Jolly Good Sporting Weather

First the good news, second the prayers that all the bad news out there will not be noticed.  The competition has been intense, the immense efforts put in by the politicians to be at the right event at the right time has been rewarded by medals won by the GB athletes.  With others won by our cousins, The Empire Strikes Back.

After the business in Rome when the only medal won by GB needed the help of a horse it is refreshing to see our lot do well.  It has taken a long while and a lot of money, but that is in line with other states.  Also, for those so minded it raises interesting questions.

One exercising what is left of the minds of those engaged in main media is who is the greatest Olympic athlete of all time?  There are a number of contenders.  Should it be based on the number of medals, or that there was something special about their victories or that some medals rate higher than others.

There are those pitching for Fanny Blankers-Koen (see Wikipedia) who was certainly special amongst others.  For my money though I can only opt for Tebbs Lloyd Johnson (see Wikipedia) the bronze medallist in the 50 km Walk also in 1948.  This is because I knew him and once appeared at the same athletics meeting.

It was at a works sports day in the mid 1940’s when he was engaged in a five mile walking race round the perimeter while less regarded events went on in the middle.  I was in the egg and spoon race, with wooden eggs because of the rationing.  With the help of a dab of US army chewing gum on the spoon this was my only ever athletics success.

It was a pleasant afternoon when everyone could forget the troubles at that time.  The difference then was that the main media did not pretend that none of it was happening or that it would not affect us.  Even the politicians were inclined then to spell out the problems.

So most of us were aware of what we were up against.  This does not seem to be the case at present when despite the availability of alternative sources the bulk of the population knows little, has less reliable information and even less truthful or coherent explanation of the uncertainties and potential risks in the present world.

There may be informed comment on the net about the all the bad economic news in many parts of the world and the gathering storm in Europe.  There is less being said about American anxieties about the control of the Eastern Mediterranean in the event of a collapse in Greece.  The BRIC group suddenly does not seem to be the dawn of a new world economy.

In the meantime in the UK and USA we are just becoming aware of how far the application of The Economics Of Extraction has gone in the application of fancy highly leveraged financing in all sort of commercial, charitable, governmental and welfare provision. 

The scale of the wreckage, the long term effects and the reduction of most of us to the status of debt slaves either directly or indirectly as tax or fee payers or consumers is only just beginning to emerge and it will be nasty.

Meanwhile in London, the gold medals contain little gold; the silver a limited amount of silver and the bronze are largely copper.  At least the athletes have something real to show for their efforts in the memories of their achievements.

Harriet's Little Secret

In all the clatter of criticism on the one side and favourable comment on the other about Harriet Harman, Deputy Leader of the Opposition there has been passing mention of the fact that she is a niece of the late Lord Longford.

But this is by marriage and not by blood.  Whether it has been more of a hindrance than a help in her political career is a question for the chatterati and not a very important one.

So let’s a have a look at the genes.  What I have never seen mentioned is that she is a descendant of the Birmingham family, before then London and Camberwell, the Chamberlains.  This may be known in Birmingham and Bermondsey circles but not much seems to have been said.

Harriet’s great grandfather, Arthur Chamberlain was brother to the famous Joseph Chamberlain, 1837-1914, above, the Birmingham local and national major politician (see Wikipedia) and uncle to his sons, Neville Chamberlain, who became Prime Minister and Austen Chamberlain, who many people thought should have had the job.

Joseph Chamberlain was another might have been for the post of Prime Minister whose role in the political turmoil of the 1880’s and 1890’s lost him the chance.  Often described as a “self made” man this is not quite the case.  Certainly, he did not attend either Oxford or Cambridge Universities.

But this did not mean that he was lacking in education or reading.  The Chamberlains were prosperous and active iron masters and their education lay in their trades, their religions and their connections.  Joseph built on the business success to become the leader of Birmingham, workshop to the world, and then a national politician.

Joseph and Arthur were close enough by birth and more so by marriage.  Arthur married Louisa Kenrick in 1870.  Joseph married first, Harriet Kenrick, her cousin who died tragically in childbirth, and then secondly Florence Kenrick, Louisa’s sister.  All worshipped in the Unitarian Church.

So if Ed Miliband stumbles in his quest to become Prime Minister and Harriet claims “Peace in our time” as with Neville Chamberlain, will she want to become Prime Minister to outdo those of her family who did not?

Running Ragged To Beat The Drop

Around the world we hear of many governments and other bodies struggling with their finances and needing mutual help.  The general idea seems to be that if they all generate enough fiat or debt money to either bail out or to lend to each other then somehow it will all end well.

The snag is these are the only ones we hear about.  But it is apparent in many states it is not only the government that is in trouble, it is the local or regional authorities, the state owned or supported major activities and much of welfare provision.

Each of these is more or less dependent on their government although many have become enmeshed in the global financial system to add to the complications.  There are reports of many US states, city, county and the rest individually being in trouble with apparently no way out.

Effectively they are bust and the same is the case in Greece and Spain and other places.  In the UK we have had one health authority, South London, go into administration and the odds are that there could be many more either on the brink or in reality insolvent.

In all the countries that have had major pension schemes running for many decades a great many authorities and organisations are prisoners of their pension fund commitments.  Their actual services have become legacy activities being run for the benefit of their managements and past and future employees.

In Europe, Germany is being held up as the potential great saviour of the Euro being theoretically the richest and solvent.  Look around the regions and townships etc. as well as local banks and this is far from being the case.  Should Germany experience some stresses a good many could be in real trouble.

I am sure that my own local health authority is broke having done a great deal of building recently using the fancy Private Finance Initiative method of funding it all.  The county authority is also struggling and the town seems to be operating on a wing and prayer for much the dame reasons.

In the meantime all the managements prattle on with the business lingo, claiming to have strategies, visions, missions, game plans and the whole bang shoot of MBA techniques for spending more and borrowing more thinking that dressing up the accounts with purple prose will do the trick.

This lot could all just crash very easily just as too many racing cars going into a narrow chicane can crash.  The only rational description for the way we are all behaving seems to be Chapter 3 of “Alice In Wonderland”, “A Caucus Race And A Long Tale”.  It is there on the web.

In the case of world finance it could be less of a long tale than a short sharp shock.

The Sound Of Music

So I met this classy dame and was anxious to make the right impression.  My track record for saying the wrong thing, or worse, telling the wrong joke was legendary.  She seemed to have some interest in music and could actually play it.  My only performing talent was in hitting beer trays with rugby boots.

We talked some and it seemed there was not a lot to disagree about.  In fact we had both seen and enjoyed some of the same kind of stuff.  In those days people were not segmented for marketing purposes into absolute categories of purchasing intentions. 

Musically, it meant that a lot of us simply did not bother about the boundaries.  What was on in the local theatres or halls or at the local cinema is what we went to whatever it might be.  In those post war days any entertainment could pull in a wide audience.

The youngsters of the time got to see the film musicals of the period to enjoy the scores, the voices and the orchestration.  You name it we liked it. Some of it, such as “Kismet” was pure tosh but the music was great.  It was a long time before I discovered the “lifts” from Borodin. 

But whatever the inspiration or the genius there was a whole lot of music of there to be enjoyed, not simply on film, but in stage shows and concerts of all kinds.  This would range through classical, popular classics, light music, jazz, trad and modern and a variety of dance and popular music.

This could take in an appreciation of Dave Brubeck live, “Calamity Jane” with the long take by Doris Day on “Just Blew In From The Windy City”, “Kiss Me Kate”, inevitably, “MFL” and later Sondheim and a host of others.  Some of this would turn up in the “hits” of the period.

Now, it seems that some music researchers at Barcelona have been putting old popular music through the mincer of the analytical computer systems to work out what was going on and has compared it to the structure and content of present day popular music. 

It appears that modern pop is relatively restricted in structure and form, uses fewer chord sequences and the like and inevitably much louder.  In short you are getting more “sound” but rather less content. 

The classy dame agrees, you see, dear reader, I married her.

Taxing Questions On Morality

“A politician preaching morality is like a dog’s walking on his hinder legs.  It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all.”  Slightly amended, the original quote would be regarded now as incorrect, Dr. Johnson’s saying applies to many of the statements made recently by our leaders.

The latest by David Gauke, the Exchequer Secretary to The Treasury and gossip columnist of the Berkhamsted and Tring Gazette, is to suggest that paying cash to tradesmen and workmen is a form of tax evasion and immoral.  This depends, of course, where he or she has his or her business registered.

One local jobbing builder has his private limited company registered in Guernsey.  So he is simply avoiding tax, not the same at all.  For advice go and talk to a corporate tax lawyer.  One of the best in the business is said to be the spouse of David Gauke.

He and his generation and those following see money as figures you do with cards and mechanical means of payments, interchange and the rest.  Cash is that dirty, smelly stuff needed for small time things, inconvenient and which you often forget to take out with you.

Also, in dealing with tradesmen and workmen you want them to send (or mail) you the bill which you will then pay at your leisure.  Some of you like to have long leisure times and only pay when the bills come in with red on them.  Then you find things to complain or argue about to avoid paying.

When I was young cash was king.  This was not because all transactions were cash.  Far from it.  Among the lower orders there were extensive barter and similar trading arrangements that represented a fair proportion of the real economy of our lives.  This was because cash was hard to come by and credit highly restricted.

Try working out the economics of exchange with one large tin of jam, liberated from the US Army, eggs available because the hens were laying well and knock off cigarette lighters made in the local engineering factory when the foreman was not looking or on his tea break.

A few shillings in the pocket would work wonders to your advantage and if you were in the money with actual pound or ten shilling notes you were onto a winner.  No wonder I grew up with the idea that someone with cash in hand and a polite manner could get what they wanted, almost.

It still works today.  But not at the local supermarket, card and computer driven many other high street shops and the rest.  But turn up at the farmer’s market, farm shops, boot sales and you are welcome.  Moreover in London when transport goes badly wrong holding up a fist full of tenners (not fifties, they are suspect) in front of a taxi driver will get you where you want to go.

As for local workmen or tradesmen the card and computer culture is all very well but this entails costs to them.  Bankers and card companies cream them as well as the rest of us.  Then there is the cost in time checking the accounts and if corrections are needed the endless trouble with the “help” lines.

So when a job is to be done and the person who does the whatever has a call from me then they know that he or she will have the option of cash or cheque and both will be there on the nail when the job is finished.  It is easier for both of us.

The tax issue of whoever I give cash to is their problem, not mine.  The government’s problem is that on the one hand they have made the tax system so complicated and expensive to manage that a good many people avoid it for that issue alone. 

On the other if the little people see the big people getting away with huge deals and tax breaks they will wonder why they should be penalised for honesty.  Also, if they ask themselves how come some of these government geezers get so much money so quickly they will wonder how they are getting round the tax implications.

Cash may be for the little people, but many of us happen to like because it is about the only way we can have real control over the getting and spending.  As we know the very idea that people might have control over their own lives is beyond the understanding of our governments.

The cartoon above is from the “Telegraph” and Matt The Great.

A penny for the Gauke?

Bow Down Ye Lower Middle Classes

As the sequel series to the popular TV drama “Downton Abbey” follow on from one to another it might be interesting to see how far they go towards the present day.  Will they be daring and have a young Earl of Grantham living it up in 1960’s London?

A clue to where the series might be in the first years of the 21^st Century was when following a truck off our local motorway.  It was being handled well enough, but the driver, like any not familiar to this neck of the motorways could not make sense of the road signing and needed to switch lanes several times.

The company it belongs to was written in large letters on the rear and sides.  It was Downton Real Distribution Solutions.  It makes a change from Logistics.  Perhaps it might be no bad thing if the umpteenth fictional Earl of Grantham was portrayed as a white van driver forever at the margins of financial survival.

It would not be too far from the reality of some of the old aristocracy or the scions of peers of more recent creation.  This year the 14^th Earl of Loudon died and was succeeded by his son the 15^th.  The family are now ordinary Australians living and working in the same way as their suburban neighbours.

In the fictional past we now tend to think in terms or our preconceptions of the aristocracy and others of the landed classes of the past.  But I like to think of Patrick Rackrent, Jorrocks, Tristram Shandy and Mr. Hardcastle.  Also, they were not as permanent as we like to think.

A look down an index of peerages and landed gentry will yield many names and families that have declined or gone or simply been absorbed into the other classes and occupations.  This has been for many reasons.

Some were unlucky in being hit for inheritance taxes too often in too short a period.  Some were dragged down by a range of family and other financial obligations that ran ahead of incomes and inherited wealth.  Some blew it on being in society or on the horses. 

Very many with their wealth in land were slowly ruined by the Great Agricultural Depression and its effects on the succeeding generations.  Whilst the Empire and growth of government offered opportunities one way they found themselves with serious competition on their hands.

A few made their way in business and managed to survive although not at the same level.  Additionally, and this may be no bad thing for them, they no longer command the highest reaches of celebrity interest or the gossip columns.  Money does that and they no longer have the money.

What might make a fun comedy series in the right hands with writers with both a wry humour and a sense of history might be if the white van driver found himself a major multi-millionaire on the Euromillions lottery.

Who then bought Downton Abbey to turn it into an extreme type of theme park.

Game Theory

We watched some of the Tour de France this year and were happy with the result.  It was an interesting race, lovely scenery and plenty of possibilities.  The Tour began as a commercial stunt a century ago, the French sporting newspaper, L’Equipe needing to boost summer sales and finding itself with a ready market.

Down the decades commercialism has always been integral to the event.  Not only for the cycle industry but other associated products and then any company wanting marketing and promotion opportunities.

Sales, marketing and the rest have never been far away and sometimes necessary to a variety of sports.  Cricket and football were soon featured as modern style adjuncts to shopping and consumer items.  Racing has a longer history.  Motor Sport has always been commercial.

The Olympic Games were devised to appeal to what was imagined to be a classical ideal of sport and competition to enable international contact and mutual respect in a sporting context.  Because of the 1890’s times the modern form emerged it was set up in terms of the type of nation state of the period.

The Berlin games of 1936 are claimed to be the first of the “modern” games, but in reality the Paris events of 1924 were not far short of this.  The Brit’s may have been trying to be amateur and international but this did not seem to the case with some of the others.  Rampant nationalism was already there.

From then on most, if not almost all of the games became essentially a propaganda and status matter.  The IOC then attempted to move it around but as time went on and more and more events were added the costs and organisational skills began to limit the number of places that could cope.

By the 1980’s it had become clear that expense was a major issue and with many large corporations wanting a slice of the publicity and coverage on a supra national basis then the games were going to become more commercial and the athletes more professional in consequence.

So the London Games of 2012 are just the latest manifestation of what has become a mix of political, corporate and propaganda interests merging to present a series of events, now not necessarily sporting but on a wider basis. 

Either you like or don’t like or don’t really care much what is going on.  But it is not a lot different, in fact much the same, as other “sports”.  Major soccer clubs present business and investment opportunities and valuable marketing assets etc.

In some ways we are back to the religious manias of the Middle Ages.  The UK torch relay is a case in point, almost an ancient pilgrimage around the shrines.  Look!  The sick rise up and walk!  Wonder at the saintly beings showering blessings as they process!  Marvel at the miracles of Macdonalds and the Confessions of Coca-Cola!

With the man who steered the early marketing of the Games now suggesting that it is all going too far and international events organisers wondering at the amateurism of the people controlling it all could Iconoclasm be far behind?