Well Sunday arrived and so did Nicola. Emily loved the Snakes and Ladders quilt/play mat we'd made her.

Yesterday we went out in the morning sorting tins for the St Albans project, which is an occasional drop in centre for the homeless. We remarked on how amazing the sort of things people thing are practical, or even paletable to homeless people. Luckily due to that vicar we weren't swamped with tins of beans, but found tins of veg dificult to pack togther due to irregular tin sizes. Soup was also a favourite. Some of
the food has been taken to help the mustard seed project.

Today I've been a little ill, but apper to be better right now.

Christmas viewing

Briefly watched "The phantom Menace" having difficulty with the blank looks when explaining the little boy is Luke Skywalkers father.

Also been viewing the Andrew Davies series on BBC4- my mum and dad have a digibox- not an Echostar one on staff purchase, but a Grundig. Seen several episodes of A Very Peculiar Practice, along with Ian Richardson in "House of Cards" Geneus. Just need to have series 2 of AVPP repeated and I'll be happy. Needless to say the forthcoming DVD has gone on the wishlist.

Merry Christmas Everybody

A quiet moment before the festivities of the day.

The alternative underground

The tube remixed.

Chtistmas time...

Well we now know that the all important Christmas number one is the cover version of Tears for Fears "Mad World". I feel old (again). There is jubiliation in some quarters, perhaps because it keeps spoof stadium rock band The Darkness out of that slot. First time I heard it, I thought "Interesting: Tears for Fears unplugged, this was a really good song." But now I'm just nostalgic for the orginal. It possibly works on the Donnie Darko soundtrack, but not for me standing on its own two feet.

This is not to say I prefer the alternatives. The Pop Idols' luke warm reheat of the John Lennon classic deserved not to get to number 1, and two novelty records don't either. While I enjoy being reminded of Queen, a cheep knock-off doesn't deserve it either.

I feel like I should be grumbling about how it was better in my day, but you'd only taunt me with Kylie and Jason.

A space man went traveling...

Only just realized what a surreal Christmas song this is. For those who also haven't listened closely to the lyrics, it's by Chris de Burgh, and has the chorus, "and it went nah na na nah nana nah na na nuh, nah na na nah na na nah."

It's all about a space man whose star like ship visited earth the day Jesus was born.

Data protection

I wasn't going to be moved to write about the Soham murder case. I mean what Huntley did was obviously so vile- it's obvious to anyone and does not require any comment.

But what has prompted me to write has been the question of data protection. As a non-paid data handler "Child protection" was as far as I was aware an exempt area as far as keeping sensitive personal data. Perhaps this just refers to the results of CRB checks can be kept without registering under the DPA. Whatever it does mean, the police obviously aren't exempt from any data protection duties for child protection purposes.

As it appears the problem is not laws or procedures, but in the competence of following procedures through. Lets not let blind fear take us back to Orwell's 1984 when there's a more practical solution. If earlier prosecutions had been effectively done, there would have been records to look for.

The Scout Association, for all the criticism it gets from some quarters, would certainly not have allowed Huntley to be a leader, his failed convictions would have turned up on their own security search, if not the on the CRB return.

Aside from CRB concerns there is one other over the hysteria of this case. If Holly and Jessica had been 30 instead of 10, would there have been the same reaction? If they had been male, or a couple would there have been the same reaction. To me the crimes would have been just as vile; but to some the crimes are not the problem, but the age and popularity of the victims. In my book, after birth, a life is a life.

My concern is that the case will produce an official witch hunt leading to unweildley procedures that don't make anyone safer, but make voluntary bodies more difficult and expensive to operate.

Richard Allan, Andy Hardy and Jade Farrington have interesting things to say about Soham and Data Protection.

Update on Nigerian Scams

OK so they're sometimes not so obvious and people who would know better are taken in. In defence the scam in this case wasn't asking for advanced fees for promised millions; there's more than one kind of "Nigerian" scam.

Link from Tom Watson MP.

More money idiocy.

Chemist shop is innocent victim of a "Nigerian" scam. I highlight the word innocent as the people who have handed over money to con artists are certainly guilty, if only of gross stupidity.

I wonder if imposing a publically advertised tax on money spent on "advanced fee" scams would make the idiots who fall for them think twice. Possibly not as such people pay so little attention to the stories of people who've been caught in the past, that they fall for the same tricks. What really gets me is that there is frequently no shame on the part of the people who recount tales of being taken in by such obvious fraud.

We were talking at the weekend about this. People fall for these things only too frequently, sending fee after fee. Surely they should have twigged on the third or fourth attempt?

Responsibility with finance

Slightly put out by last weeks budget, cutting tax allowances on ISAs. However I acknowledge that any allowance over £4000 is probably only going to be an incentive to those who would invest the money anyway.

What does concern me is people's opinions of saving, thinking that their savings themselves get taxed, rather than just the interest. While I'm in no way someone that wishes to patronise people, opinions like this put the whole country in a precarious financial situation.

Never mind the facts

More on health misinformation. Channel 5's "Hear the silence" is slammed for being woefully deviod of fact and truth.

AH-Ha!

My mystery unidentified regular reader has identified himself. Hope things get less hectic soon.

Mixed feelings about the big story of yesterday and today. I'm pleased Sadam has been captured, but at the same time this comment found by Nick Barlow still has resonances, and seems to sum up the whole war-sceptic philosophy.

Ace in the hole

And so Saddam Hussein has been found, in a hole near his home town.
Very few people can be anything other than pleased by this.

But Bush had to go and spoil it. I’m not sure if the same speech had the same resonances for you. He said (paraphrasing because I can’t find the exact quote) that it would be the end of the road to people who bullied in Saddam’s name. Unfortunately in some people’s minds, the highest profile person bullying in Saddam’s name was George W Bush, bullying the other countries of the world to do things his way, rather than democratically. OK so this bullying did not involve torture and killing and mass graves, but it was nontheless bullying.

For the anti-war people and the war sceptics, as well as the troops on the ground, Saddam’s capture has not changed a thing. It has not proved the war on these terms correct. Most war sceptics will admit that a war against Saddam was inevitable, that something needed to be done. We were just put out by the indecent haste to get there, and the antagonism against anyone who questioned this haste and requested a more measured approach. What war sceptics wanted to see was a little more effort to win over allies, instead of insults being hurled at anyone who didn’t immediately roll over and step into line on America’s command.

A larger coalition would have lightened the load on Britain in this conflict, made things a lot cleaner once the coalition had taken over, put many more brains in the military pot, and given a greater sense of legitimacy to the victory. There would have been no sour tinge to the relief felt when we finally heard the words “We got him”. Bush and Rumsfeld’s disregard of democracy at the UN, have made a mockery out of our troops valiant efforts to bring democracy and justice to Iraq.

Saddam’s capture will not change much for the people on the ground. It still won’t be easy to set up a replacement democratic and fair regime. There is still resistance to the occupying forces, who are still unfairly being given the hard time by the media who should reserve such lines of questioning for politicians, and pentagon officials. If anything violence will increase, as the shreds of legitimacy our place in Iraq has will be further eroded in some Iraqis’ minds.

As countries claiming to be democratic and civilised, we submit ourselves to higher standards. Therefore I hope that Saddam is treated with dignity, fairness, and justice. Not because he deserves it, but because we must put his behaviour against his domestic enemies into sharp relief. Saddam has been often been compared to Hitler, Stalin, Pol pot, etc, and while he was a despicable b*****d he wasn’t quite the premier league b*****d the propaganda tries to make out; even Saddam is not a big enough b*****d to be worth dropping our standards for. Given the treatment of prisoners in Guantanamo bay however, I don’t hold out much hope.

We live in an age where the ends seem to justify the means.

US Politics Explained by Google.

It all comes down to who's unelectable and who's electable.

Christmas Meal

Went well. Emily is becoming quite vocal, and is walking well (which given the job she may have to do next October...) We recon she's going to become an actress, she's such an attention seeker.

Nicola put together a Victorian style meal of many courses including oysters, soup, whitebait, beef & yorkshire pudding, pheasant (cooked by me, but plucked by Nicola) salad, cheese and biscuits, christmas pudding, and pumpkin icecream.

We then went without tea.

We had church parade this morning so Nicola is snoozing in bed for a little while.

You are properly addressed without it.

Good site of the day is Royal Mail particularly the address checking facility; this is useful being SAGGA registrar.

You'd be surprised how many people still think there's a county name in their address!

This weekend the parents and Anna and Emily are coming over for a Christmas meal. Nicola has been busy preparing a menu and is trying to get the front room in a fit state to eat in.

Feedback.

An anoymous reader from Dundee University complains that my blogverts above featured her fave football team (not mentioned here incase the spiders make it worse), and hers didn't and confirms that she was not the NTL Cable user who's on the net at 6am every morning. Well no I didn't suspect you for a minute.

My Portsmouth based readership reports that down there they are very proud of their in-town green spaces, and fight for them.

International back-handers

Is there any realistic difference between the Pentagon's stance on considering companies for the contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, and say acouncilorr who hands out key council contracts to his friends? Or a government who refuses to consider companies for big national projects unless they make large donations to their party funds?

I don't think so.

Refusing to consider handing out contracts to people linked to those with opposingng political views is in my mind corruption.

Confidence

Most of my regular readers will know this is a problem for me.

My biggest problem with confidence is however, not whether or not I have it, but how people treat people with it. Too often confidence and presentational skills are confused with ability, rather than treated as a veneer behind which all sorts of inadequacies. Too often in interviews I have been told I didn’t get the job on the grounds “you seemed bright enough- but weren’t very confident.” It’s not just in interviews; people appear less interested in listening to what you have to say if it’s less confidently expressed.

During the Oxbridge “elitism” scandals, lack of confidence was often cited as the reasons kids from ordinary state schools, as opposed to grammar and public schools, failed the interview process for Oxbridge colleges (mischievously referred to as Impbridge by old Cantabrigian friends). Direct experience with even people I would call friends has shown to me that this is little more than a veneer of arrogance that such schools try to instil, which some luckily learn to turn off at will. There is nothing wrong with elitism- choosing the brightest and best, but everything wrong with choosing the most confident and those with the best backgrounds – that’s snobbery.

People who rely on confidence as an indicator of ability, or who value it as a virtue in its own right have always bothered me. If you’re bright enough to do the job, what does confidence have to do with it? As far as I can tell confidence is usually disproportionate to ability, many of the most confident people I know simply have the ability to be very wrong with authority, and lack important listening skills vital to communication.

I had hoped that with the negative feelings towards spin would force a sea change in people’s attitude to confidence, if not in the work environment, in the general environment. Politicians, with the notable exception of Bush, are often respected for their shear force of personality rather than the brains behind it all. And life is no less difficult for me today than it was 7 years ago.

Of course some people are so over confident don’t pay attention to anyone but the little voices in their own heads, but that is another story. Hopefully we can change attitudes so that the unconfident can be treated as people with valid things to say, rather than letting flash empty-heads run the show all the time.

Explorers over for another year. Christmas party with crisps, dips cola and the "chocolate & scarf" game. "Bring me..." also went well.

You may notice that unlike others I check my stats. Today I find there's one reader (probably a SAGGA member) who's been checking in at 6:30am !?!?!?!?

Update, Thursday: you're one regular early riser there!

I can remember when half this place were fields.

A government report has been published saying that the UK’s housing supply lags behind demand. It points to two main problems. Developers who sit on their investments in land without going ahead and building, and planning authorities who fail to allow building on green field sites.

Many brown field sites aren’t however all that brown. A brown field site is one that has previously been built on. Many council estates in, say Manchester enjoy landscaped green embankments, breaking up the brick and concrete, where once were Victorian terraces and factories. These green areas are surely more precious than any outside towns and cities where greenery is in abundance.

Apparently not. Tameside council(Labour) seems hell bent on developing any green space it has within its boundary, against protests by residents and the local (Labour) MPs, increasing the crowding and decreasing amenity. And I’m sure it’s not alone in going for treating green in-town areas as brown field sites.

We should value our green spaces, even more than we value green fields.

Watch the birdie

Transport 2000 is coming out in favour of speed cameras. This is a Good Thing™. Not that I particularly like the things, or am a fan of Transport 2000, but with the press so rabidly against speed cameras there should be some balance.

The main argument against seems to be that cameras don’t seem to be placed near accident black spots, but on wide open roads where speeding a little is unlikely to cause harm. I have some sympathy with this argument as it is not just dishonest, but a blatant disregard for the laws on regulations surrounding these devices.

However looking at it from another angle; what’s wrong with seeking to raise money from lawbreakers? Revenue to run our public services has to come from somewhere, is it not better to “tax” sin a little, rather than always taxing goods, services and income?

Speeding is demonstrably illegal activity, and can be dangerous. If we carelessly neglect to check the dial on the dashboard often enough we should hold out our wrists, take the slap and the fine, and hope it teaches us to pay better attention in future.

'Plain English'

Oliver Kamm writes:

"The Plain English Campaign is the equivalent of the expensively undereducated debutante who thinks it's an amusing idiosyncrasy not to be able to do mental arithmetic."

Oliver is not someone I've ever seen eye to eye with, and while I do dislike his strident tone, I can't help agreeing with his message. The plain English campaign always seems to be hitting out at things you have to think about a little to understand, rather than at actual examples of jarglish. In the examples they seem to be hitting out at difficult or indeed silly ideas expressed in plain enough English.

God help us if sometimes we're expected to think or indeed not understand.

Programming Language Inventor or Serial Killer?

Got 9/10 on this quiz proving I'm safe to go to Open Source conferences. Which being a professional Linux programmer, is nice.

(as featured on pajLog)

From those "Crazy" guys at work.

A linux joke:

Back at work today

The rest of the weekend was good. Just meandered about in London for the rest of Friday before a night in and a curry with friends. Saturday was Nicolas Queen's Scout Award Presentation, a grand occasion at the Guild Hall, the oldest building in the City of London. Nicola and all the presentees got to have quite a chat to the Chief Scout.

Then off via Chalfont and Latimer and Birmingham to Beaudesert for the Birmingham SAGGA Christmas party. Although we'd said we wouldn't eat there was food for us. 80s was the theme with an 80s lyrics quiz to rival this one. Plus a very easy TV quiz.

Then early on Sunday morning it was up the motorway to home, letting Nicola do a long shift in the bar at Pudsey and me have a little snooze.

And so today I'm back.

Underground

So today is a filling in day between Tav (good fun, and no I was good and didn't drink) and Nicola's presentation.

Got a travel card and journeyed to Westminster, and just wandered around basically. Surreal moment of the day was hearing a steel drum playing "Ode to Joy" in the entrance to Westminster station.

Then a visit to the Cabinet War Rooms - pricey but interesting- before wandering through St James' park to the Mall and Buck house. Picked up a few bits and pieces at Outdoors before ducking in here for a coffee etc.

Just what The Doctor ordered.

A Big Adventure

Out and about in London, meeting some people at "The Tav" later.

Hanging about round here for a couple of days until Nicola and parents come down to do the Queens Scout Award Presentation bit on Saturday before going on to the SAGGA Christmas party at Beau Park.

Perhaps this is a naive argument, or stating the obvious, but I haven’t heard this argument anywhere recently.

In the news is Tony Blair’s big conversation (thematic link to Fridays post), and his determination variable tuition fees.

I used to feel that it was unfair that someone who was unemployed and sitting around being unproductive should get benefits, while someone who was unemployed because they were working hard to make themselves more employable and valuable to society should be entitled to nothing. Sure have loans to make the difference between a basic living in student accommodation, and comforts like PCs (shows how long ago I was a student) the odd night out, and visits home to parents. My perceptions haven’t shifted much.

People should be paying for education according to ability to pay, not according to what course or university they have chosen, when they did their degrees or whether they did their degrees at all. Someone who got where they are because they worked hard at university on reduced means should not be forced to be worse of by the state than someone on similar means because they inherited money from their parents, or a self made man who is rich from being in the right place at the right time.

But ah, you cry, why should the plumber pay for the education of the Doctor? That old and bogus chestnut. Everyone benefits from having well-educated graduates in society to run things, Doctors and teachers are one example, That is why everyone should pay according to their means, and the best way to do that is through income tax.

But surely paying for graduates to be well educated is rewarding those likely to earn more at the expense of people who earn less. No it’s rewarding the bright at the expense of the less bright, which is not the same thing and actually something that is not achieved elsewhere in government policy. We should value the intelligent in society and paying for their education is the fairest and easiest way of doing this from the public purse. Life does not do this it merely rewards the confident and the loud, not the intelligent.

Thank goodness for hot chocolate, and the BBC Radio “Listen Again” Player

Today is...

world aids day.

Which reminds me, last Wednesday's Explorers was a great sucess!