TYR Drinks
The last time we did this was a bit thin. Anyway, tonight 7pm and the Constitution in Camden Town.
Read More TYR DrinksJuly 2014
Jobs through Your Local Budget are 400% of GDP!
Is there anyone who didn’t predict that the Big Society would descend into shameless grantsmanship, chancerism, and possibly illegal party financing? Go read; the list of projects is unimprovable, The Thick of It meets Siobhan Sharpe meets the Alan Partridge pitch scene. Much of the money ended up with Tories or ex-Tories and some of…
Read More Jobs through Your Local Budget are 400% of GDP!non-Thursday music post
So George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic played the Forum on about the sweatiest night of the year and I went. This isn’t my video – who wants to stand still and point a camera? – but it gives a strong flavour. They give value; having hit the stage about 2145 they were still playing at 1am.…
Read More non-Thursday music postWild speculation on a highly controversial subject
I started planning this post asking why Palestinian rockets seemed to be steadily increasing in range, but not improving in accuracy. Although nobody publishes circular-error probable figures for these things, various indicators suggested that they were still essentially random weapons. For example, there were no or few reports of them hitting valuable infrastructure or politically…
Read More Wild speculation on a highly controversial subjectWho do we trust? Len McCluskey, Jerry Heywood, and SCIENCE!
It seems to be TYR Service! day, so I followed up on a discussion elsewhere about social trust in the UK by analysing Ipsos MORI’s polling series on trust by profession. Having fiddled with various ways of filtering the data in an attempt to get a readable line chart, I decided to look at net…
Read More Who do we trust? Len McCluskey, Jerry Heywood, and SCIENCE!Viva Blob!
It looks like the experiment is over. The job of Head of the Home Civil Service is being re-integrated with Cabinet Secretary and No.10 Downing Street PS. There’s also going to be a “CEO” who will perhaps be recruited from the private sector, although no names that aren’t civil servants have been put forward. But…
Read More Viva Blob!Hill
The main response to the nomination of Lord Hill for European commissioner was widely described as incomprehension. This was literally true; nobody understood who he was. But they didn’t fail to understand because Hill is so obscure, but rather because they were ignorant. Martin Schulz, for example, made a fool of himself as follows: “I…
Read More HillSpam, and the art of negative marketing
I remember reader Ajay wondering how those godawful “Aberdeen Steak House” things around the West End have a business. I can’t find the discussion now, but I recall I told him that their ideal customer was someone for whom paying over the odds for a really bad dinner was an important part of their night…
Read More Spam, and the art of negative marketingBig Sportsday 2.0: Yorkshire
So yer big french pushbike sportsday. Having run away from the London ‘Lympics, you may be surprised to learn I was back in Yorkshire for it. The explanation is simple – it went through the village I grew up in twice, a unique distinction. As our old neighbour’s slogan goes, so good it’s coming twice.…
Read More Big Sportsday 2.0: YorkshireBobslake from Erickles
People are saying that a section about critical “noises off” was removed from Bob Kerslake’s blog. When I visited one was still present. It may of course have been edited. Here is a grab: Announcement from Sir Bob _ Bob Kerslake – Head of the Civil Service
Read More Bobslake from Erickles