November 2005 – Page 2 – 1000 Brussels

Watching Transportwatch

Dodgy stats merchants TransportWatch (previously discussed here) have been pulled up by the Advertising Standards Authority. In an adjudication on the adverts they placed in the Economist, the New Statesman and Private Eye the other week, the ASA says:

The Authority noted the claims in the advertisement were based on information collated from various studies of existing railway conversions and the advertisers’ projection of the potential benefits of converting railway lines into roads for express passenger coaches and goods vehicles in the UK, and especially London. It noted the advertisers’ comparisons between the safety, the financial cost and the environmental impact of road and rail made assumptions such as that all existing track and environs were capable of conversion to roads on which coaches could match or surpass trains for speed, whereas the complainants believed this would not be possible in all cases because of the variations of verges on some roads and because the coaches the advertisers advocated would have to travel at speeds that would not be attainable given the national speed limit. The Authority also noted the advertisers had included subsidies to national rail in their calculations for the cost of rail transport, but had not included the unavoidable cost of converting railways to roads in their claims for the financial benefits of road transport.

Or, to put it another way – “Dude, STFU”.

Meyer to Prescott: I will continue to be impartial, you stupid fat oaf

Sir Christopher Meyer continues to try and have his cake and eat it. In response to a letter from John Prescott calling for his resignation, (reported here), Meyer responds:

I am confident I can continue to do this job independently and impartially and effectively.

Well, that’s not quite the point, is it? There are several roles in life. One is a pull-no-punches whistleblower, revealing the foibles of the powerful from inside and damn the consequences. One is an impartial and fair-minded Establishment figure, leading a quasi-judicial organisation for the benefit of principled public debate.

You can be one, or the other, but you can’t be both. Meyer should go.

Triumph of the Will, real soon now

A disagreeable debate has flared up at the normally excellent Obsidian Wings. A contributor, Charles, sparked it off by blasting a Congressman who called for US withdrawal from Iraq, a ‘loser’ and a ‘defeatist’, and – essentially – blaming anyone on the left of the political spectrum for not having the balls to go through with the war.

There are two things that make me sad about this. The first is that anything even slightly tending to withdrawal (such as in-due-course replacement of US troops by a Muslim-led UN contingent) is shouted from the rooftops as sedition, treason, and possibly also a sin against the Holy Ghost.

Even more worrying is that the name-calling level of debate which is increasingly familiar in the US is contaminating even self-proclaimed moderate sites like OW. It’s a great shame – not just for politics, but even politeness – when we can’t hold ourselves to the same standard as a bunch of rowdy 17th-century barons:

Standing Order of the House of Lords 33 (1632): To prevent misunderstanding, and for avoiding of offensive speeches, when matters are debating, either in the House or at Committees, it is for honour sake thought fit, and so ordered, That all personal, sharp, or taxing speeches be forborn, and whosoever answereth another man’s speech shall apply his answer to the matter without wrong to the person.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

More on teh

I’m still intrigued by the internet slang word teh. Not being a gamer, it’s hard to see how it’s used more generally, but in the places I go, it’s turning from a typo via a joke into quite a useful word.

Wikipedia’s entry is not a great description, but shows some of the history. In terms of meaning, I think it’s an interesting intensifier, something like ‘the absolute’ or ‘the most’, but implying a sort of (sorry for being a poncey philosopher) Platonic form of the modified word, unifying the example with the concept itself.

For example, a MetaFilter post was deleted for being content-free and stroppy, and the moderator posted:

This post was deleted for the following reason: inflammatory one-link post to a house.gov page w/ extra handwaving = teh lame

See? Teh lame = the quintessence of lameness. Interesting, I thought.

(this post is teh sad).

Israeli elections in February or March

Elections on the horizon in Israel. The Washington Post gives a rundown of recent events and what happens next.

Truth or Consequences (NM)

Truth or Consequences, a town in New Mexico named after a gameshow, was the first, but not the last. ABC reports on towns that brand themselves for cash, or TV.

Brighton – Ashford direct

At last the Marshlink line is useful! Southern Railway start direct services from Brighton to Ashford International on 11 December, slicing 35 minutes off the journey time and allowing lots more direct journeys, including to Rye and Winchelsea.

What’s the capital of Burma? Nope, not that one.

The Guardian has a despatch from Pyinmana – the small town that has unexpectedly become the new capital of Burma/Myanmar. It’s conveniently situated 250 miles into the jungle, away from the former capital Rangoon/Yangon.

It’ll cost money and it won’t work – Darling’s upbeat message

The BBC reports that trials will take place of x-ray machines and body scanners at railway stations. This will slow up passengers and ensure that money is diverted away from services, while also providing no extra security (since not all stations can or will be covered).

Alastair Darling’s view: “You cannot have a completely closed system on the underground or the railways for instance – it just wouldn’t work.”

X-ray machines at stations = just wouldn’t work. You read it here second.

The grating self-righteousness of the bourgeoisie

Battered by the OFT’s claims of fee-fixing, the Independent Schools Council has come out whining. In a statement quoted at the BBC News website, their general secretary, Jonathan Shephard, managed to exhibit all the worst traits of the English middle classes, self-righteousness, special pleading and defensiveness.

His bleat was, more or less: the poor independent schools didn’t know the rules had changed, and it was all quite sensible, and no-one minded really, and surely laws were only for poor people to obey, and the OFT were being beastly cads who just didn’t understand how gentlemen behaved, and why don’t the OFT go and catch some real criminals rather than nice middle class people ~~doing 70 in a 30 zone~~ who just happen to be blatantly flouting anti-cartel laws.

Most extraordinary was his claim that:

“Schools have no motive to raise more money than they need. Any money raised from fees has to be spent on the children and the schools so any extra money might be spent on better food or another brick for the gym.”

Yes, or massively subsidised accommodation for teachers, new wallpaper for the Headmaster’s study, or perhaps a jaguar-fur lined jaccuzi for the staff room.

As I’m sure he and his colleagues have said to a thousand pupils: Stop snivelling, Shephard, and take it like a man.