Goodness me! Environmental scientists have discovered that the rain forest grows back much more quickly than they thought it could
I wonder why they did not know this before. I suppose it is because they get their pleasure from gazing at photos of the rape of the virgin by those nasty brutish (foreign) loggers & never bothered to find out what happened next
The 2 main problems with the rain forests are first that they do not provide a comfortable, safe or sustaining environment for humans yet take up a lot of the worlds valuable land space.
Good, the environmentalists say, we do not want any more of the vile species – except our grandchildren for whom we are saving this world
The second is that the really valuable bits – the hard woods so durable for building with – do not grow in stands but are scattered throughout the lesser tangled growth – hence the need for excessive clearing to find the good stuff. The best thing to do would be to sort out ways to manage proper plantations
And if humans need to clear land to live on, so that we judge the world no longer has enough trees, we can replant the forests we used to have
Let us hope that this does not happen by default, because our slash & burn attitude to our financial rainforest leaves us bereft of the resources to maintain our built environment & keep Nature at bay. If that happens, instead of the green shoots of miraculous regrowth we may be facing a Siberian winter
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
An ungrateful nation
Earlier today I was a bit worried that there could have been one of those unfortunate statistical glitches. First the BBC reporter told us that inflation had fallen, but by less than analysts had expected. Later we were told that, according to the National Statistics information, numbers of retailers & service providers had failed to pass on the VAT reduction
Could the statisticians have missed the fact that a lot of reductions (still) happen only at the till & are not reflected in the price labels?
Oh ye of little faith
The National Statistics website defeated me again, but I was able to find the following in the Google cache:
“A note in the November CPI First Release announced that the publication of December CPI/RPI might be delayed. This was because of the additional work involved in collecting information about whether the VAT reduction has been applied and, where applied, whether the reduction has been made at the till. We can now advise that the December CPI/RPI publication will not be delayed; it will be published on Tuesday 20 January”
Which just goes to show that it is not just retailers who have had extra costs to bear in implementing this policy
And although I suppose I am grateful for the reduction in my shopping bill, I get a stab of irritation on those occasions when I find that I have carefully tendered the ‘correct’ amount, only to find that I have counted out too much
Could the statisticians have missed the fact that a lot of reductions (still) happen only at the till & are not reflected in the price labels?
Oh ye of little faith
The National Statistics website defeated me again, but I was able to find the following in the Google cache:
“A note in the November CPI First Release announced that the publication of December CPI/RPI might be delayed. This was because of the additional work involved in collecting information about whether the VAT reduction has been applied and, where applied, whether the reduction has been made at the till. We can now advise that the December CPI/RPI publication will not be delayed; it will be published on Tuesday 20 January”
Which just goes to show that it is not just retailers who have had extra costs to bear in implementing this policy
And although I suppose I am grateful for the reduction in my shopping bill, I get a stab of irritation on those occasions when I find that I have carefully tendered the ‘correct’ amount, only to find that I have counted out too much
Related post
History & memory
“That year, 1968, inspired a new generation of firebrands, from Malcolm X to Jesse Jackson, to challenge mainstream America to make good on its laws”
I am not the only one who forgot that Malcolm X was murdered in 1965
I am not the only one who forgot that Malcolm X was murdered in 1965
Monday, January 19, 2009
Out of the mouths
I do not usually listen to GFI, the Radio 4 Sunday night programme for children, but I did last night to hear what they had to say about Obama
It says a lot that the subject was chosen (the cynic in me says conveniently) by the winner of a competition, but there is no doubt of the effect his election has had on children – especially Yes We Can
We also heard from some American children who had composed a rap about it
How dispiriting then to hear one of the English children, asked to compare politics there with here, say: In this country politics is just something on the BBC that only your parents watch
It says a lot that the subject was chosen (the cynic in me says conveniently) by the winner of a competition, but there is no doubt of the effect his election has had on children – especially Yes We Can
We also heard from some American children who had composed a rap about it
How dispiriting then to hear one of the English children, asked to compare politics there with here, say: In this country politics is just something on the BBC that only your parents watch
Family connection
Vince Cable seemed to be all over Radio 4 yesterday. Well, only one – Westminster Hour - was live. More or Less was a repeat. And Desert Island Discs pre-recorded
He chose I think 3 records featuring his son and/or daughter in law, but since both are very good singers & the songs meaningful, he could hardly be said to have done a Schwarzkopf
And if I were not already a bit of a Cable fan, I would have become one because he chose 2 songs which had me wallowing in nostalgia for my youth. Pat Boone’s Love Letters In The Sand & Acker Bilk’s Stranger on the Shore. The latter brings a double set of memories; Trad Jazz was what I moved on to when I became too sophisticated for mere pop (until the Beatles), and Stranger on the Shore started as the theme tune to one of those classic BBC Sunday tea time serials for family viewing, about a French au pair girl in Brighton
It came as news to me that Dr Cable’s first wife, who sadly died from cancer, came from Kenya
I was left with the sneaky, unbidden thought that, at a time when all our politicians are keen to claim affinity with (soon to be) President Obama, Dr Cable may, once again, have the edge on them because of this connection
He chose I think 3 records featuring his son and/or daughter in law, but since both are very good singers & the songs meaningful, he could hardly be said to have done a Schwarzkopf
And if I were not already a bit of a Cable fan, I would have become one because he chose 2 songs which had me wallowing in nostalgia for my youth. Pat Boone’s Love Letters In The Sand & Acker Bilk’s Stranger on the Shore. The latter brings a double set of memories; Trad Jazz was what I moved on to when I became too sophisticated for mere pop (until the Beatles), and Stranger on the Shore started as the theme tune to one of those classic BBC Sunday tea time serials for family viewing, about a French au pair girl in Brighton
It came as news to me that Dr Cable’s first wife, who sadly died from cancer, came from Kenya
I was left with the sneaky, unbidden thought that, at a time when all our politicians are keen to claim affinity with (soon to be) President Obama, Dr Cable may, once again, have the edge on them because of this connection
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Going round the bend
A diary item reports mysterious deductions of 25 cents a time from American credit cards. Some kind of fraud is suspected
As undergraduates we were taught that the first (known) computer fraud on a bank took place when a programmer inserted a piece of code which paid all the rounding errors into his own account. Teeny tiny amounts, fractions of a cent. But it all adds up
Something similar, in the opposite direction, happens when very large sums of money are involved. When I was monitoring a multi-billion budget we worked in amounts rounded to the nearest £5million. If somebody got too cavalier about this, I would say they could give the extra bit to me if they liked
It was however no joke for the person concerned with managing one line, representing a policy initiative dear to his minister’s heart. The published reports could easily make it look as if his £25million budget was heading for an over/underspend of 20% - and this in the days of strict zero cash limits
I sometimes wonder if, in these trillion dollar days, rounding errors in the computer models might not have had some role to play in bringing us to this crunch
New year crunchy bits
Some Florida dealers are offering 2 trucks for the price of one
Almost 2000 partners in London's 100 leading law firms could lose their jobs this year
The Treasury has given nearly £6million to fund more advisers on the National Debtline
Wayne Rooney gave a boost to the car industry by buying Coleen a Bentley for Christmas
Cattles, a UK sub-prime lender, is in trouble
"Bernard Madoff has become the poster boy for what will become a substantial global legal industry" - Edward Fennell, The Times
Sales of Sainsbury’s stewing lamb have trebled
Staff at a famous cosmetics surgery clinic had not been paid since before Christmas
There is a new Celtic Tiger. Dell is shifting its European manufacturing from Limerick to Poland. There were more stock market flotations in Warsaw than in London in 2008
A private equity firm has conceded that it was a mistake to spend £360 million buying an estate agents just before the credit crunch hit
Law firms take an average of 4 months to collect unpaid bills owing to themselves. If banks are now reluctant to provide overdraft cover, the partners will have to finance the shortfall
The Chinese government has told domestic airlines not to accept delivery of any new aircraft this year – this could mean cancelling ¼ of the world’s total deliveries
The number of people travelling by Eurostar to London from Paris & Brussels went up by 15% in December as Christmas shoppers took advantage of the falling pound
It is no longer worth stealing the lead from a church roof
More graduate jobs will be on offer in Aldi & Sainsbury this year
The last television factory in Britain will close next month
Almost 2000 partners in London's 100 leading law firms could lose their jobs this year
The Treasury has given nearly £6million to fund more advisers on the National Debtline
Wayne Rooney gave a boost to the car industry by buying Coleen a Bentley for Christmas
Cattles, a UK sub-prime lender, is in trouble
"Bernard Madoff has become the poster boy for what will become a substantial global legal industry" - Edward Fennell, The Times
Sales of Sainsbury’s stewing lamb have trebled
Staff at a famous cosmetics surgery clinic had not been paid since before Christmas
There is a new Celtic Tiger. Dell is shifting its European manufacturing from Limerick to Poland. There were more stock market flotations in Warsaw than in London in 2008
A private equity firm has conceded that it was a mistake to spend £360 million buying an estate agents just before the credit crunch hit
Law firms take an average of 4 months to collect unpaid bills owing to themselves. If banks are now reluctant to provide overdraft cover, the partners will have to finance the shortfall
The Chinese government has told domestic airlines not to accept delivery of any new aircraft this year – this could mean cancelling ¼ of the world’s total deliveries
The number of people travelling by Eurostar to London from Paris & Brussels went up by 15% in December as Christmas shoppers took advantage of the falling pound
It is no longer worth stealing the lead from a church roof
More graduate jobs will be on offer in Aldi & Sainsbury this year
The last television factory in Britain will close next month
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Smoking mystery
This morning I noticed that one of the local primary schools has acquired a new structure – a well-made solid wooden roof extending over part of the schoolyard, open to the elements but providing protection from the rain. Exactly the sort sprouted by pubs, like the one we passed a few moments later, to give protection to smokers. Not a big enough space for children to run around in
Why would a school want such a thing? It cannot possibly be for teachers who smoke – can it?
Had parents-who-smoke stopped going to PTA meetings in the same way they are boycotting pubs? And have not such parents been drummed out of the PTA anyway?
Or have all sorts of new uses been found for such structures?
Why would a school want such a thing? It cannot possibly be for teachers who smoke – can it?
Had parents-who-smoke stopped going to PTA meetings in the same way they are boycotting pubs? And have not such parents been drummed out of the PTA anyway?
Or have all sorts of new uses been found for such structures?
Sheep & goats
Funny how the appointment of Mervyn Davies to a peerage so that he can serve as Trade Minister has suddenly drawn attention to how many non-elected ministers we now have
I am grateful to Peter Riddell for the information that they are known in Whitehall as GOATS, following Gordon Brown’s expressed desire to have a government of all the talents
I was wondering if the bookies are offering odds on when we might have a prime minister drawn from the House of Lords, one who does not even bother to renounce his peerage & seek election
Can you renounce a Life Peerage anyway?
Lord Home renounced his hereditary peerage & won a by election so that he could serve as PM in the House of Commons after the resignation of Harold Macmillan. I was still a student & can remember the very heated debates on the subject. There were even suggestions in some quarters that the Queen should have used her constitutional power to appoint Rab Butler instead
One consequence was the abandonment of the Conservative process of letting their leader 'emerge' and to have one elected by MPs. Without such a system in place Mrs Thatcher could never have become prime minister
We have not had a prime minister in the Lords since 1895, though they were common enough before then – all hereditary of course. As far as I can find out there is no constitutional reason why we should not have another, though it could presumably be a difficult job for the monarch to decide whether the person put forward was likely to command the support of the House of Commons – or indeed of the electorate.
It could be exciting – I almost look forward to it
On a more serious note, it is concerning that so many members of the government have not been elected. Not least for the Labour Party who seem to have been unable in over 10 years in government to bring forward enough people of the right calibre & experience to serve in these posts. I wonder what Sydney & Beatrice Webb would have to say about that
I am grateful to Peter Riddell for the information that they are known in Whitehall as GOATS, following Gordon Brown’s expressed desire to have a government of all the talents
I was wondering if the bookies are offering odds on when we might have a prime minister drawn from the House of Lords, one who does not even bother to renounce his peerage & seek election
Can you renounce a Life Peerage anyway?
Lord Home renounced his hereditary peerage & won a by election so that he could serve as PM in the House of Commons after the resignation of Harold Macmillan. I was still a student & can remember the very heated debates on the subject. There were even suggestions in some quarters that the Queen should have used her constitutional power to appoint Rab Butler instead
One consequence was the abandonment of the Conservative process of letting their leader 'emerge' and to have one elected by MPs. Without such a system in place Mrs Thatcher could never have become prime minister
We have not had a prime minister in the Lords since 1895, though they were common enough before then – all hereditary of course. As far as I can find out there is no constitutional reason why we should not have another, though it could presumably be a difficult job for the monarch to decide whether the person put forward was likely to command the support of the House of Commons – or indeed of the electorate.
It could be exciting – I almost look forward to it
On a more serious note, it is concerning that so many members of the government have not been elected. Not least for the Labour Party who seem to have been unable in over 10 years in government to bring forward enough people of the right calibre & experience to serve in these posts. I wonder what Sydney & Beatrice Webb would have to say about that
Friday, January 16, 2009
Quiet flight
How nice to have a good news story to inspire us. Not that it was good that a plane came down in the Hudson river, but the skill of its splendidly named pilot Chesley Sullenberger III and the survival of all on board, the speed of the rescue from the icy conditions – what more heroism could we need to remind us that life is never all bad
Then I heard that it was an Airbus. Goodness, that took me back
It was my first trip to Indonesia & I was on an internal flight from Jakarta to Bali. The plane was not very full & most of the passengers seemed to be local men. Smoking was still allowed on planes, but this airline was one of the few which permitted the smoking of kretek. The cloves which they contain produce a powerful aroma but also tend to produce minute explosions of sparks
There was nobody sitting next to me, nor in the seats across the aisle. I settled back, lost in reverie inspired by the clouds, the like of which I had never seen before. I put firmly to the back of my mind the memory of a British Airways plane which not too long before had experienced a sudden drop of 10,000 feet due to some freak atmospheric conditions somewhere over Indonesia
It was my first trip on an Airbus too. The plane I was on was obviously very new. I was very impressed by its lightness in the air, so very different from the feel of a Boeing
Suddenly I thought: It’s very quiet
I listened very hard. There was definitely no noise from the engines. No vibration either
I gave myself a good talking to. Of course the engines were working. We were descending. Now I could see the sea below, dotted with small islands. The water looked very shallow from up here
Then I became aware of a kind of whispering twittering noise coming from the seats behind. I peered round to look. The other passengers were obviously looking at something with a slight degree of alarm. A kind of white mist was coming out of the ventilators – not very thick, not enough to fill up the cabin
Crikey. The engines must really have stopped. We were just gliding
Funnily enough I felt complete confidence in the pilots’ ability to get us down. We might even be able to make it to the airport, which could not be too far away now. But even if we did not, at least the water would be warm
Hope the water is not as shallow as it looks. It will probably be a hell of a bump when we hit it
Of course my heroics were completely unnecessary. The Airbus really was just an exceedingly quiet plane & the white mist just the sort of thing that you get with brand new systems
The landing was entirely uneventful
Then I heard that it was an Airbus. Goodness, that took me back
It was my first trip to Indonesia & I was on an internal flight from Jakarta to Bali. The plane was not very full & most of the passengers seemed to be local men. Smoking was still allowed on planes, but this airline was one of the few which permitted the smoking of kretek. The cloves which they contain produce a powerful aroma but also tend to produce minute explosions of sparks
There was nobody sitting next to me, nor in the seats across the aisle. I settled back, lost in reverie inspired by the clouds, the like of which I had never seen before. I put firmly to the back of my mind the memory of a British Airways plane which not too long before had experienced a sudden drop of 10,000 feet due to some freak atmospheric conditions somewhere over Indonesia
It was my first trip on an Airbus too. The plane I was on was obviously very new. I was very impressed by its lightness in the air, so very different from the feel of a Boeing
Suddenly I thought: It’s very quiet
I listened very hard. There was definitely no noise from the engines. No vibration either
I gave myself a good talking to. Of course the engines were working. We were descending. Now I could see the sea below, dotted with small islands. The water looked very shallow from up here
Then I became aware of a kind of whispering twittering noise coming from the seats behind. I peered round to look. The other passengers were obviously looking at something with a slight degree of alarm. A kind of white mist was coming out of the ventilators – not very thick, not enough to fill up the cabin
Crikey. The engines must really have stopped. We were just gliding
Funnily enough I felt complete confidence in the pilots’ ability to get us down. We might even be able to make it to the airport, which could not be too far away now. But even if we did not, at least the water would be warm
Hope the water is not as shallow as it looks. It will probably be a hell of a bump when we hit it
Of course my heroics were completely unnecessary. The Airbus really was just an exceedingly quiet plane & the white mist just the sort of thing that you get with brand new systems
The landing was entirely uneventful
Related post
The wisdom of 3-year-olds
Tim Rushby-Smith, confined to a wheelchair, wrote an interesting article in The Times the other day about being in sole charge of his 3 year old daughter
One thing in particular stood out for me: We are learning together, with Rosalie's risk assessment based on what she knows I am capable of
Yet again something to remind us that we tend to underestimate children today, thinking they need to be nannied & instructed at every turn
I had my own first experience of a 3-year-old’s reaction to disability when my eldest daughter was that age
Her great grandmother, who lived with us, became totally blind when a cataract developed in her other eye. Despite our best efforts we had been unable to persuade her to have surgery for the first cataract, but now we pretty much insisted
She was 84 years old and had never been in hospital in her life. She had always been very active & was mainly responsible for the upkeep of the garden. But she was very thin & the hospital said she needed a week of building up before surgery could be undertaken
Somebody tried to explain to her what would happen, that she would need to lie very still on her back for a couple of days after the operation. She started practising for something else which she had never done before in her life
In a totally alien environment, unable to see, she freaked. Lying still like that, it was just as if she were dead. Her distress was upsetting the other patients, & we brought her home
To be honest we thought that that was pretty much that. Not only would she not recover her sight, but her equilibrium was gone too
After a few days however she started to emerge from her room sometimes, learning to find her way by groping with both arms outstretched
One day I went to investigate a commotion in the living room
My 3 year old daughter had quietly pushed a pouffe into Granma’s way. The noise came from my daughter laughing at Granma’s expostulation as she bumped into it
(Does anyone have such a piece of furniture anymore? And if so, do they call it a pouffe?)
How could my child have turned out to be such a monster?
Suitable admonishment was dished out
But the behaviour continued. And I soon realised that far from being malicious, it was carefully ‘risk assessed’ to help Granma learn. It was a game which both were playing
And sooner than any of us could have guessed, Granma was back tending to the garden again.
Using that useful all-purpose tool which we would doubtless call a machete
One thing in particular stood out for me: We are learning together, with Rosalie's risk assessment based on what she knows I am capable of
Yet again something to remind us that we tend to underestimate children today, thinking they need to be nannied & instructed at every turn
I had my own first experience of a 3-year-old’s reaction to disability when my eldest daughter was that age
Her great grandmother, who lived with us, became totally blind when a cataract developed in her other eye. Despite our best efforts we had been unable to persuade her to have surgery for the first cataract, but now we pretty much insisted
She was 84 years old and had never been in hospital in her life. She had always been very active & was mainly responsible for the upkeep of the garden. But she was very thin & the hospital said she needed a week of building up before surgery could be undertaken
Somebody tried to explain to her what would happen, that she would need to lie very still on her back for a couple of days after the operation. She started practising for something else which she had never done before in her life
In a totally alien environment, unable to see, she freaked. Lying still like that, it was just as if she were dead. Her distress was upsetting the other patients, & we brought her home
To be honest we thought that that was pretty much that. Not only would she not recover her sight, but her equilibrium was gone too
After a few days however she started to emerge from her room sometimes, learning to find her way by groping with both arms outstretched
One day I went to investigate a commotion in the living room
My 3 year old daughter had quietly pushed a pouffe into Granma’s way. The noise came from my daughter laughing at Granma’s expostulation as she bumped into it
(Does anyone have such a piece of furniture anymore? And if so, do they call it a pouffe?)
How could my child have turned out to be such a monster?
Suitable admonishment was dished out
But the behaviour continued. And I soon realised that far from being malicious, it was carefully ‘risk assessed’ to help Granma learn. It was a game which both were playing
And sooner than any of us could have guessed, Granma was back tending to the garden again.
Using that useful all-purpose tool which we would doubtless call a machete
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Breast cancer
In quite a short period – certainly less than 20 years – the quoted lifetime risk of breast cancer for a woman in this country has risen from 1 in 13 to 1 in 9
This begins to look like an epidemic
I was struck by the number of family & friends of Cherie Blair who have died young from this disease & whom she mentions in her book, particularly since, when I thought about it I can really think only of friends of friends or family of friends who have been affected. The only member of my own family was a great aunt who was in her eighties and had been in generally poor health for years. (It is a completely different picture however if we consider gynaecological cancers)
There was an oft quoted mantra in the old Central Statistical Office: If a figure looks interesting it’s usually wrong. So my first question is: exactly how is the lifetime risk figure calculated, & would I agree with the method?
I hadn't looked at any of the figures since I made my own decision about screening, but a quick look at the basic source suggests no reason for fundamental doubts, though there is always room for discussion & interpretation
What strikes me about the graph for Age-standardised incidence however (Figure 5.5 page 40) is how the trend starts to move up on the introduction of the national screening programme in 1987 - & particularly alarmingly for in situ cancers
I will obviously need to do more work to find out how much might just be due to earlier diagnosis, whether proper account is taken of the perverse risk that with improved treatment a woman may develop breast cancer twice in her life, how much might be down to us all just living longer, and how much is a ‘real’ increase – something which I find truly alarming
It would be impertinent of me to claim friendship with Cathie Marsh though I did know her as a fellow professional. It therefore came as a shock when sometime in 1993 I was watching a tv programme about, I think, some anniversary of the Pill, when Cathie suddenly appeared on screen – some months after her death.
She was quite passionate about the notion that the combination of having taken the Pill and, later, fertility treatment, must have had something to do with her developing breast cancer at such an early age, and wanted to pass that message on. So today I am left wondering whether all the research has somehow failed to uncover some obvious link
This begins to look like an epidemic
I was struck by the number of family & friends of Cherie Blair who have died young from this disease & whom she mentions in her book, particularly since, when I thought about it I can really think only of friends of friends or family of friends who have been affected. The only member of my own family was a great aunt who was in her eighties and had been in generally poor health for years. (It is a completely different picture however if we consider gynaecological cancers)
There was an oft quoted mantra in the old Central Statistical Office: If a figure looks interesting it’s usually wrong. So my first question is: exactly how is the lifetime risk figure calculated, & would I agree with the method?
I hadn't looked at any of the figures since I made my own decision about screening, but a quick look at the basic source suggests no reason for fundamental doubts, though there is always room for discussion & interpretation
What strikes me about the graph for Age-standardised incidence however (Figure 5.5 page 40) is how the trend starts to move up on the introduction of the national screening programme in 1987 - & particularly alarmingly for in situ cancers
I will obviously need to do more work to find out how much might just be due to earlier diagnosis, whether proper account is taken of the perverse risk that with improved treatment a woman may develop breast cancer twice in her life, how much might be down to us all just living longer, and how much is a ‘real’ increase – something which I find truly alarming
It would be impertinent of me to claim friendship with Cathie Marsh though I did know her as a fellow professional. It therefore came as a shock when sometime in 1993 I was watching a tv programme about, I think, some anniversary of the Pill, when Cathie suddenly appeared on screen – some months after her death.
She was quite passionate about the notion that the combination of having taken the Pill and, later, fertility treatment, must have had something to do with her developing breast cancer at such an early age, and wanted to pass that message on. So today I am left wondering whether all the research has somehow failed to uncover some obvious link
Garden girls
An interesting little snippet from Speaking For Myself: in 1997 the Garden Girls were not allowed to wear trousers
The Garden Girls are the official secretaries in the prime minister’s office at No 10. The name, which goes back at least as far as Churchill, & maybe even to Lloyd George, comes from the room in which they work. Although Cherie sounds offended by the name at first, she goes on to use it as a matter of course, so perhaps it is one bit of tradition that she came to respect
It is hard now to remember how recently the wearing of trousers has become pretty much acceptable in all circumstances. During my career it is one of the very few battles in which I engaged as a really stroppy feminist – but that was back in the 1960s. In my innocence, I really thought it had been won, at least as far as the civil service was concerned, by the mid-70s
Although I can understand, in a way, why this rule might still have been in operation as far as the Garden Room itself was concerned, I wonder if it always applied in all circumstances
There is always at least one Garden Girl accompanying the prime minister on official trips abroad, & I imagine that common sense might have prevailed in more difficult climates or terrains. Especially during war time – I can not really imagine someone like Olive Margerison being barred from wearing trousers on a freezing plane trip for example
The Garden Girls are the official secretaries in the prime minister’s office at No 10. The name, which goes back at least as far as Churchill, & maybe even to Lloyd George, comes from the room in which they work. Although Cherie sounds offended by the name at first, she goes on to use it as a matter of course, so perhaps it is one bit of tradition that she came to respect
It is hard now to remember how recently the wearing of trousers has become pretty much acceptable in all circumstances. During my career it is one of the very few battles in which I engaged as a really stroppy feminist – but that was back in the 1960s. In my innocence, I really thought it had been won, at least as far as the civil service was concerned, by the mid-70s
Although I can understand, in a way, why this rule might still have been in operation as far as the Garden Room itself was concerned, I wonder if it always applied in all circumstances
There is always at least one Garden Girl accompanying the prime minister on official trips abroad, & I imagine that common sense might have prevailed in more difficult climates or terrains. Especially during war time – I can not really imagine someone like Olive Margerison being barred from wearing trousers on a freezing plane trip for example
Link
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Accents
I got into trouble the other day when I said I could tell someone was Muslim by their accent
I was talking about one specific person. I did not mean that any & every Muslim in the world is instantly identifiable by their voice
Correlation does not prove causation. So the fact that there are people in England who speak in a particular accent and happen to be Muslim does not mean that their religion is the causal explanation
It is just a coincidence of history & the way that language & migration work. The people who moved to work in the textile areas of Lancashire & Yorkshire brought their accents with them from the sub-continent. These then blended with the local accents in a particular way which language experts could explain. Their children learned to speak with their own mixture of the two, reflecting more of the accent of the area in which they were born, but still identifiably slightly different
There used to be a distinctive Jewish accent which you hear less these days. In popular culture it became familiar through the appearances on tv of actors such as Alfred Marks, Warren Mitchell and Miriam Karlin. A blend of Eastern Europe & the East End
One of the most intriguing blended accents which I ever heard belonged to an octogenarian who had moved from Barbados to South Yorkshire to work down the mines during WWI (he was being interviewed for a programme about the Comedian Charlie Williams). Even after half a century he retained that distinctive Bajan lilt behind the flat Yorkshire vowels
Many people think that their own accent has not changed, particularly if they still live in the area in which they were born. This may well be true in some cases (how could we prove it one way or another?), but it is instructive to hear the voices of broadcasters in recordings made as little as 10 years ago – Paxman, Humphrys, Buerk – have all changed a little, but noticeably
1911 Census
Although it was welcome news, I was puzzled to hear that the 1911 census became available online yesterday – it is supposed to remain confidential for 100 years
I could not find an explanation on the official website but The Times said that the decision for early release had been taken because the 100 year rule was not enshrined in law until the 1920 Census Act
It is I suppose a response to the immense interest in family history & commercial pressures – and every little helps to reduce the PSBR in these straitened times. I cannot help but feel a little concerned however; with the increasingly cavalier attitude of government towards personal privacy, there might be temptations to repeal the 1920 Act
When things calm down I shall take a look. My Nana should put in her first appearance. Both grandfathers already appear in 1901, though my Irish grandmother will not appear in the English census until 1921 – together with my father
The census records are not however completely accurate. My baby grandfather, weirdly, was recorded by the enumerator as a girl in 1901, albeit one with the unusual name of Thomas Augusta
The other mistake I have come across is a transcription error on the Ancestry version of the 1861 census, where Henry Palin’s place of birth is given as Banbury rather than Bombay. I know that this is a transcription error because the microfilm version is clear. It is astonishing for me now to think how, only a few short years ago I was travelling round local archives to consult microfilm versions; now all that has been transformed by the availability of vital registration data & the census on line, not to mention the Times archive. If only the same treatment could be given to the invaluable local newspapers, Victorian periodicals, directories etc
I heard somebody say that 1911 was the first time that householders, rather than enumerators, had been responsible for filling in the forms. This is simply not true, though it may be the first time that enumerators did not transcribe the information in its entirety. I cannot remember ever having seen a copy of an individual Victorian census return, only enumerators records. I wonder if all those forms are stashed away in safe storage somewhere
I could not find an explanation on the official website but The Times said that the decision for early release had been taken because the 100 year rule was not enshrined in law until the 1920 Census Act
It is I suppose a response to the immense interest in family history & commercial pressures – and every little helps to reduce the PSBR in these straitened times. I cannot help but feel a little concerned however; with the increasingly cavalier attitude of government towards personal privacy, there might be temptations to repeal the 1920 Act
When things calm down I shall take a look. My Nana should put in her first appearance. Both grandfathers already appear in 1901, though my Irish grandmother will not appear in the English census until 1921 – together with my father
The census records are not however completely accurate. My baby grandfather, weirdly, was recorded by the enumerator as a girl in 1901, albeit one with the unusual name of Thomas Augusta
The other mistake I have come across is a transcription error on the Ancestry version of the 1861 census, where Henry Palin’s place of birth is given as Banbury rather than Bombay. I know that this is a transcription error because the microfilm version is clear. It is astonishing for me now to think how, only a few short years ago I was travelling round local archives to consult microfilm versions; now all that has been transformed by the availability of vital registration data & the census on line, not to mention the Times archive. If only the same treatment could be given to the invaluable local newspapers, Victorian periodicals, directories etc
I heard somebody say that 1911 was the first time that householders, rather than enumerators, had been responsible for filling in the forms. This is simply not true, though it may be the first time that enumerators did not transcribe the information in its entirety. I cannot remember ever having seen a copy of an individual Victorian census return, only enumerators records. I wonder if all those forms are stashed away in safe storage somewhere
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Synchronicity
Sometimes this coincidence thing can hardly be called serendipitous
There I was looking at the mortality statistics
And then there was the programme in which Jonathan Miller explores the complex questions that arise from trying to define death
In particular he spoke to Michel Coleman, the Professor of Epidemiology & Vital Statistics at LSHTM who, among other things, explained why doctors & statisticians are not very keen on ‘old age’ as a cause of death
It was interesting, but made me feel just a little bit queasy because of the timing
There I was looking at the mortality statistics
And then there was the programme in which Jonathan Miller explores the complex questions that arise from trying to define death
In particular he spoke to Michel Coleman, the Professor of Epidemiology & Vital Statistics at LSHTM who, among other things, explained why doctors & statisticians are not very keen on ‘old age’ as a cause of death
It was interesting, but made me feel just a little bit queasy because of the timing
Female role models
When I was a young teenager I conceived the ambition to become a forensic pathologist, inspired by my reading of Agatha Christie followed by Notable British Trials & books about the likes of Sir Bernard Spilsbury
It is only in recent years that I have wondered if this was a sign of some kind of deep & morbid disturbance in one so young – prompted to such worry by the outbreak of what I call post mortem porn in modern crime fiction in print & on tv & film – which I cannot stand either to read or to watch
In fact I think it a sign of something possibly more disturbing. All the jobs mentioned in the careers literature in my small country grammar school seemed to involve pretty routine application of a cookbook of techniques with known results. Pathology seemed to be the only job I might aim for which did not involve simply giving the ‘right’ answer – meaning one that was already known to my interrogator or examiner. A true intellectual challenge.
I did not have much doubt that I could get in to medical school if I really tried, but it was a worry that this would mean asking my parents to support me through 6 years of study – first year junior house officers did not earn what could be called a salary in those days
But the insuperable barrier was the surgical part of the training. Although I could contemplate with reasonable equanimity the idea of dispassionate dissection of a corpse, I did not think I had it in me to slice in to living flesh
Having given up on the idea of pathology my thoughts turned to the criminal law – I quite fancied being a latter day Marshall Hall. But not badly enough to want to go into battle against the enormous odds that training for the Bar involved back then. Bad enough for a boy from the wrong sort of class, well nigh insuperable for all but the most determined young lady with no family connections. And I could not even imagine that I could be a solicitor – which involved articles which I was quite sure would not be on offer to me from any of the solicitors in our small rural town
I am recounting all this to explain why I am so pleased to have finally found the answer to a question which has puzzled me for some years now: just how did Cherie Blair decide to go into the law?
I am a decade older than she is. But the first time I read anything about her must have been around the time her husband became Labour leader. Typical newspaper accuracy said she had graduated from LSE in 1972. Which meant she started in 1969, & must have made her decision earlier than that. Although things had been changing rapidly, I did not think they had changed that much less than a decade after I had made my own decision to abandon the idea of the law
It seemed unlikely that the nuns had given her the support & encouragement that she would have needed
Now I have the answer, having finally got around to reading Speaking For Myself
Her aunt was the first to put the idea into her head. The surprising thing is that her formidable Irish Catholic Liverpudlian grandmother was enthusiastic too, because she was a fan of Rose Heilbron, who was famous as the first woman to be appointed as a judge in the 1950s. I had not realised until now that she was also a Liverpudlian who made her career there
So there we have a telling example of the power of role models, not just in inspiring the young directly, but also in inspiring the vital support of families who do not have the direct experience themselves
It is only in recent years that I have wondered if this was a sign of some kind of deep & morbid disturbance in one so young – prompted to such worry by the outbreak of what I call post mortem porn in modern crime fiction in print & on tv & film – which I cannot stand either to read or to watch
In fact I think it a sign of something possibly more disturbing. All the jobs mentioned in the careers literature in my small country grammar school seemed to involve pretty routine application of a cookbook of techniques with known results. Pathology seemed to be the only job I might aim for which did not involve simply giving the ‘right’ answer – meaning one that was already known to my interrogator or examiner. A true intellectual challenge.
I did not have much doubt that I could get in to medical school if I really tried, but it was a worry that this would mean asking my parents to support me through 6 years of study – first year junior house officers did not earn what could be called a salary in those days
But the insuperable barrier was the surgical part of the training. Although I could contemplate with reasonable equanimity the idea of dispassionate dissection of a corpse, I did not think I had it in me to slice in to living flesh
Having given up on the idea of pathology my thoughts turned to the criminal law – I quite fancied being a latter day Marshall Hall. But not badly enough to want to go into battle against the enormous odds that training for the Bar involved back then. Bad enough for a boy from the wrong sort of class, well nigh insuperable for all but the most determined young lady with no family connections. And I could not even imagine that I could be a solicitor – which involved articles which I was quite sure would not be on offer to me from any of the solicitors in our small rural town
I am recounting all this to explain why I am so pleased to have finally found the answer to a question which has puzzled me for some years now: just how did Cherie Blair decide to go into the law?
I am a decade older than she is. But the first time I read anything about her must have been around the time her husband became Labour leader. Typical newspaper accuracy said she had graduated from LSE in 1972. Which meant she started in 1969, & must have made her decision earlier than that. Although things had been changing rapidly, I did not think they had changed that much less than a decade after I had made my own decision to abandon the idea of the law
It seemed unlikely that the nuns had given her the support & encouragement that she would have needed
Now I have the answer, having finally got around to reading Speaking For Myself
Her aunt was the first to put the idea into her head. The surprising thing is that her formidable Irish Catholic Liverpudlian grandmother was enthusiastic too, because she was a fan of Rose Heilbron, who was famous as the first woman to be appointed as a judge in the 1950s. I had not realised until now that she was also a Liverpudlian who made her career there
So there we have a telling example of the power of role models, not just in inspiring the young directly, but also in inspiring the vital support of families who do not have the direct experience themselves
Related post
Monday, January 12, 2009
Suave condescension
Tony Blair, when prime minister, was noted for his habit of modifying his accent to suit his audience
I am not one who thought that this was necessarily a deliberate, still less a cynical, ploy on his part. I used to do it myself until I learned to control it, when I was past 40. Sticking to an accent different from that of those you were talking with seemed to me to be like singing out of tune.
Moving to a new area where the children at school mock your funny accent does wonders for your ability to mimic
I caught a small part of an interview with Tony Blair about Gaza on the radio this morning
Goodness he has got plummy now. The way he pronounced the word ‘resolve’ had me gaping at the set
The Times last week carried a leader asserting that the British diplomat’s “air of suave condescension” has long been swept away, which came as welcome news to anyone who was ever on the receiving end
But if Tony Blair’s accent has been acquired, chameleon-like, from the diplomatic circles he moves in now, then The Times was, alas, mistaken in its assertion
I am not one who thought that this was necessarily a deliberate, still less a cynical, ploy on his part. I used to do it myself until I learned to control it, when I was past 40. Sticking to an accent different from that of those you were talking with seemed to me to be like singing out of tune.
Moving to a new area where the children at school mock your funny accent does wonders for your ability to mimic
I caught a small part of an interview with Tony Blair about Gaza on the radio this morning
Goodness he has got plummy now. The way he pronounced the word ‘resolve’ had me gaping at the set
The Times last week carried a leader asserting that the British diplomat’s “air of suave condescension” has long been swept away, which came as welcome news to anyone who was ever on the receiving end
But if Tony Blair’s accent has been acquired, chameleon-like, from the diplomatic circles he moves in now, then The Times was, alas, mistaken in its assertion
Unexaggerations
Who was it who said that the first thing he turned to in the paper each day was the obituary column, to check that he had not died?
Well I haven’t got that far yet, but I am at that stage where it is sometimes a surprise to hear that someone else is dead, or was alive until very recently. Someone who was famous when you were a child, who seemed old then, so must have been dead for years. But good heavens, now they have died and they were only …
Edmund Purdom, the handsome Student Prince, stole my heart away when I saw that film. He has just died aged only 82
But Jerry Lewis, who made all those funny films with Dean Martin, is still alive, also aged 82
Then last year, Elizabeth Jane Howard published a new novel at the age of 85. I do not know how I had got it into my head that she had died – I even thought I had read the obituaries - so that came as a wonderful surprise
Well I haven’t got that far yet, but I am at that stage where it is sometimes a surprise to hear that someone else is dead, or was alive until very recently. Someone who was famous when you were a child, who seemed old then, so must have been dead for years. But good heavens, now they have died and they were only …
Edmund Purdom, the handsome Student Prince, stole my heart away when I saw that film. He has just died aged only 82
But Jerry Lewis, who made all those funny films with Dean Martin, is still alive, also aged 82
Then last year, Elizabeth Jane Howard published a new novel at the age of 85. I do not know how I had got it into my head that she had died – I even thought I had read the obituaries - so that came as a wonderful surprise
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