Category Archives: Blog

General thoughts on life, the universe and everything. Stuff that doesn’t fit in the other categories!

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Catholic threat on slave rights law

The Catholic Church today caused widespread controversy when it issued a statement urging the Government to overturn a law made two hundred years ago.

Clive Adams, standing outside Saint Johns Cathedral in Norwich, read the statement: “The Catholic Church is unable to comply with the Slave Trade Act, the 1807 Act of Parliament abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire. This law is incompatible with the teachings of the Bible and we cannot in clear conscience operate under such restrictions. We ask the government to consider an opt-out clause in revised legislation.” ((In case it’s not absolutely obvious, this is a parody on the recent story that the Catholic Church is, with some support in the Cabinet, seeking an opt-out of equality legislation on religious grounds.)) Adams, an unpaid volunteer reporting to Cardinal Michael Osborn, denied that he himself was a slave.

The church suggests that past ill treatment of slaves was merely due to an incorrect interpretation of the Bible. “Sentiments of kindness and understanding vastly outnumber passages advocating beating servants and selling your daughter.”

The release also notes that the Blair administration has already repealed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1998 ((This is actually true — Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1998 — although staunch Catholics should note that this does not mean that Slavery is legal.)) and suggested that it wasn’t such a stretch to go “as far as common sense leads us.”

The government has not officially commented, although some senior members of the Cabinet are rumoured to have suggested that passing new legislation might be easier if MPs “be obedient to them that are [their] masters.”

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Python Theme

SpamalotI don’t think my birthday last Thursday could have had more of a Monty Python theme if I’d tried. A few weeks ago B booked up tickets to see Spamalot, the West End musical based on the Monty Python film “Holy Grail.” She also hid away a copy of “The Very Best of Monty Python,” a small book with pictures and scripts from the Python series.

Quite independently, I got a text a few weeks ago asking what I thought of a DVD box-set where each Python talked about and showed their favourite sketches. I’d not heard of it at the time, but it sounded like an intriguing idea. And they are greate to watch — thanks Mum and Dad!

I took the day off work and was able to spend much of the time “revising” for the evening at the theatre. (That was my excuse anyway.) It’s amazing how good a lot of it still is. Some dates badly, but much is probably just as funny now as when it was first broadcast. I was reminded that a lot was first broadcast even before I was born!

Spamalot, the musical, didn’t disappoint. B wanted to go before January to make sure we saw the show with Tim Curry in the lead role. He was certainly worth seeing, having quite a stage presence and a great voice. Not to say that the rest of the cast had anything much to worry about. The lady of the lake warrants special mention, not just because she looked and sounded the part but because she got some of the best lines. Her song about “What ever happened to my part?” was a highlight. One of the songs — you’ll know which one if you go to see it — maybe works better on Broadway, but I thought they all hit their mark. The French insults still make me laugh, although, knowing all the lines from the movie, I don’t really know why!

Overall it was a neat mix of some of the “best of” Monty Python with some new material more suited to its new format. Very enjoyable — thanks B!

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Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving, 2006On Saturday we hosted the first Thanksgiving dinner at Chez Darlington. Due to the size of our kitchen this became a bit of a logistical nightmare but we persevered.

Well, I say “we” but pretty much all the cooking was down to B with me in more of a motivational role, insisting that the spinach and cheese casserole smelled really good and that the turkey looked great. I got the easy job as it was true!

Our guests helped with the rest of the food, with MC bringing the snacks, AP concocting a butternut squash and tomato side, PG and IY providing the drinks and EL baked banana and pumpkin bread.

I think it’s fair to say that we all left thankful to have such great friends and completely pogged from all the food.

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MiFID Muddle

To most readers here I think I’m right in saying that the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive won’t mean much. It’s some new Europe-wide legislation designed to help regulate financial transactions.

Stop yawning. Please. Come back! This isn’t going to be completely dry and boring, honest.

So, anyway, one of its major elements is a concept called “best execution.” This isn’t a choice between a firing squad or a noose. The idea is that a trader has to be able to prove that they made the best deal, with the right people, at the best price. (On a serious note, I think this is a sensible idea, I’m just not convinced that regulation is the right way to achieve it.)

Unfortunately, speaking as an English man, I think we’re are at a disadvantage here. The Germans are efficient, so it shouldn’t be a problem in Frankfurt. The French probably don’t care what everyone else is doing, so I’m sure Paris will be fine. And the Italians are normally very outgoing and gregarious anyway. They probably speak to every trader at every bank just because they can. No, Milan will be fine.

But “best” could be a problem in London. Here our stiff upper lips and world-renouned reserve might prevent us from saying that we’re the best at anything. We should really be aiming for “pretty decent execution,” with a “quite good” counterpart at a “not too shabby” price. Although, to some, that still might be considered gushing.

It’s important that laws that affect multiple countries are made in a culturally sensitive manner and, as I think I’ve made clear, this is not the case with MiFID.

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Right Nation

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I was amused when, while working in North Carolina in 2003, I visited some friends for Thanksgiving. All their neighbours introduced themselves and then, on finding I was English, apologised. “It’s not our fault, we didn’t vote for him!” Stood amongst those liberal, well travelled and smart people it was difficult to reconcile this with the fact that they lived in a country that had a president that was none of those things.

It’s bizarre. Virtually every American I’ve met has disliked Dubya, yet over the whole country, despite a number of obvious set-backs, his popularity has rarely been in question. Why such a contradiction? How did it get like that and how soon will the US be returning to normal?

I decided to read “Right Nation” by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge to find out.

It is split into four sections, starting with the history, then the anatomy (the various parts that make up the American Right), then prophecy (what comes next) and finally exception (what makes America different). It drills down into each area in detail, exploring their main ideas from any number of different angles.

For those that are looking for Dubya-bashing, this is not the book for them. In fact, if anything, he has gone up in my estimation after reading it. Not to say that he comes out smelling of roses. In fact the main villain of the piece turns out to be John Ashcroft, not necessarily because he did the worst things (although the PATRIOT Act takes some beating) but because, given the power, he ended up doing the exact opposite of what he professed to support.

I can’t say that I necessarily agreed with everything in the book, but I would say that was to its credit. The authors proudly claim that they have been accused of being sympathisers of both sides of the debate, which just goes to show how even handed they’ve been. The main criticism that I would level is that it was very dry and academic in tone. The langage is precise and functional, the structure shows detailed research and clear thinking. Maybe it’s just in the nature of a non-fiction tome like it and, while not entirely off-putting, didn’t make it a page-turner. I also found some US-centric terms not defined anywhere, or maybe they’re defined once but are just well hidden. For example, I thought you bought jeans at The GOP until I looked it up and realised my mistake.

But back to our original questions — why and how much longer do we have to put up with Bush and his cronies? Does the book answer those questions? For the most part, yes. You may not agree with (or like) the conclusion, but it does give some serious food for thought and is well worth a read.