pierresblog

If you could turn into an animal for a day, which would you choose?

2012-02-02T21:40:00.001Z

Hmm a rabbit, I think - the change would do me good.

If you could be one age forever, how old would you be?

2012-02-01T23:46:00.001Z

When I was young I wanted to be older. Now I want to be younger. Forever, though, is not a concept I can understand because things happen. It's a silly question.

Ask me anything

What's your favorite color?

2012-01-31T00:23:00.001Z

Yellow

Ask me anything

Are you a good swimmer?

2012-01-29T11:50:00.001Z

It beats walking

Ask me anything

Do you talk a lot on the phone?

2012-01-28T01:06:00.001Z

Yes. I email and text quite a lot as well.

Ask me anything

Would you rather text or talk?

2012-01-04T00:47:00.001Z

They reveal different things and both are interesting. Non verbals are bread and butter to therapists but I must say I get a huge kick out of the challenge of one liners and the written word is more impressive as a rule.

Ask me anything

How often do you use a computer?

2011-12-22T23:05:00.001Z

They are my children - I look after them all the time.

Ask me anything

How late do you stay up?

2011-12-17T01:16:00.001Z

I'm a natural late person.

Ask me anything

Do you like babies?

2011-12-08T23:30:00.001Z

Certainly do... and toddlers... and infants... and juniors... and teenagers... and youths... and adults... and seniors

Ask me anything

What is the best present you’ve ever received?

2011-12-06T22:16:00.001Z

Do you know that's a really good question because I thought I would be able to answer it but I have absolutely no idea.

Ask me anything

How much TV do you watch?

2011-12-06T00:36:00.001Z

Just the screen - the casing is a bit boring.

Ask me anything

Do you like to dance?

2011-11-29T23:06:00.001Z

Right now I'd settle for walking

Ask me anything

Would you rather be older or younger?

2011-11-26T01:06:00.001Z

No regrets BUT I'd love to be much much younger and do it all again and again and again

Ask me anything

What TV show makes you laugh?

2011-11-24T23:07:00.001Z

Harry Hill

Ask me anything

What's one of your earliest memories?

2011-11-23T23:35:00.001Z

Getting up at 3 in the morning - but it's not the earliest.

Ask me anything

What's your favorite time of year?

2011-11-15T23:09:00.001Z

Autumn, especially like it's been this year. Still warm and mid November. Feels like a battle against Winter. Let's hope we make Christmas with no cold weather - that's half the Winter gone, then.

Ask me anything

What's the last song that got stuck in your head?

2011-11-08T00:11:00.001Z

Blood Bank - Bon Iver

Ask me anything

What do you put on your french fries?

2011-11-05T16:16:00.001Z

Rock salt, fresh ground black pepper and caramelised onion mayonaise and the fries must be made with maris piper potatoes. Goes well with a pinot grigio.

Ask me anything

Frogs: Friend or foe?

2011-11-02T23:55:00.001Z

I believe there are some living across the road, on the river front, but I don't know them so I can't say.

Ask me anything

Are you a competitive person?

2011-11-01T23:01:00.001Z

What's it worth for me to answer this question?

Ask me anything

What is your favorite Halloween costume?

2011-10-31T22:22:00.001Z

I'm like the Pope - I'm interested in it but I don't actually do it.

Ask me anything

What's your favorite breakfast?

2011-10-22T00:57:00.001+01:00

Well yours is obviously spam - stop asking favourite food questions, twit.

Ask me anything

What is your favorite type of candy?

2011-10-19T23:20:00.001+01:00

Turkish Delight or Fudge - I can't decide

Ask me anything

Check out my new profile photo and respond!

2011-10-13T21:57:00.001+01:00

You the dude. i haven't seen glasses that big since the 1980s.

Ask me anything

You can invite anyone to your party. Who's on the guest list?

2011-10-13T21:56:00.001+01:00

Oh wow I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

Ask me anything

How long have you had your favorite pair of blue jeans?

2011-10-05T22:11:00.001+01:00

I don't have any blue jeans. They bring me out in a rash because they are traditionally peed on to make the colour deep.

Ask me anything

Who is the last friend you made?

2011-10-04T01:10:00.001+01:00

I have no idea

Ask me anything

Do you consider yourself athletic?

2011-10-03T00:17:00.001+01:00

Well, I generally run away from questions like this - if that counts.

Ask me anything

What song makes you smile?

2011-09-30T22:48:00.001+01:00

Headlock by Esser

Ask me anything

What's your favorite photo?

2011-09-27T23:59:00.001+01:00

Strange question. The answer is this one I have here. If only this was radio I could show it to you.

Ask me anything

What fall TV show are you most excited about?

2011-09-26T23:16:00.001+01:00

Spooks Merlin Dr Who

Ask me anything

What three words would you use to describe yourself?

2011-09-25T01:26:00.001+01:00

Peter Reginald Rayner

Ask me anything

What is your name..........and why??

2011-09-23T08:52:00.001+01:00

My name is Pierre because a very beautiful woman gave it to me as a nickname. She only gave it to me once and I've been hoping she would do it again but so far in vain.

Ask me anything

Check out my new profile photo and respond!

2011-09-23T08:12:00.001+01:00

It says a lot

Ask me anything

What political issue is most important to you?

2011-09-23T00:36:00.001+01:00

Controlling greedy capitalists

Ask me anything

What's your least favorite vegetable?

2011-09-21T23:45:00.001+01:00

Turnip

Ask me anything

Can money buy happiness?

2011-09-20T22:23:00.001+01:00

Yes but you need an awful lot of it if you're going to do that with it. There are much easier ways.

Ask me anything

What book are you reading right now?

2011-09-18T00:00:00.001+01:00

"On Physics and Philosophy" by Bernard d'Espagnat
"Elgar O.M." by Dr Percy M. Young

Ask me anything

Where would you travel if you could go anywhere in the world?

2011-09-15T21:59:00.001+01:00

I reckon the Iguazu waterfall on the border of Argentina and Brasil would be pretty cool.

Ask me anything

How long does it take you to get ready in the morning?

2011-09-14T23:33:00.001+01:00

20 mins ready

20 mins steady

20 mins go

Ask me anything

What's your favorite fast food item to order?

2011-09-08T09:14:00.001+01:00

Pizza - no contest! Very spicy. Chow bella.

Ask me anything

What flavor goes best with chocolate?

2011-09-03T23:31:00.001+01:00

Ginger (That's not the flavour - it's what I think of the question)

Ask me anything

What's your favorite food at a BBQ?

2011-08-30T23:50:00.001+01:00

Bratwurst

Ask me anything

Are you a morning person or evening person?

2011-08-29T23:42:00.001+01:00

Evening without a doubt

Ask me anything

What do you wish you were better at?

2011-08-29T00:18:00.001+01:00

Performing

Ask me anything

Do you believe in aliens or life on other planets?

2011-08-28T01:27:00.001+01:00

Not so much a belief as a high probability

Ask me anything

What is your secret weapon?

2011-08-26T00:17:00.001+01:00

We've had this kinda thing before. If it's secret I CAN'T TELL YOU SO F-OFF

Ask me anything

Do you believe in karma?

2011-08-25T00:53:00.001+01:00

In a roundabout way what goes around comes around but I don't believe in a magical balancing of the universe, good v evil etc.

Ask me anything

How do you like your eggs cooked for breakfast?

2011-08-23T00:02:00.001+01:00

I don't eat breakfast, lunch or tea. I have one meal at about 18:00 Hrs. My weight is exactly right, 70kg. People eat far too much nowadays and just end up fat.

Ask me anything

If you could time travel, where would you go?

2011-08-22T00:48:00.001+01:00

A very long way into the future to see how the human race turns out and most of all to see if there is intelligent life in the universe.

Ask me anything

What's the strangest thing you've eaten?

2011-08-21T03:01:00.001+01:00

A fly - whilst singing lustily on the beach

Ask me anything

How many languages can you speak?

2011-08-19T23:56:00.001+01:00

English, German, French, Classical Greek and Latin. Last 2 not spoken of course. Very limited bits of Aramaic and Hebrew

Ask me anything

If you were going to perform in the circus, what would you do?

2011-08-18T23:44:00.001+01:00

A clown, of course

Ask me anything

Do you have any hidden talents?

2011-08-13T23:41:00.001+01:00

Yes, but I only talk about them in bed.

Ask me anything

Do you like sweet or savory things more?

2011-08-09T19:48:00.001+01:00

More, lots more.

Ask me anything

Who was your first celebrity crush?

2011-08-07T00:57:00.001+01:00

Patrick Moore - but it wasn't sexual - honest.

Ask me anything

formspring.me

2011-05-24T18:02:00.001+01:00

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/PerilousPierre

formspring.me

2011-05-02T15:18:00.001+01:00

Ask me anything http://formspring.me/PerilousPierre

What would you like to see re-designed?

2011-04-08T18:05:00.001+01:00

What would you like to see re-designed?

Answer here

Am I a Misogynistic Dinosaur?

2010-03-10T17:55:00.003Z

This blog has arisen out of a number of recent events. It all began with International Women's Day on 8th March 2010. That prompted me to tweet @jiminthemorning (Jim Hawkins) on Radio Shropshire. Jim invites extensive involvement from his listeners. After an off-air exchange with Jim, I was interviewed on his programme. This led to some lively debate on issues to do with women - and men for that matter and to the title of the blog being given to me by one listener! The term "misogynistic dinosaur is a quotation from the film Casino Royale, where M is describing James Bond). Later that evening, I watched "Women" on BBC 4 and commented on Twitter. All of that leaves much unfinished business and the result is this piece. My intentions are to review the feminist movement, argue my views and ask you to consider where you stand.

Historically, women were the property of men. They had nothing to call their own. Their views were given no consideration and their roles in society were restricted to domestic duties, including the upbringing of children. That has only changed, in essence, in the last half century. The world in which I grew up, in the 1960s was very different from today. In truth, most of us had nothing and in that context women's issues did not seem so out of place. The revolution which has taken place has encompassed much more than the women's lib issues which normally get highlighted in a discussion of this kind. Just about everything has changed. Nevertheless, some men, at least, had more than nothing and probably all had more hope for their future. If we all felt ourselves to be on the scrapheap then women were at the bottom of it. Let us remember, also, however, that women did have a historical contribution long before the Women's Movement began.

That aside, let me list the campaign issues of the Women's Movement: reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, voting rights, sexual harassment, sexual violence, sexual oppression. I guess we all agree with them, every one of them. In fairness to the present day International Women's Day it is specific rights around the world which are the focus of their attention, very much in keeping with this list. So why do I have a problem?

Let me now introduce a few quotations from prominent feminists:

"All men are rapists and that's all they are. They rape us with their eyes, their laws, and their codes" Marilyn French, author of "The Women's Room", 1977, the best selling feminist book ever.

"Rape is nothing more or less than a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear" Susan Brownmiller "Against Our Will. Men, Women and Rape" 1975

"If it were admitted that the family is maintained at the expense of women capitalism would have to devise some other way of getting the work done." Ann Oakley "Women" BBC 4

"All women are lesbians except those who don't know it naturally. They are but don't know it yet. I am a woman and therefore a lesbian." Unattributed "Women" BBC 4

"Till all women are lesbians there will be no true political revolution." Unattributed "Women" BBC 4

"We're at the end of a period of masculine rule, quite harsh at times... egalitarian rule..." Unattributed "Women" BBC 4

"Relationship between the sexes is a political relationship, therefore, we are in politics." Kate Millett "Sexual Politics", 1970

"There is no question that men are predatory on women - women are prey." Marilyn French "Women" BBC 4

It has been put to me that these are just extremist views of a left wing element in the Women's Movement. Well, I'm afraid that is simply not the case. I was there, growing up when all of this happened. I experienced appalling hostility from women in the movement first hand. I knew their views intimately.

They were a single sex organisation opposed to male supremacy - that's it in a nutshell and that much cannot be argued as untrue. I pleaded many times that there were men sympathetic to their objectives as per my first list and that we would help them fight the ruling class tyranny. No one ever took me up on it. The movement tried to forget men and create a lesbian society with no leaders in it. They were pretty well anarchists. They were certainly as sexist as any male organisation. So that's my first objection. Feminists should have realised that there were males on their side and worked together. They did not and could not.

My second problem concerns their view of the family. A sociologist, Ann Oakley, best described the feminist view. She was the first to put forward the idea that gender is not determined by biology and although it seems a little quaint today, because we have moved on even further, at the time it was revolutionary stuff. Today, we use profiling more or less exclusively to describe people, regardless of their biology and we are much freer in our interests and roles. The focus then, however, was on freeing women from domestic drudgery. Ann states that the role of the housewife must be abolished, the family must be abolished and gender roles must be abolished. She admitted on the television programme that they did not, at the time, think through how else they would bring up children. So here's my second objection. I believe that the family is the best way of bringing up children, one man, one woman and the children. I am not, in this context, going to say why I hold that belief but I might in another blog, another time. I also believe that most people aspire to a single, life long relationship with a partner and an unbroken family life. I accept that there are very important exceptions to that but I want to emphasise here that the feminists excluded the family at the expense of all those other considerations. I think we should start with the benchmark.

My third issue concerns power. As a Strategic Family Therapist power is my base currency in human relationships. It is fundamental in all human systems, be they a couple, a family, a workplace, a corporation or an entire society. When I look at human relationships I see the "rape" of which the feminists speak but I don't see what they see. I see it everywhere and in many ways. I never see it exclusively in a whole sector of society. That would be prejudice, sexism, racism or whatever. The feminists rightly saw the abuse of power but wrongly understood it. They attacked an entire species - man - and that may make them the most sexist organisation in history.

It's a bit like the French Revolution. You start off agreeing with the objectives because you see the injustices that have taken place - but then the heads start to roll. Within the movement women remained egalitarian. There were never any leaders. In society, it's a different story. We do now have women in roles at all levels, not enough, perhaps, but it's certainly not a novelty. We still have families and the roles of the adults are shared much more and so is the distribution of power. I suppose the unfilled woman, trapped in a lonely house all day long with nothing to do but housework was, in reality, the nightmare of the 1950s.

So, to return to my original objectives. Am I a misogynistic dinosaur? Are you a feminist? Or, like me, do you applaud the civil rights achieved by the Women's Movement but disagree with their wider vision of society and their take on male and female relationships?

IPhone Sleep Cycle App - A Clinician's Review

2010-03-05T16:57:00.001Z

I am writing this review because of feedback from my Twitter friends. Over the past few weeks there has been a lot of interest in all things iphone and I believe the best seller in many countries, if not the world, is an app called "Sleep Cycle". The picture you see here is a readout of the app, kindly provided by a colleague, Lewis King, who was one of the people who tried out the app and then wondered what it meant. At first sight a graph such as this, with a lot of spikes in it might seem alarming, especially if you have had a restless night. This is, in fact, a near "normal" reading, as I will explain presently.

The app retails for $.99(US) or 59p (UK) and does exactly what it is meant to do which is to measure your sleep cycle. It also wakes you up within a half hour window with music and the timing of that is meant to be the moment when you are approaching an awake state. It is produced by Lexware Labs. The idea is not new but in the past such machines have been considerably more expensive and it is very much to the credit of the software developers that they are prepared to offer this app at such a price. The principle is very simple. The iphone has an "accelerometer" which is able to detect the extent of your movement in bed. Since different phases of sleep are characterised by different amounts of movement it is possible to map the one to the other, the result being what you see on the screen. From what I have seen of it so far I have to say it works and if I were still in clinical practice I would have a few uses for it without hesitation.

The obvious problem which arises is that people don't actually know much about sleep so they are at a loss to interpret the data. In fairness to Lexware Labs their website does explain what you get for your bucks and what various graphs mean. So at least if you have had a bad night's sleep and you see a graph that suggests you have had a bad night's sleep you know you have had a bad night's sleep. Perhaps that is just a little bit too cynical. After all we live in an age of freely available medical information and much of that, I don't doubt, will be misunderstood. That is not an argument for restricting information. Anyone who really wants to know can read more about the subject and, hopefully, discover something useful about themselves.

So where do we go from here? Much as I would love to write a detailed scientific paper on sleep and specific sleep problems, I am the first to acknowledge that all that information is available already on the web. The scientifically minded would do well to look at the wikipedia (I kid you not) entry on sleep and for those who like a straight forward approach the Royal College of Psychiatrists have done a brilliant job of writing the whole thing up to make it look easy, in their best bedside manner.

The diagram you see here is borrowed from the wikipedia entry and shows a textbook "normal" night's sleep. I put the word "normal" in speech marks because many people who are otherwise symptom free do not have this pattern and might, therefore, be considered "normal" and because, although there have been significant advances in the field, there is still much we still don't understand so, ever cautious, I remain unsure about what is "normal". Anyway, the pattern is of a series of 90 minute cycles starting at the far left in a state of consciousness and progressing into deep sleep and then rising into a lighter phase of sleep. The pattern is repeated throughout the night with the deep sleep phases diminishing as the night wears on. Deep sleep is dreamless sleep but the shallower parts are what are called REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep when dreaming occurs. These are marked in red on the diagram. There are also around 3 periods of only a few minutes duration when we wake up but often we don't remember this. If we do we may think it lasts a long time when, in fact, it is only a few minutes.

If you compare the diagram above with the iphone one you will notice that the progression toward lighter sleep is less obvious in the iphone diagram. I think the correct interpretation of the iphone diagram is that Lewis was very tired at the start of the night and fell into a deep sleep very quickly. At the end of the first cycle his body attempted to bring him into REM sleep but failed because he was still very tired so off he went into more deep sleep. A second attempt to bring him into REM sleep was mounted by his body but this also failed and more deep sleep followed. I would argue that this is a good example of his body knowing what is best for him and giving it to him. The next 2 phases see a return to REM spikes suggesting he can, now, cope with lighter sleep. The only difference here from a "normal" pattern is that the deep sleep end of each of these 2 cycles is just as deep as at the start of the night. The final section is a fair compromise with a total absence of very deep sleep and, curiously, of REM sleep also. The graph finishes before we can see the final stage but we can assume that if he remained at this mid position of sleep he would have woken up feeling quite dazed but if he was able to progress nearer to a waking state he would have awoken feeling relaxed.

I chose this particular example because I suspect that many of us are a lot like Lewis - overstimulated. We cram as much as possible into the day, whatever our interests happen to be. Even people who do nothing more than watch television most evenings are still stuffing as much stimulation into themselves as they can muster. The trouble is many of us don't know when to stop and the result is that we don't sleep in a still, dark room and we don't spend as long as our bodies need recovering. We are a sleep deprived culture in a light polluted world. It is reckoned that around one third of us have some kind of sleep disorder and yet we don't give this anything like the prominence it deserves. Perhaps when we know more precisely how sleep repairs the body and what happens when it all goes wrong our attitude will change. We don't have figures to show how many people developed cancer or diabetes or heart problems because they didn't get enough sleep. One day we will.

So, is Lewis normal? He's certainly typical. What of his graphs? Do they show a body coping with what he demands of it or has he got some terrible ailment that makes him so often tired out of his skin? Medically and psychologically I have to say he is fine. Does the iphone app help him? Yes, it shows how much of a strain he puts on himself. It also indicates that he needs a bit more sleep. He might do wonders for himself by aiming for 7 and a half hours a night and I guess he didn't know that before.

I suppose for people who have a more worrying condition they might be alerted to it and be that much more inclined to go and see their GP. Many just won't make a good diagnosis but then, many think they can diagnose using common sense whereas, in truth, it is the hardest thing we do.

Tags: iphone sleep cycle review twitter app Lewis King Lexware Labs sleep wikipedia Royal College of Psychiatrists REM overstimulated diagnosis

The Return of Wally

2010-02-25T12:18:00.002Z

http://www.wallymusic.co.uk/index.php?page=music

Many, many years ago a group was formed in the stunningly beautiful Yorkshire dales town of Harrogate. They were called Wally. For my sins I have never heard of them - and me a proud Yorkshireman. How I missed them when they were active at the time when I was single and in my prime, I don't know. I refer, of course, to the 1970s. Anyway, the good news is that they have reformed and are due to perform again, appropriately, in their native Harrogate on Saturday 17th April 2010. This is not their first concert since reforming and they even have a CD out, called Montpellier. However, it is their homecoming performance. Just to make all things right, the Royal Hall, Harrogate, where the performanace takes place, has been completely refurbished and looks totally stunning in all its historic glory.

Tags: Wally band Yorkshire Harrogate concert gig CD Royal Hall Montpellier historic 1970s

Pierre

PS If you tweet @peterpastry you will find an enthusiastic follower (and a good cook).

The Big One

2010-02-22T23:52:00.003Z

A happy day out at Farnborough on Sunday 21st Feb 2010, host to The Big One, a long standing fishing exhibition and show. Pictured are friends Simon Clay (left), Neil Evans (Nelly) (right) and 4 times world champion in 4 different countries, Bob Nudd (centre).

Tags: Big One Simon Clay Neil Evans Nelly Bob Nudd Farnborough fishing world champion

formspring.me

2010-01-28T11:59:00.001Z

If you could only watch one TV show what would it be?

Doctor Who

Ask me anything

formspring.me

2010-01-28T11:57:00.001Z

Who's the smartest person you know?

My Tailor

Ask me anything

Je Ne Suis Pas Un Rockstar

2010-01-16T11:44:00.000Z

Possibly the most important decision I ever made in 1968 was to give away my bass guitar to a struggling rock band. I would like to say that the band became a huge international success and now invite me to "A" list parties whenever they are in town. In truth I don't know what became of them but I fear that the leader of the band, Shastri, or Mike Hall, to give him his proper name, became an English teacher in Colwyn Bay, which is where he came from. He, at least, tried. I would love to track him down and ask him whether or not he is disappointed with normality or whether he still wishes he had hit the big time. For myself, I think I was right to think that I would not have been happy as a rock star, even if I had the talent, but wrong with my sense of perspective. That is the great thing about youth - everything seems to last forever or at least that's how we think of it. Years later we look back and think how quickly it all passed. In fairness, I suppose, we did live in a "job for life" world and that is certainly one of the many revolutions we lived through in the past 50 years or so.

Hindsight allows us to see the pitfalls more clearly and not just the glamour. How many have fallen because they could not cope with the pressure of fame and a world without spending limits? How many have been killed by a ruthless, cruel, press? How many were one hit wonders? How many simply did not make it at all? A young friend of mine, Gregory Foreman, who has had some small success as an actor, has a passion for music and, I believe, has recorded some music, not yet released. That is what he really wants to do so, I suppose, he has to go for it. The truth is out of every 20 who get as far as going into a recording studio and laying down some tracks only one will be successful. Is it better to try, and find out the hard way, or save yourself the heartache of just never making it? I wish I knew. We used to think of it as deciding what we wanted to do with our lives. That has changed now. It's just what we want to do right now. We can always do something else later on. In that sense I think Gregory has got his perspective right. He wrote to me saying there are many things to distract a 20 year old. My view is that if he doesn't enjoy those distractions now the chance will pass. Grasp the opportunity to live the life you want now. It only gets more complicated later on. It's called living the dream. Sensible careers are for old men!

You may wonder why a normally sane and cautious man should be dishing out such rash advice. The answer is in the video. I have discovered a new band, well, hardly new, but not old. My old friend, Crowbarred, in Auckland, New Zealand, will forgive me, I'm sure, for straying into his territory, although, in truth, Kings of Leon are too recent to be included in his Definitive 1000 hits of the last 50 years. They remind me of the origins of rock music, steeped in the deep south gospel tradition. They are Fairport Convention re-incarnated. Most of all they are full of what we believed in when I was young - honest, raw expression in music. This is what music should be - 3 brothers and a country cousin writing and singing about their lives and doing it oh so well. If they last for 50 years well just great. If 4 albums is their limit well it was so worth while. No commercialisation in sight. This is living. Please, please don't let it all go wrong.

Tags: guitar rock band success Shastri Mike Hall Colwyn Bay talent youth glamour pressure fame Gregory Foreman actor music distractions living the dream Crowbarred Auckland New Zealand Kings of Leon Fairport Convention

Wither Jonathan Ross?

2010-01-10T15:10:00.008Z

Following the news reports of Jonathan Ross's departure from the BBC you might be forgiven for thinking that he has died. In a sense there is an obituary being written but not for him, I suggest. What short memories people have. The accompanying picture gives a clue as to how highly we regarded him not so very long ago. A medal, perhaps, from cynical politicians currying favour with the trendy electorate, but an indication, none the less, that he had pulling power aplenty.

The "crime" he committed with Russell Brand was something that would have gone unnoticed had it been perpetrated by 2 private individuals on their friends or colleagues - a raikish jest - as Andrew Sachs, himself, attempted to explain when he pointed out that, as a broadcaster, he understood these things. His voice, however, was drowned out. That was not what the nation wanted to hear and certainly not what the BBC wanted to hear. They were, after all, deeply in it already and were careful not to cover themselves in more of the smelly brown stuff.

Don't the Brits just love anti-heroes - that is what Ross has been all these years. He has been his own man and forged his own way, not Churchillian like or with fine Tolkien-like battle speeches but just by being himself - a typical, untypical, Englishman. All very fine, but the inevitable result is a following and, in his case, a very big one. He became a movement. People who were not creative or clever enough to do it themselves, and that is most of us, jumped on the Ross bandwagon and, before you know it, major changes have taken place in society. Surely not, I hear you say. The man is just an entertainer. He should not be credited with major social changes. Let me explain...

There has always been a tension between public and private behaviour and television and radio have long been in the vanguard. Much of what we do in private is perfectly acceptable by the bulk of the population but as soon as we enter the public arena everything changes. Public figures are not treated as ordinary human beings. We make a very clear distinction between their private and their public image. Enter a new generation of Movers and Shakers determined to push out the old, stuffy, lounge suit behaviour of the broadcasting corporation. Swearing on television. Sex on television. Outrageous jokes, as close to the line of acceptability as it is possible to go. The public loved it - and hated it. Some see it as the natural progression of their own behaviour properly portrayed in public. Others see it as the end of civilised society as we know it.

Jonathan Ross did none of these extreme things and yet is more influential than all the rest put together. What he does is very clever indeed. He gets inside your head. What we see is, apparently, a real human being just being himself. Yes, he's risky. Yes, he's naughty. But can we say, then, that he should pretend to be something he's not - to put on an act - for appearances, for the BBC? No. We want him to be what he is - himself.

The genius of the man is that he poses the question "Do you want me to appear as me or to be an actor, playing a part?" There is no going back from that position. That is how he has changed society for ever.

Jonathan Ross is not the one who has to make difficult decisions here. The BBC has to decide what to do next. Perhaps we will have a cooling off period with the whole issue placed in "safe hands" but it will not go away. Nor, for that matter will Wossy. I can't wait.

Pierre

Tags: Jonathan Ross BBC trendy Russell Brand Andrew Sachs medal behaviour public image Wossy

Don't Scare The Sheep

2007-11-17T13:40:00.000Z

I have been holding on to this little snippet since before Christmas. My apologies to the magazine who originally published it. I do normally acknowledge my sources but in this instance I tore out the page from one of the many specialist transport magazines that cross my desk. All that's left is what you see. It may be that the magazine is called On Rank.

My interest was drawn to the piece partly because I drove 5 Cavaliers in a row in the 1990s and, indeed, well into the 00s. Also I spent around 12 years of my life as a taxi driver - probably the most over-qualified taxi driver in the world, although you would not guess that from the traditional taxi drivers' willingness to wax lyrical on almost any subject in the world. Let us not forget also that some years ago it was a London taxi driver who won one of our popular high brow quizzes called Mastermind. His name was Fred Housego. Not wishing to boast but I doubt if Fred could have come even close to some of my in-cab performances. I particularly enjoyed slipping into deep technical discussion with bright young things from the universities who, after a cracking night out, thought it would be great fun to show off their philosophical knowledge to the taxi driver. Big mistake! I won't bore you with the macho stuff but if you doubt my credentials then just pop over to my philosophical blog to satisfy yourself that I kid you not. It was particularly good fun when some cocky lad tried showing off by being an anorak in front of his girlfriend. I have grown quite rich on tips given me by gorgeous girls for putting their men in their places. Ha Ha.

I digress. My interest in the subject of speeding concerns the crime we are supposed to have committed by driving at some "terrifying" speed through the streets of our fair land. Forgive my naive ignorance but I always thought that you were supposed to have done something wrong in order to have broken the law. Apparently not. So we now have a situation in which it is illegal to drive at 31 mph in a 30 limit zone. My problems are as follows: Is it immoral to do so? I think not. Is it harmful to other people? I think not. Is it unjust. No. No. No. So why do people have to pay large sums of money when they are caught doing it? We all know examples of people who have been caught in, frankly, stupid situations - a midwife at 5am on her way to an urgent delivery but doing 31 mph through a speed camera, for example. What crime did she commit? The answer is that she didn't. So why is she fined and her license endorsed? More to the point why do people put up with this kind of dictatorship?

I think I know the answer. It is that very few people think for themselves. Mostly they come across other people's ideas and just agree with them because they seem reasonable. Bad idea. That makes us easy prey to... wait for it... people with an agenda!!! Oh no!

And the particular agenda we have fallen prey to here is the red flag brigade. They first made their appearance around 1865 when they managed to get the British parliament to pass The Locomotive Act which required a man to walk in front of a mechanically propelled vehicle waving a red flag. The speed limit was set at 4 mph in the countryside and 2 mph in the towns. It was 31 years before this rule was abolished and the speed limit set at 14 mph.

The main reason this legislation was introduced was because of self interest in the railways. What a coincidence. Nowadays we see government has a clearly enunciated bias toward public transport, including the railways.

Another reason given is that it is inherently dangerous (unlike trains which are held in place by rails and, of course, never crash.) It was so nice to hear government chappies bragging about how fast the new Eurolink trains travel! Nothing wrong with doing 140mph. Nothing at all.

Our illustrious police force who seem to dislike anyone other than policemen traveling fast in motor cars tell us "It's 30 for a reason" and the reason given is that you are more likely to kill someone if you are traveling at 40 mph and collide with them. They say you can prove anything with statistics and, if you are a spin doctor, that is exactly what you do. Think for a moment about the statistics of progressions and you will discover the lie and propaganda in all of this. Of course as you go slower the damage you do will go down, right down until you hit zero. Conclusion - the safest speed to travel at is 0 mph. And it always will be. What a gift. An argument for all occasions. Anyone who is moving is more dangerous than anyone who is still. So lets get 'em off the road. Nasty motor cars!

What is so sad is that the motoring organisations do nothing to fight back. The truth is that if you gave this stuff to your own spin doctors they could have a field day. It's just like the global warming argument. You feel so guilty about the damage you have done to the planet that you do everything possible to cut down on your use of heating, waste etc and as a result you save enough money to treat yourself to a nice holiday. Off you go on a shiny silver jet, feeling very smug, not caring that the jet alone has used twice the carbon monoxide that you saved in a year. Sigh.

So what kind of fight back could we mount. Well, did you know that all slowing down means that the volume of traffic on the roads goes up - that's a statistical fact. So the government's true policy is to increase congestion. Every detour around town means more miles - which is more pollution. Every time you stop at a traffic light you increase the time on the road and your carbon emissions by stopping and starting. Pulling away is the worst thing you can do to increase pollution. Driving smoothly without hindrance is the best. Oh yes, my favourite. The car most likely to have an accident is the slowest one because that car has a load of drivers bunched up behind him trying to get round him and getting bad tempered. The safest car is the fastest one - he's out in front with no one near him to bump into.

To return to the speeding issue. Obviously there are speeds that are inherently dangerous. No one would argue that it was morally neutral to drive at 100 mph in a town. But most speeding motorists are not doing anything wrong when they break the speed limit. It is the law that is wrong. Speeding should be used as evidence of a crime, not a crime in its own right. So, if you have an accident speeding should be taken into account. If nothing has happened, then you should not be penalised. That seems to me to be a more just way of administering the law.

Pierre

Tags: cavalier taxi Fred Housego Mastermind philosophical anorak speeding crime immoral harmful unjust dictatorship agenda red flag railways public transport Eurolink police kill propaganda statistics traffic pollution spin doctor congestion global warming

Russell Watson - Wishing You Well Again

2007-10-25T12:13:00.000+01:00

Singer, Russell Watson, was yesterday (24/10/2007) admitted to hospital in Cheshire for emergency surgery on a brain tumour. Russell has been a customer of my courier firm since soon after his phenomenal rise to fame in 1999. He is a colourful character and always a pleasure to meet, usually in his beloved Manchester United strip, on the common outside his house looking very sporty (not posing - honest). His musical arranger, Bill Hayward, lives in Shrewsbury, hence my firm's connection with Russell, Katherine Jenkins, Lulu and the Halle orchestra (also customers).

Russell is a typical Salford lad, the son of a factory worker, mad about sport, especially Man U. He grew up as one of the lads with a passion for singing which he did around the working men's clubs of Salford and just for fun, whilst working 12 hours a night at a nuts and bolts factory. He entered a local talent contest, which he won and one thing led to another. He was invited to sing at Man U's end of season game in 1999 where he performed Nessum Dorma. That brought him to the attention of Decca and the rest, as they say, is history. He topped the UK classical charts for a year and was only knocked off the top position by his own follow up and was simultaneously No 1 in America, a unique achievement.

Russell has never lost sight of his origins or of the value of life - "It's been a long road, getting from there to here..." and he takes every opportunity to help those less fortunate than himself, especially children. Only a couple of weeks ago he performed at Manchester's prestigious Bridgewater Hall with the Halle orchestra to raise money for the new Children's Hospital and it is known that he has dug deep into his own pocket as well.

Illness has dogged him throughout his career. In 2002 he had to have a growth removed from his vocal chords. Only a year ago he had a benign brain tumour "the size of 2 golf balls" removed. It is typical of the man that he was in the recording studio working hard when his current problem "interrupted play".

My thoughts go out to Russell and his family at this anxious time. He is a fighter and we wish him every ounce of strength and courage to defeat the invisible enemy.

Pierre

Tags: Russell Watson hospital Cheshire brain tumour courier fame Manchester United Bill Hayward Shrewsbury Katherine Jenkins Lulu Halle Salford working mens clubs talent contest Nessum Dorma Decca classical charts children Bridgewater Hall courage invisible enemy

Global Warming And The End Of Life As We Know It

2007-09-02T11:03:00.000+01:00

Some say it brings out the best in people, others the worst. Personally, I have always been extremely suspicious both of the science and the people who support it.

The problem with the science is that we have so very little to go on and in truth we just don't know what is going on. All scientists think that they are very clever people who know a lot about how things work. The history of science suggests otherwise. What we know in the scheme of things is a tiny fraction of a fraction of a per cent of what is knowable in terms of how things work.

When it comes to knowing a thing or two probably the worst of all possible examples is the weather. We got it wrong when it was fairly stable. What hope when it is not? What is beginning to emerge is that weather is globally linked and that is quite a new idea. Indeed the whole notion of thinking of scientific phenomena as systems is itself in its infancy.

A further problem is that we have only begun to collect data in the last few hundred years so good statistical analysis is simply impossible. Isolated archaeological finds or comments by contemporary writers help a little but mostly no one thought to comment on the weather when they were recording history. Nevertheless, I do remember at school learning that one of the reasons the chartist revolution failed in the 1840s was because on the day the great petition was presented to the government it rained and a lot of supporters stayed at home. British history is never quite like any other!

What we do know about the history of global warmth and weather is that it has fluctuated quite a bit over the centuries with extremes of both ice age proportions and equatorial weather in hitherto temperate regions. I must admit that I find it hard to believe that mankind has had such an impact on the planet that he has diverted the weather system. More likely is that this is just more human arrogance. I don't doubt that the world is getting warmer but I remain sceptical about the reason.

Can so many scientists be wrong? Well, yes, is the short answer but how many scientists actually believe in this unified theory, namely, that wicked mankind has burned too many fossil fuels and must return nature to nature to remedy things. I think the answer is that there are fewer of them than you might think. Sooner or later politics rears its ugly head. The truth is that if you want to get funding for any kind of research these days you have to dress it up to look like it has political significance. Consequently, researchers simply put a global warming spin on their research and obviously keep quiet for fear of never working again. Sad, but true.

My other concern is the group of people who have embraced the global warming bandwagon. It seems to me that every generation has its agitators and the only thing that changes is the cause. There is just a little too much glee for my liking with the way we are supposed to return to nature. Some of this group are definitely bicycle riders and hate cars and I fear that would be true even if it could be demonstrated that the car does not harm the environment. Indeed the gases that come out of the rear end of a cow are supposed to be as harmful as exhaust emissions from cars. So if we moved over to a more rural economy we may very well make matters a whole lot worse.

The real problem is that there are just too many of us. Let us look at the facts - and I do mean facts this time. In 1900 the global population was 1.7 billion. A century later, in 2000, it was 6.1 billion. Half a century later, in 2050 it is projected to rise to 9 billion. As the saying goes - you do the math!

The simple fact is that our global population growth has long since passed the steady rise position and is now relentlessly and exponentially doubling in fewer and fewer years. This fact alone renders all this carbon footprint business useless and futile. Like a plague of locusts we are set to take over the entire planet - unless...

Nature has her way of levelling things out. When one species eats all its prey and prospers to the point of eating all its food supply it dies of starvation, the food supply recovers and the cycle goes around again. The issue for mankind will be one of numbers. If we are unable to solve the problem, and I firmly believe that we do not stand a chance, then nature will solve it for us.

Now, what politician will dare to agree with me?

Pierre

Tags: global warming life as we know it science weather systems statistical analysis archaeological finds history school chartists government revolution rained ice+age temperate fossil fuels nature funding bandwagon bicycle environment cows population

Aardvark in Glorious Colour

2007-08-26T18:18:00.000+01:00

Running your own business on a 24/7 basis does seem like hard work at times. One of the reasons I write a blog is to remind me that I have other interests and, hopefully, talents. In some ways I was pleased to realise that taking care of my company web site had been left and left - one of those jobs that stays on the list but never actually gets done. Well, I guess I'm just about up to date at last. My in tray is almost empty and the web site has been re-written. That's a job which has been waiting years, in fact since before broadband when we first set up our internet account and wrote a black and white single page web site. It is interesting to see from the stats how much the world has moved on from those days. One of the reasons I never quite got around to doing anything with it was because it had more of a curiosity value than a practical one. Today, however, it is as normal as having a telephone and almost as essential. In fact it will probably supercede the telephone.

On the other hand some things never change and I see microsoft has, after 9 years discontinued Front Page and introduced a very very expensive alternative. Just to make sure, they have seen to it that Front Page has disappeared off the face of the earth. Just as well I noticed that Publisher does web site conversions! I wonder what will change in the next 9 years. I have a pretty good idea what won't change.

Pierre

Tags: aardvark colour business 24/7 microsoft Front Page Publisher change

Oh yes, I almost forgot. The website is at: http://www.aardvarkagency.co.uk

Another Government Cover Up

2007-08-04T09:08:00.000+01:00

What more can I say?

Pierre

Tags: condom government inflation production next generation pricks security screwed

Streuth It's Mark Elliott!

2007-07-28T17:20:00.000+01:00

solo kitchen jam

Starring in today's blog is none other than my little brother, Mark, confirmed aussie, innovator of hair styles, strummer of the magic strings and able to sing pretty damm well even with his legs crossed and dying for a pee (see advanced listings on myspace).

Not wishing to seem biased but I think the boy's got talent. As yet I don't see a distinctive and memorable style which of course is what it takes if you want to go anywhere special and nowadays it seems just about everyone does. However, I have not heard much of his stuff as yet so perhaps I should do some sampling first.

I wonder if my readers would like to hear more of Mark. Let us know. I'm sure your comments would be greatly appreciated.

...and what of the required makeover. Personally, I am too folically challenged in the cranial region to comment further on that aspect. However, in the naming area may I suggest the well worn tradition of dropping the surname and adopting the middle name instead i.e. Mark Elliott instead of Mark Rayner. Even though I share the same surname I never really felt it had star quality, if you know what I mean. Elliott, however, has a proven track record. Incidentally, I keep looking at the bone structure of Bobby Elliott, the long time drummer of The Hollies and wonder if we are related - wouldn't that be nice! Elliott was our great grandma's maiden name, but, alas, there are many of them in the world.

Then there is the question of how to get famous. Much vexed. Received wisdom suggests that it is more about luck than talent - oh misery. I doubt there is a week goes by without some new story of how someone coincidentally "made it". This week it was the turn of J.K. Rowling who, as a single mum, working in a coffee bar and trying to drum up interest in her first book was interviewed by a young reporter for local radio. She gave the interview and noticed that the reporter had taken the trouble to buy and read a copy of her book so she offered to sign it for him. He declined the offer and they went their separate ways, never to meet again. The reporter remembers commenting to a colleague that this wizard stuff will never catch on - you get an instinct for what will work in literature. Well, every so often he catches sight of the value of a signed first edition Harry Potter and I am sure sheds a few tears.

So how do you promote yourself. Perhaps we should ask Jo Rowling. Certainly don't ask a critic!

Pierre

Tags: Mark Elliott brother aussie pee music guitar jam myspace talent Bobby Elliott Hollies J.K. Rowling single mum book wizard Harry Potter first edition critic

Joe Cocker - The Legacy

2007-04-19T20:33:00.000+01:00

You either love him or hate him. Personally, I love him. Not just the music. Perhaps because his entire culture as a Yorkshireman from Sheffield comes shining through. The cultural background helps to put life and meaning into the music and that's what soul is all about. Songs like "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" which I first heard as a student had a certain relevancy which, like the mop of curly hair, have faded somewhat over the years. This is mine in mid-flight around 1980. Sadly, today, just a memory. At least Joe did, eventually, catch up and, just for good measure, got the dreaded belly also (which I have managed to stave off).

Joe has been described as somewhat under-rated by my friend Crowbarred and I suppose he has a style which screams out cult following. Most people only know him for his rendering of the Lennon/McCartney classic "With a Little Help From My Friends" which enjoyed totally stunning and yet utterly different performances from the 2 artists. As music that defines an era goes it has to rate as what the 60s did for us as well as anything. For me, however, there are many others which better define Cocker such as "Sweet Lil' Woman", "Easy Rider", "Threw it Away", "Many Rivers to Cross", "The Letter" and my favourite, "Delta Lady".

I was delighted to discover in, of all places, The X Factor, a modern day Joe Cocker in Ben Mills. For the uninitiated The X Factor is the UK equivalent of American Pop Idol and is, indeed produced by the same guru, Simon Cowell who, incidentally, is the fastest moving earner in the music world today, having taken his wealth from a mere 60 mil to 100mil in the space of a year. I doubt if I would have persisted with The X Factor but for my curiosity about Ben Mills and my interest has been well rewarded (but no doubt not as much as Simon Cowell). I have transported the Sony music player from Ben's website so you can sample his music. Listen especially, if you will to "Picture of You" which, as well as being a fine song, has the voice at its best. I doubt if Joe could improve on the rendition - but I hope he tries.

Pierre

Tags: Joe Cocker Ben Mills Yorkshireman Sheffield music soul student 60s X Factor Pop Idol Simon Cowell wealth Sony Picture of You

Paul Doughty born 19/03/1974 died 15/03/2007

2007-03-22T16:47:00.000Z

I would not presume to put a value on the life of a fellow human being, least of all Paul. His death at the young age of 32 will send a chilling reminder to everyone who hears of it that life can be unexpectedly short as well as cruel. For Paul it was both.

To many he was just a bad boy who wreaked havoc and pain everywhere he went. It would be foolish to deny that. He had no regard for the law and little for other people if they stood in his way. In that frame of mind he put himself and his own needs first. Most people do, but most people, Paul would say, are hypocrites. Paul knew what he was doing and had his own, albeit strange, code of morality, which justified his actions. He never subscribed to any public or national code of morality. Why should he? Paul was let down by those people over and over again. He entered the care system at the age of 8 because he believed the authorities would help and protect him. They did not. Throughout his time in care he was plagued by social workers who did not see him from one month to the next but when they did expected to proclaim what was best for him and expected him to accept that they knew best. He did not. I remember when, at the age of 16, the time came for him to leave the care of the residential school which I was responsible for. We had pressed his social worker repeatedly for a decision about where he should go next but received no answer. Our view, and his, was that he should remain in our overall care in a semi independent capacity, safely away from the street life of Birmingham. He was, in fact, given 24 hours notice, collected by his social worker, and taken to a hostel in the heart of a black, gang orientated part of Birmingham. There he was dumped and his social worker sped off to a meeting (very important, no doubt).

It was easy to see Paul as a victim when he was a child and young teenager. As he grew older the system, as it does, re-labelled him as a perpetrator. Certainly, what happened in those early adult years bears all that out. After all, he had choices. He would be the first to say he knew what he was doing. He liked having choices. It would be oh so comfortable for those of us who support the society we live in to say that he could have chosen to join us, even forgiven us for letting him down when he was younger. I think a lot of "respectable" people still believe in the angel in the slums idea much favoured by Charles Dickens. The truth is Paul had a culture and any way he was far too angry to join one that was full of over moral hypocrites. Incidentally, I can see a similarity here with American attitudes to the invasion of Iraq. Why oh why would the people of Iraq want to bow down and be ever so grateful to these strange people from across the pond? It is about as appealing as answering the door to a complete stranger who tells you that they know you have problems but all you have to do is leave it all to them and they will sort your life out. Yeah - right.

Paul did, nevertheless, have dreams and like most people they were the same dreams. He wanted to be successful - in our world. And he did put a huge amount of effort into achieving success. Although he "worked the system" as much as he could he had energy and flair. I always believed that he had what it took to be a millionaire. He was one of the sharpest minds I have ever come across. Unfortunately, there are 2 sides to making money. Paul was very good at getting projects off the ground. He was not very good at hanging on to money and in the end it became all too apparent that for every penny he made he would spend 10. Consequently, he was plagued by debt and pursued by creditors. He was like the outrageous anti-hero of a Hollywood movie but believe me however entertaining that might be on the silver screen it it just not funny for those who have to live with it. But it is exciting.

Like most people, Paul wanted to love and be loved. After a very chequered life of trying he did find what he was looking for in his partner, Sam. Paul had a very appealing side to his nature and could be the life and soul of the party. He swept Sam off her feet for the first year or so. By the time she realised what he was really like it was too late. You do not walk away from Paul, honest, you don't. She has recently described him as the man you hate to love. But love him she did and for her the experience of the last 4 years will last the rest of her life. I think she will never quite decide whether it was worth it or not.

I suppose Paul was at his best in the bowling alley. He loved the game and was always highly competitive. He would protest the rules to squeeze everything out of them he could but he would also be the first to recognise good play and to congratulate exceptional performance. He was a sportsman in the true sense. For me the position of power is all about the art of playing the one down position. For Paul it was one up all the way. His favourite saying was "Don't get brave". He certainly believed in luck but more so he believed in making his own luck. In the bowling alley the structure of the occasion helped him to fit in. No one needed to know the turmoil inside him. They could just enjoy his comradeship. And enjoy it they did.

I could just leave it at that - a brief flavour of Paul's life. I think he deserves more. If his life amounted to so little then why has he had such a profound impact on those around him? I think the answer is that he challenged much more than we care to admit. He made us see that we believe more in the fabric of our society than we do in the people that inhabit it. No one today in the western world can claim to believe in anything other than democracy. By that we mean that all of us are free to live our lives as we like. Yet that is so not true. We qualify that lofty ideal at every juncture. We make more and more rules about how we can and cannot behave in a civilised society. We punish those who break the rules, often quite arbitrarily, in the name of justice when in truth we are just making excuses to raise money. We treat the public, those we don't know, as punters to be exploited. We use the system to further our own ends and not to be unnecessarily generous to our fellow man. Paul did all of those things because he believed the world was still a jungle and you had to be a hunter gatherer to survive. When society complained he argued that he was following society's rules. He fought the system all the way and proved it to be a part of the jungle it claimed to be protecting us from. Had he lived way back in history he might have been a dictator and I rather think he would have made a good one. He had a sense of fairness which he learned from all the unfairness that happened in his life. Of course he would have made sure he was alright first but I think he would have cut through a lot of red tape. Some of the most unlikely characters make the best leaders if they only get the chance. Whether or not Paul quit, or rather was forced to quit, before life caught up with him or whether the best was yet to come we shall never know. He certainly had no resting place in this life. Let us hope that if there is another realm beyond death he has finally found peace - may he rest in peace.

Peter Rayner

Tags: Paul Doughty death morality social workers Birmingham victim perpetrator choices hypocrites society Iraq money anti-hero love brave bowling alley sportsman democracy jungle unfairness dictator peace

Talking About My Regeneration

2007-02-24T10:33:00.000Z

Mellisa Susan Rayner b. 20/12/2006

We welcomed into the world our first grandchild just before Christmas. Seen here doing a very passable impersonation of Winston Churchill (that's my girl!). All of which reminds me of what might turn out to have been my finest hour (well, a little bit less than an hour, actually).

Whilst I welcome Millie without reservation, I have to say that it has been a long personal struggle with the so called "middle-age crisis". I remember seeing the doctor for a medical about 10 years ago (making me about 47) and being told that I had the body of a 24 year (I don't know how he found out). Today I am recovering from a heart attack and have a mysterious neurological condition which renders me near to unable to walk, certainly without a stick and which could, eventually, paralyse me from the neck downwards. I think Mel Gibson, himself, would struggle to keep up with the speed at which the transformation occurred. Even so, I could live another 40 years (certainly my ambition) and so I am spurred on to make the adjustment.

So, oddly, Millie and I have much in common. We both face a brave and exciting new world with much to learn and much to adjust to. Looking back is easy (and self indulgent). The challenge is, as always, "to boldly go..."

Pierre

Tags: millie grandchild Winston Churchill finest hour middle-age crisis medical heart attack neurological paralyse stick Mel Gibson to boldly go

Like Riding a Bike

2007-02-11T20:18:00.002Z

So many months have gone by. Now I feel like I am creeping into the back of the room after the meeting has started. I guess I really had underestimated the power of writing. Maybe I thought it was just an optional extra, something to do when you have an idle moment. Ah, but there's the rub. I don't do idle moments.

Some bloggers seem to just do it effortlessly. For me it always significantly exhausting. Even when I have loads of energy. This is the trouble with being a perfectionist. There is an old saying:

"If a job's worth doing, its worth doing badly."

How many times do I set out with exactly that notion in mind only to find that I go back time and time again for another tweak. If it were against the clock I'd be alright. The first draft comes out quickly enough. It's the revisions that do for me!

I guess the problem is that a written piece is for ever. Hence my having started about 6 books in the course of my career but not finishing any of them. Even the papers took about 2 years each to produce although I have to say the bibliographies were stunning - and I did make the top journals in the world. (He said, hoping to impress).

I think it was Hilaire Beloc who wrote:

She writes because she must

My gifted sister, Anne

How nice!

We won't pretend

She writes because she can.

Well, for those who will make it all the way to a book or cyber equivalent I came across a great site somewhere in those lost months. It is called lulu.com. The idea is that you write a book and publish it on lulu. There is a basic price according to how lavish you want to be. You then add your profit, from which you get 80% and off you go. You can buy just one copy to see how it looks. No advance copies are printed. It is all done as required. The costings are quite reasonable so I can see this working. Another nice touch is that about 3 pages are made available for reading in advance so you can get well into the author before deciding.

The site quotes the example of an author who was turned down by a publisher as likely to only sell around 1000 copies a year. On lulu he does, indeed, sell around 1000 copies a year and makes $28 a copy profit.

I did find it a little unnerving to see quite so many memoirs and to realise that the need to write it down stands alonside the need to remember and capture those magnificent years of our youth. I suppose the risk is that what seems so precious in our head looks so ordinary in print. And that, in my view, is what makes a writer, not the memories or having something to say, but the ability to capture it in words that jump out from the page.

As for me, well there's a couple of hundred blogs to go before I can start forming them into memoirs so I had better get on with it, after dinner, that is.

Pierre

Tags: riding a bike creeping writing idle moments perfectionist tweak books Hilaire Beloc gifted lulu author publisher memoirs dinner

Super Tags

2006-09-24T11:25:00.000+01:00

I know I go on about it a lot but I have a librarian trapped inside me - and she's got an anal complex. At times it is frightening but most of the time it is, well, just stimulating!

Anyway, I've been checking out the old Technorati tags and it seems I had not quite got them right. All those with more than one word in them have to be joined by the plus sign in the code. Otherwise they don't work. Unfortunately, the second half of the code gives the impression that all is well but that is just a label. I have tried to write out the code for you but it keeps executing with rather bizarre results so you will have to go to the Technorati web site if you want to get it.

Why bother? Well the answer is that you can sprinkle the web with your own tags. This means that others can find your piece by searching on one of your quirky tags. For example, if my long lost friend, Mike Hall, types in his name, Colwyn Bay or Shastri, he will find me. Is that powerful or what? So will any of his friends from those days if they say to themselves "I wonder what happened to Shastri." Give it a try. Go on. Go on. Go on.

Pierre

Tags: librarian anal stimulating long lost friends Technorati

Bonzo Blog Blah Blah

2006-09-24T08:18:00.000+01:00

Yet another friend of the sixties who still has his own hair is this gentleman, who's name escapes me. If anyone can help me out - he is Neil Innes, Roger Ruskin Spear, Rodney Slater, Sam Spoons, Vernon Dudley Bohay Nowell, Bob Kerr or "Legs" Larry Smith - collectively known as the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. I briefly worked with him in a children's home in North London. I remember he came to work on a bicycle and was quite reserved. I guess that was his day job!

If my appalling memory serves me rightly (unlikely, but stranger things have happened in the Band) they had already become quite well known by then and had certainly been on the telly, yet no one treated him as special. No one asked for an autograph or went into hero worship mode. I guess this was before the mass hysteria of fame fame fame which seems to haunt so many today. As I recall it, living in Hampstead, he had competition. As students we often went for a wander across Hampstead Heath and commented on the possibility that we might see some pop groups also going for a walk. And we did! I could never work out who was who but I daresay there were some pretty famous names in there.

Students in those days were quite snobbish about who was "in" and "cool" (a word resurrected) and I think Bonzo Dog was not "cool" at that stage. I remember liking them but keeping quiet about it. I had already wrecked what little street credibility I had by playing "I'm a Tiger" by Lulu at a Westfield College gig we did. Someone much more savvy rushed across and quickly changed the record. I was never allowed to be a DJ again! However, I did bump into Tony Blackburn in Kilburn one Sunday morning and I thought about asking for an autograph but all I had with me was a loaf of bread so I just said "Hi". No one was very impressed about that either. Sorry, Tony, and that was before The Goodies got their teeth into you.

Well Bonzo Dog are still on the touring circuit, almost as cheaply as the geriatric trips to the German Christmas markets. More info HERE. As for me, all this excitement has brought back a load more ALMOST FAMOUS memories which I will post another time. Perhaps I could re-write my life in the sixties around the bass guitar I played and finally gave as a present to another friend, Shastri (otherwise known as Mike Hall from Colwyn Bay, read medieval literature at North West London Poly) . Giving up the guitar was a huge symbolic gesture for me. I made my mind up that day that I was not going to be a pop star (a wise decision) and I knew how much Shastri wanted to be one - for all the right reasons - he was totally immersed in it. I hope he got what he wanted and I hope my donation helped along the way. Trouble is, we have all lost touch with him (yes, another one) so if anyone out there can find Shastri let me know.

Pierre

Tags: Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band bicycle Hampstead pop cool Lulu Westfield College DJ Tony Blackburn Kilburn Goodies sixties ALMOST FAMOUS Shastri Mike Hall Colwyn Bay North West London Poly

Lord of the Sings

2006-09-23T12:48:00.000+01:00

Just something to cheer away the weekend. It won't make Crowbarred's top 1000 tunes but it's good therapy for the terminally insane.

I have not had time to explore this strange web site properly yet but I think it shows promise as one of those wacky doos sites (Did I just invent a new word then?). Anyway, whatever. It was never like this at the Old Bull and Bush on a Saturday night! Enjoy.

Pierre

Link: http://www.compfused.com/directlink/3995/

Tags: Lord of the Rings therapy insane wacky

Brainwashing and Democracy

2006-09-17T13:13:00.000+01:00

If anyone asked you what you thought of brainwashing and whether or not it had a place in a free society I expect you would have no problem or hesitation in your answer. Part of what we mean by freedom includes freedom of mind or choice as we would say.

It has long been accepted that our choices are limited by the necessity to have rules and, of course, the making and breaking of those rules constitutes a huge part of the character of our society. It is also accepted that a certain amount of "brainwashing" is required to train and socialise children. It is more commonly known as behavioural psychology. In my own diagnostic career I established very early on that all people can be divided into one of two groups. Generally, my first step, which I thought of as an orientation procedure, was to classify a patient/client into an over socialised or an under socialised person. Delinquent behaviour, for example, could be caused by lack of supervision in a child who has been allowed to run wild or rebellion by a child who has been surrounded by rules. These are neat opposites which, therefore, indicate a solution in the area of increasing or decreasing structure. Obviously, it is crucial that the therapist is clear about which is which.

As well as finding the right solution it is necessary to devise a little procedure which can be followed over and over again. Life is structured around big things and little things, nice things and chores, all with different levels of importance and appeal. The trick is to take something the child wants and make it conditional upon something you want the child to do. All this works much better if you put a positive spin on it. So, lets suppose the child wants to go out to play. Your answer might be "Yes, you can go out just as soon as you finish your tea". This is far preferable to threatening the child with "No, your'e not going out because you haven't finished your tea". The reason a positive spin works better is because it keeps the focus on what you both want to achieve instead of allowing the agenda to be hi-jacked by an argument about what neither of you wants.

So there it is. Once we nasty psycho-babblists came along we opened the door to all kinds of thought control. If only you knew!

First off the mark were the greedy money makers - sales and advertisers. The shocking statistic, which inspired this piece, is that on average, each of us is exposed to around 500 adverisements per day. Now, I don't care how much trite rubbish they dig out to defend the need to advertise in a capitalist society. My concern is quantity. Many, many television adverts are run over and over and over again at every commercial break. Why? There is only one sane and reasonable explanation. We are being bombarded by brainwashing techniques. And the scale of it is greater than most psychologists and most parents achieve in socialisinmg their children. Shock. Horror.

One of my pet mental procedures is to contemplate where a currently popular idea will be in 50 or 100 years time. I predict that at some time in the future there will be a mass revolt against what will be called psychological abuse, akin to child abuse, and that it will radically alter the world of advertising for ever. People will become very conscious of all forms of thought control and it will be akin to racism, sexism etc to attempt to enter someone's mind without permission. I think the idea of psychological rape is already understandable in our society and that is a huge leap forward.

In my next piece I will take a look at the economics of this hollow freedom to persuade. What would happen to society if we took out huge chunks of advertising making millions redundant. Would it cause a world recession? Would it affect climate change?

In the meantime, may I recommend that you do what I have done for a good long time and hit the MUTE button when the ads come on.

Pierre

Tags: brainwashing democracy freedom choice rules society behavioural psychology diagnosis delinquent supervision rebellion child structure solution conditional positive spin agenda hi-jack statistics advertisements capitalist television abuse economic mute

Paul Hillier, Friend

2006-09-10T16:23:00.000+01:00

We don't know, at the time, which events in life will stand out like a beacon across the years. Sometimes it is the simplest and silliest of things that become a part of our personal treasure chest.

Until October 1967 I had grown up in a provincial northern town, Halifax, in what was then the West Riding of Yorkshire. Life was a challenge, both intellectually and personally. Intellectually, because I had become a born again pentecostal believer some years earlier and was now having doubts about the validity of that. I was about to take that particular strand into a whole new dimension as I embarked upon my degree course in Theology at Kings College, London. Personally, because less than a year earlier, I had said goodbye to my parents and brothers, Richard and Mark, as they emigrated to New Zealand on one of the last of the assisted passage schemes, for the princely sum of £10.

That day I was the best man at my older brother's wedding (Paul Rayner) and went straight from the reception to the train station, bound for London. I was not, at that time, comfortable with London and, although outspoken, actually quite terrified inside. Perhaps I should have been called Hornblower!

My life changed forever, that day. I never again lived in Halifax. It was the end of childhood, suddenly and irrevocably.

Like the curtain rising on a new act in a play I entered New College, Theological College and Hall of Residence, that evening not knowing what lay before me. Hearing the commotion, the student next door came out and introduced himself, Paul Hillier. He, too, was just starting out, but in a very different field. He was a singer at the Guildhall School of Music. He had milk, a precious commodity for a student and made me a very welcome cuppa.

I don't know who else I met that night. In the days that followed there were many others and we became quite a notorious gang. But that night was special. It was a rite of passage night. There could have been no one finer to share it with. Paul was always so unassuming, relaxed and yet passionate in an absorbing way about whatever he did. I think he saw life as like a garden full of beautiful things just waiting to be plucked. For me, also a man of passion, there is always an issue. For Paul, there is passion without either effort or issue. That's why he is so suited to music.

Inevitably, our destinies took us in different directions. I suppose I last saw him around 1970, maybe even 1969, when I moved out of New College. A few years ago, I started looking for old friends on the internet, and had some remarkable finds. At that time Paul was nowhere to be found. Now, I have a very peculiar disability. I forget people's names. I once, famously, forgot my French teacher's name for 3 days and she had been teaching me for four years. This disability is compounded by the fact that many of these old friends had nicknames, so we never used their real names anyway. Paul was called Will Thatcher (long before there was another famous Thatcher!) because of his West Country twang and homliness. This was further developed when 2 of us found a gravestone in Winchester Cathedral to one Will Thatcher who died of drinking hot toddy.

Anyway, I digress. My search for long lost friends continued today when I quite accidentally spotted the credits in a listing for a BBC TV programme about the notorious pirate, Blackbeard. Among the contributors/actors is one James Hillier. Ahh! said I. That's his name. Paul Hillier. From that to a search engine to Paul's web site was then quite simple. In fact there is a second one here.

Paul, it turns out, is not only famous and successful. He is at the very top of his profession with something like 80 recordings and associations all over the world. Moreover, he must be one of the few children of the 60s who still looks much the same, even down to the hair!

I was so pleased that Paul had fulfilled the potential that was always so clearly there from the outset and I can see in his pictures that he hasn't changed at all in his nature. I am proud to say that for me he was and I hope always will be, quite simply, my friend.

Pierre

Tags: Paul Hillier Halifax pentecostal theology Kings College London New Zealand assisted passage Hornblower New College Guildhall School of Music rite of passage singer passion music Winchester Will Thatcher Blackbeard friend

Work - The Curse of the Blogging Man

2006-09-03T16:55:00.000+01:00

Almost 2 weeks since my last post. I can't believe it! I started blogging in the belief that at last I would have time to make daily posts in my post heart attack world. Truth is I'm busier than ever. Mind you I am getting a lot done and it is our year end which produces a paperwork fest to delight any civil servant. I never realised how much paper has in common with water. No matter how much you try to control it still it comes flowing through.

Anyway, still 3 months' VAT to catch up on and the annual accounts to finalise. Then it will be Christmas, no doubt. No promises but I'll do my best.

Just a couple of things to mention before they get lost in time. First is to crowbarred who seems to be confused about the difference between a link (which is an address, usually starting with http://) and a tag (which is a subject word or phrase used for searching). See his comment on my piece Music Music Music. I did write a long and detailed (and probably boring) explanation about these 2 a week ago and then ran into a beta type issue with the blogger. Next thing I knew - there it was - gone. There is nothing more deflating than to lose a piece of work forever like that. Golden rule, of course, is always to save it in draft but, well I didn't. Bah.

Following on from that I cannot stress too much how important it is to register with Technorati, claim your blogs, ping after every post and link to other sites (and of course get them to link to you.) There are millions of bloggers out there and if you want to get noticed you have to do things!!!

On a lighter note, I came across this rather relaxing post. Enjoy.

Pierre

Tags: heart blogging link tag beta Technorati ping relaxing

Stats Are In

2006-08-22T11:50:00.000+01:00

A little late but Technorati has, at last, updated the test stats I put in over the weekend. Both sites now show links. In the case of the Windows Live site it is showing 1 link from 1 blog. This site is showing 2 links from 1 blog. There is a bit of an issue with the number of links but it may not make any difference to the outcome if the point is that for ranking purposes the number of blogs which link is what counts. Both sites are now showing identical rankings at 1,016,551. There is no doubt that the proper working site is this one so I am very confident that it is not traffic but blogs linking which affects the ranking. So, if you want to rise up the ranks get your friends to link to you. And that is my next step. I have an almost unused site which I set up for a friend and which I have virtually free access to so I am going to use that to make a link to see what happens when a second site links to you.

I will post the results.

Pierre

Tags: stats link ranking

It's Official: Shipping Forecast Is In

2006-08-22T11:25:00.000+01:00

Yes, in fact there were many, many nominations. See the entry and write up on this page. Also there is a comment from yours truly. I must say, the main entry does it proud and is better by far than my modest effort. But then, I'm probably better at explaining ethnomethodology, so each to his own.

The original post in this blog is here.

Pierre

Tags: icon British Shipping Forecast nomination Sailing By

Music Music Music

2006-08-21T21:48:00.000+01:00

I have come across a very industrious gentleman from New Zealand. Probably, in truth, he has come across me for I have found traces of him all over the place. He appears to have done a great deal in a short time. The main emphasis is on music videos and if you like music I feel sure you will love this site.

The reason I mention him is because he does not simply browse other people's blogs. He takes the trouble to leave a comment. I am sure many, new to blogging, will appreciate greatly his interest. We should all take a moment to leave a word of encouragement as we pass by. That's what makes this a social network and not just a narcissistic journey into our selves.

Also, there are 3 main ways in which a blog becomes noticed. You must post, tag and link. For that reason I am doing my bit for Crowbarred by linking to one of his 3 sites. I hope you enjoy.

Pierre

Tags: music browse comment network post tag link

Even More

2006-08-20T14:21:00.000+01:00

So far no results. Everything appears to have updated. I had to post on the Windows Live site to make it update but that's all it did. We still have a link status of 2 to Blogger and none to Windows Live. The ranking also is unchanged.

There are a couple of possibilities here. First is that the link was to the Trackback address and not the site in general. Maybe that format does not credit a link. The way to test that is to make 7 links to the site this time round.

Another possibility is that several servers are involved here (which I am sure there are) and that updating one by pinging is only the beginning. Replication to other servers may be required before the full story is revealed. With this in mind I am going to wait a while before initiating plan B234.

Pierre

Tags: ping link Technorati ranking

And More

2006-08-20T12:41:00.000+01:00

Results: The ping updated the stats. Looks very likely, therefore, that you have to post to get the server to whirr into action.

This site now shows 2 links from 1 blog so it does not matter how many times you link to the same item in a post it is only credited as one link. However, each new post will credit another link if it is made in the post.

The link to the title which was itself a link to Technorati did, indeed, take me to Technorati. Conclusion, be careful about using the title to link to a source as this prevents others from linking to you by item. I have a bit of a problem with this one because many of these links are so long they go off the end of the allocated page and upset the layout. I had started using the link to embed the source without having to display it. I suppose the answer is to make a link to the friendly part of the URL.

Next issue is what effect does linking have on ranking. Before I conducted these experiments I had 2 blogs. The first was in msn myspace which became Windows Live. This had a handful of posts in it the last of which explained that I had started a new blog on Blogger and gave the URL for that. I then continued posting on Blogger. Both were claimed on Technorati and pinged. Although I lost touch for a while whilst having heart surgery the ranking situation was, in ratio at least, always in favour of the Windows Live site. The difference is huge, around a third or half a million. Yesterday, when I managed to update the Windows Live ping (by posting) the Windows Live site demoted itself to 1,424,556 whilst the Blogger site (this one) promoted itself to 1,011,387. The essential difference appears to be just one link from the Windows Live site to this one. The next stage in the experiment, therefore, is to see if I can restore the Windows Live site to its former glory simply by linking to it (and possibly posting a little post on it) to make the servers notice its sweet little contribution to bloggery.

Pierre

Tags: ping link Technorati ranking

More Techno Babble

2006-08-20T12:16:00.000+01:00

As predicted the links reversed when both sites were pinged. Interesting that the Windows Live site had gone 187 days without updating in spite of being set to ping automatically. I then inserted 6 links in a new post all pointing to the title of the last post on this site (which is a link to my Technorati profile). For good measure I added a link to this site itself and a Trackback to the Technorati link. I then pinged both sites from Technorati. The Windows Live site updated at once but there were no changes or updates to this site, presumably because the changes were external. I am now posting this piece to see what effect it has.

Pierre

Technorati Link

2006-08-19T18:59:00.000+01:00

You can all ignore this post unless you are a technorati genius. I am trying to figure out why my pathetic little msn blog which I stopped using months ago has a higher rating than this one. The explanation seems to be that technorati thinks it has 1 blog linking to it (this one?) I seem unable to reverse the process. Perhaps it is a limitation in msn. Obviously the point is important if you want to rise up the rankings. As a test I have placed the same link to my technorati blog claim as I used in the msn blog to see if that is the source of the link.

Pierre

A British Icon

2006-08-19T15:47:00.000+01:00

This blog officially supports The Shipping Forcast as a British icon (See link in Title). I was amazed to find that it has not yet been nominated and so I have nominated it myself. Obviously it will not be number one but, nevertheless, many of us have it chiselled into our identities. I have spent years and years driving late at night and often been cheered along by "Sailing Home" and the Shipping Forcast. It has also been the prelude to some stunning contributions to the World Service from the BBC which follows the closing of Radio 4 after the Shipping Forcast. I remember once someone chose it as a Desert Island Disc also and I can understand why. To those of you outside our shores this must seem to be totally barmy British eccentricity but to those of us who were brought up on Latin, Empire, Shakespere, canings and cricket it is the essense of life itself.

I will not try to explain further. You either get it or you don't!

Pierre

Tags: British icon Shipping Forcast Sailing Home World Service BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs Latin Empire Shakespere canings cricket life

PS: What a shame they made the site specifically English which excludes many cultural items from Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. I hope my nomination, which clearly relates to the whole of the British Isles, is not, thereby, refused.

Trend of Things

2006-08-19T14:58:00.000+01:00

Trying to make sense of the history of your own time whilst it is happening is well nigh impossible. However, with increasing age the past comes into focus. The dust settles. Alles klar, as the germans say.

I came across an interesting observation recently which was that in the 1920s there was a change from making what people need to persuading people that what machines make is what they need.

The more I think about it and the more profound it seems.

Pierre

Tags: history 1920s change need machines

New Kid on the Block

2006-08-19T14:30:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Olly Freeman on coming 3rd in the London Triathlon. This is the first time he has been old enough to compete at the under 23 level (he is just 20). A very creditable performance considering that he beat 2 Olympic winners! And such enthusiasm too. Did he have an MP3 player concealed about his person? I would swear he was chilling out as he ran.

Pierre

Tags: Olly Freeman London Triathlon enthusiasm

Ozone Layer Alive and Well

2006-08-17T23:06:00.000+01:00

Click on the title to find a piece in Reuters which explains that the ozone layer is making a slow but definite recovery. A few years ago we were told that most of it had gone from above the Antarctic and that as a result all kinds of catastrophies were destined to follow. Chief of these was global warming but there was also increased risk of cancer from the unfiltered sun's rays and the eventual loss of the atmosphere altogether as the ozone layer played an important part in holding in the other layers of the atmosphere. As a result we had a worldwide ban on CFCs, the propellants in aerosols and some fridges of the day.

Well, I am delighted with the good news, of course, but even more confused about what is really going on. If the ozone layer is slowly repairing itself then why is global warming accelerating?

I suspect that the truth is that no one really knows what is causing global warming although this will not stop plently of people from writing about it. I have always been a sceptic, myself, of the idea that man is the chief architect of this phenomenon and that the cause is the practice of burning fossil fuels. I don't doubt that the world is getting warmer. That is the easy bit. We only have to measure it. Mind you, how long have we been capable of doing that. Not long.

Since everyone has a theory and no one really knows I have decided to offer my own theory. We are currently experiencing the greatest amount of sunspot activity ever known since such observations began. The amount of energy thrown out by sunspots is, pardon the pun, astronomical. Therefore, it is reasonable to suppose that the main cause of global warming is sunspot activity. This would also account for climatic variations in time past. The sun is reasonably well behaved but no one is perfect. Perhaps this sun is going through a bad ass phase (excuse the american phrase, most unlike me).

Food for thought or am I going senile?

Pierre

Tags: ozone layer reuters CFCs antarctic global warming atmosphere sunspots fossil fuels theory

Universal Inflation

2006-08-13T14:10:00.000+01:00

That numbers guy is at it again. This one caught my eye. One thing that marks out our age is size or scale and the quote here sums it up rather nicely.

Pierre

Source: http://numericlife.blogspot.com/2006/08/economical-numbers.html

Tags: numbers astronomical inflation scale

We Are Closer Than You Think

2006-08-13T13:37:00.000+01:00

The link on this blog takes you to a rather wonderful site. The guy there collects numeric information. It might sound boring at first but, in truth, much of our lives is controlled by numbers, as a recent TV programme has illustrated very well. Although the research in this blog is not new (2001) I presume in his eternal search for all things numeric he has only just got around to it.

The basic point is that even though thousands of people are involved in an enterprise they are related to each other at only 6 removes. This has been known since 1929 but the guy in 2001 used the internet to prove it, which of course makes it proven beyond all doubt.

Pierre

Source: http://numericlife.blogspot.com/2006/08/six-degree-of-separation.html

Tags: numbers research related

Is Everybody Happy?

2006-08-13T12:15:00.000+01:00

Apparently some of us are more happy than others and the differences appear to be marked. The University of Leicester is about to publish the first ever world map/study of relative happiness. This is based on 80,000 interviews worldwide. The main indicators turn out to be health, wealth and education. Remember the old ditty:

Early to bed, early to rise,

Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

I have been unable to find an original source at the moment. Possibly someone jumped the gun and it is not yet out. The link at the start of this piece is to a blog that has details of the project. I will let you see for yourself where we all rank. Well worth a read.

Pierre

Source: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=25774562&blogID=155300862

Tags: happy University of Leicester world health wealth education

A Bad Day for Spanners

2006-08-13T11:14:00.000+01:00

I should know better. In spite of being an otherwise rational, if not anal, human being, I am highly superstitious. This is something I will, no doubt, write about at some length in due course, as one of the ways in which I justify my existence is to embark on that famous journey of searching for the meaning of life.

My present problem is that over the years I have found a very clear relationship between disaster and the date of the 13th of the month. This is not something I want to be true. It is something I have, dare I say it, scientifically observed to be true.

So this is not a good day to be tinkering with the web site. Several days ago I applied for the Reuters news player which you can only have on your site as a syndicated item. In other words you apply for it and they take a look at your site and say yes if its OK and no if you're pushing porn or terrorism. Since my site has neither of these I was accepted. Fitting it in then became a major problem, or, should I say, project.

These ready made blogger templates are brilliant for getting started and if you wonder why they look so good I can tell you. They are so good. The Player was just slightly too big to fit at the top of the page. The result was that all the stuff in the right hand column got shunted to the bottom. Now I have a nodding acquaintance with HTML from one of the many books I read up to Chapter Six (my favourite chapter, mainly because I rarely get as far as Chapter 7). However, nodding might get you by in German but teutonic precision pales in the face of HTML!! According to the book (Chapter Six) you can only advise browsers what they should do with your code. You cannot actually tell them where to stick it (although I came close a few times). As if in sympathy with the codies my last post decided to play the shunting trick on me all without provocation. So, if things look a bit odd around here just ignore it because it will all return to normal at midnight - it always does.

Pierre

Tags: rational superstitious existence meaning of life 13th reuters templates HTML

Change the World? Not Me Mate

2006-08-13T10:35:00.001+01:00

I never thought the day would come. I have decided to drop the complaint against the hospital trust. Today is the last day for writing to the Ombudsman and with me that is not a simple letter. I know it will take up all of my day. I like to be thorough so I know I would have made a proper job of it.

The truth is I doubt if it would make any difference. A few years ago I had the dubious honour of writing an entire complaints procedure for a group of special schools which I was the director of. We then had to be inspected by both the Department of Education and Science (as it then was) and the local authority. We passed with flying colours I am happy to say As a result of becoming intimate with complaints procedures I took more than a passing interest in their implementation. My conclusion, (forgive me if, on this occasion, I omit the evidence which would be extensive), was that complaints procedures are administered by hard nosed spin doctors who know exactly how to manipulate the situation to their advantage. The member of the public who thinks he's got them trembling at the knees has not begun to make an impression on them. I should know because I was one of them! In fairness to my own performance I certainly did care about the issue and I would deal with it thoroughly. In that sense the complainant would get what they were after. However, I would probably not expose my own staff to the mercy of a savage member of the public - so they would never know! Funny old world, don't you think?

Pierre

Tags: complaint hospital Ombudsman special schools local authority public care spin doctors funny

Diary Note

2006-08-13T10:04:00.000+01:00

Well I had hoped to be entering a prolific phase but - best laid plans...

Two weeks have gone by since I resumed posting for all of one day! Much has happened in this period. Initially, I simply got tired and dozed and dozed and dozed for hours and then days. Tiredness is a strange and irritating but somewhat surreal experience. You feel that you are not ill but in truth you are.

No sooner had I recovered than things got busy at work (I work from home). To cut a long story short I am currently going to various destinations in Wales 5 days a week. This requires me to get out of bed at 05:45 hours. Not good for a night person like me. The first day was tough but I was spurred on by the adrenalin burst. After that it got easier. However, I am not back until lunch time and then need a therapeutic afternoon nap so before I know it the day is gone. I thought time management was a thing of the past. How wrong can you be.

On top of that certain friends have taken to visiting most evenings (which I love) but the net result is not much time left for blogging. I do not like writing when there are others in the room. It's an atmosphere thing.

Anyway, I have spent a lot of time experimenting with the old blog. So, one way and another, there's gonna be some changes round here. Didn't I say that last time?

Pierre

Tags: diary tired writing atmosphere blogging changes