Schismogenesis And The Death of Margaret Thatcher

Watching the cultural divisions in British society open chasm-like over the polarised responses to of the death of  former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher does seem to play along anthropological schismogenesis lines. The angry misogynistic name calling and celebratory death parties seem almost a response to the near apotheosis taking place at the other end of the political spectrum.

Her funeral may be cathartic for some. It certainly isn’t going to bring us closer together as a nation.

Original image by Renee Turner available under this creative commons licence

Wandering Into An Old Neighbourhood And Seeing Nothing Familiar

Don’t ask me why but i thought I’d have a look at the top 40 singles chart (UK). Now I feel like an octogenarian who has peeked inside a night club just to deliver a quiet vocal ‘tut’.

Not Up For Discussion Mate

ABC Radio Australia guest (science reporter Dr Karl) talking about global warming and possible ways the nation might conserve water.

“It takes over 50kg of water to produce 1kg of beef…that’s kind of wasteful”

An incredulous sounding host quickly interjects:

“It may well be but we’re not going to stop eating beef. End of”

Some scenarios are clearly just not up for discussion.

Have to admit I laughed out loud as the host quickly shut down that particular train of thought.

 

Gimme Shelter

In the UK we have a severe lack of housing. In Ireland it’s the opposite though to adapt a line from Eric Morecambe, it may be a case of all the right houses but not necessarily in the right places. They may be about to demolish some of the 600 ghost estates built during the Celtic Tiger boom years.

Front Pages

Let’s compare front pages: Australia  – UK - Germany - USA

We Are Sorry For The Racism You Are About To Revisit

I was flipping radio channels this morning (a radio with a remote control is just encouraging my short attention span) when I caught a short announcement before an archived edition of the light comedy Mind Your Own Business which dated from 1987. The announcer warned:

“we head back to 1987 when, unfortunately, racial stereotyping was still pretty common”

 

I wonder what warnings, if any, will be placed in front of current media when it is reheated for the consumpion of future generations.

Paying A Premium For The Familiar?

Landlines. I often wonder how long many will put up with them in the face of ubiquitous mobile phones and voip services but seemingly many can’t give up the habit of the familiar. British Telecom in the UK are to increase the cost of daytime calls to 7.95 pence per minute excluding the connection charge and accompany that with an increased line rental.

My pay-as-you-go mobile phone service charges only slightly above that to call landlines and mobiles at 8 pence per minute and free between people on the same network. My home phone voip service charges 0.06 pence per minute to UK landlines. That BT price is hardly competitive is it? And yet the use of landlines still continues.

What is the price rise about? Less people using landlines? Increased costs? Because they can?

Image by HowardLake under this creative commons licence