Gustav: The Political Storm

Hurricane Gustav is approaching the southern US State of Louisiana. And my, are they making a fuss about it. New Orleans has been evacuated. The Mayor is calling it the “Storm of the Century” and the BBC have described it repeatedly as the “Mother of all Storms”. George Bush and Dick Cheney have both cancelled their speeches for today, trying to show that, unlike 3 years ago when Federal authorities made a complete mess out of things this time they are ready and prepared. Shame they still haven’t put right what needed to be done after Katrina hit…

Of course, today is the first day of the Republican Convention which has formed to nominate John McCain as George W Bush’s successor and to give him a political boost. That was a big ask after the success of last week’s Democratic Party convention when Barack Obama was lauded by 84,000 attendees, something McCain is struggling to match.

When you consider that the two main speeches of today would have come from George W Bush and Dick Cheney, it could be argued that ramping up the Hurricane was good politics.

Why? Apart from the ill-advised invasion of Iraq and the dire state of the US economy, the debacle of George Bush’s response to the Category Five Hurricane Katrina which caused over 1,800 deaths is yet another black mark on the reputation of the Republican Party they would love to remove.

So, hype up what is only a Category 2 storm into something more powerful than Katrina, have nothing untoward happen, and then claim they have “fixed all the problems from Katrina” while removing the speeches of Bush and Cheney, so as to distance McCain from them. At least, that’s their hope, I’m sure.

Last week, the Democrat’s really nailed McCain to the Bush mast. Not only was it disclosed that he voted with Bush 90% of the time, he also is now supporting policies he himself was previously against. So, the only change he is likely to offer – is away from those qualities his supporters supported him for.

So, was it right to hype Gustav so much? Well, I’ll leave that for you to decide. All I’ll say is that Hurricane Katrina was Category Five, Hurricane Gustav Category Two.

Why Nationalising Northern Rock is a bad idea

So, they’re going to Nationalise the failed Building Society come Bank, Northern Rock. Bad decision. Should have let it go bust. Why? Because of what Biology teaches us.

Evolution. Survival of the fittest. Those who take risks, or are unable to compete effectively and independently, die out. Those that do not take dangerous risks, those who are stronger survive. So it is with companies as it is with animals, plants, and other life-forms.

In the wild, if you make a mistake, you are punished for it. If stock market listed companies make a mistake they are also punished. So why are banks different?

Northern Rock started out as a Building Society. Its members decided, for a small windfall shareout of the reserves kept by for safety’s sake, to become a listed company, and received large numbers of shares for free. The board shared in the spoils with share option schemes that kept them taking risks in order to maximise profits – but therein lies the rub: there was only an incentive to take risks, there was little incentive to play it safe.

For years they took a risky approach to lending, and had run foul of the Trading Standards Office many times for playing fast and loose with their lending policies and business practices. They liked lending to iffy borrowers because of the higher nominal margins available to them. Everything was done to maximise profits – but that’s something a lot of companies can be accused of. The difference, and the decision to Nationalise Northern Rock by turning it into British Rock only reinforces this view, is that Banks will be bailed out by HM Government. I’d be surprised if the EU were not very cross at this idea though.

When non-banking companies lose enough money, they go bust or are taken over. They are not rescued by the government (except perhaps in France). This keeps executives in those companies in check, they do not take the highest risks, they look after their reserves, they do not gamble the company on the premise that the government will bail them out if everything turns sour.

This is good for those companies, good for the government, and good for the taxpayer.

So why are Banks any different? Well, their supporters (who often want to keep on making millions every year from the high and government underwritten risks they take) say that banks underpin the whole economy, that letting a single bank go will crash the system.

Well, they would say that, wouldn’t they? Anyway, the Northern Rock is not a pure bank along the lines of one of the main Clearing Banks, which are rather more important to the economy.

Northern Rock only underpins a few thousand mortgages and savings accounts. There are dozens of these small banks, and one less will make very little difference. After all, Building Societies have been merging for years without affecting the economy unduly. Many other lenders would gladly have taken over many of the NR’s mortgages, even the savings accounts, so customers would have been mostly unaffected. Except for their free shares which might become worth what they paid for them – nothing. But surely, isn’t that the risk they took when they voted to become shareholders?

Greed. It’s the undoing of so many. Beware of it in your own life: it has sharp teeth. Except if you are a bank, of course.

Political Assasination comes in many forms…

This must be the weirdest way to go…

Using the Apple iPod Nano and the Nike+ pedometer

I need exercise. Well, OK, we all need exercise, but not everyone needs it like I do. I’m medically obese (but only 1 Kg away from not being!) and a Type 2 diabetic. So exercise is more important to me as it helps me to control my blood sugar levels, reduce my weight, and fight diabetes.

My medical advisors suggested I need do half an hour of exercise three times per week. Anything that got my heart rate up would do, they said – even walking. Well, to begin with, walking was all I could manage! But I wanted to know how far I was going, and if it was possible to measure the calories I was burning too.

So I bought an iPod Nano and the Nike+ shoe attached pedometer. The idea of course is that I buy a special pair of Nike trainers that have a slot for the tiny Nike+ device to fit into. So I paid out about £80 for a pair of Nikes, the style of which I hated, and they didn’t fit very well either. But the shop only had two different styles of trainers, and this was the pair that suited me the most.

Now I like Nike – when I was an athlete all those years ago they were my shoe of choice. My favourites were a pair of Nike Elite racing flats which were light and very comfortable. Since then they seem to have become led by image rather than ergonomics though, because these new trainers were awful to wear. Not only that, but they were really shoddily made as well, with tatty stitching, roughly cut lace holes, and no sign at all that my £80 had really been needed to buy a shoe of such poor quality. I’ve seen £20 trainers that were better finished. I should have kept my money in my pocket.

I persevered with the shoes for a week, but then I found a really neat device called the iRun which is basically a pod for the Nike+ pedometer. It attaches nicely to the laces of my far more comfortable Reeboks, and performs exactly the same function as if it were in the Nike shoes. Except that I can walk further and faster with the Reeboks on because the Nikes are just too uncomfortable.

The shoes end of things wasn’t my only problem though. How do I attach the iPod to myself when I am out exercising? First of all I bought the Nike+ armband iPod holder. Well, that was a waste of money for starters: it wouldn’t even go around my arm! Even if I had managed it it is a huge piece of elasticated textile that is bound to make you sweat, and that brings me out in a rash so I prefer not to do that. Luckily the shop took it back, no questions asked.

Next I bought the Apple armband. Slightly better this time, thinner and at least it fitted – just – but now there was nowhere to plug in the radio pick-up for the signals from the Nike+ pedometer! The bottom of the holder totally blocked the port. Well, Apple, that was good design, wasn’t it? Another waste of money.

Then I found my solution. The XtremeMac TuffWrap Accent. It’s a silicone cover with a clip at the back which allows me to attach the iPod anywhere. It’s really useful – and I can plug in the pedometer receiver.

So how does the collection work in action? Faultlessly. I select Nike+iPod from my iPod’s menu, select the type of workout – Basic (pure measurement of what you do, nothing more); Time (which tells you when your exercise period is complete); Distance (so you can preset how far you go and stop when you have completed it); and Calories (where I believe you can set the amount of calories you want to burn and the iPod tells you when to stop exercising when you have reached that target).

So far I’ve only used Basic, because I don’t exercise in a gym and have landmarks, places and people to give me feedback which I prefer. I’ve had some great walks through the countryside, getting close to nature in its own backyard. That can be so motivating.

I can choose whether to listen to music or not, and if so, which playlist, random or ordered. At the end of each session I get a spoken overview of how far I went, my average speed, and can see on the screen how many calories I have burned. If I have done a record long or record fast session I get a voice over from either Paula Radcliffe or Lance Armstrong giving me a motivatory congratulation. That’s a nice touch.

Overall then I would say getting the iPod and Nike+ was a good decision, but buying the Nike products was not what I had expected them to be. Once upon a time Nike were the Apple of the training shoe industry, now they’re just trading on their name alone and aren’t really producing the goods anymore, from my experiences.

If you are thinking of buying the Nike+, just don’t think you need Nike trainers to use it. There are plenty of ways you can attach it to your favourite and most comfortable trainers. Wearing uncomfortable shoes is not good for diabetics so I am off Nike now.

There is a website which you can connect to and upload all your information to, but personally I would prefer to upload it to my Mac computer, but this seems impossible from what I have found so far. I am not going to add my personal data to any website though! No way!

Marks out of Ten for individual items:

Apple iPod Nano: 9/10
Nike+ pedometer: 9/10
Nike+ armband: 1/10
Nike trainers: 1/10
iRun pod fix: 9/10
Apple armband: 3/10
XtremeMac TuffWrap Accent: 8/10
Nike+ website idea: not for me!

Overall Mark for the system as a whole: 8/10

Four-legged duckling born in Hampshire

Not sure if he’s swapped his wings for an extra set of legs, but this little fella really does have four flippery feet! Apparently he also has “power naps” as his owner, Nicky Janaway, calls them.

Please, drop the “power” from nap – they’re just so opposite, not apposite!