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Posts Tagged ‘Global Economy’

There are three stories that I want to connect together or, reflect on in this blog, the Student Riots and Gilmour, The Tottenham Riots and Black People and finally, the Financial Crisis and in my view what ties them altogether is combination of things, a totally unrealistic collection of mindsets, expectations or lack of and the here and now.

If you believe that ideas can change this World, now more than ever newer and better ideas are needed is my view. In one sense and although they are certainly of very different scales, what strikes me strongest about all them is the pettiness and foolishness that encompasses all three, there are no grand themes to be seen in any of them.

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With headlines such as “Hollywood vs BT” (British Telecoms), because of a court case brought against BT as an Internet Service Provider, the High Court in London has ordered BT to block access to Newzbin2 at the behest of Hollywood film studios, who say it is a “notorious pirate website”.

In fact and as I understand it, the particular site only acts as a “pointer” to other web sites from which material can be downloaded although whether it actually stores the data or acts as a conduit for it must be considered a technicality, that it is knowingly enabling the theft of intellectual property, is the reality. But all that said, is this the right approach ?

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There was an interesting article by John Rentoul in the Independent in which he was speculating about any ambitions Boris Johnson, Mayor of London might have for the Tory Leadership. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-rentoul/john-rentoul-what-can-boris-johnson-be-up-to-2319519.html

Whilst an amusing article to breakaway from the rather tedious “hacking scandal” and avoiding writing about the pointless horror inflicted in Norway this Friday by some demented and evil man, it opens up a number of broader and more serious thoughts concerning a rather murky and unknown future for not just the UK but the world as well.

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I have just spent almost 4 weeks away from home visiting my 86 year old Uncle who lives in Washington State on the West Coast of the USA. Because his most convenient airport is Portland just across the Columbia River, it means using a connecting flight from Heathrow and that all adds up to a long day going both ways.

But that said, I had a great time and some interesting ideas came out of it all which I will continue to explore and bring to fruition over the next few months but there is one realisation that I thought I might nail down right now…

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Having recently got involved in another waste of time argument about the EU with overseas readers who commentate on the Economist discussion boards and find it impossible to understand why many in the UK want out and from there…It is all a total waste of energy.

However, the useful thing that sometimes emerges from these things is the opportunity to rationalise your own thinking and concentrate on the core reasons for why you hold the opinions you do. Sometimes, your “object”, in my case the EU, is little more than a token for the real problem, something that represents an ‘obstacle’ to solving real world problems but of itself, is probably just not that important.

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I have little time for “conspiracy theories”, in the UK Cock Up is far more the norm than any individual or group of individuals trying to manipulate ‘outcomes’ but there is one aspect of the Duke of York “story” that does interest me which an editorial in The Independent almost accidentally touched upon.

Namely that it (the story), has taken off since the Wikileaks mention of the reaction of an American diplomat to the Prince and his comments over the SFO investigation into the al-Yamamah arms deal with the Saudi Arabian government of 30 years ago, a contract the US always resented the UK wining.

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I notice that now the daylight hours are drawing out, Dawn comes slightly earlier, the Earth stirs again and interestingly, so do some ‘thinkers’ in the Media about our technical ‘tomorrow’, my first example being : http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/adrianhon/100006362/soon-you-wont-need-permission-to-make-films-set-up-tv-channels-publish-books-or-try-out-inventions-no-wonder-the-old-industries-are-scared/

But there is something as fascinating in this link from the Economist : http://www.economist.com/node/18114221

These are exciting times…

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Following on from the recent events in Tunisia, The Yemen and now Egypt, it looks as though there is a degree of revolution in the air and potential changes in Leaders and Regimes that may well threaten Western interests both politically and economically. Inevitably under the current circumstances, there will be a fear of Muslim Extremists stepping into any political vacuum that opens up during this time of change.

However, the reality is that whether in these countries, Saudi Arabia or a number of others, change was always going to happen sooner or later and it may well be that now, might be more favourable to Western interests than possibly at any other time if only, because now it is not just a matter of “American or Western Interests” alone, it also involves China and India.

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Although and to be fair, they are not the only ones, the BBC yesterday made much heavy weather of what is a provisional figure for GDP at – 0.5% for the last quarter of 2010, today’s Independent in an Editorial really took the biscuit: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-economic-contraction-will-have-political-consequences-2194338.html

If the “Media” is in dire straights and therefore needs to dramatise every little thing, I suggest they concentrate on their favourite market “Celebrities” – “Celebrity X from Reality Show Y, passes wind as she leaves China Whites…”, rather than serious stuff like the economy which is way outside their comprehension even if a broadsheet it seems…

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Christmas really loses its charm once your children have passed the age when their presents change from “Yuletide Treats of Delight” to a list of the latest “Consumer Goodies” they want which certainly takes place by the time they become teenagers.

Also this year, freak weather saw the Town covered in heavy snow and whilst you may say, “No surprise there then !” in a sense, it is because we have a bit of a micro-climate around Bridgewater Bay so that bad weather normally passes to the North and South of us and snow events when they happen, tend to be 48 hours and gone, this was very different.

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