Category: Blog

At the Brandenburg Gate, this nude was proclaiming, in German, “I am the King of East Germany!” I leave you to complete the cliche.

I navigated my birthday. The actual date – 5th February for those  requiring an extra nudge of guilt to add to their day – passed as most birthdays do, in glum silence. An opportunity for me to remember the dead. Tuesday. Curtains closed. Phone, texts, Facebook humoured appropriately. It was, after all, one of those fucking landmarks. This one, the one where one passes from simply Old to utterly Aged. When the mirror is never reassuring. And as dear Rob, who has been in Berlin for centuries, has his same landmark birthday one day before me, I resolved to join him in Berlin for his celebration. And as punishment for my nearest and dearest – M and daughter Z – I invited them along.

When I telephoned Rob to confirm we would be coming he was delighted. “I don’t understand why you don’t celebrate! Why aren’t you joyful!” I explained. My birthday is the same day – a year apart – as that of my ex-wife. Big story. I won’t depress you with it here. She died. “Whatever,” he said. “We will be celebrating. And so will you!”

“Ok,” I said. “I promise.”

Berlin is the flavour of the mouth at the moment. And of the month, too. (Thanks autocorrect for reminding me that we ate darn well during our weekend. Mostly Italian…)

Just because I was going to Berlin, everybody seemed to be going to Berlin. The City probably paid their PR people to insert the place into every news item, blog, radio feature. Was it always like this? Or am I getting paranoid?

M was last in Berlin before the fall of the Wall. “I remember,” he said, “a claustrophobic city, everything small and on edge. Sad, broken buildings. Graffiti. Dirt.” and then, there was the Corridor.

The Corridor was the long swoosh of road from West Germany to Berlin, through massed kilometres of East Germany, bleak and bland fields stretching for miles, East German police patrolling in paranoid  panda cars, longing to catch westerners travelling over the speed limit so they could get some Deutschmarks, or better still,  dollars off them. There were motorway services scattered liberally along the distance too. Where Stasi operatives disguised as waiters would serve amazingly cheap, if unimaginative organic food to travellers while no doubt planting microphones in the pumpkins.

Then milk was unforgettable. Unpasteurised, rich, full-cream. I have never tasted better nor ever will. Those Commies sure could do milk.

The grandeur of a Capital City – some of it real

Berlin has been scraped clean, sanitised of its past, and the scrapings – all the blood, tears and delusions – put into boxes labelled “museum”. There are museums of everything from motorbikes to nail clippings. Oh yes, of the Wall, of the Holocaust, of the War as well.  There is no aspect of the past the Germans won’t sell. And they are frantically rebuilding it, too. The few grand old edifices that survived the RAF have been patched, recarved, refurbished, re-enlivened. And the whole area around Unter den Linden, toward the Brandenburg Gate feels like a Prussian Imperial march, full of the pomp and power of a great capital. Intensely serious colonnaded edifices,  capped by domes turning into perfect simulations of how they would have looked before they were slapped down.

Behind boards, a Baroque palace is being rebuilt from photographs and dusty memories. Astonishing.

Party on!

And on Saturday night we partied. Extremely. In the company of around thirty wide-eyed thirty-something and up beings full of love and flowers, most of them in a suspiciously ecstatic state-of mind.  The theme was hippie. Germans do not take themes lightly! There were beads and braids, beards and baldies. The music veered from hippie to Techno – with Rob on guitar in between.

Rob and an adoring acolyte

Though I had no drinks or drugs I had a great time. I’m keeping the drink and drugs for after getting a terminal diagnosis. Boy, I’ll have it all! Almost looking forward to it. Rob, on the other hand.. tee hee!

So now I’m officially aged I intend to fall apart in an undignified but probably stoical manner. I will carry on pushing my body beyond its limits, why not. And regarding A&E as a second home. I will continue wishing people would would fucking listen when I explain the things I’ve learned. And I will continue shutting up, because I know they won’t listen. There’s nothing worse than a garrulous aged know-it all. And next birthday, if there is one – well, I’d be happy to do Berlin again…

You be the judge!

I posted this:

PLEASE if you haven’t yet signed the Hounslow Climate Change petition, do so? Hounslow is the Borough most affected by the dreaded Heathrow 3rd runway, we are plagued by noise, traffic and air pollution with only two runways. Imagine another one….

http://petitions.hounslow.gov.uk/ClimateChange/

IH responded:

Without coming of (sic) as cynical, I lived in Hounslow West from 2000-2012. I’m sure my views differ from others, but I had no issues with the airport noise. If anything, Heathrow meant we had jobs, and a great source of revenue. Heathrow was the busiest airport in the world not too long ago, and all that traffic means income and opportunity.

Of course, there will always be noise pollution, air pollution, etc. Airports, cars, and so forth spew out tonnes of it. I’ve found that many jump on board for the big fight against these things, but how many do their part at home?

Change begins at home. Change begins in your community. My family and I went to the local park in Hounslow west, and there was trash everywhere. Beyond everywhere. Piles of it littered the grass, around the bins, even in the young kids play zones. This wasn’t dropped from a plane or from the airport. We did this. Us.

I am all for reducing pollution, from every source. We have solar panels on our roof. I take a 6 mile round trip to recycle items that cannot be recycled locally. But expecting airports and factories to change in a way that would cost billions when we cannot even change to pick up our own trash is absurd. Everybody will say “oh it’s not me!” Well it has to be someone. If we all wait, nothing will be done. And this is something that affects us and more importantly, our children, in an area that should be safe for them.

Obviously the park is just one example. But it highlights my biggest issue with this fight against larger corporations. Yes, they pollute, but they also bring in revenue. You cannot expect change to happen if you yourself cannot.

JE

The situation with air pollution and Climate Change is so much worse than we know or can imagine. Compared to which rubbish in the park is no more than an irritant. Those massive corporations you mention will always put profit before people, and if that means putting out more pollution, or more plastics, or more sugar in our food, or more chemicals in our rivers, they will do that. The people who run Heathrow don’t give a damn for the people choking for breath in London (16,000 deaths last year) or for the traffic choking our streets or for waking me and my neighbours up at 4.30 in the morning. That dreadful phrase “they provide jobs” does not make up for the deaths, or the increase by a third which will certainly ensue from their third runway.

The Earth is rapidly becoming uninhabitable for Humans. Complacency is no longer an option. We are facing terrible droughts, fires, floods. The ice at the poles is melting. Wars and mass migrations are inevitable. This is the REAL Project Fear. Be afraid.

I would describe you as “deluded and fatally complacent” if I could be that rude. But I don’t know you, perhaps I’m wrong. But until you’ve read the article in the Weekend Guardian entitled “This is not a Drill” by David Wallace- Wells, frankly you have no right to the opinions stated above.

He did not reply. I hope I didn’t upset him…

But CM did:

I don’t really think it is that bad for the people in the area as you say.

A lot of us actually work at the airport and want the expansion for more jobs. What I see since when I grew up a lot of economic migrants settle in West London because of having people of their origin here already making them feel comfortable nearly all of them start off employed either directly or indirectly by the airport. Whether it be a supplier, operations, cleaning etc. Heck my dad did the same thing! It helps them all the way from bettering their lives down to sending money to support their families abroad. Without the airport expanding you hit a block and migrants coming now they won’t benefit like previous ones.

I hear the planes take off and land you get used to it and well it becomes just another thing in your day life wise.

I get the environmental factors and there is a growing movement but there is a growing concern in aviation itself about that stuff.

The shipping industry is worse actually but we get the heat because when people look up the first thing they see is planes.

Things from engine design (noise reduction casings), recycled cooking oil powered planes and most recent one I heard of was engines with on board systems which turn the exhaust fumes in to hydrogen.

Aerodynamic design has also improved a lot in planes which helps burn less fuel and (your older than me I’m sure planes were worse back then on noise and emissions) newer aircraft are designed with that in mind now.

Even down to terminal designs and operations (renewable fuels and efficient lighting/ insulation are just some) all the way to enticing airlines to operate more efficient aircraft in to Heathrow by waiving their landing/ parking fees (which cost £££££) to do making them lose money which they’d love to have instead is currently happening.

I’m not saying it’s perfect, nor will it happen overnight but it is getting there. However like with all businesses it’s not really one unless it’s making money so who knows what’s around the corner. More needs to be done to save our home for sure people need to see the bigger picture from using public transport, walking, don’t pave over your garden, recycle, work together on things rather than blaming each other for ones agenda and make it everyone’s (then again we are human) we always react when it’s too late

JE

The point is, this is an actual crisis. Until Londoners feel the Thames lapping at their ankles, and notice the increase in respiratory illnesses in their own families, and realise that the torrent of people fleeing areas of intense environmental devastation are in their back yards, they will remain as complacent as you and Indi. We have to prevent any further carbon emissions NOW not 2030 or even 2025. Climate Change is an accelerating phenomenon. The promise of more jobs just does more to make it worse! You are like a fellow living in a valley. Someone is trying to tell you the dam has burst and a torrent is heading your way and you’re saying ‘Don’t worry, my neighbour may build a boat!’ Complacency is the biggest enemy of mankind on the planet right now. Bolsonaro is handing out licences to cut down the Brazilian rainforest. Trump is encouraging and funding coal mining and doesn’t take the science seriously. The recent forest fires all over the world have pumped tons of carbon into the atmosphere. Accelerating warming has resulted in a terrible increase in the rate of ice melt. Projections suggest a possible rise of at least 2 feet in sea level.

And you and the profit-obsessed owners of Heathrow want to increase their carbon emissions by a third? ARE YOU CRAZY?

so sign the petition. Look at the Extinction Rebellion website. Resist!

https://rebellion.earth

CM:

I fully agree environmental devastation is taking its toll on the planet, deforestation and coal mining should have been long gone especially with the knowledge and research done towards newer forms of sustainable energy, sadly money talks.

At least within the aviation industry things are being done to reduce the impact, rather than turn a blind eye. I don’t mean to be complacent. I’ve worked, studied and gained in this indsutry all my life and I think you do have a point but possibly looking in the wrong direction. One my biggest peevs is private aerodromes where all these rich people want to park up their private jets because they cant be bothered to use a commercial jet like all of us and want a fancy gold plated tap to satify their ego thus increasing weight and fuel burn in addition to a 40+ minute private car ride in to central which they coud have just avoided using a train from Heathrow in the first place along with everyone else.

The airline industry is cut throat, you might see an £800 ticket in economy and times it by 375 seats which equal a lot but the profit margins for that flight could be in the £100’s as the cost of fuel hikes. Ultimately any airline around wants to make money the only way they can is by reducing their operating costs, the biggest one being fuel they look to make planes lighter, composite materials and lightweight seats, etc which in all reduces fuel burn something they want but also helps in air pollution it’s a win on both sides if they accomplish it.

Heathrow generally fines airlines which operate inefficient aircraft in to the airport anyway they’re also not looking at the bigger picture what’s the point in fining that airline which has a tiny foot print becuase they only operate 1 daily or twice a week in to the airport. Yet big players such as BA, Virgin, United, American that have multiple operations daily operate ageing aircraft juste seem to keep doing it that where the pressure needs to be for them to operate newer planes that circumvent it.

My parents brought me up in Southall and I chose to carry on living here due to work, accepeting my life is at greater risk to these things and I could possibly die becuase of the airport but it was here before me. Lots of people might not agree to the same statement, however I know by allowing that airport to expand I’m helping someone recieve a organ donor to keepthem alive, letting some get to their mothers funeral in time, connect a family who haven’t seen in each in years in a matter of hours and allowing a variety of persihable goods to get here before they go bad to keep us fed, hospitals stocked and all sorts which wouldn’t be possible without more aircraft especially as the population in the UK grows.

There is a lot that needs to be done by them and it’s not enough they haven’t looked after the people surroinding the airport for a while and neglected them but it’s also airlines as well in addition to there being a big enough movement to make an impact for the better.

JE:

you are using emotional arguments that don’t touch sides! There is no logic to your examples! “By expanding the airport you’re allowing someone to be kept alive…” Think! Why on earth would keeping two serviceable runways not fulfil all your emotive arguments? We just have to cut down on passenger flights! We have to force the airlines you mention – by legislation and tough government action – not to use polluting aircraft! We have to cut down and cut out. Carbon taxes are a necessity. Your examples vs more deaths caused by the increased pollutants of the 3rd Runway – just not remotely comparable! And don’t forget the increase in road traffic and resulting pollution. Don’t forget the massive disruption which will be caused by building the runway and terminal buildings. The destruction of an historic village and a 13th century barn. Stop it! Your arguments don’t hold water.

CM:

Passenger flights will never cut down the more people will want to travel the more demand there will be. We are ultimately letting our own selves down. Without planes we’re screwed with them we’re still screwed.

That’s how the a380’s came along bigger planes meant not having to send more than one aircraft on the same route reducing slot usage and easing capacity requirements.

Even now it’s still not enough as more and people want to see what’s out there while more goods needs to be imported.

Taxes are a great way of reducing the impact but sadly still won’t be enough there needs to be more done to further it down, better transport links to reduce car usage and better management of the disruption for construction work and analysing ways balance the loss of Sipson/ Longford.

JE:

solution: stop the 3rd Runway and rationalise, rearrange, reduce! This is, as I and people who know more than I do say, a crisis

CM:

Rationalise is happening, it needs to be completed and re-arrange/ reduce happen asap. I fully agree with you it is a crisis because you have to balance an entire countries pros against the cons which involve destruction of people’s life. Kudos to whoever is doing it.

I clicked on ‘like”.

No winner. Earth is the loser.

You decide.

S is a good friend of mine, who suffers from a debilitating, life-threatening disease. I can’t give you details for extremely good reasons. Let’s just say, they’re partly personal, partly professional. So forgive me if I am a little vague.

Being careful with the facts: the conventional drug and treatment regime for her disease has been in use for years. S has suffered all her life with horrendous pain, the kind that holds sleep at bay for nights. As she says, “When it’s really bad it can put my life on hold all together – forget about going out on dates or having a day out with friends. It affects my professional life too.”

Then, in her late twenties a new drug became available. Private insurers don’t cover this treatment. To get the NHS to fund it, she had to undergo a barrage of tests to prove that the disease is aggressive enough to justify treatment. Luckily her consultant was prepared to try this, having tried most other approaches. And it worked. After a while, symptoms decreased and S was able to have close to a normal life. It did require a monthly intensive treatment to keep the situation stable, but that was a small price to pay.

S explains “Every case needs to be reviewed on an annual basis. It’s just procedure. Patients like myself must therefore undergo tests again to prove that the disease is still active. If it’s not then the NHS stops treatment, which is ridiculous as the disease is incurable and therefore will likely flare up again. Consequently patients like myself hope that the treatment hasn’t made them ‘too well’ or treatment will be stopped.”

And last week the Hospital announced that the treatment would be stopped.

The treatment costs the NHS £23,000 a year. So we have to conclude that a cash-strapped NHS would happily discontinue an expensive treatment on the grounds that the symptoms had diminished. But as she said, the disease is a lifetime condition! And if a treatment has successfully controlled the condition to an extent, stopping the treatment would undoubtedly lead to recurrence. It doesn’t make sense.

Cheap at the price? Well, Cancer is estimated to cost the NHS £40,000 per patient per year. Sure, that’s not just the drugs. But it’s still £40,000 per year. Cheap as chips then. See https://www.nhs.uk/news/cancer/cancer-survival-rates-threatened-by-rising-cost/

WHAT THE HELL – !

On Monday morning on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme John Humphries interviewed Professor Mariana Mazzucato , professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value and the director of the Institute for Innovation at UCL, who unpacked some of the reasons for the horrendous costs of medicines.

“Two weeks ago,” she said, “the price of an antibiotic went up 400% overnight, and the CEO of Nostrum Pharmaceuticals said they had a ‘moral imperative to allow prices to rise to what the market would bear’.”

The “moral imperative.” In other words, the maximum customers would pay in order to achieve the maximum profits to satisfy shareholders.

To the oft-repeated justifications or rationalisations offered by pharmaceutical companies for their outrageous prices, that research and development costs are huge – and many medicines never reach the market for a number of reasons, she pointed out that many of the R&D costs are not in fact incurred by pharmaceutical companies. Much of the research is done by universities and hospitals, at the expense of the taxpayer.

Interesting fact, by the way: a drug for Hepatitis C, Sobaldi: in the UK a 12 wk course costs £35,000. In Australia the same drug costs £8,000. Because, the Professor says, in Australia they buy large volumes and negotiate, therefore, more effectively. Which certainly goes to illustrate that drug companies charge as much as they can get away with.

But how does this play out in terms of costs, revenues and profit?

THE STATS

D&D, F&F. What I always shout at pupils. Don’t make assertions without Depth and Detail, Facts and Figures!

The first stat: the global pharmaceutical market is worth $1tn pa. That’s $1,000,000,000,000 (and even or 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 in some countries). (Yes, those are 18 zeroes in that last one.) https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/trillion

THE TOP

Table: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_pharmaceutical_companies_by_revenue

Source: https://www.statista.com

See also

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/122215/worlds-top-10-biotechnology-companies-jnj-rogvx.asp

Billion-dollar big beasts, for sure.

So let’s go back to their ‘justifications”, or rationalisations for their huge profits. “Drug companies justify the high prices they charge by arguing that their research and development (R&D) costs are huge. On average, only three in 10 drugs launched are profitable, with one of those going on to be a blockbuster with $1bn-plus revenues a year. Many more do not even make it to market.

But as the table below shows, drug companies spend far more on marketing drugs – in some cases twice as much – than on developing them. And besides, profit margins take into account R&D costs.” See https://www.nhs.uk/news/cancer/cancer-survival-rates-threatened-by-rising-cost/ The figures are interesting:

A mere glance at the figures show that whatever their costs, Big Pharma are thumbing their noses at us.

“What disgusts me,” S says, “is what they spend on Marketing.” Here’s why S has to be anonymous: she works for one of the huge pharmaceutical companies  in their Marketing department. Unfortunately her company doesn’t make the drugs she needs, although who knows if they would offer a Staff Discount! “…the real injustice here lies in the waste on media spend. It needs to be regulated some how. Drug companies plough millions into the creative development of marketing campaigns which never see the light of day. … the money they sink into the actual building of the stands at these medical conferences is just a small fraction of the waste, not to mention the creative development behind those stands. Honestly Jon you wouldn’t believe it.”

She gives one notable example: a company whose drugs for HIV and Hepatitis C are essential for the survival of so many people, Gilead, are estimated to have spent £200,000 on a trade stand at a recent pharmaceutical exhibition. (S does NOT work for Gilead.) Surely when you have a patent on some exclusive and life-saving drugs you don’t need to indulge in such ego-enhancing exercises?

According to an article in the Washington Post, “Most of this marketing money is directed at the physicians who do the prescribing, rather than consumers. …companies spent more than $3 billion a year marketing to consumers in the U.S. in 2012, but an estimated $24 billion marketing directly to health care professionals.” 11 Feb 2015 Washington Post

So those are pretty old figures, we can be certain the amounts spent have increased.

Here, just fyi and fya, is the expenditure of Glaxo Smith Klein up to 2017. Note: this is the advertising costs alone, not total marketing. (Marketing is “above the line”, i.e Advertising, and “below the line” i.e. everything else, so that’s exhibitions, mailings, internet-based, etc)

ANNUAL EXPENDITURE ON ADVERTISING GLAXO SMITH KLEIN 2011-2017 IN £MILLION

Source: Statista.com

Note the increase over the last three years. And yes, put the right amount of zeros on to that figure and it reads £1,351,000,000!

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

It is the absence or paucity of regulations that have allowed plc companies to exploit, cheat, misrepresent, in order to maximize profits for shareholders and thence, salaries and bonuses for the CEO and the Board. Because their products are life-saving and life-enhancing, they can charge anything they like for patented medicines. Is this blackmail and extortion?

Maybe public concerns and awareness have finally penetrated through to the Boardroom. The recently appointed new CEO of GSK, Emma Walmsley, has accepted a 10% lower salary than her predecessor.

So she is only paid only £1.23 million only. Aww diddums. We don’t know what her share options or bonus are.

(http://fortune.com/2017/03/15/glaxosmithkline-ceo-emma-walmsley-pay-package/)

Until Governments wake up to the way we are all being used as cash dispensers for the corporations and the mega-rich, and bring in some proper regulation, this situation will continue. I have addressed this in a previous blog, see

http://jonelkon.com/break-one-thing-fix-another/

Look: if these companies are busting a gut (ours. Consider what the poor sods who they use to trial their treatments get paid. If anything.) to fix cancer and Alzheimer’s and HIV, we must be extremely grateful. Thank you. Also, thank the governments and hospitals and universities who do so much of the research. But give us a break. You can still buy the odd yacht and Bentley (go on, destroy the Environment) and charge fair prices. Prices which truly reflect an ethic, a moral stance, a participation in a society aimed at bettering the health and environment for all of us.

I’m thinking of changing my name to Cassandra. No, I’m not changing gender. Read the Illiad. Or watch Troy. The Greeks are coming. Only they’re not bothering to hide in a wooden horse.

Breaking news: S has just called me. After a major effort from her consultant, her treatment has just been approved. Just in time! Had the approval not come in this week, she would have had to wait until the symptoms were again unbearable and start the whole regime again.

How to fix the world and profit on it

George Monbiot in the Guardian yesterday was as thought-provoking as always. This is the Green Warrior who supports nuclear power, so he’s no mere twig on the green tree. In today’s column, he was making the point that everything we are doing to “save the planet” is just wrong.

Look, he says: just replacing all the plastic cups in the world with biodegradable versions, say corn-starch based material, will have major environmental consequences. Land used for food will be allocated to this (as happens with biofuels), maize growing causes erosion, uses loads of water and is ultimately an environmental disaster. This is also happening with maize-based sweeteners, which invade all kinds of food as a fat-substitute and can be indicted as a major cause of the obesity crisis.

Fix one thing, break another.

He also rants  about fishing and fisheries: so much of the plastics in the ocean come from discarded fishing nets and fishing equipment. Prawn-fishing causes major damage to other species. Fish farming destroys natural habitats.

I have been a pescatarian for nearly three years. My meat-eating days ceased on the 12th of February 2016 when I attended a Jain wedding in Mumbai and was brainwashed. But fish, I thought, that’s ok.

Fix one thing, break another.

So many other examples exist. So perhaps despair and surrender are now the only options. Party until the end of time. That certainly seems to be what’s happening. Despite all the warnings from science that unless we rein in our orgy of consumption, this planet will be made uninhabitable for our species within 50 years. Party party party. Use! Consume! Fuck!

What’s Monbiot’s solution? Well he says (and it’s in the very last paragraph, only 3 lines or so) we have to make radical changes to the way our economy is set up. We have to challenge the corporations and the profit motive. Go, George!

It’s deeper than that George. Our governments, our corporations, our major institutions are run by people who should be in institutions. Researchers have revealed that around 25% of people suffer from PPD, Psychopathic Personality Disorder. These are the people most likely to be running things. These and those suffering from NPD, Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Trump being the best-known example of this syndrome.

Sufferers from these conditions have no empathy, though they may fake it. No compassion, though they may fake it. And their only concerns are their own self-glorification (NPD) and the manipulation of people to serve their interests. As I’ve said before, based on their theory that the world is divided into Predator and Prey.

Look: ALL NPD and PPD sufferers are not in charge. Some are, fortunately, in prison through having murdered people.

I think there’s a spectrum in both cases, say 1-10. Trump would be a 10. Boris Johnson an 8. Gove a 7. And most people have a trace of NPD, it’s called self-confidence. It’s only when allied with a lack of empathy that it becomes pathological and dangerous. And ends up with the planet being unable to sustain human life.

A FASCIST SOLUTION

Arrest the bastards! Apparently we can tell those likely to be suffering from either syndrome by doing a brain scan, and measuring the amygdala. It seems that most psychopaths and narcissists have a deformed or shrunken amygdala. “It seems” – research required.

Fix one thing, break another.

Are people who don’t have an absence of empathy or the preparedness to put their own, or their company’s interests first, as capable of efficiently running these companies or governments as the nutters who are running them now?

Well it’s either that or give up.

ANOTHER IDEA

Surely, it is not ultimately in the interests of the NPDPPD to destroy the planet? But then, does the virus realise that by replicating itself it destroys its host? Surely in their absurd and insane pursuit of Profit above all other concerns they realise they are breaking the economy – because people are getting themselves into stonking levels of debt to buy the shit their profit madness is generating? And ultimately the debt house of cards has to collapse, as it did in 2007/8?

Are they completely incapable of understanding the consequences of their actions?

Apparently.

IF ONLY

If only corporations would consider their list of stakeholders! And change the order of the list. At the moment it goes like this, in most big corporations.

1.  SHAREHOLDERS: Because, when there’s profit the share values go up and therefore
2. CEO and the BOARD get higher salaries, bonuses and wealth and their own shareholdings go up. More yachts! Houses! Jewellery! Sex! Glory!
3. FINANCIERS: Banks etc who must be kept sweet and continue to provide oil for the machine, so that profit is up.
4. SUPPLIERS/CREDITORS: who must be screwed at every opportunity to get their prices down, service up, and payment period as long as possible. So that profit is up.
5. CUSTOMERS: who must be lied to, screwed, sold lots of dreams, short-changed and short-served. So that profit is up.
6. EMPLOYEES: who must be screwed lied to paid as little as possible and sold all sorts of dreams to keep loyalty.

And so PROFIT is actually numbers 1-6 inclusive.

The alternative, the dream. Listen, why not try this:

1. EMPLOYEES: Well-paid, well-motivated employees with a stake in the profits of the company (making them the major SHAREHOLDERS will work hard and want to provide the best quality and value for the CUSTOMERS: who, receiving good products at a fair price will give their loyalty to the company’s goods, leading to good profit. To ensure timely delivery and loyalty of the SUPPLIERS pay them a fair price for good service and quality. This will please FINANCIERS who realise that a company providing an honest product at a fair price will have great customer loyalty and will be likely to be in business for a long time.
2. Which leaves the CEO and the BOARD. Well, if they don’t take 117 times the average salary in the business (but are paid sufficiently highly to motivate them), if they are voted in by the Employees every say four years, there will be efficiency, loyalty and hard work.
3. And the final and probably most important stakeholder, the ENVIRONMENT should become the key issue, taken into account by every corporation, which, before making any decision whatsoever needs to ask, but how will this affect the environment.

So that ENVIRONMENT becomes numbers 1 – 100, inclusive.

No one listens to me….what the hell…morituri te salutamus! My generation fucked it up, and I am proposing a small part of the solution. Not just me, the Co-operative party (Hello Gorprit) says much the same.

Unfortunately, NPDPPD do not agree. And they run the place.

What about you?

This is the lovely Bella, and this is her micro-mini business, on the corner of Town Hall Avenue and Chiswick High Road in leafy W4.

Or rather, it was. Because from last Monday, it wasn’t.

Not surprising!  Considering Hounslow Council’s lean mean Enforcement Team, in the person of Ken Jobsworth, the sort of Council employee who thinks the word “vehicle” is better than the word “car”, decided to persecute it to death.

I witnessed the first time Ken (not his name, though it should be) arrived, as I was sipping my coffee and chatting about My Film with Bella. This stick-shaped beaky man with a clipboard was watching us like an anorexic hawk, scrawling strange councilesque language with no doubt a sharpened talon on a form, clipped to his clipboard by a clip which looked exactly as if it had been stolen from a Moyel. (the chap who removes foreskins from innocent Jewish babies who have never, incidentally, done him any harm.)

The word incidentally will feature quite a bit in this Report by the way.

So here it is again: Incidentally, I have been speaking about My Film quite a lot in the environs of the Red Coffee Boxs (their chosen name for the business. The extra s causes endless problems with my spellchecker and is therefore resented). In the three or so weeks they have been running, quite an amazing group of people began to swarm around Bella. Initially it was the local sleaze balls. Let’s face it, Bella’s gorgeous. So you’d expect every local girl-botherer to crawl out of the woodwork to offer her every damn incentive to go home with them, from promises of baby-sitting work to free trips on non-existent yachts. Eventually of course they realised that she’s more than capable of giving them a swift testicle-removing kick and they stopped bothering her.

Once the sleazes surrendered and faded away, the various creatives who live in this delightful village-like part of London began to gather. On one occasion I found myself sitting at the table with FOUR film makers, each at a different stage of their respective projects. Some films certainly seemed to be about to happen – but isn’t that always the case with most cinematic projects? And we had great fun pitching our ideas to each-other, while the wonderful Bella kept the local homeless man away by being kind.

I have met authors, journalists, all sorts of lovely people. And the difference between the Red Coffee Boxs and the cafe across the road is everyone talks! No hiding behind the ubiquitous (possibly dirty) Mac, or eyeing an iPhone as if, with sufficient interrogation it could yield pots of gold or the meaning of life. And everyone is so interesting! I mean everyone IS interesting, but when they have Apple brains it’s impossible for any sharing that’s not online to happen.

Except under that red parasol, on Turnham Green, with an excellent coffee and good company.

Truly amazing. Quite a few homeless men come for a chat and to cadge coffee. They are all treated with kindness and respect. Everyone is treated with kindness and respect. Even me.

So all was well until the Ken arrived. This is him serving his first “Notice”.

Incidentally I’ve deliberately chosen a blurry photo because I don’t want to identify him. Within the context of his job he was perfectly gentlemanly, if intensely jobsworth

Extremely painstakingly and in very vehicular language, he explained the Notice he was serving. It would seem, (translating here) that the business’ licence does allow them to serve coffee. However, only within the confines of the actual phone box. In other words, if both Barrista and customer are actually inside the phone box, that’s fine. He was therefore charging her with obstructing the highway. Sorry, that should read (nasally)  “Obstructing the Highway in such a way as to cause an Obstruction not merely to vehicular access but also to legitimate pedestrian traffic”

Huh?

£150.

“And I can be here any day and any time to ascertain whether you continue to trade and obstruct the highway. And I will.”

And he was.

When the fine bill reached £600 the phone box was shut and ceased trading. The business owner is now submitting another application (the third) and we’ll see if the Council will honour their commitment to encouraging small business or whether the culture of jobsworthiness and vehicular language, which has certainly contributed (along with the internet) to the slaughter of retail in the High Street will win out.

Incidentally (!) YOU CAN HELP: We started a petition on getwestlondon.com which I have to admit I find horribly difficult to find on their site ( You might find it at the very bottom of this page: https://www.inyourarea.co.uk/feed/W44EU/Gunnersbury,Chiswick,Bedford%20Park

But if not, you’re a big boy/girl/person of another gender and should be able to find it!

Save the Red Coffee Boxs!

Legalisation Part 3: Who, you?

I promised you that I would search out some Californian dope smokers  if I can find them! I have hunted high (sic) and low. I went to that Grateful Dead tribute concert and could only find two. I have searched Hillcrest, North Park, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach and environs and have found very few public smokers. So contrary to the dire predictions, legalisation has not resulted in an invasion of public spaces by legions of grubby pot smokers, emerging from the sewers like a plague of rats, waving bongs in the faces of old ladies, shoving joints between the lips of babies. (21 is the legal age for buying and smoking anyway). Perhaps there are more to be found in the drawing rooms of La Jolla in smoking jackets, having the odd Vape as they discuss Proust and the iniquities of the Trump.

So there’s only one thing to do: go to Seattle. O.k, I know this series is supposed to be about California and the effects of legalisation, and I have only discovered one: there are very few public smokers. Seattle, on the other hand, is in Washington State, where cannabis has been legal for recreational use since 2012. I will report from the smoke-filled state there in my next blog.

Meanwhile, let’s look at the stats.

There are few reliable sources for good data. By the very nature of the users, they can be a secretive lot even in states with legalisation. Various pro-pot organisations have produced reports: one of the most interesting is this one:

https://www.cannabisconsumer.org/uploads/9/7/9/6/97962014/cannabis_consumer_demographics_and_behavior.pdf

CLASS and CANNABIS

For those who can’t be bothered to read what looks like a rather academic piece, I’m nice, so I’ll sum up the main findings.

There certainly seem to be many middle-class smokers, in the age group 21 – 35, according to the Cannabis Consumers Coalition in this Report, drawn up a year before California legalisation. Fascinating reading, but bear in mind there is bound to be a pro-cannabis slant. Also, sample sizes were small and there is likely to be bias owing to self-selection of respondents through requests on social media.

Hm! And as for the rest, baby boomers are certainly well invested in using cannabis for its medical properties, and many studies suggest this group’s use of cannabis in general is rising exponentially. Edibles represent a growing proportion of use in the forms of candies, cakes, etc.

The Report states that “What is significant is that a combined 32.52% of adults 45 years or older consume Cannabis. This signifies that Cannabis consumers are professional adults.” Teachers, then! Doctors? Lawyers? CEOs? Trump?

“Just over a quarter of Cannabis consumers, have combined incomes of over $75,000, showing that cannabis consumers are professionals from all walks of life and not the stereotypical “couch potatoes” depicted in the media and in anti-Cannabis campaigns.” Oh. Not teachers then. Over $75k indeed. Which leaves politicians, doctors and Auntie Beryl (she has er own nail bar and I’ve always suspected her of deep involvement in criminality.)