I recently watched the drama Restless on the BBC. It is an espionage thriller in which a double agent, as is their wont, sets up a colleague. Subterfuge goes on. Politically it's not that long ago since Nick Griffin was calling for BNP members to infiltrate the Tory party http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2005/dec/28/uk.thefarright
As I left the polling station after voting at the 1987 election I was met by a film crew who asked me if I had changed my voting pattern since 1983. I knew that if I said yes and given them a rant about how bad the Tory government was then there was a chance I would be on TV. Like George Washington I couldn't tell a lie and no filming took place. However it doesn't take much planning to get someone to join a party as an act of subterfuge.
This morning when Nick Clegg faced insults from a radio caller they were all the more profound because they came from a former Liberal Democrat councillor who had just torn up his membership card. He was upset at the hard decisions that have to be made which were affecting the poorest. Nick answered well but it wasn't Nick but the caller who was making the headlines. I wonder where the former Liberal Democrat will turn to give his political support now. Publicly the caller is not supporting Labour. Michael Gambon played the double agent in Restless and he never admitted to supporting the Russians.
It was important for Nick to rebut the caller's claims but the telling point for me was that the caller said he 'first joined the party in 1973'. He didn't say that he has been a member since 1973. He didn't say how many times he had torn up his membership card and done his best to criticise the Liberal Democrats. Could there be an element of subterfuge?
Change the world
Thursday, 10 January 2013
Nuisance or Scam?
I have received three automated phone calls today two of which were telling me that it is important for me to contact them about a refund. It could have been anything that I have done in the last ten years and who can remember all of their financial dealings in the last ten years? Of course I am far too experienced to push any buttons on my phone which may enable the caller to take money from me.
Then the automated caller tells me that I may have received this call in error - you bet - they know nothing about me and don't even get a real person to talk to me. So if it is their 'error' I may unsubscribe by pressing another number on my phone. This may seem a perfectly reasonable request to those who are more naive. To me it is a scam at worst and a nuisance at best.
Change the world
P.S. HUNTER LAUNCHES “NO 2 NUISANCE CALLS” CAMPAIGN
I have just found (11am on 11th Jan) and signed Mark Hunter's online petition which may be found at http://markhunter.org.uk/en/article/2013/648396/hunter-launches-no-2-nuisance-calls-campaign
Then the automated caller tells me that I may have received this call in error - you bet - they know nothing about me and don't even get a real person to talk to me. So if it is their 'error' I may unsubscribe by pressing another number on my phone. This may seem a perfectly reasonable request to those who are more naive. To me it is a scam at worst and a nuisance at best.
Change the world
P.S. HUNTER LAUNCHES “NO 2 NUISANCE CALLS” CAMPAIGN
I have just found (11am on 11th Jan) and signed Mark Hunter's online petition which may be found at http://markhunter.org.uk/en/article/2013/648396/hunter-launches-no-2-nuisance-calls-campaign
Friday, 4 January 2013
Road Safety v Revenue
There are reports today that too many road signs lead to more accidents and we could save money by reducing the number of unnecessary signs. It stands to reason that added distractions will not help concentration so all that we need to know is which signs are important and which are a distraction. It is fairly easy to decide when two signs tell us the same thing. It is less obvious in other cases but advertising should be easy to place in the distraction category.
One of my favourite signs from a few years ago was one that asked me to drive carefully and told me the name of the town that I was entering. It had been hit by a vehicle. More recently I saw adverts on a roundabout, and anything new is a distraction. I managed to read one of the signs which told me that I could advertise on those signs and all I had to do was contact the county council. This must mean that road safety is important, but not as important as revenue.
It used to be illegal to advertise on the side of a motorway but mobile signs get round the law. I would not be surprised if we get video advertising on the side of the road in the near future. We criticise drivers who use the phone or do anything that distracts from their driving. On the other hand if we can make money out of it...
Change the world
Later that day I drove from Morecambe to Knutsford and back on the M6 and there were plenty of signs advertising all kinds of things. This was nothing compared to yesterday, the 5th when I drove to Cardiff. Near Birmingham there are illuminated large screen adverts that go into great detail about their products. Then there is a spectacular transition to a different advert.
I am sure that I only looked for as long as it was safe to look. I think this is the defence of people who are prosecuted for watching DVDs on their laptops whilst driving. If you had seen these adverts you may think they have a case.
One of my favourite signs from a few years ago was one that asked me to drive carefully and told me the name of the town that I was entering. It had been hit by a vehicle. More recently I saw adverts on a roundabout, and anything new is a distraction. I managed to read one of the signs which told me that I could advertise on those signs and all I had to do was contact the county council. This must mean that road safety is important, but not as important as revenue.
It used to be illegal to advertise on the side of a motorway but mobile signs get round the law. I would not be surprised if we get video advertising on the side of the road in the near future. We criticise drivers who use the phone or do anything that distracts from their driving. On the other hand if we can make money out of it...
Change the world
Later that day I drove from Morecambe to Knutsford and back on the M6 and there were plenty of signs advertising all kinds of things. This was nothing compared to yesterday, the 5th when I drove to Cardiff. Near Birmingham there are illuminated large screen adverts that go into great detail about their products. Then there is a spectacular transition to a different advert.
I am sure that I only looked for as long as it was safe to look. I think this is the defence of people who are prosecuted for watching DVDs on their laptops whilst driving. If you had seen these adverts you may think they have a case.
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
Sensational News
It is hard to remember now but 2012 brought us the worst drought since 1976. It is easier to remember the rain and the floods. According to the Guardian, 'April and June were the wettest such months in a record stretching back
to 1766 – the only instance of two record-breaking months in a single
year'. http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2012/dec/30/weather-drought-flood
However we didn't have to face Hurricane Sandy which devastated the Caribbean and some US states. The Gulf Stream ensures that we don't have to face extremes of temperature. Our climate is definitely temperate. And my inspiration for the first blog of the year? The BBC's headline 'Crowds brave damp weather to see in 2013'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20875506 It seems that 'crowds across the UK have risked the damp weather'.
If I had known this yesterday then I could have made a New Year's resolution to be brave and take risks in 2013. I didn't make this resolution but I am fairly sure that I will still go out in the rain this year. I didn't know how brave I was, or could it just be an editor's wish to sensationalise the news?
Change the world
However we didn't have to face Hurricane Sandy which devastated the Caribbean and some US states. The Gulf Stream ensures that we don't have to face extremes of temperature. Our climate is definitely temperate. And my inspiration for the first blog of the year? The BBC's headline 'Crowds brave damp weather to see in 2013'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20875506 It seems that 'crowds across the UK have risked the damp weather'.
If I had known this yesterday then I could have made a New Year's resolution to be brave and take risks in 2013. I didn't make this resolution but I am fairly sure that I will still go out in the rain this year. I didn't know how brave I was, or could it just be an editor's wish to sensationalise the news?
Change the world
Friday, 28 December 2012
Spotting the Signs
There is a new plan to spot abuse victims. It seems that hospital professionals did not have enough information and a new database will identify children who are at risk of abuse. According to one doctor this information is long overdue. Compare that with the news before Christmas that the health minister was 'disgusted and appalled' at NHS failings in Worcestershire which included patients going hungry and thirsty. In one case an 84-year-old man starved to death in Redditch.
You don't need a degree or even an A level to recognise when someone is thirsty. You don't need a great deal of training to recognise abuse. What you do need is the confidence and authority to raise a concern. An increasing reliance on computers may relate to increased authority but it doesn't add to confidence. Has the professional checked all the information that is available to them? Do they have the time to check all available avenues of information? One answer is that they have to make time. Another answer could be that the signs of abuse are in front of them.
Taking a child from a parent is a really difficult decision and not one to be taken lightly. Maybe knowledge about a child's history would help but what the new database certainly does is add pressure to the work of the professionals. What it doesn't do is remove the necessity for making a decision, especially where the signs are there for all to see and all the database does is to add corroboration where none may actually be needed.
Pressure is added to the care role (see my blog on the pressure on nurses and the suicide of Jacintha Saldanha written on the 14th December) and that means the professional will find it more difficult to evaluate the patient's signs and symptoms. You don't need a plan to spot abuse victims just like you don't need one to feed patients. What you do need is a professional with the character to act. What we get are professionals who hide behind protocols and plans and forms that are filled.
Change the world
You don't need a degree or even an A level to recognise when someone is thirsty. You don't need a great deal of training to recognise abuse. What you do need is the confidence and authority to raise a concern. An increasing reliance on computers may relate to increased authority but it doesn't add to confidence. Has the professional checked all the information that is available to them? Do they have the time to check all available avenues of information? One answer is that they have to make time. Another answer could be that the signs of abuse are in front of them.
Taking a child from a parent is a really difficult decision and not one to be taken lightly. Maybe knowledge about a child's history would help but what the new database certainly does is add pressure to the work of the professionals. What it doesn't do is remove the necessity for making a decision, especially where the signs are there for all to see and all the database does is to add corroboration where none may actually be needed.
Pressure is added to the care role (see my blog on the pressure on nurses and the suicide of Jacintha Saldanha written on the 14th December) and that means the professional will find it more difficult to evaluate the patient's signs and symptoms. You don't need a plan to spot abuse victims just like you don't need one to feed patients. What you do need is a professional with the character to act. What we get are professionals who hide behind protocols and plans and forms that are filled.
Change the world
Tuesday, 25 December 2012
Piers needs our help
I was paying for some petrol last week and had a brief conversation with the person taking my money. She could not believe that Americans had gun laws that were partly to blame for the killings that took place in Connecticut. I agreed but mentioned that guns had their supporters and Michael Moore met up with Charlton Heston who was president of the NRA when he made his film Bowling for Columbine. He didn't get anywhere with Charlton and she had to be careful because gun owners in this country may not be in total agreement with her.
Yesterday Piers Morgan was not as careful and managed to upset gun owners. He got in trouble for criticising the views of Larry Pratt, director of Gun Owners of America on American TV and now 31,000 Americans have signed a petition calling for him to be deported. That's a lot of people. There is some reassurance in knowing that this is less than 1% of the American population but the NRA does have 4 million members. Even more worryingly "there were 88.8 firearms for every 100 Americans in 2007" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20838729
We need to show solidarity with Piers. He needs our help. We need a petition from the whole UK population saying that we don't want him back (nothing to do with his gun law views).
Merry Christmas
Yesterday Piers Morgan was not as careful and managed to upset gun owners. He got in trouble for criticising the views of Larry Pratt, director of Gun Owners of America on American TV and now 31,000 Americans have signed a petition calling for him to be deported. That's a lot of people. There is some reassurance in knowing that this is less than 1% of the American population but the NRA does have 4 million members. Even more worryingly "there were 88.8 firearms for every 100 Americans in 2007" http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20838729
We need to show solidarity with Piers. He needs our help. We need a petition from the whole UK population saying that we don't want him back (nothing to do with his gun law views).
Merry Christmas
Sunday, 23 December 2012
All in this together
There are signs on the M6 that tell you whether traffic is flowing freely on the toll road and these signs are just before you have to make your decision as to whether you pay the toll. The toll road is usually free of traffic jams because most drivers choose to avoid paying and take their chance with possible jams.
There are other signs elsewhere in the motorway system that tell you how quickly you will travel over the next few junctions but this information is not available near the toll road. Choice is hardly informed but you do know that you will be certain to avoid a jam by paying the toll. This is not a problem if money is no object. In this case the toll road has to be the best choice.
The news is that the government is looking at tolls to fund new roads so those who can afford to use them will pay for them. When David Cameron tells us that we are all in this together he must not be thinking of toll roads.
Change the world
There are other signs elsewhere in the motorway system that tell you how quickly you will travel over the next few junctions but this information is not available near the toll road. Choice is hardly informed but you do know that you will be certain to avoid a jam by paying the toll. This is not a problem if money is no object. In this case the toll road has to be the best choice.
The news is that the government is looking at tolls to fund new roads so those who can afford to use them will pay for them. When David Cameron tells us that we are all in this together he must not be thinking of toll roads.
Change the world
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
