Inspired by someone I follow on Twitter, @bookshop_girl, this is my bucket list. A bucket list is like a To Do list of things that you have always wanted to do. I've kept mine deliberately short. For career reasons I haven't published a few things but amongst the other things I would like to do with my life are:-
1) Teach people things
2) Write a book
3) Go on a long trip round Europe seeing the places I've read and learned about
4) Ride a stage of the Tour de France
5) Cycle from Lands End to John O Groats
6) Live and/or work abroad for a period
7) Complete a PhD
That should do to be getting on with. Now lets hear yours.
Monday, 24 October 2011
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Radix Malorum est Cupiditas
...is frequently mistranslated as "money is the root of all evil" which is wrong as it actually means "The love of money is the root of all evil". It's the love bit that makes the crucial difference and it also goes some way to explain the miserable condition of our national finances today.
Of course, the banks have a substantial - a very substantial - responsibility. And don't get me started on how bankers can earn bonuses when their firms are majority owned by the tax payer and they are still making losses. (I'm still considering a 100% tax on bank bonuses to be a good idea.)
But the fundamental reason we got it into such a mess is greed, pure and simple greed. Which is, oddly enough, one of the original translations of the Latin maxim. But it's something for which we all bear responsibility. We've all been responsible: spending irresponsibly beyond our earnings, buying houses at ridiculous salary multiples and for what? Has it made us any happier? It is therefore no surprise that clever financiers seeking more complex and remunerative products saw a market for bundling debt and then re-selling it on the international financial markets and it is therefore something for which we are all responsible.
All of which partially explains why I am in favour of today's increase in VAT to 20%.
It is a tax on discretionary spending with the most important essentials excluded :food, children's clothing and (most importantly) books. It therefore largely applies to items that we do not necessarily need to buy and should therefore reconsider. A trip to the Perth recycling centre is instructive in this regard. Look at the electronics recycling section and count how many modern functioning TVs have been discarded. Multiplied across the country and it shows just how much money is unnecessarily being spent replacing perfectly serviceable electrical goods.
With house prices being the main reason for the current recession, it makes me wonder why VAT shouldn't also apply to house prices. It would discourage spending, irresponsible mortgage lending and encourage people to settle in their existing homes. Spending on home improvements could be excused from VAT to maintain employment in the building trade and to encourage people to adapt their existing home to suit their purposes rather than move every three or five years.
I think the bottom line is that I would argue that a large, modern home and a flat screen TV is not a recipe for happiness. It brings with it additional pressure and worry and the potential for a greater fall if things go wrong. Nor is my suggestion meant to inhibit ambition. In fact I am extremely ambitious but my ultimate ambition is for contentment and that wont be affected by the rise in VAT, a bigger house or a flat screen TV.
Of course, the banks have a substantial - a very substantial - responsibility. And don't get me started on how bankers can earn bonuses when their firms are majority owned by the tax payer and they are still making losses. (I'm still considering a 100% tax on bank bonuses to be a good idea.)
But the fundamental reason we got it into such a mess is greed, pure and simple greed. Which is, oddly enough, one of the original translations of the Latin maxim. But it's something for which we all bear responsibility. We've all been responsible: spending irresponsibly beyond our earnings, buying houses at ridiculous salary multiples and for what? Has it made us any happier? It is therefore no surprise that clever financiers seeking more complex and remunerative products saw a market for bundling debt and then re-selling it on the international financial markets and it is therefore something for which we are all responsible.
All of which partially explains why I am in favour of today's increase in VAT to 20%.
It is a tax on discretionary spending with the most important essentials excluded :food, children's clothing and (most importantly) books. It therefore largely applies to items that we do not necessarily need to buy and should therefore reconsider. A trip to the Perth recycling centre is instructive in this regard. Look at the electronics recycling section and count how many modern functioning TVs have been discarded. Multiplied across the country and it shows just how much money is unnecessarily being spent replacing perfectly serviceable electrical goods.
With house prices being the main reason for the current recession, it makes me wonder why VAT shouldn't also apply to house prices. It would discourage spending, irresponsible mortgage lending and encourage people to settle in their existing homes. Spending on home improvements could be excused from VAT to maintain employment in the building trade and to encourage people to adapt their existing home to suit their purposes rather than move every three or five years.
I think the bottom line is that I would argue that a large, modern home and a flat screen TV is not a recipe for happiness. It brings with it additional pressure and worry and the potential for a greater fall if things go wrong. Nor is my suggestion meant to inhibit ambition. In fact I am extremely ambitious but my ultimate ambition is for contentment and that wont be affected by the rise in VAT, a bigger house or a flat screen TV.
Tuesday, 16 November 2010
Tom Harris
Tom Harris used to be my M.P. , not that I ever had occasion to meet him. So I know him more through his entertaining and informative blog "...and another thing". I was therefore sad to see that he has decided to stop blogging because he felt it was taking over his personal and family life. As you can see from how prolifically I blog, I can understand what he means.
No, the reason I'm sorry to see Tom's blog disappear is that his blogs, and his website in general, showed his humanity. It made him seem somewhat normal which, many will be surprised to find out, most politicians are.
I have had the pleasure - admittedly sometimes a dubious one - of meeting many politicians and what has always struck me os how few self-serving rogues I have met. Indeed, I've met more of these characters in my own game.
I'm sorry that Tom has stopped his blog but I wish him well in his career.
No, the reason I'm sorry to see Tom's blog disappear is that his blogs, and his website in general, showed his humanity. It made him seem somewhat normal which, many will be surprised to find out, most politicians are.
I have had the pleasure - admittedly sometimes a dubious one - of meeting many politicians and what has always struck me os how few self-serving rogues I have met. Indeed, I've met more of these characters in my own game.
I'm sorry that Tom has stopped his blog but I wish him well in his career.
Monday, 5 October 2009
More redundancy news
So I got a new job and it was a nightmare!
Three months in my new boss called me into his office and told me that things weren't working out and they were letting me go with seven days notice.
It was all I could manage to feign some indignation and leave in high dudgeon pretending to be upset. In truth I was far from upset and I found it difficult to disagree with the statement that things weren't working out because they sure as heck weren't working out from my point of view.
Things started badly and got worse. I've had a few new jobs over the years but I have never, ever sat in a coffee shop across the road before going in on day one thinking, "I wish I wasn't going in here. I'm making the biggest mistake of my life."
Of course, I shouldn't have taken the job in the first place. In the first instance they tried to screw me on salary by offering me £2,000 less than they had originally indicated at the outset of the recruitment process. They then proceeded to screw me out of a bank holiday and refuse to pay me for working it or give me a day in lieu, despite my contract saying I was entitled to it. When I left their attitude was basically, 'Go ahead and sue us'. Of course they knew I wouldn't bother for a couple of hundred quid. The couple of hundred quid would be nice of course but I'm more upset about the day of my life that I won't get back. Finally they started screwing me on expenses by which time I'd just about had enough and my CV was on the market.
So since leaving things have well and truly improved. My health has improved. I have begun cycling again and lost just over half a stone in the process. I have been eating better and sleeping better. My mental health is fantastic and I have a really positive outlook for the future.
So, if you're in the insurance industry and a particular broker in Stirling wants to employ you, do yourself a favour and give it a miss.
Three months in my new boss called me into his office and told me that things weren't working out and they were letting me go with seven days notice.
It was all I could manage to feign some indignation and leave in high dudgeon pretending to be upset. In truth I was far from upset and I found it difficult to disagree with the statement that things weren't working out because they sure as heck weren't working out from my point of view.
Things started badly and got worse. I've had a few new jobs over the years but I have never, ever sat in a coffee shop across the road before going in on day one thinking, "I wish I wasn't going in here. I'm making the biggest mistake of my life."
Of course, I shouldn't have taken the job in the first place. In the first instance they tried to screw me on salary by offering me £2,000 less than they had originally indicated at the outset of the recruitment process. They then proceeded to screw me out of a bank holiday and refuse to pay me for working it or give me a day in lieu, despite my contract saying I was entitled to it. When I left their attitude was basically, 'Go ahead and sue us'. Of course they knew I wouldn't bother for a couple of hundred quid. The couple of hundred quid would be nice of course but I'm more upset about the day of my life that I won't get back. Finally they started screwing me on expenses by which time I'd just about had enough and my CV was on the market.
So since leaving things have well and truly improved. My health has improved. I have begun cycling again and lost just over half a stone in the process. I have been eating better and sleeping better. My mental health is fantastic and I have a really positive outlook for the future.
So, if you're in the insurance industry and a particular broker in Stirling wants to employ you, do yourself a favour and give it a miss.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
For Harry Patch and his friends
The Old Soldier
The string of history snaps with a heartbeat
casting the mud and grime of your sacrifice
away to join that of generations before.
Although you were a survivor, an old man
at the end, your kindly eyes still show that you
too sacrificed much. Too much.
Not dulled with the misty passing of time
but blazing with the fierce, sharp, sad memories
of friends torn apart, poisoned and broken,
The stench of the rat-scurried trench, the cries
of the wounded, the grey bird-less sky
and everywhere mud... mud...mud.
Your memories seeped back through the
mud and the blood of Passchendaele, and your eyes
told us more than any Owen poem or history book.
Through them your pain and humanity blazed
like the guns on the Western front. Through them
you remembered friend and foe as we now remember you.
Copyright D. Findlay 2009
The string of history snaps with a heartbeat
casting the mud and grime of your sacrifice
away to join that of generations before.
Although you were a survivor, an old man
at the end, your kindly eyes still show that you
too sacrificed much. Too much.
Not dulled with the misty passing of time
but blazing with the fierce, sharp, sad memories
of friends torn apart, poisoned and broken,
The stench of the rat-scurried trench, the cries
of the wounded, the grey bird-less sky
and everywhere mud... mud...mud.
Your memories seeped back through the
mud and the blood of Passchendaele, and your eyes
told us more than any Owen poem or history book.
Through them your pain and humanity blazed
like the guns on the Western front. Through them
you remembered friend and foe as we now remember you.
Copyright D. Findlay 2009
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
Dr Nicholas Hughes
The tragic, premature death of Nicholas Hughes has been reported rather predictably by the media. Instead of simply reporting the event as the untimely passing of someone whose family was in the public eye, many articles simply reprise the sad, and equally untimely, deaths of his mother, Sylvia Plath, Assia and Shura Wevill.
A number of column inches have also been given over to the anti-Ted Hughes reaction instigated by some more hysterical elements.
All of which may be true but, rather sadly, they diminish the tragedy of this young mans death by reducing him to a bit part player in his families wider tragedy.
Here is a tragedy in its own right. Reading Ted Hughes' letters to his son and looking at the photographs in the recently published volume of Hughes' letters, one gets the impression of a normal, well adjusted young man, totally at ease with the world of nature and in particular with fishing, a past time he truly loved and which eventually provided him with a livelihood.
I am deeply saddened by his passing and want to express my deepest sympathies to his sister, Freida, and other members of his extended family.
This article in the Alaskan press gives a true appreciation of the man and his work. http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/23/nicholas-hughes-son-major-poets-emerged-prominent-/
RIP.
A number of column inches have also been given over to the anti-Ted Hughes reaction instigated by some more hysterical elements.
All of which may be true but, rather sadly, they diminish the tragedy of this young mans death by reducing him to a bit part player in his families wider tragedy.
Here is a tragedy in its own right. Reading Ted Hughes' letters to his son and looking at the photographs in the recently published volume of Hughes' letters, one gets the impression of a normal, well adjusted young man, totally at ease with the world of nature and in particular with fishing, a past time he truly loved and which eventually provided him with a livelihood.
I am deeply saddened by his passing and want to express my deepest sympathies to his sister, Freida, and other members of his extended family.
This article in the Alaskan press gives a true appreciation of the man and his work. http://www.newsminer.com/news/2009/mar/23/nicholas-hughes-son-major-poets-emerged-prominent-/
RIP.
Sunday, 15 February 2009
Hector's balls
Hector's balls are there no more,
He left them on the veterinary floor,
To procreate he is unable,
They cut them off on the surgery table
He left them on the veterinary floor,
To procreate he is unable,
They cut them off on the surgery table
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