Greeks are all of a quiver. They do not like austerity and the current regime is seen as imposed by a Geman led coalition intent on screwing Greece for their own amusment or benefit. To be fair some Germans, for their part, see Greeks as somewhat wasteful and selfish, wanting a privilged life paid for by others and as being unwilling to play their part in fixing the mess they have got themselves into.
How did they get here?
By and large the Northern European Economies have been rejigging for globalisation for over a decade, a process that was both painful and disruptive. The Greeks did not, or at least did less and so their economy is stuck in the 20th Centuary. Now we have a situation where they are seen to be rioting because Greeks are being asked not to retire at 50 and pay their full tax committments while the rest of Europe sacks its own civil servants and destroys its own business economies to pay for thier rehabilitation.
This is a gross misrepresentation to be sure but Europe but the European Administrators need to note these perceptions, because both the Greeks and those paying for them have noted that the only relatively pain free Administration is Europe which is also the economic power behind the Greek governments throne. Give up powers, do what we want, and we give you money to fix your broken economy.
However many will soon make the connection that it is the lack of experience of pain that lies behind the insensitive demands to increase the European Budget at a time when most countries are going through extreme pain. These increases are what will provide the extra support needed by some of the more troubled countries in Europe, but, in principle, such support could be provided without channeling it through Europe. This is not a likely scenario but the Eurocrats should sit up and take notice.
But what does this mean for the Greeks. Many wish to leave the Euro and run thier own affairs. This would be a mistake. With its neighbours help Greece is almost a basket case, without it it would certainly be one and for those footing the bill. There but for the grace of God go yourselves. If you don't help now - who will help you in the future?
Tuesday, 27 November 2012
Advice to Amercian ( and Other) Tourists
When asking for Directions in the UK the correct form of address is rarely 'You Boy'! or similar. In fact, try that stuff in the wrong neighbourhood you could end up taking your teeth home in your pockets.
In addition we have different levels of service here. When a McD's employee refuses to whip you up a breakfast at midday... they cannot really do it if they want to... the cooking facilities have been dedicated to the lunch menu and they are unlikely to close that down for your late Mc Muffin. In any case hurling abuse at the guy behind the counter is unlikely to get you breakfast.
edited by CM
Cork Monkey says - We think what we may have here is simply a rude person regardless of nationality and most Americans do have normal manners. This is worth thinking about though. Cork Monkey believes that rudeness such as this is on the increase in all developed countries - what do you think?
In addition we have different levels of service here. When a McD's employee refuses to whip you up a breakfast at midday... they cannot really do it if they want to... the cooking facilities have been dedicated to the lunch menu and they are unlikely to close that down for your late Mc Muffin. In any case hurling abuse at the guy behind the counter is unlikely to get you breakfast.
edited by CM
Cork Monkey says - We think what we may have here is simply a rude person regardless of nationality and most Americans do have normal manners. This is worth thinking about though. Cork Monkey believes that rudeness such as this is on the increase in all developed countries - what do you think?
What is the World Coming to.....
Recently Cork Monkey heard that, due to a clerical error, by everyone except whoever you are speaking to, police cannot actually charge a self confessed Murderer... can this be true..?
So which one was Blind ....?
In the UK recently, the police used a Tazar gun to render a dangerous perp helpless in the street. This man, ruthlessly blind, taking a suspicious walk was found to be in possession of a ...er ..white stick.
A Tazar is a device authorised for used by the police in some situations as it is considered less lethal than a firearm. Such situations include the managment of dangerous people where projectile weapons are not involved. While some Tasers have a cattle prod mode involving direct contact but typically they fire twin electrical contacts at the target which once engaged with skin or clothing transmit an electrical charge that causes neuromuscular distress.
There are, of course, rules to their use. They include things like the need to protect life and limb and a judgement around significant immenent danger. The perceived danger in this case was the fear that the blind gentleman was wielding a weapon assumed to be a samurai sword or similar. In fact the poor man was walking, as many blind people in the UK do with the aid of a white stick. This is white for a reason. It is a signal to those who can see, that the user is blind and that a little consideration is required.
Cork Monkey thinks the minister for cockups needs to ensure Tazer user have better training or, in these times of budgetary restraint perhaps we could, at the very least, run to a colour wallchart ....S...is... for ....Sword anyone?
CM
A Tazar is a device authorised for used by the police in some situations as it is considered less lethal than a firearm. Such situations include the managment of dangerous people where projectile weapons are not involved. While some Tasers have a cattle prod mode involving direct contact but typically they fire twin electrical contacts at the target which once engaged with skin or clothing transmit an electrical charge that causes neuromuscular distress.There are, of course, rules to their use. They include things like the need to protect life and limb and a judgement around significant immenent danger. The perceived danger in this case was the fear that the blind gentleman was wielding a weapon assumed to be a samurai sword or similar. In fact the poor man was walking, as many blind people in the UK do with the aid of a white stick. This is white for a reason. It is a signal to those who can see, that the user is blind and that a little consideration is required.
Cork Monkey thinks the minister for cockups needs to ensure Tazer user have better training or, in these times of budgetary restraint perhaps we could, at the very least, run to a colour wallchart ....S...is... for ....Sword anyone?
CM
Monday, 26 November 2012
Rotten Rotherham Shames the UK
Take a look at the recent decision by the UK’s Rotheram council to remove three children from
a foster couple because they belong to the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP). The dismayed foster parents have said that there were ‘no
discussions’ before this mind numbingly stupid action. The rational presented as presented by Rotheram Councils Joyce Thacker appears
to be
1)
The Foster parents belong to UKIP
2)
UKIP do not want the UK to belong to the EU politically.
They do not believe the EU Lawmakers should directly influence UK government but want to revert to the close economic and
cultural relationship we had before we joined the EU as this is in the UK’s best interests – a view
also held by some members of the other main political parties.
3)
The children in question are of European Origin.
4)
The belief in the UK as a separate political
entity and a desire for the UK to leave the Union is a barrier to bringing up
European children humanely.
Not only is this a decision that
beggars belief, not only is the rational behind it without credibility but it
actually breaches European Human Rights Legislation which enshrines the right
to have a political opinion.
Cork Monkey has no axe to grind about UKIP – we believe
it is a rather silly party, campaigning hard on one vested interest with little
thought to how best to run the country (as long as the EU does not run it
either). They have no clear Energy Policy, Defence Strategy and so on. But
these are good and kind people, who are concerned about the influence of European
Mandarins on UK life and culture have joined this party and in doing so have not broken
the law or acted immorally. Rotherham Council, on the hand has broken the law, disrespected these people and shamed
the country.
Saturday, 24 November 2012
Women in the Clergy
The Church of England has been looking at allowing women to become bishops within its church. A previous change allowed women to join their male colleagues as priests and now, we suppose, women are looking at Bishops, or even Archbishops and saying I can do that too.
Theological arguments to one side, the churchs approach to this is puzzling. Its leadership obviously want women bishops but as a democratic institution the church held an election on this. The gist of the question was 'women priests yes or no'. The church voted no. The senior church was angry and have tried hard give the impression that a small number of misogynists are holding the church back from what it should be doing, David Cameron and other politicians are also assume this is a change that must happen and testily advise the church to get on with it and stop wasting everones time and the BBC .... oh dear .... talk about taking sides.
What hypocrites they all are! the church has spoken - they might not like the answer but that is democracy. If Robert Mugabe held an election and ignored results he did not like the BBC and the UK government would be up in arms, pointing fingers.tutting and shaking their collective heads.
Cork monkey thinks the real message behind these results was 'Hmmm maybe we can do this but why don't you tell us how you will deal with the problems'. This outcome does not, however, suit the supporters of women priests who want change now. They are now apparantly bent on manipulating the churches processes so that the 'will of the people' can be deliver the appropriate result regardless of the actual wishes of the people. If some feel distgruntled and leave on that account - 'so what' they say. 'We don't want them: we want what we want'.
But these people who will leave are part of the life the church, its defenders workers and footsoldiers. These are the people who put money in the collection plates and this foolish attitude will first split and then turn the Church into a minority religion. When those in favour of disestablishment attack again, those who used to defend it will be gone and when those who put their money in the collection plate have have left so you will get no funding that way either. The Church will have to sell its fine buildings because it cannot affford to maintain them and the church will decline.
The Church is being disengenous when it calls these people sexist, or fearful of change which appears to be the PR approved line to take when discussing this. But these people do (some of them anyway) have a position that is equally as valid as your own - and it has been around a lot longer than the quest for women priests and to dismiss it as wrong is simply ignorant, particularly in light of the fact that most people who hold these views would have been educated by....wait for it... the church!
If those opposed to women priests leave it will not necesarily be because they are sexist,misogynist or evil. It will not be because you have created women bishops, nor even because over time the church has confused everyone by accomplishing a 180 degree about turn on this issue. It will be because when you asked and they answered - you ignored the their answer.
This could be a dangerous precedent. Those left behind will not see the need to listen their superiors, to their peers or to the laity, the only policy that matters will be their own opinion and the team only important if it is going in a pleasing direction. However like armpits and elbows everybody has thier own opinions, some of these arise from vested interests, some from wrong thinking - and you will have destroyed the mechanism that manages these when thiey are held by the powerful.
...And perhaps one day - just because some people enjoy using iffy political practices to cook a snook at big institutions someone will use a process very like this one to recruit priests who do not believe in God but can legally demostrate they can do the job ..... and you will have nothing to stop them. One day the census details of the archbishop of canterbury will declare his or her religion to be Jedi Knight, God may be declared an outdated concept and Christmas will be cancelled at the request of other faiths.
CM
Theological arguments to one side, the churchs approach to this is puzzling. Its leadership obviously want women bishops but as a democratic institution the church held an election on this. The gist of the question was 'women priests yes or no'. The church voted no. The senior church was angry and have tried hard give the impression that a small number of misogynists are holding the church back from what it should be doing, David Cameron and other politicians are also assume this is a change that must happen and testily advise the church to get on with it and stop wasting everones time and the BBC .... oh dear .... talk about taking sides.
What hypocrites they all are! the church has spoken - they might not like the answer but that is democracy. If Robert Mugabe held an election and ignored results he did not like the BBC and the UK government would be up in arms, pointing fingers.tutting and shaking their collective heads.
Cork monkey thinks the real message behind these results was 'Hmmm maybe we can do this but why don't you tell us how you will deal with the problems'. This outcome does not, however, suit the supporters of women priests who want change now. They are now apparantly bent on manipulating the churches processes so that the 'will of the people' can be deliver the appropriate result regardless of the actual wishes of the people. If some feel distgruntled and leave on that account - 'so what' they say. 'We don't want them: we want what we want'.
But these people who will leave are part of the life the church, its defenders workers and footsoldiers. These are the people who put money in the collection plates and this foolish attitude will first split and then turn the Church into a minority religion. When those in favour of disestablishment attack again, those who used to defend it will be gone and when those who put their money in the collection plate have have left so you will get no funding that way either. The Church will have to sell its fine buildings because it cannot affford to maintain them and the church will decline.
The Church is being disengenous when it calls these people sexist, or fearful of change which appears to be the PR approved line to take when discussing this. But these people do (some of them anyway) have a position that is equally as valid as your own - and it has been around a lot longer than the quest for women priests and to dismiss it as wrong is simply ignorant, particularly in light of the fact that most people who hold these views would have been educated by....wait for it... the church!
If those opposed to women priests leave it will not necesarily be because they are sexist,misogynist or evil. It will not be because you have created women bishops, nor even because over time the church has confused everyone by accomplishing a 180 degree about turn on this issue. It will be because when you asked and they answered - you ignored the their answer.
This could be a dangerous precedent. Those left behind will not see the need to listen their superiors, to their peers or to the laity, the only policy that matters will be their own opinion and the team only important if it is going in a pleasing direction. However like armpits and elbows everybody has thier own opinions, some of these arise from vested interests, some from wrong thinking - and you will have destroyed the mechanism that manages these when thiey are held by the powerful.
...And perhaps one day - just because some people enjoy using iffy political practices to cook a snook at big institutions someone will use a process very like this one to recruit priests who do not believe in God but can legally demostrate they can do the job ..... and you will have nothing to stop them. One day the census details of the archbishop of canterbury will declare his or her religion to be Jedi Knight, God may be declared an outdated concept and Christmas will be cancelled at the request of other faiths.
CM
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Bob Diamond in the Rough
Bob Diamond, King of Barclays, now seen by many as the tart stealing Knave of Hearts has joined that elite club of overachievers forced into resignation when the organisation they have led is caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Coming hot on the coat-tails of other scandals and scams that include bank bounus payments, product miselling and what some believe to be the the worst financial crisis ever people are wondering if the banks can and do what they want, when they want.
An increasing number of people believe that it was bankers loose morality and unfair practices that caused the financial crisis when their analysis could only identify returns and bottom lines. It is thought that they were not capable of looking for the bigger picture or asking 'should I be doing this? Nothing in their vision or their ethics raised questions in their deliberately narrowed minds and as a result poor Bob is the latest in a growing line of sacrificial lambs (some would say scapegoats), that have fallen on their swords to save their organisations blushes.
It is probably unfair to blame Bob, or at least blame him alone. Whatever they say about him and the other lambs I ask you to notice the UK government is doing its best not to find out who is responsible for this and are practicing fairly advanced yoga (they are bending over backwards so far their heads will soon be up thier own backsides) in order not to allocate blame. There is little talk of punishment on these occasions and whenever there is talk of regulating these industries properly the banks simply suggest that if they can't act with impunity they will take their jobs and tax payments elsewhere.
So Politicians appear to be impotent and to rebut this they make a lot of noise about things they are fixing however fixing things that are not the problem will fail to get down to the nuts and bolts of this.
Lets face it all parties in UK government over the past few years have presided over lax regulatory reigime which created an environment within which blinkered thinking and tunnel vision arose from the rabid generation of short term profits that were so huge they they lost sight of what was happening to the system they were extracting the lifeblood from.
Let us not forget Bob Diamond's and his cronies real job is to maximise benefits for his organisation and anything less will get him sacked. It is the job of government to set the rules and punishments for rule breakers and apply these fairly, but it is unlikely that appropriatte punishment will be applied here. Despite indications that such wrongdoings are endemic within a banking system that regards us all as a crop and tries to make our money, its own they will never be chased down and imprisoned with the alacrity as, for instance, the participants in the recent UK wide riots. But they have done more damage. But this is not a Bob Diamond problem - it is wider than him and he is simply the fall guy for something rotten.
But weep not for Bob, he will be OK. These scandals have impacted upon others far more than he and he is better placed to get another job. Others lost their jobs long ago to pay for the mess he was part of. Not because they did anything wrong but because the number of decent jobs is falling faster than a teenage skydivers testicles
Whether you believe the banks are to blame for the crisis or not is irrelevant, that they have not been lending to small businesses ( even though the government has given them money to do this small thing) and this has driven many to extinction, there are less people paying tax and this has meant that the NHS investiment in medical services and performance is declining, services once provided are now not and this will, and probably has, ended in untimely death
And that is the real cost of these scandals, Bob and his mates last bonuses (not the ones they publicly turned down the one they took before) is probably worth more than many will earn in a lifetime, and this comes on top of their yearly pay packet which over the period of the contract would keep some smaller public services in the red for some years, while good people will die, lead less happy lives and will suffer poorer healthcare and smaller pensions all because of the activities undertaken by the financial sector.
Its unfair to blame Bob, but weep not for him. Weep instead for the people who will die because of what his industry and the political system, did.
An increasing number of people believe that it was bankers loose morality and unfair practices that caused the financial crisis when their analysis could only identify returns and bottom lines. It is thought that they were not capable of looking for the bigger picture or asking 'should I be doing this? Nothing in their vision or their ethics raised questions in their deliberately narrowed minds and as a result poor Bob is the latest in a growing line of sacrificial lambs (some would say scapegoats), that have fallen on their swords to save their organisations blushes.
It is probably unfair to blame Bob, or at least blame him alone. Whatever they say about him and the other lambs I ask you to notice the UK government is doing its best not to find out who is responsible for this and are practicing fairly advanced yoga (they are bending over backwards so far their heads will soon be up thier own backsides) in order not to allocate blame. There is little talk of punishment on these occasions and whenever there is talk of regulating these industries properly the banks simply suggest that if they can't act with impunity they will take their jobs and tax payments elsewhere.
So Politicians appear to be impotent and to rebut this they make a lot of noise about things they are fixing however fixing things that are not the problem will fail to get down to the nuts and bolts of this.
Lets face it all parties in UK government over the past few years have presided over lax regulatory reigime which created an environment within which blinkered thinking and tunnel vision arose from the rabid generation of short term profits that were so huge they they lost sight of what was happening to the system they were extracting the lifeblood from.
Let us not forget Bob Diamond's and his cronies real job is to maximise benefits for his organisation and anything less will get him sacked. It is the job of government to set the rules and punishments for rule breakers and apply these fairly, but it is unlikely that appropriatte punishment will be applied here. Despite indications that such wrongdoings are endemic within a banking system that regards us all as a crop and tries to make our money, its own they will never be chased down and imprisoned with the alacrity as, for instance, the participants in the recent UK wide riots. But they have done more damage. But this is not a Bob Diamond problem - it is wider than him and he is simply the fall guy for something rotten.
But weep not for Bob, he will be OK. These scandals have impacted upon others far more than he and he is better placed to get another job. Others lost their jobs long ago to pay for the mess he was part of. Not because they did anything wrong but because the number of decent jobs is falling faster than a teenage skydivers testicles
Whether you believe the banks are to blame for the crisis or not is irrelevant, that they have not been lending to small businesses ( even though the government has given them money to do this small thing) and this has driven many to extinction, there are less people paying tax and this has meant that the NHS investiment in medical services and performance is declining, services once provided are now not and this will, and probably has, ended in untimely death
And that is the real cost of these scandals, Bob and his mates last bonuses (not the ones they publicly turned down the one they took before) is probably worth more than many will earn in a lifetime, and this comes on top of their yearly pay packet which over the period of the contract would keep some smaller public services in the red for some years, while good people will die, lead less happy lives and will suffer poorer healthcare and smaller pensions all because of the activities undertaken by the financial sector.
Its unfair to blame Bob, but weep not for him. Weep instead for the people who will die because of what his industry and the political system, did.
Monday, 21 May 2012
Why change to stay the same?
So Staines is undergoing a transformation to drive new businesses
and money to the area and, it is said, sever all links with Sacha Baron Cohens
TV creation Ali G who, according to a local councillor, mademany imagine Staines to be G explaining that the joke
was that Staines is in fact more cultured than gangsta and middle England than
downtown New York.
The real move is said to be to capitalise on the real Staines - a green leafy busienss centre ideal for companies starting up, expanding or wishing to relocate. However around a third see this as idiocy – burying history in order to appear more suburban and genteel than is strictly true.
The real move is said to be to capitalise on the real Staines - a green leafy busienss centre ideal for companies starting up, expanding or wishing to relocate. However around a third see this as idiocy – burying history in order to appear more suburban and genteel than is strictly true.
What are they changing the name to – Staines- upon –Thames. Sounds like a storm in a teacup to me but ..... what would you rename
Staines UK?
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