Tuesday 12 January 2016
7 Posts in 7 days
These 7 things are all the rage nowadays so why not and I'm going to run them along side 7 reggae songs
Monday 11 January 2016
David Bowie 8 January 1947 - 10 January 2016
Lots of tributes and eulogies on FB today. I've got a blog though so I thought I'd write mine up here instead. Like most people I didn't see it coming although I remember one of those spiteful newspaper articles from a few years ago (October 2012) in which the Daily Mail full of its usual bile speculated about DB's health. As usual, how cool does he look but with the benefit of hindsight maybe for once DM got it right.
I thought about Bowie yesterday, I was at the gym and heard this brill Rock'n'Roll Suicide/If I Can Dream segue by Elvez on my iPod.
I made a mental note to give DB's version a spin.... Maybe later.
And last night I decided to try Blackstar on Spotify. I played it through twice. It really is rather good, much better that anything he's done for nearly 35 years and so much better than 2013's The Next Day. I will listen to it again.
So today his passing was announced and it's difficult for me to know what to say and sound sincere. It's obviously sad when such an iconic musical figure dies. I've got some of the rolling news people have tried to find perspective (Mick Jagger laughably mentioned several times) but it is Elvis Presley or John Lennonesque isn't it?
Shamila and I went to see the V and A exhibition in 2013 I was reminded of the magnificent singles from the'70's and fantastic run of albums from Station to Station to Scary Monsters. His various reinventions and of course The Man Who Fell To Earth.
I was also reminded the other day that in the seventies I preferred Marc Bolan to David Bowie. There is no comparison who achieved more and the fact that Bowie achieved little after 1982 (my opinion) does not diminish his influence and importance on music and popular culture in general.
He was undoubtedly an icon but he wasn't my mam. I didn't know him and I was never going to meet him so I'm not going to talk stupid and say how much I will miss him. In my eyes his body of work stands high and will continue to do so. Maybe Blackstar is the final word but this is David Bowie so maybe not.
Long live Bowie.
Saturday 2 January 2016
Boro 2 - Derby 0
Long suffering followers of my Goffa blogs will know all about my torment as a Boro supporter. I don't always go and to be truthful in recent seasons I have missed many more home games than I have attended. But my absences and silence is more to do with not being able to take the pain above anything else.
Other football supporters judge my unwillingness to join in the tribal hatred of other local clubs, Newcastle, Sunderland and Leeds as not caring enough about the Boro. Of course I am not part of that tribe but it is more because in my world there are no other football teams worthy of me having an opinion. I am indifferent to them all. We are simply The Boro.
So although I know it will end in (my) tears (hopefully later rather than sooner) I've renewed my season ticket after an absence which has been too long.
Brief Match Report
At 80 minutes with the score at 0-0 the announcer read out todays crowd, an impressive 32870 to warm applause (not from me, I was concentrating on the match). The Derby supporters taunted Boro with the chant "you've only come to see The Derby".
By 85 minutes it was Boro 2 Derby 0 and I joined in the Boro fans reply "you've only come to see The Boro". A taunt? Not from me. Why wouldn't they come to see us because we are The Boro.
By the way we are also top of the league!
Other football supporters judge my unwillingness to join in the tribal hatred of other local clubs, Newcastle, Sunderland and Leeds as not caring enough about the Boro. Of course I am not part of that tribe but it is more because in my world there are no other football teams worthy of me having an opinion. I am indifferent to them all. We are simply The Boro.
So although I know it will end in (my) tears (hopefully later rather than sooner) I've renewed my season ticket after an absence which has been too long.
Brief Match Report
At 80 minutes with the score at 0-0 the announcer read out todays crowd, an impressive 32870 to warm applause (not from me, I was concentrating on the match). The Derby supporters taunted Boro with the chant "you've only come to see The Derby".
By 85 minutes it was Boro 2 Derby 0 and I joined in the Boro fans reply "you've only come to see The Boro". A taunt? Not from me. Why wouldn't they come to see us because we are The Boro.
By the way we are also top of the league!
Friday 1 January 2016
Here's To A Healthy 2016
No resolutions this year just looking forward to hopefully a much healthier 2016. Also going to try and post a bit more. Not sure what about yet. To get these going with a bang here's my second post of the day.
My eldest son has been working/holidaying in Australia for the last month. I told him to send me some photos as he went along. In true Dr Mike style all he's sent me are photos of cricket matches plus this photo of a banana autographed by Australian fast bowler Peter Siddle. There is a joke in there but only the most devoted of us cricket anoraks get it.
My eldest son has been working/holidaying in Australia for the last month. I told him to send me some photos as he went along. In true Dr Mike style all he's sent me are photos of cricket matches plus this photo of a banana autographed by Australian fast bowler Peter Siddle. There is a joke in there but only the most devoted of us cricket anoraks get it.
National Living Wage - My Mystic Meg
Good thing/Bad thing?
So why are the Tories are rebranding the National Minimum Wage, currently £6.70 per hour as the National Living Wage? Increasing it to £7.20 per hour in April 2016 and then further to an impressive sounding £9.00 per hour by 2020. Of course the National Living Wage should not to be confused with the Living Wage Foundation 'Living Wage' which is already £8.25 per hour and £9.40 per hour in London.
Excuse me for being sceptical about whether any good will come out of this for many.
First of all remember how this idea came about. The Tories didn't agree to these changes to help the poor. They did it as part of the "jam tomorrow" deal to reduce working tax credits now and increase the National Living Wage in stages by 2020. The House of Lords blocked the plan to reduce Working Tax Credits now so all's good? Definitely no bad thing for people relying on tax credits. But what about in 2020?
From what I understand the tax credits will be cut then and everybody will be entitled to be paid at least £9.00 an hour. Apart from the full Minimum Wage applies to people over the age of 21 and the Living Wage only applies to people over the age of 25. So people under 25 will have to stick with the NMW.
So assuming that the majority of workers in places such as fast food outlets like McDonalds or Nandos are under the age of 25 (I think it's a fair assumption) I'm guessing the living wage might not even be relevant there. Will they even employ people over the age of 25 in the future?
Fellow socialists may not agree but I have serious concerns as to how this 34% pay rise (£6.70 to £9.00) is going to be funded in certain industries such as the care industry. I think it is mostly privatised nowadays but funded by local authorities. Will local authorities be able to afford to pay increased fees? From what I have seen the care industry is no longer the cash cow it once was. What will happen if the companies running care homes/home helps decide to just walk away?
And what about small family businesses such as shops? Take local hairdressers, cafes, newsagents, florists, pubs and the like. I can't remember how these businesses looked like to me (I probably just thought all businesses were out to exploit their workers) in April 1999 (when the NMW came in) but I'm I won't have been too concerned about how small businesses would manage to pay the NMW. Maybe I'm going soft but they don't look awash with cash now.
And what of the big employers, the national store chains, logistics companies, the factories, those employing the support staff in our hospitals etc? They will still need to employ people for now (until the robots take over) and they won't be able to manage just employing people under the age of 25 (will they?) but I don't see them passing the additional labour costs onto their shareholders. I can see cuts to employees benefits/rights becoming even more the norm. Are there any pension schemes left? Overtime rates of pay will become a thing of the past. Cuts to paid holidays. Cuts to guaranteed working hours (more zero hour contracts). 40 hours x £9.00 sounds ok but any less hours, not so.
They have arrived at £9.00 per hour as 60% of median earnings at 2020. So presumably that mean every time somebody in the country gets a pay rise the NLW will go up. Sounds like business in general has an incentive not to give anybody a pay rise.
On the face of it the policy is right and if Labour had brought it in I'd be relatively comfortable with it but I just don't trust the Tories. They really don't give a monkeys about the lower paid and in my opinion have no interest (social or business reasons) in making things better for them.
The crystal ball is read. Lets see what happens?
So why are the Tories are rebranding the National Minimum Wage, currently £6.70 per hour as the National Living Wage? Increasing it to £7.20 per hour in April 2016 and then further to an impressive sounding £9.00 per hour by 2020. Of course the National Living Wage should not to be confused with the Living Wage Foundation 'Living Wage' which is already £8.25 per hour and £9.40 per hour in London.
Excuse me for being sceptical about whether any good will come out of this for many.
First of all remember how this idea came about. The Tories didn't agree to these changes to help the poor. They did it as part of the "jam tomorrow" deal to reduce working tax credits now and increase the National Living Wage in stages by 2020. The House of Lords blocked the plan to reduce Working Tax Credits now so all's good? Definitely no bad thing for people relying on tax credits. But what about in 2020?
From what I understand the tax credits will be cut then and everybody will be entitled to be paid at least £9.00 an hour. Apart from the full Minimum Wage applies to people over the age of 21 and the Living Wage only applies to people over the age of 25. So people under 25 will have to stick with the NMW.
So assuming that the majority of workers in places such as fast food outlets like McDonalds or Nandos are under the age of 25 (I think it's a fair assumption) I'm guessing the living wage might not even be relevant there. Will they even employ people over the age of 25 in the future?
Fellow socialists may not agree but I have serious concerns as to how this 34% pay rise (£6.70 to £9.00) is going to be funded in certain industries such as the care industry. I think it is mostly privatised nowadays but funded by local authorities. Will local authorities be able to afford to pay increased fees? From what I have seen the care industry is no longer the cash cow it once was. What will happen if the companies running care homes/home helps decide to just walk away?
And what about small family businesses such as shops? Take local hairdressers, cafes, newsagents, florists, pubs and the like. I can't remember how these businesses looked like to me (I probably just thought all businesses were out to exploit their workers) in April 1999 (when the NMW came in) but I'm I won't have been too concerned about how small businesses would manage to pay the NMW. Maybe I'm going soft but they don't look awash with cash now.
And what of the big employers, the national store chains, logistics companies, the factories, those employing the support staff in our hospitals etc? They will still need to employ people for now (until the robots take over) and they won't be able to manage just employing people under the age of 25 (will they?) but I don't see them passing the additional labour costs onto their shareholders. I can see cuts to employees benefits/rights becoming even more the norm. Are there any pension schemes left? Overtime rates of pay will become a thing of the past. Cuts to paid holidays. Cuts to guaranteed working hours (more zero hour contracts). 40 hours x £9.00 sounds ok but any less hours, not so.
They have arrived at £9.00 per hour as 60% of median earnings at 2020. So presumably that mean every time somebody in the country gets a pay rise the NLW will go up. Sounds like business in general has an incentive not to give anybody a pay rise.
On the face of it the policy is right and if Labour had brought it in I'd be relatively comfortable with it but I just don't trust the Tories. They really don't give a monkeys about the lower paid and in my opinion have no interest (social or business reasons) in making things better for them.
The crystal ball is read. Lets see what happens?
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