Climate change is real January 16, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Environment , add a comment
James Lovelock is about to release a new book, and has a column in the Indy today in which he argues that it really is all too late and that we are likely to see 8 degree temperature rises in this century, which would have a catastrophic effect and leave large parts of the planet barely habitable. A quick wander round the blogosphere shows a reaction ranging from copy/paste through indifference to scepticism.
Running down the street screaming ‘the end is nigh’ would get me locked up, but I sometimes feel frustrated enough to try because the indifference to the climate crisis is like a thick lake of treacle through which we are all wading. It is happening. The only matters for debate are when and how badly. Perhaps Lovelock is scare-mongering – but we need scaring to knock ourselves out of our complaceny. If you don’t believe me, look here or here. Be scared. Feel the fear. Do something about it.
I’ll look forward to reading the book, and seeing reviews of it by those more qualified to judge, but I don’t doubt that catastrophic change is on the way.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , add a comment
This is a beautiful, rich book set in Barcelona in the early days of Franco’s rule. A young boy is given a book in unusual circumstances, and becomes bound up in the mystery surrounding its author and its publication. As he grows up, he becomes more and more entwined in events which are both intensely personal and also tied up with the traumatic times he is living through. It is a mystery, a political comment, a coming of age story rolled into one.
Barcelona itself is a major character, with the book firmly located in the centre of the city. The street names are familiar to any city-breaker who’s spent a few days there, but the atmosphere is dark and drear befitting the times. It is a reminder of how much pain Barcelona went through during the 20th century, which is hidden under the bright, modern city that it is now.
The style is reminiscent of Umberto Eco with the same rich characterisation and byzantine inter-relationships of the characters, though without the erudite literary references, unless it is just that my limited knowledge of Spanish literature failed to spot them.
This is the first of Zafon’s books to be translated into English, and I only hope the rest are soon, otherwise I may have to drastically improve my holiday Spanish.
If you’d like to buy this through Amazon, click on the picture above and earn me a penny or two.
Bloggers are our protection against over-zealous corporations
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Internet , add a commentThe minutiae of my life are online. There’s nothing very interesting, and I’m an ordinary person known only to friends, neighbours and colleagues. It’s very unlikely there is some detail about me which would be of the slightest interest to tabloids, police or even, I hope, the Inland Revenue. However, if the threads could be tied together, a very complete picture of my personal and business life could be assembled from data willingly given and, I think, gathered with no more nefarious intent than selling me something else.
To some extent, I don’t mind that, although I’ve almost never bought anything based on a ‘targetted marketing’ effort. I can see that part of the reason these corporations are able to deliver their marvellous products comes from knowing more about their clients and, so long as I agree to it, they keep it safe and its not a condition of my using the product, I’m normally quite happy to play the game.
There is a danger though, and it comes from the arrogance of corporations who believe that they somehow have a right to information about what I buy or, as in the case of Apple’s new version of iTunes, what I listen to. In this case, it does sound pretty innocent, but as someone far more eloquent than I once said ‘the price of freedom is eternal vigilence’, and it seems that today most of that vigilence is coming from bloggers. These ordinary citizens, who are often very technically savvy, broke the far more serious Sony DRM scandal, and are a vital element of the creative tension which keeps the corporations honest but able to keep doing what they do well.
Women and Men use the internet in much the same way as they do anything else. Ho hum. January 15, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Internet , add a commentAnother piece of research about the differences between male and female use of the internet. Despite trying quite hard to establish that there is a difference in internet usage, without reference to general, non-internet activities, it is difficult to be sure that the results are meaningful.
For instance ‘More men than women use the internet for some less predictable and even more risky transactions, such as doing auctions or trading stocks’ – but perhaps more men than women perform these kind of transactions anyway, on or off the net. Women tend to use the internet to ‘nuture’ relationships, men tend to know the technical terms. Men are more confident in their use of search engines (though confidence doesn’t necessarily mean competance). If the internet was replaced with just about any communications medium, the results would probably be similar.
Ho hum.
Warming Camden Council’s Homes January 12, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Camden , add a commentCamden council provides communal heating for about half the houses for which the council holds the freehold, lived in by council tenants and leaseholders who own their own properties. In many of the estates they run a communal heating system where the council buys the gas on the wholesale market at a fixed price for a fixed term, and so are able to supply the gas more cheaply than ordinary domestic customers would normally be able to buy it. The council then provides heating to these homes at cost. So far so good, as this means that people are able to have cheaper heating but as long as the council keeps its heating budget in balance there is no subsidy.
In the last year, gas prices have risen dramatically and are expected to continue to do so. The contract which was renegotiated this year means that the council needs to increase gas charges by about 58% to keep the heating budget balanced. This will be very difficult for the tenants concerned, and is politically difficult for the council.
The problem is compounded by a tragedy of the commons, where people with communal heating who are not metred for their own use tend to use significantly more gas than average private users. Overall, the cost of the communal heating is now about the same as it would be if the council paid the normal domestic tariff, because people with communal heating use so much more gas. This isn’t entirely their fault as some flats have very little control over the heating, and in many buildings it is available 52 weeks of the year.
Now, the council is proposing to raise the heating costs by less than 58%, but is considering using the general rental funds to subsidise the heating budget and keep it in balance. That means, as I understand it, that council tenants with private heating will end up subsidising those with communal heating, and that seems very unfair indeed.
Camden council must urgently take measures to reduce the amount of gas used, by ensuring that heating is not available in the warmest months, investing as much as it can in good insulation practices and heating controls. They are trying, with double glazing being installed in many places and the WarmthForAll education programme, but seem hampered by the way funding is allocated and the time needed to carry out major capital projects across a very large estate.
Residents of the communally heated blocks, tenants and leaseholders, have a huge responsibility here too, to cut down on their own use of gas as much as they can and as they would if they were paying for it directly. To do any less is extremely unfair on those who are being hit twice – once by subsiding this gas and again when their own private bills go up.
Publicity for this blog
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentRight now, I’m at the top of the new blogs listing for London Bloggers. I thought I’d try blogging for a few weeks, to see if I manage to stick to it and build up a bit of content, before I tried to publicise Camden Lady, but if you’re reading this now, welcome!
Does science need glowing pigs
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentTaiwanese scientists have created pigs which glow in the dark by adding jellyfish genes to normal porkers. Is this really helpful to science, or just someone showing off at the expense of the poor beasts?
Gordon’s Wine Bar January 10, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Cafes & Restaurants , add a commentApparently this is the oldest wine bar in London, on Villiers St, between Embankment Tube and the strand. Go down a narrow staircase and turn to the back into some old brick tunnels which might be sewers or may be cellars. Given that this part of the city must have been at the edge of the water before Bazelgette came along and built the Embankment in the 1870s, I guess the former.
This is a wine bar – no spirits, no beer, no soft drinks, just wine. If you’re on the wagon, they’ll serve you water, or perhaps an orange juice, but that’s about it. The food is basic, but good. One of my companions had the last slice of chicken pie at 8pm, and that was about it for hot food. He was ahead of me, so I ended up with salad but next time, I’ll give the excellent range of cheeses a try. The wine list is good, with a wide range by the glass. These glasses are small, maybe just 175ml when filled to the brim, which keeps the individual prices down and means you can try a few.
Clientele are suited, mostly city or Westminster types I suspect, and even on a Tuesday night in January, it was full. Buy a drink, stand around for a few minutes and a table will appear if you’re quick enough to grab it. Just don’t expect it to be exclusively yours as people feel free to put their glasses down or, if there’s space, pull up a chair. The ambience is quietly friendly, if a little smoky. It’s is an excellent place to meet for a quick meal or drink after work, perhaps pre theatre.
Recommended.
DC Confidential, by Christopher Meyer January 9, 2006
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Reviews , add a comment
Despite having one of the best marketing campaigns for a book seen in a while, DC Confidential is already marked down to half price in Waterstones, and I wish I’d I waited to borrow someone else’s. The FCO made such a fuss about this, but if they’d just kept quiet, it would have disappeared rapidly.
It is amazing that someone could be so close to so many important events of the last two decades and write such a boring book about it. Even the pictures are little more than ‘me with this famous person’ ‘me with that famous person’, and his wife really needs to learn that you don’t have to grin like a maniac everytime a camera is around.
You could buy this from Amazon ( DC Confidential
Mouse that roared
Posted by CamdenKiwi in : Miscellany , add a commentOr at least burned the house down.
