolerance, for example the European view of unassimilated minorities as "colourful" but Europe's total refusal to meaningfully integrate these into society. European are happy to dole out welfare money but not prepared to give these people proper employment.
Fair enough comment but the other side is that of numbers. Sheer numbers:
Islam is widely considered Europe's fastest growing religion, with immigration and above average birth rates leading to a rapid increase in the Muslim population.
This has been debated now for some time of course. Against this is the point:
The UK has a long history of contact with Muslims, with links forged from the Middle Ages onwards. In the 19th Century Yemeni men came to work on ships, forming one of the country's first Muslim communities. In the 1960s, significant numbers of Muslims arrived as people in the former colonies took up offers of work.
To the anecdotal - there is a family of Pakistanis round the corner here, running a chippie. There has never been any "trouble" from that quarter, they don't try to stir the pot or convert people. They don't call for Muslim schools or Sharia law. They are not on the dole, sitting at home watching Coronation Street. They are the "old Muslims" in the area - more than one generation and they are British, from their accents to their manner. Yet they are nominally Muslim.
What of them? If a cultural backlash comes in a big way, will they be swept away in it? Also, as Norman Tebbit once observed - do they cheer for England in the Test or for their former homeland? Do they become politicized by stirrers in Mosques and politicians grandstanding for brownie points with the population and change from benign to dangerous?
Again, I have no answers and I'm sure they don't either.
[cryotherapy] crying indeed
Would you do this?
For two minutes, I will be subjected to minus 120 degrees; a whole Siberian winter colder than that nippy day at Vostok. This is clearly madness.Not according to Dr Jan Potocky, who runs the Cryotherapy Centre at Aquacity in Poprad, Slovakia. He believes that being subjected to such an ordeal has tremendous therapeutic effects, and there is some science behind it.
In some ways, it's just an extreme version of applying an ice pack to an injury - the blood vessels contract and blood is sent rampaging towards the cold bits.
The Russians and most northern nations swear by the banya and sauna, followed by the cold roll in the snow or the dip in the cool pool. Cryotherapy goes just for the cold snap and appears to have some substance. Many in these nations believe in the cold dip in the river in the morning or the cold face wash as well.
[maternity leave] and the price-income nexus
In the UK, maternity leave works like this:
It works this way:
It's even clearer here and here. The mother is also entitled to:
In Sweden, it comprises part government and part employer funding. In Australia, there is a proposal:
Naturally, women are fearful that employers will take a dim view of extended maternity leave and regulations are in place to prevent this.
Right, so back in the UK, a small business employer taking on female staff gains net 4.5% of the amount paid if she gets pregnant and has the child. Now to calculate costs to the business. Whilst it is reclaimable, it is not instantly payable and there is a net loss associated with it overall. This is why SME businesses are crying out loudly against it because the figures, whilst appearing to add up in the long run, in fact cause short term difficulties, not least in having to employ another staff member, who in turn has certain rights.
Personally, this blogger thinks there must be a sharing of the load between state, employer and the employed herself [with partner makes it easier]. Ellee's call for extended maternity was never in dispute here. However, one comment from a woman in the Australian workplace [but the principle is the same] put a different point of view:
Another commenter put this proposal:
Women in Britain would claim that because of the measly package offered at present, employees are very much contributing, in effect, even given the paternity provisions and this blogger agrees with that. But tripling is not only going to cripple business, it is going to make an employer increasingly steer clear of child-bearing age women or else implement pre-employment conditions to minimize huge payouts in any financial year.
May we stop and catch our breath?
Trace our society and see what has really happened in the past decades. In the early part of last century, the extended family was the basic societal unit. In the late 50s, the nuclear family was the basic societal unit. Today, singles abound in little boxes across the west.
If we stop to count the cost of this, in financial terms, it is obvious that it is unsustainable. Financial strictures force people into finding solutions and the obvious solution is the extended family, which is quite socialist in nature. From each according to ability and to each according to needs. We are heading back to this as the squeeze grips harder and harder.
Two things come under intense pressure - the government disbursement of tax money and roofs over people's heads - there are not enough flats and houses and what there are can't be afforded. When money derived from taxes is disbursed, every taxpayer has a right to a say in how it is disbursed. Maternity leave is given to people in work and the businesses giving it have the right to say how it should be disbursed.
Government policy is squeezing businesses through tax rates anyway, let alone through schemes like SMP and this most certainly snuffs out incentive - hence the flight of business offshore and overseas. Everyone, businesses included, are hurting because everything is ultimately interconnected. Government is only taxation anyway [plus autocratic legislation]. It all becomes us again in the end.
Those two commenters just quoted above bring out an alien concept in today's world - that the having of a child is a major financial burden which needs planning and financial preparation by the couple, utilizing all family resources possible before the event. Government needs to contribute somewhat, as do employers but the decision is the couple's in the end and that entails sacrifices and responsibilities.
Whose responsibility is having a child in the end?
Where it gets really complicated is a girl who wants to live in her own flat with a child she had and where the father has departed. This is sheer madness at the personal level because the figures for supporting it don't add up. I know two girls in this situation and the family has chipped in to support her as best they can. A girl going it totally alone, on the other hand, is in an invidious position and it is now rampant in society, the US figure being 30%.
So the girl eventually is either forced back into the family fold if she has one or if she doesn't, why not? There might have been an abusive father or there might be the simple desire to be independent. That is then paid for by state and employer. In other words, the taxpayer foots the bill for all these unmarried mothers.
Again I say that the state should do this to a point, by default but where is that cut-off point? This could go on forever, this train of thought but it is all halted by one truth - the cost of living swamps any income in this day and age. The moment the banks created a situation where the price of major items like houses and cars reached an unpayable level, then the only solution was credit.
This, in turn, broke the nexus between price and income and enabled house prices, for example, to go through the stratosphere. This is precisely what is happening in Russia today. Once on that path, we get where we currently are.
Everybody is indicating this but it's not happening. Who has the power to change this? Governments do plus the people they are dependent on - the banks. It always comes back to the banks who should be just repositories protecting people's cash but in fact have become much, much more. Will they voluntarily crank back prices?
Not on their own they won't. So it needs steely resolve from government, responding to public opinion, to force prices back to affordable levels and the last leader I can recall trying anything of this nature was Andrew Jackson. In the crash which would inevitably follow this government move, the whole formula is redefined.
It won't happen though because the alternative, the nanny state, confers power on an upper echelon and this blogger does not see that echelon as altruistic or philanthropic in nature.
Calling for the tripling of maternity leave is rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. It's relocating the hurt to another sector of society. There's a case for all to contribute - yes - but this is contributing to what is an out of kilter and unsustainable system in the first place.
Welshcakes is a champion of the single person being supported and she took umbrage at me putting such a person low on the list. The single person does have the burden of upkeeping a household, with all attendant costs and total costs, compared to a family, not that much less. She may also have a dependent - her pet and that needs paying for. Those who have not been in this situation cannot understand how a pet assumes a role of great importance in such a household and needs to be paid for. But it does need that and the owner gladly pays.
No one is asking for government and employer to pay for pets but the single is asking for a fairer redistribution overall. That was why I suggested 70% of the rate which the government pays families also going to singles. For this, I was called an ignorant fascist [see comments on the last maternity post].
That last maternity post called for a situation-based payout and why not? Should the state or employer pay for a person's voluntary decision to be be single or only for unavoidable singleness? One is a choice and the other a necessity.
Who determines this and for how much? Again I was called an ignorant fascist for suggesting that government [who delegates this to social security], essentially means a committee of men and women. You can't have it both ways. If the government pays out, then men and women within that government must decide how much. How is this fascist?
And one cannot ignore the macro-view - that the proliferation of single person households cannot be sustained in a society already groaning under the burden, let alone the population increases due to virtually free relocation within the EU, immigration and births.
What is fascist is the state's gathering of all into a nanny state where the cost of living is entirely unsustainable. That's where the real fascism is.
All pregnant employees are entitled to take 52 weeks' statutory maternity leave around the birth of their child. However, an employee must meet certain qualifying conditions to receive statutory maternity pay (SMP). You, as the employer, pay the SMP but you can reclaim all or most of it from the government.
It works this way:
* SMP - SAP - SPP
o if total gross NI contributions over the year are equal to or less than £45,000 100% plus 4.5% compensation can be reclaimed
o if total gross NI contributions over the year are greater than £45,000 only 92% can be reclaimed with no compensation percentage
* SSP
o if 13% of the gross NI paid in the tax month is less than than the SSP paid, the difference between the two can be reclaimed
It's even clearer here and here. The mother is also entitled to:
# Child Benefit
# Tax Credits
# Child Trust Funds
In Sweden, it comprises part government and part employer funding. In Australia, there is a proposal:
The paid maternity leave scheme recommended by NFAW to the Productivity Commission will put small business on an equal footing with large organisations. The proposed scheme provides all employees with 28 weeks paid parental leave and 4 weeks paid paternity leave paid through a fund made up of a government contribution and a pooled levy on all employers of less than 1 per cent of labour costs.
Small to medium enterprises are at a disadvantage compared to Governments and big businesses in recruiting staff in a tight labour market when it comes to the attractiveness of remuneration packages they are able to offer. This disadvantage will continue if the government introduces a scheme that requires employers to replace all, or part, of the income of women on paid maternity leave.
Naturally, women are fearful that employers will take a dim view of extended maternity leave and regulations are in place to prevent this.
Right, so back in the UK, a small business employer taking on female staff gains net 4.5% of the amount paid if she gets pregnant and has the child. Now to calculate costs to the business. Whilst it is reclaimable, it is not instantly payable and there is a net loss associated with it overall. This is why SME businesses are crying out loudly against it because the figures, whilst appearing to add up in the long run, in fact cause short term difficulties, not least in having to employ another staff member, who in turn has certain rights.
Personally, this blogger thinks there must be a sharing of the load between state, employer and the employed herself [with partner makes it easier]. Ellee's call for extended maternity was never in dispute here. However, one comment from a woman in the Australian workplace [but the principle is the same] put a different point of view:
Rebekah of Melbourne posted at 11:53am June 13, 2008
I am a 29yo female & would like to start a family in the next couple of years, however I do not believe that there should be paid maternity leave. It is my choice to have children & I do not expect my employer or the government to pay me whilst on leave. My partner & I have worked out that we can afford to live on his wage, however we are only able to do so because we bought a small older house in the outer suburbs & we don't have expensive cars. I also agree with the comments regarding potential discrimation against young female job seekers - I know that if I owned a small business I would avoid hiring young females if there was paid maternity leave.
Another commenter put this proposal:
Mel of WA Posted at 9:42am June 14, 2008
Employers should not be funding this scheme from their own pockets, and the taxpayer should not be expected to fund it either. What should happen is: either the employee makes arrangements to save up or live on their partner's wage so they can afford to have their child and take a year off work, or the employee works for four years at 80% pay, and then takes the fifth year off as maternity leave at 80% pay. That way the employer is not out of pocket by having to pay maternity leave as well as pay someone else to do the absent employee's job nor is the taxpayer is funding someone's decision to have kids.
Women in Britain would claim that because of the measly package offered at present, employees are very much contributing, in effect, even given the paternity provisions and this blogger agrees with that. But tripling is not only going to cripple business, it is going to make an employer increasingly steer clear of child-bearing age women or else implement pre-employment conditions to minimize huge payouts in any financial year.
May we stop and catch our breath?
Trace our society and see what has really happened in the past decades. In the early part of last century, the extended family was the basic societal unit. In the late 50s, the nuclear family was the basic societal unit. Today, singles abound in little boxes across the west.
If we stop to count the cost of this, in financial terms, it is obvious that it is unsustainable. Financial strictures force people into finding solutions and the obvious solution is the extended family, which is quite socialist in nature. From each according to ability and to each according to needs. We are heading back to this as the squeeze grips harder and harder.
Two things come under intense pressure - the government disbursement of tax money and roofs over people's heads - there are not enough flats and houses and what there are can't be afforded. When money derived from taxes is disbursed, every taxpayer has a right to a say in how it is disbursed. Maternity leave is given to people in work and the businesses giving it have the right to say how it should be disbursed.
Government policy is squeezing businesses through tax rates anyway, let alone through schemes like SMP and this most certainly snuffs out incentive - hence the flight of business offshore and overseas. Everyone, businesses included, are hurting because everything is ultimately interconnected. Government is only taxation anyway [plus autocratic legislation]. It all becomes us again in the end.
Those two commenters just quoted above bring out an alien concept in today's world - that the having of a child is a major financial burden which needs planning and financial preparation by the couple, utilizing all family resources possible before the event. Government needs to contribute somewhat, as do employers but the decision is the couple's in the end and that entails sacrifices and responsibilities.
Whose responsibility is having a child in the end?
Where it gets really complicated is a girl who wants to live in her own flat with a child she had and where the father has departed. This is sheer madness at the personal level because the figures for supporting it don't add up. I know two girls in this situation and the family has chipped in to support her as best they can. A girl going it totally alone, on the other hand, is in an invidious position and it is now rampant in society, the US figure being 30%.
In the United Kingdom, there are 1.9 million single parents as of 2005, with 3.1 million children.[6] About 1 out of 4 families with dependent children are single-parent families. According to a survey done by the United Kingdom, 9% of single parents in the UK are fathers,[7] [8][9][10] UK poverty figures show that 47% of single parent families are below the Government-defined poverty line (after housing costs).[11]
So the girl eventually is either forced back into the family fold if she has one or if she doesn't, why not? There might have been an abusive father or there might be the simple desire to be independent. That is then paid for by state and employer. In other words, the taxpayer foots the bill for all these unmarried mothers.
Again I say that the state should do this to a point, by default but where is that cut-off point? This could go on forever, this train of thought but it is all halted by one truth - the cost of living swamps any income in this day and age. The moment the banks created a situation where the price of major items like houses and cars reached an unpayable level, then the only solution was credit.
This, in turn, broke the nexus between price and income and enabled house prices, for example, to go through the stratosphere. This is precisely what is happening in Russia today. Once on that path, we get where we currently are.
The unit of income and the unit of cost must now be completely redefined and brought back to affordable levels.
Everybody is indicating this but it's not happening. Who has the power to change this? Governments do plus the people they are dependent on - the banks. It always comes back to the banks who should be just repositories protecting people's cash but in fact have become much, much more. Will they voluntarily crank back prices?
Not on their own they won't. So it needs steely resolve from government, responding to public opinion, to force prices back to affordable levels and the last leader I can recall trying anything of this nature was Andrew Jackson. In the crash which would inevitably follow this government move, the whole formula is redefined.
It won't happen though because the alternative, the nanny state, confers power on an upper echelon and this blogger does not see that echelon as altruistic or philanthropic in nature.
Calling for the tripling of maternity leave is rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. It's relocating the hurt to another sector of society. There's a case for all to contribute - yes - but this is contributing to what is an out of kilter and unsustainable system in the first place.
Welshcakes is a champion of the single person being supported and she took umbrage at me putting such a person low on the list. The single person does have the burden of upkeeping a household, with all attendant costs and total costs, compared to a family, not that much less. She may also have a dependent - her pet and that needs paying for. Those who have not been in this situation cannot understand how a pet assumes a role of great importance in such a household and needs to be paid for. But it does need that and the owner gladly pays.
No one is asking for government and employer to pay for pets but the single is asking for a fairer redistribution overall. That was why I suggested 70% of the rate which the government pays families also going to singles. For this, I was called an ignorant fascist [see comments on the last maternity post].
That last maternity post called for a situation-based payout and why not? Should the state or employer pay for a person's voluntary decision to be be single or only for unavoidable singleness? One is a choice and the other a necessity.
Who determines this and for how much? Again I was called an ignorant fascist for suggesting that government [who delegates this to social security], essentially means a committee of men and women. You can't have it both ways. If the government pays out, then men and women within that government must decide how much. How is this fascist?
And one cannot ignore the macro-view - that the proliferation of single person households cannot be sustained in a society already groaning under the burden, let alone the population increases due to virtually free relocation within the EU, immigration and births.
What is fascist is the state's gathering of all into a nanny state where the cost of living is entirely unsustainable. That's where the real fascism is.
Friday, September 19, 2008
[maternity leave] needs to be situation-tested
Ellee thinks maternity leave should be tripled.Well, to a point it should be increased but there is maternity and maternity:
1. the wife in a marriage having a child in the normal course of events;
2. the girl who goes with a bad boy [why do girls fall for them], who then scarpers or is too rottweiler to have about and then she needs family support;
3. the benefits mum who plays the system.
Hands up anyone who's never made an error of judgement? Conversely, hands up anyone who wouldn't dream of working and sees maternity as a good dodge? So rather than the increase being across the board and universal, surely it should be situation-and-attitude-tested in each case by a panel of men and women, in each borough, to determine true eligibility.
What it should not be is means-tested because that penalizes initiative. If a husband is supporting the wife during this time, then the extra would be very much needed if he were on a standard salary and should not be reduced because he happens to have the ability to pull down a good salary.
In fact, the whole thrust in public money distribution should be to support the married couple and dependents first, then pensioners, then, by reducing amounts, the single mum and then other single people [not at half the rate but at 70%, as these still have houses to upkeep].
One negative consequence of tripling maternity leave, of course, is that no business is going to employ a possibly pregnant girl/woman any more - it can't take the risk of such a huge payout. This would bring older women and the male back into favour for employment and that is something the feminists simply would not want to happen as it virtually unravels their conditioning of society to the concept of the career woman.
[political stance] linked to psychological outlook or not
At first this looks rubbish, occasioning the riposte: "The things that get funding to research these days!" but look at it anyway:
Apart from the risible assumption that if you substitute the word "scientists" for "researchers", you get a weighty piece of gravitas, apart from the questionable methodology in itself, they still might have something there.
Left wingers I know do tend to have faith in being able to legitimately utilize the system [which in my case is not possible for reasons in a previous post] and speak of what one is entitled to.
Right wingers tend to assume the system is rubbish and that the only help is going to come from family, friends and one's own success or not.
I've definitely noticed a gloomy view of Brown's Britain whereas left wingers seem to be less concerned and have more faith that the system will protect them.
In general, this seems to be so although people have complex views and so I don't insist on the above.
Scientists studying voters in the US say our political views may be an integral part of our physical makeup. Their research, published in the journal Science, indicates that people who are sensitive to fear or threat are likely to support a right wing agenda. Those who perceived less danger in a series of images and sounds were more inclined to support liberal policies. The authors believe their findings may help to explain why voters' minds are so hard to change.
Apart from the risible assumption that if you substitute the word "scientists" for "researchers", you get a weighty piece of gravitas, apart from the questionable methodology in itself, they still might have something there.
Left wingers I know do tend to have faith in being able to legitimately utilize the system [which in my case is not possible for reasons in a previous post] and speak of what one is entitled to.
Right wingers tend to assume the system is rubbish and that the only help is going to come from family, friends and one's own success or not.
I've definitely noticed a gloomy view of Brown's Britain whereas left wingers seem to be less concerned and have more faith that the system will protect them.
In general, this seems to be so although people have complex views and so I don't insist on the above.
[eh ... come again] anomalies in europe
A couple of anomalous stories today.First up, the British photographer whom a French court has ordered to pay damages to Dodi Fayed's father for taking photos of son and girlfiend - Princess Di, just off Italy.
The yacht was off Portofino on the Italian Riviera but proceedings were able to take place in France because the photos were printed in British tabloids on sale in the country and featured in local publications.
Come again?
In a second story, less anomalous but still with question marks against it, is the Pope defending his wartime predecessor, Pius XII, for not speaking out against the treatment of jews. The current Pope says that Pius did indeed intervene on behalf of the jews:
Pope Benedict said the interventions were "made secretly and silently, precisely because, given the concrete situation of that difficult historical moment, only in this way was it possible to avoid the worst and save the greatest number of Jews".
Vaguely related is Stalin's supposed retort, when asked by his officers not to offend the Pope, "Oh yes? And how many divisions has he got?"
Seems to me a bit rich, expecting Pius to have said much. Would Williams or the Chief Rabbi, in turn, speak out about the slaughter of Muslims, if there were a holocaust against them today? On the other hand, secret funding or other aid would seem to be in order.
Can't see this one ever being resolved.
[status report for friends] others please skip this post
To post on personal matters is a high-risk activity because there is this danger of coming across as woe-is-me and no one wants to read what I've previously described as "bleat". Most bloggers keep their private affairs to themselves, if only because there are those out there who do wish a person ill.
I'm well aware that some who purport to be friends are actually saying different things privately, I know who they are but that's the same with anyone, I think. Emails say many things and it's not worth bothering about.
I've also been asked, by email, by a few people, for the current state of play with my setting up over here and I've answered by email but one letter came yesterday from Russia, saying that people are checking in via the blog to see how things are going.
So I'll take the risk - plus it's longish. This is as realistic as I can see it at this moment and where there is hope, I'll try to state that.
First - the good
I'm registered for work and have made some progress but not a lot. It is still early days though and every day I am exploring some new possibility. Today I'll try the local council.
The home situation is very good but it could end at any time as the real friend here is also looking for work and might have to leave and go to where that is. This is understood, as well as the fact that this is a temporary measure and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm abnormally sensitive to putting upon someone, to which certain purported friends might well say, "Well you've done a damned good job of disguising that sensitivity in Sicily and Hull so far."
True but to such people, with great regret, I reply, "Get knotted."
There are two accommodation possibilities but one of those might well evaporate. The other is real but finding work from there would be tough with no internet. Still, tough does not mean hopeless and that's a positive. I really think there has to be some lateral way to go, e.g. buying and then selling on eBay is a thought. No doubt other thoughts will come in. Don't think anyone will pay for writing.
In this area I'm no different to most Brits who are hurting and who are very, very worried about the coming times.
One good thing is that I sent passport and application to the Driving Licence authorities but they have a history of being bastards and refusing people [according to all I have spoken with so far] plus losing documents. I have to have a current licence to get a job [photo licence]. This is semi-OK, as technically they must reissue my old paper licence for a new one - it is that plus change of address.
If, by some miracle, the whole thing does get back here in three weeks, then I have some sort of ID.
I passed a medical with no worries and registered with the NHS and that means a particular doctor - that went off OK.
The Russian university I was at has asked for my resignation for this year and I have sent it as I am not in any financial position to even go south to London and submit documents and they have an inspection in October.
I sent a similar letter to my Minister friend [both had written, asking when I was returning]. It was all amicable and they regret and hope I'll come back next year. We'll see.
There is a fair bit of good advice coming through and much of that I'm following up.
One other very good thing is when an agency phoned the Home Office re my status as a Brit and they were told that of course I was - within Britain, that is. So, on the strength of that, I'll go for the new bio-passport again in the New Year, if the DVLA haven't lost my papers. The complication is that the EU doesn't recognize me plus others. Can't forget Ellee asking, last year in post comments, "Are you a UK blogger, James?" Er ... well ... I thought I was.
A great thing is what I call the Andrew Allison mobile and that is a Godsend [or Andrewsend] but it has to be used quite sparingly for mainly work purposes. Interesting that Vodaphone charge £5 for incoming skype and 50p for any incoming voicemail. A call is 30p and a text message 10p. Guess which one I use?
Now the downside:
Almost impossible to find work above dole level - the available work is basic wage of £5 plus [an hour] but costs are about £8 an hour, all up, including transport. I'm registered with different job agencies but my age and narrow academic field don't help.
Can't teach because it requires a CRB certificate [criminal records] which you must already have to be taken on. They won't take you on as it costs them £60 to request and an individual can't apply. Has to be a firm. No school or similar is going to pay that on a foreign returnee with no recent history, given that it takes 18 weeks and they can't employ you in that time.
Can't get a bank account for the reason of no recent history [3 years required] but you must have a bank account to get a job [it's on all registration forms]. There is a way round it and that is an old account from 15 years ago and I left the book in Sicily and am trying to get the lady [not Welshcakes] to understand where to find it in the bag I left. She did find an expired Canadian passbook and sent those details but the British one beside it she could not see and I can't seem to contact her again. Will try again today.
Can't get benefits [dole] as it depends on past working history and tax paid. Plus it looks bad anyway on the record.
Can't get housing as it also depends on years in the country. If I was black or disabled I could claim special status but as a white British type, Equal Opportunities puts me at the end of the queue. There is a safety net for those who have lived here for some time and are ethnic but not for my type. If I was an unmarried mother I could apparently get £180 a week. Well, that's the way it is so no point crying over it.
Paypal. I've been strongly advised not to do it and I completely agree. It looks bad and would dry up any remaining support there is for me plus it depends on a bank account and that's the circular argument again.
The long and the short of it is that a person cannot come into the UK after a long time away because the system is set up against immigrants who can't claim special status. My difficulty is that I'm only a bog standard, white Brit type.
Immediate problem is clothing for winter but if I find work I can afford that. My Russian ladyfriend wrote and said that a 3kg package of clothing I left with her to here is 1500 roubles so she couldn't afford that but was looking for other ways, so no clothing from there at this time. Against that is ASDA and their prices are amazingly good. Shoes £12, shirts £4-12, suit £50, jeans £8-12.
In Russia, I wore mainly dressy jeans but to get a job here requires suit and tie. I have one suit now [half courtesy of my friend here] and it is enough for now, with two summer shirts.
Am exploring buying local products and selling them on eBay but that has to fit into the other jobsearching.
So that is the state of things at this moment - not a disaster and a lot of support from people I shall always count as friends and these have kept me sane, warm and fed. It's no idle comment to say that that friendship will come back to them one day and not so far away either.
To the purported friends ... well ... that doesn't worry me any. It's always been the way and it's more their problem than mine. To real enemies, of which there might be three or four, by my estimation ... hope we can find some sort of rapprochement. I have no desire for enemies whatsoever and wish no one ill.
I think we're agreed that the system itself needs drastic reform though [or at least revision to cover all contingencies].
More at another time.
I'm well aware that some who purport to be friends are actually saying different things privately, I know who they are but that's the same with anyone, I think. Emails say many things and it's not worth bothering about.
I've also been asked, by email, by a few people, for the current state of play with my setting up over here and I've answered by email but one letter came yesterday from Russia, saying that people are checking in via the blog to see how things are going.
So I'll take the risk - plus it's longish. This is as realistic as I can see it at this moment and where there is hope, I'll try to state that.
First - the good
I'm registered for work and have made some progress but not a lot. It is still early days though and every day I am exploring some new possibility. Today I'll try the local council.
The home situation is very good but it could end at any time as the real friend here is also looking for work and might have to leave and go to where that is. This is understood, as well as the fact that this is a temporary measure and I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm abnormally sensitive to putting upon someone, to which certain purported friends might well say, "Well you've done a damned good job of disguising that sensitivity in Sicily and Hull so far."
True but to such people, with great regret, I reply, "Get knotted."
There are two accommodation possibilities but one of those might well evaporate. The other is real but finding work from there would be tough with no internet. Still, tough does not mean hopeless and that's a positive. I really think there has to be some lateral way to go, e.g. buying and then selling on eBay is a thought. No doubt other thoughts will come in. Don't think anyone will pay for writing.
In this area I'm no different to most Brits who are hurting and who are very, very worried about the coming times.
One good thing is that I sent passport and application to the Driving Licence authorities but they have a history of being bastards and refusing people [according to all I have spoken with so far] plus losing documents. I have to have a current licence to get a job [photo licence]. This is semi-OK, as technically they must reissue my old paper licence for a new one - it is that plus change of address.
If, by some miracle, the whole thing does get back here in three weeks, then I have some sort of ID.
I passed a medical with no worries and registered with the NHS and that means a particular doctor - that went off OK.
The Russian university I was at has asked for my resignation for this year and I have sent it as I am not in any financial position to even go south to London and submit documents and they have an inspection in October.
I sent a similar letter to my Minister friend [both had written, asking when I was returning]. It was all amicable and they regret and hope I'll come back next year. We'll see.
There is a fair bit of good advice coming through and much of that I'm following up.
One other very good thing is when an agency phoned the Home Office re my status as a Brit and they were told that of course I was - within Britain, that is. So, on the strength of that, I'll go for the new bio-passport again in the New Year, if the DVLA haven't lost my papers. The complication is that the EU doesn't recognize me plus others. Can't forget Ellee asking, last year in post comments, "Are you a UK blogger, James?" Er ... well ... I thought I was.
A great thing is what I call the Andrew Allison mobile and that is a Godsend [or Andrewsend] but it has to be used quite sparingly for mainly work purposes. Interesting that Vodaphone charge £5 for incoming skype and 50p for any incoming voicemail. A call is 30p and a text message 10p. Guess which one I use?
Now the downside:
Almost impossible to find work above dole level - the available work is basic wage of £5 plus [an hour] but costs are about £8 an hour, all up, including transport. I'm registered with different job agencies but my age and narrow academic field don't help.
Can't teach because it requires a CRB certificate [criminal records] which you must already have to be taken on. They won't take you on as it costs them £60 to request and an individual can't apply. Has to be a firm. No school or similar is going to pay that on a foreign returnee with no recent history, given that it takes 18 weeks and they can't employ you in that time.
Can't get a bank account for the reason of no recent history [3 years required] but you must have a bank account to get a job [it's on all registration forms]. There is a way round it and that is an old account from 15 years ago and I left the book in Sicily and am trying to get the lady [not Welshcakes] to understand where to find it in the bag I left. She did find an expired Canadian passbook and sent those details but the British one beside it she could not see and I can't seem to contact her again. Will try again today.
Can't get benefits [dole] as it depends on past working history and tax paid. Plus it looks bad anyway on the record.
Can't get housing as it also depends on years in the country. If I was black or disabled I could claim special status but as a white British type, Equal Opportunities puts me at the end of the queue. There is a safety net for those who have lived here for some time and are ethnic but not for my type. If I was an unmarried mother I could apparently get £180 a week. Well, that's the way it is so no point crying over it.
Paypal. I've been strongly advised not to do it and I completely agree. It looks bad and would dry up any remaining support there is for me plus it depends on a bank account and that's the circular argument again.
The long and the short of it is that a person cannot come into the UK after a long time away because the system is set up against immigrants who can't claim special status. My difficulty is that I'm only a bog standard, white Brit type.
Immediate problem is clothing for winter but if I find work I can afford that. My Russian ladyfriend wrote and said that a 3kg package of clothing I left with her to here is 1500 roubles so she couldn't afford that but was looking for other ways, so no clothing from there at this time. Against that is ASDA and their prices are amazingly good. Shoes £12, shirts £4-12, suit £50, jeans £8-12.
In Russia, I wore mainly dressy jeans but to get a job here requires suit and tie. I have one suit now [half courtesy of my friend here] and it is enough for now, with two summer shirts.
Am exploring buying local products and selling them on eBay but that has to fit into the other jobsearching.
So that is the state of things at this moment - not a disaster and a lot of support from people I shall always count as friends and these have kept me sane, warm and fed. It's no idle comment to say that that friendship will come back to them one day and not so far away either.
To the purported friends ... well ... that doesn't worry me any. It's always been the way and it's more their problem than mine. To real enemies, of which there might be three or four, by my estimation ... hope we can find some sort of rapprochement. I have no desire for enemies whatsoever and wish no one ill.
I think we're agreed that the system itself needs drastic reform though [or at least revision to cover all contingencies].
More at another time.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
[cunning plan] for the tea and bikkie queue
One nice thing about being back here is the minutae.
We were having a discussion today about cups of tea and biscuits. When you go into the store caf on a Tuesday, as you know, you have to get to the biscuits quickly when they bring them out at 11, otherwise the chocky ones will be gone by the time you get back from the tea queue.
Now, if you try to be clever and one of you gets the biscuits, where there is no queue and the other is in the tea queue, the one who gets the biscuits can then go and reserve a table by sitting at it.
But [and this is a big but], that’s assuming the other people who’ve rushed the caf have not also had the same idea, in which case you don’t get that nice spot in the corner you’d spied earlier and you have to make do with sitting up on those stool thingies, which detracts from the whole experience.
This can constitute a discussion of some 30 minutes later back home or even longer if the tea line person brought white coffee instead of black because he’d forgotten.
How do you organize these things yourself?
We were having a discussion today about cups of tea and biscuits. When you go into the store caf on a Tuesday, as you know, you have to get to the biscuits quickly when they bring them out at 11, otherwise the chocky ones will be gone by the time you get back from the tea queue.
Now, if you try to be clever and one of you gets the biscuits, where there is no queue and the other is in the tea queue, the one who gets the biscuits can then go and reserve a table by sitting at it.
But [and this is a big but], that’s assuming the other people who’ve rushed the caf have not also had the same idea, in which case you don’t get that nice spot in the corner you’d spied earlier and you have to make do with sitting up on those stool thingies, which detracts from the whole experience.
This can constitute a discussion of some 30 minutes later back home or even longer if the tea line person brought white coffee instead of black because he’d forgotten.
How do you organize these things yourself?
[crash test dummies] or just your standard alien
Several people in Roswell, N.M., have reported spotting an unidentified flying object over the northwest side of the city, a mecca for those interested in UFOs.
Andre Buonaiuto said he and his wife saw a flying saucer Monday night, KOAT-TV in Albuquerque reported Wednesday.
And the Airforce explanation?
"Aliens" observed in the New Mexico desert were actually anthropomorphic test dummies that were carried aloft by U.S. Air Force high altitude balloons for scientific research.
The "unusual" military activities in the New Mexico desert were high altitude research balloon launch and recovery operations. Reports of military units that always seemed to arrive shortly after the crash of a flying saucer to retrieve the saucer and "crew," were actually accurate descriptions of Air Force personnel engaged in anthropomorphic dummy recovery operations.
Well, that's a relief. Unless, of course, all those crash test dummies and store front mannequins are actually ... aliens! The only way to verify this is when you next go to the mall or shopping centre. Here's how to do it:
1. Approach one of the mannequins respectfully, then seize it in a headlock and disrobe it;
2. Unscrew the head and place one thermometer you've just brought deep into the neck recess and one in another place, thereby establishing if it is alive or not;
3. When store security has you in a headlock, explain that you are saving the world by exposing the mannequin plan to invade and take over the world.
4. They'll then award you a medal and you can sell your story for £10 000.
Easy-peasy.
[rescue package] let's bend the rules
Couldn't hold back on this one:
Analysts expect the government would waive any antitrust concerns related to Lloyds and HBOS. “In more normal times, a tie-up … wouldn't have even been considered because of the competition issues,” CreditInsights analyst Simon Adamson told Bloomberg. “These aren't normal times.”
At the same time:
World banks, led by the US Federal Reserve, are pumping $US360 billion into global markets in a coordinated effort to avert a lock-up of the financial system.
Isn't that interesting? Forgive the logic, if it is faulty but it looks a little like this to me:
Sub-prime lending, billionaire boys' club type speculation with people's funds, hedge funds et al, egged on by advertising, created both unreal expectations of what constitutes the good life and gave a pie-in-the-sky way to get it - credit and mortgages, together with essentially bad financial advice.
The bottom dropped out and who is poised to 'help'? Why the big finance of course and governments gratefully step to one side and waive financial regulations, e.g. anti-trust laws, in these 'abnormal times'.
Wonderful. Net effect?
Well, given that the average citizen has been effectively owned by his/her bank since the late 60s and given that those banks are now effectively owned by the big money e.g. the Fed regulated, in effect, by the FOMC, then the big money now, in real terms, directly controls the average cit and can leverage governments worldwide.
So, in the case of the Fed, this means New York and this in turn means Morgan etc. Take a quick look at their history.
Now, given that it was the actions of the finance, in the first place, which got the world into trouble, [yes, of course it was technically our aspirations and ambitions but the finance was surely playing on our human folly and vulnerability in the most cynical manner, e.g. sub-prime lending], then again and again we come back to the same question - was all this the result of incompetence or design?
Either way, 'short and curlies' is the phrase hovering over my mind just now.
Those in the business are talking up the economy - that we've now bottomed out and are looking at a jittery return of confidence in the next few years and it may well be so but the difference is who will be in the driving seat once that happens and where will we all be?
UPDATE: Courtesy of Anon. It's on the edge, with lots of underlining for emphasis but watch the vid anyway and chew it over.
[orgone] accumulating craziness and stripping away inhibitions
Wilhelm Reich, [whose brother Third became famous in a separate sphere], was operating at a time of great craziness, the 30s. My own study is more from the 1890s through to the early 30s, when equally weird things were happening and social experimentation was at it's height.
One manifestation of this was the hypothesized existence of orgone which, as Wiki says, entailed:
The dangers in upgrading a metaphor into a science and surrounding it with scientific trappings is especially poignant with orgone:
In plain English, if you could release this sexual energy and accumulate it in an orgone accumulator, then the sky was the limit. With a world backdrop of Nazi Germany, eugenics and the like, such a concept was always going to be seized upon by both the bohemian world and twould be examined by the crazies at the top of the political tree.
Politically, it was a double-edged sword in that while it could be harnessed as a destructor of the old order of values and society, a desirable outcome for the new order, it was, at the same time, going to free humans from all social constraints and that was something up with which governments were not going to put, especially Nazi Germany, where Reich had offended Hitler anyway.
Orgone was at once anarchic and destructive, a cranked up form of hedonistic rush, where one followed basic impulses rather than any consensus of rules. It was free sex with a codicil that the only law was to do as you wished, every last person, in some sort of sexual healing claimed to set the world to rights.
In a largely sympathetic article on Reich, Gerald Grow wrote:
Therein lie two interesting threads - A.S. Neill and the borderline of sanity. Anyone over forty years of age in education is probably going to know that Neill's theories had enormous currency in education, as Spock's did with families and were one of the key factors leading to the disastrous 70s "open plan" education experiment on which it is hard to find any negative online reviews, due to education being dominated today largely by the same people. Nevertheless, this touches on the issue:
Were they ever and now you can observe the result - less literacy, less numeracy, inadequate socialization and inadequate interface between education and the corporate world into which graduates must survive.
But that's another issue.
One manifestation of this was the hypothesized existence of orgone which, as Wiki says, entailed:
... an extrapolation of the Freudian concept of libido as a physical, bioenergetic force, developed by psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich in the late 1930s, who generalized and abstracted it far beyond Freud's semi-metaphoric use.
Reich's followers, such as Charles R. Kelley, went to the extent of claiming orgone to be the creative substratum in all of nature, and compared it to Mesmer's animal magnetism, the Odic force of Carl Reichenbach and Henri Bergson's Élan vital.
The dangers in upgrading a metaphor into a science and surrounding it with scientific trappings is especially poignant with orgone:
Freud focused on a solipsistic conception of the mind, in which unconscious and inherently selfish primal drives (primarilly the sexual drive, or libido) were suppressed or sublimated by internal representations (cathexes) of parental figures; for Reich libido was a life-affirming force repressed by society directly ...
In plain English, if you could release this sexual energy and accumulate it in an orgone accumulator, then the sky was the limit. With a world backdrop of Nazi Germany, eugenics and the like, such a concept was always going to be seized upon by both the bohemian world and twould be examined by the crazies at the top of the political tree.
Politically, it was a double-edged sword in that while it could be harnessed as a destructor of the old order of values and society, a desirable outcome for the new order, it was, at the same time, going to free humans from all social constraints and that was something up with which governments were not going to put, especially Nazi Germany, where Reich had offended Hitler anyway.
Orgone was at once anarchic and destructive, a cranked up form of hedonistic rush, where one followed basic impulses rather than any consensus of rules. It was free sex with a codicil that the only law was to do as you wished, every last person, in some sort of sexual healing claimed to set the world to rights.
In a largely sympathetic article on Reich, Gerald Grow wrote:
During the 1940s, Reich became more and more isolated, working with a small circle of trainees and close supporters and a wider circle of kindred spirits, including A. S. Neill, founder of Summerhill school, and William Steig, the cartoonist ... Like many charismatic figures, Reich could be overbearing (Sharaf reports that Reich warned one student: “Keep away from me. I am overwhelming. I burn through people.”), and his faith in his creative thinking repeatedly led him beyond what some considered to be sanity.
Therein lie two interesting threads - A.S. Neill and the borderline of sanity. Anyone over forty years of age in education is probably going to know that Neill's theories had enormous currency in education, as Spock's did with families and were one of the key factors leading to the disastrous 70s "open plan" education experiment on which it is hard to find any negative online reviews, due to education being dominated today largely by the same people. Nevertheless, this touches on the issue:
The construction of open classroom schools declined by the mid-1970s. Concerns about noise and distraction encouraged educators to return to a traditional approach. Although the open classroom movement lost popularity, certain aspects of its philosophy and methods were reshaped and used.
Were they ever and now you can observe the result - less literacy, less numeracy, inadequate socialization and inadequate interface between education and the corporate world into which graduates must survive.
But that's another issue.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
[job hunting] from portsmouth to queensferry
This job hunting has some unexpected sidelights to it.
I was talking to a supermarket sub-manager about running his staffing programme when what looked like the young chap in charge of the produce section came through to the alcove where we were speaking and said that a customer had asked him for half a head of lettuce. Produce apparently told him they only sold whole heads of lettuce.
Produce then told the sub-manager the moron was causing trouble and at that moment, what was clearly the angry woman herself appeared, at which Produce turned round to her and said, "and this lady wants the other half."
The sub-manager asked me if I'd wait, smoothed it over and then told Produce, "That was impressive. We like people who think on their feet. You're from Portsmouth, right?"
"Right, sir, South Hayling," said Produce.
"Well, why did you leave Portsmouth?"
"There's nothing but tarts and footballers down there."
"Really?" the sub-manager said, while I cringed. "My wife comes from Purbrook!"
Produce replied, "Gosh - did she ever try out for Pompey?"
I was talking to a supermarket sub-manager about running his staffing programme when what looked like the young chap in charge of the produce section came through to the alcove where we were speaking and said that a customer had asked him for half a head of lettuce. Produce apparently told him they only sold whole heads of lettuce.
Produce then told the sub-manager the moron was causing trouble and at that moment, what was clearly the angry woman herself appeared, at which Produce turned round to her and said, "and this lady wants the other half."
The sub-manager asked me if I'd wait, smoothed it over and then told Produce, "That was impressive. We like people who think on their feet. You're from Portsmouth, right?"
"Right, sir, South Hayling," said Produce.
"Well, why did you leave Portsmouth?"
"There's nothing but tarts and footballers down there."
"Really?" the sub-manager said, while I cringed. "My wife comes from Purbrook!"
Produce replied, "Gosh - did she ever try out for Pompey?"
[dead pubs] dead society
Toque says, about this pub:
That's as maybe and this blog thoroughly agrees with the sentiment. However, business is business and if it's not paying, it has to be sold. The real question is why people stopped drinking there in any numbers anyway.
The answers include the smoking ban, supermarket and off-licence booze, massive franchise establishments, changing fast and trendy lifestyles, poor service, the change downwards in the nature of the remaining clientele and so on but the simple fact is that people are not coming through that door, except in search of a pee.
Why? In my case - the cost. With lunch at £6, dinner main course at £10 and a beer at £3, just one evening with your wife or mates adds up to a substantial bill. Only the white collar worker in relatively safe employment can afford that any more.
One of this blogger's major character flaws is to continually ask why. So why has the price gone into the stratosphere and the pub become a less cheery place to go now? More importantly, what ultimate price will be paid by the society by removing one of the key pillars in British social cohesion? Like the coffee houses of the time of the men of letters, the pub was always the ideas exchange, where social values and community cohesion were reinforced.
Was the acquisitive society on speed a natural consequence of change or was there any social engineering behind this, long ago?
The plan is to demolish Chequers and build some flats. Local residents do not want the pub to be demolished ...
That's as maybe and this blog thoroughly agrees with the sentiment. However, business is business and if it's not paying, it has to be sold. The real question is why people stopped drinking there in any numbers anyway.
The answers include the smoking ban, supermarket and off-licence booze, massive franchise establishments, changing fast and trendy lifestyles, poor service, the change downwards in the nature of the remaining clientele and so on but the simple fact is that people are not coming through that door, except in search of a pee.
Why? In my case - the cost. With lunch at £6, dinner main course at £10 and a beer at £3, just one evening with your wife or mates adds up to a substantial bill. Only the white collar worker in relatively safe employment can afford that any more.
One of this blogger's major character flaws is to continually ask why. So why has the price gone into the stratosphere and the pub become a less cheery place to go now? More importantly, what ultimate price will be paid by the society by removing one of the key pillars in British social cohesion? Like the coffee houses of the time of the men of letters, the pub was always the ideas exchange, where social values and community cohesion were reinforced.
Was the acquisitive society on speed a natural consequence of change or was there any social engineering behind this, long ago?
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