Straight on until Dawn

 To travel in hope

AI image of "last man in"

Today I am taking a journey that I have taken many times. I am heading back to the south coast to see family. But I have spoken of Robert Louis Stevenson so many times (the man who figured the journey itself was the reason for travel not the destination), that I am going to put the quote to the test and see how I feel about it afterwards, when the dust has settled, so to speak.

Going to the coast from where I live is relatively simple: train to Kings Cross, tube to Waterloo station, train to the south coast. Seems simple? So, when I was booking my ticket this time around, I spotted a relatively cheap option. To leave later and arrive at the same time. How was this possible I hear you asking? Just me again? Well the only difference is a small detail. Don't go to Waterloo. Use London Transport connections and step onto the usual train, but at Clapham Junction. It just means staying on the tube a bit longer, getting a train from Vauxhall station, alight at Clapham Junction, and Bob's your living uncle. No biggy?

I will let you know. In my head, numerous things could happen. Of which I will not tell you now, as most of them exist only in my mind as opposed to actual possibilities. The change in detail was in itself interesting. I have not stepped on or off a train at Vauxhall since 1981

It was to mark the end of an incredible Ashes series. Known forever as Botham's Ashes. My father and I decided we would try to catch the first day of the sixth Test at the Oval. My dad said we should just show up and we would get in, as used to happen when my Father was the age I was at the time (15). Unfortunatley the first three days had completely sold out,t and there was no room at the inn.

We had arrived at the Oval from Barnes, near where my old Nan used to live, and alighted at Vauxhall station, which was the nearest mainline station. Having found the ground unenterable, we hunted around for a plan B. Which turned out to be a trip to Lord's. a little bit further North but in central London. It was Middlesex vs Yorkshire. Not a very enticing offering as Botteams's star players were all involved with England at the Oval. However, a trip to HQ is always worth the effort. The last time I went to Lords was for a Gillette Cup one-dayer in 1977, Middlesex vs my beloved Hampshire. The ground that day was also packed to the gunwales. Today,y there were three of us.

The game was settling into a typical English first-class game. Tepid. Yorkshire had posted 264. Middlesex were a little shy of that 244 when their last batsman walked to the crease. A West Indian gentleman who was a bowler and not considered a batsman. So much so that the diesel heavy Roller started up even before he took guard, so convinced were the groundsman that it would not be long before their services were required between innings

What we were actually treated to was Wayne Daniel crashing the Yorkshire bowling to all parts, including a stupendous six that he hooked, and I can still see the dust cloud that arose as the ball struck the stand some thirty feet up and well beyond the boundary. 

Needless to say,y the Heavy roller fell silent after 20 minutes. 

And only watched by 3 people! 

Ah memories. The destination can be important, I guess. I don't remember any of the journeys I undertook on this day. I will let you know how this one goes.

The Electorate Have Spoken!

 Reform? Whats in a name?

Broken councils?

We in the UK have just "enjoyed" a bunch of elections to see who runs our local councils. The people that (don't) fix our potholes, run our education, fire service, police and not to mention pay for all our social care. 

Labour have taken a pounding, closely followed by the Conservatives (but who cares about them?). This has sent Labour into a spin. I am of mixed opinion on this subject though. I think from a national point of view it should be sending shivers down the spines of the Labour party. Reform have advertised themselves as the party of change. They will sweep out the old and bring in a breath of fresh air and solve ALL our problems. 

There are plenty of good websites out there that will explain in better detail just how this view is not true but will also point out it is almost but not quite deviously untrue. The issue is the same as the Brexit party. Nigel Farage does all the talking - and he is quite good at it, but scratch a little deeper and you start to find an unsavoury element lives within.

The major problem for me is that Reform is a right wing organisation. Funded by seriously rich right wingers. So right wing that Maggie Thatch might even wince. I am not sure that all the people who voted for it are aware of its true colours. How many people voted for Reform as a kind of protest vote? I am hoping that most of the previous Labour supporters did this. 

As I said earlier I have mixed feelings. I am not a Reform supporter but I do like the fact that councillors who previously took us all for granted are now seeking new employment. I have lived under several councils, red and blue who have thought they were untouchable. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. It is good to see the electorate giving 2 fingers to the incumbent rulers.

In my opinion though the electorate will suffer the consequences. By and large Reform have not had a great time in charge of anything. Kent county council appears to be a case in point. Most other Reform run councils have had to cut services and raise council tax. the electorate may just have shot itself in the foot. 

What this does point to though is that we have just had 15 years of bad luck/management economically. From Credit crunch, Brexit and Covid.  It has been a long haul for the low to middle incomes. 2 steps forward and one step back for the last 15 years. One thing the Labour government should be concentrating on is a small short term hit for consumers. A short VAT holiday worked quite well for Labour in 2009. Raising the tax allowance would also gift people some more of their hard earned cash. Thanks to Trump - not just in Iran  - with just about everything he touches, inflation is going up. Giving it back to people will stimulate the economy. We don't earn enough to hoard it. We want more holiday, beer and food and cars. In no particular order.

Ashes downunder

So the knives are out for England's cricketers and management. The only real fault had been raising our expectations for this tour. On reflection it has progressed in much the same manner as all but one of of the previous Australian series this century. 

Unfortunately the plain matter of fact is that Australia did the basics better. They took their catches and gave less ducks.

The first test was a bit of an outlier. The only person who batted in any sense was Head in the second innings and by all accounts it was a T20 innings. However England should of had a plan. But when you are defending 200 in a second innings you can't afford to let anyone get in. 

Their was an element of self sabotage in the second test. The 5 dropped catches allegedly cost 143 runs which does bring the 1st innings defecit down somewhat. Still would have left Australia around 200 to chase. Very achievable as the 1st test proved. So there were also 4 batsmen in the first innings that failed to trouble the scorers. Ducks happen especially in the tail. Even so it did put a lot of pressure on the rest of the line up.

In the third test England failed to reach 300 in the first innings. Had they achieved a higher first innings total they woukd not have left themselves so much to do in the last innings. And we gave a pretty good stab at chasing 430. A bit more application from the batsmen early on migjt of led to a closer result even a victory. 

So in summary Australia have obviously played the better cricket and they have done it by doing the basics better. 

The knives are out for the management team but I think it is premature. The ECB must not pay heed to folk that have played their cricket firmly in the past i.e. all the British press. Keeping Mcullum et al until the next visit of England, they would at least be run by a team that has experience of a tour. 

Economics and the art of dog walking.

 

In today's world of harsh economic realities, I have found myself behoven to create an elongated tale to explain to you, the general public, how our officials try and negotiate the world around us so that we may put artisanal lava bread on our expensivley polished oakwood dining furniture. 

All right I am being both patronising and sarcastic but bear with me. 

I was out with my dogs this morning and by the time I arrived home I felt that most walks I have with my canine beauties are of profound allegorical importance and I can extract life affirming lessons that would help the world to gain insight on the world we live in.

Aim high!

So my allegorical tale starts just before the front door . There are only 3 important financial forces (I made that up I just happen to have 3 dogs- just come with me on this).

The first force is the big one. It is the big dog! This one needs a firm hand and a strong leash for if you turn your back on it for one second it will disappear into the woods and run amok. We shall call this dog Inflation. Do you see where I am going with this?

This dog takes a bit of time to get it girdled up in its harness the other 2 dogs, lets call them Growth and Consumer Confidence are less difficult once this has been achieved. Growth is a little bundle of energy that pleases itself, starts fights with bigger and uglier dogs and only chases half the balls you throw for her. Consumer confidence is a shy little rescue dog that has probably been abused in a former life and is now scare of its own shadow, growls at all and sundry and will make a run for cover if any big dogs such as Inflation take any sort of interest in her. 

Once Inflation is shackled the other two dogs come to the lead more oblingly and Consumer Confidence does get excited at the prospect of fresh air and the chance to have go to the toilet. Growth doesnt care as long as it tastes of chicken.

And so our economy bounds down the avenue of possibility until we reach the park of harsh economic reality. Growth and Consumer Confidence can be let off leash soonest and can be trusted to look after themselves but Inflation must only be allowed out if the coast is clear and free from the tyranny of the St Bernard of Depression (Inflation goes to town on that one) and the Shitsu of Authoratative Regulation. A spoilt brat of a dog never let off its lead by its poorly directed owner who then tells you how badly trained all your dogs are. Inflation takes lumps out this one.

How am I doing so far

So Inflation can be let off to run as longas it takes growth with it but always under the control of the squeaky ball of Interest Rates. A few quick squeezes of this ball and Inflation returns to my side. all the while Growth and Consumer Confidence just trot about sniffing and doing all the other things dogs do in parks. 

And so as you meander around the park of harsh economic realities whilst keeping your charges in sight or at least able to respond you can then return home safe in the knowledge that your economy has progressed in a safe and orderly fashion.

Never relax though because you never know when the Staffordshire of chaos will erupt onto the scene. Allowing Inflation a little rough and tumble is all very well but when Inflation pisses off into the woods and Chaos turns its attention to Consumer Confidence you have to act quickly and leash Consumer Confidence because she will just bolt for home and cross the lane of Perpetual Jeopardy without a second thought.

Edging closer to Consumer Confidence with out her running away is quite a trick and might involve telling her that you are headed in a different financial direction and when she finally turns in you direction she can be leashed and brought to safety

Growth, meanwhile doesnt care what its doing as long as it tastes of chicken

However you sometimes have to grab what you can and hope as you run after Consumer Confidence that there is no object propelled to flatten her.

Did I tell you I had 3 cats?

It's at this point that the black cat called Assets decides that it wants to run alongside Inflation, Growth and Consumer Confidence and you must just leap across the Lane of Perpetual Jeoperdy and hope your Assets follow you and remain intact. 

There you have it. Economic and financial activity as seen through eyes of 3 canine lovelies!

Ancient antiquities and who owns them?

 The Victoria And Albert Museum

I have been out and about in the Great Metropolis that is London with my grown up children recently (or so they think). They don't think I have been out and about with them, They know that we have been to London but they think they are grown up. Just glad to get that sorted out !

We wanted a fairly easy afternoon as we all had long journeys to make to return home. Of all the big museums of South  Kensington it is the one I have been to the least. It is just not my thing.

Established in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert it is one of the foremost centres for the study of art, design and textiles. It houses many, many relics of past and present civilizations. Ceramics, Fabrics. What look like filthy rags was actually the oldest rug in the world. Something we took (WE as in the British) from our time trying to subjugate the middle East. 

There is a theme here. There are works of "wonder" that are from this country that we should have fair and square but there is also a bunch of stuff "We" collected as a result of being an Imperial Empire (To be fair we bought some of it.)

That's right,  we stole a huge bunch of stuff over the years

In fact I would summarise the major museums in London thus : 

British Museum -   Stuff we stole 

V &A Museum   More stuff we stole and some stuff we are lumbered with.

Science Museum -    stuff other countries' thought of but know presented as "British Know-How"(Marconi was Italian! Who knew? Isambard Kingdom Brunel was half French!)

Natural History Museum - Stuff we shot first then stole

Many visitors to this sceptred isle we call home do wonder why it is called the British Museum as much of the stuff is plainly come from somewhere else. A whole bunch of stuff is not British at all - Egyptian Mummy anyone? No? how about some Greek marbles? (we didn't steal these but we are definitely NOT giving them back). 

The British Empire has much to answer for. 

Still, having waved a white flag at the avaricious Victorian collecters of yesteryear, we did have an interesting trip around the Victoria and Albert museum.

My tip is that unless you have some prior knowledge of the museum, join a tour. There was a guided tour that was along the lines of the "10 antiquities in an hour". What made it all the more enjoyable was the guide had a genuine admiration for all the things he showed us and held the artists and artisans that made it in such high regard with genuine warmth. He seemed to convey the feeling of privilege at being able to share space with these items. The downside was that he would of preferred a smaller group of visitors and was continually trying to shrug some of us off. Me and my family are not good at subtle clues like "Oh you are all still here then?" and followed him with gusto. As a result of the large group I think he fell short of 10 objects, more like three or four.. We didn't pass comment as he could argue that on a technicality the Raphael Cartoons just got him over the line!

I have avoided the V and A for many years. Despite the fact that my mum has spent years telling me her cutlery was in the museum. I just assumed she had stolen it from the cafeteria over the years. What she meant was as a wedding present she was given a cutlery set that the design of which subsequently found its way into the museum archive. I have a nasty feeling it has some ivory in it.

The upshot was that once you put aside the way in which some/all of the stuff was aquired it WAS a decent way to spend an hour on a miserable wet Sunday afternoon whilst you are supposed to be somewhere else.

Plus ca change - Labour's Early Days

 Let there be light

This summer the UK made  a major change, Just as the rest of the western world seemed to be fighting off right wing idealists from power, The UK dumped its right wing grouping and took up with a more left wing group called the Labour Party. Left wing? Sometimes. This government is hardly distinguishable from it's predecessor however. 

The UK has (in my mind unbelievably) returned not one but 3 Conservative Prime ministers and that doesn't include the the two holders of office who didn't gain their position in a general election. They are good at that the Conservatives, changing governments without managing to go to the people for an opinion.

Anyways...

There was little exuberance upon the election of this government compared to the advent of Blairite versions.  perhaps the world the Labour party exists in today is different to those times. The financial landscape is for definite. Tony Blair had a much better economy than Keir Starmer to play with. but the reason for the lack of enthusiasm was that it isn't very clear exactly what the incumbents philosophy s on how to improve the lives of its subjects. 

we haven't finished paying for the economic crash of 2008/09, Plus Brexit and now Covid.

Heads up, I am a remoaner at heart. I still cannot see what it is that the political Barmy Army of Johnson and Farage thought we would be better off with. All we seem to have done is reopen wounds in Northern Ireland and make it harder for food supplies to reach super market shelves

So what can be done?

Well infrastructure is always a good one. It is deemed acceptable by those that would lend us money to do so on the back of building things. Things like railways, bridges, improved public transport, communication/telecoms/internet. 

As a for instance going North / South in this country is quite good compared with anything that wants to go East/West. Upgrading railways between Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds would be my choice. If money can be found for one line in London (Elizabeth Line) surely the regions could be helped out too.

I am a proponent of hi speed trains but the current plan for the UK is beginning to look like a horse that the infamous committee designed. Not reaching anywhere and not long enough to make much difference to the travel time. The reason costs have escalated is largley down to the dozy Conservatives pandering to the Not in My Backyard Brigade and have had to use a heap more tunnels than was originally envisaged.

I know AI has been talked about. I am afraid I will have to investigate how that will benefit before I engage in pushing it.

Borrowing costs are going up across the world so better make sure it is for stuff we can use 

Governments like a little bit of inflation and a lot of growth. Inflation means that money borrowed becomes less challenging as its relative worth declines and growth means more tax income to pay for it.

So lets see what happens next  

What Happened Next

Rachel Reeves - the current incumbent for Chancellor of the Exchequer for the UK, delivered a speech in late January an analysis of this speech can be found here. It more or less makes my blog entry redundant. There are also links to some BBC articles pointing out the lack of obvious investment in the North East Of England. Also making my blog entry redundant.

So what can I add? 

Not much truth be told

I did do a blog which has links to a phenomenon called Zipfs Law. The law basically states that London is basically too big. Or rather the other cities in the UK are too small. London has become a super massive black hole at the heart of England as it just sucks in ALL resources, finance, agriculture, people - well almost everything.

The danger for the rest of the UK is that the rest of the country will effectively wither and die as London will gravitate EVERYTHING to it. 

It was one of the reasons used for NOT building HS2 as it doesn't bring The North of England closer to London more like the north becomes closer to London. Yes I know it amounts to the same thing but what I am trying to get at is that rather than giving the North access to London it gives better access for London to reach out and usurp local services and facilities and bring the work to London. 

As I said in the earlier blog was that the government is the only organisation in the UK capable of taking the UK in a different direction or at least negating the worst of the black hole effects. Better east west transport links of all kinds is a place where that could be applied. Better rail across the Pennines better communication between Manchester and Leeds. Better public transport provision in Leeds. The last city does not have a Tram Service for instance. These sorts of investments can transform cities if done right. 

I am not sure how Sheffield feels about it Trams. Nottingham works better and Manchester could not cope without their Trams. 

These programs are relatively cheap compared to 3rd runways

Mind you I support the 3rd Runway on the whole. Heathrow is a monster of a business and needs to grow to survive. Schiphol, Charles De Gualle and Frankfurt are all expanding and vying for superiority. To not recognise that Heathrow currently has the edge over the lot of them, it might not always be so if it is starved of investment.

But do not forget that relatively small investments in the North could lead to these areas improving their economic outlook.  

My final point is that Keynsian Theory argues that governments should spend when times are hard and pull back and tax when times are good. To even out the peaks and troughs in economic life so to speak.

What has been happening in the last 15 years is contraction. The governments in that time have sought to limit governmental spending as we borrow too much. But this sort of response is actually recessionary in a time of recession. 

Still what do I know            

The Garden Station to Rome and back in 365 days (Rome! And the heat goes on!)

Rome....The Heat Goes On!

This is the continuing tale of a couple's travails to modern Italy on the back of 2 episodes of an American sitcom.

As a recap - we tavelled, we checked in and we wandered. A kind of modern day version of Julius Caesar's supposed pronouncement of "I came, I saw I conquered!"

We were on a 2 day sojourn in Rome before leaving for our  main destination of Anguillara Sabazia.

On this day we had so far seen the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain and a church or two.

When you last left us my wife and I were enjoying a cold beverage (whilst various groups tried to sell us a selection of items for sale, such as collapsing condiment trays and other paraphanalia). We probably stayed there longer than most visitors. We deduced this because the sellers of tat started to make a second pass at us even though they were politely but firmly rebuffed he first time.

The heat.... forgot to mention it. By this time of the afternoon my wife felt that having her hair hanging around her face was too much in that heat. As we progressed down the Via delle Muratte we came upon a small market. Accompanying this was a "fringe" market of sellers that sold... well... knock offs quite frankly, and the odd living statue. Also a young lady was offering the passing trade a chance of enjoying cornrows being teased into their hair. Just the job, she (mywife) thought. Money was exchanged and I wondered off around the market whilst my dearest had a new, temporary hairdo. Quite striking it was too and looked pretty good. I felt happy for her as this would make the intense heat of Rome in August a bit more bearable. 

And it may have done just that. For what my beloved had not informed me of was the intense pain her scalp was in at that moment such was the tightness of the cornrows. Not quite facelift territory but close. She bore that pain stoically for about an hour. The tipping point came when the pain from hers scalp was so intense she craved just to feel the heat of the afternoon and not the the intense heat PLUS the axe that seemed to have been buried in her head. So the cornrows came out. To be fair we didn't mention the heat again for the rest of the day!

Time for the famed Italian ice cream. Which was alright. I know, I know, what a miserable git you must be thinking but I reckon good ice cream is available all over the place these days so much so that the Italian version just isn't so different. Come to Rome and make your own mind up!

Whilst consuming our semi frozen dessert we chanced upon a square with a church in the middle of it. Subsequent research tells me that the "church" was in fact The Pantheon. Had I done my research whilst in Rome we might of spent a bit more time there. We are from a place that also had an edifice built for or named after the Emperor Hadrian,

I shall pass over the next part of our afternoon quite quickly. We went to see the Vatican, you can't really come to Rome and not do this. There was no service today. Apparently Popes leave the city at this  time of year..... because of the heat! I managed to dissuade my wife from joining a tour of anything there. The queues were long and the so were the tours. Having seen and been in St Marks square I was as close as I cared to be to the Sistine Chapel and all that stuff

I was also disappointed by the rampant commercialism surrounding the Vatican. We were once again in need of refreshment and noted how much the address seems to hike the price. The toilet of the establishment was a disgrace and had the cheek to ask for a donation towards the cost of maintaining a facility that they obviously didn't spend on the upkeep of .

The beggars were a different class too. All the worst deformities were on show and I was put in mind of the Monty Python sketch"Alms for an ex leper" in Life of Brian.

 It was not chance that brought these poor souls to this area. Vatican bound apostles were very generous it would seem. I wondered in a disparaging way whether curing these people would rob them of their income?

Anyway. Homeward bound, we were tired and sweaty, really sweaty. 

Once back in our room the air conditioning had  obviously gone on holiday itself.  The room was slightly warmer than when we had left even though I had set the air con to "Antarctic". Being English, we persevered and showered and cleaned but after felt that we would be repeating this again before we set out for dinner. 

I wound my way down to the concierge. Again. The homily "buy cheap buy twice" in my mind. As soon as I mentioned the Air conditioning he began writing on a pad and handed me a set of directions. To  different hotel. The air conditioning was out all over the hotel and we would be re housed at no extra cost. This was nice but they waited for people to complain before taking action!  We packed and left. The next hotel was a rather plusher affair altogether. It might have been my imagination but I felt there were a lot of Russians there. Just saying. The room was a bit smaller but...... the air conditioning worked. It was only for one night anyway. 

Shower and change and out to dinner. We spied a restaurant earlier that looked like it was serving nice pizza, it was on the Via del Viminale, just behind the national museum of classical Roman art. I didn't take the name of the restaurant and the one I see on Google Earth may have changed hands etc.

The night was warm and humid. Perfect for alfresco dining. We strolled around the Termini station and made our way to the restaurant. 

Once seated and our order taken (vegetarian Pizza for my wife and I probably had a version of pepperoni) one of my wife's pet hates reared its ugly head. The wine arrived. There is an ettiquette around accepting the wine. The purpose in generally to make sure the wine has not "Corked" The problem is that teh chemical responsible is one of the strongest and bitterest chemicals known to man. It can taint wine with only the faintest suggestion of it's presence. 

So why does it fall to the man to taste the wine? The (not extensive) research I have done suggests it is for purely patriarchal reasons. This served to irritate all holiday. It was endemic to Italy it seemed. Men test the wine! 

Apart from this the meal as ok. My wife spotted a ruse that we had seen before in Rome where waiters bring food to the table that is not ordered. Fortunately for us this appeared only as Olives, oil and bread but tonight one table appered to have a whole course turn up. They were very quick to tell the waiter they would not be paying for it as it was not ordered at which point it became complimentary as per head waiter

With our tummies full we limped our way back to the hotel and our air conditioning.

And so ended our brief Roman excursion. 

Next time:

• Travel plans upset 
• how fast can a fully laden Opel Corsa actually travel?
• Anguillara Sebazia, was it worth the wait? (Spoiler alert - Yes it was!)