Today I saw the Messiah. We popped into the
Ashmolean museum in Oxford for a cup of tea. They now have a Benugo’s café in
the basement serving their amazing St Clements & almond loaf. We then took advantage of the fact that
British state owned museums are still free and had a look at some of our
favourite exhibits (The Pre-Raphaelites John Everett Millais’ portrait of John
Ruskin, various Pissarros, a Toulouse-Lautrec, etc.) and some less familiar but
equally interesting works. Another of my favourites of course is The Messiah.
This is the nickname given to what is almost certainly the most valuable of all
of Stradivarius’ violins. It was made
during his golden period in 1716 and remains virtually unplayed to this day
making it even more unique. A violinist, Jean-Delphin Alard, said to its then
owner about 150 years ago ‘your violin is like the Messiah: one always expects
him but he never appears’ and this name has stuck. Another Strad from the same
period (The Lady Blunt) which was well played, with regular wear and tear, sold
for £10 million a few years ago so The Messiah in mint condition is likely to
be worth several times more than this. It was bequeathed to the Ashmolean in
1939 on condition that it is never played! Slightly less pleasing was my wife’s
visit to the ladies toilets. A pair of foreign ladies were using the hand
basins to wash their feet. Although I understand that this is a tradition in a
number of religions, it is not acceptable in public toilets using basins that
are designed to wash your hands. Notices need to be placed in the toilets
advising visitors not to use the basins for other purposes and the staff should
prevent people form using them in this way. When we complained to the staff, I
am pleased to say they acted immediately and asked the women not to do it.
The Messiah at The Ashmolean in Oxford |
As I write this piece, there are just 37 days to go until the General Election.
And this will quite probably be one of the most important General Elections
since the last war. The 2010 election was a milestone in that it re-introduced
coalition politics in the UK after decades of rivalry between the Conservatives
and the Labour parties, one of whom has always ended up governing by
themselves. The Coalition government has lasted its 5-year term relatively
well. The UK has come out of recession to be the fastest growing economy of all
western countries, whilst most of the Eurozone is still flatlining at best.
This is a great achievement particularly given that the number of people in
work is at an all time high even if productivity is not great and real wages
are only now starting to recover. My belief, influenced by the French
philosopher Blaise Pascal’s view that “All men's miseries derive from not being
able to sit in a quiet room alone” is that the most important thing is to get
people working, even if it means the wages on offer are less than desirable and
further state aid is offered to support them. Most of our evils come from
people who sit at home, are not part of a work environment, cut-off from
society and increasingly resentful. So 2
million new jobs created in the last 5 years is definitely something to
celebrate. However, despite the great record of the coalition, we are about to
move into uncharted territory. In 37 days, there is a very strong likelihood
that the parties that end up ruling us are not representative of the votes
cast. For example, if the Scottish Nationalists (SNP) end up holding the
balance of power, we will have a party that was voted for by about 5% of the UK
population (all based in Scotland) spinning their influence on everything that
happens in parliament with nearly 10% of the seats. It is quite likely that our current democratic system
that has worked so well for hundreds of years will be declared broken and will
need to be re-engineered. Another example of it not working, is that UKIP (as
much as I dislike them) may get around 20% of the vote but will probably be
lucky to get 2% of the elected MPs. In the last election the Libdems got around
25% of the vote but only 8% of the MPs. But once again my real issue is
immigration. The Guardian has gathered compelling data to show:
- Part of the reason our economy is faring so well is because of the large number of foreign workers entering our country and working (as many as half of the 2 million new jobs have gone to foreigners)
- If we were to remove benefit payments to foreign workers in the way that parties are suggesting, the net result would actually be an increase in costs to the taxpayer
On the first point, the government had
promised to reduce immigration to under 100,000 in 2014 and the real figure is
just under 300,000. And instead of fighting each other to announce the most
draconian measures they can think of to ‘keep the immigrants out’ a more sensible
approach would be to celebrate the additional income they are bringing in
through their skills and taxes and the fact that their costs in benefits and
healthcare are significantly less than the average population. The immigrants
are mostly from the EU and they are mostly young people who come here to work.
If they just wanted to claim benefits, most have a more generous system back
home! So we see a net gain as a result of immigration, one of the contributing
factors to our significant economic growth.
On the second point, there clearly is a cost relating
to the state benefits (and other costs) claimed by the immigrant population, as
even if they claim less than average, it will still add up to a large figure.
What the politicians conveniently neglect to say is that if the UK were to stop
paying these people, then we should accept reciprocal treatment from other EU
member states. For example, there are
four times as many British people in Germany claiming benefits as there are
Germans claiming in the UK. The net impact of this as The Guardian has exposed,
is that the money being claimed in benefits by Brits living abroad in EU
countries is more than the amount the UK pays out in benefits to EU citizens
living in the UK! How shocking is that? “Unemployed Britons in Europe are drawing much
more in benefits and allowances in the wealthier EU countries than their
nationals are claiming in the UK, despite the British government’s arguments
about migrants flocking in to the country to secure better welfare payments.”
The Guardian January 19th 2015.
Take a look at the chart below that shows
the two sides in most EU countries. Immigration has made Britain great. 10,000
years ago there was nobody on these isles. We are all foreigners. Please tell
Nigel Farrage.
I am increasingly hearing people talk about
the alarming trend in our workplace towards what is being commonly described as
“the hourglass effect". The UK
and other developed economies seem to be seeing diverging trends in employment
towards those with poor skillsets and low pay and those with high levels of
skill, education and training. The middle paid jobs appear to be vanishing,
creating the so-called hourglass effect. It is not a decrease in employment
that is causing this as the number of jobs is at all time high. It is probably
due to technological advances and leaner working practices that business are
finding that they can operate without so many managers. One of the most serious
consequences of this is that lower paid workers can rely less and less on a
career path as the rungs in the middle of the ladder are increasingly rare and further apart. This worrying phenomenon was very eloquently expressed by Sir Charlie Mayfield who gave the annual Robert Oakeshott Lecture on March 20th. He is Chair of John Lewis where they employ 93,000 ‘partners’ and they too have
been removing middle managers over the last few years in order to remain
competitive. He boldly explained that this phenomenon is touching poorer white
men who are drawn to UKIP as a result not realising that UKIP will only
exacerbate the problem. Another reason for the phenomenon is cuts in public
spending since the recession which have included the loss of many middle
ranking jobs. The hourglass effect was very clear during the industrial revolution
which benefitted the rich and also created vast numbers of low paid factory
work. We are now entering a new tech led economic revolution which will
continue to change our economy with potentially huge consequences. Sir Charlie
talked about the huge new high tech 670,000 sq ft warehouse that John Lewis
have opened at Magna Park in Milton Keynes. It is a good example of the new
economy in that most of the employee partners appear to be either involved in
receiving stock and whizzing around in various types of electric lift trucks or
sitting in front of a computer doing very clever stuff such as controlling the
armies of robots and conveyor belts that do most of the heavy lifting. The Robert Oakeshott lecture is organised by
the Employee Ownership Association which is dedicated to expanding Employee
Ownership to reach 10% of the UK economy.
Sir Charlie Mayfield |
My Manifesto
- Prioritise job creation
- Cherish our great NHS and plan for a new future with a paradigm shift that incentivises wellness and a 1% increase in NI to pay for it
- Ensure our education system covers life’s basics from an early age to include British Values, managing finances and communicating with each other
- Be welcoming to qualified immigrants who make us all better off
- Be at the heart of a reformed EU bringing job security and prosperity to all
Me |
Quote of the Month
Dr Mike Loosemore, Head of Exercise Medicine at University College Hospital London, told the BBC recently: "Inactivity and
sedentary behaviour is one of the biggest challenges we have in public health
today. Compared with 100 years ago, our levels of activity are tiny, the number
of manual jobs are continually reducing; even if you dig a road up you sit in a
little tractor”
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