Greeks wary of Germans Bearing Gifts

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?

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?

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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?

Can Narrow Thinking Deliver Broadband?

According to yet another source, this time a report from the London School of Economics, the United Kingdom government’s targets of 100% access to fast broadband (with 90% access to a superfast service) by 2015 are unlikely to be met.

The LSE report suggests there is a funding gap in excess of £1billion and urges the government do more to ensure that short sighted underinvestment does not damage the UK economy over the longer term. This connection is well made as any country without effective broadband services is likely to fall behind economically as an increasingly globalised and technology - enabled marketplace develops.

A government spokesman has denied this saying they were confident of completing the roll out by 2015 as promised. He explained that that the government has always been very clear that the current investment was not intended to meet the full cost of delivering to these targets. This funding was intended to be an economic enabler that would help make it viable for the private sector to roll out broadband to areas where it would otherwise be commercially unattractive.

Is he right, or does the LSE have a point?The government is quick to point out that the UK is considered to be one of the top spenders in fast broadband and on this basis looks like the government is ahead of the game. However in defence of the LSE lets look a little closer.

The UK is 17th in a Global ranking of broadband penetration but 31st in a ranking of superfast services. In terms of a developed 21st century economy this is not great and a high level of investments is needed to move from this low base up the league table.

HMG is hoping providing faster broadband will be attractive to investors and that they only need to sugar the pot in areas that are challenging economically possibly due to low populations or difficult geography. This is a gamble and the outlook uncertain.

What is clear is that in financial terms there is a funding gap and this will remain the case until the commercial sector start to commit their resources to this. The government are referencing big numbers as evidence of a high level of engagement and activity but they are ignoring a bigger picture and they are no doubt hoping nobody asks why they are this far behind the curve in the first place.

This answer to this could well be that we left it to the private sector to delive to the cheapest cost (to provide the maximum) for the minimum effort. That is fine, it is what companies do which is why we should not rely on them for some things. When we need something bigger, better and centrally planned it is for government to show some leadership.

So let us hope they do so or we will find that when the next big thing arrives the UK will still be lagging behind its competitors dragging its ailing economy behind them.

CM

Round Your Way - Location Prague

Zombies have taken over the streets of Prague but there is no need to fear - George A Ramero 's doomsday scenario has not been realised - party loving people have been dressing up as the living dead  for the  Fifth Annual Zombie Walk through the Czech capital.

Men and Women from all over the country flocked to the capital dressed as the undead, complete with gash wounds fake blood and pallid white faces and they walked, limped and staggered through the city much to the amusement of locals and tourists.

Sounds like quite a party can I come!

The Eurozone looks to be in trouble again as unemployment across the area hits record highs. Across the Euro zone the numbers of jobless reached 10.9% (the highest since the Euro was created in 1999) which means around 17.5 million are now looking for work.

The number of Germans out of work is now at 2.87 million (around 6.9%) and Italian figures were the highest for a decade at almost 9.8%. Spain reports 5.6 million jobless, a record rate of 24.4% which confirms it as having the highest unemployment rate in the European Union (Cork Monkey thinks this is likely to get worse throughout 2012).

With these figures showing record numbers were reached in March much of the smart thinking is that this may be the impact of the various European governments well publicised spending cuts, designed to control deficits and control their economies, trickling through to the main economy and affecting the population in fairly predictable ways.

No light at the end of the tunnel

Now Spain and Italy are both in recession and have seen borrowing costs rise further, raising the prospect that they may need help or even bailouts from their financially stretched neighbours. In addition the future for Greece, Portugal and Ireland still looks grim and outside the Euro zone there are some signs the UK could also be entering recession.

To rub salt into these wounds a recent survey of euro zone manufacturing revealed further decline is inevitable as new orders fell through the floor for the 11th month in row.

But the sun rises in the East

The gap in manufacturing is being filled by China, India and others, who are looking to play a larger part in the world economy going forward. Their calls for non western trading blocks and rivals to the IMF the World Bank and other global institutions could further marginalise Europe who would become a significant but not quite so important a player on the world stage.

Cork Monkey wonders if European politicians have got their strategy for dealing with the efffects of the global financial wrong and its austerity measures, that have reduced spending, have been at the expense of their economic growth.

Up a dry creek with a powerless paddle!

Are the UK's utilities disappearing - is its population up a dry creek without the power to turn a paddle? Cork Monkey finds more evidence that the UK has not been served well by its political classes.

As an update to yesterday’s piece we can report that the Environment Secretary has suggested that standpipes in the street may be on the cards if England suffers another dry winter next year. The standpipes would replace water coming out of the household taps for those affected.

While soil moisture has increased with the recent severe rains groundwater remains low so large parts of England remain in drought. This has led to concerns that, in some places, there will not be enough water to meet the UK populations needs and fears that draconian water conservation measures could become necessary.

Caroline Spelman has apparently said the UK would have to look at other ways to supply water if shortages continued. This could lead to third world style standpipes in the street as an attempt to control water usage – effectively water rationing.

Underinvestment in power means that we may well have shortages in this sector too. As older dirty power stations are decommissioned before newer cleaner facilities become operational we could have controls put in place here to ration supplies. This could be by disrupting or managing supply but this is more likely to be controlled by price. Electricity and gas simply becoming more expensive leading to lower consumption.

Either way this would probably affect domestic customers disproportionately as steps would be taken to ensure UK has enough power for business to be able to grow its economy.

Now is this the state a first world country should be in? It is quite possible that in the future there could be patronising pictures on Nigerian TV telling the story of Millicent Hyacinth Smythe - Bassett who has to carry water to her sick Grandma  who is freezing in her cold and damp care home.

If we consider that most non - primitive societies have reasonable access to fuel and water and that  a lot of the primitive ones do too, someone - and we mean a lot of someones - should be very very ashamed!

CM (:-(|)

Cork Monkey is back!

Where have we been? - More detail on that later but in brief we have been visiting the big wide world to see whats what so watch these pages for the fruits of these labours.
There is a story in the UK that caught our attention.

The UK has had the wettest April since reliable records began (a century or so). There is also a hosepipe ban in much of the country (people in the UK  cannot use hoses to water the garden or clean their cars etc ). Of course we at Cork Monkey understand that a few weeks heavy rain do not balance a couple of dry years (mainly because heavier rains will  run off the land and into the sea instead of seeping into the soil and filling underground resovoirs) but it occurs that hosepipe bans are rapidly becoming the rule rather than the exception.

Why is this? -We don't know but would love to find out.

The government blame rising population, immigration and an uneven dispersal of the population that is challanging the infrastructure however I am not so sure. Why is it surprising and unpredicatable that people want to live cities and that people in cities are having babies. Could we not plan for this and develop adequate infrastructure?

Cork Monkey detects a common theme here? We notice that there is a lot of 'green' talk about the need to conserve power and not waste energy, really strong stuff too - enough to make you feel like Hitler just for turning on a light bulb.

There is also a lot of talk of saving money by switching to low energy light bulbs too the extent that they issued  households with low energy bulbs which are a bit like the current cabinet ( dim, dull and no good for reading) - nobody has noticed the change though - power companies still making huge profits because they put there prices up an get paid more for producing less power.

Are these real problems or are we some way being manipulated by government and large organisations who hide behind this 'Greenwashing of the market, the current financial crisis or as ever behind the dastardly johnny foreigner to disguise that they have failed to invest in infrastrucure?

Would it be churlish to suggest that where expensive development projects run the risk of reducing profits (which would mean shareholder dividends and bosses bonuses would be smaller)  those who might be affected are reluctant to approve these projects.

We don't yet have these answers - do you?

CM (:-(I)

Meanwhile here is some music

Cork Monkey will not be creating new posts until late Mar

Normal service will be resumed as soon as possible meanwhile here is some music

tum ti tum ......