An intriguing remark overheard, with no supporting context, at tonight’s bash at Samizdata HQ:
“I was an immigrant chambermaid in Hotel Babylon”
That sounds fascinating!
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July 29th, 2006 | 8 comments - (Comments are closed)
 I suppose it had to happen. As global temperatures supposedly rise – and it is not difficult to accept that claim right now in my sweltering apartment – certain groups are playing the victim card by suing governments and other agents for causing global warming and hence hurting their livelihoods. July 27th, 2006 | 26 comments - (Comments are closed)
Silicon.com carries a story about one of Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs’ new IT projects. Apparently the “Aspire” project will come in at double the estimated 3 to 4 billion pounds. There is no hint of what the real-world functions of Aspire are supposed to be, but apparently this is part of the department’s attempt to cut the proportion of its costs that are IT below 20% at the same time as reducing its headcount by 12,500 (out of 90,000). Readers who are in business may wish to pause at this point and admire the insanity. Breath the heady aroma of that pompous project name. Note lightly in passing the apparently conflicting goals. Savour a budget for a re-tooling exercise (if that is what it is) of £40,000 a head. Stretch your generosity (it’s good for you) and see that mere billion variance in the estimate as a calculated ±15% derived from risk analysis, not cluelessness at all. Then marvel as the costs bust the error-bars by multiple-sigmas… A Titanic of a project! How unlucky could they be? So far so paradoxical. Business as usual for the government department that purports to oversee your every penny, and guarantees suffering if you can’t account for the office biscuit budget, or provide a full itinerary for a business trip taken five years ago. What’s sort of gobsmacking is this – the National Audit Office (NAO) finds things to praise:
I’m not sure I want to know what “re-competing” is. July 20th, 2006 | 5 comments - (Comments are closed)
– Tamara K July 6th, 2006 | 24 comments - (Comments are closed)
July 3rd, 2006 | 9 comments - (Comments are closed)
Like many folk, I get my fair share of free newspapers pushed through the letterbox. These publications live on advertising and in some cases are quite useful, full of details about local plumbers, plasterers, doctors, new restaurants and the like. In my central London neighbourhood of Pimlico, there are a few of these things floating around. I normally give them a cursory glance and either jot down any handy numbers or put the rag into the trash. The Pimlico and Belgravia Eye has this interesting ad which definitely caught my eye (not available online):
Pole dancing – now associated with ’empowerment’ and ‘professional career development’. Say what you like about we stuffy Brits – there is none of that stuffyiness in deepest Pimlico. Here is their, ahem, website. July 2nd, 2006 | 8 comments - (Comments are closed)
One of my hobbies is photographing landmarks, but in the course of doing this, I spot other less landmarky things, and snap them too. That was the origin of this photo:  It was taken in Harrow, which I visited not long ago, to photograph the new and I think magnificent Wembley football stadium. Click to see more clothing graphics. Very Samizdata, I hope you agree. Apart, maybe, from where it says John Lennon. June 18th, 2006 | 5 comments - (Comments are closed)
Ok, now this is both cool and a bit wierd. June 7th, 2006 | 14 comments - (Comments are closed)
Jim Henson banged out these rather bizarre commercials – featuring a murdering psychopathic Kermit The Frog lookalike and a Cookie Monsteresque grump – before sharpening his act up and creating The Muppets. See (a lot) more of the series here, and ponder why Wilkins Coffee is not a household name. (Hat tip – Larvatus Prodeo) June 4th, 2006 | 5 comments - (Comments are closed)
Chinese Taipai, or Taiwan, or the Republic of China; whatever you call it, you have to admit that the small electronic island has some of the best legislators in the world. Not because they are particularly wise or sensible, but rather, they are perhaps the best exponents of the ‘scrummage’ school of legislative thought. The proceedings of the Parliament there are frequently punctuated by brawls, biffs, and other exciting interruptions. And they have been at it again:
In Australia, although there is plenty of legislation going about, I fear it has almost zero nutritional value. However, I applaud Ms Wang Shu-Hui’s novel approach to legislation and I think it should be adopted in legislatures throughout the world. May 31st, 2006 | 10 comments - (Comments are closed)
A combination of perfect timing and extremely strong arms. Repect! May 29th, 2006 | 5 comments - (Comments are closed)
The FT’s The Way We Live Now column reports that David Blanchflower is to appear before the Treasury select committee, as he has been appointed to the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. I imagine he is up for it as an economist representative of the currently modish disguise of egalitarianism as a collectively-skewed hedonics. So does Maggi Urry, one suspects. She writes:
I am a little more cynical. At British tax rates, I note that is approximately $750 a time. If you cannot get really good sex for less than $750 without a series discount then your grasp of the market is quite questionable. May 24th, 2006 | 9 comments - (Comments are closed)
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