Apologies - Again

Quick apology for the lack of anything having been written here recently... work, house, holiday, blah, blah, blah... Having said that we now have Broadband at home, so more comments and thoughts may be forthcoming (but may not be - I ain't going to try and promise anything...)

Hell's Kitchen & the Gay thing

I really, really don't mean to be offensive here, and this is a genuine question. Is shirt-lifter a derogatory term in and of itself (such as nigger is) or is it a "descriptive" term that can be used derogatorily (as can many other terms/words). I guess what I mean by this is that the word 'gay' in and of itself is not derogatory as it is descriptive, although it can be used to cause offense, whereas 'nigger' is pretty much agreed to be offensive in any context due to the history and background of the word. Is shirt-lifter a word like nigger, or is it just another euphemism for gay (such as 'friend of Peter Mandleson' or 'bats for the other side') which are apparantly perfectly acceptable and non-offense in descriptive contexts.

Twenty20 World Cup

Looks exciting so far - Chris Gayle got the Windies into a great position which they then managed to throw away in a way that only the Windies can ;-)

How will England do? Not sure - can't predict anything in this competition, but I would think we will see increasingly high scores as the players get more used to the tempo and style of play - I would hope for a final or semi-final with a successful run chase of over 300. Not sure if we'll see it, but one can hope. How England do is up to how they are on the day(s) - they are confident which is a great start and should make it through to the Semis if Pieterson and Maschercanas can fire together against Australia / South Africa / New Zealand. Beyond that it's anyones - much better to watch than the Rugby though.

3 Months on... and nothing to say?

More like not enough time to say anything... having moved into our new house at the end of May - we still don't have broadband at home... oops. and am spending a bunch of time doing DIY and similar and so havn't has time to blog at all. Apologies to both my (used to be regular) readers.

Anyway - not really enough time to say much, politics seems to be a bit dull at the moment - summer so Browns not really got his feet under the table properly, Dave's still awaiting the result of his focus groups to tell him what to say, and Ming seems to have gone into hibernation.

Financials - believe I said something in my New Year predications about credit spreads blowing out... sub-prime seems to have been the excuse. Are we though it all - probably not. Is a big issue if you are a long-term equity investor - No. Will volatility continue to be high - probably.

Newcastle Utd - planning to go to the pompey match in November - anyone want to join me?

So much to blog about... so little time...

Local Elections - Libs did badly, in comparison to what was expected. Does this mean a leadership election - I'm not convinced that the party have the stomach for regicide so soon after the last one. One of the things that is interesting to look at, is a comparison of local election results in seats which are currently Lib Dem, versus seats which are always going to be 'safe' Tory. I am awaiting some analysis from Mark Senior on this which should prove interesting in the detail.

Scotland - SNP did well - and deserve to attempt to form a government. It will be interesting to see how well minority government plays out, and how long it lasts for. In particular I wonder how much Labour will support some of the left-wing policies of the SNP, or if they will vote against on principle. Fascinating to see how this works and plays out - and hopefully, if successful, a link to getting PR for Westminster?

French Election - Congratulations to Sarkozy - let's just hope that he can do the things that France really needs, and promotes and encourages Free Markets, rather than the protectionism that has been slowly killing France over the years. How he deals with the issues of multi-culturalism that France also seems to be struggling with will also be the making, or otherwise of him in my opinion.

Newcastle United - End of the Roed - Simply put - Glenn didn't do well enough with the finances and players he was given, and he knows it. Is 'Big Sam' the solution - I really don't think so, but personally I think that the whole club needs overall from Top to Bottom - principally starting with the Chairman.

Insane Drinking Suggestions...

This story on the BBC Website talks about suggestions that Parents who give alcohol to children under 15 could be prosecuted. The suggestion seems to be that this would be in a bid to 'reduce' binge drinking in children.

No-one seems to have noticed however that it would be completley counter-productive - a lot of my friends (and myself) enjoy a drink, but appreciate the taste of proper real ale (or whatever) rather than the feeling of getting completely 'off your face'. For most of us, we were taught and brought up with alcohol in the home.

I distinctly remember having sips of my fathers real ale as young as 10 when we went to the country pub as a family, which graduated to him pouring some into my lemonade to make a bitter shandy, to having my own bought for me at about 14/15. It meant that I learnt to enjoy alcoholic drinks for the taste, and learnt to respect the effect that it could have on you. (OK, so the respect aspect was perhaps helped by cycling to the pub, and having to cycle home again... ;-) )

I just don't understand the logic behind this suggestion - just a look at Continental drinking habits should be enough to convinve anyone that tackling the binge drinking culture in this country starts in the home at a young age. But no - authoritarian answers of prosecuting parents seems to be the suggestion - Daft.

Mortgage Brokers are scum of the earth...

...no seriously... still having problems with house sale / purchase. Large delays caused by Buyers of our flat having a Mortgage Broker that seems to take forever to get no progress, charge a fee in the middle, and all for something that any half intelligent person could find out using 15mins on Google or similar.

Apologies, Rant over... but as you can see, House things taking up more time than anticipated... still...

Easter Weekend - A Review

OK, so for the Easter weekend the wife, her sister and I went over to Bath to visit her Dad, Step-mum and 2 half sisters. Weather was gorgeous as it was in most of the rest of the country but there were a few things that I was wanting to write about. As you might have guessed if you know me - Beer, Religion and Politics. Apologies in advance, but trying to tie them all into one post would be a bit cumbersome so I've split them up below - I just hope that they still tie together somewhat...

Easter Weekend - A Review - Beer

OK, so Beer. Bath is renowned as a Real Ale City and I was wanting to take the opportunity to sample a couple.

First up on the Saturday was lunch in a country pub somewhere in the wilds of rural Somerset (We were on the way to Montacute House, and apologies for not knowing the name of the pub or its location). I took the opportunity to sample a pint of the 'Gem' by a Bath based local Brewery. Delicious, nice and heavy (perhaps a touch too much for a normal lunchtime pint but hey) with a chocolatey, caramely overtone and a perfect bitter finish. I will most definately keep an eye out for this in future.

Next was a bottle of Nepalese Lager (we were eating at Yak Yeti Yak, a Nepalese restaurant) which was, as far as lagers go, perfectly pleasant and a reasonable accompaniment to the food. It was quite similar to Tusker lager from Kenya in my opinion, I suspect due to the levels of barley.

Moving on from dinner we went into town to the The Old Green Tree. Great little pub tucked away down a side street with 3 different rooms and always a good range of real ale on tap. I went for the Pubs own Bitter 'Old Green Tree Brewery Bitter' which was pleasant but a bit of a disappointment - not nearly enough flavour for my liking - I even managed to persuade a lager drinker 'what should I order, they don't have any Stella?' to go for it on the basis that it was a bit like lager without any fizz. Given he then agreed I think that tells you all you need to know!

After that I went for the Pitchfork - a much more complex beer which was overflowing, perhaps a touch too much, with hops but with a good overall structure and taste.

Easter Weekend - A Review - Politics

Just a couple of points that I want to make really - was having drinks with a friend of the wifes in the Old Green Tree. He was an admissions officer for a failing school in Bristol until recently and has just quit in frustration at the system. I appreciate that it's a one-sided view but he was saying that in a school where 90% of the pupils attend for 89% of the time, andn 10% for 11%, as an admissions officer he was asked to focus on trying to massage the figure to show that 90% attend over 90% of the time, and to leave the 10% to fester as clearly thats much harder. As he saw it a focus on targets and a target culture was so all pervading that the original aim of the targets (the kids that aren't attending) have been completly lost. If this is at all indicative of what Labour has done in Education, the NHS, etc. then things are potentially much worse than we think they are, and will take a lot more fixing to get people back to focusing on what the real issues are.

Easter Weekend - A Review - Religion

So after drinking and chatting in the Old Green Tree I got up obscenely early on Easter Sunday to go the 'Daybreak' service at 6am just down the road. Always really nice to go to a different church to see a different way of doing things, but the really strange was a Daybreak Service on Easter Sunday that didn't contain communion. It was all very nice, but was much more like an Easter Eve service (complete with renewal of baptismal vows etc.) than an Easter Sunday 'First Communion of the Ressurection' that I'm much more accustomed to. Intersting.

The London Drinker Beer Festival

A group of us found our way to the Camden Centre on Friday evening - not a particularly enticing venue you might think, but for the fact that North London CAMRA were hosting the London Drinker Beer Festival.

So... recommendations... will not be forthcoming; whilst I had quite few halfs that were very comfortable 'session' bitters and a couple of milds that also were not unappealing for what they were, I didn't drink anything that struck me as 'Wow this is great'. Partly that's the problem with going on the final day - anything really good will have been drunk off already. Still - it was good to see a host of new brewerys that have started recently and seem to be doing well, as well as the busyness of the hall to indicate people keen on real ale enjoying a wide variety. Next up as far as real ale goes will almost certainly be the Cambridge Festival in May - unless I manage to escape the in-laws briefly over Easter to nip down to the Old Green Tree (Bath). If you have other suggestions in Bath that are worth trying - much appreciated!

Christian Writers - Please don't be Hypocritical...

I'm in the middle of reading a Christian book - Rick Warren's 'Purpose Driven Life', and aside from the fact that it's overtly American (irritating, but copeable with) there is one thing that is driving me absolutely crackers about it.

He insists on using about 20 different Bible translations throughout the book, and changes from one quote to the next completely indiscriminately. According to him, the reason is that 'reading the bible in an unfamiliar version can cause us to re-consider and reappraise otherwise overly familiar words'. Well, maybe. This aim would still be acheived by just having one version throughout that is less familiar to most people than the ubiquitous NIV.

The major problem that I have with the way he uses different versions throughout is that it gives the appearance of picking the version that makes the point you want to make. Rather than genuinely getting to grips with (a faithful translation of) the original text. Consider it this way - if a non-christian friend of mine came to me, having picked 20 different bible verses from 20 different versions that showed the Bible to be inconsistent, full of lies, and not how I try to portray it - I'd just laugh at him and tell him not to be so daft. In fairness, none of my non-christian friends would even consider doing that as it would be daft to take so many verses and versions out of context. So if we wouldn't do it when trying to engage other people with our faith, why is it ok to do it when discipling to each other?

An enjoyable afternoon and evening...

...was most certainly had yesterday. Ostensibly to celebrate Baron Scarpia's (and Simon's) Birthday, but generally just a good excuse to get a bunch of Uni mates out together to catch up.

As far as the Beer and pubs went - we started in the White Lion, Covent Garden (generally an easy place to meet) which is a perfectly reasonable central London pub (one of Nicholson's) which was serving Timothy Taylor Landlord and Spitfire when I got there. I had a pint of both, and both were being perfectly reasonably kept although nothing special - personally I prefer the Landlord - a distinct hoppy edge that takes away from the initial bitterness.

After waiting for a variety of people to turn up, and after a deviation to PizzaExpress for some carbohydrate intake, we went to the Lowlander, somewhere I've trying to get to for a while. They eventually cleared enough space for the 10 of us and we sat down to start on some interesting continental beers. Personally, I went for the Bellevue Kriek, reasonably common, but served on draught here and absolutely beautiful. My missus went for the Frulli Strawberry (rather predictable, she's not really a beer drinker) which was as sickly sweet as always. One of us went for the Russian Imperial Stout, but I didn't notice which Breweries offering it was - very tasty though, and a type I'll keep an increasing eye out for. However, tempting though it was to stay for more than one, the presence of a couple of students amongst us, along with those keeping a close eye on there wallets meant I was encouraged to find 'a nice cheap local with decent real ale' instead.

Well, given a task like that, the only solution I knew of in reasonably close proximity was going to be one of Sam Smith's London pubs - so off we wandered down to the Lyceum Tavern at the corner of Aldwych and the Strand. Great little boozer this, typical Sam Smiths offerings - I had the Old Brewery Bitter on draught, a tasty but fairly straight-forward session bitter being all I was up for at that stage in the evening. The wife went for the white lager - far superior to Hoogaarden in my opinion - a great example of the art. Particularly useful at the (getting increasingly) inebriated stage of the evening - a free dart board and a pub not sufficiently crowded to render it unusable - so 6 of us started a game of 'Killer' with increasingly hilarious (and eventually predictable) consequences.

All in all - a great afternoon and evening, really good to catch up with friends I hadn't seen in ages, and a couple of good pubs to be reminded of in the West End. Happy Drinking. ;-)

Venice - A couple of thoughts

The wife and I have just got back from 4 days in Venice. (Celebrating our 1st Wedding Anniversary as it happens). For those of you who know her and are really bored, the photos are on the wife's Facebook entry.

Venice got me thinking about a couple of things though - conservation of ancient things (why, how, should we, in what manner), and more generally what a city exists for.

We went just after 'Carnevale' had finished, and before the main summer tourist season, and so it was supposedly 'low' season for the tourists. Despite that, they appeared to be in the majority, certainly around the San Marco area, which seemed to me to be worse than Cambridge's King Street in Summer. Wandering around the city, and trying to get lost in various places I was astonished by the types of buildings we walked past. Every third retail space was either a restaurant or a hotel. At least every other third was a tourist shop of some kind (Carnevale masks, Glass retailer, etc.) Of the remaining third, I would estimate almost all are services to the existing population and tourists that would not be required if the city didn't exist (ie Banks, Post Office, Bars, Fashion shops, Hospital etc.)

So why does the city of Venice exist? If there was no city there, you certainly wouldn't consider building one in its location - but then that is true of a great many of the worlds great cities. The native population of the historic centre (the bit thought of as Venice proper) is a staggeringly small 62,000 - less than Stevenage, Gosport, Wellingborough, Barrow-in-Furness or Bolsover. (And incidentally, about a fifth of the population of New Orleans forced to leave due to Katrina that has relocated elsewhere on a permanent basis). Of those 62,000 a huge proportion would be out of work with no tourists. I came to the view that the city exists almost solely for the tourist trade that exists with it. Maybe a city can exist solely for the things that it has done in the past, for the architecture, geography, and history that caused it to be - but have since passed it by - but it feels, to me at least, very false. Beautiful undoubtedly, and fascinating geographically, with a host of artistic treasures to be admired and commended, but ultimately, above all the rest, false.

Apologies for the lack of service...

...I've been kinda focused on other things (such as looking at houses, mortgage applications, trying to sell our flat etc. etc. etc.)

Normal service may be resumed at some point... but maybe not for a while. (If we get the house we have put an offer in on, I may spend a fair bit of my spare time re-decorating instead ;-) )

Environmental Taxes

Spegasaur has been having an interesting discussion about environmental taxes; basically "Should an environmental tax discourage behaviour, or should it pay for behaviour?"

As far as I see it, as long as an environmental tax does one of the 2, it is doing its job - the problem is when it does neither. Ideally it should do both - that is, it should discourage certain unenvironmental behaviour by some people, and the revenues from those that continue to indulge should be ring-fenced into things that cancel the behaviour. What should not happen is that a 'nominal' environmental tax is chucked on something, not in proportion to the environmental damage, and the revenues simply added to the Chancellors coffers.

Scottish Politics...

For those of you wanting to do some analysis and seat calculations for the Scottish Parliament elections there is now a website that does all this for you - Scotland Votes

Given the absence of reliable (or in fact any) opinion polls to enter in I'm not quite sure how useful it is, but as Peter Snow always says - "It's just a bit of fun"

Geographically Illiterate BBC...

From the BBC Sports Page describing the 5th Round Cup Draw...

"Preston will host neighbours Manchester City,..."

Just how far away can somewhere be whilst still being classed as a neighbour! :roll:

Tony Blair Dramatised... 2 different ways

Have had the slightly dubious honour of watching "The Trial of Tony Blair" on Friday evening, and then "The Queen" on Saturday evening.

Note: Spoilers start here...

Whilst "The Trial of Tony Blair" is set in the future (just before the 2010 General Election) and "The Queen" is set in the recent history of 1997, it is fascinating to see the two different portrayals of Blair. In the one he is shown as truly of the people, someone who really had a grasp of the mood of the nation, and who could do no wrong. In the other, he has lost his grip of reality, shown as failing to understand where it all went wrong and how 'his people' no longer seem to need him to lead them.

Both actors have clearly studied their muse, and the familiar gestures and facial inflections are there to help you believe that it is Blair despite the facial features being not particularly familiar. I have issues with 'Trial of Tony Blair' in that the Blair shown appears to lack intelligence and understanding, which, however much I dislike him, I don't think is a fair failing to attribute.

As for 'The Queen' - the only problem with the Blair here is that he is totally and utterly overshadowed by Helen Mirren's Queen Liz. (Well, that and Cherie is made more catty than even I can believe she really is, which unnecessarily enhances your sympathy for Blair)

In conclusion - I much preferred The Queen as a film, and Mirren really should get the Oscar predicted, but for satirical 'if-only's 'The Trial of Tony Blair' was much watch television.

Random Updates on my life...

Running away...

Have just been persuaded to sign up to the Reading half-marathon in March. I've done the Nike 10K in London for the last couple of years, but I reckon a half marathon must be about 20K so I might need to do some exercise and preparation for this one. Oops.


Beer is a better alternative...

Have just found a new blog that I will be adding to the list in future if it keeps up at the same high quality. Stonch (a previously known poster on politicalbetting.com) has set up a beer (real ale) recommendations site here

Newcastle 1 - 5 Birmingham City (FA Cup 3rd Round Replay)

That was very painful to write... and as I do so, Newcastle are currently 0-2 down at home to West Ham. So what's going on? Well, we have been doing better than we really should have been in recent weeks, particularly with the 3-2 win over Spurs. The problem at home seems to be that it's really difficult for the crowd to get behind the team, and that transmits itself to the really young players on the pitch who are much more sensitive to such ill-feeling from your own supporters.

Update: We managed to claw back to a 2-2 draw with the most offside goal seen this century... and there was I thinking we'd used up all our luck against Spurs last week ;-)

Sigh... maybe I'll have to make a long pilgrimage up to Toon in a couple of weeks time to try and get a better idea of what's actually going on. Anyone fancy joining me?

Inheritance Tax - unfair, or not fair enough?

I have, for various reasons, been thinking about inheritance tax recently; what it's for, how it affects people, and what a liberal and christian attitude towards it is. This also lead me into thinking a bit about philanthropy and the attitude we have towards it in this country compared to the attitude prevalent in the US.

Personally, I am of the belief that rather than being too high at 40% (as most people, and all readers of the Daily Mail seem to think); inheritance tax is not high enough, and should be 100% with a noticeably lower threshold. Before you all start throwing things at me in rage and disgust, hear me out as to how I come to this thought;

As a christian, and as a political liberal, I fundamentally believe in the idea of fairness (in some nebulus form) and against the idea of subserviance. This leads to a belief, not in equality of assets as the socialists (communists) would aim towards, but in equality of opportunity. I think that most people would agree with some kind of nebulus idea like this ("yes, of course everyone should have an opportunity to go to University, although clearly it is not right for everybody" etc.), although probably not have developed or refined it particularly.

The problem with inheritance is that in effect, it is random. If you inherit a large amount of money, it is not a reward of your endeavour or skill (unlike a high job income would be), nor of your financial need (unlike state benefits in theory), but is essentially random. (ie you happened to be lucky enough to have wealthy parents).

It goes even further - in some cases, the burden of inheritance is unbearably high. I have met and spoken to people who knew from a very early age (due to incredibly successful parents or grand-parents) that they would never have to work a day in their lives. Obviously there are exceptions, but a fair proportion appear to be totally unable to lead happy, contented lives. The reason seems to be that they have a low self-esteem (due to not having acheived anything for themselves) and are permanantly worried about investments crashing and them losing all the money - they know that were this to happen they would have no idea how to cope and constantly worry about it.

Surely what should be encouraged is a culture of philanthropy. If you have a large estate at your death, then great - why not leave as a legacy, not a large amount to your children for them to bicker and fight about, but to a charitable cause close to your heart. What Bill Gates is trying to do in the United States with his charitable foundation is clearly to be applauded and encouraged and shows some of this theory. In the US they seem to have a better attitude towards this - which contrasts strongly to the overriding thoughts here of - 'but I deserve my parents money - it's my right'.

A New Year - A New Resolution

Well, here we are at the dawn of a new year (or actually a couple of days in after I spent yesterday doing naught but sleeping and watching bad quality TV). I don't normally make resolutions, but here goes:

• To update this blog at least once a week, and try to distribute articles evenly amongst potential subjects.
  
• To not have any 'Err... I haven't written anything, quick lets put something down that's meaningless' posts. [Doesn't that eliminate this post? - Ed]
  
• To watch less rubbish on TV just because my wife is watching it.
  
• To read more books - both fiction and 'educational'

I know it's a small aim, and I will almost certainly fail anyway, but it's good to have a goal.

New Year Predictions (Financial)

The Financial Year Ahead (maybe?)

• There will be a (small) credit crunch in an Emerging Market Country at some point in 2007 - and spreads across the board will widen
  
• Despite good (upwards) housing data the MPC will leave UK Interest rates unchanged for the first 6 months of 2007
  
• As an economic slow-down affects the USA and then Europe, Stock marktes will trade flat to slightly upwards during the year, but with volatility through the year, and a great difference between sectors. (ie Large-Cap, steady will do well (eg GE, Microsoft) whilst small growthy will do badly)
  

New Years Predictions (Sporting)

The Sporting Year ahead... (maybe?)

• Newcastle will get to at least the Semi-final of either the UEFA or FA Cup (Hopefully both)
  
• Chelsea will win the Premiership title on the last day of the season.
  
• Watford, Charlton and Middlesburgh (surprise drop) will get relegated
  
• The England Cricket team will do better, and at least be credible at the world Cup (Not really a prediction, they could hardly get worse...)

New Year Predictions... (Political)

Here goes a list of Political Predicitons for the New Year (partly inspired by my entry into the pb.com Political Forecast of 2007

• Gordon Brown will not be Prime Minister on the last day of 2007
  
• Both the SNP and the Lib Dems will do well at Labours expense in the Scots Parliament elections in May, and will go into coalition government with Alex Salmond as First Minister.
  
• No charges will be bought in the 'Cash for Honours' scandal.
  
• David Cameron's Conservatives will gradually lose popularity as people start to tire of his 'all things to all people' approach.