Long Tails (Part 1)

After being held captive by my increasing beer gut and general lazy hazy demeanor; I set my longboard (and myself) free tonight. I went for a night skate in my neighborhood and suddenly remembered what creates the zest in life - freedom of movement and freedom of expression. Look at the clip below and .....Nuff Said!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urAbqgGRdio

Plenty to Spare

How often - in our individual moments of reflective wisdom - do we stop to think about the relative discomfort of the feeling that I need more - and work harder to get it - to achieve a plentiful living whilst being viewed as ungrateful by others - both near and far - genuinely struggling for survival.

I took the tube journey from Ladbroke Grove to Kings Cross to have a few precious hours in the British Library and spent the journey contemplating the sweet and bitter lament of Joni Mitchell's ode to the haves and have nots 'Banquet' on my iPod. A short excerpt I offer to you:

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Some get the gravy

And some get the gristle

Some get the marrow bone

And some get nothing

Though there's plenty to spare

...Who let the greedy in

And who left the needy out

Who made this salty soup

Tell him we're very hungry now

This led me to thinking that the art of life is a basic set of instructions that teaches in ever more practical terms how we should care about our life and the lives of others. And it is on this note that i want to recommend an insight into the current state of race and class that underpins the this dis-united states of living on our UK doorsteps. Please take a look at: The institute for Race Relations and subscribe to their weekly newsletter and then judge where you're at and what is happening to those losing the fight for survival.

Today at 18.00 I responded to a request from my client for ideas to present to business leaders at an investment bank. These leaders are being addressed to encourage them into getting involved with the conservative political agenda 'The Big Society'.

I listed a range of thoughts and resources that I thought might spark some interest from the assembled great and good in the world of finance but felt that the opening thesis behind the term Big Society was both vague and where specific, immature. But professional ethics guided me to give some positive ideas to hopefully give my client a strong position to address what is likely to be a tough audience.

A little later 19.05 to be precise the TV new announced that the Conman addressed parliament to announce his vision for Public Health Reform and illustrating how his Big Society experiment will work in practice - and on a grand scale. From what I understand he aims to take a market centric approach to putting the health service in the hand of the doctors that use the service. I think that this is questionable as a recent survey stated that one in eight doctors earn over £250,000 per year and this reform will give these professionals more earning power. Business and Health should not mix but for this government they are ethically wedded to the business incentive behind civil society (can anybody see the inherent contradiction?). The issue is the with more economic incentive for doctors to manage the health service there could be conflict between patients and their doctors over access to drugs and impartial advice - seems logical. If this is the the first Big Move for the Conman's Big Society I fear that we the people will be up against it once again.