Winter solstice

It's been a while since I had a few minutes of spare time to update this blog. This past semester has been incredibly busy, with little time to enjoy life's little pleasures. However, the upside has been the delight of working with so many wonderful people, who make going to work much less than a chore by which I earn my living. With quite a few now having completed their studies, it is a double-edged sword: on the one hand it is terrific to see young people whom I have grown fond of develop their skills and move on to the ext stage of their lives, on the other hand it is always tinged with sadness when people for whom you have developed some affection move on. The true measure of the bond which has developed between us will be the degree to which they stay in touch in future. And staying in touch has never been easier, especially with such social networks as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.


Here in London, where everyone is always obsessed with the weather, there has been even more to discuss with the excessive cold weather and transport-disrupting snow we have been experiencing since the start of December. It always amazes me that the country which invented the Industrial Revolution, forged a world-wide empire, and gave the world it's finest sports (especially Association Football) is unable to cope with snow. A few inches and the transport systems grind to a halt. While so many British will take the opportunity for a well-deserved, but sly, day off work, the huge numbers of people stranded at airports, Eurostar terminals and see-ports is surely unacceptable in the 21st century? The lack of information is reminiscent of what passed for "service" in the UK in the 1970s. With almost every traveller in possession of a smartphone, this seems all the more unacceptable. The pictures on TV and elsewhere of hundreds and thousands of people stuck in airport terminals is not what one would expect in a modern, well-functioning capitalist economy. Queues of this nature are surely much more part of the old third-world Moscow-dominated communist world?


There are some who have conjectured that the bad weather has been a plot by the British Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition government to cover up the bad news coming from Parliament. The immense cuts in government expenditure and the increases in taxation are surely no surprise, whether or not one agrees with them. However, some of the government's more radical proposals seem as ill thought out and rushed as those of the previous Labour government. For Labour's absurd ID card scheme the Con-Dems have given us a radical change in the way the NHS will be funded, putting the funds into the hands of GPs (most of whom appear not to want such responsibility). It seems that those elected to government wish to make their mark, whether or not it is in the interests of the people. Perhaps they should familiarise themselves with the oath taken by medical practitioners: first do no harm.


And finally, and perhaps most importantly, before we know it January will be upon us, and with it the football transfer window. Surely in these hard economic times (so we are told) there will be a real paucity of high profile marquee signings. After all, even many of the wealthiest and most successful clubs are in positions of (unsustainable?) debt. My own hope is for Spurs to strengthen their squad, first by releasing some of the players who are unlikely to see much play, even within a squad system, and then by signing players of note who will compete with the first-choice incumbents and raise the overall standard of play.


Let me wish you all the compliments of the season, and may 2011 be the year which sees us all enjoy health, happiness and a degree of fulfilment.