Andy Roberts

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  Homebrew from the hedgerow

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/06/30/homebrew-from-the-hedgerow

  River Cottage forager and keen homebrewer John Wright explains how to make a quick, simple nettle beer. Nettle beer and homemade cider can help to keep costs down for the rural drinker. This article titled “Homebrew from the hedgerow” was written by John Wright, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 18th May 2011 13.15 UTCAs an enthusiastic forager who enjoys a tipple it was perhaps inevitable that I would become a homebrewer. Not that my path to alcoholic excellence has been a straight one. Back in the early 1980s, while living in a remote farmhouse surrounded by hedgerow delights of every kind, I became rather obsessive and brewed everything that would stand still for long enough. After a few disasters and the uncomfortable observation that friends (who had over the years been plied with various concoctions of questionable virtue) were finding imaginative reasons for not visiting me, I hung up my demijohns and retired hurt for many years. Then a huge haul of cherry plums one July tempted me to resume my chequered career and now the house is again filled with bottles and tubes and buckets and potions.There is a deep satisfaction to be gained from taking a plant from the garden or the hedgerow, exploring new tastes and making a palatable drink. The colourful demijohns, bubbling gently away on the shelf look lovely and, of course, homebrewing costs little.Well, it can be cheap but I’m a sucker for “kit” and now own every bit of equipment the home-brewing shop is prepared to sell me. From sugar refractometer to cider apple press, pH titration kit to thermostatically controlled brewing cabinet, I have the lot. I guess it’s a boy thing. But (despite what I have told my wife) you really don’t need all this stuff – just some buckets, demijohns, bubble-traps, plastic tubing and bottles. Below is a recipe which requires little more than can be found in the kitchen.Homebrewing was once, back in the 1970s and 80s, if not exactly fashionable then certainly popular. Then, I suspect, many people hit the roadblocks I encountered and it became a minority sport. Homebrewing kits, however, are still used by many and are generally very good, but there is little sense of “ownership” in brewing this way.I like the interesting recipes and novel tastes that can be enjoyed using the totally DIY approach. And do not be cowed by the notion that homemade wines, for example, are inferior to “proper” wine – they are just different. Over the next few weeks I will be relating my experiences, both good and bad, as a homebrewer. I hope you will join me in this little enterprise; perhaps suggesting plants and recipes I may not have tried, perhaps relating your triumphs and disasters. I trust you will enjoy the journey. Nettle beerI use nettles a lot. I have made nettle pasta, nettle pakoras and, best of all, nettle soup. But it will also make a good beer. Nettle hunting can be a painful experience unless you go equipped. Thick clothing, rubber gloves and good footwear are essential, but the blasted things will always get you somewhere. Last week, despite extensive precautions, one managed to go straight up my trouser-leg. I am thinking of buying some bee-keeper’s clothing for next time.It’s getting towards the end of the main nettle season but a shady area should still provide a good supply of young nettles tops (those that have not shown their dangling flower spikes) and a cut-down nettle patch will provide a second crop later in the year. The older leaves are rather bitter so just collect the half-dozen or so at the top.This simple brew is easy to make but rather treacherous. The flavour is pleasant, if unsophisticated, and a pint of the stuff has the same effect on one’s equilibrium as downing a pint of champagne would have.IngredientsA couple of the ingredients are worthy of note: “Copper finings” are not a scary as they sound. The name is a reference to a brewing vessel, not what they contain. The seaweed “caragheen”, also known as “Irish moss”, is the most commonly used – its purpose is to prevent the “haze” of protein that will otherwise spoil the beer’s appearance.1kg nettle tops (approximately one carrier bag stuffed to bursting) 5 litres water 450g sugar Juice of two lemons 50g cream of tartar Copper finings (Irish moss) Not absolutely essential. If used, follow the instructions on the packet A sachet of beer yeastBoil the nettles with the finings for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Strain through a colander or sieve into a sterilised (rinse with Campden tablet solution then boiled water) food-grade plastic bucket.Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Leave to cool to room temperature. Add the lemon juice and the yeast. You will probably need to “activate” the yeast first – it will tell you on the sachet. Cover and leave for three days.Siphon into sterilised swing-top bottles making sure not to disturb the sediment that will have accumulated at the bottom of the bucket. The beer will continue to ferment, gradually building up a head of steam, and is ready to drink in a week, though longer will be better.Gently release the pressure on one of the bottles every now and then to check that the “steam” isn’t building up too much. Despite the finings this beer can sometimes be a little cloudy – remember that this is a homebrew, so it is simply considered as character. And do not concern yourself about a little sediment at the bottom of the bottle – just pour carefully! guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogHomebrew from the hedgerowRelated posts:Free BeerNain’s bara brith recipeHow to make a log pile wildlife habitat

  

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  June 30 2011, 1:11pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  The red card for red meat?

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/25/the-red-card-for-red-meat

  As National Vegetarian Week begins, a new study shows links between eating processed and red meat and an increased risk of bowel cancer. Will you still be bringing home the bacon? This article titled “The red card for red meat?” was written by Jay Rayner, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 23rd May 2011 11.30 UTCIn my fridge right now is: one pack streaky bacon, one pack pre-sliced chorizo, one pack mini chorizo sausages (half eaten), one pack Wiltshire cure ham. Hanging up near the fridge is a length of Iberico chorizo (the really good stuff) picked up on a recent trip to Spain. Naturally my freezer is also well-stocked: sausages, steaks, pork belly, beef mince, lamb fillet and so on. The question is, in light of today’s report on the relationship between the consumption of red and processed meat and bowel cancer, should I be chucking it all out?Let’s be clear: getting me to part with bits of salted, preserved, paprika-spiked piggy is a little like asking a toddler to give up a favourite soft toy. Then again, the statistics are pretty sobering. A number of comments on the original news report complain about a lack of hard figures so here they are, taken from the press release on the World Cancer Research Fund website: the consumption of an extra 100g of cooked red meat a day above the recommended 500g of cooked red meat a week leads to a 17% increase in the risk of bowel cancer, that’s roughly from five in 100 to six. An extra 100g of processed meat a day results in a rise in the risk of bowel cancers of 36%; roughly five in 100 to seven.There are a bunch of things to be said about this, not least that this extra 100g a day amounts to more than a doubling of the recommended amount of 70g. If I’ve got my sums right it means 170g of cooked red meat a day, which is 1190g or over 2.5lbs of red meat a week. Even I think that’s an awful lot. Add in a similar amount of processed meats – bacon, sausages, salamis and hams – and it’s a dead animal fiesta. It’s the kind of thing I muse on at night to help me get to sleep; a fantasy I would never (or almost never) try to realise in real life.But using that as a reason to dismiss the stats would be a false comfort. There is clearly a correlation between meat consumption and bowel cancer. So, putting aside the other serious issues – the environmental impact of meat production, the unreliability of animal welfare – is it time we (by which I mean I) changed my diet?Let’s be clear. It’s always time I changed my diet. And I know full well that the western dietary imperative that places meat protein at the centre of meals deserves to be challenged. We should eat more vegetables. But I do scratch my head when it comes to the health implications, not because I don’t get the argument, but because the very business of living is terminal.As a younger man I smoked, quite a lot actually. I was rather good at it. I still smoke three or four fags a month. Although I packed it in early, I did my fair share of recreational narcotics. I tell my doctor I drink 27 units of alcohol a week. Some weeks this is true. Some weeks it isn’t. I am overweight, albeit not quite as overweight as I once was. Given my job my diet is substantial. There’s so much of my diet that as well as all the dead cow, it also includes a lot of fibre, green vegetables and so on. And, for what it’s worth, I have a bit of gym habit. I get there four to six times a week. Somebody described me recently on twitter as looking like “a waxed Wookie on the cross-trainer, giving it stacks.” I wear a headband. I’m not proud.And so I am left bewildered. Which bits of this lifestyle of mine will kill me and which bits of it will save my life? Surely no single piece of dietary advice can be taken in isolation? Because if you listened to each and every bit of advice on healthy living you would quickly assume we were eating our way to an early grave. And yet that’s not true. For here is another statistic, one which rarely referred to. Our life expectancy is going up, not down.According to the Office for National Statistics the age at which we will die has risen from around 71 for men and 76 for women in 1980, to nearly 78 for men and 82 for women now. Of course that may mean we end up living with illness and infirmity for longer but the bald fact is this: modern life isn’t killing us. It’s helping us to live on.So does that mean I can keep frying up the bacon? I’m really not sure. It is very very hard to take these issues seriously when you are well. If you have developed bowel cancer, or have lost a loved one to it – 36,000 Britons develop the disease every year and over 16,000 die from it – then making a decision is probably much easier. For the rest of us it’s not so cut and dried.I will, of course, try to be a better person. I will try to eat a more balanced diet. Then again I am always trying to do this, and that’s not the same as succeeding. So what are you going to do? Cut out the pig or carry on as usual? guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogThe red card for red meat?Related posts:Cut red meat intake and don’t eat ham, say cancer researchersAngela Hartnett’s roasted pollack with crushed new potatoes and chorizo recipeTurkey Ham?

  

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  May 25 2011, 1:42pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Doctor Who: The Rebel Flesh – Series 32, episode 5

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/21/doctor-who-the-rebel-flesh-%E2%80%93-series-32-episode-5

  This Matthew Graham episode of Doctor Who set in a grimy industrial future is classy, stylish and nicely unsettlingThis article titled “Doctor Who: The Rebel Flesh – Series 32, episode 5″ was written by Dan Martin, for guardian.co.uk on Saturday 21st May 2011 18.30 UTCSPOILER ALERT: This weekly blog is for those who have been watching the new series of Doctor Who. Don’t read ahead if you haven’t seen episode five – The Doctor’s WifeDan Martin’s episode four blogNeil Gaiman live Q&A “You poured in your personalities; emotions, traits, memories, secrets, everything. You gave them your lives. Human lives are amazing. Are you surprised they walked off with them?”It’s that time of year again. We’ve been to Planet America, we’ve been on a dodgy pirate ship, we’ve been through the plughole at the bottom of the universe. And now, to complete Doctor Who’s checklist of formats, it’s time for the one in the grimy industrial future. So yes, this is familiar ground in many ways, but whether it is Matthew Graham’s writing, or simply the swagger with which this series has been carrying itself, it is particularly satisfying. This is what last year’s disappointing Silurian story should have been.True, with so much buildup and exposition, it ends up feeling like not very much actually happens by the time groundwork is laid. There’s also a debate to be had as to whether, since it doesn’t feature any aliens, it qualifies as a proper Doctor Who at all. But on the parameters it sets itself, this is classy, stylish and nicely unsettling.Graham creates a believable world and workplace in that converted monastery, which you buy into from the opening credits. Raquel Cassidy’s deliciously brittle Cleaves, Marshall Lancaster’s Manc everydude Buzzer, and Sarah Smart’s mouse-that-roared Jennifer are well-drawn. And most promisingly of all, while second parts tend to look limp compared to first episodes, here’s a story where it’s the other way round. “I’ve got to get to that cockerel before all hell breaks loose! I never thought I’d have to say that again.”The episode opens with an extended clip of Supermassive Black Hole by Muse, and as Matt Bellamy and co’s sex-funk-rock-jam swaggers in, we’re straight back into Tardis housekeeping. These extended soapy sequences could have turned out, well, soapy – but seeing them play darts, listening to prog rock as the Doctor continues to surreptitiously scan Amy’s uterus just serves to lend credibility to what on paper is a ridiculous scenario. They may be having a laugh, but we also get a sense that the arc is really starting to go somewhere. Fear FactorThe Gangers are, at heart, a more psychologically disturbing creation, and The Rebel Flesh’s questions of identity and spirit and “who is the real monster?” are bound to invite comparisons with Battlestar Galactica and the Cylons. But when they do bring out the sparing CGI, it reaffirms the renewed horror quotient we’re getting this year. Mysteries and QuestionsThe obvious assumption here is that with a Ganger Doctor now running round, we have an easy and obvious get-out for the Doctor’s death. But wouldn’t that be too easy and obvious? And of course it assumes that both Doctors are going to survive next week’s episode. Elsewhere The Doctor refers to The Flesh as “primitive technology.” So what else does he know about it and what will it be turning into?Meanwhile, something intriguing has come to our attention. Deep within the bowels of the BBC website you’ll find this video of the Doctor in some distress. Its title, Analysis Lessons, is an anagram of Lonely Assassins. And Lonely Assassins was of course a name for … the Weeping Angels. Could they be this year’s real Big Bad? Time-space Debris• The Doctor chastises Amy for the suggestion they have arrived by accident. Is that a reference to last week and the Tardis taking him “where he needs to go,” or is he up to something.• Rory: “My Mum’s a huge fan of Dusty Springfield.”Doctor: “Who isn’t?”Actually, I’m not sure that I have ever met anyone who doesn’t like Dusty Springfield either.• Eyepatch Lady is back after her week off. Are we all agreed she’s the midwife?• Are we to assume that Jennifer is going to lead Rory down the path of temptation? He wouldn’t, would he?• I’m not sure how I feel about The Doctor’s “northern” jibes. Was I the only one who felt a little offended?• Matthew Graham’s only other contribution to Doctor Who is the best-forgotten Fear Her from 2006. Legend has it – although we don’t know whether it is true or not – that when Stephen Fry’s script finally proved unworkable, Russell T Davies asked Graham to come up with something in two weeks and with buttons for a budget. Next week!Something rather major happens. That’s all you’re getting. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogDoctor Who: The Rebel Flesh – Series 32, episode 5Related posts:Douglas Adams’s Doctor Who story to be novelised

  

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  May 21 2011, 4:56pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  The London 2012 torch mixes the Olympian and the corporate

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/19/the-london-2012-torch-mixes-the-olympian-and-the-corporate

  Sponsors to the fore in torch relay but who will light the flame in the London 2012 Olympic stadium?This article titled “The London 2012 torch mixes the Olympian and the corporate” was written by Owen Gibson, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 19th May 2011 09.58 UTCAs Seb Coe stood up to speak about the inspirational effect of the flame that will a year from now be passing through the cities, towns and villages of Britain having been “lit by the power of the sun on Mount Olympus”, three other figures looked on intently.They sat alongside him as he went on to talk about the galvanising effect he expected the tour to have on communities as the Olympic spirit coursed through them and they hosted their own celebratory events in the early summer gloaming.And they listened intently as Coe spoke affectingly about a husband and wife team who sold their house so the community gym they run in south-east London could survive – his nomination for one of the 7,200 out of 8,000 torchbearer slots reserved for members of the public.The three onlookers, who then got to take their turn to speak, were representatives of the three “presenting partners” – Samsung, Coca-Cola and Lloyds TSB – who get to plaster their branding over the torch relay. The man from Coca-Cola alone promised to bring “happiness and celebration” to the route.It is they (along with local authorities along the way) who effectively pay for the hoopla that will surround the torch relay that organisers hope will be the moment that the nation drops any lingering cynicism and truly embraces the Games.It was the most obvious manifestation in London to date of the sometimes uneasy, but ultimately profitable, mix of heady Olympic ideals and hard-nosed commercialism that has turned the modern Games into the globe-straddling event that it is.The genius of the International Olympic Committee’s commercial growth since the Los Angeles Games of 1984 has been to rake in huge sums from sponsors while enforcing very strict rules on how they can use the rights.As one of the very few events that the IOC allows them to overtly brand, the torch relay is where that symbiotic relationship – the organising committee Locog needs the sponsors to contribute £700m towards its £2bn budget, the sponsors want to extract every last drop of value out of their huge investment – becomes clearest.So it was that Coe began his press conference invoking the loftiest of Olympic ideals and ended it defending the involvement of Coke and answering questions on how many fizzy drinks his children guzzled.In common with their wider activity to date surrounding the London Games – which has tended to focus on warm and fuzzy corporate social responsibility activity rather than overt branding – all three sponsors have bought into the idea of using the relay as a means to run campaigns offering worthy members of the public the opportunity to claim their own slice of Olympic history and run a few hundred yards with the torch.A Locog team has spent two years painstakingly researching the 8,000-mile route and negotiating with local authorities. They hope that when the relay hits town, backed by wall-to-wall coverage from local media who will concentrate on the rich back stories of those running and the celebratory event that will take place every night (something between a Radio 1 roadshow and a county fair sponsored by multinationals, by the sound of things) Olympic fever will take hold up and down the country.Whether they succeed will depend to a large extent on those sponsors. If they get it right, Locog, the brands and the public will benefit. Get it wrong, and it could dent public enthusiasm.Sally Hancock, head of 2012 at Lloyds TSB, argued at the launch that in many ways the Olympics couldn’t have come at a better time for her company. Struggling to repair public trust and negotiating the internal challenge of merging two huge banks, the opportunity to create a feelgood factor around an event that is at once local and national in scale could be a huge one.But if the public is turned off and fails to buy into the concept – Locog has promised half the runners will be between 12 and 24 and 90% will be ordinary members of the public, to be nominated through four separate campaigns by the organisers and the sponsors– then it will feel like a long 8,000 miles.Locog will also have to get the balance right between safety and celebration. The defining public image of the Beijing international torch tour, which caused the IOC to turn it into a domestic event confined to the host country, was of a scrum of security guards bludgeoning their way through human rights protesters as bussed-in supporters of the Chinese government looked on.The UK’s experience will be becalmed by comparison. But Coe – who has often described Britain as a “slow-burn nation” that will take time to reach fever pitch over the Olympics – knows more than anyone how crucial it is that the relay is the moment at which the flame ignites that enthusiasm.And by the time the torch reaches the Olympic stadium, the eyes of the world will be on it. Which raises three obvious questions: Who will light the cauldron? How? And where will it be (there is still debate within Locog about whether it should be in the stadium, on top of it or on some sort of structure nearby)?The most memorable final torchbearers – Muhammad Ali in Atlanta, Cathy Freeman in Sydney – have held resonance beyond merely their status as sporting heroes in their home country. And the more spectacular the method of lighting the cauldron (the archer in Barcelona, the flying Beijing gymnast), the greater the risk of global humiliation.The task for Danny Boyle, the Trainspotting director already planning the opening ceremony in an east London warehouse, will be to come up with something to top what has gone before. Bookmakers immediately installed Sir Steve Redgrave as favourite, but will the emphasis on youth that characterised the bid promises lead organisers to a younger face? Coe, who might have been a leading contender were he not already so intimately involved with the staging of the Games, has already ruled himself out. guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogThe London 2012 torch mixes the Olympian and the corporateRelated posts:London Olympics organisers appeal to protesters not to disrupt flame routeLondon 2012 Olympics countdown clock stopsLondon 2012: Ten best of the web

  

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  May 19 2011, 5:24am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Boot up: Facebook’s OAuthpocalypse, Bing friends Facebook, and more

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/17/boot-up-facebooks-oauthpocalypse-bing-friends-facebook-and-more

  Plus Nvidia boss explains why Android tablets aren’t selling, and Nokia ‘rebrands’ Ovi. Also Facebook and Bing.

  This article titled “Boot up: Facebook’s OAuthpocalypse, Bing friends Facebook, and more” was written by Josh Halliday, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 17th May 2011 07.30 UTC A quick burst of 7 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team Facebook’s Own (Smaller) “OAuthpocalypse”: Devs Have 48 Hours To Secure Apps >> TechCrunch “Last night and into today, Facebook has been sending out notices to developers they believe have apps in violation of their policy against sending authentication data to third parties. Those developers have 48 hours to fix their apps or they risk being “subject to one of the enforcement actions” — read: being booted.” Bing Facebook Friends Now Fueling Faster Decisions on Bing >> Bing Community Big move: “Starting today, you can receive personalized search results based on the opinions of your friends by simply signing into Facebook. New features make it easier to see what your Facebook friends “like” across the Web, incorporate the collective know-how of the Web into your search results, and begin adding a more conversational aspect to your searches. Decisions can now be made with more than facts, now the opinions of your trusted friends and the collective wisdom of the Web.” Nvidia CEO: Why Android tablets aren’t selling |>> CNET News “During an earnings conference call, Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola Mobility, articulated part of the problem, saying, ‘Consumers want more apps for Android tablets.’That’s not the whole story, according to Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, who I chatted with on Thursday…“”It’s a point of sales problem. It’s an expertise at retail problem. It’s a marketing problem to consumers. It is a price point problem,’ he said, for starters.Though Huang didn’t mention the $499 starting price for the iPad, it was clear that this was a reference point. ‘The baseline configuration included 3G when it shouldn’t have,’he said. ‘Tablets should have a Wi-Fi configuration and be more affordable. And those are the ones that were selling more rapidly than the 3G and fully configured ones,’ he said.He didn’t stop there. ‘And it’s a software richness of content problem,’ he added, echoing Jha’s comments.”3G’s there because Android is a phone OS. Speech by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon George Osborne MP, at Google Zeitgeist 2011 >> HM Treasury It didn’t sound that content-ful when he read it out, either – open data hirings and cyberattacks apart. Honeycomb has a fighting chance against the iPad >> Techcrunch “Don’t get me wrong: Honeycomb 3.0 on the Galaxy Tab is still buggy as hell. Sometimes I feel like the browser is a game — tap the wrong thing, and you’ll suddenly jump to the bottom of a webpage, or all animations will get sluggish. Even the 3.1 update, which I just tried out on my Xoom and will be available for the Galaxy Tab in a few weeks, doesn’t seem to have fixed all the performance kinks. And Android Market still appears to have fewer than 100 applications optimized for the tablet form factor.“But I think that will change soon.” This must be some strange new meaning of the word “soon” that we’re not familiar with. Then again, they handed out tablets to everyone at Google I/O. Didn’t they do that with Google TV? And look how that’s turned out. Oh. Top 10 awesome Android features that the iPhone doesn’t have >> Lifehacker Numbers 7-10 are unequivocally good, though the top 3 – “control your phone from your computer” (uh?), Flash (hmm) and “App integration” (leads to annoying modal dialogs) we’re less sure about. The evolution of Nokia and Ovi >> Official Nokia Blog “Starting with first services on some of the new Nokia devices in July and August, Ovi services will be rebranded as Nokia services in a transition expected to continue into 2012. Each of the services under the Ovi umbrella will simply be rebranded as Nokia, with no planned disruption to the service roadmaps.“Nokia’s EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Jerri DeVard explains the shift: ‘We have made the decision to change our service branding from Ovi to Nokia. By centralizing our services identity under one brand, not two, we will reinforce the powerful master brand of Nokia and unify our brand architecture..’” So why was “Ovi” ever chosen if there’s this powerful master brand? The whole situation should become a case study in a book on marketing. You can follow Guardian Technology’s linkbucket on delicious

  guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.

  Thanks for subscribing to Andy Roberts blogBoot up: Facebook’s OAuthpocalypse, Bing friends Facebook, and more

  Related posts:Blog Friends app on Facebook Facebook MySpace and Linkedin friends Blog Friends growth accelerates to 10% a day

  

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  May 17 2011, 2:57am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Is the Olympics skills legacy on track?

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/05/is-the-olympics-skills-legacy-on-track

  Voluntary sector organisations in the capital have expressed concerns about local peoples’ ability to secure jobs during and after the London 2012 Olympic Games

  This article titled “Is the Olympics skills legacy on track?” was written by Dave Hill, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 5th May 2011 15.59 UTC I’ve been doing a bit of homework for a forthcoming Guardian podcast and found two things I’d like to share. First, the fun thing. That was from last September. The Games Makers programme is now at the selection phase, with successful applicants being measured up for different roles. But what will it contribute to the long term regeneration of East London which is, of course, the ultimate objective of the great Olympics adventure? How about the complementary London Ambassadors scheme and the Personal Best initiative, which was designed to prepare the long-term unemployed for securing some of the Games’s 70,000 volunteer roles and beyond that “encourage 20,000 people into work”? What about local peoples’ hopes of securing the new jobs in the pipeline at Stratford City? This brings me to the second thing. It’s less fun than Eddie Izzard but still deserves your attention. In February, the London Assembly’s economic development committee heard from guests who are closely involved with ensuring that East Londoners are equipped not only to take advantage of the employment and skills opportunities that the Games will provide, but also to use them to secure jobs and careers in the regeneration years to come. I’ve picked out a few quotes from the transcript of the meeting. First, a word of warning from Jonny Boux, the head of employment and training at the East London charity Community Links: [This] is a once in a lifetime opportunity for people in East London and I think there is a real danger that the focus, in terms of sustainability and longer term opportunity is lost…our experience tends to be, we are hearing a lot around the wonderful short-term opportunities…and the fact that people may find work for a month, but there are no guarantees beyond that.

  Next up, Kerry Tweed, Director of Greater London Volunteering on the Personal Best scheme: The problem is that Personal Best is effectively finished now in London. I have not heard about any evaluation or any further work that might be possible to do with the around 4,000 people who have been through the programme to work with the training that they have been provided with to work with employers to see how that is transferable for them, to offer further support and training to move the participants closer towards work. The last stats that I had from Personal Best was that actually the biggest outcome for␣most people was they went on to further volunteering. Clearly, they need a bit more time to develop their skills, their confidence and their employability.

  Committee chair Len Duvall asked about “barriers that may prevent long-term unemployed Londoners taking advantage of the Games Time opportunity.” Jonny Boux answered first: One of the main barriers is a lack of skills, particularly around some things you need for particular jobs, and also life skills is an important factor. One of the things that, particularly, our long-term unemployed people face is often a difficulty around reliability and low confidence. There is often a lack of motivation as well; it is what we call, broadly, life skills. Then, I guess, multiple barriers which can be anything from major housing issues to difficult family circumstances and financial pressures. Many people we support are heavily in debt.

  Then, Lindsey Donoghue the Employment Manager of the Bromley-by-Bow Centre said: I would echo everything that Jonny said. Obviously some of the roles are quite short-term and that is an issue for some people in terms of them having been on benefits for quite a long time and feeling comfortable on those or perhaps feeling that coming off them might be a risk and feeling unwilling to do so for a short period of time. Also, doing roles like that they would need to arrange things like childcare; a lot of the people that we work with are parents. So, again, a short time role is difficult for them because they need to arrange childcare for that. Something that we have seen in our community is␣a␣sense of, “Well, it’s␣not really for me”. We have perhaps seen a limited number of people go into roles in the Olympics so far and because of that people sort of feel, “Well, maybe it is happening separately to me or it is not something that is necessarily part of our community”.

  And here’s quite a striking speech by Roger Taylor, Director of the Olympic Host Boroughs Unit. If you asked anybody in the host boroughs what they felt about legacy, they would say that there is an ever-present danger that legacy becomes conflated exclusively with what happens during the Games and what happens on the comparatively limited, although very important, opportunities that will follow on on the Olympic Park. We feel it is terribly important to constantly remind somebody of what the bid promise was: the most enduring legacy of the Olympics will be the regeneration of an entire community for the direct benefit of everyone who lives there, and also to link that with the sheer scale of the opportunity that inner East London has within its grasp over the next 20 years. We are not just talking about the Olympic Park, we are not just talking about Westfield and Stratford City, although we think that is actually a pretty successful model largely down to people like Newham and Westfield themselves. We are also talking about the already-given planning approval effectively to double the size of Canary Wharf, and the very, very significant developments that we still expect to take place in the Royal docks and on the Woolwich and Greenwich waterfronts. Essentially, if anything I think the Mayor’s promise about 70,000 jobs is an understatement of what over the next 20 years is likely to be an opportunity in East London. The question then is whether or not we have got a sufficiently strong and clear vision to be able to ensure how that opportunity relates to the people in the communities in East London. I think that is where the really challenging questions lie.

  On this evidence, I’d say that there’s plenty of work still to be done if a really impressive skills and employment legacy is to be delivered for East London in particular. Something for the Mayor to get a good, firm grip on.

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  May 5 2011, 12:56pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  An insider’s guide to book fairs

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/05/03/an-insiders-guide-to-book-fairs

  If you’re not in the trade, book fairs can be confusing occasions. These are some useful pointers for novice buyers attending book fairs in the UK and abroad.

  This article titled “An insider’s guide to book fairs” was written by Rick Gekoski, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 3rd May 2011 09.26 UTC Just recently home after five days displaying our stock at the New York Antiquarian Book Fair, and I’m resting. You need to: it’s a peculiarly exhausting business, exacerbated by the fact that I had flown in from Sydney via London, and kept waking at 2am longing for bacon and eggs. For the first three mornings I eventually got up at 6am and went out to dinner. Worked for me. Great steaks in New York.

  We do three fairs a year – California, New York, and London – and none of them are much fun. In the olden days (I feel an old fart moment coming on) fairs had a real buzz about them. During set-up (when dealers unpack their trunks and shelve the books) other dealers would crowd round, checking out each book as it emerged, picking up the occasional bargain. Set-up was why you were there, to see if you could buy something before the public got a look-in, and sell enough in that hectic first few hours to cover your costs.

  No more. Things are tighter and tougher, we’ve seen each other’s books in catalogues and online, and there is no excitement during the two-day (too long!) set-up period. We sold one book for $5,000 (£3,000), which is better than five for $4,000, and pretty much in line with what I would have expected. The key to surviving a fair emotionally is to keep expectations realistic, which means low. I set our bottom line hope at sales of $40,000, though whether such a sum is profitable depends on what you have sold. Sometimes we have books on consignment at 20% to us, at others we may be selling something we own – better yet, have owned for ages – and get an entirely positive cashflow boost.

  I need one. I have, alas, taken my eye off the ball this last year, with reading for the Man Booker International prize, and the effect on the business has been predictable. Even my bank manager is starting to twitch an eyelid. So it was essential both to get some money in from New York, and to generate a project or two with clients or other dealers: find a collection to buy, an archive to sell, a line to pursue.

  But I’m getting ahead of myself, and it may be hard for you to envisage what I’m talking about. People in specialist trades often do this, and lose their audience in a welter of trade jargon and inappropriate assumption that one will be understood. So:

  What is an antiquarian book fair, anyway? It is an arena for members of the rare book trade publicly to offer their stock, and for collectors to peruse it.

  That sounds a little dull, doesn’t it? OK, then. Dealers sit in their little, lit booths, displaying their wares like girls in Amsterdam windows. A few potential customers drift by. Sometimes money is exchanged. Some pleasure is had. Usually nobody gets hurt, but many wives are not told of the transaction. Or husbands.

  What sort of things might one see at the fair? Enticing ones, naturally. Hand-coloured antique maps, letters by Freud or Dickens, leatherbound sets of Jane Austen, rare books on travel, nature or military history, books illustrated by Arthur Rackham or Beatrix Potter, first editions by most of the greatest writers.

  Why are first editions valuable? They’re not. Most first editions are worthless, because most books are first editions – that is, not worth reprinting. A tiny number of these first editions are desirable because they are by collected authors, and were printed in small numbers.

  How can you tell if a book is a first edition? Generally, it can be assumed unless there is any evidence to the contrary.

  Why are some authors collected? Most, because they deserve to be: John Milton, Jonathan Swift, John Keats, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, James Joyce, Graham Greene. Some, because whatever their deserts, people love them: Agatha Christie, Ian Fleming, JK Rowling.

  Does the condition of the book matter very much? Hugely, as with all collectibles. If a book looks fresh and near-as-damn-it new, it will fetch many times more than a tired and worn copy. With 20th-century books, the presence of the original dust wrapper is crucial. A first edition of Brighton Rock (1938) without the dust wrapper is worth, say, £2,000. With it? I just paid £80,000 for one, on behalf of a customer.

  Isn’t that silly? Very. But the argument is that a book without its dust wrapper is as incomplete as a Chippendale chair without its legs.

  Do you think that’s a fair argument? No.

  How does one know if the asking price is right? There is no “right” price for a rare book, though there are certainly wrong ones. If you buy from a reputable member of the trade, and you are happy with your purchase, then the price is probably right enough.

  But isn’t a book worth whatever it fetches? Certainly not. If I convince a muddle-headed plutocrat to pay me £1m for a common book, it doesn’t mean it is worth it. It means I am a crook, and he is an idiot. Books can be under- or over-priced. That’s part of the fun: trying to locate the former and avoid the latter.

  When I find what I want, should I ask for a discount? Yes.

  Will I get one? These days, for sure.

  What advice could you give to a new collector? Only buy what you like. Always buy the best copy you can afford. Buy fewer books, at a higher level. Buy from someone you have reason to trust. Spend 30% more than you can afford.

  What about buying and selling at auction? Auctioneers claim that (1) you get the best bargains if you buy at auction, and (2) you can get the best prices if you sell at auction. Both can’t be true, though it is amazing how many people believe it. But about 90% of the books at auction are sold to members of the book trade. It’s best to know what you are doing.

  Can’t you get a better deal on ebay, and cut out the middleman? Every now and again you might. You are more likely to end up roasted with an apple in your mouth.

  How do you explain the allure of rare books? You either feel it or you don’t. It’s a matter of taste, and inclination, and, like love, doesn’t need to be justified. I think holding a copy of the first edition of Ulysses, or Great Expectations, is thrilling, especially with a presentation inscription by the author. If you don’t feel similarly, you haven’t got the makings of a book collector. In fact, I don’t even think I would like you.

  Final note: we ended up with takings of $60,000, which was not bad, and buying three or four things at reasonable prices, that will make one or two of our collectors very happy. I am now eating breakfast in the morning, and dinner in the evening. Maybe I will sleep through the night one day soon.

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  May 3 2011, 5:25am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  A misplaced May Day dream for the masses

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/29/a-misplaced-may-day-dream-for-the-masses

  May Day by John Sommerfield describes a society on the edge. The parallels with today are obvious – but it’s the differences that make it worth reading.

  This article titled “A misplaced May Day dream for the masses” was written by Sam Jordison, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 29th April 2011 14.15 UTC It might have associations with people in funny clothes performing arcane rites and with Oxford students getting smashed off their gourds, but most us don’t think about Tories when we think about May Day. As several union leaders have already pointed out, the party’s current desire to replace May Day with Trafalgar Day (supposedly to “lengthen the holiday season”) is not practical so much as ideological. May Day might feel like a natural part of the calendar – but it has only been marked by a bank holiday since 1978, introduced by a Labour government to mark international workers’ day. And that, of course, is why the rightwingers don’t like it. They’d like it even less if they picked up the book that I’ve just been reading: May Day by John Sommerfield. This was written in 1936, but has just been reissued, with excellent timing, by London Books. It describes a society on the edge. The rich are getting richer and the poor are paying for it. The authorities clamp down on protest with the cynical use of force. Someone on a march is killed in an “accident”. The success of a march leads someone to comment: “I don’t think there’ll be so much damned squeamish argument against arming the police.” The parallels with our current troubles are obvious – but it’s the differences that make May Day worth reading. Sommerfield describes a few days in the lives of dozens of different characters across London, showing them at work, at play, down the pub, in bed, making love, feeling regret the day after, giving birth, dying, plotting to overthrow the bosses, plotting to undermine the workers. It’s a broad, ambitious sweep, but it’s all heading in the same direction: the inevitability of a general strike and the exultant victory of the Communist point of view. By the time Sommerfield was writing, Stalin had embarked on one of the biggest murder sprees in human history, but Sommerfield pants for Soviet Britain. So much so that he frequently loses all restraint:

  “Then into this sudden pool of quiet splintered an alien voice, a hoarse shout of ‘Workers, all out on May Day. Demonstrate for a free Soviet Britain!’ … This rang in a million ears. Eyes remembered the chalked slogans on walls and pavements. The slogans, the rain of leaflets, the shouts and songs of demonstrators echoed in a million minds.” He also gushes:

  “The printing presses were spinning themselves dizzy. There had never been so many leaflets before. They fell like rain, they were scattered like machine gun bullets.” Sommerfield loved his leaflets. He was also absolute in his convictions. For him there are two races in the world – rich and poor and that is where all conflict will lie. “Soon a lot more people will be having to take sides,” he wrote. They did indeed – but not in the way he thought. They would be fighting against fascism, not for “Soviet Britain”. There are plenty of things to be said in the book’s favour, particularly in the ambitious way he looks into so many lives around London, explores their living conditions, and lays bare their pleasures and pains. There’s also plenty more to be said against his writing which veers from the ridiculous to the not-too-bad and never really gets close to the sublime. Yet it’s as an attempt at social realism that it is most fascinating – and most flawed. In 1984 Sommerfield wrote a new forward for the book acknowledging how few favours time had done for his “1930s Communist romanticism”, but also said he hoped the book could be read as “an historical novel – worth reading, now, I hope, in relation to our own times.” To an extent it can. But I read it more as a reflection on a lost past and an exercise in folly. Possibly, it is harsh to judge Sommerfield’s May Day, for getting things so spectacularly wrong. It’s a novel, after all. It deals in fiction, not fact. But then again, while I was reading May Day, I couldn’t help thinking of F Scott Fitzgerald’s novella with the same title. It’s just one mark of Fitzgerald’s genius that his reflections on the day – although written in 1920 – still apply. The protests he describes seem hopeless, futile, distorted by absurd mobs on both sides: “all crowds have to howl”. The rich are oblivious at best, unforgiving and condescending the rest of the time. The tragedies he depicts are universal – but also painfully personal. His lead, Gordon Sterett, is a penniless, struggling artist who has never found his feet since returning from the First World War, but who has found booze and bad company. He is drowning in the tide of history, but his problems are more individual than any Sommerfield manages to describe. He is more real. So too is the world around him. The clothes are smarter, the dancing is more formal and the drinks sound more exotic. No one has a smart phone and radicals print their views on paper. Otherwise, Fitzgerald could be writing about today – or forever. His despair and defeat for the small man rings far more true than Sommerfield’s misplaced dream for the masses. May Day is a crushed dream. It makes the Tory vendetta against the holiday seem even more than usually petty.

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  April 29 2011, 9:47am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Syria, Libya and Middle East unrest – live coverage

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/29/syria-libya-and-middle-east-unrest-live-coverage

  Syria faces ‘day of rage’, EU discusses sanctions against Syrian regime. Pro- and ant-government supporters rally in Yemen. Pro-Gaddafi forces attack Tunisian town of Dehiba

  This article titled “Syria, Libya and Middle East unrest – live coverage” was written by Mark Tran, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 29th April 2011 09.43 UTC

  12.03pm – Syria: Reports are coming in of thousands of people demonstrating in Kurdish regions of eastern Syria in solidarity with the southern city of Deraa, which has been in lockdown for days. There are also reports of large demonstrations in the Damascus suburb of Saqba amid chants of “overthrow the regime”.

  11.45am – Syria: President Bashar al-Assad’s government has deployed forces in strength in anticipation of protests after Friday prayers. Syrian Republican Guard trucks equipped with machine guns and carrying soldiers in combat gear patrolled the circular road around Damascus ahead of prayers on Friday, a witness told Reuters. Two other witnesses said various security units and secret police manned checkpoints around Damascus, cutting off the city from the suburbs and rural regions, as telecommunications and electricity were cut off from urban centres and towns that had defied warnings not to hold protests.

  11.36am – Libya: Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, has accused the Gaddafi regime of passing out tablets of Viagra to his front line troops to help them rape women. Rice made the allegation in a closed-door meeting of the security council, Colum Lynch reports on Turtle Bay, on the Foreign Policy website. Rice made the allegation after facing criticism from council members that the Western-backed coalition has effectively sided with Libya’s rebels in the country’s ongoing civil war. China, Russia, India and other have expressed concern that the Nato-backed military coalition has exceeded its mandate to protect civilians, and had become a party to the country’s conflict… UN council diplomats said that Rice provided no evidence to support her claim, which appeared earlier this week in the British tabloid, the Daily Mail. Human rights advocates say the allegation first surfaced publicly last month when a doctor in Ajdabiya, Suleiman Refadi, claimed in an interview with Al Jazeera English that Qaddafi’s force’s had received packets of Viagra and condoms as part of a campaign of sexual violence. “I have seen Viagra, I have seen condoms,” Refadi told Al Jazeera.

  Save the Children has alleged that Libyan children as young as eight have suffered sexual assaults, including rape, amid the worsening conflict across the country.

  11.27am – Syria: Syria is also facing pressure from the UN’s nuclear watchdog. The Associated Press reports that the IAEA is setting the stage for UN security council action against Syria for allegedly trying to build a secret nuclear reactor. On Thursday the head of the IAEA said for the first time that a target destroyed by Israeli warplanes in Syria in 2007 was a covert nuclear site. The agency later retracted the statement, but diplomats say it is working on an assessment that will judge the destroyed building a likely reactor.

  11.17am – Libya: The Guardian’s Xan Rice, has interviewed the leader of the rebellion in Misrata, the only rebel-held city in western Libya. The rebel leader made an urgent plea to the international community for weapons that would allow his fighters not just to defend the besieged city, but to topple the Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi. Khalifa al-Zwawi, an appeal court judge who heads Misrata’s transitional council, said that after weeks of fierce fighting, rebel forces would eject the last of Gaddafi’s troops from the city “very soon”. “Once we have done that our target is to eliminate the Gaddafi regime,” he told the Guardian in an interview. “We want to go to Tripoli and set it free, and Libya free. We want to move from defence to attack.” Until now, the rebels in Misrata have relied solely on small arms and weapons captured from loyalist troops, or sent by sea from Benghazi, the rebel capital in the east. But Zwawi said help was required if his forces were to go on the offensive. “The most important thing for us now is arms. We need weapons that are suitable to take on Gaddafi. As soon as our freedom fighters reach people in other cities they will join our revolt,” he said.

  11.08am – Syria: The Human Rights Council, which is holding a special session in Geneva, is expected to call for a fact-finding mission to look into violations committed by Syrian forces and also suggest that Syria should not seek membership in the forum next month, Reuters is reporting. “The council will be quite divided, but we should get a vote in favour of the text,” a western diplomat told Reuters. “It will be a tough slog today. But the key thing is getting a result,” said another. In an opening speech, Kyung-wha Kang, UN deputy high commissioner for human rights, said Syrian tanks were shelling densely populated areas and entire towns were under siege. “There have been reports of snipers firing on persons attempting to assist the injured or remove dead bodies from public areas,” she said. There is “a widespread, persistent and gross disregard for basic human rights by the Syrian military and security forces,” she said, speaking on behalf of the UN human rights office.

  On the divided Arab response. “There will be an Arab League statement. But it would be a lie to say there is a consensus of positions,” a Geneva-based Arab diplomat told Reuters. “To avoid speaking in favour of Syria, most (Arab) delegations will not take the floor.” “The Arab group is a bit embarrassed. During the Libyan affair we were all unified and integrated the international community’s consensus,” he said, adding that censuring Syria could set off a chain reaction. “Do this and a Pandora’s Box will open. Bahrain is also a member and Gulf countries are fully behind Bahrain,” he said.

  11.00am – Libya: My colleague, Harriet Sherwood, who is in Tripoli, has sent an update on the fighting on the border with Tunisia. Forces loyal to Gaddafi have retaken a border crossing between Libya and Tunisia close the Western Mountains region, which has been the scene of fierce fighting over recent weeks. Rebel fighters gained control of the Wazin-Dehiba border post last week. But it fell in an onslaught by regime troops, in which missiles were fired across the border into Tunisia, on Thursday. The Tunisian news agency, TAP, quoted witnesses saying Libyan refugees on the Tunisian side of the border had been killed and wounded. According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, more than 30,000 Libyans have fled the area in recent weeks. The region is largely populated by Berbers, who have suffered decades of repression under the Gaddafi regime.

  10.30am: Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of unrest in the Middle East, where major shows of strength are expected in Syria and Yemen. • In Syria, activists have called for a “Friday of rage” following Muslim prayers, to commemorate the death of over 100 people killed by security forces exactly a week ago. As the Assad regime braces itself for more protests, international diplomatic pressure is mounting. The UN’s top human rights body is holding a special session in Geneva to consider possible abuses in Syria. Meanwhile, EU governments are meeting in Brussels are to discuss sanctions on the Syrian leadership for the first time. • In Yemen, opponents of President Ali Abdullah Saleh have called for rallies across the country after Friday prayers to demand his exit, two days after plainclothes gunmen shot dead 12 demonstrators in the capital. Funerals of the 12 protesters killed on Wednesday were expected to draw big crowds in Sana’a. • There are reports of clashes between Tunisian troops and forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi inside the Tunisian border town of Dehiba. Residents say there was heavy fighting in the centre of the town, which is near a border crossing point into Libya. This would be the first time that fighting in Libya has spilled across the border to Tunisia. • The death toll in one of Morocco’s worst terrorist attacks has risen to 16. The MAP news agency said two people died of injuries in the hospital after Thursday’s explosion in a tourist cafe in Marrakech, bringing the number of dead from 14 to 16. At least 11 of those killed were foreigners, and at least 20 people were injured.

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  April 29 2011, 6:14am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Question: Where to move to in Cardiff?

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/26/question-where-to-move-to-in-cardiff

  Following an online debate on the best place to live in Cardiff, we ask you what you love about living in your part of our city. Good idea. Lets all move to Roath Park.

  This article titled “Question: Where to move to in Cardiff?” was written by Hannah Waldram, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 26th April 2011 16.20 UTC I noticed a little bit of Twitter debate taking place today following a Guardian article which encourages people to move to Roath and Cathays in Cardiff. Tom Dyckhoff in his regular ‘Let’s Move to’ column in the Saturday Guardian, explains his sister is moving to the city and after a little research (I must hereby state I was not contacted) found the eastern wards, traditionally student hub, to be the best options for newcomers. Dyckhoff writes: “I winkled out Roath and Cathays, the kind of studenty-cum-posh-inner-suburb-close-to-a-university that’s deep within Guardian readers’ DNA to instinctively like. With its Arabic cafes, comic shops, ironic and unironic corduroy jackets, veggie cafes, eccentric miniature lighthouse in the delightful Roath Park, splendid arts centre (The Gate), weekly farmers’ markets and nice-but-a-little-shabby-round-the-edges Victorian houses, it’s practically this newspaper in bricks and mortar.”

  chandradevi comments: Cathays has sadly long been little more than a student ghetto. If you like that, you’ll love it. My sister moved out in the nineties after chicken tikka was spewed up on her car there by one of the little darlings. Roath, as a geographical extension of Cathays, has largely gone the same way. It does boast The Albany pub though, which has a nice quirky garden.

  This isn’t the first time the housing debate has raised its head this year – when a short tête-à-tête occurred between Roathians and the Pontcanna elite over which ward was the most desirable. As Edwalker1986 points out in his comment: Enjoyed your profile and Roath definitely has a lot going for it. I moved here from the city centre a few months ago and it’s great – there’s a real mix of people. Having Roath Park on the doorstep is fantastic and there’s some great local shops. I wrote this article in January about how Roath was on the up and perhaps taking Pontanna’s crown (a popular area of Cardiff).”

  Now as someone who has divided her blissful time in the city equally between living in Roath and Pontcanna (well, more Canton but technically Riverside), I can faithfully say both are delightful to live in – each with very different appeal. But what about all the other wards in the city – would we really only guide potential new inhabitants to Pontcanna, Roath and Cathays? Let’s hear it from the rest of you – the Butonians, Splott dwellers, Adamsdown massive, Whitchurch and Rhiwbina villagers… I know you’re out there. What do you love about living in your area of Cardiff? Leave a comment below.

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  April 26 2011, 12:57pm | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Olympic Park: name that neighbourhood

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/19/olympic-park-name-that-neighbourhood

  Some sort of competition for naming the five Olympic villages for the London 2012 Olympic games in Stratford East London.

  This article titled “Olympic Park: name that neighbourhood” was written by Dave Hill, for guardian.co.uk on Tuesday 19th April 2011 09.47 UTC The Olympic Park Legacy Company recently made known four of the entries to its competition to name the five residential areas the park will eventually contain. It says the four are a sample of the “hundreds” it has received, and quite an instructive sample it is. I’m guessing that the suggestion of Plastic Fantastic is aimed at Area 3 and a historical reference to the development of early forms of plastic in the old chemical industry area of Hackney Wick, where dry cleaning too was pioneered. But who would rush to reside in a place called that? Would it assist estate agents in their noble task of wooing purchasers of the mixture of flats and family homes destined to rise alongside the Lea Navigation Canal? Stylish modern living in, ah, Plastic Fantastic? The OPLC’s Duncan Innes anticipates it being “quite a funky little area,” with “lots of arty people living there,” perhaps because the new local industry is galleries. From the commercial point of view, I’d be looking for bog standard pretentiousness in that case. Leaside Quarter? Wick Modern? Old Laundry? The three other suggested names released are Little Athens and Redgravia, whose Olympic inspirations, though ingenious, are perhaps a bit too obvious, and Dog and Bike, which to me sounds like a pub and only a pub. Still, I suppose the efforts made public were chosen to give clues and motivation to other potential competitors rather than on the basis of quality, and they do concentrate the mind on the complexities of the task. It needs to be tackled seriously. The organisers reserve the right to reject all contenders if they don’t think they’re up to scratch and impose their own instead. Should the five neighbourhoods’ names be Games-connected or reflect local history? They can’t really be both. If Games-connected, should they have a British or an international flavour? If localist, how local? And if history is to be the guide, whose history should take priority? That last is, of course, a political question and there was more than a whiff of politics about the decision to elongate the park’s name to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Would such eager deference to royalty have happened under a Labour government and Labour London Mayor? The very Conservative Boris Johnson is plainly pleased with the monarchical association, and it is one that could in theory be extended to the neighbourhood names, giving the whole area a thematic unity. Charles Environs? Middleton Village? On the other hand, perhaps Boris’s predecessor, who played such a big part in securing the Games for the capital, should have a neighbourhood named after him to recognise his contribution? Alas, Kenton and Kensington have already been taken. I’d been interested to hear your suggestions for Olympic Park neighbourhood names, and I’m sure the OPLC would too. Full details of its competition and the five neighbourhoods are here and the BBC, a partner in the enterprise, provides further helpful information here and here. I’ll be away on holiday when this post goes live, which means I’m unlikely to respond to comments. However, I’m sure there will be more to say on this subject before the competition’s closing date of May 18.

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  April 19 2011, 6:36am | Comments »

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  MasterChef: have things gone stale?

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/14/masterchef-have-things-gone-stale

  Masterchef is no longer very interesting at all and there are also far too many cooking programmed and celebrity chefs on tv at present. Jamie Oliver’s dream school wasn’t exactly a success so I expect he’ll be back in the kitchen soon as well. Then there are all of the hybrid programmed that try to combine the most audience engaging aspects from across several genres. They never work very well either. Relocation cookery, gardening talent, animal casting and so on.

  This article titled “MasterChef: have things gone stale?” was written by Vicky Frost, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 14th April 2011 10.44 UTC Sometimes I wonder if I’m stuck in a kind of MasterChef vortex. First there was Loyd Grossman. Then there was John and Gregg bellowing and sucking their forks on BBC2. Next came the celebrities, the professionals and the juniors. Followed by the Australians, and their version of the UK show. And now? Now we’re apparently watching the UK version of the Australian version of the UK update of the Loyd Grossman original, on primetime BBC1. Who knows where it will all end? Or indeed who will still be watching? Because while previous incarnations of MasterChef might have been stuffed with ridiculous declarations, surplus rounds that appeared to have no bearing on the result, and more passion and determination than even Lord Sugar might think totally necessary, the show was rarely boring. This series, however, I’m finding it hard to summon up the energy to last a whole episode. The problems started with the auditions. John cried in one of them. Nobody cooked a playdafoo that looked like a child had made it unsupervised, wearing a blindfold, while having a tantrum. John and Gregg didn’t patrol the aisles rolling their eyes wildly and grimacing at anyone daring to experiment like they were actually going to be poisoned. Cocky competitors weren’t totally shamed in front of each other. Things haven’t really improved since. The set seems to have quadrupled in size so that the competitors could feasibly source entirely different sets of local ingredients, and the invention test box has morphed into a whole deli. Worse are the challenges. Fair dos to Gregg for trying to ramp up the tension of cooking for a circus on Peckham Rye – PECKHAM RYE! — or making a buffet for the cast of Merlin – THE CAST OF MERLIN! – or just some students – ERM STUDENTS! – but why aren’t the contestants doing more cooking in actual restaurants with actual chefs? That used to be most of the show, now it seems to be all field kitchens and mass catering. Things got a little better on last night’s show with the arrival of Michel Roux’s croque-en-bouche and a trolleyload of cakes – although it possibly wasn’t entirely wise to draw parallels between flying for the RAF and making some sodding sandwiches, Gregg – but I still feel that I’m seeing the series out to the bitter end, rather than actively enjoying it. Even old Toorude and Gregg the Egg appear to have changed their ways. I have heard not one metallic basil; merely a sprinkle of deep, velvety, iron-rich descriptions; absolutely no threats to de-robe and dive into a pudding. Only one proper, ridiculous moment has lodged in my brain: John doing some kind of uber-camp panto hiss of “Don’t bite off more than you can chew!” at Miss Swansea. Now that’s why I watch MasterChef. Instead we’ve had a few guest chefs to liven things up. But largely we’ve been meant to be caring about the contestants and their journeys and the challenges they’ve overcome. Sadly I haven’t, and I don’t. This year’s contestants are largely oddly unappealing – perhaps because they were whittled down to a final bunch astonishingly quickly. All I’m really interested in is their best two courses, which we get to see surprisingly infrequently. It seems strange, really, that MasterChef Australia, from which the new UK show borrows heavily, can combine many of the same elements and come up trumps. But then it also does everything the British show does, just 50 times bigger. So the judges are more flamboyant, more ridiculous; the contestants live in a house together and vote each other off; they have cook-offs against real chefs; they cater amazing weddings on boats. Against that background, setting the whole thing in a vast, sunlit warehouse feels vaguely reasonable. On BBC1, it doesn’t. So: how are you getting on? Are you looking forward to the final couple of weeks in a state of slight outrage after this blog? Or have you lost interest already? And can anyone explain why, when MasterChef was on seemingly every night for increasingly idiosyncratic lengths of time, we all moaned it was too much, but now we have it once a week for an hour, it seems it’s too little – even though it’s also completely boring? A quandry no?

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  April 14 2011, 6:02am | Comments »

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  The Kindle and the Tube

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/13/the-kindle-and-the-tube

  London’s top Underground blogger Annie Mole of Going Underground has noticed a surge in the use of e-readers in the capital’s crowded Tube carriages

  This article titled “The Kindle and the Tube” was written by Dave Hill, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 13th April 2011 11.09 UTC This year’s London Book Fair, which ends today, held a session on Sunday called the Digital Future Is Now. A UK publishing executive spoke of the surging US e-book market and how the market had been jump-started by the Amazon Kindle. I don’t have a Kindle yet, but must get round to it. Annie Mole has noticed that there’s one in every Underground carriage these days, and who wants to be left out? Annie observes: It’ll be interesting to see how this picture will change in five years time. How long will it be before we see more people reading from iPads, Kindles or other e-readers than people reading printed books and papers on the Tube?

  Not long at all, I’d say. The Tube experience is quite conducive to nourishing Kindle-use. After all, you need elbow room to turn a page. Now read on.

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  April 13 2011, 6:18am | Comments »

• I posted to distributedresearch.net

  Defra delays: why are so many key environment policies overdue?

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/13/defra-delays-why-are-so-many-key-environment-policies-overdue

  From protecting the natural environment to badger culling to water bills, key policies are being postponed. Have cuts bitten too deep?

  This article titled “Defra delays: why are so many key environment policies overdue?” was written by Damian Carrington, for guardian.co.uk on Wednesday 13th April 2011 10.49 UTC Cutting a 30% of an organisation’s budget before working out how that organisation will actually run on the reduced funds isn’t very clever. But that’s what appears to have happened under Caroline Spelman’s stewardship of the department of the environment, food and rural affairs. How else can we explain the long list of delays which span right across the work of the department, from water bills to badger culls? Not forgetting the humiliating U-turn on the forestry sell-off, the deep cuts to flood defences across the nation and a feeble sustainability vision, here’s a list: Natural environment white paperDue: April 2011Expected: Officially, later this year – before the summer, I’m toldThis flagship policy will, Defra says, protect and enhance the natural environment that “underpins our economic prosperity, our health and our wellbeing” and will be the department’s first environment white paper for 20 years. It is eagerly anticipated by greens across the spectrum – but it will miss its April deadline, as set out in Defra’s business plan. Badger cull consultation: government’s responseDue: Feb 2011Expected: Possibly late MayBovine tuberculosis takes a terrible toll on cattle farmers, but effective culling of badgers in complex and costly and many animal lovers oppose any cull. The proposals – that farmers do the culling themselves – has many flaws, not least being dismissed as “among the worst options” by scientists and likely to cost more than doing nothing. In February, announcing a delay, agriculture minister Jim Paice said: “we need to make sure we get it right.” With emotions running high on both sides, it’s a tough one, but how many more months must we wait? Waste policy reviewReview announced: June 2010Expected: May 2011The government announced their review of waste policies in June 2010 to “ensure we are taking the right steps towards creating a ‘zero waste’ economy.” But, according to stakeholders, its results have been repeatedly delayed. In its absence, the government has said it will ban fines for misuse of dustbins, but is unable to say how refuse will be better dealt with than now, especially ending the UK’s addiction to landfill. Water white paperDue: June 2011Expected: Autumn 2011The white paper will “reform the water industry to ensure more efficient use of water and the protection of poorer households”. It follows the Cave review of competition in the water industry and Walker review of water charging, published in April 2009 and June 2009 respectively. Food policyDue: UnknownThis is not strictly late as there’s no such policy being developed, despite criticism of the government’s plans for feeding a growing population sustainably and healthily being ‘insubstantial”. Banning wild animals from circuses consultation: government’s responseConsultation ended: March 2010Due: UnknownThis issue raise huge passion among animal rights campaigners, but a year on, there’s still no response, though the first moves were made by Labour in 2006, who must share some of the blame for the delay. Dangerous dogs consultation: government’s responseConsultation ended: June 2010Expected: “Later in the year”, I’m toldThis consultation on increasing the protection of the public was launched by the last government after a campaign by post men and women. Parliamentary answers:Thanks to work by Thomas Docherty MP, we can see that Defra has failed to answer 42% of written questions from MPs on time, making them the third worst of the 13 departments Docherty challenged. By contrast, the department of energy and climate change answered 77% of questions on time. Defra refutes my suggestion that the deep budget cuts are taking their toll. “Defra is playing its part in reducing the deficit, but this has no impact on policy development,” said a spokesman. “It is important to address all likely practical issues and ensure the department has properly consulted stakeholders before final decisions are made – which will mean less red tape and more opportunities for business and communities.” Unsurprisingly, Mary Creagh, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for environment, has a different view: “This is a department in special measures. The government’s ideologically driven belief in the small state is sending environmental policy into reverse. Defra’s stop-go approach to policy is creating uncertainty for businesses and communities that want to invest in green jobs and improve the environment.” Perhaps the Defra delays stem from the forestry sell-off fiasco, meaning every policy now has to be examined over and over in order to avoid another disaster. I’d be interested to hear more about that. Whatever the reason for the delays, while we wait, biodiversity continues to decline, cattle continue to contract TB and rubbish continues to be dumped.

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  April 13 2011, 6:06am | Comments »

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  MoDo on Bob Dylan and protest

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/11/modo-on-bob-dylan-and-protest

  Has Bob Dylan actually stood for anything for the last 40 years or so?

  This article titled “MoDo on Bob Dylan and protest” was written by Michael Tomasky, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 11th April 2011 16.43 UTC Maureen Dowd took a widely noted whack at Bob Dylan yesterday, for allegedly agreeing to submit his set list to censors in the People’s Republic of China before he played his first-ever gig there. She seemed upset that he didn’t play “Blowin’ in the Wind.” In return, she’s getting whacked herself left and right today. Jim Fallows had a go yesterday, noting that Dylan did in fact perform a few of his more subversive songs and that his contacts in China didn’t see the matter through Dowd’s lens at all. Here’s something from the Examiner: There is no evidence that Dylan was censored at all in China. Where is the investigative journalism ? Someone speculated in the press, and it is now reported as “fact”. Where is the original document or announcement? There is not even a clear consensus as to why last year’s concert didn’t take place. It certainly wasn’t canceled, since it was never confirmed. Dylan’s “censored” set list was actually pretty standard. Dozen’s of articles – published before Dowd’s – used “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times, They Are-Changin’” as examples of “censored” songs that Dylan did not perform, while Dowd suggested another “protest” song that Dylan “should” have sung. Here are the facts: *”Blowin’ In The Wind” was performed only ten times last year. *”Times” was performed only once in 2010 – at a special White House performance. *”Hurricane” has not been performed since 1976 (35 years ago!)! That’s amazing about “Hurricane.” I guess that would have been the Rolling Thunder Revue tour, is that right? In any case, a) Dylan hasn’t been a “protest figure” for about 40 years, even 45, really, and b) even if he did sing “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and even putting the language barrier aside, no one could understand a single word the guy says these days, so what difference would it make? I think I’ve seen Dylan four times, maybe five. The first was 1978, the Street Legal tour, his “Vegas” era. But it was still a good show, and I remember “Tangled Up in Blue” as a highlight. But he has long had this penchant of course for rearranging his songs to such an extent that you had to listen for a minute or even two before you even knew what it was. When he toured with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, I went to see him at Madison Square Garden, with a good friend of mine (who might be reading this very post), and another buddy of his, a guy I didn’t know. As we were on the subway heading home, I said: “I really liked hearing ‘Masters of War.’” A confused and sad look crossed the face of the third guy, my friend’s friend: “He played ‘Masters of War’?” That was the thing. You couldn’t tell. I caught a snippet of lyric in about the third verse that I knew. So even if he’d played “Masters of War” in China, he’d likely have done it in such a way that people wouldn’t have heard its message anyhow. Which brings us to a central point about Dylan that I think Dowd missed. He’s intentionally enigmatic, and it’s precisely when someone wants him to do X that he will go out of his way to do Not X. Not that it even really matters that much anymore in his case, but just for the record. And, just for the record, my most beloved Dylan music is The Basement Tapes. Not a political word on it. Could listen to it forever.

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  April 11 2011, 12:31pm | Comments »

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  World Development Report: Why no mention of Paris?

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/11/world-development-report-why-no-mention-of-paris

  The World Bank report offers some welcome suggestions on reforming institutions to address conflict, but it is strange that it fails to mention the Paris agenda on aid effectiveness.

  This article titled “World Development Report: Why no mention of Paris?” was written by Jonathan Glennie, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 11th April 2011 09.10 UTC The World Bank has published its annual World Development Report and, as usual, it is a good read. This year its focus is on insecurity, conflict and fragility. It aims to build the evidence linking development, the bank’s primary area of expertise, and insecurity, one of the biggest constraints on progress.   The first things you can expect from a report like this are some new era-defining stats. So we get this: “One-and-a-half billion people live in areas affected by fragility, conflict or large-scale, organised criminal violence, and no low-income fragile or conflict-affected country has yet to achieve a single UN millennium development goal.”   The first part of the report shares a lot of helpful evidence for something that should be obvious – conflict is one of the biggest enemies of development. Anyone Ivorian would be able to thoroughly back that assessment at the moment as they watch the development gains of recent years being put at risk by the present violence.   To pick from one of the many statistics: “Mozambique more than tripled its primary [school] completion rate in just eight years, from 14% in 1999 [seven years after the fighting ended] to 46% in 2007.”   So far, so obvious. What does the World Bank think should be done? It has one clear and compelling answer: Make institutions more legitimate. Legitimate institutions are what the report cleverly describes as a country’s “immune system” against conflict.   The report turns out to be one more example of how “institutions” have finally made it to the very top of the development hierarchy, trumping “good policy” as the latest key to development progress. The report is impressive in scope, seeking to reassess an international order built in the wake of two world wars and finding it wanting for the new reality of conflict today, with its complex, repeated and inter-related forms of violence.   Commendably, it mentions the big issues, like the drugs trade and international channels of corruption, that development experts often prefer to leave to others. It emphasises the importance of improved data collection to track stolen money. But on drugs it is weaker, mustering only the following recommendation: “Exploring the costs and benefits of different combinations of demand and supply-side measures would be a first step to underpinning more decisive demand-side actions.” Hmmm.   Being the World Bank, there is not the slightest hint that western powers could be at fault for any of the violence and conflict in the world. It might have been nice to acknowledge that violence is not a developing world phenomenon, by adding a few examples of western problems.   The style of the report is humble, which is all the rage in development nowadays. It is an attitude taking some time to filter down to country managers, though, where anecdotal tales of arrogant westerners insisting on rapid change along Washington Consensus lines are still all too common. But at least there is change at the top.   One thing I particularly liked was the emphasis on job creation because it is unemployment that is the major driver behind young people joining rebel groups or criminal gangs (according to the surveys quoted). Again, it’s common sense, but it’s always useful to have it written down. Jobless growth is not good enough.   First prize for most glaring omission is shared between Colombo and Paris. The major story in internal armed conflict recently, the crushing of the Tamil uprising in Sri Lanka, gets not one mention in the whole report. I expect there are complicated politics behind this silence.   But there is no such excuse for the failure to mention the Paris agenda on aid effectiveness. Fundamental to the legitimacy of institutions is where their money comes from. So the report is right to focus on the donor-recipient relationship, which muddies the supposed accountability links between citizen and government. It is good that this link (a particular beef of mine) is being recognised in such an important report.   But to engage in a long list of (very welcome) suggestions for how international agencies should reform without mentioning the major international initiative seeking to achieve such reform is strange. While calling for donors to work better together, the World Bank is in danger of looking like it prefers to go it alone, setting up a new group of “WDR principles”.   What about the future? The WDR recognises that climate change and increased competition for natural resources are likely to heighten the risk of conflict in the years to come. And there are some very useful pointers as to what makes for a potentially more peaceful future.   One that particularly hit me was this: “Some states have tried to maintain stability through coercion and patronage networks, but those with high levels of corruption and human rights abuses increase their risks of violence breaking out in the future.” Or in layman’s terms, you need to deal with the causes of the problem. The causes are usually linked to poverty and injustice, as a later graphic makes clear.   That is also one of the conclusions (obviously) of a separate initiative that is worth looking at. The Global Peace Index ranks countries according to how peaceful they are, and while the methodology behind it can be criticised (as any index can) it adds important evidence to the debate about which policies really do contribute to peace.

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  April 11 2011, 4:18am | Comments »

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  Libya and Middle East uprising – live updates

  http://distributedresearch.net/blog/2011/04/11/libya-and-middle-east-uprising-live-updates

  Muammar Gaddafi has reportedly accepted an African Union roadmap for peace in Libya, which includes an immediate ceasefire.

  This article titled “Libya and Middle East uprising – live updates” was written by Haroon Siddique, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 11th April 2011 08.57 UTC

  10.04am – Libya: In an editorial, the Guardian says the prospect of stalemate and even partition is making the prospect of a ceasefire in Libya more attractive to both sides. Air strikes may have degraded Gaddafi’s forces to the point that they no longer threaten Benghazi, but that is a long way from him surrendering control of Tripoli. Libya is the only country where the Arab revolution became a military struggle, and for this very reason it may be one of the places where the regime stays put … All we know is that the military option is looking less appealing and the regime, despite the defections, is not crumbling. The air war may have secured parts of Libya, but Gaddafi has shown for the second time in his life that he is still standing on home turf. This could change, but how many in Nato are that confident that it will? All this points to an outcome with Gaddafi and his sons in place. It is messy. It lacks a redemptive conclusion. But it is the way this conflict is going.

  9.57am: Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the conflict in Libya and the protests throughout the Middle East. • The African Union says Muammar Gaddafi has accepted a peace plan for ending the conflict in Libya, which includes an immediate ceasefire. It has called on Nato to halt air raids. • The AU representatives are travelling to Benghazi today to present the Libyan peace plan to the opposition leadership. Opposition spokesman Mustafa Gheriani told Reuters the rebels would respond to the plan but it could only work if Gaddafi stands down. • The Syrian army has entered the port city of Banias, witnesses have told AP. At least four anti-government protesters were killed in the city yesterday and dozens injured.

  guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 Published via the Guardian News Feed plugin for WordPress.

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  Related posts:Libya uprising continues – live updates Libya military action: live updates Libya no-fly zone – live updates

  

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