Some General Election Thoughts

With just a couple of weeks left to the General Election heres some non partisan thoughts round issues that have been talked  about.
One area the politicians having being talking about is homelessness and housing with a main difference between the emphasis on building home for first time buyers by the Conservatives and Building 100,000 homes to rent by Labour.
To me it shouldn't be a binary choice because we know there is insufficient new build  for the UK's population and at the same time there is  a shortage of affordable property to rent, especially of an acceptable standard.
A common problem with both proposals is there is a shortage of construction workers  which already is causing delays to developments and even a shortage of bricks so I don't feel labour's proposal is achievable  as it is and there would be issues with expanding privately owned property.
I think we need to revisit prefabricated housing such a that produced in Scandinavia   where the quality workmanship is built in at the factory being pre-plumbed and wired and is effectively assembled on site. which is quicker and doesn't require as many skilled hands that we don't have.
Labour are talking about Rent Control - limiting ("Capping") rents  which are very high in some areas but what concerns me is that the minute that is starts being put into effect, private landlords who invest in property for a reward will simply send the residents to the streets which happens even now if they feel they can get more from tenants.
To be at a point to even considers needs a rebalencing   of the private/public rental market and a long period of state investment which may take more than one parliament to get anywhere near.

The Environment is important and is a world wide issue which as an industralized nation we have and continue to add to but we do have a problem when it comes to building measures to minimize our impact into.
We are losing ground to housing developments that don't tie into transport networks  which means we lose trees, visual amenities and add more Co2 while allowing brownfield sites to lay dormant. This area is badly impacted by nondescript spawl as it is.
Building on such older used sites need to be competitive  financial as greenfield site.
The sorts of measures some advocate toward dealing with global emissions would have a major impact on peoples livelihoods and if such are necessary, people are going to need to assisted during that change and into new work.
Making people impoverished isn't any nicer for saying 'it's for the environment's good'  

Ours is a mainly urbanized country but even in inner cores high car ownership exists for reasons such as poor transport even in say Dudley, in the Black County due to poor bus services that make a fifteen minute car trip over an hour  with multiple connections, you can't get to Walsall by train without going on a round trip via Birmingham from Wolverhampton and it's no better across Greater Stoke on Trent as I know personally.
In order to reduce the impact of those car trips when comes to congestion and Co2 we need to make fast, efficient public transport a reality rather than in effect fining people making necessary journeys with congestion charging.
My area doesn't even a passenger transport transport executive so in effect bus and train companies make the decision about to provide  ignore social and other needs like getting people about when infrastructure remains stuck at a level that is Edwardian at best and pre Victorian at worst frequently jammed which makes public transport less reliable.
 

The end of an era

While I suck on my lolipop, this week the politicians have been visiting factories, playing with children and kissing babies while setting out their Manifestos the programs for what four years of whatever party is meant to look like and to which whole chunks usually get shredded my thoughts have been elsewhere not helped by being unwell for a fair bit of the week.
Thing is, this is usually the time of year where the last touches to the Community magazine are made before it goes of the the printers so there's normally there is a last minute scramble that this time would of included things like when our Christmas tree gets turned on, carolling and Christmas events including the school plays and so on.
This time it's pretty quiet because it was announced a few weeks ago that it was to fold as the person who had been editing it had been at it for twenty three years who I have known personally for at least twenty five and there's a lot stuff with it like chasing up content, making sure content is legal (nothing, say slanderous can go in print over here), sorting the page layouts and proof-reading to start with.
I've been involved from day one being wearing a boring groan up hat in a Community Association that identified a  big need being knowing what was going on especially if you didn't belong to several groups who might informal share such information that lead up to a group who got the newsletter started and had distributed it with others on foot religiously over that period come rain or snow.
It probably says a lot about me that I wobbled personally hanging on to walls several times to deliver while other non disabled people stayed in and drunk their coffee as it went through the letter box or using brownie like ingenuity to get them in where access to was poor but it was all done willingly for no financial reward.
They are supposed o be trying get space in the Parish Council's magazine but is quarterly so we'll have to see just how that pans out.
To me it just seems the end of an era.

The 90125 story

While the politicians are playing the anything you can do I can do bigger game I've been exploring an album I remember buying in late 1983 and have gone through a few versions of over the years

 Home surprisingly enough of two hits the rock disco Owner Of a Lonely Heart that I bought on 45 in November of 193 and It Can Happen from 1984 from a "progressive" rock group regarded as a spent force during the early 1980's that give birth to the supergroup Asia, it was a massive comeback from the dead.

 The last version I bought of it was this HDCD gold version from the sometimes good sometimes so-so Audio Fidelity label which while coming from the actual master tape sounded dull and too smoothed off for my tastes.

 This was the version I first bought, yes a Chrome tape that sounded marvellous and a far bit livelier from that 'audiophile' cd which was replaced by regular cd in the late 1980's .

 When cd's first came out supplies were scare and colour printing options for the disc tops were limited which lead to a colour scheme being set out  with on Warner Bros distributed titles a gun like Target cross hair design too.
That copy was the first European edition made before Warner Bros had their own cd pressing plants and was highly regarded.

During the transition as Warner Bros established a plant in the then West Germany some discs were made their from those original cd stampers which in practical terms means they are identical physically to their so-called target originals, just lacking that design and colour scheme.

That is the rear cover which like all early Warner Bros titles has a potted history of artist  hints at why it was selected for cd issue in those early days when few whole catalogues were available on the fledgling format.
 I recently acquired a near mint  copy as it is the earlier edition I prefer and really like the sound
 no doubt remaking to tape soon enough.

And they're off...

I guess if this thing is to covered and it's not as if we can escape it, then this happens to be the best place to put it.

 It was the first day proper when I typed this up but the horses are off on this epic battle that will reach it's conclusion by Ten PM on December 12 and so far we're making our way up foot in mouth alley toward our first set of key seat speeches by the various party leaders.
What it is that causes politicians to go off at interviews and the like to go well away from anything that really within their powers as politicians and make ill considered comments.
Having been in that game myself I am puzzled why anyone who knows just how the press and certain interest groups spin things out would consider commenting on such stuff a day before the General Election period is formally announced meaning various party spokesmen spend time having to explain all of that which takes them away from those issues each party wishes to talk about.
Then you start to get difference between a leader and key member such as Chuka Umunna M.P. challenging Jo Swinson, the Liberal Democrat leaders assertion the party will not form a future Government with the left wing Labour Party.
Plus you have candidates either de-selected for being caught saying unacceptable things or former M.P's calling on their supporters to vote for the other side!
Just five more weeks of this circus act to go.

Ghoulish round up

This week the Fall took hold here as this picture taken while out Sunday kind of shows which means were are moving to that period of Halloween Night, All Saint's Day and of course every childs delight, Guy Fawkes Night with things that go boom in the night.
That for me means getting this post done sharpish as I'm off with littles friends for our events that go Boom! today.
Of course in groan up world Halloween was supposed to be the day we left the European Union but that didn't happen although a Commons majority to agree in principal to leaving with an agreement exists but yet another extension has been agreed to January 28 although we can leave earlier IF we get it done.
We also are facing a General Election on Thursday December  12th so there will be a severe outbreak of Election Fever so if it bothers you just duck under the pillow fort and hang out with your stuffies but do vote! We do need a government with a majority.
In other news the long overdue Dire Straits double 45rpm vinyl reissues and the related Super Audio cds have finally emerged after a over three year wait although mine will have travel from the U.S. Distributor to the shop over here who has my order for the first few four studio albums.
That means it'll be a few weeks or so before they show up here.