Dinosaur Thing

Uh Oh Moment

I don't often have "uh oh moments" but have you been to Piccadilly Circus recently? This is supposed to be prime retail real estate, an icon a tourists dream yet I counted 3 empty stores, an "isn't Britain great" tat shop, a games arcade, 3 dodgy market stalls and a sports warehouse outlet. 

My take on Copenhagen

I spent a lot of the holidays tracking a few things. First of all my Twitter and Facebook friend's newsfeeds. the first time I guess I really understood the power of both to convey the mood of the world. The second was the feedback from my colleagues from my Antarctica trip who attended and, amazingly for their young age, negotiated at the Copenhagen conference. Like me they are all bitterly disappointed with the result. A horrific future in front of us if we do not radically change our ways and those of others and little achieved after 2 weeks. But I am forever an optimist. As I said to a very close friend and China/Japan war veteran back in 1986, the world is changing. We become more aware now more rapidly than ever before. The bad guys get found out faster, poor politicians and public representatives get found out faster and its harder being a bad guy when you know the world is watching. What I saw both before and during Copenhagen was an awareness that wasn't by anyway present before. People are only just waking up the problem and those who are aware are either in some psychopathic denial or bargaining stage in their mind or actually doing something. Politicians got found out for what they really were and frankly their constituents will hold them to account very shortly. As the sax player in "The Commitments" said "It was dismal, truly dismal, but it was a start and I believe in starts". This was start. Don't lose hope.

Travelling across London during the RMT Strike

I gave a presentation yesterday at a conference of senior IT directors on the use of social networking tools. In order to get there I had to endure a London near paralysed by the pointless RMT strike. But I got there in the end. One of the delegates suggested to me that the efforts being made by people to get to their place of work was admirable and reminicent of the Dunkirk spirit of the nation. I nodded at the time and then thought that was crap. The Dunkirk spirit was all about abandoning all selfish thoughts and giving in to your humanity. On the underground yesterday I saw several people who I genuinely think are normally nice people abandon that humanity for the sake of saving 5 minutes getting to work and gaining the intense hatred of their fellow passengers. Hmm !!

Lament for Scotland

I got very angry yesterday and I nearly vowed online never to read "The Economist" ever again. I love "The Economist". It condenses the news brilliantly and covers even the darkest news with balance. Having lived overseas a lot it was a godsend in the world of limited context. But today's leader "Lament for Scotland" has puzzled and angered me. First of all I don't see the point of the article. There is no news here or purpose to the article other than a childish dig at Scotland. It perpetuates the lie that Scotland is subsidised by England to the tune of £1000 per year. I know. I've met the guys that started the lie and they don't care about keeping that lie in the public mind. It suits their ends and it maintains the union. They must have been laughing their socks off that they've fooled even The Economist. The Economist is above all of this. If I want bitter, unsubstantiated lies I'll go buy a copy of "The Mail".

I'm in Edinburgh now at the www2006 conference and Jack McConnell's opening speech has put me in a better mood. To anyone upset yesterday by the Economist yesterday, bide your time. Scotland is still unique in the value it brings the world per capita and that isn't going to stop just because the Economist says so.