You must go to work

Dominic Rabb said today that workers must go back to the office even if working from home has made them realise that there is no point.  "Workers who realise that they are in a bullshit job that doesn't require them to go anywhere or do anything except shuffle digital data should remember that there are a large number of jobs that are not bullshit that rely on people doing bullshit jobs.  Without people commuting into work Southern Rail would not be able to go on strike for 3 months of a year and we would not make any money off the Congestion charge zone. Pointless journeys are vital to the economy and with sever restrictions on the number of households that can hang out together and the nighttime economy the only pointless journeys to be made are to work and back.  Without pointless journeys people will not cycle and walk and are liable to turn into couch potatoes," he told the Today program via telephone from his front room. 

Majorly Boring...

 

A while ago I created some consternation on Facebook when I professed the heresy that I find Joe Biden boring. 

Well, the backlash made me cogitate further …is it just me? 

To which a quick google reveals a resounding “No.”  Indeed, so undeniably boring is Biden that his supporters even try to turn it into a positive trait.

“Vote Biden and make the Presidency boring again” – declares a Chicago Sun Times headline

“Our elected officials were never meant to be celebrities or cult figures who demanded our undying attention and adoration. Presidential elections weren’t meant to be four-year-long events that bleed seamlessly into one another. Our psychological wellbeing shouldn’t be dependent on who is in office.”

Even CNN declares only slightly more cryptically “Make America Relaxed again”

"That line captures how a lot of people feel," said a Biden aide. "You want to be able to pick up your phone in the morning and not be outraged or scared, you want a government that works."

DNC: Trump makes politics exciting — but terrifying. Democrats bore — but govern.

And GBH comes up with “Biden’s Predictable Choice Of Running Mate Continues His Anti-Attention Campaign”

In fact apparently he’s so boring he’s been known for years by the moniker “Sleepy Joe”…

But surely no one this boring can actually win a national electoral campaign?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh well it worked for John Major…

 

Be Cool Scooby Doo...

 

This morning I watched two episodes of Be Cool, Scooby Doo! Because they were on.  Internet critics constantly bemoan the fate of many TV franchises for losing their way but … 

 .... while I was watching "New Doo?" I realised suddenly that interestingly Scooby Doo doesn’t seem to have waned in quality at all and continues to be unabatedly entertaining despite being over 50 years old now. 

Okay, there have been a few missteps but since Scrappy was sent to gaol at the end of one of the live action films and Scooby Dum was quietly retired the many series have slowly returned to form.  I can’t remember the names of the episodes I watched … one was set in a creepy hotel with overtones of Psycho and the Shining, whilst the other was about Hollywood studios recycling old films so often that their producers and writers were turning on them.   

There’s a lot of grown up satire here amongst the slapstick chases and frankly preposterous plots.  Scooby and Shaggy remain obsessed with food yet never suffer from obesity.  Velma is still a female nerd.  And Daphne is now obsessed with feng shui rather than Fred Jones.  One episode very nicely sent up Fred’s over controlling persona.  While other voice actors have gone, retired or staged a vegetarian walk out after being asked to advertise beef burgers … veteran voice actor Frank Welker is still voicing Fred after 51 years lending a nice sense of continuity to the series.

Since it is a cartoon and exists on a floating timeline the inter-relationships between the characters can be re-set and explored slightly differently with each new iteration of the show leaving the viewer feeling that they are still watching the same programme as in 1969 but updated for the modern day.  I’m not a die hard Scooby Doo fan but if it’s on I’ll watch it to see how it’s holding up and my conclusion is – very well.  The late Joe Ruby who died recently would be proud.

Old Git

Anthony

Something new. You will possibly have realised that my interest in the Management Company's affairs goes beyond what you might expect. Quite apart from anything else, Octogenarians have their own way of doing things which sometimes/often clash with the younger generation. Inevitably

misunderstandings occur. The younger generation are in the main better educated and brought up without fear of the kind experienced by people

like myself, which means that the confidence underlying younger generations attitudes are based on a safe warm secure upbringing and

encouragement to achieve. My generation were brought up amidst chaos, deprivation and a very real threat of Nazi domination.

From my perspective therefore, you and your generation say what you like do what you like in a world driven by competitive dynamism. We on

the other hand make haste more slowly and use the confidence of our life's experiences to trust our own instincts. Some of us even prefer radio to tv!.

The point of this note is to share my thoughts with you on where I stand with the Management Company. I am both joint a freeholder and occupier therefore uppermost in my mind is careful management of my asset and efficient

management of the day to day running of the Estate and its finances. I am not inclined to take on any authority or management responsibility

because I've done my bit elsewhere (and still survived). I however see that I might be of some assistance by supporting you with observations

on matters which may otherwise escape your attention. The walls and the drain for example. Believe me there are many more areas which, once

resolved, should enable the Estate to be run with a lighter touch and be of benefit all round.

So there you have it. Cooperation or conflict - your choice.

Alfred

Alfred

I'm sorry but I don't think international military conflagrations of the 1940s have anything to do with the fact that you are a mean, greedy, spiteful old man who spends his retirement writing pompous emails and sending in baseless complaints that waste the time and money of the Managing Agent such as retrospectively questioning the expenditure on plans you yourself proposed to the nth degree.  Or insisting that repairs are not our responsibility in the teeth of advice to the contrary from specialist solicitors. 

The truth is you're just a bully who has the hump because we insisted to the Council you should actually do something about the relentless noise pollution from your equipment.  You're just a miser trying to make other people's lives a misery so you can make a bit more money.  Please find someone else to abuse.  

All of it is pointless anyway because when the Council threaten you with enforcement action you inevitably have to comply and pay to fix the problems you create.  

No, I'm not an expert in psychology but I don't think World War Two is the cause of your querulous nature.  I think you were just born mean.  I think you were a mean young man and you have now grown into a mean old man.  I think you will die mean too. In the mean time you will service your air extraction system on a regular basis or the Council will kick your fat old arse. 

Yours sincerely 

Anthony Miller 

The BBC sagely warn me that the Real McCoy is an old program...

Notice they don't say there's anything offensive in it...  I watched a bit it was still funny...

 

Lots of people in the service economy...

... moaning today about going back to their office jobs "just to pay huge commuting costs so Pret workers can sell an overpriced Sandwich" .   Perhaps Pret is as doomed as Lyon's Corner House but without Pret where will be the workers with disposable income who need to buy the services that your service based office job relies on?   In other news I read M&S are cutting sick pay in their sandwich factories (see petition here).  Lots of people cutting sick pay today.... Can't think why.... Anyway this laughable flyer came through the door...

The people vs the Shah's money...

At last there was an episode of Panorama that wasn't about the virus.  It seems that we sold the Shah of Iran lots of tanks before they overthrew him but never delivered them and now the Iranian govenrment expects to be paid back the money for the tanks that never came.  It's a mere $400,000,000 or something...

 Money can devalue but debt is eternal.  In order to get their hands on this money the government keeps kidnapping people who go over there to visit relatives and bunging them in gaol on dubious pretexts.  Mind you some of the people who said they weren't spies could have actually been spies.  Someone's got to be a spy.  

Apparanently this farce has been going on since Carter was President of the USA and there was some nice footage of him wandering around the Oval Office in a comfy cardigan before stuffing a 747 with dollars and swapping it for hostages.  No one from the UK government would call these activites hostage taking but a US spokesman who was very stiff and formal said very formally that hostage taking was a tool of their statecraft...  In the mean time lots of UK Iranian people moaned about imprisoned loved ones or looked as if they had PTSD.

Flyposting Luddites

The secret identity of the flyposter was revealed when he wrote to the Managing Agent asking the Directors to flood us all with propaganda.   As a Director I responed that we're not allowed to spend money in that way and received this explanation about the purpose of the anti-G5-monople campaign...

 

Hi Anthony,

Apologies for sending you another email. I was slightly distracted earlier when reading your email so forgot to mention a couple of things.

Firstly, thanks again for your email. I realise now from your email that you are a neighbour and owner occupier of [Redacted] . This changes things slightly in my view, in that I am now contacting you as a neighbour.

As you are aware, HUTCHISON 3G UK LTD is planning on erecting an 18m tall 5G mast just outside the block. We should all be very concerned about this, if not for the fact that the mast will be 5G enabled, then for all the reasons associated with any regular cellphone mast, as this is incorporated into the 5G mast design.

I have attached a letter sent to Park Hill RA earlier today, outlining 3 options on how to make representations so as to bring the decision on the planning application to the Planning Committee, instead of having an officer with delegated authority decide on it's fate. It is almost always better to have a planning application decided at a Planning Committee meeting.

The gist of it all is that we need 20 signatures in the form of a pro-forma letter, which I have drafted containing the reasons for objecting, which should then be sent by post or email. Anything under 20 will be treated as 1. Signatures can come from any person who lives at or operates from an address which is within the London Borough of Croydon. I left a bunch of flyers at the convenience store on Sunday along with a petition sheet for signatures, addresses and contact details. I will be collecting the petition sheet tonight before 8PM so will have a better idea of where the numbers are at.

There is another option called "Other Representations", that requires only 12 representations by any person who lives or operates from an address which is within the London Borough of Croydon. This option differs from the former in that the representation (objection letter) need not be identical, which is the case in pro-forma letters used when petitioning. This, however, does not mean that I cannot help, I can still provide a draft, which merely requires a couple of original paragraphs.

I am sure you can appreciate that I am not just advocating for my own benefit, as we are all in this together. Where one benefits, all benefits, and the same goes for suffering. All I ask is whether you would be willing to read my objection letter, and then use it for your own objection, either by joining the petition or by way of “Other Representations”.

I need to stress that, despite the already 13 public comments on the website, of which 11 are objections, I can tell you that most, if not all, will be rejected by the case officer as they do not meet the requirements set out by the council and most do not object to grounds which are objectionable. Despite health being the no. 1 concern to us all, this is not a ground considered by the council so any health concerns raised will simply land your representation in the bin. It is for this reason that it is very important that the objection meet all the requirements, which has taken me nearly 2 weeks to prepare.

Let me know your thoughts, and of course, feel free to share this email with anyone who you think would be interested in making representations.

Yours sincerely,

Frank

**

Frank

I read it.  My view is that your objection to the masts is scientific then you should possibly try and win that debate rather than attempt to frustrate the proposers and the local authority and industry with spurious objections and bureaucracy.  

Also the monotonous propaganda about monopoles starts from the position your audience agrees with you and then bombards them with complex instructions.  It's hard enough to get people to sign a petition when it's something they actually support. Your chances of getting them to follow all those instructions are minimal.  Once you start on about three choices... There are two audiences to any campaign - the believers and the uncoverted.

As the person who lives the nearest this is very low on my list of worries.  It is ugly but where do you put street furniture if not the street?

Craig Campbell is very eloquent on this subject of radita saturation.  But then Craig is also very eloquent on how the moon landings were faked and man cannot cross the Van Allen belt.  As one gets older one starts to realise that large areas of the left are consumed with forms of  luddism because changes in technology challenge their worldview in some way.  That human progress its self undermines their bleak view of society.

There is no actual evidence of serious risk according to the WHO and until there is I doubt I will be taking this seriously.  It is some years since I studied physics but I believe the risks from low photon radiation are minimal.  Then again one can argue there is no safe level.

Thank you

Anthony

PS Talking of pollution I wouldn't sellotape anything else of the walls (if it was you) the paint tests positive for asbestos.  As do the floor tiles. No one thought that was a problem at the time....

Avizandum

Hidden away on BBC iplayer documentaries I found more from the world of the cameras in Scottish Courts.  In Appeal Court: The End of the Line some of Britain's most boring Judges attempt to decide if murderers who obviously did it did it.  They did.  They then considered whether designer drug dealers were drug dealers.  They were.  And whether someone's sentence for something should be reduced slightly.  It was.  Or that's how I remember it. Oh well I don't suppose we can have the Guilford Four or the Birmingham Six every week...

We're supposed to learn someonething from these voyeuristic exercises in Judicial tittle tattle but I fear that all I left with was a view of m'learned friends as smug and pompous.  Mind you it wasn't totally without entertainment value.  Perhaps there's a new form of detective drama here.  Instead of the Whodunnit? the Howdeliberatelydidtheydoit? for that seems to be the crux of the issue in most of these cases.  Hardly anyone is a victim of a miscarriage of justice.  More often than not a miscarriage of sentencing.  Even when judgements are overturned it usually only results in a retrial rather than the wrongly convicted bursting from the courtroom to a blaze of camera flashes.  Or at least that's what the narrator tells us..

One thing's for certian - all the Judges eat well.  Not that there aren't probably thin Judges somewhere but these three near Dickensian caricatures look like they enjoy a port and a pie...

And what is my considered view of the value of this program...?

Avizandum