The Political Grand Prix

 General, Politics  No Responses »
Apr 222012
 

Today’s Grand Prix in Bahrain is mired in controversy because of the race going ahead when the political protesters want it cancelled. Those associated with Formula 1 are claiming that the race should go ahead because it is totally separate from the political issues in Bahrain.

That is one point of view. Although it is more in the nature of wishful thinking – perfectly understandable as the Formula 1 organisers who undertook to race in Bahrain are hardly responsible for what is happening there on the political scene.

The protesters claim that the race going ahead legitimises the Bahrain regime by adding international credibility.

That is another point of view with rather more weight to it.

But it could well be wrong – it may well be that having the race go ahead brings more attention to the political instability in Bahrain. Most normal people may well not have been aware of the political trouble in Bahrain; at least not recently. By having the race go ahead, the amount of coverage of the political issues has gone up through the roof. Whilst cancelling the race would have increased the coverage slightly, it is likely that it would have resulted in nowhere near as much coverage as we are seeing.

Panic Petrol Buying Causes Injuries ?

 General, Media, Politics  No Responses »
Mar 312012
 

No of course it doesn’t.

Despite the claims of the media who like to imply that the government is to blame for the injury of someone who tried decanting petrol in her kitchen. However stupid the government advice was, they did not suggest people keep petrol in their kitchen in inappropriate containers. They explicitly mentioned “jerry cans” – being the generic name for appropriate petrol containers.

To steal a title from Pink Floyd, what is to blame here is a “momentary lapse of reason” by the woman herself. It is the kind of thing that can happen to anyone – not so much general stupidity, but a temporary ability to disregard the stupidity of some action. We all have been known to do it – you, me, and that daft bloke down the street.

Try to claim otherwise and I’ll laugh at you.

And sometimes that stupidity can have drastic consequences.

It is possible that the government’s rather stupid advise to top up cars and jerry cans has led to an increase in stupid and nasty accidents, but that is no reason to blame the government for accidents. If the government has to avoid issuing advice on matters involving dangerous substances because of the potential for accidents, we need an alternative “government” who will issue such advise.

Of course what the government is responsible for is issuing advise that encouraged panic buying. They obviously paid so little attention to the potential for panic buying that you have to suspect whether it was deliberate – did they want fuel shortages in the middle of the working week rather than during the Easter weekend ? Did they want people blaming the Unite union for causing woes?

Probably not. Even though the “scheme” backfired, the conspiracy theory would credit the government with too much in the way of brains to be possibly true. When issuing advice in such matters the government needs to :-

  1. Get the timing right so that if there is panic buying, it occurs at the least damaging time. Easter (despite the pain of not being able to go away) is better than in the middle of the week.
  2. Phrase advice so that panic buying is less likely.
  3. Point out that diesel or petrol are dangerous substances where a “momentary lapse of reason” can have drastic consequences.

Roadworks – So Why Is It Happening ?

 General  No Responses »
Feb 112012
 

At the moment (and for quite a few weeks in the past), there has been a lot of activity in the road outside my flat – a major cross-roads is being dug up, fiddled with, and all neatened up again. Which has the usual bunch of irritations :-

  1. Because the traffic lights are set so far back from the cross-roads, it makes crossing on foot even trickier than it usually is.
  2. It always seems that they’re keen on working whenever I would prefer some peace and quiet – including on a couple of occasions working through the night.

But perhaps more frustrating than anything else, is just what the road-works are for. Why not stick up a little sign explaining what they are for ?

The “Strength” of Coffee Shop Coffee

 General, Media  No Responses »
Dec 032011
 

With news like this, my first reaction is: Where can I find a coffee shop that sells coffee that strong ?

It is rather extraordinary that you can find a coffee shop that sells a cup of coffee that is six times stronger than a “standard” cup of expresso. And even more extraordinary that nobody really knows how strong a cup of coffee they’re drinking is – even the proprietors of that shop selling the really strong coffee had no idea it was that strong!

It’s also clear from the interviews carried out by the BBC that people are under the impression that you can tell how strong the coffee is (in terms of caffeine content) by how strong it tastes. That turns out not to be the case – whilst at extremes, it is probably true that watery coffee (“American”) is likely to have less caffeine in, and thick, bitter, and flavourful coffee is likely to have more caffeine in, there are other variables at work too.

The news article concentrated on the potential danger to pregnant women which is your typical media sensationalism – whilst a few pregnant women might well be drinking more caffeine than is good for them (but just how many people have coffee shop coffee everyday?), it is also the case that others might want to know how strong the coffee is – on certain mornings, I’d be willing to go a whole lot further to get a coffee with 350mg of caffeine over a coffee with 50mg of caffeine.

So yes we want better labelling of coffee

 

Poppies, FIFA, Remembrance Day, and Remembrance Sunday

 General, Politics  No Responses »
Nov 122011
 

The people of the UK (and indeed other places) are garlanded with poppies in remembrance of the soldiers who have lost their lives in the wars of the past and present. It is easy to get distracted by the politicians, the large ceremonies, and get confused about the purpose of the poppy and Remembrance Day. It is not about the glorification of war, or a bone thrown by the establishment – it is very much a grass roots thing better shown by local ceremonies.

Those local ceremonies in villages up and down the land involve a few old veterans laying wreathes of poppies at local war memorials built to commemorate the fallen from the local community. A few local dignitaries get involved too, but the ceremonies have little to do with them – they would take place even without them.

One of my favourite war memorials illustrates the point. Close to where my parents live is a small memorial :-

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It isn’t a grand memorial – most villages have far more dramatic ones built in stone. But it was put up after World War I by the local community in remembrance not of the local people who had died but for the millions of men that the local community had seen march through the village on the way to the port of Southampton before departing for the front-line in France.

Whilst a cursory check of the history of Remembrance Day would seem to indicate that it was all a government thing, a deeper look indicates that whilst the establishment was involved, some of the initiatives were started by what were effectively ordinary people, and it was supported by the public at large.

FIFA

As anyone who has been watching the news the last week knows, FIFA initially prohibited the England and Wales football teams from wearing the poppy during this weekend’s international fixtures but later backtracked from this under pressure from a variety of sources.

FIFAs initial ban on the poppy looks like gross foolishness, and indeed to a certain extent it is. But any organisation like FIFA is likely to be conservative and slow-moving in relation to making decisions about their rules, and you do have to wonder why the people wanting to start wearing poppies on their team strips during a football game left it until the last minute to query whether wearing poppies was ok.

FIFAs rules on emblems of a political or religious nature are probably quite sensible, and whilst the poppy is neither it would be sensible to allow for plenty of time to persuade FIFA that it should be allowed. A year would not be an unreasonable amount of time. Yet the England and Wales football teams only recently decided that they wanted to wear poppies on the field – this is a new thing and not something traditional.

You do have to think that FIFA has been treated a little unkindly over the last week.

Remembrance Day And Remembrance Sunday

It is strange how things change over time. When Remembrance Day was new, it was the main day for remembrance although not a public holiday. When I was growing up, the closest Sunday to Remembrance Day was called Remembrance Sunday and that was the main day for remembrance with Remembrance Day itself being a much quieter affair.

Today, the pendulum seems to be swinging back in favour of Remembrance Day rather than Remembrance Sunday. Of course the Sunday events are still far bigger, but Remembrance Day seems to be getting more and more attention every year. It is time to consider making Remembrance Day a public holiday so we can remember the dead on the real anniversary.

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