Morts Musings

It’s been a couple of weeks since my piece about the ethics of Christmas, and with the silly season still ongoing I feel the need to engage in another festive rant.
The post-Christmas sales, or New Year’s sales if you prefer, are another mid-winter tradition which marketing monkeys seem to have convinced us are a must-do holiday event; As if it wasn’t enough that people have been running around like headless chickens throughout December, and in some cases November too: buying gifts for distant relatives, tasty treats for over the Xmas period, and stocking up on essentials, just in case the country grinds to a standstill under a centimetre or two of snow; we’re expected to continue the shopping frenzy through into the new year, as the retailers, who a week earlier were mostly charging us top notch for the pleasure of wading through their crowded stores, in search of that special something, now expect us to go through it all again, as they desperately try to shift all the stock which they weren’t able to sell us in the lead up to Christmas.
However, for all that the stores are still manic to the point of inducing “pedestrian-rage”, at least the New Year’s sales offer some decent bargains, and even an old curmudgeon, like myself, can’t grumble, too much, at a bargain, even if it does mean wading through a sea of vacuous shopaholics!

Still, the sales’ attraction to me is purely pragmatic; they’ve got stuff I want, it’s cheap, I’ll go buy it and then get the hell out of the shops as soon as possible! So it confuses me how the marketing people have yet again managed to hype and glamourize, what should be a series of simple financial transactions into some kind of major must-do holiday event in it’s own right. Are they really that good at their jobs, or are people, in general, just really easy to manipulate? I guess the answer’s a bit of both, but that the latter is especially true if the words “bargain” or “sale” are involved; everyone likes to think they’re getting a good deal, and apparently that extends to buying pretty much anything, even things which we didn’t necessarily want or need!

What I really don’t get is stuff like this! Why on earth would an online multiplayer game feel the need to mimmick real world craziness & hold a holiday furniture sale?! I can see the point of struggling round the shops looking at sofas if you need a real settee, but honestly does your make-believe elven wizard really need a new dining table? I thought these games were meant to be about killing monsters, collecting “phat” loot, & “grinding” for levels? not the finer points of interior design & furniture arranging! Don’t get me wrong I spend a lot of time playing computer games, even these kinds of computer games, and accept that as hobbies go it’s all pretty sad, but surely this is a new nadir in the world of fantasy gaming?!
I’m wondering if the sorts of people who would partake in such a fanatsy furniture sale are just Sims players who’ve gotten lost? Yes, very prejudicial of me, but even geeks need someone to look down on. *grin*

Often during recession the true magnitude of the situation can be measured by looking at how consumers behave, and especially how they behave during the holiday season; traditionally it’s a time of year when people are more inclined to spend, and although, to an extent, they’re inclined to push the boat out as much as possible, even when things are tight, there’s no doubting that concerns about finances, & the economy, do effect the holiday spend.

With that in mind, the news from the AAA (Automobile Association of America) that, after a sharp dip last year, US holiday travel is set to see a boost this year should be seen as an encouraging sign that the world economy is coming out of recession; Projections are that both airlines and US car hire companies, along with retailers, will all be having a happier holiday season than they did last year.
One odd little bit of news, at least to me as I’m sat here in a cold UK office, are the forecasts that Florida, the “Sunshine State”, is looking like it will buck this trend, with predictions being that it’s set for another poorer than average year.
With it’s year round good weather I’d have thought that flights to Florida would be heaving, and that Orlando car hire brokers would be rubbing their hands in glee as holiday makers flocked in, but apparently not. *shrug*
I don’t know, maybe the whole holiday travel thing is a phenomenon which, as a Brit, I’m just not getting; Sure some years I’ll travel to see family, but surely if you were travelling for the sake of a winter get-away you’d choose somewhere warm, like, for example, Florida. *shrug*
Anyway, if you are travelling this Christmas I hope you have a safe trip & a relaxing break!

So, the Copenhagen summit is drawing to it’s exciting close when we’re to be treated to the spectacle of Obama saving the world with a last minute agreement which will be met with unanimous, rapturous approval by all 190 odd countries involved, and do enough to tackle the effects of anthropogenic climate change, so that future generations won’t be totally screwed.
Obviously, Obama’s chief sidekick boy-wonder Brown has been in Copenhagen for the last few days attempting to build a consensus, & generally trying to look like someone who’s worthy of re-election, or rather, I suppose that should be election, since he wasn’t voted in by anyone.

In anycase it looks like the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit is set to be a massive failure; We’ll probably get some kind of ineffectual, face-saving agreement pulled out of the fire at the very last moment, but the chances that it amounts to anything substantive, let alone does enough to combat the dangers which climate change pose to all of us, not to mention future generations, are in my opinion very depressingly slim indeed.

A big sticking point seems to be the Kyoto protocal; it seems like everyone who didn’t sign up for it wants to keep it, while those who did would rather sort out a new agreement which includes those who didn’t. To be honest I have more sympathy with the Kyoto signatories, it seems stupid to try and insist that a group of developed nations, which don’t include the US, should abide by an agreement when the world’s two largest pollutors, the US and China, aren’t to be bound in the same way; frankly we need them on board if we’re to achieve the kinds of CO₂ reductions which the science suggests are necessary.

Ultimately I wonder if this is where humanity demonstrates that it is an evolutionary dead end; short-sighted greed seems to be stymying attempts at taking longer term action to solve a problem which stands to effect us all, or rather the next generation. The impacts of climate change are already being seen in some of the world’s poorest regions, and yet relatively petty arguments between nations look set to make a farse of the Copenhagen Summit.
Faced with such monumentally selfish stupidity I guess we just have to hope that, against the vast weight of evidence to the contrary, it turns out that the climate sceptics are right, and it’s not going to be too great a problem.
Not a comforting thought at all!

While I’m not about to go into an in-depth analysis of this week’s pre budget report, there are a few of the Chancellors announcements which I feel the need to comment (& maybe even rant) about.

If you’re interested a summary of the the Report’s main points can be found here.

The much speculated upon moves to curb the bonus culture of banks is probably one of the biggest events of this PBR, but in the end were Darlings moves about encouraging the bankers to live in the real world, which most of us mere mortals inhabit, or was it more of a move to placate the public?
There wasn’t a windfall tax on the banks themselves, but bankers’ bonuses over £25k are to be subject to a one off tax of 50%. Yeah, sock it to them Darling!

Actually for all that it sounds good, not to mention fair, when one considers how much of tax payers’ money has been used to aid the banks over the past year or so, the bankers don’t seem to be taking it with good grace. There’s been the predictable wailing and whinging, and threats of taking their business abroad, from some in the industry. I do understand that, to an extent, we have to be careful not to drive the banks overseas; it’s undeniable that the sector does contribute substantially to the UK economy, but at the same time it’s clearly neither sustainable, nor acceptable, to have a system where the bankers run around making risky investments and creaming the profits ’til it all goes wrong, at which point that make contrite noises and go cap in hand to the tax payer.
That can’t be allowed to happen again, and frankly any bank which hasn’t the good grace, to recognise that being based in the UK is to their overall advantage, and engage in a little give and take, is welcome to run off to some unregulated banana republic; Let’s see how willing such countries are to support the banks when it all goes wrong again! Good riddance to bad rubbish!

Even those who are staying are desperately looking for loopholes to try and avoid the bonus tax; apparently the “Investment banking boutiques” are trying to argue that they’re not technically banks, even though some of their bankers are amongst the best rewarded, in terms of bonuses. Well guess what guys, somantics aside, you are exactly the guys that helped kick off the financial crisis, & who the public are pee’d off with! You can argue technicalities all you want, but you’re distinctly “banker flavoured” and you’re precisiely the people that this tax is designed to hit, live with it!
I hope the treasury takes the same attitude. Although full guidelines on the tax are still being ironed out, it at least appears that the treasury’s intent is to prevent the exploitation of such loopholes; lets hope thats how it pans out!

Other tax measures in the PBR include a 0.5% rise in NI, and the basic rate of VAT returning to 17.5%, although on the positive side there is to be a 2% drop in Bingo duty, so it’s not all take, take, take!
Actually, in fairness, there are also to be changes to the NI system so that those earning less than £20k won’t end up paying more due to the announced hike. I do like this move, a lot, it’s almost as if the Labour party have remembered that they’re meant to be the party that doesn’t screw the poor.

There was also some encouraging green measures in the PBR too. There’s to be a “scrappage” scheme for outdated household boilers, as well as £200m of govt money set aside to assist home owners with improving energy efficiency. There are also incentives for green vehicles too, electric company cars are to get a 5 year exemption from road tax, while electric vans are to receive a 100% first year capital allowance. A piece of news which will no doubt make Sainburys, who have recently announced an increase in the size of their fleet of electric delivery vans, very happy; “Every little helps,” as one of their competitors might say.
Any regular reader will know that I’m a fan of the concept of electric vans and cars, so it’s good to see the govt taking steps to encourage their use, even if, so far, those measures only apply to businesses.

Obviously that’s by no means all that the PBR contained, but it’s tone overall seemed to be one of trying to juggle the need for austerity alongside doing enough “headline” stuff to make people happy. Indeed, opposition have already called it a “pre election report”, rather than a “pre budget report, a label which is undoubtedly politically motivated in itself, but which also, probably, isn’t too far from the truth.

Well, I’ve talked about the UAE, & it’s exotic sights, a little before, but I thought I’d revisit the subject, if only to point out this page I found about Abu Dhabi, which highlights some of the Emirate’s “must see” attractions.
I’m a big fan of military history, so I was immediately drawn to the description of the Al Jahili Fort. Although it’s not a site I got to see when I was out in the UAE myself, I did see a number of old forts & coastal towers while I was out there & remember being impressed by the distinctive architecture.

Al Jahili is from the same mould, although the fort’s main walls, with their round towers, are pretty standard, functional looking, defences, the fort’s main tower, with it’s four tiers, really is eye catching, and is a clue that Al Jahili was more than just a defensive fortification. Indeed, it was actually built as a summer residence for Sheikh Zayed the First at the end of the 19th century, but, like so many castles through the ages, also served as an obvious reminder to all who saw it of the owner’s power and wealth.

Today the Fort also hosts a museum which provides information about the locality’s history, as well as an exhibition about Wilfred Thesiger; A British explorer and writer who spent a great deal of time in the Arabian penisula, and North Africa, and who crossed the “Empty Quarter”, a desert region so hostile and desolate that even the local bedouins avoid it, not once, as Lawrence of Arabia famously did when he led a surprise attack on the Red Sea port of Al Aqaba during the second world war, but twice. The exhibition includes an extensive collection of Thesiger’s photographs which provide a glimpse of what the region looked like during the mid 20th century, before the oil days.