Merry Christmas?!?
Today we received our first Christmas card. Can you believe it?
And it only came down the road from Hove ....
November 20, 2008
Ever heard of the Internet of things?
One way of looking at the evolution of the Internet is to see it in three stages: first, a fixed Net essentially connecting desktop PCs; second, a mobile Net connecting hand-held mobiles; third, what we call the Internet of things.
I've explained this next stage in my latest monthly column on Internet issues here.
November 19, 2008
Our new roof (3)
Bad news and good news on the roofing front.
The bad news is that we had so much rain yesterday that the roof sprung a new and more serious leak. Water burst through the spare bedroom ceiling and cascaded into the living room.
The good news is that, a week after the scaffolding went up, the tiling has actually begun. The two workers are a British guy called Ray and a Romanian guy that they all call Basil (actually his name is Vasil).
So there's tons of heavy banging going on, bits of ceiling coming away above my PC, and ceiling lights in the bathroom giving up, but we're making some progress ...
Brown bounces back
If a week is a long time in politics (as former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson once famously declared), then - especially in current turbulent financial times - two months is almost an eternity. So, according to the pollster Ipsos/MORI, in September the Conservatives had a lead over Labour of 28% and today that lead is a mere 3%: 40% to 37% with 12% for the Lib Dems.
In fact, things were probably not quite that bad for Labour in September and they are probably not quite that good now. But the polls show that political opinion is very volatile, generally Brown's management of the financial crisis is winning him back support, and that - while Labour will still find it very tough to win a fourth term - there is a fighting chance of such a victory.
The immediate political battle is over how to respond to the recession. The Labour Government believes that we should spend our way out of recession by borrowing more as a nation, while the Conservatives believe that we should have tax cuts funded by spending reductions. This is why David Cameron has now abandoned his pledge to match Labour's spending plans. Upon the result of the argument rests a lot of jobs and a lot of votes.
November 18, 2008
"Yes we Cem"
He insists that he is not the German Barack Obama. But, in 1994, he became the first ethnic Turk to be elected to the German parliament. In 2004, he won a seat in the European Parliament. And this week he was elected co-leader of the German Green Party. He is Cem Özdemir.
More information here.
November 17, 2008
Which markets most disappoint the consumer?
It's National Consumer Week in the UK and the Government has launched a long-awaited survey on which markets are top and bottom when it comes to a fair deal for consumers. The measure used is something called the Consumer Confidence Index (CCI).
Overall, the most poorly rated markets were: Gas and electricity, Private pension plans, Home maintenance services, Petrol, diesel or oil, Private sector renting, and Estate agents and house purchasing services all failed to achieve a CCI score of more than 63 out of 100.
Also among those markets which consumers rated relatively poorly were Fixed line telephone services, Mortgages, Internet service providers, TV service providers, Vehicle repairs or servicing and Professional services – all with a CCI score of between 64 and 67 out of 100. Mobile phone network services, Hire purchase, loans or credit, Betting, gambling, competitions, prize draws or lotteries and Personal banking also failed to reach an overall CCI score of 70.
Extension to consumer role
It's taken a long time - the advertisements were placed in mid April - but the Ofcom Consumer Panel, now renamed the Communications Consumer Panel, has a new membership and, to coincide with the announcement of the new members today, there is a new name, a new logo and a new web site.
As a member of the Panel 1.0 who is one of only two members to join the Panel 2.0, I want to say thanks to all my former colleagues and welcome all my new colleagues. I joined the Panel at its inception in February 2004 and I'm delighted that I have been given a third term which will take me to February 2012.
You can read my introduction to the Communications Consumer Panel here.
November 16, 2008
Obama - the first Net president
It is widely accepted that Barack Obama has made cleverer and more extensive use of the Internet than any previous politician in any country. This should not stop once he enters the Oval Office.
Obama was fighting not just to win an election but to change a nation and ultimately change the world. This requires more than legislation and government initiatives; it needs a grass-roots movement.
Obama has the contact details of over 3 million who donated to his campaign and over 10 million who expressed support for it. If he mobilises these people as president, then his occupancy of the White house could be truly transformational.
The Net will play a big part - as explained in this article - but, as in the election campaign so in his presidential term, the real force of his advocacy is not virtual but actual, not e-mails in cyberspace but activists in local communities.
November 15, 2008
Contrasting American and British politics
Two and a half months ago, I did a blog posting on the contrast between American and British politics. It attracted more comments that I usually obtain on this blog, so you might like to revisit it.
Now that the presidential election is over, this is a good time to make some further comments about the differences between the two political systems as it especially affects the transfer of power between leaders:
- In Britain, the changeover of Prime Ministers is virtually immediate - within hours of the election result, one person leaves 10 Downing Street and the successor enters it. In the United States, the transition period is two and half months.
- In Britain, the Prime Minister appoints around 100 members of the Government and members of the Cabinet each appoint a couple of Special Advisers, so the total number of political appointments is around 150. In the United States, the incoming President and his aides make a total of around 7,000 political appointments.
- In Britain, every Government Minister must be a member of one of the two Houses of Parliament and, if he or she is not already in the Parliament, he or she is made a peer. In the United States, no Cabinet member is allowed to be a member of the Congress because of the strict theory of the separation of the powers.
- In Britain, there is no produral method of challenging the appointment of a particular Minister although, in theory, the Opposition could move a vote of no confidence in the appropriate House of Parliament. In the United States, all the most senior appointments are subject to confirmation hearings and votes in the Senate.
- In Britain, the new Prime Minister sets out his or her vision for the country in a speech to the House of Commons on the subject of the Queen's Speech which opens the new session of Parliament. In the United States, the incoming President's inaugural address is an altogether more public and more prestigious affair.
November 14, 2008
POCA wait over
A month and a half ago, I blogged about the importance to the future of the Post Office network of the Government decision on the award of a contract to run a successor product to the current Post Office Card Account - the so-called POCA 2. The Government announced its decision yesterday and the contract has been retained by the Post Office. This is the right decision and good news for consumers - especially vulnerable consumers.
But it's surprising how little publicity this decision has obtained. For instance, the "Guardian" has a shortish piece on page 6. The "Daily Mirror" - which has campaigned on the subject - puts the story on pages 8-9. Why am I surprised by this?
First, the decision is of enormous importance to the future of the post office network. The closure of some 2,500 offices has attracted enormous amounts of publicity and protest, but the 'saving' of a similar number seems to be regarded as a relatively minor matter. I suppose the media prefer bad news to good news.
Second, the decision should have been made months ago, certainly before Parliament went into its summer recess. For months, Ministers have allowed stories to run suggesting that the contract would go to PayPoint. The long delay and uncertainty has been very damaging to the business prospects of sub-postmasters and to the political standing of the Government.
Third, the decision has finally been made by abandoning the tendering process that has been running for two years which begs the question of why Ministers started this process in the first place. We are told that the legal advice to Government has changed but this raises other questions about whether the original legal advice was sound and whether political decisions should be so beholden to changing legal advice.
This is not the end of the story.
First, the Government's decision might be challenged. PayPoint may seek judicial review and the two sets of legal advice to Government may have to be made public. Even if there is no legal challenge, one presumes that rival bidders will be entitled to compensation and the taxpayer is entitled to know the costs of this whole process.
Second, the award of the POCA 2 contract to the Post Office does not guarantee the maintenance of the present network of some 11,500. It merely avoids another major swath of closures. Post Office Limited and Government have to develop new profitable revenue streams and not simply save current ones. A couple of years ago, the Government set up an inter-departmental Cabinet Committee called Misc 33 to look at the right size of a sustainable network and a new, more far-reaching effort of that kind is now needed.
November 13, 2008
Now they tell me ...
For almost three years, I have worked part-time from 28-30 Grosvenor Gardens, near Victoria Station in central London, as a member of the Council of Postwatch, the watchdog for postal consumers. Last month, Postwatch closed down and was merged with two other consumer organisations to form Consumer Focus which is located in another building opposite the House of Fraser department store in Artillery Row.
Only now that I've left Grosvenor Gardens have I been told that the building was the main location for the shooting of the 1965 film "The Ipcress File". As a massive movie fan, I would have loved to have known this years ago and then I could have fantasized about being secret agent Harry Palmer as I went about my postal business.
Further information on the locations used here.
Our new roof (2)
On Monday, I blogged about the need for us to have a new roof. That morning, three guys came along in the pouring rain to erect all the scaffolding. This is what our place looks like now:
What about the workers?
Since then ... nothing.
November 12, 2008
Britain's new consumer champion
Consumer Focus - a merger of Postwatch, Energywatch and the National Consumer Council - only came into operation on 1 October and still has a lot of staff to recruit, but it is already winning respect and making an impact. As a member of the Board, this is very pleasing to me.
Yesterday I was at the House of Commons to see the CF Chairman Larry Whitty and Chief Executive Ed Mayo give a good account of the new organisation to the Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform Select Committee. Today the "Mirror" newspaper devoted a full page to an interview with Ed.
I spent this afternoon at the Consumer Focus Head Office in London and I am really enjoying working with an enthusiastic and talented team committed to winning a better deal for the British consumer.
My visits to the White House
Seeing pictures of President-Elect Barack Obama visiting the White House this week took me back to my own visits to this most iconic of political buildings. I believe that, since 9/11, the general public has not been ableto visit the White House but, before then, I had done so on three occasions.
The first time was on 19 September 1970 when I was aged 22 and a university student spending a three-month summer in the United States. After a very short wait, I was in the White House and noted in my diary: "Saw only a few of the 132 rooms - East Room, Green Room, Blue Room, Red Room, and State Dining Room".
The second time was on 23 August 1980 when I was aged 32 and on a telecommunications study visit to the USA. There was a system of timed ticket entry. It was a 20-minute self conducted tour and I saw the same rooms as on my previous visit but noted in my diary that there had been some renovation.
The third time was on 19 April 1984 when I was aged 35 with my wife and (almost) eight year old son. We queued for 50 minutes and spent 20 minutes on the official tour. I noted in my diary: "This time there was more security (there are barriers round to prevent suicide attacks) and the North Side is being cleaned".
I can't imagine that I'll ever be there inside the White House again.
24% and 75%
This week, George Bush finally broke all records with the most unfavourable ratings ever at 24% - lower than either Truman or Nixon.
At the same time, Barack Obama recorded the most favourable ratings ever for an incoming president at 75%.
Of course, these two phenomena are not unrelated. No doubt, Obama's ratings will fall when he enters the White House and starts to make the tough decisions. Probably, in a few years, there will be revisionist biographies of Bush claiming that his presidency was not quite so bad as his final ratings suggested.
But, in the meanwhile, never at any time in my lifetime has there been such a contrast between the standing of an outgoing and an incoming US president. Truly these are historic times.
November 11, 2008
Obama on his new Chief of Staff
Ever heard of Aleksandr Yakovlev?
No, neither had I until recently - but, perhaps second only to Mikhail Gorbachev, he was the man behind perestroika and glasnost. Many people in today's Russia revile him as the man who brought down the Soviet Empire. As Russia becomes increasingly autocratic and seeks to become a resurgent world power, perhaps we should remember Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev.
You can read about him here.
November 10, 2008
A new holy war
A year and a half ago, I had a week's holiday in Israel [see my account here] which including a visit to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. I wrote then:
"Now, in its own way, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is as bizarre as the Western Wall. Un-Christian as this may seem, control of the church and access to various parts of it are vigorously – and sometimes violently – contested by no less than six Christian denominations. Since 1767, the primary custodians have been the Greek Orthodox, the Armenian Apostolic and the Roman Catholic churches and then, in the 19th century, the Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox churches acquired lesser responsibilities."I gave three recent examples of violent conflict between the churches - and they are still at it as you can see here.
The world is grateful
On the morning after the US presidential election, I did a posting of just three words:
"Thank you, America"
It seems that I was not the only one as you'll see from this site.
Our new roof (1)
It started at 7.45 am this morning when the scaffolders arrived. I'm told that it will take three-four weeks - depending on the weather (it's raining now - poor guys).
I'm always so reluctant to initiate house repairs or improvements. It's not just the cost (which, in this case, is huge) - it's all the noise and dirt and disruption.
But the heavy rain of the last few weeks has revealed a serious leak in our back bedroom. It's clear that we do need a new roof and, while we're at it, we're going to insulate the loft and be more eco-friendly.
It should all be over by Christmas ...
November 09, 2008
America's 2nd president
Most people around the world are familiar with America's first president (George Washington) and third (Thomas Jefferson), but many have not heard of the second. He was John Adams who served two terms as Washington's Vice-President before himself becoming President for a single term (1797-1801). Later his son John Quincy Adams also became (the sixth) President (1825-1829).
I've just finished viewing a seven-part television series made by HBO on the life of John Adams. It has rightly been a great success, winning no less than 13 Emmys. The lead role is taken by Paul Giamatti who gives an outstanding performance among many fine portrayals.
Adams' death - shown in the final programme - was as remarkable as his life. On 4 July 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, he died at his home in Quincy. Thomas Jefferson, his compatriot in their quest for independence, had died a few hours earlier on the very same day.
Ironically the whole series was brilliantly directed by a Briton: Tom Hooper [see his article]. He is the son of Richard Hooper whom I know mainly through his work as former Deputy Chairman of Ofcom.
What is striking about this life of one of America's 'Founding Fathers' is how resonant many of the themes are: the balance between the role of the federal government and the states, the extent to which the people can be trusted to guide politicians, the need to balance individual freedoms against the security needs of the nation, and the risk of entering an overseas war. Terrific stuff.
America's 43rd president
The same week that Americans saw the election of their 44th president witnessed the release of the latest Oliver Stone movie - a bio-pic about Bush Jr, the 43rd president, titled simply "W." [see my review here].
As the Bush presidency staggers to its much-welcomed end, I reproduce below some of the infamous Bushisms and a contemporary joke. You have to smile; otherwise you'd have to cry ...
"Shrapnel And Whizzbangs"
This is the title of a book written by my good friend Jeremy Mitchell who served with me on the Ofcom Consumer Panel. Jeremy was born in 1929 and his father George Oswald Mitchell (G.O.M.) was one of the few British soldiers to serve right through the First World War from its outbreak on 5 August 1914 to the Armistice on 11 November 1918, the 90th anniversary of which we mark this Remembrance Sunday.
"Shapnel And Whizzbangs" - subtitled "A tommy in the trenches 1914-18" - is Jeremy's graphic account of his father's war based on the trench diary and notes that G.O.M. wrote at the time.
George Oswald Mitchell as
Sergeant Royal Engineers Special Brigade
In a wonderful case of cross-generational co-operation, Jeremy's 12 year old grandson Eddie has created a web site for his grandfather's book about his great grandfather, so you can read a sample passage here and, if you wish, order the book here.
November 08, 2008
This week's other victory
In all the euphoria over the election of Barack Obama in the United States (and I share that excitement big time), we political observers in Britain should not overlook the significance of the Labour Party victory in Thursday's Glenrothes by-election.
Not only was the victory unexpected even by Labour itself, it is the first by-election since February 1997 when Labour has both increased its share of the vote(by 3%) and won the seat. Since taking office in May 1997, there have been only three other occasions when Labour has increased its share and on each of those occasions Labour came second.
The Scottish National Party will claim that they lost because Labour hit hard (and, in the SNP view, unfairly) on the single issue of the local council's introduction of large home care charges - and there may be something in that. But the significance of the setback to the SNP was underlined by Labour's victories in two local council by-elections the same day.
It was a personal triumph for Prime Minister Gordon Brown: he broke with convention by visiting the by-election twice and his wife Sarah made repeated visits. Brown's personal position had strengthened since the economic crisis and this by-election victory underlines and reinforces that.
It is tempting to try to make some comparison between the Obama and the Brown victories. No doubt the Conservatives will hail Obama's success as showing that voters want a fresh young face (and so they should vote for David Cameron). On the other hand, Obama and Brown have much more in common ideologically than Obama and Cameron. Obama and Brown both see government more as part of the solution rather than as simply the problem and they should work well together in tackling the international consequences of the global financial crisis.
It's been a good week for those on us on the Centre-Left.
November 07, 2008
Obama, the Transition and the Net
The Internet was a central tool in the election campaign run by Barack Obama and, only days into the crucial transition, he has launched a new web site which will announce all the new appointments and full details of the transition process.
We can expect a pro-science, pro-technology administration from President Obama and he has appointed Julius Genachowski to help him choose members of his new administration which could signal the prominence of high-tech policy.
Genachowski, who served at the Federal Communications Commission as chief counsel to former Chairman Reed Hundt, has already been active in Obama's campaign by advising him on technology policies as chairman of the president-elect's Technology and Innovation Plan. The Plan includes strong support for network neutrality and an aim “to get true broadband to every community in America”.
New blog category on US politics
As regular visitors to NightHawk will know, I've blogged a great deal about the primaries and presidential election in the United States over the last two years. Now the election is over, I won't stop blogging, especially since my long-favoured candidate Barack Obama is about to enter the White House.
Previously I've categorised my blog postings on American politics under the broad category of" World current affairs" as opposed to the category "British current affairs". However, I've decided now to create a new category called "US current affairs" which you'll see listed on the right.
Is political blogging too negative?
"Perhaps because of the nature of the technology, there is a tendency for political blogs to have a 'Samizdat' style. The most popular blogs are rightwing, ranging from the considered Tory views of Iain Dale, to the vicious nihilism of Guido Fawkes. Perhaps this is simply anti-establishment. Blogs have only existed under a Labour government. Perhaps if there was a Tory government, all the leading blogs would be left-of-centre?This is a quote from a speech made this week to a Hansard Society conference by Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary of State in the Cabinet. I think that there is something in what she says. NightHawk is not a political blog as such but it does address political issues at home and abroad and I always try to make my postings thoughtful and respectful of politicians.But mostly, political blogs are written by people with disdain for the political system and politicians, who see their function as unearthing scandals, conspiracies and perceived hypocrisy. Until political blogging 'adds value' to our political culture, by allowing new voices, ideas and legitimate protest and challenge, and until the mainstream media reports politics in a calmer, more responsible manner, it will continue to fuel a culture of cynicism and despair."
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