100 Posts

I was one short of the 100 for this year, so with nothing to say here is the 100th post.

Not sure I can better this in 2010, 10 posts a month for 120 a year maybe?

The 2009 new year felt like it was going to be a year to forget, and it probably was.

Hope 2010 is going to be better.

Happy New Year

Fractional Reserve Banking

Interesting article on how banks are allowed to distribute money and keep an expanding money supply.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_reserve

This in essence is what drives inflation, allowing banks to only keep a fraction of their depositors money on call and the rest loaned out. It is a necessary evil to keep volumes of money available to drive the businesses. Still not something anyone ever really talks about or is that widely known.

PM Podcast 30 December

Back to the world's least listened to podcast. Gordon Brown's Christmas message.

It is very broad brush, first some crazy misplaced optimism:

• We are to expect a decade of growth and prosperity. Quite where this comes from was not expanded on. Perhaps springboarding off the 200bn debt we have taken on?

Next some truth economy:

• The financial crisis hit us hard because of US housing market and our reliance on the finance sector. No mention of our banks rushing to invest in American property lending to people who had no chance of repaying.
• No standing by and letting people fail, especially the young. Nice idea, works if you are a bank - but for the rest of us the government would stand by and see your house repossessed or your business fail because of lack of loan availability.

What was not covered:

• Public sector reform is mentioned, but in all honesty it needs to be much higher up the political agenda. We are entering an era where we are going to have to do more with less. I want to know how that is going to be done.
• No mention on taxes, how are we going to keep Britain afloat in the next 5 years.

We should not be shielded from any of this, after all we are the ones paying. I just hope the election brings some of these tough decisions to the front.

Film: Blade Runner by Ridley Scott

Over the years I've made several attempts to watch this film in full and never succeeded. I tried again and failed. It is a very good science fiction film, and has not aged at all badly since 1982.

The only thing that dates it slightly are the captions which say "2019", not far off now - but that is a little unfair.

So I got about half way through again, a moody Harrison Ford looking to retire replicants. It probably is one of his better performances, being as he was trapped in the middle of the first Star Wars franchise.

Maybe I will get it on DVD and make myself watch it as it does deserve that attention. Ridley Scott is also a great director with such close attention to detail.

Type 45 : Test firing failure

Interesting article on the register:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/02/type_45_viper_paams_fail/

About the trial failure of the main missile system on the 45, adding a delay to the programme.
It also puts forward the argument of buying a working system would have been a better idea, rather than developing our own. Of course developing our own, keeps jobs in the defence industries, and also to some degree our technical independence.

Still it could be a while before these ships could ever go to a war zone.

Tony Blair interview

The BBC have an interview with Tony Blair, where one the the excerpts is the fact that even if Saddam did not have WMD he would have been in favour of making arguments for regime change.

But this all points to the fact that he needed the WMD argument to get past Parliament and it is likely he did not really believe he did have them. So to mislead Parliament to "get them out they way" is scandalous, but not a surprise for Blair who did not take the place that seriously.

This is perhaps all to soften the landing in terms of the inquiry that is going on, where he is due to give evidence soon.

HDTV on freeview

HDTV is going to come to FreeView, trialing in 2010. A little surprising as it's a fragmented platform with little commerical drive. It is where the licence payers who do not want Sky or Virgin will seek refuge after the digital switch off.

On the face of it I should be pleased but it maybe compromised, bandwidth issues and not all of the freed up analogue spectrum being available for television use. At the moment the government would love another "3G" sell off of that space given the state of the public finances!

Film: Sudden Impact Directed by Clint Eastwood

I always wanted Clint to have made more of these, but it turns out there were 5 Harry films.

This one is perhaps the most obscure and dark, I did not see it all because of a recording mess up - but probably not a great loss.

It does not have so many trade mark Harry lines, something with which the first was full of. Maybe it got bogged down in character development, and probably began to take itself too seriously.

5/10 watch it if you're an avid fan.

Sting Stung on Newsnight

Sting was being interviewed on Newsnight and it was one of those rare occasions that an interviewer asks the question you want asked.

I remember seeing an magazine interview years ago where he was preaching saving the Amazon, in itself a noble cause. Problem was he was in his drawing room of his stately house, surrounded by mahogany lined walls.

So the interviewer was straight there, "what's your carbon footprint, I hear you have a 240 strong touring crew - how much resource does that take up?"

He dealt with it well enough, mumbled something about offsetting (an economic con if there ever was one). In all honesty I think the causes he promotes are worthwhile, just should probably think about his own carbon contribution occasionally.

Maybe Prince Charles too?

Film: Thunderbolt and Lightfoot by Michael Cimino

Another Clint Eastwood film from the 1970s. I'd never heard of it so thought I'd give it a try. Not bad, a bit of a road trip film with two drifters who look to perform a heist with two other ageing criminals.

Some good classic cars and sequences and a surprising ending with the death of Lightfoot.

7/10

The One Show

Or better known as "what's the cheapest half hour of TV we can put on that nobody is going to care about".

Still I do watch it occasionally, and sometimes the reports are interesting - the studio guest always feels a bit forced, they are usually plugging something or other and really could not care about the issues being reported on.

Adrian Chiles is a man who has gone far, and I don't mind him. But I want him to earn that big salary that is reported. Last Friday his chance came, a remote link to the other presenter failed, camera back to Chiles. I thought "say something man! - this is your chance to earn that salary!". Cue awkward silence, and fumbling apology.

This is my "extra post" I need before 10 in December to make it 100 posts in 2009.

Trouble ahead

Trouble ahead and behind us, although it maybe the pending collapse of Dubai is just a symptom of what has gone previously. Still at least they know how to handle this sort of situation in paradise, go on holiday. Our lot would have spent the weekend cooking up short term fixes.

There is an interesting prisoner's dilemma building between the Labour goverment and Tory opposition. Neither wants to admit about the need to slash the public sector to even have a hope of making the repayments needed for the bank bailout.

Time for an independent body to scrutinize the pledges they make and see if they are credible.

Wikipedia - past it's peak?

Having read some reports that contributors were leaving Wikipedia, supposedly unhappy with the stricter review system, the talk is now that the site is to wither and die off.

This would be a real shame, despite inaccuracies I've always found very useful information on it and always been surprised by the coverage of topics even quite obscure things.

Go Nuclear - Take 2

An interesting piece on Newsnight about Britain's bid to now build 10 nuclear reactors in the next 20 years. It gave a report of Finland and their reactor project which is a few years behind schedule and on which we are basing our designs.

A reactor has never been built to time in this country, they are complex projects. Also it is probably a good example of the skills simply not existing in enough quantity to be able to do the projects that quickly (we have not looked after or maintained people with the skills, there has been no major construction of these things for tens of years).

Still none of this deterred the government representative who those the first reactor being online in 2017 was achievable. He made some points about keeping check on safety during construction rather than in the later stages as was the case in Finland.

Of course if it is not online by 2017, the lights could go out?

Paul Hart fired as Portmouth Manager

I feel I ought to track this, fired today Portsmouth get through another manager.

Probably should have seen this coming, Avram Grant in the wings as director of football. Hart had a tough time with most of the squad getting sold off in the summer, and all the financial uncertainty.

Still performances had been good, results poor - premiership survival hangs in the balance.

EU Presidency

I thought for the first time I saw the reason for this greater European integration. Politicians can absolve themselves of all that rather tedious getting elected because people want you to govern.

I would actually consider myself mildly pro-European, but the whole presidency thing with Blair and now some complete unknowns taking the reigns really makes me wonder on the democratic angle of it all. Brown was asked just this in a press conference and could only weakly say "well you've elected the 12 nations leaders, and we get to decide". Thanks do we need another House of Lords type arrangement?

A great mis-attributed quote as well from Henry Kissinger:

"Who do I call if I want to speak to Europe?"

Well just some also ran non elected representatives, is that alright?

Windows 7

I've not had much direct experience of Vista, having used it for about an hour in total setting up a laptop. Now I got the chance to do an upgrade from a new laptop from Vista to Windows 7.

It all went pretty smoothly, I have to say Microsoft have improved their O/S installation a lot over the years. Vista already installed did feel a little sluggish, and there's no excuse for that on the hardware involved.

So doing an install means I get to choose what I want to have on the machine, i.e. drop all the crapware that keeps on bringing up pop ups insisting on attention. Even so the amount of things that want to put a toolbar in the browser for you is annoying and I can see why normal users get bemused by it all.

I did play for a bit with Windows 7 itself, a few neat bits of UI - easy sizing of windows, the docking of windows on the taskbar. Nothing major though, I think Microsoft may have just rescued itself with this release.

Film: Unforgiven by Clint Eastwood

This film has got me out of a very bad run of films, Rocky and Dune, and a good chance to see an Eastwood film from the 90s that I never saw first time round.

A good story about a washed up gun fighter who is failing to make a living as a farmer returning to his previous trade to get justice (and a bounty) for the heads of two cowboys. It portrays a gritty hard life of the West and Eastwoods characters transformation from quiet life back to gunslinger.

Good paced film and locations, some great performances by Gene Hackman and Robert Harris also, a very worthy 8/10.

Go Nuclear!

Well at last our government has seen the light, or maybe the prospect of the lights going out.

It is a basic premise:

Renewables are not going to provide enough to meet our power demands because the wind is not always blowing.

The penny now seems to have dropped and I am not saying we should have no renewable sources but maybe something to back them up would have always been essential.

Up to 10 nuclear power stations are to be planned, with fast tracked planning. As Newsnight says it has only taken three Labour government terms to set this up.

Bank Transaction Tax

Gordon Brown has come up with a proposed tax for banking trade transactions that would be like an insurance for when they were to find themselves next in difficulty. It has to be a worldwide thing to work, and initially the signs are it has gone down like a lead balloon.

On the face of it it almost seems a good idea (from a government on it's way out at least). But it really is just another tax opportunity, the countless billions raised by government would not be held in reserved but squandered on the political whims of the day (ID cards anyone?).

Film: Dune by David Lynch

I was lent this on DVD, and I vaguely remember seeing it in the 1980s and remembered it was a perplexing complex film.

It was still complex, but I could now see the faults in the make up of the film - it really is over complicated, has a ridiculous religious saviour like sub plot and was pretty terrible but compelling because of this.

Still as a piece of film history it was interesting, seeing some actors like Patrick Stewart and a rare appearance by a odd looking Sting. Probably one to watch once just to say you have 4/10

Google and Android to take over GPS market

Some noise about Google moving in on the navigation market, and threatening companies like TomTom with downloadable apps that do the same thing.

I can see the advantage, once device to do it all - but there are downsides to having the maps just in time rather than always available, it would be a shame to see independent devices die. They can probably keep themselves differentiated enough to survive, just as cameras just about have even though every phone is also a camera now.

Blair for EU Presidency

Although Labour are trying to make this look like a good idea to have our own man in the post, I've got to say NO!

Blair would probably like the irony of having an unelected post higher than Brown's current post (also unelected!), but this just will not do. A man of great integrity and personal honesty, we would not be having the 1997 Blair, but the tarnished 2009 man.

That is a little unfair, but for what is a chairmans role can we just find someone a little less controversial and low key?

Podfather

Almost missed this great documentray on BBC4 with the stupidest ever title.

A really well presented history of one of the Intel founders Robert Noyce who died shortly after retiring in 1991. He was a pioneer of integrated circuits and really a founder of much of what Silicon Valley lives off today. In some ways in the right place at the right time, studying just as the transistor revolution was about to occur - he was a driven man, breaking away from a research group that could not see the point of the integrated circuit.

Working for Fairchild and then founding Intel, he took the fledgling company through some difficult times in the 60s and 70s. Classic lack of investment by the US saw Intel dropping out of memory production but staying the course with micro processors.

A really great history, I'd never heard of him like so many other people - but the industry owes him a huge debt.

PM Podcast 23 October

Ok I listened to the PM's podcast:

• We're still in recession on this quarters figures
• Tightening up on lending practices (no unaffordable mortgages, no credit card cheques, no unrequested raises in credit card limits)
• Bank bonus action
• Limit protectionism to help recovery

So (1) is a big disappointment, they thought it would be positive growth by now.
(2) is shutting that stable door firmly after the horse went about 4 years ago, and it could be counter productive to those with huge mortgages who might feel they deserve a softer landing when they come to remortgage.
(3) I'd like to see him try!
(4) No hope in hell.

Not a bad listen, almost sounded grave and Churchillian.

World's Least Listened to Podcast

A new contender for this award, I did not know Downing Street had a podcast:

http://www.number10.gov.uk/

Yes it's Gordon! Still 10/10 for use of technology, and I am going to give it a try.

One interesting point is what about the archive of "old shows", no politician likes to be reminded of saying something that did not then occur. In this case I think Brown is just starting out, the only link I could find was to Tony Blair's dabbling in the medium!

http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page12045

June 2007, we were a different country then...

Film: Rocky IV directed by Sylvester Stallone

Well a friend challenged me to watch this ridiculous film that has a cold war twist that is so overdone it was hard to take seriously in any way shape of form. Having seen it when he was much younger he always remembered what a good film it was, until he viewed again outside of the 80s and now as an adult.

It is forces of good versus evil stuff, but so unsubtle. Also the fight scenes are like with any Rocky, he manages to take more punishment in an entire fight that any other boxer would see in an entire career.

Reading about it on IMDB, Stallone's authenticity did improve for me where some of the scenes were real boxing and he was almost fatally injured in one of the shoots. Still not the sort of film you want to die making.

A lowly 3/10 now we are outside of the 1980s.

Watch England Play Ukraine

Live on the internet, 4.99 if you order ahead, 11.99 on the night and only 1 million subscribers can watch.

If IPTV is ever to succeed you definitely cannot limit the number of people that can view your event! I understand the reasons for doing it, but as a business model it is kind of having to price your customers out of the market to scale the demand.

Still I expect it will be a flop of an event, it will be interesting to know how many actually watched the game in this form...

Obama Nobel Prize

Much as I think he is a potential great president this is definitely a little too soon! Still it shows the power of a good speech, and also the benefit of following a lightweight Bush presidency that did much to harm America's image overseas.

I also think he know this is the case, but it would be hard to turn it down. I hope this is the motivation to pursue some of the things he has spoken of in terms of making the world a more peaceful place.

Mirco Men

Rather sadly I'd been looking forward to this look back at the micro computer boom of the 1980s. I did not think I would learn much however but I was wrong.

A very interesting history of the two companies Acorn and Sinclair. Sinclair is portrayed perhaps a little unfairly as a driven inventor whose ultimate aim is to produce an electric vehicle. Something we know he all did with bad results. I did not know the link between Curry and Sinclair and the early days of Sinclair Radionics being bailed out by the national enterprise board.

Still a classic British story of pioneering but failing to take share in the final market, i.e. the PC dominated world of today.

BAE Serious Fraud Office

This topic is back on the agenda. From what I have read it is about some shady deals in the companies past. Back in 2006 it was agreed not to pursue the inquiry because of national interests.

The company probably has done a lot of clean up their act - and also the practices of years ago simply do not work now. Of course I can never forgive them for Windows on warships - but that is more a technical gripe.

They do keep engineering jobs going in this country and we do pay a lot of our taxes through defence spending to this company. The biggest scandal in recent years has to be the cost overruns on some projects (submarines, Type 45, aircraft carriers) and not so much corrupt business deals.

It will interesting to see how this progresses.

Efficiency Savings over Spending Cuts

Just watching newsnight, and Paxman asks Darling "on efficiency savings can you give an example of any time in the last 10 years where this has ever been achieved".

Sad but true, although Ed Balls perhaps needs some praise for finding £2bn he can save in education. Not sure if that was a staged managed thing, a key ally showing willing by making some sacrifices.

Portsmouth Seven In a Row

Make that seven, beaten by Everton at home.

Wolves next, surely not eight?

Portsmouth Six In a Row

Well a new premier league record, six defeats on the trot. Not the kind of record you want, but one that will probably stand for a very long time!

A couple of the games have been close, and a little unlucky but you cannot help thinking the old adage of losing becoming a habit, and they've got the habit.

Championship football here we come.

Government Cuts

It has taken a long time but the parties in the UK are now talking about the public spending cuts they are going to have to make to balance the books after having taken on huge debts to fund the bank bailouts.

Some things are now been thrown up as suggestions of things "we could do without". Top of my list at the moment:

• ID Cards - Let's not spend billions with EDS to not have this work. There is no point in tracking the law abiding!
• Trident - Either extend what we have in terms of lifetime, or develop the subs but only deploy them in some other role with no warheads.

So there is £30 billion without even really trying.

Byte magazine of yesteryear

I used to be a regular reader of Byte magazine, until it was killed off in the late 1990s. It was a good publication with a good range of articles and was my way of getting some real world computer industry knowledge whilst doing a computing degree that was a little theoretical and devoid of practicals.

It's the only magazine I have kept from that time, and I sorted through them the other day stopping to look at the 20th anniversary edition from 1995. One amusing article on a high capacity VOD server (something we are only beginning to see now!), that had 8GB RAID based drives per server. The storage capacity jumps have been huge since these days - and again are a case of hardware outpacing software developments.

There was a list of the most influential people, of course Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs both featured. This was all pre iPod and Mac re-launches so there was some concern for Apple post-Newton.

It makes you realise what a fast paced industry it is, although in some respects we ignore the past at our peril - that is a bad trait of software in general.

Film: Stand By Me by Rob Reiner

A iconic film from 1986 with some famous actors in childhood acting roles. The tragic River Phoenix and Will Wheaton.

The plot is a light boyhood adventure to trek out of town to track down a dead body that they had heard about. In some ways the plot does it's best not to get in the way of the journey and story of the boys (which is told reflectively by the older self of one of the boys who is writing his account).

A very good film, with some great memories played out that most will remember from their own childhood 8/10.

MOD Radio Comms

A good story on the Register about the withdrawal/supplementing of the bespoke developed Cormorant system with an off the shelf replacement called RADWIN that seems to be easier to deploy and is more robust.

The former has cost 114 million to develop. This is truly staggering that it is not up to scratch. Although operational needs can never be truly anticipated, surely robust and must work in harsh conditions could not have been that far off the list of things required.

This is probably another lesson for off the shelf adaptation where the commercial sector can do something better and more cheaply than a dedicated development.

Product Placement - The Saviour of Commercial TV

I had not realised that product placement was not allowed in commercial TV programmes. Although I know programmes are allowed a "main sponsor" mentioned at the beginning of the show.

I can remember the first piece of product placement I saw and recognised it as placement. It was a really bad Chevy Chase film called "Spies like us", a scene in the film so Chevy eating a certain brand of potato chip.

This is supposed to bring back revenue to cash strapped ITV, but the only formula for that is to make programmes that people will watch and then advertisers will want to target. Also there is the question of who benefits from the advertising deal, the production company or the broadcaster. It'll be interesting to see what sort of programmes begin to see advertising "inline".

Jam Tomorrow

Well today actually, my friend has been busy picking Blackberries and my mother made some jam out of it. Not quite mass production but it's a start to increasing our neglected manufacturing base.

Borrowing Down

I read a few months ago mortgages were being repayed at record rates.

Well some hard facts on that, total outstanding mortgates fell by 400 million in July, which is great news (although we do all collectively owe a lot of money still!).

Personal loans as well, down by 600 million.

Some doubters saying that this will stop money going into the economy - but surely falling debt is worth having for long term stability.

BBC Restrictions

Much complaining by the private broadcasters about how the BBC is too powerful and stops them from offering their own pay for services (in terms of things like news, catch up services).

They see that the BBC's offerings are free.

No they are not they are paid for too! But I agree that maybe rather than having them paid through compulsion, it should be opt in somehow. That is going to be very hard to arrange though, and how on earth do you do it for online content (iPlayer, web news?).

Tough times, FTSE soars?

There is something not quite right here. The FTSE is just sat off 5000 points, but yet we are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and the heaviest government intervention in private banking ever.

So I'm not suprised it is being called a fool's rally. The substance it has may be based on companies staying profitable after having made cutbacks, but they cannot do that every quarter - eventually you have to drive profits through sales.

The double dip recession is being talked of, and maybe it's now looking more likely. Also on the brighter side there is the idea that the economic news is over reported because we have so many news feed channels now - so the situation always feels worse than it is.

Portsmouth already relegated?

Perhaps that is a little over pessimistic - and no matter what team they fielded of recent years Arsenal would always beat them (maybe not 4-1 as they did yesterday).

But it does feel their time in the premiership is coming to an end, I cannot complain though it has been a good ride. In truth it was probably more fun getting there than actually being there - where unless you can match the spending of top clubs your only hope each year is to survive.

They are facing difficult finances, and this begs the question where has all the money gone? Not a well run club or one with a sustainable future, it was always going to end this way.

Our worst export

I think a key problem in the West is that belief that democracy kind of works for us, so why cannot it not work elsewhere. But we seldom analyze why it works for us.

Democracy works for us because we've had all our main disputes, upheavals, and the we can all be considered a single entity as a country. We're not grouped as a collection of feudal warlords - those times have long passed for us.

So the worst form of all governments except all others that have been tried, as Churchill put it, is it a great idea for places like Afghanistan? We tend to see it as the thing that will stabilise a region.

Brown is tying all this to helping deal with the terrorist threat at home. Such a claim is very tenuous - we could probably acheive more by dealing with the extremists inside our country (those that could be persuaded that the life they lead in the west should be fought against).

I'd much rather he say the direct affect which is to help the people in that country - a noble enough claim in itself (just as was the case in former Yugoslavia).

Amercian Healthcare vs European

Typically hysterical news clips from America this week about healthcare reforms. Little in the way of factual presentation, but the usual advertising campaigns stirring up placard holding right wingers who "don't want to be taxed for other peoples illness"

How enlightened.

They are at least comparing themselves to other nations, typically European but call these "socialised healthcare" like it is a bit of a dirty concept. The case has not been overly helped by YouTube political sensation Daniel Hannan who had one clip of "I wouldn't wish the NHS on any country" as part of the "debate".

So I feel sorry for Obama, clearly wanting to help the millions with no access to expensive healthcare insurance - America always has a fend for yourself attitude that comes to the fore. Of course the media do not help by focusing on the extremes to get their story.

Book read: Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama

I was lent this earlier Obama book written around 1995. Re-published with greater success in 2004 once his name was better known.

An interesting read of his family background and the stages in his life where he found out more about his family history. The book divides into the places in America he lived and ends on a trip back his roots in Kenya.

The book centres arounds his search for a better idea of who his father was - having only met him once. It turns out he was a complex character who had gone to America to study, married a white American and subsequently returned home. The complexity seemed to stem from a grandfather who was playing both sides of the tribal and colonial influences on Kenya.

Beyond this the book is an interesting read on Africa, how the west has affected it - the friction of colonial rule (for example inventing taxes that forced the tribal people to work for the white man so that he could pay them).

Overall it reassured me more that this man is now president, someone with some real world experience and clearly a deep thinker on issues outside of America.

Microsoft search engine

Another search engine relaunch at Microsoft. At least one thing to commend it is they have managed to come up with a name other than "Search" calling it Bing. I always wonder about the product naming at Microsoft, "hey what shall we call our new word processor?", - "Word!".

Still some imagination used here, I've tried it a bit and it is fine but not different enough to make me think it is going to give me a different experience or results. In fact it feels more direct rip off - which is a shame if there is a lot of effort behind the scenes on the actual searching technology. It is even a tongue in cheek beta.

There are some other less well backed engines that are promising to do different indexing and maybe it would have been too risky for MS to follow this approach, the reports at the moment are that they are taking market share off places like Yahoo.

So the doubling up of functionality offered by these two giants continues, one cannot have a browser without the other, an OS, and now search.

Microsoft search engine

Another search engine relaunch at Microsoft. At least one thing to commend it is they have managed to come up with a name other than "Search" calling it Bing. I always wonder about the product name at Microsoft, "hey what shall we call our new wordprocessor?", - "Word!".

Still some imagination used here, I've tried it a bit and it is fine but not different enough

Series: Dekalog by Krzysztof Kieslowski

This year I've been watching a polish drama series from the 1980s by the director of the three colours series of films.

Each film is very loosely about one of the ten commandments in an everyday context. I say loosely because the film does not overplay the religious background context.

As usual a bleak Polish setting that is bought to life by the characters and their lives, the films are very well directed and filmed.

Kieslowski himself died in the mid 1990s and probably his distinct directing style has died too - so it felt like a piece of TV history watching in 2009. Interesting series (he calls them a "cycle" in his interviews, as they each stand alone).

Lost Generation?

Plenty of coverage in the news this week about how tough it is for current graduates to get jobs. I have plenty of sympathy, I remember the job market of the early 90s was tough.

I saw one interview where the graduates almost had a "because I've done this I should be able to get a job in this area" attitude. I know that will not be true of most graduates and media always picks extreme cases to get a story but it did seem to be slightly warped logic - there are no guarantees in life no matter how much it would be nice to have them.

I think the larger worry for the UK is that we have expanded higher education without much thought for what we were actually teaching. Consequently our skill base is probably skewed and inappropriate for what industry would consider were the needs. We have also let other equally valuable training and education opportunities dwindle (the often talked about apprenticeships or work based training).

The lost generation tag is a little over played though, but a generation that has to compromise a little in career choice? Not such a headline but closer to the truth.

Book read: My Trade by Andrew Marr

I previously had read a history of modern Britain by Marr and really enjoyed it. This book is older written in 2004 and is about journalism from the early days to the modern era.

It gives good historical details about how papers developed, and how they took advantage of improved communications to far flung places and correspondents. It also goes into detail about the modern journalist and how things have changed in Marr's working life.

It sometimes paints a bleak picture for "hacks" with big business running papers and caring little for the people who write the stories - a very hire and fire business it seems. Also the dumbing down of the newspaper and a slow death of dedicated foreign journalism. It is not all doom and gloom though, the lower end of the paper market is dying leaving only the more serious papers in years to come.

I had not known the Marr himself was an editor for a paper, during a turbulent time too and he describes what that was like in detail.

Overall a good read, thought provoking and well written.

Google OS

A not unexpected news story that Google is to launch an operating system. Well it sounds like a browser centric Linux based kernel OS. So much simplified and targeted at people who spend a lot of time online.

Be interesting to see how this develops, a chance to recapture the netbook market a little. Presumably will be free and will need tie in deals with manufacturers - a place where Microsoft have their anti competitive stranglehold.

Book read: Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman by J Glieck

A book I've had for a few years but never quite finished, I had the time to read it entirely. It is part Feynman biography and part summary of the history of particle physics. The books is divided into the posts that Feymann held. After describing his early years, the chapters divide MIT, Princeton, Los Alamos (the war years), Cornell, and Caltech.

For me he will be best known for the Challenger enquiry and helping discover the problem with the O-rings on the rocket boosters (something the engineers already knew but management had chosen to ignore). But his work prior to this outshines this, winning the Nobel prize in 1965, and then having worked on the atom bomb during the war.

His working methods were unique, encouraging building up theories from the basics of what is known, and not being led too much by existing work. I think this is because he felt that would stifle original thought and insight. I got the impression only a portion of what he knew or had discovered was ever published - colleagues would often encourage him to write a paper over a blackboard discussion.

The saddest part of the book is the death of his first love Arline from tuberculosis - very moving. It also described the helplessness he must have felt when he was trying to research her illness in vain. He was to marry again, to an English woman who he met while in Europe.

Carrier cost overrun

Perhaps not the most surprising news story of the year, the new aircraft carriers have added £1bn to their cost.

Digging a little deeper it seems to be the extended delivery time and the need to keep fixed costs running for longer is the cause. It is a lot of money though, in a time when every department is being asked to cut back.

I do not doubt that they will be built, but I feel sorry for the places that will see the cost cutting - presumably places in the military that could do with not losing funding.

Book read: The Great Crash 1929 by J.K Galbraith

I bought this book a few years ago but only read a couple of chapters. Returning to it now I've completed the 200 pages in one day.

A very concise and detailed history of the stock market boom and bust of the 1920s. It details the roles of institutions, the mentality of private investors, and the US government.

Essentially a stock bubble got out of control and investors never believed that a stock could ever fall. But of course it did with devastating consequences and a 10 year depression. Galbraith details the phases of the collapse from the panic selling, to the propping up by the banks, to the despair and acceptance of the permanent falls.

He goes into some technical details but these are never overwhelming, describing the practice of buying on margin, investment trusts that used leverage all of which worked well on the way up but made the situation worse on the way down.

There are some warnings and echoes for the current economic situation, particularly the relay of the reports of "things are getting better" when they seldom were.

The book itself was written 1954 and has remained a classic. I was intrigued to read the Galbraith himself lived a long life, dying in 2006:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Kenneth_Galbraith

Book read: Existentialism and Humanism J.P Sartre

I was lent this short book that covers a lecture given by Sartre in the late 1940s that attempts to explain existentialism to a wider audience.

I've been watching some lectures on the subject, and I think that made the material easier to grasp but it still needed careful thought. The lecture winds between the existence of a God who sets and guides our morals and actions, and the notion that we are in fact in charge of our own actions and framework of morals. It poses mainly questions, but these make you think and make you feel a little ashamed you have not thought of them before.

The book ends with a question and answer session, with one question running to many pages!

Overall a good read but only if you have some background knowledge first.

Iraq war inquiry

In the past week this has been announced. There are probably a few motivations for it:

• Bad poll ratings, and general poor performance of the government. As a friend of mine said if Brown was 20 points ahead in the polls we probably would not have an inquiry.
• Make some of the decision makers take account for their actions. It is an open secret that we went to war on the flimsiest of evidence.

In some ways it is not a bad thing to review the decision making, but it will be at great expense and I am sure many of the outcomes will already be obvious.

The behind closed doors aspect is a little weak, and the comparison back to the Falklands inquiry is bogus (this was also held in private). The world has changed too much for the public to trust an inquiry performed like that.

Walk away tomorrow

Gordon Brown was saying that he could easily do this and not miss the trappings of power. Sort of a move to make us think how lucky it is he is in charge.

Why wait until tomorrow, do it today instead!

On a more serious point I often wonder what drives these people to stay on in hopeless situations, I suppose it is a lifetime of ambition and not knowing when you are beaten.

Red button interactive

Or green button to cancel the icon and get the picture back of what you are watching (they don't tell you this as much, if at all).

This is the digital TV tension between trying to sell you something or value add in your front room versus allowing you to just watch the content you paid for.

This is where there needs to be a clear distinction between the broadcasting business and the supplier of the STB, platforms are tightly controlled now - but any DTV box needs:

1. Ability to turn interactive off.
2. Refusal to download content on demand (pushing stuff you don't necessarily want).
3. Disable live pause, useful for some, a pointless disk spinner for many.

Brown wagons in a circle

Brown has just about survived I think, just from the grace of a few cabinet ministers who want to stay on a bit longer before getting voted out at the polls.

I think at times like this there should be a way of triggering an election, beyond just party infighting. I'm not sure how it would work though, fixed term parliaments would be a better thing for one - maybe that would be enough.

So we have a year of an inward looking government that will not have full attention on running the country. I feel sorry for Brown in some ways, but he has bought it upon himself. The title of worst Prime Minister of contemporary times is yours.

BBC expenditure

I think this maybe the next area where scrutiny falls, how does all the licence fee tax get spent?

You cannot fault BBC for providing good service, although maybe in recent years it has been more ratings chasing rather than taking risks and providing good original programming. I still feel more fairer split of the licence revenue amongst production companies would be better.

So I am hoping this will be the next area, if only to even up the coverage of the Commons.

Reform stampede

Labour and the Conservatives are falling over each other trying to promote reform of the Commons (and other institutions).

Some of the things I heard today:

- A constitution
- Reform of the Lords
- Reform of other public institutions (why should they miss out?)

The list went on, really all rather surprising - maybe another deflection tactic, many of the things to be proposed will have been obvious for years to the outside.

Listening: Best of Cream

Listening to this collection of original recordings from Cream. Some memorable tracks on it and songs which were later made famous by advertising usage.

As with all old recordings the production does sound quite limited and basic. Of course this reflects on the technology of the time, but it always leaves me feeling slightly let down by the recording (again we are spoilt by modern techniques).

Tax returns - tax deductible

A while ago I posted on the fact that accountancy charges for tax returns should be tax deductible, i.e. you pay for them from the tax you have already paid.

http://dontgetdemoralised.blogspot.com/2009/02/tax-returns-tax-deductible.html

The reasoning was that it would provide a motivation to make taxes simpler.

It turns out that MPs already are "piloting" this scheme, charging their tax affairs to the expense budget.

Shame we had to find out about it through a freedom of information request!

Newcastle relegated

Yesterday Newcastle along with Middlesbrough and West Brom were relegated.

There is certainly smaller sides that could have gone down, but it is not about that. Newcastle in particular have been in self destruct mode all year. Alan Shearer came too late either to do anything or to take the blame for anything (he has however presented himself well as a manager).

It is sad to see a side that has historically provided some of the best premier league games drop out, but in their current state having them survive and have another year of turmoil seems unfair to the memory.

Despite the great games, they won nothing in their latest top flight run. Next year now presents a massive chance, rebuild around things that are sustainable, and get a team that can win the championship. The fans will also learn that there is football outside of the top league, and probably find that it is more fun getting there then actually playing in the premiership.

Film: Star Trek by J J Abrams

I went to see the new Star Trek yesterday, having heard it was another rebirth of a franchise. Overall it was not a bad film, and worth seeing for the special effects alone. They are impressive but not so overdone that they take over the film.

But overall I felt a little disappointed, I am by no means a hard core Trekkie. The good points:

• It is a wind back of the clock to what made the original series popular, action and lots of it. None of the endless diplomacy of the next generation
• The characters of the old series are pretty well done, Spock, McCoy, Kirk, and Scotty in that order (Scotty is somewhat of a placeholder and put in to deliver a few jokes).
• There are some good respectful references to the old series (not least the use of Nimoy as his future self).
• Franchise wise it does make up for those who were disappointed with the really poor Star Wars films.
  

The bad points:

• At times it did feel a bit Independence Day hyped, which made it difficult to see as a Star Trek film.
• Kirk is overplayed as a chancer who gets his breaks because of some innate talent that we can never quite put our finger on. Had he joined Starfleet in the way he had done I would hope he would be cleaning toilets for the first few years!
• The use of the Nimoy adds a time dimension to the plot which is a little tenuous.
• Absurd initial sequence where the father of Kirk gets to name his newborn while ploughing to his death in a spaceship.
  

Overall worth seeing for the visuals and the characters if not the slightly weak plot, 6/10

Not feeling sorry for MPs

Not after seeing tonight's news, MP's in the house deflecting the criticism onto the speaker by asking him to resign!

Not very honourable, but I suppose these are desperate times. Still it would make history, it has not happened for 300 years apparently.

Listening: Magic Hour by Cast

Finally got round to changing to a new CD in the car, Test for echo has lasted for too long.

This is a great CD with track after track of good music. I would not have thought Cast could have produced an album like this, but I am glad they did.

However reading up on this CD, it was a commercial flop - failed to sell even 60000 copies. That is a surprise, I think it deserved better than that but it was released toward the end of the Brit Pop phase.

(Almost) Feeling Sorry for MPs

I'm almost feeling sorry for the MP's over their expense fraud, ok not fraud but "gaming" the current too lax rules.

The papers have really picked on the cases that are clear abuses and are beyond the spirit of the current rules. But I think this will be a minority of MPs - well at least I hope it is. I can imagine many MPs hand this kind of thing off to their accountants who will play the rules on behalf of the client. In the real world the revenue are always adjusting rules to close loop hole exploits. But it is hard to think of a profession where 50% of your earnings are from expenses (on top of an already reasonable public service salary).

It does however send a clear message to our elected representatives, this episode has gone down very badly in the wider country, and a lot of respect will have been lost.

Difficult to know how to repair the situation, better regulation, more open systems of expenses will work in the future - but do not really do much to mend the damaged reputations.

Government Spending

We are getting primed for some tough decisions, given that we've backed our banks and landed ourselves with years worth of debt.

People might have to work longer, funding might get cut for key projects, it is a story of woe.

But one small ray of light, ID cards might get scrapped - now there is a project that could do with a cancellation. It will save billions in IT mismanagement and contracts, and nobody will notice the difference.

I sometimes wonder if our goverment keeps such projects alive for situations like this!

Book read: The (Mis)Behaviour of Markets but Benoit Mandlebrot and Richard Hudson

I've just finished this book that looks into economic theory and puts a case for applying fractal techniques for financial modelling.

It paints a pretty gloomy picture of ecomonics, an over reliance on theories that have long since been disproved by events (rational investors, price change independence, normal distributions the list is long). It makes one good comparison with Astronomy where observation drives the theory - in the case of economics the theories often ignore the observations!

The book also puts a case for using fractal techniques in modelling of a stock price. It has to be said it never really gets beyond a high level description of this, probably all that can be expected from a layman guide.

Any such techniques would probably only be an advantage for a while, since widespread use would then ensure that the expectation would be "priced in" to the stock.

Not a bad read, some good historic examples, 7/10

Lame duck primeminister take 2

I wrote about this a year ago, a year later things have not improved. Aside from weathering the financial crisis, Brown is facing a party crisis and and inquest over his inner circle.

Eventually you have to ask yourself what does he want to go down in history for? Blair I think always had the idea of further European unity - luckily the single currency never materialised more pressing things about backing America in a bizarre war on terror in Iraq came first, and eventually did for him.

Still Blair would have you point to a few things that made him a good prime minister - minimum wage. better health care investment, and it would be unfair to quibble here.

But Brown? Unless there is a near miraculous turnaround in fortune he could go down as the worst in history - and given our history that is an awful epitaph.

Photo: USS Theodore Roosevelt

Last week this carrier was staying over in the Solent. It coincided with Obama's visit to Europe, and it was returning to Virginia from deployment.

Not much notice that it was arriving, and it stayed for a few days. Took this photo, it made a very imposing presence on the horizon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Theodore_Roosevelt_(CVN-71)

Photo: Farleigh Hungerford Castle

This is my 100th post, and I've not put enough photos on my blog (in all honesty I hardly take any).

This was a castle I visited in Somerset in 2006, and I took this - which was a good shot of the derelict turret. The castle dates from the 1370s and is a great example of the depths of British history. The Hungerford family certainly had a very colourful background!

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.16178

Photo: Farleigh Hungerford Castle

This is my 100th post, and I've not put enough photos on my blog (it all honesty I hardly take any).

This was a castle I visited in Somerset in 2006, and I took this - which was a good shot of the derelict turret. The castle dates from the 1370s and is a great example of the depths of British history. The Hungerford family certainly had a very colourful background!

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.16178

Tech Company Consolidation - part 2

The IBM-Sun takeover seems to have died off, leaving a question of who would fill their place. But it seems rumours of Oracle buying up Sun are building. This also does not sound a bad place for them to go. Oracle despite all their faceless corporate image are big open source users and contributers, certainly in the same league as IBM.

Some concerns for MySQL if the deal does go ahead, I think the purchasing by Sun originally was a strange move. The moves Sun has made in open sourcing many of it's closed technologies is really impressive, but it would be very sad if the company ended up failing without seeing any benefit from doing this. If this were to occur the very question of why open source would be asked by other companies and that is a bad thing. Certainly the business models in an open source market are a long way from being refined, Sun are certainly proving that.

Piracy

More news this week of ship hijacking off the coast of Somali. We do have some of our limited surface fleet patrolling - a Type 23.

But it is probably going to get to the stage where we need a much bigger influence in such areas. It would also be a chance for the Navy to redefine what it is for, as it has struggled in recent years without a perceived threat from the sea. Although not having a reasonable surface presence for this sort of threat is probably the reason why piracy is now such an issue.

Lewis Page wrote an interesting article last year about this subject.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/13/retro_piracy_brouhaha_discussed/

Where he sums up what it would take to have a better anti piracy role. He also describes a cultural thing of there being not much interest in having helicopter and marine carrying platforms in the upper echelons of the Navy. Helicopters for fast intercept, and marines for boarding parties - neither of these create posts for the RN's officer career ladder.

Definitely time for a change if the RN wants to react and regain a role.

World Population

I saw an article today with David Attenborough wanting to limit the world's population, with an attempt at families to stop at two offspring.

It is of course easy to think of over population in terms of developing countries only where larger families (and high mortality rates) are common. But it is always too easy to think of how these countries could solve the problem without taking some of the medicine in the western world.

Thinking purely in UK terms, the population stands at 60 million with some 600+ people per square mile according to Wikipedia (2007 estimate, 2 million above 2001 census). I think it is probably fair to say that most families do not extend beyond two children - we do have an over state supported class who would be able to break those limits (after all children are expensive).

So there comes a hard decision already right on our doorstep, how do you reduce the population in these areas to just two - when so many of your support structures make having children on state aid an incentive.

I'm not saying I know an answer, nor am I getting at this group for being the cause of the issue as that is an over simplification. It is just hard to see how a party could make this a policy of any sort. In the end any behaviour change has to be partly through incentives by government.

Volunteer work

A bit of news today about Brown being keen for teenagers to have completed 50 hours of voluntary work before the age of 19.

I'm not against it, it sounds a good idea. Unfortunately some parts of the press have connected "compulsory" and "voluntary work" in their headlines. This shows how hard it is to do anything right when the chips are very much down as leader.

The headlines did make me smile, bought back memories of teachers at school "right I need 3 volunteers, you, you and you".

Book read: Trafalgar the biography of a battle by Roy Adkins

I always feel I do not read enough history, and I was lent this book. I had tried reading other books around this era (Napoleon, and the Great Game) and this book describes the battle of Trafalgar where the Spanish and French combined fleets were defeated.

It was a surprisingly emotional read, describing both the battle, some of the characters, and the death of Nelson. Although Nelson knew this was his last battle at sea the book gives the impression he knew he was not to return to England alive.

The author gives a detailed description drawn from various accounts of the battle. Some of the signals such as the famous "England expects" are described in detail. Nelson had wanted the signal to sound like a personal message so had wanted to have "confides" but the flags were too complex!

Life at sea was very brutal and conditions were harsh on board ship. However it gave some extra comforts as life back in England was also not good for the average person. The author uses a good technique of tracing the death of some of the participants years after the battle, their obituaries often made national news.

Mention also goes to Collingwood who stayed at sea to enforce the blockade of ports. He died some years later, but never set foot on land after the battle.

Health Checks for Over 40s

This was an interesting news story at the weekend. The NHS is to start to offer health checks for over 40s. When you think about it we do this for other areas of health (dentistry and eyesight). Both of these areas have far better early warning systems too (tootache and poor vision), whereas general health you wait for symptoms before going to see your doctor.

There was some doubt as to whether this would create a flood of new cases. Maybe initially but surely treating early symptoms is better than treating more established illnesses.

Of course this news story struggled to get much airtime, what with the Home Secretary getting the tax payer to pay for adult movies!

Tech Company Consolidation

Plenty of press about IBM's possible take over of Sun. I'm not sure what I think yet but I suppose my main feeling is that less competition would be a bad thing.

Sun have some good technologies of late, but spent too long at the end of last century and the beginning of this drifting. I can remember Solaris being taken off x86 and then coming back that must have lost customers. Although Java is successful they do not seem to have benefited that much from it - which is a real shame. Maybe the success serverside was not their original intention for it as it struggles as a browser based technology.

The hardware business probably does well although they seem to have cut prices to stay in the game. The open source acquistions and the support of open source has yet to pay off - and again this is a real shame.

So what do IBM want, the thinking seems to be Java, some features of Solaris, with MySQL and other acquired technologies just a nice to have. Will have to wait and see whether the deal is made.

Listening: Test for Echo by Rush

A Rush album from 1996 that I've been listening too. I remember not liking it that much when it first came out - but it does have a few good tracks on it Test for echo, Half the world, Driven, and Resist.

Also from a band perspective this was the album before all the sad events for Peart and so happier times. It really goes back to their rock roots and keyboards are largely missing.

Film: Gran Torino by Clint Eastwood

Eastwood directs and plays a disgruntled war veteran in a US neighbourhood that has mainly migrant families. The film starts with the funeral of his wife, and the wake back at the family home. There we meet his family and the estrangement he feels from their modern way of life and taking of all their freedoms for granted.

The film then takes on the racial divide with him slowly getting to know his neighbours and their traditions, and the problems of street gangs by providing a begrudging role model for their wayward son who had attempted to steal his 1972 Gran Torino.

The film has a showdown ending with Eastwood taking on the problem gang in a sacrificial way to obtain justice after the gang had drive by shot at son's home.

Saw this at the cinema and it was a chance to pay homage to what will probably be his last film appearance.

A good well paced film 8/10.

Film: The Hustler by Robert Rossen

The classic 1961 film of Paul Newman playing Fast Eddie Felson as a pool hustler who meets his match in Minnesota Fats having had the beating of him. He loses everything and has to build his way back acquiring a love interest who is troubled by alcholism, and a manager who is looking to take his cut from his winnings.

A really good film, great dialogue and scenes - simple sets and settings, allowing the script and acting to shine through even more.

A 9/10 must have seen film.

Microsoft EU ruling

I read an article that stated the EU may request Microsoft to supply alternatives to the applications that they provide for free in the OS (the browser being a prime example). Even to the point of allowing it to be installed from media.

Other rulings have already forced Microsoft to allow alternative browsers and e-mail clients (to the point where an application can register as one of these types). I think that is enough, they should not disallow a competing application from running or having access to the APIs the internally developed application has (that was always a bone of contention, some of it unfortunate, some maybe intentional advantage protection).

Oscars Slumdog Millionaire

It would be nice to see this film do well at the Oscars tonight. From what I've heard it raises awareness of India's stark difference between rich and poor.

But I hope it does not end there, I think the west has for too long been prepared to take the cheap labour which would not be so cheap if it had a government that had to maintain a standard of living for all. It would be nice to see out sourcers having this mandated on them by our goverments - it would not solve the whole problem but it would show at least some responsibility goes with globalisation.

The carriers

Although their position seemed secured, there is the possibility of the RAF wanting to scrap the remaining Harriers much sooner - in order to get Eurofighter into something more useful, a ground attack capability as well as air to air. If the RAF do that then they maybe unwillinging to commission the F-35B, which is what is due to serve on the carriers.

In some ways as a cost saving measure it makes sense, but it does put the Navy in the situation of having no significant fixed wing air capability and no prospect of getting it without a lot of capital investment. Alongside that the expensive T-45 will eat into budgets.

So watch this space, will the carriers ever be built?

Film: Man on Wire by James Marsh

A documentary film about tightrope walker Philippe Petit's illegal high wire act between the twin towers in New York in 1974.

This film has some great archive footage of similar walks in Sydney at the Harbour Bridge and Paris at Notre Dame. The film also charts the planning and execution of what the team called "the coup". Phillippe himself is interviewed extensively and really brings the story to life. Members of the team and his girlfriend also provide interviews.

The earlier attempts have video footage but the WTC just has some still photos as evidence. This adds to the mystique of it all and the one off nature of the attempt.

There were clearly some creative tensions between the director and Philippe over details that could be included. He wanted much more description of the wire placing and setup, after all for him it was a matter of life and death; I think they get a reasonable balance between detail and story - although some may wish for more detail.

Good watching and an exceptional piece of history 8/10

100% mortgages to be discouraged

As decided by our Prime Minister Gordon Brown. I'm glad that stable door has been shut.

If only he had said it in the up of the lending cycle, a lot less people would be facing a lot less hardship. After all these are the people most likely to feel the pinch on any market price adjustments.

One commentator I read has been saying for a while that bank bosses need to be interviewed to ascertain the expected losses, and failure to disclose would mean loss of liberty - prison. This seemed a bit extreme to me when he first said it, but given the position of the country has now been so compromised for so many years - I think it is justifiable.

Banks bailout

It has been a weekend of talk over a possible nationalisation of Lloyds which was the solvent bank that took over HBOS only to find now the losses were a bit more than expected.

The best case I've heard for stronger regulation is the fact the the banks were all relying on a guarantee that would (eventually) be underwritten by the taxpayer. In effect we always should have had a golden share - a casting vote, since in the event of failure it would be down to us to support the banks. This had been forgotten since the guarantee had never been called upon - until now.

In some ways I do not mind the city bonuses, other than they are reward for short term gain and not for doing anything sustainable. Weapons of mass destruction were never found but we uncovered financial instruments of mass destruction, right under our noses.

Tax returns - tax deductible

I might have to do a tax return this year. The UK has a really over complex tax system, and people usually employ an accountant to get things done. The thing is you then have to spend some extra money to do this.

Faced with this prospect I had a good idea. Why not make accountants fees tax deductible? That way the government would have to regulate accountants from charging too much. There would be a motivation for the government to reduce tax complexity - because simpler tax returns can be filed quicker and cost less. The bonus for me is I do not have to pay for the return I pay out of my tax for it.

A winner all round I think - but the chances of that happening in the UK?

Tony Adams fired as Portsmouth manager

Also Scolari was fired from Chelsea today, they are in a disastrous fourth position in the Premier league (!)

But the history books will say that Adams had a short stay at Portsmouth. I feel he was unlucky and I would have liked to see him do well. Definitely a guy who has fought his demons and come through it.

My only doubts about him would have been future signings and attracting players - but he never got the chance at 16 games.

Clemenceau at breakers yard

This old French carrier is now at a breakers yard on Teeside, apparently too toxic for Eygpt or India to take on and dismantle. So here's one thing that is difficult to outsource! I think the facility at Teeside has also some ex US navy ships which were also in a similar situation.

I hope our working conditions are good enough, and if so it is not a bad trade for the UK to be in. Having seen how badly PCB's can be "recycled" in India with little regard for workers health it is time we showed some responsibility and cared more about conditions in those countries (rather than just the bottom line). It almost needs goverment intervention to insist on at least equivalent working conditions - if not pay.

Book read: The audacity of hope by Barack Obama

I think this book will be the most bought book by a politician; I do hope it does not end up like a Brief History of Time where it is only half read.

A really good personal account of his life and political career that gives some really sharp analysis of America's problems and successes and lays out a way forward. I only knew a little about Obama pre-election, I made a point of watching his speech in Berlin. I knew then he was something special, delivering a flawless speech.

An undertone of the book is certainly race, but he readily admits failings as well as areas where minorities have been ill served.

I'm impressed how much Obama knows of the world outside America. This is from his upbringing and living outside the states as a child. He certainly will not be an inward looking president.

A thought provoking book, 8/10.

HMS Daring - Portsmouth

The first Type 45 was handed over this week from sea trials. The first new ship into the Royal Navy this century - this says a lot. They are only due to build 6 of these ships (down from the original 12), they sound very capable - but time will tell.

Portsmouth out of the FA cup

Beaten 2-0 at home by Swansea City. The holders are out of the cup, what a difference a year can make.

Trident Replacement

An interesting discussion in the week about the point of replacing the British nuclear deterrent. Some ex-service chiefs have come out and said the weapon of last resort, would in fact never be used as a last resort so what is the point in spending the money to replace it? Also the fact that we could never truly use it independently and we would only do so with the combined action of America.

The best argument I heard for keeping it was that the money saved is in fact a small percentage of the defence budget over the many years the investment would be made (it gets quoted at about £18bn). Hence the money saved would unlikely be reinvested into more urgent forms of defence by the government of the day. The other argument are weaker, and are based around "seats at the high table" - which in today's world is nonsense.

I think there is a case for scaling down, 4 submarines all of which do not have any other role other than to sit in dock and wait out at sea is probably too much. Why not 4 submarines, two fitted for the role, and two fitted with something we would more likely use like a cruise missle boat - the extra two could be converted back in a world of a higher nuclear threat.

CES Keynote

I watched the keynote last year from Microsoft. I thought I should watch this year with the arrival of Ballmer in place of the stepped down Gates. They both sound extremely similar, a rather high pitched voice - maybe that is a trait of where they are from.

The presentation was all about the convergence of PC, mobile, and TV. A common theme in recent years and everyone in the industry is probably dreading the day that Microsoft finally gets it right.

There are some signs of that, but also some signs of a misfiring monolith. The highlights I could see were:

1. Windows Live - a demo of the new desktop, to us this is Vista when they should have shipped it, but of course it is touted as all new.
2. Touch interface, maybe this will be big - it looked a bit clumsy in demo (small icons, needing precise fingers) and the globe application shown is probably one of the few that would benefit.
3. Server did not get a mention, replaced by the ubiquitous "cloud" phrase - they really could do with disowning this!
4. Easier Home networking, if they've done this right it is not a moment too soon.
5. A rather enlightened data, application, device mantra. Not like them at all, but I don't believe I'll get my data if I stop using their application!
6. Some strange stats on usage of things. Zune 2 million, 10 million unique media centre downloads per month. Only 20 million Windows phones sold. MediaRoom only 2.5 million worldwide. This all sounds lightweight.
7. Xbox 360 makes up for this, 28 million units, now at the right price point, live service doing well - they have got this right and will reap the rewards.

All in all not a bad presentation, but just at the end as Ballmer began to talk about Moore's law turning from processor speed to number of cores and a shift in how software was written - my Silverlight plugin stopped working! Let's not get ahead of ourselves Microsoft.

Insurance - the quoting game

I had to renew by buildings and contents cover for another year. Of course the existing insurer had written to me with their "offer". This offer seemed very expensive (doesn't it always?) - so I went direct to who they were insuring from and got an offer £200 cheaper.

In the past the original insurer would ring up and ask why I was not renewing. When I say I got a cheaper offer they would say "we could have done cheaper".

What a racket! I would make it law that the quote an insurer makes cannot change once it has been issued - so essentially their first quote must be their best quote right from the start!

There's bound to be some Freakonomics problem to this, but it would cut down blatant profiteering.

Return to Guildford Dec 2008

First post of this year, but something I did in December last year. I studied in Guildford and have returned infrequently. I always forget the last time that I have, mainly because the time between visits is years.

So a bit of Christmas shopping and a walk over campus to the cathedral. Most famous for appearing in "The Omen", but for me the place I had my graduation.

Some things had changed, some things were very familiar - it was a nice trip.

I even took a camera phone picture of the catherdral, of the steep steps I used to walk up of a Sunday night when returning for a week of work.