Word of the day: maven

November 19th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

A maven is a trusted expert in a particular field who seeks to pass knowledge on to others.

The word is topical just now because NASA has launched a mission to Mars and called it Maven – see here. In this case, the word is intended to be an acronym for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution but the choice of words was clearly intended to evoke the notion of the spacecraft as a trusted expert.

I first came across the term maven seven years ago when it was suggested that, in a sense, it applied to me – see here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (1)

A tale of two nations: 14% vs 0.7%

November 18th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

So Britain is now coming out of its long recession, right? And everyone is starting to feel less pressured financially, right? No way.

The latest survey from Incomes Data Services reveals that the total remuneration package for top executives increased by 14% in the last year, while the increase in average wages in the same period went up by a mere 0.7% – more details here.

So the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and income inequality gets wider and wider. This can’t go on.

Posted in British current affairs | Comments (0)

A review of the new American movie “The Butler”

November 17th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

I have reviewed this worthy but flawed film here.

Posted in Cultural issues | Comments (0)

Can you imagine a television programme on life in a cul-de-sac? (3)

November 15th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

A month and a half ago, I did a posting about being contacted by a television production company interested in making a documentary about living in a cul-de-sac. This was a follow up to a posting I did seven years ago!

Well, things have moved on. Following my circulation of a flyer about the programme idea to all the houses in our crescent, half a dozen neighbours have been in touch with the Oxford film company Landmark Films. Today the street was visited by researcher Jess, cameraman Sam, and work experience student Rosie.

They interviewed Vee and I on camera sitting in front of my computer and they did similar interviews with a number of our neighbours. The idea now is to pitch the programme idea to the BBC.

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

When the going gets tough, then the tough get going (if not now, then soon)

November 14th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

Almost two years ago, I was appointed the independent Chair of the Customer Challenge Group at South East Water which supplies drinking water to 2.1 million customers in Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire. Our prime role is to challenge the construction and composition of the Business Plan for 2015-2020 which the company will be submitting to the regulator Ofwat on 2 December. The deadline for the CCG report is the same.

Unlike most CCG Chairs, I have chosen to draft the report myself. The drafting itself is not a problem – I’ve written many submissions to regulators and Government Departments and even wrote a book once. But most of the subject matter is relatively new to me and complex, there are many pieces of customer research to consult, and there are repeated drafts of the company’s Business Plan of around 250 pages to study and reference.

I am currently working on Draft 6 of the report and at the moment it runs to 80 pages.

So this has been the most intense three-month period of work since I technically took early retirement almost 12 years ago. In such circumstances, I wanted to have a holiday to which to look forward – and regular readers of NightHawk will know that I love to travel to foreign countries.

Therefore I have just booked a three-week holiday for Vee and me which will involve a guided tour of five countries in Central America: Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. This will be early in 2014.

If you’ve been to any of these countries and have some tips or you live there and have some advice, do post a comment or e-mail me.

Posted in My life & thoughts | Comments (3)

If you’re thinking of Christmas presents for children …

November 13th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

… you’re not alone. So am I.

I have no connection with this company, but – just a tip – I’ve bought a number of games from The Happy Puzzle Company.

Posted in Miscellaneous, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

How many people should go to prison?

November 12th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

At one level, the answer might seem obvious: it depends how many people commit a crime attracting a prison sentence. But, in fact, the rate of incarceration varies enormously around the world.

This means that, unless human nature is very different in different countries, the key factors are the cultural propensity to commit crime and the local attitude to imprisonment.

The International Centre for Prison Studies (ICPS) produces a league table of nations based on the number of prisoners per 10,000 population. Many tiny nations are at the top and bottom sections of the table because small absolute numbers can make a huge difference where there is a very small population.

But the variation in prison populations between large countries is astonishing. The United States – the land of the free – is in very top position, higher even than countries like Cuba and Russia. Towards the very bottom are India, Nigeria and Pakistan.

I live in Britain and England & Wales – where the ICPS is located – comes in at 102 out of 221 nations and territories. The figure for the USA is 716, whereas the statistic for England & Wales is 148. This means that, if I lived in America, I would be five times more likely to be imprisoned. Of course, if I was black or Hispanic that factor would be much higher.

Posted in Social policy, World current affairs | Comments (1)

The future of the Post Office network

November 11th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

For many decades, I have had a deep interest in the future of the Post Office network. For 24 years, I worked for trade unions with members employed by what is now called Post Office Limited (POL) and for six years I sat on the Boards of the consumer bodies on postal matters (Postwatch and Consumer Focus). I still chair the Post Offices Advisory Group at what is now called Consumer Futures.

So I was interested, and not a little troubled, by a recent publication from the Fabian Society whose content is summarised as follows.

“The future of the Post Office has not been part of the discussion about Royal Mail privatisation. But with a third of Post Office income dependent on Royal Mail, the fate of both organisations is intimately linked

• This report models nine scenarios for the future of the Post Office network. In only one of the nine scenarios does the network have any- thing resembling a secure future

• Furthermore, this scenario is based on a number of uncertain factors including the Post Office achieving rapid growth in the level of income received from financial services and winning significant new business for providing government services. A strong, successful relationship between the Post Office and Royal Mail is also key to this scenario

• In such a climate of uncertainty, the government has been reckless to relinquish a controlling stake in Royal Mail

• We therefore recommend that the government retains the maximum amount of shares in Royal Mail. This would provide future governments an opportunity to buy back enough shares to regain a controlling stake

• The privatisation of Royal Mail now makes a consideration of the long-term future of both the Post Office network and Royal Mail an urgent priority

• The government should therefore prioritise plans to use the Post Office to provide a greater number of services. Responsibility for overseeing this process could be given to the Cabinet Office to ensure greater buy-in across Whitehall “

You can read the full text here.

Posted in British current affairs, My life & thoughts | Comments (0)

75 years later: how the world shrugged off Kristallnacht

November 10th, 2013 by Roger Darlington

“The pogroms in November 1938 lasted several days, although history books often refer to the event merely as one “Night of the Broken Glass” (Kristallnacht) because Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels announced on the radio on Nov. 10 that the excesses had ended.

Experts estimate that up to 1,500 people died in the days surrounding Nov. 9. It was the worst pogrom in Germany since the Middle Ages.

This week marks the 75th anniversary of what Leipzig-based historian Dan Diner has called the ‘catastrophe before the catastrophe’.”

This is an extract from a powerful article on a German web site to mark the 75th anniversary this weekend of the horror of Kristallnacht.

Posted in History | Comments (0)