What a load of hot air!

Well, Copenhagen turned out to be exactly what was expected from it. A complete waste of time. Don’t believe the hype and realise that like Kyoto, the only people who won were the airline companies ferrying the delegates to and from the conference (in the greenhouse gas emitting aeroplanes).

So, what next? Well, if you’re in Bangladesh, the Maldives or the Pacific Islands, you have to realise that you’re just not that important. We in the West will continue to drive our cars to the newsagents. We’re just too lazy to walk. So, you guys will sink.

To those guys living in SubSaharan Africa, already an area filled with incompetence, don’t worry. Added to the chiefs who hold sway over your lives with AK-47’s, China will keep burning coal to keep its economy running. So you get the twin prods of mineral extraction and unreliable rainfall. If climate models are anything to go with, then this area is going to get really shafted. Unless you are the one holding the gun?

And what about us guys, here in the ‘developed world’? Well, everything will continue as normal. Denial, sorry, ‘more scientific proof’ will reign supreme, and life will seem pretty comfortable. After all, the Earth is fat and any rise in sea level will fall over the sides! All that education, and we’re no better than savages!

Strike!

From Strike!

There are a lot of angry workers in the UK at the moment. BA workers are planning a twelve day strike (something of international importance as can be seen by the link source), railway workers are peeved off and the government seemed intent on grinding Royal Mail into the ground.

The reason for this anger? Quite simple. The past ten years have been a boom time in the UK. A boom time if you were already rich to begin with. The rich have been able to take advantage of huge house price increases turning the humble home into an investment portfolio. Land prices along with other costs such as fuel, food and utility bills have grown massively, vastly outpacing the level of pay. In other words, you can have the latest mobile phone, wear haute fashion and drive a flash car, but you still cannot afford a place to live. Such is the skewering of the cost base of the average shopping basket. Luxuries have become relatively cheap (thanks to Chinese factory workers) while basics have become unaffordable.

And the straw that broke the camels back? Last year’s government bailout. Now this year, we are seeing the beneficiaries of those bail outs granting themselves massive pay cheques while ordinary people are looking down the barrel of a shotgun. No one complained while these businesses were self sufficient. But as soon as they had recourse to our taxes, something was going to give.

There are going to be a lot more strikes coming your way, look forward to it! And I do not blame the workers…

Telanagana?

The big news in India this week is the creation of a brand new state. Telangana will become India’s 29th state, carved out of what is now Andhra Pradesh (it used to be the Princely State of Hyderabad). There are protests around India, many are welcoming the news while a lot are bemoaning the creation of another fiefdom. Of course, the cockroaches are stepping up to entrench their own political positions and to fill their bellies on the backs of the indentured below them.

Don’t get me wrong, I am no leftist idealist. But what I hate is corruption. We have enough of it here in the UK. And the creation of new states just means more pigs lining up to the trough. I am all for good governance and for the devolution of power away from central governments and closer to the populace in order to serve the people better. If that is what people demand, then why not? But for every Kerala in India, there is also a Bihar. What direction will Telangana take?

The new whipping boys…

Bankers are the new public enemy number one. Like politicians and journalists, bankers are the new kids on the block when it comes to pointing the finger. The public need a scapegoat and so, there they are, ready to bend over ad take the whipping like the public schoolboys they grew up as. Well, we are paying their wages, and as government employees/receivers of government subsidies/loans they are subject to our scrutiny.

But one wanker is standing up to this. He has had enough. He wants his precious throne back, and will do anything to get it. So he is after the teacher of his son who called all bankers sleazeballs.

It seems that getting state handouts to ensure his luxury lifestyle is not enough. He is now after the people who pay his wages – the honest taxpayer (rather than the tax ‘avoider’/offshore wealth merchant). You see ego is a fragile thing. Obviously, the man must have a really small dick to go after someone on a fraction of the wage that he leeches off the voting public. And unlike ‘Skip Mcgee’, the teacher in question works for a private school, and so he is not on the receiving end of government handouts or soft loans. So while our investment banker labels our private sector teacher as a leftist, he is quite happy to manipulate his government’s policy to ensure that his industry gets as much state aid as possible. Whether it is favourable tax policies, government bail outs or the distortion of our own (rapidly depreciating) cash in order to maintain the status quo…

Comrade, don’t you just love capitalism?

And so it’s good bye from the ‘Noughties’ (1)

We have under a month left until the end of the decade, and so how was it for you? Was it hell? Certainly if you look at world events we had major terrorist attacks in NY, Madrid, London, Mumbai and Bali littered amongst the multitude of events worldwide. We had massive natural disasters. The Tsunami and the 2005 hurricane season were the big natural disasters of the decade but let us also recall Cyclone Nargis, the Kashmir Earthquake. Bam in Iran and Sichaun in China also suffered from massive earthquakes. As a tail end note, Mozambique suffered from massive flooding at the beginning of the 2000’s .

Oh, and if you are in the west than look no further than the economic meltdown of the past two years. Plus we in the west elected some of the worst tyrants in recent history, who instigated more wars and suffering amongst the most destitute people on the globe. At least we are not in North Korea.

In the UK we seem to be quite happy to give over our hard won freedoms to governments and law advisors more interested in controlling the population instead of listening to it. So now we have CCTV up your backside (the cameras in my job can see me pick my nose), a new expensive compulsory ID Card system and a populace too scared to live because of the no-win no-fee parasites that bombard your cable television channels with cheap adverts, promising you the world (the money had to come from somewhere).

On a personal level we have also given up much of our individual freedom. Shackled by debt, the average UK resident is no better than the bonded labourers of the 19th century. Now striking has become a byword for treason despite the fact that is was here in the UK that led the industrial strike movement and the establishment of basic workers rights (we need more men like him).

And so, that’s it. The Noughties, the 2000’s, the beginning of the new Millennium and the 21st Century. Tomorrow, a more personal view…

Clapham Common or How to get political about South London

Clapham Common is one of London’s largest green spaces, a place renowned as much for its moments of madness as well as its capacity to refresh the South London atmosphere. But first, a little history lesson is needed here…

Common Land is one of those unusual relics of Medieval law still (broadly) in use today. Basically, the locals adjoining the common have a right to graze their animals, collect wood or dig peat. Back ‘in the day’, when men were serfs, women were no bette than slaves and the vast amount of property in the country was owned by a handful of despots, people were tossed aside a piece of common land so they could eke out an existence.

But back to Clapham. A seemingly ordinary South London suburb, but thanks to the Common, it is now an area of high house prices, young hip things and Saturday Night bar brawls (which are actually quite amusing to watch as us Londoners fight like pussies). But yet, the people still come, attracted (mainly) by a triangular wedge of green surrounded by the A3 and the South Circular roads. And you know what, despite the toffs that surround this park, Clapham Common is a really nice place to venture, especially now as none of the locals are attempting to get a tan under the feeble British sunlight.

You can cycle across, ride a horse in piece or walk your dog. Go for a jog or stop off for the (obligatory) cup off coffee at the park’s cafe. But more importantly you can soak up the relative tranquility available in this part of South London. This is a busy part of the world. The main aim in this part of South London is to get from A to B as quickly as possible, without getting penalised by the speed/red route cameras (ah – the joys of big brother!) While walking on Clapham Common you almost forget that you are surrounded by maniac drivers who have not yet realised the futility that is driving in South London.

(The A3 – Britain’s third most important Trunk Route in a moment of relative calm)

One of the greatest attractions of Clapham Common is the bandstand. A tradition in many of Britain’s open spaces, this one was built in 1890 and is the largest such structure in London. At one point it nearly disintegrated due to the ‘competence’ of Lambeth Council, but happily, this relic of Victorian London is back in swing.

Getting there and away:

Two tube stations serve the common, Clapham Common and Clapham South, both on the Northern Line. Bus routes 35, 37, 50, 88, 137, 155, 249, 322, 345, 355, 417, N35, N137, N155 and the G1 serve all parts of Clapham Common too.

The Black Hole of Europe

(Date: 26th December, 2009)

Our top headline today, Switzerland is no more. The Large Hadron Collider has actually worked.

It produced a black hole and swallowed up the tiny mountain state in Western Europe, cuckoo clocks and all. At the time all the investment bankers, lawyers and tax dodgers of the western world were holidaying in their chalets in the country formerly known as Switzerland. They all got sucked up and vanished too.

Spontaneous celebrations are occurring in cities around the world as ordinary people take to the streets in order to mark the passing of the most reviled people on Earth.

The scientists behind the project are being hailed as heroes as they singlehandedly have wiped out centuries of nepotism and injustice in the flick of a switch. A spokesman for the group of doctors and professors behind the LHC told this blog:

‘I love it when a plan comes together’.

Sugar and Slavery

I vowed to revisit the Museum in Docklands at a later date. Originally I went there as part of my series on Thames Crossings and my investigation into London Bridge. While I was at the museum, I pretty much headed for the exhibitions and artefacts related to London Bridge and skirted the rest. But there was one gallery that got my attention s I wandered through this wonderful building, and that was the gallery on Sugar and Slavery. The only permanent exhibition in the UK that takes a look at this country’s role in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. You could see that the Slave Trade went far beyond London’s Docks and was woven into the fabric of the city itself.

It is a sobering thought, especially on entering the gallery and seeing numbers on the list, and even more frightening to see the amount of ‘unknown’ numbers carried on the ships. Slavery did not stop with the various abolition acts of 1807 and 1833 as vast numbers of mainly Indian and Chinese labour were taken to the same colonies to replace the slaves as indentured labour. Even today in the UK, there is masses of Human Trafficking. Slavery is not a new phenomena, it is as old as humanity itself. But that does not make it right in the slightest, and it does take more than the collective will of the people to rid us of this curse.

The Sugar and Slavery gallery at the Museum of Docklands is a magnificent example of the slave trade in London. How the wealth of this city was built on the back of millions of people brought in chains halfway round the world. It is a reminder of what is one of humanity’s greatest crimes, and how we are still living with those effects today. It shows the intolerable cruelty of humanity, and how easy it is to dehumanise a person on the basis of their origins and beliefs. We should also not forget that slavery will continue to exists as long as the laws of supply and demmand continue unabated with a restrictive migratory system. You only have to walk down a London street or take a ride on a bus to see it for yourself…

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.