Month: May 2008

I find the government extrapolation of roughly gathered statistics, is causing knee-jerk reactions by both the government and the media, when quiet contemplation might have a totally different interpretation in what is seen to be a problem. Today we had a very crass example, where some backroom boy had done a bit of extrapolating and was frightening the daylights out of the Cabinet, by telling them that in 18 years the number of people with Alzheimer’s will be nearly doubled. I and my wife are a lot closer to 90 than we are to 80. We are fully aware of what the future could hold, we have seen it so often among our relatives and friends, from the ages of 60 upwards. We are fully aware of our responsibilities with respect to the Health Service and more importantly members of our family. We have no wish ever to be a burden on anyone, even ourselves. Having visited friends and relatives in even the very best of care homes, that barren existence has no place in our future plans.

If that is accepted, presupposing that the government has a legitimate worry about finding the money with which to deal with the problem of old age in the electorate, one could be forgiven for thinking that they have not taken an overview. Most of my family, and especially my wife have been religious people, by that I mean churchgoers, not fanatics. I myself originally had strong beliefs up to my teens when I was rudely awakened. I have always been careful never to attempt to influence anyone, including my children, about religious doctrine, because I am aware, especially in old age, it can be more than just a crutch. Now though, religion no longer has the strong views that used to be held, especially in Victorian times, and are now not common currency. In consequence people are not so restrained by their religious beliefs when it comes to suicide. What I find strange is that some countries accept euthanasia, and yet this country would prefer someone who is at the end of their tether, and an amateur at suicide, to attempt to take their own life, make a botch of it and thus become a serious responsibility to themselves, to their relatives and to the social services, instead of promoting personal choice with suitable safeguards, being carried out professionally, and responsibly. Who is it who is restraining what I see as the march of common sense, in an age where brutality is clearly increasing and to some, if you believe what you see on television, acceptable?

Politics. Because of my experiences as an adult over 70 years, it worries me when I see that those in Labour are proposing David Miliband as the next leader. He has been a member of Parliament for seven years, and held three successive posts as Minister of State, each for about a year. The worry, because a general election is on the horizon, is that if Miliband is appointed, our three main parties will have relatively young and inexperienced men as potential Prime Ministers. I believe that the mess we are in is due to the fact of Gordon Brown’s inexperience. It therefore follows that none of these young men should have over all, unquestioned responsibility, as has been the case since the landslide that took Blair into office. I remember the landslide that brought Labour to power in the 40s, and others since. An overall, unassailable majority is tantamount to dictatorship, and should be avoided at all costs. I think it unlikely that we would be fighting two wars and facing destitution if Labour had not had an overall majority. There are good people in all the parties, and their views at times of serious content should bear weight. I just hope that the electorate, in the next election, in apathy and frustration, will not take the easy way out of getting rid of Labour, but think long and hard of what they’re doing.

The Internet. I have been very unsuccessful in my dealings on the Internet. So it worries me when I am forced by commercial forces to have dealings on the Internet, or have to pay an excess for a bill in paper form. We are urged to have a care when making financial transactions on the Internet, that we don’t give away vital information. It seems that all in the government and business, are under the impression that everyone is computer literate and owns a computer. This of course is nonsense, but if those to whom it does not apply have to pay more to transact, the elderly and the underprivileged will yet again be disadvantaged further.

Verbal Talk-Talk contract. Anyone with any wit will not enter into a contract of any substance on the telephone, but the other day, Talk-Talk, forced me to do just that. I had a 20 minute monologue on the telephone with a gentleman who clearly was speaking from the subcontinent, and insisted that I listened to, and presumably tried to understand, all that he had to say, concerning the fact that my telephone lines and broadband were being switched to his company. I stated I was 85, was partially deaf and had no wish to continue with the discussion, all to no avail. He even had the outrageous cheek to say that as he was recording it, the discussion itself was a verbal contract, and that I would be receiving a written contract later. To me this was totally crazy. He insisted I sit while he read, and if I tried to stop him or question him, he would only go back and reiterate. If they were sending me the information what was the point in making me let my lunch go cold while he was feeding me information that represented pages, of which only some would be remembered, and call it a verbal contract. It seems big business has no respect for the individual, makes up its own rules, irrespective of whether they make sense or not. – the steamroller syndrome.

At least I was until today when I woke up realising we had been duped for years. In around the 70s a few of the members of my family were falling off the perch, and in consequence I periodically received small legacies. When some of these had accrued in my current account I went along to the bank and sought advice, took it and invested. With time I became more astute with respect to the dealings on the stock exchange, and my investments prospered, until that is, just before I went on holiday. I had been reading the press and interpreted that some of my stocks were in jeopardy. I trooped along to see the young lady who had been advising me at the bank, who had now been head-hunted by a financial adviser. When I had made my point she told me I had no worries, I believed her, went on holiday, but when I returned I realised I had been right. The situation has occurred more than once since then, even only a couple of months ago, just before Northern Rock.

The manipulations of the stock market and mainly the money markets, are a combination of shifting money to where it’s needed, but more importantly for some to accrue money. I suspect that the balance of the transactions is for generating individual wealth, rather than the good of society. I think the problem is that we took the stock exchanges of the world for what they were in the good old days when people had time to consider the options, and had not taken onboard the transformation of the computer and what high-speed communication had done to change the whole system. We were trusting.

Take the case of the young lady whose advice I sought, it wouldn’t matter how much or how little money she had to start with, as I’m sure she was on commission, so if she was as good as at the time I thought she was, she, and consequently all the hundreds of other financial advisers, should all be millionaires within a year or two, and be able to retire, but they were not, they were like the rest of us, wage earners. If you want an operation, you hope the surgeon has been thoroughly trained and is a member of the Royal College. This applies to all the professions, most of which carry insurance against professional error. Today round the world, there are rooms full of young people, probably some with a university degree, but no qualification in financial trading, sitting in front of several computer screens, making gargantuan deals across the globe, but the level of supervision is probably arbitrary, and the effects of those deals on the rest of us, unrecorded.

What I question is whether this current tremendous shake-up in the World’s finances is going to make any difference to the status quo in which financial transactions are conducted. I doubt whether either individually or collectively the politicians of the world will see the error of the ways finance has become global, and the risks that are thus embodied.

Youth Crime Impact. It appears that the increased spending has been almost a total waste of money and the targets have been missed in every case. In spite of this the government agencies are putting out statements which contradict those put out by the Criminology Department of King’s College London which has been doing a study. Add to this the fact that the crimes committed by girls has risen by 25% it seems to be another indication that a new approach is needed. I quote,’.. the government has placed too high expectations on the youth justice system and should be clearer about its limitations’. What I’ve found incredible is that the government appears to have not even tried a localised experiment, with the parents also charged with negligence at the time the child is charged with whatever crime is committed. Depending on the level of the crime of the child, the pair of them should then be required to do social service..

Change In Parent Status. Yesterday in the Daily Telegraph there was an article which indicated that fathers were not an essential part of family living, and it was quite acceptable for a child to have two mothers. I’m not entirely sure on what basis this has been decided, and whether it is yet another outcome of minority pressure, succeeding because there are other more urgent matters requiring attention by the legislators. If you look back through my biography which is on the blog, you will see that periodically I had one mother, one mother and one father together, then two mothers, my grandmother and my aunt, one mother etc etc. I was lucky in one respect that my grandmother was a sister of three boys, and played with them, learned their games and was able to teach some of them to me. I have had a long married life, two fine daughters, five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Home life is dependent on a number of factors, the parents sharing their responsibilities, the relationships between the parents, the relationship of the parents and the children, and between the children. For a rounded existence, provided that the above factors are adhered to, the children require advice, skills and companionship from both sexes, it is not enough for the boys of a two-father family to be taught manly pursuits and skills, nor if this new world comes about, for the opposite to take effect.

I know that in my case, and I’m told by others that I am not easily swayed, that there were many times when I missed having a father. Any zoologist will tell you that the animal kingdom has arrived as it is today through attrition and teaching within the groups, and the TV programmes of animal behaviour bear witness to the individual responsibilities of the sexes in the need to survive. In our sophistication, the desire by some people to be different, and others to spawn new theories in spite of their inexperience, we are steadily, and far more quickly than nature can accommodate, modifying our environment and way of life beyond necessity,  with little care for the final outcome that will affect our descendants.

Maybe we are, because otherwise they wouldn’t treat us so. I’m talking about politicians, advertisers, and all the misinformation that we are fed daily. On  Sunday, on the Politics Show on BBC 1, Harriet Harman was put on the rack for two reasons. The first was that at either Central Office, or the local constituency of Crew and Nantwich, a campaign had been decided upon to belittle the Conservative candidate, because he was allegedly a millionaire. Secondly, Mr Jon Sopel pointed out that she herself had a fairly exclusive background. I have been banging on for years that the one advantage of the old political system was that most of the politicians came from wealthy backgrounds and that politics was their life almost from childhood, and because of their wealth they were in an unassailable position, Their livelihood was a separate entity. Today most of our politicians are career politicians, with all the pitfalls that that can engender, especially toeing the party line against their conscience. I found the Crewe and Nantwich Labour approach particularly repugnant, it was childish, simplistic, and totally inaccurate. If there was anything to recommend her to the electorate, apart from the fact that the Labour candidate is the mother of five children, and that she is related to a previous candidate, it was nullified by their asinine campaign.

With this election coming up tomorrow and the General probably at any time, I would like to repeat one of my criticisms and general requests to our Masters. Gordon and his cohorts are constantly repeating how good he was as chancellor, which I take exception to. Firstly because we, the silent majority, were forever warning of the pitfall of the internal debt, but worse were not made aware that our bankers were being allowed to fund similar debts in other countries with our savings. Secondly, the previous multimillionaire PM and the rest of the cabinet didn’t also heed our pleadings. Gordon was allowed free rein when the whole system should have been controlled. Please, plug this hole in our financial system and let British money be controlled in Britain.

I beg you, my readers, to look closely at the advertisements on television. If you haven’t got Sky Plus, you are forced to sit through hours of it, with puppets, painted images and just occasionally famous faces, extolling merits which in many cases have not been substantiated or are overstated. Once one adopts this attitude it is like a game, just to see how many of the adverts are truly honest, and the product is proven to be essential to our interest, and not just to be purchased because the advertisement is scaring the devil out of us by insinuating some dire consequence if we don’t buy the product. Don’t Forget, the spiel we get pushed through the door prior to elections is a form of advertising. As my old Gran used to say repeatedly about everyone, ‘Don’t believe all they say!’

I think some of the remarks which pass across the floor of the House of Commons, and are then transmitted on television, have all the ingredients of ignorance, bad manners, lack of respect, and above all are a bad example to the youth of the nation. If you go back through the ages and look at some of the speeches of people like Nye Bevan, Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, they could make the point with wit and the use of the language that was twice as belittling as the sort of torrent that we have today, which is more the epitome of a sawdust-floored bar room. It was always an in-joke, that when the English were talking to foreigners, they considered shouting would put their point over, even though they didn’t speak the language. Have you noticed the decibels created by David Cameron, when he is at his most vitriolic?

Often, when I’m listening to a TV inquisitor, or reporter in the field, I’m amazed at just how crass they can be, with the implied insults by the very nature of their vocabulary. They make me cringe with embarrassment for them, and for their total lack of consideration, respect, and decorum. They can be so arrogant, it is as if they feel they operate on another plain, with a different set of rules to the rest of us,. Today it seems that nobody in the public eye, even if they wish, can avoid this sort of verbal harassment. I suppose to a certain extent it is the people urgently seeking publicity, accreditation, fame and adulation, who are prepared to expose their lives, their intimate relationships, and their financial dealings, who are responsible for the growth in the myth that the public has an unhindered right to any knowledge, and it is the duty of the media to ferret it out and expose it. The media are not so much interested in the stories, and their consequent ripples and side-effects, they are merely ambitious, self-seeking and above all greedy.

I’m not sure if it’s my white hair, or my age, but I have found that a reasoned, courteous and factual approach, in making complaints, dealing commercially and in general everyday intercourse, is more effective than blasting broadsides – invective is usually totally counter-productive.

Briefly, I have worked in consultancies, contracting, quangos, local government and central government, as a technician in the Navy, or as a civil engineer in the rest.

Let us first examine Local Government as I knew it, At the top is a Mayor and the Councillors. These are men and women who have worked their way up either rung by rung, are astute in business, or have been professionals. Few are young, and in consequence they are experienced in business and in life. Some are ambitious, some have a sense of duty, and some are there because they were persuaded.. Not all are honest, but that can be said of life generally. Local authorities are not given due credit, and are tarred by a broad brush for the mistakes of a small minority.

The next layer starts with the Town Clerk, then the heads of sections, and finally the General Staff within the city or town hall, and once in the waterworks the sewage works, mending roads, collecting rates and doing all the things that local authorities used to do. The heads of sections have generally been promoted from within, having been in the Council direct from school or university, and worked their way up partly through selection by ability, and dead man’s shoes. It is only in exceptional cases, such as the development of a new department that recruitment is taken from outside.

The history of the Council, its work and its records are not just on paper but in the minds of the staff because its their life. Councils employ some people who would not be employed by industry, thus giving dignity to those whose accomplishments are below par. I believe that this aspect, in this day and age, may have gone by the board. The benefit to the public is that they have easy access, to both the councillors and the council staff. The benefit to the staff is that they don’t have to go far to solve a problem, merely upstairs and downstairs, where they can discuss it face-to-face and generally find a solution. Surprisingly Quangos operate very much like local authorities on a smaller scale, and thus have the same advantages.

Central Government as a statement is a non sequitur, it is generally not central, but miles away, such that the public has rarely contact with those governing or carrying out the instructions of those governing – it’s a paper chase. The government is a collection of people either put forward by local wards, or often put forward by political factions. Like local government they are voted in, and sit with their own kind, while there are a few who are independent. We all know the problems of a government with total sway, but unlike local government which only affects individually a small portion of the electorate, central government affects the whole country, so the good or evil that it does affects us all, not just a small proportion. The opposition has a problem, it wants to get into office itself, so has to be critical. but if the government is operating sensibly, the opposition has no foothold, the government has drawn its teeth, so there are times when the House of Commons is pure histrionics. One other problem is that people are put in office for experience as much as need, and with time are shifted about, so the continuity is maintained not by the members of parliament, nor by the senior civil service, who also get shifted about for experience, but mainly on paper, and if there is a change of location, quite often a lot that paper is lost, along with the continuity

The Civil Service, graded from Eton and Oxbridge first-class honours, right the way down to the tea boy are situated in ivory towers and only communicate with one another and the public on paper. Technocrats are rare in the upper reaches of the civil service, with the result that those at the coalface have difficulty in persuading their masters, the senior civil servants, of the necessities of which they’re trying to convince them. By the same token the public can only contact their MP if they have a problem, and the MP has to contact the Minister and the Minister probably has to contact his civil servants to send a reply in writing back down the chain. The MP is sincerely doing the best he or she can, it is just the sterile system which stultifies question-and-answer – communication.

I trust I have made a good case for going back to the old ways where everything that really affected our lives was controlled locally and we had access.

I believe, unsurprisingly, that many of the old ways were best.
Strangely these thoughts came about because I had purchased freezer bags which I discovered to be half the weight of the previous ones, and slightly dearer. Everything today is subject to unheralded change which is frustrating, and in some cases frightening. My early life was like a ride on a big dipper, it had incredible highs and desperate lows, but it was not of the common run. From as far as I can remember right up until the end of WW2, peoples lives were generally ordained by their social standing, their education and their location. Most had a rough idea of what the future held because it would probably follow the route of their forebears. In their intimate lives there was relatively little change, little ambition and the prospects were meagre. They purchased their staples from the same shops that their grandparents had, and there had been little change in all that time in the price and quality. There were a few millionaires, but nobody thought about them, when the weekly basic wage was £3 a week to feed a husband and wife and several children, the gap was too large to be imagined, and there I think lies the problem of today, everyone would like to be a millionaire, and how they achieve it is not too important. It doesn’t seem to matter that the supporters of football clubs are being taken to the cleaners for their entertainment, and the kit for their children, as long as the footballers are getting seven figure sums every year. How can you possibly spend millions every year? If you can’t, do you need it?

Millions are spent every week in the hope of a lucky win, people win millions on a simple quiz show, directors who have made a total disaster of the finances of their company are given a seven figure golden handshake instead of being shown the door. When you read of a Prime Minister who owns two multi-million properties, and is reaping a vast income, while the rest of the country is suffering financially, and in the deaths of some of its young, from his faulty decisions, it becomes evident that society has totally changed. Without restraint there are those, right across the board and around the world, who have been playing Monopoly with our personal finances, to the point where we have no security. These are the outcome of unbridled greed, megalomania and a disregard for probity, all of which is now creeping like a fungus into our daily lives, where products and services are modified to cut costs, without warning of the change, and what we are getting is neither what we used to get nor what we expected to get. We can no longer rely on our government, it makes one statement one day and changes it the next, our media are fined millions for malfeasance, we are taxed in so many different ways that it is impossible to decide what percentage of our income is taken, and we are also fined at every opportunity for the mildest discrepancy.

I believe that the old ways were not the worst ways, and in my next article I propose to demonstrate that Local Government may have had its weaknesses, but it was a hell of a sight better than what we’ve got today.