Axis of Power

It is absolutely clear China with a developing independent space programme, including its own GPS system, having been highly proactive in buying up or obtaining primary access to most of the key materials and rare materials around the world and with most of the developed nations credit held by China, China has entered the World Stage in a major way. They are not bit players on the sidelines but has put itself in a position to dictate terms to the rest of the World. When the rest of the old Western former powers eventually pull themselves out of their stupor they are not going to relinquish their previous world dominance. We have the classic power struggle building up with China determining its allies to form its axis and the rest of the west developed nations lumbering into some coalition axis of opposition. The key questions are the buffer nations caught up inbetween these two axis, the Middle East and Australia/New Zealand, naturally a western alliance but too close to the China axis and too far for close support but perhaps most of all Russia sharing common borders.

We are not talking political arm wrestling, the west will not accept subservience to China without a fight. Can you really imagine the USofA meekly submitting to China's terms? I think not. We are talking about a walk towards WWIII. The only possible setback to China's progress to world dominance, planned or coincidental, is whether it can successfully continue to exercise total authoritarian rule and sit and contain the bubbling ferment of all their numerous minority racial groups. A resentment against the power and privilege the ruling Hans have surrounded themselves with.

Working with it

Maybe we just cannot remember far enough back or maybe unprecedented, which ever we will have to learn to live and cope with weather extremes we are now experiencing. Does not matter what you attribute the cause to, no point kidding ourselves, this past six weeks of continually showers and gale winds is not a one-off freak. This is our new weather pattern, but how do we live with it? Re-learning past forgotten lessons, for one. Farmers of old who lived, worked and spent their lives on the land, knew their land, knew where water collected, where ditches worked and where to create courses to take water off their land and away. Modern farmers take profit out of the land, hiring contractors to do the bulk work and from their tractor cabins surrounded by technological aids have lost that direct contact and feel for their land. So we have to rediscover that direct contact with our land again, watch and listen to what it tells us. Point one, clear out all your ditches making sure that their outfall is clear beyond your own borders. Next is to dredge your rivers to stop them getting choked up with all the sediment taken off the fields. But we know that is not sufficient, fast off the land means fast into water courses then fast down to the next settlement along the water course. We have to reinstate flood plains to absorb that initial fast run-off giving the now reinvigorated rivers a chance to do their work. Hopefully flood plains that just have to take flood waters for a week or two and not for the months the Somerset Levels are having to endure. Managed and controlled flood plains. Or natures random flood plains generated by Beavers cutting down trees that choke the streams and rivers. Either way, but slowing down the run off into the rivers. Lest we forget, we have covered vast areas of our land in hard impermeable surfaces, that too is adding to our problems of a lot of water wanting to flow downstream and all at once. 

The rain will come as it comes, we have to learn to live with it. One solution to softening the impact we should have done hundred years ago. But it still not too late to act now for our grandchildrens benefits. Plant lots and lots of trees. Trees take the sting out of the wind, calm down its energy and diffuse the rain, softening it impact, increasing the prospect of it being absorbed before it runs off. Trees can be our giant country wide blanket soaking up the wind and the rain. Not solving but helping to dissipate the wind and rain, giving our flood plains, ditches and rivers a chance to work. Trees can take a long time to achieve any stature but not all. Some trees, that people might know as hedgerows, such as Elder, Damson, Wild Cherry, Crab Apple, Hawthorn, Sloe or Blackthorn are fast growing. We just need  rethink how we go about growing our crops, perhaps between harvesting lines of 'trees' but what ever we do need to plant a huge number of trees and right now. We will of course also learn how to manage them better so we do not flail them to within four feet of life.We can get smart and learn how to live with our new weather or procrastinate, hold on to our old comfortable ways, hum and haw while Nature just carries on and determines our future. Better to act, anyone for Elderflower Presse, Damson Cheese,
Crab Apple or Hawthorn Jelly or maybe some Sloe Chutney?

Caring for Customers

The Media churn out another lazy rehash of the old familiar story, Mr Good trying to save money whilst Mr Bad wants to stop him firing all his workers, in this case all the London Underground Ticket Sales staff. If like me, you are an infrequent traveller to London, you always use the Underground as it is the only way to get about. As an aside, in fairness the Buses are getting better organised, (fantastic 'London Journey Planner' App)  but still the dilemma of  which Bus, where to get off and electronic display saying next due in 5 minutes whilst you wait for 25 minutes and still no Bus in sight. Back to my theme. A welter of overlapping tiers of travel options and an automatic ticket machine with an interface devised by the Devil himself, evil incarnate. I regard myself as reasonably technically competent, an average commuter, but my lack of routine familiarity with all the London travel options means I am defeated each and every time I attempt to use the automatic ticketing system. I need the human, even if scowling, face of the Ticket Sale Office to translate my simple travel plans into a sensible Ticket to Travel. Unless London has decided to commit suicide and turn its back on all those tourists that flood the Underground every day, what is it thinking.

Our Society is being driven top down by Accountant Rules. Sure, absolutely, the Money In has to exceed the Money Out, no argument. But Accountants do not have any formula to tell when Customers have had an unsatisfactory experience that they choose not to repeat. In the real commercial world out there, struggling to get by in the ongoing recession, they are highly tuned to the customer experience. They go out of their way to ensure the customer's residual recollection is favourable to them. Not that mistakes do not happen, of course they do, but it is someone's job to proactively respond with more than a smiley face and 'Have a Nice Day' to ensure any problem is fixed and they are left satisfied. Not so our quasi-private companies running our essential services. They are only in it for profit, customer, or consumer, satisfaction is of no account. Sure a stone-walling complaints procedure that at most logs the complaint then dead files it away. Their remit is not to provide a good quality service that meets the needs of the users, just to return a profit. Not just London Underground but a plethora of quasi-private service provider have all been hitting the news for failing to address their 'customers' needs. Take the water utility boards, responsible to safe discharge of sewerage, brushing aside one of several householders that have repeated (five times), raw sewerage flooding into their homes; or Environment Agency with responsibility to manage our natural resources, failing in their duty of care by allowing the Somerset Levels to be inundated for weeks on end; or our treasured NHS failing to provided basic care robbing their elderly patients of dignity; or Local Authorities not allocating sufficient Care Hours to enable carers provide a decent quality of assistance and so on, rail failings, postal failings and on and on. Staffed by dedicate people who joined to serve the public but in the end are undermined by administrations that can only see the profit line and have no motive to meet the needs.

As I argue elsewhere, (All Change)(Time to Stand Up) quasi-'competitive' private companies have no place in running essential services. The 'competition model' is an entirely false fabrication, no real viable alternate options exist, the customer is stuck and stuffed. Nothing wrong, in fact overwhelming reasons why, essential services should be State organised. Just a new leaner model of how to go about organising and arranging them and making them accountable. There is hope that we can get back to providing all the customers, that is us, with services that aim to at least meet the needs of its customers. Now that would be a refreshing change.