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Can't See The Wood For The Trees?

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The old cliché about 'joined-up thinking' actually has much more substance to it than those that employ it for empty rhetorical effect could ever know [pictured, a graphic from Six Sigma (US) which I think demonstrates my point nicely with or without the spelling and grammatical errors]. The problem we have in so many areas of life and our economy and politics is fragmentation of intent through poor planning and outsourcing; through bad management, reactive thinking and lack of strategic coordination. The big irony at the heart of it all is that blind centralisation of resources is at the very heart of the issue: the very thing that was meant to streamline and make efficient all of the necessary services that drive our society has achieved its diametric opposite; replacing actually [organisationally and cost] efficient service structures, such as the NHS, tax, transport, urban infrastructure and repair; public transport, social services, public amenities, &etc. &etc: ...
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A Rich Tapestry

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  We've decided to try and keep track of the various creatures that inhabit/visit our garden, starting with the Lepidoptera. Pictured, the first entry in this informal catalogue, which got itself trapped in the dining room/study this morning: a Speckled Wood [northern race]:- Parage aegeria. As I've said before, we're pretty well blessed with a garden that teems with wildlife, although the very hot spell recently has quietened it down somewhat. I've seen but one Hummingbird Hawk Moth so far, and the butterflies, apart from the above pictured have been mostly whites of various types; Peacocks, Painted Lady's and Red Admirals. The bee population has reduced a tad of late, but we still have plenty of the precious little pollinators around in this neck of the woods, compared to a lot of places, so no immediate concern is required. One thing that strikes is both the number of blackberries we have and how ripe they already are. The birds have already harvested most of our...
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Legend and Gent

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So, the World Cup is over for another four years: there you go. Last night's Final was a bit of a curate's egg to be honest, with one side making an effort to win the game by actually advancing into their opponent's half and - shock, horror! - trying to score goals. Meanwhile, the opposition fannied about in their own half, rarely venturing out of its confines, and for ninety minutes doing bugger all than try to draw fouls and the occasional corner, as if the only chances they fancied were set-pieces. Spain played damned well to little reward until extra time. Argentina played the kind of negative football that gives this game such bad odour to us fans of rugby union: diving and play-acting for the officials [thankfully in this case to little avail] rather than actually indulging in playing the game. It really was a noisome spectacle at times. In the end, it panned out as it always should have, with a very well deserved trophy for Spain. At the match's conclusion, when ...
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Short Of The Mark All 'Round

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Ah, the idyll that is the bottom of our garden on a fine summer's eve, cooking cheeseburger on the barbie. Two things immediately spring to mind with a third thought in tow: firstly, the charcoal I'm using, which I sourced locally [blog posts passim] from Parc Y Moch via Spar. When I bought it, I paid what I thought was a rather premium price to support a local micro-business; but it has turned out to be quite the economical purchase, as this is now the fifth or sixth fire I've made from the bag. Compared to the apparently cheaper, garage-bought easy-light stuff, it pans out to be a much cheaper option and makes a rather more superior barbecue fire to boot. Secondly, tonight's burgers have proved a considerably better repast than the very meagre luncheon-of-which-we-partook at The Bull in Biwmares this afternoon. Granted, my pint of Bass ale was at its best, but alas, the food was not. Given that the new summer Sunday menu is so - ordinarily I would hazard, creditably -...
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Wherefore Lineage Indeed?

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Jane brought my attention to a piece on the front of today's Guardian newspaper regarding the intended funding of very-right-leaning 'think'-tanks across Europe, including some in the UK, by the US government. One principal beneficiary in the UK would be the 878 group, which includes such luminaries of the UK far-right as Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young; having amongst its advisors Dr. Radomir Tylecoat, former Rees-Mogg special advisor. The central tenet of this 'non-partisan' group of 'thinkers' seems to be more of the usual right-wing fare: '"...focus[ed] on advancing fundamental freedoms."'. Exactly what are these 'fundamental freedoms' supposed to be, one may ask? On past reckoning the kind of people involved in this kind of organisation would seem to espouse a very partial and partisan idea of 'freedom'; that of the freedom to exploit privilege, contacts and insider information to pecuniary gain. That of the freedom to t...
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RIP Gary Sobers

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It's very much a time of Hello, Goodbye, to echo the Beatles' song from 1967's Magical Mystery Tour EP and film; in particular, hello to the incoming Prime Minister in the person of Andy Burnham, which feels positive indeed, as he represents the kind of values that I hold to be true: a balanced world-view that sees further than pure state socialism and into the real world of small business and the High Street, whilst maintaining the core values of socialism itself. There have been many goodbyes to well-known public figures of late, but today's news of the death of Sir Garfield Sobers is the one of note for me. A true cricketing legend and personal hero of mine from the sixties and seventies, he elevated the role of the all-rounder to almost mythical status; along with Kallis, et al, he was one of the very best cricketers of all time, and formed part of the backbone, the very sinew, as captain, of the greatest West Indies test side of all time during the golden era of th...
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Unreal Realities

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As I said last night, I'm keeping posts short and sweet due to my current optical challenges - wearing two pairs of stacked spectacles to replace my knackered readers is not exactly conducive to writing much more than a shopping list at best. Just finished watching 1979's 'Zulu Dawn', one of those Cinemascope epics featuring a - literal - cast of thousands in the making. It's interesting to note that we now don't tend to step outside of the narrative bubble whilst considering films of this nature and wonder just how these cinematic scenes of mass hand-to-hand human conflict or whatever else is being depicted were created. We simply now automatically assume the intervention of CGI and don't trouble to marvel at the epic played out before us. It strikes me that our blasé acceptance of this layer of technological fictivity has somehow numbed the wonder that we naturally had when we knew for sure that, despite the fact we were watching a fictional narrative, a l...
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