opinion
charity begins at...well....someplace
Charity shops are undoubtedly, and conceptually, a very good idea. They have occupied shopping outlets on every high street in the country at some time or another over several decades now. At the outset, the idea was brilliant and simple. There are people in the World who, either suffer some of the time, or all of the time. There are many westerners who collect chattels which clutter up our lives, when we realize we don't require them anymore. We give these items, for free, to the charity shop. If the pieces are in good condition, they can be sold as seen, or refurbished. The money then gets paid into one big account, which then provides the poorest on the planet with the neccessities of life, aided by volunteer workers, who work for free in order to make themselves feel as if they are doing something worthwhile, and in doing so make a poorer persons existence more bearable in one way or another. Brilliant idea, which no-one could question was a bad thing in any way. The Charity Shops, in those days, occupied the retail moral high ground, and so they should have.
As the decades have passed however, the moral high ground has become the territory of the better off in society. Let me explain.
I have just returned from staying with relatives in Cornwall over the last fortnight or so. The family are based in Camborne in Cornwall here in the U.K. Not the most picturesque part of Cornwall, but the central route which most folks pass through in order to get to the prettier parts of that great county. Camborne is much like many towns in the U.K. thesedays. The place has several Charity Shops, of which, probably about three, are true to the core charitable values illustrated above. The shops which occupy the more prestigious parts of the high street, are the usual suspects. The British Heart Foundation, Oxfam and Dr Barnado's amongst a chosen (wealthier) few. Thesedays these stores are well fitted out, with new floors, fixtures and fittings, along with state of the art lighting systems. Beware anyone who seeks to criticize these financial charitable outlays, as you will be viewed as the scum of society by those who work in these establishments, all enhanced by the smokescreen, which is the word 'charity'. How often do we hear on the news thesedays, that the charities are not getting the much needed supplies and medicines to those who are truly in need around the world (Pakistan being the latest to speak out)? If the charities don't respond quickly enough, the public are blamed, as 'they have been slow in donating'.
Personally, I have two friends who both work in a managerial role for one of the charities mentioned. When I bought the subject up in conversation regarding being salaried for the charitable work, I was astonished at the amounts my friends were earning. There are some odd anomalies within the overall charitable structure within these stores. Sure, there are those who give their time freely to these places, and they should be commended for their efforts. How does it transpire that a pensioner might work for free for Oxfam, several days a week, for an Area Manager who receives a six figure salary for doing likewise?
These salaries do require justification, and more to the point, how are they funded? Well the answer is simple. Describe your shop as a charitable institution, but to all intents and purposes, become an upmarket retailer for whatever type of product you are retailing. If it is china, you become an antique department with price tags to suit. Selling records? Buy a catalogue and become a high end version of eBay. The store would say to me, the more we charge, the more we give to the charity concerned, however, what is in front of the customer cannot be denied. These stores are very favourably viewed by the tax man, therefore the store does not receive the same financial restraints as a small retailer, therefore the profits are substantial. Sounds like a good thing well, look again. Prime retail space, well fitted out stores, and highly priced goods, all of which turn the original concept of the store on it's head. Remember, we give for free in order to get money to those who are most in need. We do not give to supplement a managers income, or provide a store a unit in a nicer part of town. Personally, I walk to the outskirts of places, to where the stores are situated in old disused, undecorated, shops, to buy something at a reasonable price in the knlowedge that the monies are 99.9 percent going to those suffering in Pakistan, for instance.
Everyone will have their own tales regarding their experiences within these establishments. Mine, of course involves music. In Kingston, which is the nearest big town to Surbiton, where I live, they have a few charity shops. In some of those, a book will cost you more in the Oxfam shop, say, than it will do in the discount book store on the high street. I went into the local Oxfam shop a couple of months ago, and in the glass cabinet, there was a copy of the Beatles album 'Sgt Pepper'. Those glass cabinets are the purveyors of bad financial news in most cases (pardon the pun!), and this was no exception. I must confess to liking the Beatles albums (apart from the childrens songs on some of them 'Yellow Submarine', Octopusses Gardem' etc., and besides, the early albums are pretty much R&B based recordings), so I do have a good grasp on what an original is worth. A mint, 1st of June, Mono, 1967 copy of Sgt Peppers should cost about £100 or thereabouts. It would have to be mint, mind you, to be worth that amount, and this copy was. As you can see from the ticket, this copy was on sale for twice that amount. For this LP to be costing this amount, you would think that the album was on sale in a specialist store. Instead there it was sitting in the Kingston branch of Oxfam. What is perverse about this are two things. One is that the album must have been donated by an individual for free. They must have thought that the overall amount would be going to Haiti or some other needy cause. Secondly, the folks who work in these stores appear to have received a directive from head office, to go get a valuation manual, look through the book and stick on a figure which is printed next to the listing. That's fine, however, after visiting several charitable stores, and seeing hugely inflated prices for albums which would have sold for a couple of pounds a few years ago, it would seem that these people do not read the ratings sections at the rear of the books. On one trip to Penzance, the local Oxfam store there had a Beatles Best Of, which I looked at, and the condition was average. The album had been priced straight from the Beatles page in the book (£20). The Sgt Peppers eventually sold for £150, which is still £40 above the rating in the Record Collector book shown at the start of this piece.
Camborne has it's own Record Store called 'Lost In Music'. It's run by a guy called Art, who is from Birmingham. Art loves his music and knows a great deal relating to album values etc. I go to his store and a great little record shop in Falmouth, whenever I am down in that part of the World. Up in Kingston, there is a great little shop in the London Road in town called The Record Collectors Centre, run by a guy called Keith, who really knows his stuff as well. Art is more into his Rock Music, whereas Keith knows more about Soul and Sixties material. The thing that struck me about all three of these stores, Kingston, Camborne and Falmouth, are they are all now cheaper to buy music from than any high street Charity Shop. Odd that, isn't it? The Charity Stores seem to have cut of their financial noses to spite their faces. All told, charity seems to start in a middle class home thesedays. If you do not think that is the case, well, it is interesting to note that the charity stores in my neighbourhood are now having stock shoplifted. Big price? Must be worth something!
This is Lost In Music. Odd place. Been there for many years. Art doesn't make a mint from the place, but I always go and buy an album or two from him, just helping to morally support his cause and empty my bank account! You go into the shop, and you'd think you were in a CD store, which also sells DVD's. Walk out to the back, and there is an Alladin's cave of vinyl. Most of the music is Rock stuff. Art sells Beatles albums for half the price Oxfam do (as does the store in Falmouth), and he has a Soul Section of sorts. It's the highlighted area below. You end up falling over boxes looking around, and you definitely do get 'lost in music', literally! I told Art about the Beatles album in Kingston. He stared straight into my face and stuck two fingers up! Thought he was angry at me! Just felt the same way I did, that's all. He has folks who pop in to see him. One guy worked for a production company back in the early Seventies, who fitted out a Four Tops show, and was given free tickets to see the band on the night.
The Falmouth store has many reasonably priced old Soul albums, some rare, wonderfully displayed, around the picture rail in the store. Jackie Wilson and Coasters originals I had never seen anywhere else. Heaven!
Keith's store in Kingston is very much the same. He sells music at a non inflated price, which is why we need these guys around. Keith displays his rare albums in the shop window. Old Roy Ayers albums, Donna McGhee etc., that sort of thing. I can envisage a day when people work for the charity stores for free, in order to be first in line to pick up the rarities which came into the shop to be retailed. If you get a moment, and have a few pounds or bucks to spare, this is a great film regarding the demise of the music store in the States. Absolutely essential viewing for any vinyl junkie.
http://www.ineedthatrecord.com/Site/I_Need_That_Record%21.html
So what did you pick up when you were away then, Toby? This stuff here....
Sure, not all Soul Music, and not hugely rare, however, in my humble opinion, everything that goes under the title of Rock, Blues and R&B, has roots in the music of the Black Artist. That is an undeniable truth. The originators, who genuinely deserve the word 'respect' through their groundbreaking endeavours. These albums would have cost me a small fortune in a High Street Charity store. The independent stores are now cheaper, as perfectly illustrated by Arts store, where the income hasn't been spent on the retail store cosmetics, but on maintaining the specialist interest, ensuring some longevity.
Charities? If you are curious, I send money straight to the dedicated charities thesedays, and miss out the high street retail middle managers. Soulwalking has allocated webspace (as you can see from the main page at the site) to various charities, including Haiti and the fight against breast cancer. I am not rich, but give when I am in a position to do so. Last time I gave money was to a charity helping people who suffer from Lupus. A good friend of mine passed away last year from the illness. Most donations are made to charities by folks who have lost someone to one cause or another. Long may the kindness of the individual endure.
Toby Walker 26.8.2010
'it's all up to you' - the dells 1971
That polling day back in May, in the U.K., 'the nation decided'! Well, in truth, we all leapt into a state of inertia and voted no-one into power! Could we make up our minds? There stood three men, with little to choose (as I mentioned before the election) between them, so none of them received a vote of confidence. If the Liberal Democrats were true to their belief that proportional representation meant just that, then they would not have a say in how we are governed today. But they sure do now. We forget however, that politicians are compulsive liars, who have lost their stature as statesmen thesedays. Instead they have become careerists. In truth, today we could still have Gordon Brown running the country, propped up by the party which came third (and a poor third at that). The Tories received the most votes, but not enough for an overall workable majority, so we were faced with the proposition of two lookalikes, the Ant and Dec of politics if you like, eating humble pie after deriding each other during the election itself, running the country. Vote for one, get one free! We are used to that scenario, aren't we? Hell, we've had 13 years of New Labour. It's time for a change!
13 years of New Labour......quite a lot of time to formulate what you would do, as a politician, if you got into power. For the Liberals it was Christmas time. No hopers with a say. Who'd have thought it? 'We never thought we'd actually have to carry any of this out.....oh Hell'! So, with Ant and Dec running the country, what were the big idea's? Stanley, I have a policy, but you won't allow me to put it into practice. Ollie, I have a policy, but you won't allow me to put it into practice either'! 'Another fine mess! David Cameron's big odour, sorry idea, was to 'ask the people'! Sounds great doesn't it, but if a plumber came to your house to fix your boiler, and looked at it, turned to you and asked you, 'what do you think I should do to fix it?', it wouldn't instill a great deal of confidence in the guy, would it? In many ways, asking the country what the country wants, is asking the question a second time. The answer was forthcoming during the election. You had a manifesto, you stumbled over the finishing line, being pushed over it by a bloke who looks remarkably like yourself, so get on with it. Politicians ask us, when they want a get out clause, that's all. 'Well you asked for it, didn't you'? Of course, we are not politicians. We have opinions, but opinions are like backsides. Everyone has got one. You have had 13 years to decide what you are going to do. Two things. Don't ask us. You are the politicians. We vote you in to make decisions on our behalf, not ask us to do your job for you. Secondly, don't blame the previous administration for the antics of those who sold property to folks who could not pay back their loans half way across the planet three years ago. You knew that there was a recession. Tell us what to do and we'll try to accommodate your wishes.
If Mrs Thatcher and Tony Blair had nothing else, they had blind belief in their own madness. Thatcher wanted to destroy the unions, privatise the health service and become a Sith warlord, Tony Blair thought their were stockpiles of weapons held by a bloke in Iraq, that we helped put there to destabilise the region, so he became paranoid that, within a 45 minute period we would all be exterminated. Advice from a Baghdad taxi driver! If you can't believe him, then who can you believe....and by the way 'you'll never guess who I had in the back of my cab this morning...'! Tony and George W, went to Iraq to find a guy, who was in Afghanistan, or possibly Pakistan. Sat Nav system must have been on the blink! Bit of a diversion, but through the madness, we voted for Maggie and Tony, who, if the pair of them told us, unequivocally, they were teapots, we would believe them, and thus vote for them. We knew that Maggie was crazy, and with Tony, things would definitely NOT get better, but we believed them that, if they said they were going to do something, by and large, they would do it.
Ant & Dec are very different 'kettles of poissons'. They dither a great deal. They are not strong in their beliefs and communicate poorly. This is why we don't comprehend Cameron's version of 'give power back to the people'. Sounds like watered down Thatcherism...I think! Cameron is very similar to those pundits, who categorically told us that England were going to win the World Cup. Strongly delivered rhetoric, delivered by a so called expert with no overall grasp of the situation. The government is not clear, and is still within it's first 100 day honeymoon period. The economy is, understandably, high on the agenda. The banks have accepted our bale outs, with very little grace. They are angry with the public and are not moving currency around the economy in the way they were instructed to do so by the prevoius administration. We are being charged interest rates which are currently well above three figures, for the smallest of overdrafts. Sure the likes of Vince Cable are telling them off, however, it was Geoffrey Howe who was once described as being as 'savage as a sheep'. Vince and his parties desire for proportional representation, makes for weak government. There is no consensus regarding how the economy ought to be handled. Those in the financial 'know' state that the economy needs an input of currency in order for growth to seed. Instead we are seeing a dithering at the edges, which is shrinking the economy. Higher unemployment is promised. Cameron seems to be saying to us, we should undertake the responsibilities that are currently under the control of the local councils, and perform these tasks ourselves. Great if everyone pitches in, but I would rather have someone who knows exactly what they are doing running the show rather than a few locals who actually can be bothered. They forgot one salient factor in this great unknown field of political dreams. That factor which is human nature. 'Build a community and 'they' will come'! But who are 'they'? Three chavs and a pitbull? What a mess. Perhaps we should run the Parliamentary seats as well? Lots of expense savings to be made there!
raoul moat / derrick bird
Truth be told....and all told....I don't feel as if I am being governed at this point in time. I don't now which direction the country is headed. I think the general population are confused and are preparing for austerity. Those who are desperate in society are easily tipped over the edge. When the financial support net is removed, those who have finances tell us that they will help the rest of us, although human nature would suggest that is rhetoric, and the assistance will be provided by that unknown, 'the other man'. In the U.K., in the last couple of months, two incidents have transpired, both of which involve guns and both involve murders. Raoul Moat and Derrick Bird were two men that, folks who knew them stated, 'they were just ordinary guys. The type you might have a drink in the pub with'. Can't think what tipped them over the precipice. Raoul and Derricks actions were those of two cold blooded murderers, however, both killed themselves after their actions. The publics responses, however, were most enlightening. Moat was given a tribute page on Facebook. Derricks' immediate family were less charitable, however, both incidents received huge televisual coverage and in the printed media. Subliminally, perhaps we are watching a soap opera unfold in front of our eyes. The results of someone else's lives being in a worse state than our own, thus making ourselves feel a great deal better about ourselves. During times of austerity, it is comforting to know that there are others who are feeling the pinch as well. I wonder whether we are losing our own self worth's. If it's O.K. on Eastenders, it doen't take a great leap of faith...except we are dealing with people's lives. Lot of hurt, however, as a species, we have a great deal of compassion within us. Time for some reflection, I guess.
Meanwhile, Ant and Dec's answer to crime seems to be that we need less paperwork for the police to undertake, but also less bobbies on the beat. This will probably not happen however. Politicians 'test the water' with controversial policies. If they want to cut the real values of pensions by more than inflation, they will leak a story about huge cuts in pension payments. When the final figure comes along, which is a cut above the rate of inflation for pensioners, we say to ourselves, 'thank heavens, it wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be'. Bit like a Union putting in for a 10 percent pay demand, knowing they will settle for half of that amount. Happens everywhere. Frighten, and then control. Seperate and conquer. In defence of Trades Unions, when was the last time you heard of a Union 'offering and proposing', or the management 'claiming and demanding'? Role reversal, but part of an interesting investigation by the Glasgow Media Action Group a few years back.
cameron being reminded he wasn't too kind to 'Dec' during the election, by the media
With my best Kevin Keegan-ism 'I don't make predictions...I never have done and I never will' hat on...I think that Ant and Dec's form of government will become untenable. Truth be told, the Tories should have been allowed to run the country as a minority government. No-one has any true belief that two men who stated they disliked each other during the election, have had a complete change of heart overnight. Human beings, after their teen years, are pretty much the same people throughout our lives, until we get the call to go meet our maker. Lovers beware of the prospective partner who tells you 'I have changed'. The fact that they have to tell you, is an admission that they haven't! Change is for others to decide, not the individual. When Cameron tells you 'he has found a soul mate', he really means 'he has found a cell mate'! The fact that we are being asked to help make the decisions in how we are being governed, is pretty sad, and pretty much a done deal. With or without Ant and Dec's help, we will, probably, be running our lives in one way or another from now on. It is how good our relationships with our colleagues and friends are which will see us either 'do' or die'. Personally, I'd rather do. I'll leave the other part to the politicians, who are in Parliament, but not placed there by the majority. Presently, as I have already mentioned, I do not feel as if I am being governed right now, and that is a cause for great concern if we are to perceive ourselves as living in a democracy....
...in the meantime, here's a calendar for 2010, entitled 'Goats In Trees' which Bangsy gave me at Christmas. Makes more sense than David Cameron....and it works for me!
Toby Walker 20.7.2010
'go back to your constituencies and prepare for government'
'Go back to your constituencies, and prepare for government'. Spoken by (the then) Liberal leader David Steel back in 1981, according to Wikipedia, although I can't remember there being an election that year. Perhaps he was talking about government two years down the line, still the phrase came to haunt the man, as with many politicians, what you see (or hear), isn't always what you always get.
The three current political stooges on window display right now are (left to right) Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg (David and Nick seperated at birth?), who all go to represent the U.K. political parties Labour, Conservatives and Liberal. In the U.S. this breaks down to Republican, Democrat and 'Pinko Commie' (Brown being the latter, but, when all is said and done, he is another Democrat!)
There really isn't a fly paper that you can slip between either of these guys. All a pretty boring bunch all told. They all speak about radical change, but in truth, they are all in agreement that we will have to tighten our belts, and the poor will suffer. They won't admit that, of course, but that is what comes out of most political rinse cycles if history is to be repeated. The Tories protect the better off, Labour try to protect the poor, but have repositioned the party to protect the middle classes, and, as the Liberals never seem to get into power, then they can promise anything they wish. Free trips to see the rings of Saturn is something I would vote for!
The economy is, as Bill Clinton once remarked, the bottom line during polling times. Folks vote for the party which they feel will work for them personally and financially. Human nature. What frustrates me as a voter, is the party which has one big idea, such as forming a Health Service, seem to be the ones worth voting for. They are seldom put up for election for some strange reason. Sure, no-one can be all things to all men, but, if you can promise to get one major facet of the economy ticking over, folks will usually vote for you. We all have family members who get seriously ill from time to time, so health seems to be a pretty good choice. This time round, these three super heroes will sort out a trillion dollar debt, whilst making our own lives more humble and uncomfortable. This is their big idea. As they all are in agreement about this, then the only political way forward is to insult each other until we have our next Parliament. That Parliament looks like it may well be a hung one.....now there's an idea!
The economy? O.K. 'Mr Know It All', what's your plan? Well, being a 'man with a plan', I have my own ideas regarding how to deal with this, which I will throw into the political hat for what it's worth....
The images of Cologne and St. Pauls, during the blitz and following the Second World War are now confined to the history books. I had to go to Cologne about 15 years ago on work. The place has been tastefully rebuilt since the blanket bombing, which left that wonderful cathedral intact, but not much more as you can see. There's a memorial outside the cathedral, which is worth looking at and taking in the gravity of conflict. The Allies had an agreement back then. You don't bomb our beautiful buildings, and we won't bomb yours. After all, both sides wanted the spoils of war, when either of them won. The problem with war is no-one ever wins. Everyone loses. Germany was, to all intents and purposes, flattened. The U.K. was made bankrupt. Germany was fed before the U.K. and Russia, as there were fears of reprisals. I guess a full country was a happy one, who knows?
St Pauls? Well that is a very famous image, which is taken not too far from the economic centre of the financial markets today. The Second World War costings vary, although one sum quoted in several sources puts the overall figure at 1.5 trillion dollars. That cake had to be divided up into many portions. Japan, France, Germany, U.S., Italy, Poland...the list is endless, however, you can guarantee that the U.K.'s share of that bill came to at least a third of that sum. Dollars translated into pounds, with inflation thrown into the pot, puts us into the same level of debt today, more or less, that we faced following the last major global conflict. The difference thesedays are there aren't the rebuild costs, however, the world is a very different place today. Oil reserves peaked three years ago. Now there is less and less oil in the ground.
That 1945 debt had to be repaid, and the country began reimbursing the relevant institutions as the economy kicked back into gear. A trillion pounds is an amount of money I cannot imagine. The number 1 with twelve noughts after it, I believe. Here is a question for you. The bill we owed America for their involvement in the Second World War? When did we complete our final payment on that sum? The Sixties? When Mrs Thatcher sat on the throne? The actual answer is 2006! 61 years after the end of the Second World War. In that time, we have squandered North Sea Oil revenues on keeping people out of work, and were advised to loan huge sums of our money to gamblers masquerading as bankers in the City of London.
The bankers took the U.K. to the brink of bankruptcy. Sucessive governments (Labour and Conservative) capitulated in this scenario, as the Labour left became the New Liberals, and the Conservatives became....well the New Liberals! Political Statesmen became a dying species, with only Vince Cable of the Liberals, being seen as any figure bearing political substance in Parliament at the moment. All told, 40 years ago, Vince would have been seen as a political lightweight. Todays politicians fiddle their expenses and appear to have no empathy with anyone other than themselves. Whilst they dithered, the bankers got on with their charade, and now we are left with a dim future.
Those that argue we need to keep those in the City, who took us to the edge, are fooling themselves. The guilty parties should be shown the door. Make that a revolving one which has an accountant on their way in, and a gambler on their way out (without a bonus!).
So what of this main political financial football, and why the references to the Second World War? Well it does seem to me that the 61 years we were paying the debt back, didn't seem to launch us into a long period of austerity. Far from it. 'Boom and bust' is a phrase often imparted in recent times, indicating a period when we had money to burn, and burn it we did. We were paying back our debt during the booming Eighties, the Winter of Discontent, the Swinging Sixties, and the housing boom of the last decade. My point is, perhaps, not avoid looking at this incomprehensible figure, but look at the duration over which we pay back the sums. Normally, when you buy a house, you go to an Estate Agent, they agree to find you a house, you find one, you go to a bank and arrange a mortgage. What doesn't happen is, you go to a bank and they inform you that the £300,000 loan they will lend you is only for the short term, and you will have to pay it back in a years time. They lend you the money, arrange a period of around 25 years, in order for you to pay back the sum, so you can use the rest of your income living your lives. The sum owed is a manageable amount. We hate owing money on credit cards, but are happy with owing bank a sum over a 25 year period. Owing is owing, it is just the interest that varies.
I wonder sometimes whether I am being a complete dumbo here, however, the U.K. owes a trillion dollars/euro's/pounds. The banks got us here, we didn't. Is it beyond the wherewithal of our species that we might arrange a timeframe, similar to the period we paid back the loan for the Second World War, with an option to pay back sooner, should we discover oil under Milton Keynes? The feeling I am getting with Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg is the economy is becoming a bit of a red herring. These guys all have a self confessed agenda. ' The money has to be paid back now....all of it!' Sure, none of us want to owe such a huge sum of money, but the problem could be addressed more creatively? Their political posturings would seem to indicate that they are more interested in using a serious problem in order to score political points. It is no wonder that the electorate are disillusioned. We are the innocent parties overseeing a group of people running our lives, who are proven accounting fraudsters, who are about to make us pay dearly for some poor decision making taken at the highest level of government, without our say so or knowledge.
The last year has been a very difficult year for many people I know. The climate is for change, however, economically, there seems to be little choice between a group of MP's who are at best, careerists, and at worst, fools. The innocent victims, as always, are you and I. If we had falsified our accounts claims, we would be up in court. If we had gambled away the total cost of the Second World War on loaning poor folks, who couldn't repay the loans in the first place, money for purchasing their own homes, and brought to country to it's knees, we would be imprisoned. These guys are looking at a vote of confidence from an injured animal, whilst being hugely rewarded for running the country into the ground. As voters we are left with voting for personalities rather that politcal parties, and that cannot be right in anybody's books. Vote for Simon Cowell or Ricahrd Branson? Wouldn't put it past them. Lost Michael Foot recently. Real shame. I would have voted for him. This time round I am not sure change will be a good thing, as the country is still in 'three wheels on my wagon' mode at the moment! I guessd by that I mean, vote for any of them, as nothing much will change who ever is in power!!
political poster circa 1979
Toby Walker 11.4.2010
one year on
Lot of water has gone under the global bridge since last Christmas. In the U.K. we were looking at the demise of the high street company, Woolworths. That retailer had the proverbial writing on the wall well before the financial crash, which has now taken the country to the brink financially. The real financial rescuers of the whole debacle have been you and I, all told. The politicians mentioned fiscal figures, which none of us could really relate to. The bankers proved themselves to be, what we knew all along, that is, the employees of the greedy within our society. We knew we loaned them our savings for a scant return in interest in the past, and we knew that, when it came down to the crunch, they would cover each others backsides, pay themselves huge salary increases, and pay themselves huge bonuses additionally and unashamedly. Our money all told. Who coined the term 'you can bank on that one'? Not anymore. The vibe these guys are sending out are, yes the country is in the deepest financial pit we could have ever imagined, we got you into this place, thanks for bailing us out, and can we have another huge payout, so we don't have to work again for the rest of our lives? Now if Jesus was in this particular marketplace today, he would be throwing the banking stalls across the shop floor all over again, and who could blame him? Their defence (if you can call it a defence at all) is that, to keep the best, you need to fabulously reward these individuals in order they stay in the country and not leave for greener monetary pastures. Does beg several questions. Whereabouts are these greener financial pastures? Why do we need to hold on to these individuals, who have 'gotten us all into another fine mess'?, and, if it is only reward that keeps these guys here, and not performance (which is hugely suspect at best), why don't we open the departure lounge right now? I think even I could have run the economy better than those on the current teamsheet. I remember being in hospital 3 years ago and talking to a nurse, asking her simply, 'why do you do this job?' Her answer was 'I want to help people and make them better if I can'. Bless her heart. At that time we were being informed that, if we didn't fabulously reward some senoir members of that profession, they would also all go abroad for richer financial rewards. These bankers and doctors need to take a deep breath and ask themselves 'just who am I serving?' The customer, patient.....or myself? When all is said and done, if it is the financial rewards that motivates these people, I don't want them running my bank account, let alone operating on me!
Woolworths days were numbered, way before the crunch hit us all, as I mentioned previously. 'Hit' is the operative word. What seems to have transpired regarding our reactions, are similar to those which might have been developing during previous disasters throughout history. Lets take the example of the Titanic, following the collision with that iceberg some century or so ago. Some of the passengers reactions might have been to run for the lifeboats, demand they be launched, in order that those individuals would have rescued, themselves, before any others on board that ill fated vessel. A second set of passengers would have told themselves that the boat was unsinkable and headed back to the bar, listened to the band, whilst downing a strong brandy. The last set of folks would have all looked at the situation, turned to each other, and began co-operating in trying to find a solution to the oncoming disaster. It is the latter folks, who adapt to these changing set of circumstances, who will eventually prevail. Those at the bar will perish, but convince themselves there was nothing that they could have done anyway, and, hey, what a way to go. The selfish may survive, however, they will be held accountable should they survive, and there is always that 'conscience' thing going on for the rest of their lives.
The financial crisis has changed things for the foreseeable future. Whether that is a good or bad thing will largely be down to your own disposition regarding your fellow man or woman. The balance of resources is something that will become an ineviatable issue over the next century. In truth, population has risen extraordinarily since the prospectors first struck the 'black gold' in the ground in the latter part of the 19th century. Sure oil was used on a much lesser scale prior to those times, however, the industrial revolution has affected everything radically, in a very short space in time, in the great scheme of things. Money may have been sloshing around the economies of the World over the last 50 or so years, almost to the point that the bankers have become drunk with the stuff! We have lost touch with reality, and the credit crunch will make us more human in the long term I believe. Look at the two graphs below. The top one is a population graph indicating the huge rise in population due to the massive increase in the use of oil. The lower graph indicates that we have just passed the peak of highest production. As Lenny Williams once sang 'There's Only So Much Oil In The Ground'.....
population growth
oil production
You may have also become aware that the untouchable Gulf States are now seeing the recession hit them. Dubai is beginning to look like a huge financial dinosaur. I was there a year ago. Manic building, in an almost panic buying mentality. Ironically, it has had the effect of distracting the attention from the fact the many of the oil rich countries are now sourcing their product off shore. Drilling in the sea? Imagine the overheads involved. I think they are now realising that the long steep climb to the year 2000 production peak, is now becoming a slow decline. How does this affect us?
Well, the cost of crude oil affects the markets. We all know that. What we miss on a day to day basis is the reliance on oil which all of us are a party to in our everyday lives. We have become so used to the material status quo that, well, look at yourself right now. The machines which sowed the clothing you are wearing right now, were made with the help of oil. The engines which drove those machines. Plastic is made from oil based products. The materials in your shoes, your make-up, the printed paper you write upon and read, the bus you travel to work in, the train, the airplane, everything relies on oil. The computer I writing on right now is made from plastic, The wiring within the computer the same, the wiring in your house, the internet, mobile phone, even sending man to the moon would not have been possible without oil. Oil is incredibly useful....and incredibly polluting. The decline in oil ought to cause a trigger effect, which should have us looking at utilising the oil we have left, over the next century or so, with a mind to manufacturing wind and solar alternatives in order that we leave our children the tools to exist to a reasonable standard of living, rather than throwing a huge party and following the example set by the banking community and those who ran for the lifeboats, selfishly, on the Titanic.....or your senior doctor for that matter!!
I think we are a resourceful animal as a species. I don't hold with the feminist Rebecca West's assertion that 'all men are lunatics and all women are idiots'. We need to beware of generalisations. They are counterproductive and I think they undersell us as a species. Today we need visionaries and not those who take advantage of oncoming social depressions. When we are depressed we can look for scapegoats, which is something we should be aware of when listening to the empty vessels which make the loudest noise at times such as these. Comparisons just make people lesser individuals. Let the bankers run for their own proverbial lifeboats. We should begin by looking at our own lives and see what we can do to lessen the imapct on the environment and those directly around us. We shouldn't lecture the emerging economies regarding matters which we are ourselves hugely guilty of in the past. We should be honest and say, those we elected to serve us, served themselves and we are truly very sorry for that. We would like you not to make the same errors we did, how can we help you? Tell, us what you need, we have learned from our own burns and we would like to help you avoid being burned yourself.
Heavy, heavy, heavy? Sure, but being hit by a bus is not pleasant. If we can see that bus coming from a long way off, we can do something about not being hit by the vehicle.
Personally, in our lives here, what has changed in the last year, is any spare money we have had in the home (not a great deal), we have spent making the house greener and more cost effective. It will cost us now, but will save us hugely in the long term. When the house is handed over to our daughter, her bills will be lessened, and she will be affecting the environment is a much lesser way, additionally. The car has gone, the boiler updated, all the windows have been doubled up and the domestic waste has been halved. All small things, however, governments will have to do likewise, either willingly, or eventually dragged kicking and screaming! My real faith is in people. My fear is that, as oil becomes scarcer, governments will use every method at their disposal in order to obtain the material. Personally, I am grateful for oil. If it wasn't for oil, we would have not seen a vinyl album, thus none of us would have heard Stevie at his finest.
Here is one scary statistic. For every tyre on your, or your parents car, the manufacturer has to use 8 gallons of oil to make that one tyre. 32 gallons for the whole car. Remember the wiring, circuit boards, steering wheels etc....which all have to be taken into account well before you drive into your local gas station to fill up.
Society is a long way away from going pear shaped just yet, so enjoy the Christmas break, and afterwards do think about getting the grey matter moving regarding things environmentally. Looking at this funny little meter the gas/electric people provided for us for free here right now, we are looking at an energy saving of one third overall by making these small changes. Money you will be investing in yourself, which will help with the bills, and will go to make your local street a little more of a nicer place to live. Doesn't make you a eco-warrior. It just means you are not a banker, a politician, or a lifeboat hog on the Titanic! Not a bad place to be.
Toby Walker 17.12.09
august 2009...how are you doing?
recession
'a period of temporary economic decline during which trade and industrial activity are reduced, generally identified by a fall in GDP in two successive quarters.'Thought I would undergo a 'wiping of the clean slate', now the dust has settled regarding the exploits of the British politicians, and we can now begin to get a clearer indication of just how severely the global recession has affected people. The Opinion page was bulging at the seams here, so the previous page has been archived, but is still there if you follow the links below.
Alan Greenspan (above) and his 'de-regulated bunch of cowboys' hit town, big time, last year. We borrowed so much money to prop up the banks that, the twelve figures which go to make up the written 'trillions' (on paper) our governements borrowed, also go to make up the number of individual cells in one person's body. It is a useful illustration which gives the individual a benchmark as to how to come to terms with the numbers handed over to these corporate institutions in order to 'correct their mistakes'. To see a human cell, you need to look through the lens of a powerful microsope. Those small pomegranite seed like objects that float across the glass on the viewing slide each represent the same number of pounds or dollars the banks have been given in order to get us all out borrowing and spending again. One cell equals one pound or dollar. The truth of that set of circumstances is that, the banks misbehaved, and should have been punished. Those that had consciences, well they apologised (after a fashion). Those that chose not to do so, still award themselves huge bonuses, which, at best, is completely distasteful, and at worst, ought to be seen as criminal, and treated as such.
I watched the head of Barclays Bank yesterday explaining how it is important for banks to take risks. Barclays had just make a 3 billion pound profit. Nice for those who receive their £100,000 half yearly bonuses, however, the gap between their world, and the real world outside that industry has become so immense, that the scene has become almost Dickensian. Upstairs Downstairs, if you wish. Speaking personally, I have witnessed the design industry collapsing to a point where, if there is any work around, it is short term and all payments have become negotiable. It is commonplace that the biggest burger retailer on the high street, now requires a prospective employee to work for 8 weeks, unpaid, after which it is up to the employer as to whether a permanent position is then available. If not, well they have had an employee for two months for free.
In the real world, the employment market is declining, whilst those still lucky enough to be in full time work, have seen their working conditions suffer, and their management adopting positions which utilise whatever draconian measures they desire, in order to achieve whatever they see fit for those in positions of power. To put it bluntly, the folks I know who are in work, are unhappy at their companies, and are 'treading water' until something better comes along. That 'life bus' will be one which will take a long time in arriving, it is my belief. Whatever a politician tells you, will be in contrast to your own experiences right now. Look out of your window and see what is developing in your neighbours households at this point in time. I would bet that many household bread winners are seeing more of their families than usual, as part time employment is becoming very much the norm. Costs cut in order to maintain the salaries of those who are at the helms of each relevant institution. Their biggest mistake, which is manifesting itself at this point in time, is this. If a work environment has become so unpleasant for a skilled individual to function within that place of work, when the time arrives that the institutions need to re-recruit, as the garden is looking more financially rosy at that particular time, those who have been mistreated, will remember the recession, and will not return to the fold. Many people of my age (fifties) will hold out for retirement. Many younger employees will be advised by those who previously left workplaces, just exactly how things once were at these companies, and warn the younger folks should the economy begin to suffer again. In many ways, recession is a good time for a company to sow the seeds of loyalty within their staffing ranks. People have long memories, and they will support the companies which support them when things got a little tough going out there.
In the U.K., we are headed, erratically, towards a general election next year. Our current unelected Prime Minister and his merry band of benefit cheats, are telling us everything in the garden is rosy, and that the worst of the recession is now over. The actual figures contradict that viewpoint. 5 years before those in negative equity can begin to get back onto a level playing field. Odd figures which come out of the recently privatised Northern Rock Bank in the U.K. state that they made a loss of £750 million in the first six months of 2009. Apparently all due to people defaulting on their mortgages. In the real world, people are hurting. The pound shops have never seen such a boom. Those who buy there, who used to be the unemployed or those of a modest disposition, now are shopping alongside people with posh voices and suits. There seems to be a shame, which many folks are carrying around with themselves, born out of wanting something better for themselves and their families, working toward that goal, only for the Alan Greenspan's of this world to remove that optimism and hope and firmly reposition individuals back in their ill-considered, wrongly perceived places.
There are those who look to apportion blame at the doorsteps of groups such as the Bilderberg elite, who seem to have their own mysterious political agenda's. I must say that I find it strange that Mr Greenspan has been placed in charge of righting the wrongs of his previous conceptual ideologies. Bit like Adolf Hitler being placed in charge of ensuring there would be no further rise in fascism post 1945!
I speak to many business people on a day to day basis. Working for myself, I have to. This past 6 months or so, have brought very few new projects to my front door. All of my work colleagues are experiencing the same. It is as if we are all in some sort of suspended animation, waiting for the green light to be turned on again, so we can all get back to work. My fear is that, when that green light is turned on, in the same way the banks were slow to begin lending again, the green light will be a gentle flicker and the companies out there will be slow to begin ordering and employing again. If I was a student right now, I would take a year out and go help a charity or travel the World. Recessions are very hard on the young. We teach them to work hard as they will achieve a decent position within a company if they do so. We make promises without proviso's. Right now we lied to them. Not our fault, or our teachers either. Just a series of unfortunate events, which were instigated by those who sought to lend money to those who had no wherewithal in returning those funds at a later date. You and I both know that situation was untenable, should have never been allowed to happen in the first place, however, those in the know thought they knew better, and they obviously didn't.
So what of the rest of 2009? Predictions? Well, by the looks of things as they stand, I would imagine that the days of, even just two years ago, will never arrive back again. Perhaps that is for the best. Recessions can be dangerous, as the far right can 'make hay' with the weak minded, however, if any good will come out of all of this, well, I would hope we would all become more public spirited, less materialistic, and try to be as optimistic as we can. One thing for certain is we have all been cast adrift in the same lifeboat. What didn't kill us will make us stronger. We will have to reside in this state of supended animation for at least another year, I believe, and after that, I am hoping a slow crawl back to some sort of dignity for all of us. At least we are not alone in this mess, and we can console ourselves that the mess is not of your or my doing.
Toby Walker 6.8.09
... or go to the opinions page from 2003...
... or go to the opinions page from 2004...
... or go to the opinions page from 2005...
... or go to the opinions page from 2008/9...
...or go to the opinions page from 2001 - 2002...
