CJNBlog

There are two problems with SSCs - but one of them isn't really a problem with SSCs as such, but a problem with all automation. The first problem is that at least in my experience they don't work very well. I can hardly remember a time when a session with one of them didn't involve a member of staff coming to my assistance at least once. I believe that there are technical problems with the design  and that these can be ironed out. In the meantime, there will still have to be human trouble shooters /  assistants to get the sessions over successfully. The second problem is automation doing people out of work. The problem here lies with the logic of the economy rather than SSCs themselves. Automation has been taking over human work for a long time and will continue to do so for a long time yet and I hold that this is a good thing, because: 1) The reason for doing work should be that it needs doing and not that someone should not be able to subsist unless they work. 2) If a mac...

It came to my attention that the GLA has recommended adding the central section of Thameslink to the Tube Map (in fact a map of all TfL's rail services). This makes no sense, so I contact Caroline Pidgeon (a GLA Member who's on the relevant committee) to find out why and what the thinking is behind putting a section of one non-TfL railway line on a map of TfL only railway lines, when that lime, like all railway lines in London, is shown on the 'London's Tube and Rail Services' map - what used to be called the London Connections Map. CP argued that "the overall objective of the Tube map and indeed of TfL [should be] to effectively serve as many Londoners and visitors to London as is possible in making journeys." To serve as many of these travellers as is possible must surely require a map of all London's railway lines. What justification is there for omitting most non-TfL ones? She mentioned in response to one of my points “the importance of the B...

A quick look at McDonald's branch finder  (don't ask!) is quite revealing about this problem, though other chains with lots of branches have similar problems. In the case of the massive burger chain, here's the problem of inconsistency by them, but also difficulty. 1) Dagenham. They have 3 branches in postal Dagenham, which they call Dagenham Fs-Dt, Dagenham 2 and Dagenham 3. In each case they give the address as DAGENHAM - in capitals as if it's a postal address. I think their place names could be a little more descriptive, though naming parts of Dagenham is problematic. There's the general problem of calling one of them just Dagenham - the problem writ large by Newham Council calling one of its three leisure centres 'Newham Leisure Centre'. I don't think Showcase Cinemas have another outlet in Newham, so calling their Beckton place (in postal Barking) 'Newham' is unambiguous but inconsistent with their apparent naming system. I do notice thou...

Various schemes have been proposed like GMI - Universal Basic Income, for one. I'm not that au fait with the key differences, but a conversation on line with an artist has brought the idea to the fore (for me). This artist was pleading for council support during the COVID-19 lock down, when most premises were told to close down. Her argument was that art is beneficial to society/culture and the economy, but what's hidden beneath this argument is that of course she needs money, money typically comes in exchange for work and her work is art. I am not trying to say that art for art's sake is unimportant, but with many competing claims on money, it is quite a difficult argument to sustain, whereas the argument that everyone should be given the means to subsist as a birth right (or citizenship right) can be made on behalf of everyone, and isn't, and doesn't sound like special pleading. Once someone is secure in knowing that they will be adequately nourished, clothed an...

It was pointed out to me that the change to BST (that took place on Sunday 29 March) is beneficial to sufferers from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I don't really see why, but my first thought was that if it helps them then it's OK by me. But I have changed my miond. I read the Daylight Saving Time article on Wikipedia and saw the long list of disadvantages of changing the clocks during the year  - but not everywhere and not on the same day, and not necessarily following a rule consistently even within one territory. In the world today there are lots of devices that need to be able to cope with the plethora of rules and mistakes could be costly or even dangerous. Daylight Saving Time is a misnomer - the amount of daylight is of course unaffected by clocks. What proponents say is that it gives more light in the evenings. That rather depends on what you mean by 'evening'. If you mean a nominal 6pm, then why not say 6pm? Evening is rather ambiguous, but the term must origi...

With the London Assembly consulting on this, and coincidentally with my own work, his has been a hot topic for me lately. Most people, it seems, when they hear "high street" think of shops. They lament that there are not enough of some types of shop and too many of other types of shop. They rehearse all the well-known and sometimes contradictory problems. Rent / business rates are too high. "They" should limit the number of [x] type of shop. Car parking should be free and plentiful There's too much motor traffic and consequent noise and pollution and so on. One person debating with me thinks gentrification is a good thing, but this is a working-class area and the council is seeking to regenerate without gentrifying, whilst may people think that regeneration is just gentrification in a thin disguise. They are against regeneration because they will be squeezed out by the increasing cost of housing and the decline in social housing stock that is the direct r...

'One borough, one community' is a tagline used by the council in The London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, where I live. Ever since the former boroughs of Barking and Dagenham were merged in 1965 to form The LB of Barking, there has been at worst rivalry and resentment, and at best the persistent belief that the two former boroughs continue to exist, or that there are two parts of the Borough. I heard the latter claim repeated just a few weeks ago. [Aside - many people think the boundary between the two former boroughs is where the boundary between the IG and RM postcodes runs (whilst in the Borough). They are wrong.] In 1980 Dagenham got its own way and "and Dagenham" was added to the name of the Borough. It makes for a very cumbersome place name and re-inforces the idea that it is two places abutted. People say 'I don't live in Barking and Dagenham, I live in Barking' (or Dagenham, I suppose). It is very difficult if not impossible and undesi...