so, I've been bad and not blogged for a while. its nothing personal, i just thought things were getting a bit serious between us, and i didn't want to over-commit. typical male really.
I've actually been decorating in much of my spare time anyway. and Jeez, it's hard! especially fucking wallpapering. another thing added to the "wifely qualities desired" list (it now reads: car and driving license, ability to engage with people better than i can, some cooking skills, must never require me to wallpaper so much as a foot). but the painting's alright, and kinda relaxing in a Karate Kid way (paint fence!!). saw that t'other day. good film. made me feel 6 again. back when straightforward cowardice wasn't the only option, and a girl like Elisabeth Shue was a dim plausibility. and the moving around of furniture has revealed a nicer layout which maximises space.a small gain, but a gain all the same. of course, redecorating also allows me time to listen to whatever Cd's are grabbing my handle: Stereolab (who are a JOY on a sunny day), Sparks, and Steely Dan. The last two are recent acquisitions, and whilst i expected to like Sparks, i wasn't expecting how much. i bought Kimono My House, and its absolutely brilliant. loony tunes pop that sounds as mad now as it must have done in 1973. the very new liking for Steely Dan could be age catching up with me, because previously they seemed a perfect example of "critically adored band i will never get", but once you get past the shiny west coast 70's sheen, they are really clever, melodically and lyrically. and like Stereolab, perfect for hot summer days. the new Young Knives album is still getting heavy play too: reminding me why i miss blur and XTC not releasing anything.
work, as ever, is daft affair. my employer's central hive mind seems to have gone doolally long ago; our understaffing continues, despite its obviousness to all. i don't think we're far off the sellers getting together and taking it up with the manager or even the area manager. the ever stroppy Drusilla won't ask for help to the manager, and she in turn won't ask for help from the regional and area managers. when the visits came, all problems were concealed, and my manager bounced about pleased as punch that we'd got such a good report, despite it being a paper over the cracks job. they can claim we haven't the budget for more staff, but its crap, and we need staff. everyone's getting increasingly stressed, and fed-up, and the new selling scheme simply can't be executed because we aren't even on top of the basics.it will end with people getting ill or quitting, if something isn't done soon.Furthermore as some staff are leaving and not being replaced, then what exactly is happening with that money?? 4 shopfloor staff manning a two floor shop on a half term Friday is just ridiculous. what with The Aardvark leaving soon, for the great Metropolis, its all going a bit Eartha Kitt. we lurch from crisis to crisis. and i am only surviving by the fact i shan't be working too many hours after the course starts in September. mind you, my need for extra hours is not pleasant; i feel like the manager has me by the danglers. Mind you, not sure i could care anymore. to cap it all off, the uniforms are in, and ugly and ridiculous they are. they make us look more untidy than we did in our own clothes. and I'm already finding customers are looking slightly down at us. the uniform connotes idiocy, submission, dronery. we;re no longer people to them, merely servants. i despair of it all.
i am currently reading a history of Early Modern Europe; its a fascinating read, and full of real characters: Frederick The Great, Frederick William II, Catherine the Great, Voltaire, Robespierre. not to mention the typical succession of venal popes. the reasons for the coming together of countries are interesting. Napoleon certainly can take some responsibility for Italy as a united state, after his conquering brings it under one power for the first time in a long time. the book is by Tim Blanning, and I'd highly recommend it.
on the political front, the Tories are throwing out offensive policies by the day, as if concerned they might be becoming too electable; first, the work training camps for the under-21's (Workhouses are sooo this season). the fact community service is what we give to Minor criminals, and the Tories want to extend it to the unemployed only shows you that, for them, unemployment and criminality are roughly equivalent. Then i read one of their ministers suggesting the MLA was unnecessary, and that libraries might be something that could be run by private firms.wankers. Michael Gove has been bashing away at "progressive Child-centred learning" too; so, as usual its the sixties fault. utter crap. the education problems really started in the 70's and 80's with cuts in funding, the prescriptive weaknesses of the National Curriculum, and the increase in testing. the government have further added to these problems, by making education more instrumentalist and job-focused. its not child-centred learning that's dangerous, its employer-centred learning. "we'll teach you the basic skills you need to do a crap service industry job, and fuck the the genuine learning". skills centred learning is the responsibility of the employer not the schools; their job is to enrich children's knowledge, and equip them to discern, discriminate, reason, and argue. i note too the Tories have said nothing against the godawful city academies scheme; almost certainly because they're rubbing their hands in glee at Labour introducing a policy they'd have loved to have got away with.its all disappointment on that front. but with the Tories looking scary again, the awful possibility i might be compelled to vote for a Labour government that's a disgrace to the name rears its head again. i can't, i won't. a pox on both of you.
how are you? is the cream working?
avoid managers, Tories, and wallpaper forever.
ta ta.
Tuesday, 3 June 2008
Thursday, 24 April 2008
let Joy be unconfined!
well, its been a long time. and don't think i haven't been thinking about you all. but things a have been pressing upon me; and my inclination to tell has been somewhat low. but now i can say.
firstly the interview went spiffingly well, and i seemed to have the needed effect, and they offered me informally a place on the course. hooray! medical concerns proved unfounded after a simple test. double hooray! i am happy and somewhat lacking in things to say. had a lovely meal out today, purchased some nice CDs (Chapterhouse, PJ Harvey, Young Knives, and T'Kills).
the interview went nicely, anyway, and i was pretty elated afterwards. i seemed to hit the right buttons, without trying, by just mentioning my interests. had a nice a chat about Henry James (which versions are better; i checked after and I'm reading the New York versh, the thicker prosed revision from later on), what critics i liked. why i did my dissertation on the subject i did. so, aceness in a bag.
the eye test, after waiting rather longer than i expected and feeling like i was in Death's waiting-room, went in an exemplary fashion too. nothing wrong other than a side-effect of my drugs, so nowt to worry about. having said that, the test to check pressure was one of the more irritating things I've ever had done. not painful, just irritating and tricky. like certain dental practices, its something the body's natural responses do not seem to want to let them do, not without discomfort.
the previous week's Appraisal-type thingy went amusingly; effectively i was told to shut up. or keep my complaints or concerns to myself and my manager. like everyone else isn't pissed off! it's pretty obvious anyway, the Boss (not Springsteen, alas) does not want me helpfully pointing out to colleagues the ways in which are exploited and treated badly, in meetings. Especially as she cannot really answer these questions adequately. so, when you can't beat the criticism, its easier to shut it up. hey ho. it happens. I'm quite amused by it really. but in future, i shall avoid getting too involved. if there is no respect for your opinion as a worker, then they can't expect you to care about your job too much. their loss. of course, the rest of the meeting was mixed with the sort of flattery that is supposed to pacify me, and stroke my poor little ego, after such robust criticism.oh, the lunacies of management. really does erode humanity and respect.
as does the government continually. the getting rid of the 10% tax band is another nail in the coffin of The Labour Party, which has now decided it actually prefers taking money off the poor than the wealthy. I'd always hoped for a return to redistribution of wealth.the government have somewhat misinterpreted the spirit of the phrase.mind you, you can't be too surprised. when i mentioned to someone the other day that I'd have a 70% rate on earnings over £200,000, i was met with the usual disbelief, and the retort that people who earn more money work harder for it. lord, why do people still believe that balls. the further you go up any greasy pole, the less actual work people do (often they spend most of their time telling other people what work to do). and my argument that those who get the most out of society are obligated to put more back into it, held little appeal to her either. oh well. such is Britain 2008. all self-interest, no socialist spirit.
but frankly at the moment i am in such a positive mood, i can put aside political annoyances, and just think "thank fuck! I'm on my way!"
Cheerybye
firstly the interview went spiffingly well, and i seemed to have the needed effect, and they offered me informally a place on the course. hooray! medical concerns proved unfounded after a simple test. double hooray! i am happy and somewhat lacking in things to say. had a lovely meal out today, purchased some nice CDs (Chapterhouse, PJ Harvey, Young Knives, and T'Kills).
the interview went nicely, anyway, and i was pretty elated afterwards. i seemed to hit the right buttons, without trying, by just mentioning my interests. had a nice a chat about Henry James (which versions are better; i checked after and I'm reading the New York versh, the thicker prosed revision from later on), what critics i liked. why i did my dissertation on the subject i did. so, aceness in a bag.
the eye test, after waiting rather longer than i expected and feeling like i was in Death's waiting-room, went in an exemplary fashion too. nothing wrong other than a side-effect of my drugs, so nowt to worry about. having said that, the test to check pressure was one of the more irritating things I've ever had done. not painful, just irritating and tricky. like certain dental practices, its something the body's natural responses do not seem to want to let them do, not without discomfort.
the previous week's Appraisal-type thingy went amusingly; effectively i was told to shut up. or keep my complaints or concerns to myself and my manager. like everyone else isn't pissed off! it's pretty obvious anyway, the Boss (not Springsteen, alas) does not want me helpfully pointing out to colleagues the ways in which are exploited and treated badly, in meetings. Especially as she cannot really answer these questions adequately. so, when you can't beat the criticism, its easier to shut it up. hey ho. it happens. I'm quite amused by it really. but in future, i shall avoid getting too involved. if there is no respect for your opinion as a worker, then they can't expect you to care about your job too much. their loss. of course, the rest of the meeting was mixed with the sort of flattery that is supposed to pacify me, and stroke my poor little ego, after such robust criticism.oh, the lunacies of management. really does erode humanity and respect.
as does the government continually. the getting rid of the 10% tax band is another nail in the coffin of The Labour Party, which has now decided it actually prefers taking money off the poor than the wealthy. I'd always hoped for a return to redistribution of wealth.the government have somewhat misinterpreted the spirit of the phrase.mind you, you can't be too surprised. when i mentioned to someone the other day that I'd have a 70% rate on earnings over £200,000, i was met with the usual disbelief, and the retort that people who earn more money work harder for it. lord, why do people still believe that balls. the further you go up any greasy pole, the less actual work people do (often they spend most of their time telling other people what work to do). and my argument that those who get the most out of society are obligated to put more back into it, held little appeal to her either. oh well. such is Britain 2008. all self-interest, no socialist spirit.
but frankly at the moment i am in such a positive mood, i can put aside political annoyances, and just think "thank fuck! I'm on my way!"
Cheerybye
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
lies, damn lies and statistics
well, the new training sessions trundle on, with the less than earth shattering news that nothing new is really being told to us. however many branch managers, and other managers (regional or otherwise) hole up in a hotel or whatever for a day or two, and discuss (or are told, I'm unsure which)the interesting ways in which we are going to improve customer service,thus making customer cheerful gaily book-buying dreamkittens, and in turn making The Company lots of lovely money. good plan, eh?
well, then you see what they come back with. firstly the fact that people like us to be polite, approachable and friendly. this really hadn't occurred to me whilst hacking the heads off small children within plain view of them, and scowling at all moments; in fact i had rather assumed that Bookshop was a term, like Massage parlour, that is used euphemistically for a place where one goes to be verbally assaulted, hidden from, and occasionally beaten with a copy of Brewer's Mythology. you know, the sort of place Conservative MPs like to relieve themselves of their salaries in.
next, we discovered that sometimes people SAY things that mean one thing, whilst their body language.facial expression MEANS something completely different. again, a new one on me. i had presumed the clientele were all flab-fisted versions of Kryten from Red Dwarf, completely unable to be anything less open sincere darlings. which was why, i assumed that their faces were sooo downturned and slack because they are locals and therefore not always of the best upbringing, and prone to debilitating bouts of what Doctors diagnose as Slumpyface ( a congenital weakening of the facial muscles leaving one with the appearance of a badly worked-over corpse in a strop).
so, we are all to concentrate hard on making ourselves approachable and friendly. i am determined to do this, and shall spend my whole morning (instead of stickering books, shelving books, answering the phone, sorting displays and tidying sections) stroking a beautiful ginger longhaired cat called Algernon and occasionally telling him ribald tales which will make him snigger in a catlike way. this will leave me feeling so warm and loved, that i shal greet every customer with an affectionate pat on their head, and offer them to come to mine for a sherry and a Brandy Snap stuffed with lashings of cream. this, i feel, will instil a true bonding and kinship betwixt me and Daz, Shaz, and Mrs Tweedy-Volvovulva.
Later in my daily workings my manager comes up and cheerfully says:
"Thankyou for your input into today's session, Rabid, there were some really productive points you made..... this week" .the implication, though more of a battering round the chops with a large bottlenose dolphin, being that i was less than helpful in last weeks session. Now in last week's session we were discussing the marvels of the Loyalty card, and how it's possessors spent on average a good 30% more every visit. now, Temerity being in fact my middle names, i merely pointed out that this figure should be treated sceptically. Manager tries to allay my scepticism (ha, as if ANYONE could) by repeating the fact in a more precise and convinced way (a tone that was hissing at me "these marvellous facts cometh from Our Great Overlords; THEY SHALL NOT BE DOUBTED!"). why is it people expect you to believe something more on second telling? i made the point (a cogent one, i thought) that this did not establish that the loyalty card made people spend more, merely that those who had them did spend more, and i suggested a more likely reason for this was that people who spent more were more likely to take up the loyalty card offer. the fact couldn't establish cause and effect. i also had issues with not knowing how the information was obtained(the criteria of the survey, etc), and more importantly was very sceptical as to how we could obtain any accurate info on non-loyalty card customers (esp. those who spent cash.)
alright, so i must admit a deep-seated distrust of people in marketing/strategy/HR departments of business. all those splendid folk who come up with these schemes. they are basically Management consultants on permanent contract. i have no idea why i should trust their facts, or ideas, or really whether they are competent. fact is, most of those people I've met in these roles are a bit simple, and seem to treat their "discoveries" (obvious things like body language, behavioural patterns,etc) like they are outrageous works of genius. they aren't. And i certainly don't trust them to evaluate their own proposals' success. would you trust an inquiry into a company run by that company in pretty much secret? didn't think so. furthermore, as any scientist or social scientist will tell you, you can skew any investigation or research to support what you propose if you frame its terms properly. That's what drugs companies do,and it is the reason why within a week you'll hear that Bread is bad for you from one group of scientists, and that it is good for you from another.
but i don't think my scepticism was particularly unwarranted in this instance. the point was valid, as was my other point about how basic civil principles(politeness, helpfulness, using knowledge) are passed off as a grand new science that Our Overlords have discovered. There's a brilliant episode of Blackadder where they propose to "sail round the Cape of Good Hope"; the real plan being to sail to France, spend a few weeks or months there, come back tanned and pick up the money and glory. you can't help feeling these types do something similar. Only, this is the really disturbing thing, they genuinely think their ideas are new, and clever,and scientific. (everything has to be scientific in business. it's the economic myth of The Economy, a vast complex mechanism that gives everyone what they want: Economics and business as virtual laws of physics backed up by maths, and rigorous science. people are no longer people, erratic, whimsical, they are to be studied and measured like rats. you can't tell an economist that people don't have to behave the way they predict, they will not have it. And if enough people break their rules, they merely start doing studies to measure our unpredictability, so that that can be noted and predicted. so if we don't do A, we'll do B or even C; but we obviously won't do D,E,F...)
anyway...... *breathes out* all in all it's been an aggravating couple of days at work; the severe strain of Drusilla accusing me of being rude to weekend staff, after i put a in the diary on silly mis-shelved items, has just about worn off. i was torn between boiling rage and doubled-up laughter (probably my usual state now i think of it....).darn someone should give that fucking pot a mirror before he starts calling the kettle black. but such is Drusilla since she was given power; some folk carry on being nice normal human beings, others want to march into the Sudetenland instantly. Dru is definitely the latter, and i really will not take much more of it. Her
idiocy will not protect her, a swift "fuck off" is possible if I'm pushed.
Her usage of the phrase "it's all good" is enough to make me Gothricidal. I HATE that phrase. it is NOT all good. i am not going to assume yr naive carefree "anything goes!" attitude into my life. things are not All Good. far fucking from it.the phrase just reeks of Capitalist Populism trading on relativism. wanna coffee? "its all good" want a book with that? "its all good" wanna to put Dido on the stereo? "its all good" wanna kill six people before turning the gun on yrself? "IT'S ALL GOOD" bah, fucking humbug. some things are good, some are not. most of the things Drusilla does are certainly bloody not. speak some sodding truth you gormless girl.
now, i go before i implode.
love to you all, hope auntie Beryl's thrush has cleared up!
icture at the top is Morning Sun by Edward Hopper
Sunday, 23 March 2008
Head Above The Parapet
so, here's today's ishoooo, one that rarely leaves our radar (such are the media), immigration.
now, anyone who writes anything about immigration these days is flagged up as racist, lily-livered liberal, provocative or whatever. it's the worlds most controversial subject. it probably shouldn't be; but because it is, it means it's a tricky subject. no-one seems short of opinions on it. worse thing is, it's almost impossible to have sensible debate about it: half those with something to say are thinly veiled racists, the rest are gonna get accusations of it, or accusations of being ridiculously PC.
It's a subject those on the Left often avoid, or adopt silly positions on, merely to avoid the R-word.As someone who firmly places themselves on the Left, but is sympathetic to the centre too, I'm probably running into a minefield. best really to enumerate my issues with immigration, and deal with them one by one:
1) why do people want to come here?- i have a concern that large numbers of people now are coming to this country for economic reasons, regardless of how much they subscribe to the underlying values of the country. For instance, it is no good preaching multiculturalism (which is a good thing, and perfectly suited to the pluralism and democracy of this country), if some of the individuals we in let are of a vaguely racist and xenophobic bent, and determined to preach their prejudices against other minorities in this country. the number of instances of racism I've heard from other immigrant groups: Caribbean disliking African, one Eastern European disliking another, Muslims hating Jews, and the one that always amuses me, those Oirish who seem to dislike most recent immigrant groups. the lunacy of this is obvious. most of us are immigrants at some stage. the only grounds we can disagree on are beliefs, not national origin or skin colour. The country Britain is (or perhaps should be) is founded on various general principles: democracy, anti-terrorism, the legal system (whatever its flaws, which need addressing), freedom of speech and thought, and a respect for civil liberties based largely on Mill's utilitarianism. no individual has primacy under law (or should do). unluckily we can't do too much about those who are naturalised and don't subscribe to these views, we can only deal with them as and when they break the law, and hope they go off somewhere else. we can, though, try to prevent people coming to this country with views that don't agree with this tolerance. it's that old chestnut, we should tolerate anything but intolerance. sounds daft, but its a good ethos (even if a little circular). so, we do not need people of extreme religious viewpoints, be they Christian, Jew, Muslim or otherwise. the recent growth of real religious intolerance, ie religious groups demanding privilege or protection when criticised, is profoundly disturbing. Sometime in the middle of the last century we managed to hit a decent settlement in this country whereby people had religious freedom to worship however they choose, provided their practise does not infringe on another individual's freedom, or go against the law. the obvious example would be something like forced marriage, or any restriction of female rights within some religions. It has to be consensual. the second part of this settlement,the one that has increasing attacks upon it from Christians and Muslims of certain types, is that your religion is a personal belief. so, like your political, economic, and social views, it is open to all criticism. Racism/xenophobia is wrong,it is prejudice based on incidental factors: coulour, where you are from. a prejudice against a religious or political group is perfectly reasonable. unfortunately, the former often goes under the guise of the latter, thus we have flagrant sillinesses like the incitement to religious hatred bill.
if people are to come to this country, we need more than mere commitment to an improved way of life, in material terms. this country should be a haven for people who subscribe to our basic freedoms.we have enough nasty racist, sexist homophobes to deal with already.
2) we have serious problems with what we do with people coming here- we need to make a serious decision whether we are prepared to put more money into helping immigrants into our way of life. for my part, i think we could afford to do a lot more. but if the electorate, continues to feel as it does, then maybe a limit on immigration is necessary just to make sure the immigrants we do accept get the proper help they need. what help? well, we need to sort the language issue for starters: having a friend who works in TESOL i get a fairly clear idea how underfunded and haphazard the teaching of English is to newcomers. not enough teachers, not enough equipment,not enough organisation.you wouldn't send children into society incapable of proper communication, we certainly shouldn't do it to adults. To pretend we don't have enough money to do this is daft. As is the view that we don't have enough jobs or houses for them. The council house stocks need building up again; Mrs T's fab idea of selling off a national resource has left us in trouble, and with house prices and debt increasing, it will soon become as clear as it once was that to expect everyone to buy their own house is a lunacy. We also need to address the integration issue. to have closed ghettos of immigrants with little English, or understanding of the culture. we need to spread the immigration throughout the country, and we need more than the citizenship test in terms of education. The citizenship test is useful but not really helpful in the long term; anymore than getting a child to cram for one exam, and then expecting them to be Maths geniuses.we forget our children have 11/12 years of education, home instruction and example to help them into society. And it is all too clear what happens when children's education and upbringing have been lacking. The same applies with immigration, they aren't children but they haven't had the constant exposure to the culture that makes a person comfortable within it. mind you, who has?!
3) we need to be extremely careful who we take from where- at present our immigration system
seems in some instances to see itself as a means of stealing the cream from other countries. Doctors, Nurses, businessmen,etc. we are not doing those countries any favours by taking these people from them,not to mention the anger we incur from Britain's current residents.we should be offering more opportunity to people in this country to become Doctors, lawyers, whatever. Not out of misguided notions of "native" preference, but merely because it is not good for society to have these people thrown into low-level employment. we need better education to do this (which is a whole different subject).
Furthermore, to take these people from their country when their country could do with them politically, is dangerous for its stability. if we drain, for instance, Arab or middle eastern states of their more moderate engaged sections, then we run the risk of more radical extremes controlling them. not good at all.
realistically, we need to be taking more on the basis of asylum, than economic migration. Or at least sharply delineating the two.Asylum seekers have a threat to their lives. Their need is simply greater.
anyway it isn't beneficial to use other countries to plug our skills/job gaps. they need these people, and we need to help more people here already to greater achievement.
i am all said out now, frankly. so, comment and maybe I'll reply and say more in the next few days. happy egg-snaffling!
now, anyone who writes anything about immigration these days is flagged up as racist, lily-livered liberal, provocative or whatever. it's the worlds most controversial subject. it probably shouldn't be; but because it is, it means it's a tricky subject. no-one seems short of opinions on it. worse thing is, it's almost impossible to have sensible debate about it: half those with something to say are thinly veiled racists, the rest are gonna get accusations of it, or accusations of being ridiculously PC.
It's a subject those on the Left often avoid, or adopt silly positions on, merely to avoid the R-word.As someone who firmly places themselves on the Left, but is sympathetic to the centre too, I'm probably running into a minefield. best really to enumerate my issues with immigration, and deal with them one by one:
1) why do people want to come here?- i have a concern that large numbers of people now are coming to this country for economic reasons, regardless of how much they subscribe to the underlying values of the country. For instance, it is no good preaching multiculturalism (which is a good thing, and perfectly suited to the pluralism and democracy of this country), if some of the individuals we in let are of a vaguely racist and xenophobic bent, and determined to preach their prejudices against other minorities in this country. the number of instances of racism I've heard from other immigrant groups: Caribbean disliking African, one Eastern European disliking another, Muslims hating Jews, and the one that always amuses me, those Oirish who seem to dislike most recent immigrant groups. the lunacy of this is obvious. most of us are immigrants at some stage. the only grounds we can disagree on are beliefs, not national origin or skin colour. The country Britain is (or perhaps should be) is founded on various general principles: democracy, anti-terrorism, the legal system (whatever its flaws, which need addressing), freedom of speech and thought, and a respect for civil liberties based largely on Mill's utilitarianism. no individual has primacy under law (or should do). unluckily we can't do too much about those who are naturalised and don't subscribe to these views, we can only deal with them as and when they break the law, and hope they go off somewhere else. we can, though, try to prevent people coming to this country with views that don't agree with this tolerance. it's that old chestnut, we should tolerate anything but intolerance. sounds daft, but its a good ethos (even if a little circular). so, we do not need people of extreme religious viewpoints, be they Christian, Jew, Muslim or otherwise. the recent growth of real religious intolerance, ie religious groups demanding privilege or protection when criticised, is profoundly disturbing. Sometime in the middle of the last century we managed to hit a decent settlement in this country whereby people had religious freedom to worship however they choose, provided their practise does not infringe on another individual's freedom, or go against the law. the obvious example would be something like forced marriage, or any restriction of female rights within some religions. It has to be consensual. the second part of this settlement,the one that has increasing attacks upon it from Christians and Muslims of certain types, is that your religion is a personal belief. so, like your political, economic, and social views, it is open to all criticism. Racism/xenophobia is wrong,it is prejudice based on incidental factors: coulour, where you are from. a prejudice against a religious or political group is perfectly reasonable. unfortunately, the former often goes under the guise of the latter, thus we have flagrant sillinesses like the incitement to religious hatred bill.
if people are to come to this country, we need more than mere commitment to an improved way of life, in material terms. this country should be a haven for people who subscribe to our basic freedoms.we have enough nasty racist, sexist homophobes to deal with already.
2) we have serious problems with what we do with people coming here- we need to make a serious decision whether we are prepared to put more money into helping immigrants into our way of life. for my part, i think we could afford to do a lot more. but if the electorate, continues to feel as it does, then maybe a limit on immigration is necessary just to make sure the immigrants we do accept get the proper help they need. what help? well, we need to sort the language issue for starters: having a friend who works in TESOL i get a fairly clear idea how underfunded and haphazard the teaching of English is to newcomers. not enough teachers, not enough equipment,not enough organisation.you wouldn't send children into society incapable of proper communication, we certainly shouldn't do it to adults. To pretend we don't have enough money to do this is daft. As is the view that we don't have enough jobs or houses for them. The council house stocks need building up again; Mrs T's fab idea of selling off a national resource has left us in trouble, and with house prices and debt increasing, it will soon become as clear as it once was that to expect everyone to buy their own house is a lunacy. We also need to address the integration issue. to have closed ghettos of immigrants with little English, or understanding of the culture. we need to spread the immigration throughout the country, and we need more than the citizenship test in terms of education. The citizenship test is useful but not really helpful in the long term; anymore than getting a child to cram for one exam, and then expecting them to be Maths geniuses.we forget our children have 11/12 years of education, home instruction and example to help them into society. And it is all too clear what happens when children's education and upbringing have been lacking. The same applies with immigration, they aren't children but they haven't had the constant exposure to the culture that makes a person comfortable within it. mind you, who has?!
3) we need to be extremely careful who we take from where- at present our immigration system
seems in some instances to see itself as a means of stealing the cream from other countries. Doctors, Nurses, businessmen,etc. we are not doing those countries any favours by taking these people from them,not to mention the anger we incur from Britain's current residents.we should be offering more opportunity to people in this country to become Doctors, lawyers, whatever. Not out of misguided notions of "native" preference, but merely because it is not good for society to have these people thrown into low-level employment. we need better education to do this (which is a whole different subject).
Furthermore, to take these people from their country when their country could do with them politically, is dangerous for its stability. if we drain, for instance, Arab or middle eastern states of their more moderate engaged sections, then we run the risk of more radical extremes controlling them. not good at all.
realistically, we need to be taking more on the basis of asylum, than economic migration. Or at least sharply delineating the two.Asylum seekers have a threat to their lives. Their need is simply greater.
anyway it isn't beneficial to use other countries to plug our skills/job gaps. they need these people, and we need to help more people here already to greater achievement.
i am all said out now, frankly. so, comment and maybe I'll reply and say more in the next few days. happy egg-snaffling!
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Multifariousness
such things have i to divulge:
i have an interview, an interview of the academic sort, and i am now somewhere between afraid and considering making a robot of myself to do the interview for me. which is silly. i always said that i wouldn't mind an interview, because i was fairly confident of conveying my intelligence and enthusiasm well. but now one seems to be in the pipeline (no date yet), i am actually afraid. not because i can't talk about literrrachewer with people, but because it's an "Interview". and i don't like those; frankly i don't like any situation where i have to impress. i'm crap at job interviews too. at least in this instance i can summon some genuine enthusiasm, more than i can in most job interviews (what do you feel you could bring to this job? my natural brilliance, and a my innate desire to get money, now what can you give me????! eh?).
i can see it will take some considerable mental adjustment to keep me confident and relaxed about it. it just seems sooo important. i shall be drawing upon every compliment i've received to keep me pumped.
On another front, the inaugural session of The Place's new training scheme occurred the other day; it actually sounds alright, their plans: more customer service, more help, more engagement with people's desire for books. however, i've yet to be shown any reason why we'll be freed up to do this; are they going to increase staff so we can spend more time with customers? are they going to cut the silly constant stickering and destickering that takes up large quantities of time? one imagines they aren't going to, they generally only see half the equation in these things. they can't cut costs on the staff side, and expect us to have more time for customer-based stuff. i also have very real doubts about the company's ability to see their own economic strengths : offering a broad range of books to people, in their hand. that physical tangibility is the only advantage, aside from customer service, we have over internet companies. but if we get caught up in trying to overstock items to compete with the supermarkets, then we'll lose what people came to us for in the first place. no-one goes and buys on a whim really in either supermarkets (their range is too small), or online (their range is too large, and too distant; for all the benefits of internet selling, it isn't "Shopping" and doesn't appeal in a "in yr hand" kinda way). But the company offers little evidence to me that they realise this: our range and depth is becoming increasingly narrow, and quantity is taking precedence over quality and width.
On another front: two of my friends have just split up after years together. it's final, it seems, and very sad. i can only say they are both splendid chaps, and hope they both find what they're after in the future, and they both prosper. they deserve nothing less.
Also the Dark Lady (she'll like the Shakespeare reference) is having dude trouble, i gather, and i hope that that sorts itself. she, too, is a splendid and lovely chap, and i hope she don't get messed around. bury yourself in books, my dear, it's what i always do. until then think of Nigella and the special way she holds the precious things, think of Senor White, and sneer on.
oh, and referring back to the training: they had clearly spent ludicrous amounts of money on fucking consultants to come up with most pointless diagrams, pie charts, etc. why do management-level business folk love to convince themselves (let's face it, no-one else is convinced) that what they do is some kind of science, definable by rules. Furthermore they see fit to explain the bleeding obvious to us, in the guise of training: "some customers like us; some, Brian, are indifferent; and some don't like us at all. they prefer value, and good customer service, and a wide range". Worse, its obvious to anyone that has ever been trained by these sorts, or been on a training course with the consultants, that these people are the most stupid people you could ever meet. As my friend and i agreed yesterday (she's been victim to these people too), they're like the people you meet at school who have no special intelligence or ability of any kind, but an overwhelming desire to get on, and an appallingly chirpy semi-stalinist way of going about it. their ambition is so far exceeding their talent they're an actual danger to society. the fact they get paid several times what the rest of us do, only takes the complete piss.
how would you feel if you're child told you that, when they grew up, they wanted to be someone who goes into other people's jobs and tells them how to do them??? i hope you'd slap the little bugger and set him straight. hopeless wastes of space.
i am reading Adam Philips book Equals (a mixture of Psychonanalysis and politics, and literature), if you're at all interested. its as usually good, as i expect from him.
i'm also loading up Motown, specifically Smokey and Marvin, and some rarities CDs. i love the Motown. so that stuff, plus some soul of the more southern variety, is counterbalancing the very good new Radiohead album, which whilst good, is no more "up" than you'd expect.
so all is fine, considering....
how are you? still got that condition, what did the doctor say?
and Mandibles, it was a loveliness to see you. a fine afternoon.cheers, darling.
Friday, 14 March 2008
things i said, in my head, in response to customers
"no, dear, we don't do a delivery service"
"well done, nice to see you're trying. but a good first step would be to put that doughnut down"
"did we not specify on the application form: Must Be Clean?"
"did we not specify on the application form: must possess opposable thumbs?"
"if you let that child spit on the carpet once more, i shall spit on your child"
"yes, and if you really want to talk to your angels, can i suggest alcohol"
"yes, but she's probably scared. lets face it, you are a rapist in waiting"
" i don't like you, please don't pull that ingratiating racism on me"
"the point of breasts as a feature is fine; but my dear you look like a child's picture of the sea"
"he may be gay, but still, you're a cunt"
"he's thinking my owner's a human doughball"
"i don't remember the war; no, i don't remember the war; no i don't remember rationing."
"Jesus hates you; you know that don't you? in fact he probably thinks you need a shag"
"please don't come any nearer; ew, god, no"
"well done, nice to see you're trying. but a good first step would be to put that doughnut down"
"did we not specify on the application form: Must Be Clean?"
"did we not specify on the application form: must possess opposable thumbs?"
"if you let that child spit on the carpet once more, i shall spit on your child"
"yes, and if you really want to talk to your angels, can i suggest alcohol"
"yes, but she's probably scared. lets face it, you are a rapist in waiting"
" i don't like you, please don't pull that ingratiating racism on me"
"the point of breasts as a feature is fine; but my dear you look like a child's picture of the sea"
"he may be gay, but still, you're a cunt"
"he's thinking my owner's a human doughball"
"i don't remember the war; no, i don't remember the war; no i don't remember rationing."
"Jesus hates you; you know that don't you? in fact he probably thinks you need a shag"
"please don't come any nearer; ew, god, no"
Thursday, 13 March 2008
morbidly english grumpiness
so, I'm catching up on my ever-increasing backlog of music magazines/newspapers that have built up since early January, obviously after I've done my ironing, had my haircut, watched Lovejoy, eaten lunch etc, and i get to the Radiohead interview from the whole promoting In Rainbows thing, and i read, and it interests me. I'd forgotten how clever, funny, and thoughtful they are about what they do. i haven't yet got In Rainbows, but i shall do soon i think; its sounds ace.anyhooo it sent me back to listening to all the other albums (except Pablo Honey which is shit), its amazing how you forget some bands after they've been there so long, even after you have a relationship with them (aural that is), and just take them for granted, and semi forget how great they are.
the last few albums were all brilliant, and whilst a little bit more arty, more esoteric than the big sellers of The Bends and OK Computer, in many ways equally as good. i never liked the stadium aspect of the band (i hate stadium, i hate U2, i hate Muse, REM get worse the bigger they try to be), and since they've jettisoned that aspect and gone pure art on us, they've been sooo much more interesting. a real listening experience, shut the door, turn off the light, sit and LISTEN. i just keep coming back to Kid A, Amnesiac (my personal fave), and Hail to the Thief, and finding more there, the same way i do with the Beatles, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine, all the greats. furthermore they seem a genuine art and pop band at the same time, the way Bowie, Roxy, Blur were. concepts, lyrical themes, real musical inventiveness. a sense of dynamic that you don;t get from most artists, but with real emotional core too.
i hope they go on for a lot longer.
my relationship with bands can be a fairly intense one, but only after time these days. the increasing funds at my disposal mean I've lost the times when i bought an album, and played it non-stop for weeks, or months because i had nothing else to do; like the true eighties child, my attention span is gnat-like sometimes, and i read books and get distracted by other things. until i end up with 25 CDs on the player top, and 10 books on my shelf, simply because they interest me, and i want them NOW. but in the end, its a system of competition, and the great will surface. Radiohead are managing that at present, as are Sleater-Kinney. And my Huxley fetish is still alive, as is my metaphysical poetry one, but new ones join and enhance the understanding, enhance the pleasure : Henry James, the Ammah's comp CD has got ace stuff on it, the baroque indie goes Tin Pan Alley-isms of the Magnetic Fields, the poetry of Jamie McKendrick. the new loves, and the old friends vie endlessly for my attention, each showing me something new. lordy, i love the books, and i love the CDs.
when I'm not indulging in these sensual pleasure (currently, along with cheese, and muffins, the only ones i get), i have the scintillating company of friends. Ammah and her wry wisdom, always seeming to know when I'm in trouble, and always reminding me i ain't alone. the folk at work who make my Saturdays a darn sight more fun than my weekdays "on the job" (titter ye not!).
i ask this, fine people, how many of you can ask a question at work, and have a friend and colleague who can sing (from a popular song of the last 50 years) an appropriate answer??eh? well, i do. Lucille, my dear, it is a unique talent. almost as unique as being able to make me smile so often; so if i get grumpy and withdrawn, please be aware it is never you. I'm just a big grouch. you were much missed in yr recent absence, by me, and the Aardvark :) i shall say no more but:
Dinner Lamb!!
goodnight, and good luck, chillun.
PS. i think I'm going to fall in love with Samantha Morton.but just temporarily. a few days or so.
PPS. the picture is Ennui by Walter Sickert (1914)
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