Consumption and economics

With the US heading for a "fiscal cliff" unless Obama, the Senate and House of Representatives can muster a last minute deal, it is timely to remind ourselves that western economics is based on driving consumption to stupid levels to encourage "growth". This is ultimately unsustainable.

See http://www.monbiot.com/2012/12/10/the-gift-of-death/ for an interesting article on this.

The end of the world? No, the beginning of the future

There has been a lot of publicity about the end of the world predictions which were supposed to have originated from some Mayan calendar that said the world would end at 11.11am on Dec 21st 2012. Well, the time came and passed and we are still here.  But, I am sure I can't have been the only person who asked the question, "what if this really WAS the last day?" and reflected, if only for a few moments, on our life and its finality.

In one way, we can think of today as a new day, with new hope and new ideas. Whatever the past has been has been, it cannot be undone or changed. The future though is an unwritten book. It can be what we want it to be, full of hope and promise. It is ours to forge.

Walking in Devon

Originally I come from the South Hams in Devon. It is a beautiful part of the world with some great clifftop and country lane walks. Last week, I went back  to visit my brother for a few days and do some walking.

Unlike in the high season when there are lots of visitors, this time of year before Christmas it is so quiet. I chanced on some lovely fine sunny weather, albeit cold, and did a couple of longish (for me) walks around 10 miles each.

Thurlestone, Devon

Although I cannot guarantee the weather, I can assure you that this most beautiful part of England is at its best when it is quiet. I shall go back next December too.

The US presidential election

As I write this, the US election is a few days away and the two main candidates are neck and neck. What puzzles me about the USA is the fixation on candidates who are rich millionaires  totally out of touch with the common man.  Looking in from the outside, it appears a broken society with a lot wrong with it. OK for those with wealth but far from OK if you happen to be at the bottom of the heap. I can't help think this is a recipe for revolution at some point in the future.

Jazz from the heart

"Following the release in October of Tim Lapthorn's third and highly anticipated album, Transport, the trio will be performing a series of UK and European concerts featuring saxophone legend Bobby Wellins, undoubtedly one of the finest if not the finest tenor player to have graced the British jazz scene. The band will play a smart mix of beautiful Lapthorn originals alongside reworkings of more standard material. Expect lyrical, melodic yet explorative and exciting playing from this group of highly experienced and talented musicians"

A "Jazz Steps" quote.

My son Tim, putting his heart and soul into his music

Remember the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis?

The Cuban missile crisis took place exactly 50 years ago. 

For those of us old enough to remember this time, it was a truly terrifying week. Each morning I went to school unsure if I would return home again before nuclear war broke out. I even recall the chilling words on the BBC radio news, "a need for war may arise".

Later analysis suggests we were even closer than we thought at the time to an all out nuclear exchange and the end of civilisation. It was thanks to the politicians on both the American and Russian sides that eventually tensions were reduced. Thereafter, the Cold War was never quite the same again, and over the following decades we slowly edged towards its end.

What lessons can be learned?

• Great care is needed in complex international crises, 
• Never trust the military (they would have bombed Cuba in this case),  
• Jaw jaw is better than war war, 
• Think about the people we elect into great offices of state as one day our lives may depend on their judgement in a time of very great stress.

Phlogiston? Petrol from water and air

Becher who postulated Phlogiston

The BBC Business page carried a story this week about a company in NE England that is developing a technique to produce petrol from air and water. This sounds like something too good to be true, like Phlogiston, but if scaled up to production levels could be something remarkable.

"A British firm based on Teesside says it's designed revolutionary new technology that can produce petrol using air and water. Air Fuel Synthesis in Stockton-on-Tees has produced five litres of petrol since August, but hopes to be in production by 2015 making synthetic fuel targeted at the motor sports sector. The company believes the technique could help solve energy supply problems and curb global warming."

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20003704 .

Jimmy Savile and sex abuse

In no way do I condone sexual abuse of anyone. However, I'm puzzled by the media frenzy over Jimmy Savile, the UK DJ and TV presenter, over what he might (or might not)  have done to girls backstage in his dressing room.  If his actions were so vile and disgusting then why were these not challenged long ago when he was alive and able to face justice, and defend himself?  Some say he was a powerful person and people would have found it hard to fight him in the courts. Sorry, but I don't buy this: if enough people felt strongly then he would have been brought to justice. He is dead and gone now.

There must be other TV presenters and DJs who behaved in a similar way to Savile and I can imagine some of these people not sleeping at night waiting for the next expose.

The EU and jam jars

There was mention on the BBC TV this morning about a little known EU regulation that prevents the re-use of jam jars, e.g. at church fetes to sell home made jam or chutney. How silly is this!

I understand this is based on real information, although I am not aware anyone has been told about this or anyone has been prosecuted for not obeying the law.  When we should be worrying about the Euro, deficits, debt and job creation what stupid bureaucrats are being paid millions to create such STUPID, idiotic laws? I understand this legislation is about 6 years old. See EC regulations 1935/2004 and 2023/2006.

Although I had great sympathy with the original ideals of a common trading market, free from barriers to trade, I now think the whole European Union serves little useful purpose.  I am a firm believer in nations working together where a common good is being served, but not when it creates waste, inefficiency and needless stupid rules that add no value.

Let us rule Britannia please, not faceless idiots on inflated salaries in Brussels.

Transport

My son's new CD "Transport" is out on October 22nd from Pathway Records. At his concert in St Hilda's College, Oxford today he played some of the tracks from this and they are amazing.

It includes purely original compositions featuring solo, trios and larger ensembles, including with a string quartet. The music draws from jazz, blues, classical, folk and Brazilian influences and is a very exciting project.

Some quotes about his work:

'Lapthorn's beautiful debut set is a marvellous first statement' **** - Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD on Natural Language

'Impressive...Lapthorn blends witty invention with deep swing and unerring reassuring balance' - **** Mojo Magazine on Seventh Sense

'Brilliant music' – Jazz UK on Seventh Sense

'Pure Class' – Jazz Review on Seventh Sense

'Brilliant young pianist...Natural Language sparkles with originality and colour' – Humphrey Lyttelton, BBC Radio 2

'Superb piano playing', Paul Jones, BBC Radio 2 Rhythm and Blues show

...want to buy his new CD???

Charles Dickens cartoon

A few days ago an old friend of mine, Gale Leach in the USA, put this cartoon on her Facebook page. It amused me, so thought I'd share it here.  I've no idea where it comes from, so tell me if it is copyright and I need to remove it.

Gale is an author and she has written some lovely books for children. Take a look at her website at www.galeleach.com.

Another one of my friends here in the UK is reading all the Charles Dickens books this year. He is thoroughly enjoying them. I have to confess that I read few novels, preferring non-fiction books, and have yet to read a Charles Dickens book.

MS charity jazz concert: Oxford Oct 7th 1pm

Final reminder: Tim Lapthorn Trio (jazz) at the Jacqueline du Pre Music Building, St Hilda's College, Oxford this Sunday at 1pm. Concert is raising funds for multiple sclerosis research.  Tickets from http://www.oxfordplayhouse.com/ticketsoxford/index.aspx?catid=24

or on the door. Good music, good cause. Please come if you can to support it.

Tim in one of his many appearances at Ronnie Scott's in London

My son Tim is a world class professional jazz pianist - see www.timlapthorn.com/ - and he is launching his new CD called "Transport" available later this month. Proceeds from the concert will got to the MS Society. 

If you cannot attend and want to make a donation to MS, please email me. Samples of his music available on his website.

On Dover Beach

A friend of mine just posted a photo from Dover beach the night before he rows a gig, with others, across to France. I wish him luck!  It put me in mind of Matthew Arnold's poem "On Dover Beach" in which he reflects on life, faith and a world of broken dreams. I had forgotten that the phrase "sea of faith" came from this poem.

The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand;
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Agaean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

April Jones (missing 5 year old)

Almost everyone in the UK with a heart is wishing/praying that the little Welsh school girl who was abducted earlier this week will be found safe and well, although as every hour passes the hopes are fading.

What I find hard to understand is why the police and press have published both the name and photograph of the main suspect. It it quite possible that this person is totally innocent, yet all his details have been plastered in the press and on TV.  If there is forensic evidence to link him to the crime then surely the police should charge the man. Otherwise, no good can be served by publishing his name and photo.

My heart bleeds for the family of the little girl, who must be going through a living hell at the moment.

UPDATE: Oct 6th 2012
I see that this person has now been charged over the little girl's murder. After the case is heard and assuming he is proved guilty, I wonder what sort of time he will have in prison? 

Late swallows

Barn swallows (source https://sites.google.com/site/thebrockeninglory/ )

By now, most of the adult swallows (now called barn swallows) have headed south on their way to southern Africa for the winter months, returning to our shores in April. At this time there are still a few young swallows around. Only yesterday I spotted several overhead. The latest swallows I have ever seen was a small flock at Bolt Head , Devon on November 7th. I think these were unusually late leaving. Just perhaps they stayed for the winter as in that part of the UK the weather is just about mild enough to provide enough insects.

The long north-south migration of birds beggars belief, especially when young birds make this journey for the first time not having ever done it before. How they travel over 6000 miles there, and then back again, often to the very same nest, is just incredible. A lot must go on inside that pea sized brain.

Red Kites over urban Leeds

Red Kite (photo by Thomas Kraft (ThKraft))

For the last month we seem to have been away from home half the time. The last few days we have been in Yorkshire for a sibling reunion with my wife's brothers.  On the way back home we had a REAL surprise driving along the Leeds ring road. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a red kite flying quite low overhead. These fine forked tailed daylight flying raptors were once confined to a small part of south central Wales but following selective reintroduction they are making a comeback all over the place. We see them near Newmarket quite often, but I was totally surprised to see one driving through urban Leeds!

Childhood innocence

Our elder grandson started school last week. He is just under five and has spent very many happy days with us, on his own away from mum and dad, since he was born. We have seen him grow and develop as the years have passed.

Now he is off to his first proper school along with children from many different backgrounds and cultures. Part of me wishes he could be like Peter Pan and stay little for ever and ever. But life is about growing up and developing into a mature adult full of hope and confidence. Yes, the total innocence of young childhood will go, but in its place comes the excitement of learning more about the world and who we are.  I wish him well in the days ahead.

The sick side of capitalism

A senior executive of Glencore, the global multinational, which made £1.4bn pre-tax profits, reportedly said that recent droughts in the USA and Russia are "good for business". Meanwhile the poor of the world go hungry. This sort of capitalism is SICK. There must be a better way of managing limited food resources than leave it to the fat cats to get fatter.

Breakfast Pasty

Last week I discovered a new Cornish pasty on sale in our local supermarket.  Unlike the usual version with beef, swede, potato etc, this one is a breakfast pasty and contains sausages, egg, bacon and mushrooms. OK too much processed food of this sort is not good for you but as an occasional treat they are delicious and at £1 good value. See http://www.ginsters.co.uk/productdetail.asp?RangeID=2&ProdID=286 .

Child circumcision - it is WRONG!!

What right does anyone have to circumcise a tiny child? 

I was amazed to read that the rate of male child circumcision was around 75% in the USA. Why? The evidence that it helps health is weak and the main reason is a religious one. Sorry, but in the 21st century, whatever your (adult) religious views we have NO RIGHT to violate a child because of our adult views.  See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19072761 .

Where there is medical intervention on behalf of the child, as in the case of vaccinations, I have no problem with adults making decisions on behalf of infants. Where a body is being violated by child circumcision (male or female) there is no justification.

Agree or disagree?

Apple's success and rampant consumerism

I read today that Apple is now the most successful company ever with a market value of $623 billion. Our extended family has a wide range of Apple iPods, iPads and Apple laptops and desktops so I am not surprised at their success: somehow they have a way of making us want their consumer products with each one better than the last.

Of course there is a flip side to this: our whole global society is based on rampant consumerism for growth and yet growth has to be, ultimately, an impossible dream when resources are limited. We are (nearly) all  smitten by the drug of wanting ever more, and ever better, products and rarely are satisfied by what we have.

When did you last go out and buy a product, any product, with the intention of making it last and last? It seems that all consumer products are designed NOT to last more than a few years: washing machines, PCs, kettles, toasters, fitted kitchens, cars, you name it.

I just wonder how our present society and its values will be viewed in 100 years' time?  At what point in the future will the pendulum swing back and will we start to put a real value of quality and longevity again?

Whilst not advocating the "3 choices of wallpaper" communist approach, I do think we now make a rod for our own back by having too much choice and, with it, so much waste. I'm as guilty as you and it is very hard indeed to change one's ways.

Be Ye Not Afeard

Although not great sports fans, my wife and I have been totally enthralled by the London 2012 Olympic Games over the last couple of weeks. For several years now we have watched the stadiums being built - we travel past there every time we visit our son in London - but we had no idea just how impressive the Games were to be. We feared a terrorist attack, but thankfully all was peaceful. This was a good humoured, well run, people unifying, fun extravaganza. It felt GOOD to be British again: we organised the events well, the world enjoyed them and Britain is a better place for having hosted them.

For me one of the most moving parts was the speech during the opening ceremony by Kenneth Branagh in which he quoted these words from Shakespeare's "The Tempest":

“Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises, 

Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not. 

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments 

Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices, 

That, if I then had waked after long sleep, 

Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming, 

The clouds methought would open, and show riches 

Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked, 

I cried to dream again.” 

For all our faults, the British are a good, just and caring people. During these last few weeks we have shown the world what we are really all about and it is something for which we should be rightly proud.

And we are not quite finished yet! Next comes the Paralympic Games.

Spiritual Places

In the last few weeks I have visited several of England's famous chapels and cathedrals. Local to home is Kings College Chapel in Cambridge, a most wonderful building from the late 1400s with its awe inspiring fan vaulting and famous for its choir at Christmas. Also I visited Liverpool Anglican Cathedral where my wife and I met in 1968 and the Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral in the same city, also known as Patty's Wigwam because of its unusual shape. Finally, today I visited Coventry Cathedral built 50 years ago adjacent to the site of the old cathedral bombed by German bombers in WW2.

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral

When I go into a cathedral there is usually a sense of the holy, the other, in our presence. Even as a marginal Christian one senses this and the link with others who have been in the same place years, perhaps hundreds of years, before to be quiet and open to the beyond in our midst.

These days it is sometimes harder to feel this sense of wonder in some of our great cathedrals: they are busy busy places with novel ways to raise money to keep the roof from leaking or to "engage" (how I hate that word) the common man or child actively. So, in this bustle, the quietness and sense of peace is missing. Sadly I sensed this in the Liverpool Anglican cathedral: it no longer felt a holy place. Likewise in Kings College chapel which is now very much on the tourist trail.

And yet, in the Liverpool Metropolitan cathedral (Paddy's wigwam) and in Coventry it was different. Both places still evoked a sense of peace, otherness and calm, helped in both cases by the magnificent stained glass windows which bathe the naves in light and colour.

No doubt other religious faiths have their own temples and places of peace. I hope the sense of the spiritual is still alive in them.

Virgin Media call centre woes

Recently we've consolidated our media services, saving around £20 a month, but not without some pain. We had TV and calls from Sky, phone landline from BT and broadband from Virgin Media. Now all comes via Virgin Media. The problem was the phone line, for which we had a new number: BT did not disconnect the old line and I found out today we were still being charged line rental and will do so for another 30 days cancellation period. Virgin Media should have informed them to disconnect, but did not.

I contacted BT first to find out what was going on: helpful UK call centre and all explained clearly. Then I contacted Virgin Media's call centre - big problems! Although I have had very helpful call centre operators in India before so have nothing against these as such, the Virgin Media experience was NOT a good one. In all, I was on the call for around an HOUR and passed between a good number of Indian operators getting not very far. Then the line went dead and a Scottish voice said, "hello, do you have a problem with your phone line?". At this point I muttered "God give me strength" when I thought I would have to explain everything all over again. Luckily Jamie, the VERY helpful Scotsman, had my notes and was able to resolve the issue: Virgin would refund the line rental if I sent a copy of the final BT bill to their head office.

Finally I contact Sky to confirm I was no longer being charged for calls. Again a very helpful Scottish lady, Donna, answered. She checked details and confirmed there were no more bills to pay and their contract had been terminated.

Scores:

   BT UK call centre:  8 out of 10 
   Virgin Media Indian call centre:  3 out of 10
   Virgin media UK call centre: 8 out of 10
   Sky UK call centre: 8 out of 10

When the Virgin contract expires in 12 months I shall think long and hard about what to do. So far I have been less than impressed with their service.

Swifts -- "the globe's still working"

There is a famous poem by Ted Hughes about the return to the UK from Africa of the swift with this extract:

"They’ve made it again,
Which means the globe’s still working, the Creation’s
Still waking refreshed, our summer’s
Still all to come —
And here they are, here they are again
Erupting across yard stones
Shrapnel-scatter terror. Frog-gapers,
Speedway goggles, international mobsters —

A bolas of three or four wire screams
Jockeying across each other
On their switchback wheel of death."

The return of the swift at the end of April is a highlight of my year: each spring the screaming overhead of this scythe-winged bird signals the return of  warm summer days and reminds me (and Ted Hughes) that the world is still working as it should. There is a danger this may not be for ever though: there are plenty of hazards on the migration paths of summer visitors and many bird species are suffering great reductions in numbers e.g. cuckoo and house martin.

The cycle of life

May 1st 2012 was quite a day.  Just after midnight my niece gave birth to her first child - a baby girl. At around nine o'clock my own daughter-in-law gave birth to our second granddaughter - little Lucinda, shown here.

Later in the same day our wonderfully kind and helpful neighbour David, who had been fighting cancer for many years, lost his battle and died at home at around 5 pm.

So, in one eventful day, two new lives came into the world and one departed. Such is the cycle of our living, brought poignantly to our attention this week. Let's wish the little newcomers a long and happy life and David, rest eternal, either in another life on another plain or as part of nature's way of returning life to life.

"The world is a better place for his having been there"

Last week there was a note in one of my Facebook groups: my old English master, from grammar school days back in the 1960s, had died at the age of 86. "Ned" Sharp as we called him was an inspirational teacher who made the English language come alive for us all at my school in Kingsbridge, Devon. He will be sadly missed.

One writer posted this comment, "He was the best teacher I ever had, bar none, and the world is a better place for his having been there."  I can think of no greater compliment: he made a positive difference in our lives. He left his mark. Indeed the world of many young people was enriched by his teaching, respect for us all and his joy of living.

Is the world a better place because we have been in it? It makes one think what legacy we'll leave for those coming after us.

Off centre coffee saucers

Whenever I buy coffee at an outlet like Costa, Cafe Nero or Starbucks I seem to get given the coffee in a daft saucer which has an off-centre indent for the cup. I guess the idea is to allow one to place a cake or biscuit next to the cup, but it means that the whole cup and saucer are inherently unstable when carried.

Please clever marketing guys, think before you come out with such daft ideas in future!

Nearly 60 years on

These two pictures are taken at the same place (Clovelly post office in N.Devon) just about 60 years apart. In the first picture I am about 4.5 years old and about to start school. Here I'm with my brother. The next picture is me as I am today.

1952 (me on the right behind donkey's head)

Me in 2012

Our Mortality

There was a very moving article in The Times yesterday about the last days of Philip Gould, Tony Blair's architect of New Labour. Philip died of cancer and wrote a book about his dying to be published shortly. The account in The Times was written by his daughter and describes his last few days of life and slide into death. I was moved to tears reading this.

In the last few months several people I know have been affected by cancer and have died as a result, or are still battling against it. As a result I have been reminded of my own mortality as in the famous poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins:

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By & by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you wíll weep & know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow's springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What héart héard of, ghóst guéssed:
It is the blight man was born for,
It is Margaret you mourn for.

When my father died I saw his body in the mortuary. It was cold and lifeless yet my abiding memory of seeing him in this state was of a soul that had flown: the essential him was no longer there, yet I felt the real dad was not gone forever, but somehow released like a butterfly on the wing. My little grandson, just 4 years old, talks about us going back into the universe. Dust to dust? Who knows.