The rich get richer…

Money is good. There, I have said it. Just in case many of you think I am some mini-socialist on a computer, I am not I am a damn capitalist pig. I like capitalism, I like the way it, over other forms of monetary policy, gives the most freedom to the individual and reduces government dictates into your life. But I hate government managed capitalism. In the sense that during the good times, government keeps out and during the bad times, they prop up the system.

The whole point of getting capitalism to work is that the bad companies, the individuals who are incompetent are made to go bankrupt and loose their ability to con and swindle the public (I may like capitalism, but I am under no illusions to what its purpose is), while the good companies can continue to screw the public for what they are prepared to pay.

Good governments save up the tax receipts in the good times, so that in periods of slumps, they can manage the fall out, keep essential services running and keep the tax rate stable so that companies that are surviving, do not have the horrible shock of rising taxes during a recovery.

California has completely failed in this. Look closely, as what is happening over there, will be happening in the UK after May next year. At the moment, there is a lot of posturing due to the upcoming election. Once that is over, all hell will break loose and this ‘phoney recession’ that we are living through will suddenly bottom out.

If our politicians had any guts, they would have let those banks hit the wall. But there would have been a regulatory process in place to ensure that governments could have taken over the running of the essential services such as transfer of wage payments, withdrawals & deposits and debt repayments. Instead, the ‘light touch’ economy of the UK is hopelessly inadequate at doing anything much other than skimming taxes from business and enjoying long lunches in The City with the boys in suits.

And so these banks continue to survive, with the same people who f**ked about with our money, now screwing about with our taxes. Those long lunches are still going on, and the rich, well, they are getting richer.

The average house price in London is £260,000 (about $420,000). The average London wage per year is £26,000. Sensible lending gives a guide of three to four times the annual wage for the handing out of a mortgage to ensure affordability and guaranteed repayments. For an average worker he must take out a mortgage TEN times his salary in order to buy the average house in London.

I hate to be blunt, but house prices will not be coming down anytime soon. And let us be honest, if I wanted to live an ‘average life’, I would have to slave in a fantastically paid job to be able to afford just an average dwelling. I am very happy to see the fruits of success, but something tells me, there is still a huge lopsidedness in the economy of the UK. After all, why are house prices so high in London? Did we find oil, is there a gold rush, was some new technology invented that made Tower Hamlets the new Silicon Valley?

No. House prices went up because, firstly, there are a lot more singletons in London (either marrying later or divorces), thereby driving up demand. Secondly, people are living longer, which means there are more elderly people who remain in their house. Thirdly, the population has gone up, both through births and migration (internally, EU and beyond the EU). Fourthly, the Green Belt, a hackneyed 70 year old piece of planning means that London cannot expand naturally to cope with its population. All of this has lead house prices to be higher. But TEN times higher than the average wage? Surely, the income of people would have kept a check on demand?

Oh yes, those banks. How else can people get a mortgage? Well, they go to their bank. Fill out a few forms. Chat, discuss over coffee/wine and then get the keys to their new abode. The renovate it according to the latest TV programme’s style and wait to sell at a higher price. Except…well, there is only a finite amount of money in the bank.

At the moment, I am one of the ‘lucky’ ones. I did not rush to buy a house, and so I am debt free (although, not exactly living ‘well’, I am living within my means). However, there are a lot of people who are struggling right now to live. And that is with interest rates at a record low. They will increase in the future, no currency can continue to take a battering like Sterling has in recent months. And then what?

There will be a lot of repossessions. A lot of people made homeless. Yet, somewhere, somehow, those crooked banks that have supplied the mortgages in the first place will get their cash back. They are the ones who helped to inflate house prices to ten times the average wage, since, after all, without a mortgage, you cannot afford to buy that property. And so, while there will be the destitute and the homeless, barely covered by the state, someone will be in that winebar on Friday night, sipping champagne with friends and thinking how smart they are.

It’s nice when you have a government subsidy backing you up, isn’t it?

Royal Mail, RIP?

For those in the UK, the big news is that the workers of Royal Mail are planning a nationwide strike this week. This has actually been quite a nasty little dispute with plenty of drama unfolding over the Autumn.

Now, I am in two minds over this strike. Already, because of the local wildcat strikes, a lot of my letters have not got to their final destination, forcing me to register and redeliver them. Annoying, and expensive. I do not mind them getting to the destination late, I just think it sucks that they do not turn up at all.

However, the postal workers represent one of the last truly national industries left in the UK. The Royal Mail is one of the few symbols left of British pride. And it is managed by a bunch of muppets.

I have worked for the Royal Mail as a Christmas casual. Yeah, the permanent staff will eye them with suspicion, believing that you are there to undermine their position. But the bulk of casuals are there to scrape some cash for Christmas, and only a few actually ‘graduate’ to the coveted position of a real postman. I was one of those casuals, and I remember being so broke at one point that I had to walk home in the snow, as it was a few days before I was paid. Cold memories!

But yeah, the management are idiots. I remember standing in line for an hour so they could sign me onto their list. Although I was getting paid to stand there, as I had turned up on time, because they had to verify that I turned up, I was effectively doing nothing. There is also a lot of harassment of the casual staff, with permission needed to go to the toilets and other really petty issues. I do not know what it is like with the permanent staff, but there was always a union rep on the floor. A bit of 1970’s lunnacy methinks.

So do I have an opinion on this strike. Well yeah. In a way. Royal Mail does need modernising, it is a simple fact that they are carrying less letters. At the same time, with the huge explosion in parcel delivery due to online shopping, Royal Mail has really cocked that up. Come on, you essentially have a monopoly on the UK’s postal system, HOW can you be loosing money?

But also the workers do have to fight for their rights. We are quite happy to give billions away to bankers who are now turning a handsome profit, but as a nation we seem loathe to support the ordinary man on the street if they dare to rise above the parapet and shout ‘enough is enough’.

We have seen it happen before in the UK during the 1980’s, how an industry is fiddled by government and its public service remit then utterly destroyed until it is there to serve shareholders, leaving the customer with crap. Water companies, bus services and airports are great examples of utilities that have been privatised and utterly beaten into the ground, providing surly service for a high cost. Living in London, I have to put up with Thames Water’s overcharging for stuff that falls from the sky (in bucketloads), grumpy bus drivers who are worked into the ground (doing what a generation ago was the job of two people – conductor and driver) and the lunacy that is Heathrow (or the awful, falling to pieces Gatwick).

(Conversely phone companies and airlines have actually worked quite well from a consumer point of view as competition has been easily introduced).

The only place I see the government taking Royal Mail is to the knackers yard to be broken up and sold off to their buddies in The City for a tidy profit. In that way I do support the staff of Royal Mail, as if they do not fight for their jobs, then no one else will. Unfortunately, there is only one was that this is going to end. Badly, for all concerned.

Royal Mail: Born 1660. Died 2009. Killed by a bankrupt and utterly corrupted government. R.I.P.

Those green shoots…

Recovery.

Hope.

Stability.

Cutbacks.

Don’t believe the hype, wait until after the next election. Then, the real fun begins…

A little bit of world madness today…

Don’t choke into your cereal bowls, but it has bee a while since I have got so political on this blog. Of course there is no surprise that Suu Kiyi is back under arrest. The junta is hoping that she will die under house arrest. Burma, has the potential to be a rich country, but, well, we all know the state of affairs there at the moment. Swinging round the proverbial corner, the Nepali government has decided to launch a shame whereby potential brides can be sold off. State sponsored traficking or a way to deal with a demographic crisis. Considering both next door China and India have an overpopulation of men, this is probably not the best system the Nepali government could have come up with.

Talking about China, at least one country has realised that it is not a province of the People’s Republic. And closer to home, this is not the views of a small minority.

Memories for the weekend…

I remember the Soviet Union. Big, bad, red. We had big cola brands, the communists had lousy cars and awful looking women with too much testosterone. Of course the reality was somewhat different. Colas rot your teeth, Eastern Block women are hot, and despite having a car, a bicycle is stil the fastest way to cross London, 20 years after its invention.

I remember the mid-90’s. Boy bands that were awful, girl bands that could not sing. Of course, times have not changed much. Music is still awful, but instead of a 1960’s revival, we are now going through an eighties revival. I wonder if anyone will attempt a 1990’s revival in music, but how can you revive a revival decade?

I remember the war on terror. Blair and Bush killing people both at home and abroad in order to get cheaper oil for the companies they held shares in. Squandering the assets of the Western world on geopolitical strategy that will take generations to pay off. All of a sudden, the War on Terror seems quite quaint as an idea, more like a war of attrition.

I remember starting this blog, an awfully long time ago and thinking that this would never last. My mind is too fickle, my whims too contrasting. Shockingly it still exists. In a way, although it is completely random in what it covers.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Why I Love the Recession…

Firstly, I have an income.

This is an important facet, needed to enjoy a recession.

Secondly, I have no debt.

This is another factor in recession surfing.

Thirdly, I have no responsibilities in life.

Other than bills, this is what happens when you have a generation of people who do not own land. They just don’t give a f**k!

So, why do I love the Recession?

Everything is cheap.

Look, I am not kidding you, everything is really inexpensive. You want a DVD in the shop, they are dirt cheap, classic titles for under a fiver! Books are cheap. And so my two main sources of pleasure, the movies and literature are easy to enjoy!

And more importantly, holidays are cheap. I have already come back from India, and I am heading back there this Autumn. Hey man, flights are cheap! As well as India, I am also off to Turkey in the winter, and I am planning a short break in Rome. Yes, I love showing off about my holidays, but why not? Do I really want to spend my time in this overpriced country?

And that is one of the big reasons for loving a recession. The actual reduction in prices. Especially since 2006, everything has been getting even more unaffordable on this island. The end of easily available credit (and my refusal to borrow) has meant that everything has been beyond my league for quite sometime. However, this year, I feel flush. In fact, at this moment in time, I am the perfect consumer – spending without thinking.

So for all the companies out there, why should I shop with you guys?

Lego in London, and other mumblings for the weekend…

It has been a long time since I hung around the back streets of St Giles. You know, the bit where Shaftesbury Avenue heads up towards the Brit Museum? Yes, no? All right, well, there has been quite a bit of redevelopment around St GIles over the past few years. It has been a while since I last went up there with a camera, but I saw what has been going on behind the hoardings and this is it:

WtF? It’s a lego building! You know, lego, the little plastic blobs that you fix together. Wow! How funky! Ugly, but bloody funky!

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Okay, in addition to the lost generation, here’s an article in the Economist about what I was saying yesterday. Look, no politician is going to save us, their snouts are deep in that trough. We have to help ourselves. Oh dear…

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And finally, something light hearted to take all the gloom of this weekend. Lost Cities! Take a peek at the link from the provider of Boris’ chicken feed. And in that list, shockingly, I have visited one of them – yey!

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Enjoy the weekend!

John Major talks sense?

Not often do I agree with a politician, especially a former PM of this country, but Uncle John does some say some interesting things…

Of course a lot of hypocrisy in what he says, accusing the current government of eroding trust in Parliament – anyone remember cash for questions?

But anyway, I like the way that the former PM talks about reducing the size of Parliament (fire the bastards) and downsizing the public sector. Oh yes, to look forward to a less interfering government…if only!

‘Mama’s Place’ – Visiting Matriarchal Societies – Meghalaya State

I noticed something was up as I was in the jeep being driven through the Khasi Hills district. Nay, I tell a lie, it was a week earlier as I was traveling down to Tripura. The coach had stopped off for dinner at about 10pm. I was not hungry, but I decided to stock up. We were in the Janita Hills and I went to the local shop, nothing more than a small hut by the restaurant. It was a husband and wife team. But it was the husband scurrying around in the back, getting the goods, while the wife was dealing with the cash. At the time I did not register anything unusual, but it was the first time in India that a woman had handled my cash.

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So yes, I was in a jeep being driven through the Khasi Hills district, when suddenly I noticed women, everywhere. Yes, women do come out in India, this is not a repressed society. But in the Khasi Hills, women were really everywhere, working, on their own, in groups. There were mothers everywhere, working, not going out with pushchairs taking up a whole pavement, but with their babies on their backs. This was not a coffee morning, but they were doing everything that made society move.

Still, it did not click in my mind that I was traveling through a solidly matriarchal society, I just thought it was a more ‘westernised’ part of India. Ha! I could not be more wrong…before I had hit India, I was not planning to see Meghalaya. Maybe an overnight jobbie, that was about it. However, the heat of Tripura, plus a realisation that Shillong was on a plateau meant that I decided to spend a few days up in the cooling hills. Unfortunately, I did not do any research on Meghalaya, so I walked into the state completely ignorant of the surroundings.

After finding a hotel I went down the hill and found a place by the river selling fish and rice. Yeah baby…anyhoo, I sat down and nibbled away, watching the women do their thing. Running a restaurant. Again, it did not register with me that I was watching a matriarchy at work, I was far more enthused by plain tea – yes! Tea, without milk or sugar – the way I actually like my tea!

You really can see, that despite the high fluted subject matter of this blog, when it comes to basics all I think of when traveling is good food and great tea.

So when did I realise I was in the middle of a matriarchal society. Nope, I did not read up about it until later on, I did not get told by anyone until later on. I realised when I was wandering round the market place. Just a stroll mind you, minding my own business, taking pictures, when I heard a wolf whistle. I stopped, and looked round. There she was, in her sixties, winking at me. A bit taken aback, she gave another wolf whistle and a wink. I winked back and called out ‘all right babes’.

And then it dawned on me. Welcome to Mama’s Place…

‘Mama’s Place’ – Visiting Matriarchal Societies

Most of the world is patriarchal. Men dominate the social and business spheres of life. Men are in charge of the politics, they are in charge of the business, you see them as police officers, they are in the army, they run the businesses. In essence we live in a male dominated world. India is a male dominated country. In virtually all of the country, you will only be having contact with men. Men run the businesses, so in restaurants and hotels, it is all men that you are talking too. Also India is a conservative society when compared with other Western countries, hell, even other Asian countries. Women are not so much repressed or hidden away, just, well, not as prolific as men.

Asia as a whole has a very male orientated view of society, and let us be honest, a very male orientated society. So it comes as a great surprise that I have encountered a matriarchy twice. Once in China and once in India, two of the more male dominated countries on Earth.

Now, we in the UK have quite a comical view of matriarchal societies (the link is the classic ‘Two Ronnies’ sketch). A wishy-washy place where the locals flee whenever spider turns up, and where everything is squeaky clean but nothing ever works properly. You know what I mean, ‘the birds have ruined it’.

Well, my experience of matriarchal societies are quite different. They are, well, firstly, they are interesting. Interesting as it can be a shock to the senses to see women out and about in society, usually after so long traveling in male dominated areas. Refreshing too, as it is nice to see women on the streets. Come on, they are far more beautiful than men. Also, there is a chance to talk to women. Not in a ‘pick-up’ way, but just normally, like you would talk to women in the UK. In fact, there is less hassle than even talking to women in the UK. Matriarchies are, well they are pretty relaxed places.

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My first matriarchy was in Xinjiang, in the North West of China. I kind of got an inkling of how women dominated the area when I saw one woman belt a man (presumably her husband) with her shoe while traveling on a bus. I saw more evidence of husband battery on the streets of Xinjiang during my travels to this area. It was clear to see that other men passing by, did not interfere and the man getting beaten did not even put up a fight.

Women did not just dominate the boxing bouts, but more visibly, dominated the businesses. Everywhere you went, women were running the businesses, particularly in the countryside, which was entirely female dominated. The men were nowhere to be seen. No joke, it was the men that were hidden away. More importantly, it was women who handled the cash. In a restaurant, if there were both men and women working, it was the woman dealing with the finances, while men were running about like headless chickens. By the way, the Uighurs of Xinjiang are Muslim.
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But anyway, my second cliche buster happened in Meghalaya…who ever said that India was a male dominated society…