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Snakes

Daily writing prompt

What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?

Scary? That’s the moment when Indiana Jones is sealed into a tomb full of snakes. A young Harrison Ford, as Indiana Jones finds himself face to face with his worst nightmare[1]. 100% that would be me. If asked to step into a room full of hissing snakes, I’d run to the furthest hills.

Now, here in the UK, Channel 4 are airing a series called The Fear Clinic[2]. It makes great watching. If you have a strong phobia, you are not alone. Rats, mice or small dogs, I can understand. For me, those don’t kick-off a fear response, but I can understand.

The approach taken by the Amsterdam clinic in the TV series is to “encourage” their clients to face their worst fears. That’s supposed to trigger a cure that lasts. For some people that does seem to be the positive result. I guess we are not shown any destructively negative results of clients confronting their worst nightmares.

If asked to enter a room filled with slithering snakes, I’d be shouting “help” very loudly indeed. Luckly, since I have no need to encounter lots of snakes, I have no need to find a cure for my fully rational fear. The last time there was a snake looking at me, he/she was sitting behind solid glass[3]. Sitting on a tree branch not the least bit concerned about me standing there feeling uncomfortable. Safely I passed by trying not to make eye contact.

Since we are now entering the Year of the Snake, I ought to be careful.

[1] INDIANA JONES: RAIDERS OF THE ARK – The Well of Souls

[2] https://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-fear-clinic-face-your-phobia

[3] https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g190745-d1575308-Reviews-The_Living_Rainforest-Newbury_Berkshire_England.html

Economic Growth in Post-Brexit UK: A Call to Action

I do remember when there was a British newspaper called The Daily Telegraph. It represented establishment views. Was rather stuffy and what you might expect a certain type of middle-class accountant or lawyer to be reading on their commute to work.

It has become a pamphlet for the alt-right, supporters of oligarchies and whacky think-tanks pumped full of money from climate change deniers and overseas sources.

The sort of right-thinking people who gifted us with Liz Truss as Prime Minister. I shouldn’t be so dismissive because as recent history has shown these daily publications still have influence.

Now, Labour’s Chancellor of the Exchequer is shouting growth, growth, growth from the rafters. Not that her cry is an entirely bad one, it’s just that she is saying this with mufflers on her ears.

The Chancellor is right that the most important issue of the moment is the economy. There are a lot of people pointing out that a quick way to improve the UK’s economic situation is to knock down the barriers we have erected with mainland Europe. Next door is a huge market for our products and services.

Labour was telling us to believe in Brexit and that they could make it work. Most people know that this was last year’s meaningless words spread about before an election. Polling now shows that most people favour closer ties with our neighbours[1].

In some senses there’s little change. People are more likely to see the Lib Dems as anti-Brexit and the Conservatives as pro-Brexit. They remain unsure about Labour’s position. So, when the call goes out from the Lib Dems for closer economic ties with the European Union (EU) a whole host of predicable nonsense is said and published in newspapers like The Daily Telegraph.

Labour’s dithering makes the possibility of growth, growth, growth seem as unreliable as their protestations of love for Brexit before last year’s election.

The direction of travel is mighty obvious. Brexit has failed. Corrective action is long overdue. Forward thinking politicians really need to step-up and fight for a prosperous and economically successful Europe. One that includes us.

Labour has this term of government to make its mark. If it doesn’t then the possibility of extreme political elements getting a foothold in the UK are significant. Dithering for 5-years will be the biggest mistake after that of 2016. Corrective action may have a political cost in the immediate short-term, but the long-term benefits are there for all to see.

[1] https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/how-the-government-is-handling-the-issue-of-brexit-in-the-uk

Hot tin roof

At Christmas, conversations across the dinner table flow in all sorts of different directions. Once or twice, they do evoke memories that resonate. Days in the 1960s and 70s that are half remembered and maybe embellished.

It’s a steel three-bay Dutch Barn that brings us together. This old barn still stands but is more than likely riddled with rust and decay. It no longer does what it did during my childhood. That is holding hundreds of hay bales.

One of the regular farm duties was to give the barn a complete coating of “red oxide” paint. That’s the galvanised roof structure and not the tall steel columns that kept everything in place.

Up to the 1970s, lead was added to some red oxide paints. On refection, hours spent spreading this gloopy liquid about the corrugated barn roof was probably hazardous. The consolation being that this painting job was done on a completely exposed roof. That’s about as open air a job as any painting job can get. I remember the paint dried very quickly. That could be annoying.

The barn ran roughly East – West, with the lean-to section being exposed to the full force of any wind from the North. Getting up on the barn roof was easy. One side of the barn had a full-length lean-to section. It didn’t take much of a ladder to climb onto the lower part of the lean-to roof. The slope was steep enough to require a degree of care but the bolts that held the galvanised sheets in place helped add some grip for our boots.

My childhood experiments were ridiculous. They made eminent sense that the time. One involved making a parachute out of used black polyethene hay rick covering and baler twine and testing it by jumping off the barn lean-to roof. Remarkably this never resulted in any broken bones. I can only think that was down to the soft, muddy grass that I landed on. More mud than grass a lot of the time.

A completely different story is about filling the hay barn. Doing what it was designed to do. That’s store hay bales for the winter. Now, imagine the middle of summer. Blazing sunshine. A hot tin roof and the awkward spaces under it. Dry air, dust and noise everywhere. Working to self-imposed deadlines to get the hay in before the weather changed.

Today, mechanisation has taken the shear drudgery out of the annual ritual of haymaking. Most of the work is done sitting on a tractor. That might even be air-conditioned.

Let’s say, I’m talking about 1975, or a year either side. My dad, brother and I would be staking the hay bales in the barn. My mum would be on a loaded trailer putting the bales on an elevator. One by one. For the first five or six layers of hay bales we’d have an open space to work in. My brother and I would compete by showing off how far we could throw the bales as they came off the elevator. As we went up, layer by layer so the job got tougher and tougher. There was less space to work in. The heat and dust became almost overpowered.

Those are the moments I remember. Sweating like no sauna can make anyone sweat. As each hay bale came up, we’d have to think more carefully about where to put it. Stooped as we were compressed against the barn roof. That’s when our thoughts were to get the job done as quickly as possible. In these intense conditions, the thought of only having to do this job once a year and prospect of ice cream were just about enough to get us through.

+/- leadership

Daily writing prompt

What makes a good leader?

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I’m past expecting “good”. There’re a million management books that pamper the art of perfection. Buy another book on management and the keys to success are assured. Like hell they are. There’s certainly more than enough advice about what makes a good leader.

Why don’t we focus on being a normal human leader? Let’s just say that we are all flawed. It’s embedded in Christianity with the biblical phrase – let’s he who is without sin throw the first stone. A great imperative but easily ignored by a bad leader.

I’d say a good leader is one that doesn’t consciously act as a bad leader. What do I mean? Here’s a snippet of the worst of the most mediocre managers I’ve worked for over the decades.

A traitor. A head who will have a group hug to agree a line on a difficult subject before going into an important meeting. Then as the meeting progresses poorly, throws his team members under the bus to save his own skin. When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

A showman. A polished head who drips with confidence and hutzpah. Says and does anything that raises their profile above any of his team. Always takes credit when things go well. Always in the picture. Ready for a quote. Rarely wavers or sees any damage done.

An emperor. An attractive head who initially engages and embraces his team members. Has a strong intellect. Learns all he can of their ideas and experiences. Uses that knowledge to his own advantage. Then demotes or discards or rides rough shod over his former colleagues.

A good leader maybe flawed. But “good” does not pursues the three above. Now, let’s turn to a positive reflection. Here’s three categories to look for.

A mentor. When you meet a head and your first thought is – I want to be like them. I want to know what they know. That’s the time when “good” becomes real. Here’s a learning opportunity to be grabbed with both hands.

A motivator. There are heads who walk into a room and the whole atmosphere changes. They stand at a podium and with a few words change the agenda. Never dull and predicable. They tackle the gritty questions of why and how.

A doer. That head who doesn’t just spout fine words. Through their reputation and list of achievements they show that positive change can happen. They can lead a team to achieve more than the sum of the parts.

Turn the clock back

Daily writing prompt

If you could un-invent something, what would it be?

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Innovation is much of a byword. Climate crisis, feeding the world, ending wars, curing disease, creating endless energy, conquering space – they can all be done if someone, somewhere, just invents something smart right now. We are greater believers in the power of “invention” than we have ever been. Doesn’t matter if sitting on the right or left of politics.

Invention and discovery are not the same. Discovery is to uncover something we had not known or understood before. However, that something was always there waiting to be discovered.

Invention is for makers and dreamers. A contraption, a connection, a way of doing business, a machine or a crazy idea. Invention has a huge spectrum. I’ve never been to the Heath Robinson Museum[1]. Now, I mean to go.

To un-invent presupposes that it can be done. It has been done in the past. The classical world benefited from inventions that were lost in the dark ages. Later to be rediscovered.

Genuinely to uninvent is hard. Human imagination, with so many people on the planet, mitigates against it. Uninventing may be a short-lived move.

My view is that it would be best to try to un-invent a damaging idea or process. For example, let’s uninvent slavery or subjugation.

[1] https://www.heathrobinsonmuseum.org/

Classic Sports Car’s Legacy

I had two of them. It was a basic sports car that last came off the production line at the end of 1979. About 45 years-ago in Oxfordshire, England. The MG Midget was much loved.

The “Frogeye” Sprite came first. Then this small sports car went through several evolutions. Ending with the 1500 version[1]. Some say the 1500 version was the worst. I’d say that it had its ideocracies but remained great fun to own and drive. The heavy rubber bumpers were added to meet US market safety requirements. The extra power of the Triumph 1500 engine compensated to some extent, but they were a style disaster. On the positive side, whenever parked, those slab like matt black rubber bumpers, front and back, doubled up as seats.

It’s something in common with most roadgoing cars of the past. The MG Midget was considerably smaller than most cars being driven in 2025. Strange that the roads themselves haven’t changed as much as the cars of the day.

The lanes of Somerset and Dorset wind through the countryside in a pattern that makes little sense unless you study either the size and shape of ancient field systems or the Romans. The contrast is great. Twisting cart tracks that became tarmacked roads or straight lines that were forced onto the landscape in a point-to-point style. The lesser of them hasn’t had a great deal of attention. Thank God, you might say. There are still lanes that link small hamlets and farms that have grass growing down their middle. Overhanging dense hedges on either side.

Those were the roads that gave the most joy of driving my MG sports car. Not at any great speed. Open top with the summer sunshine through the trees and a breeze, what could be better?

Fine, caution is, and was, needed where fresh mud and tractors conspired to add some hazards. Visibility restricted and deep ditches or dirt banks added a few more. I did once come to grief because of farmyard mud. One of those places where the farmyard and the lane were indistinguishable. A herd of cows being paraded up and down the lane every day.

Sadly, my jet black “V” registration MG Midget sat in my garage for many years. Plans to get welding done and tidy-up the soft top never came to anything. I sold it. I can say: I wish I’d kept it. Trouble is that nice wish was never going to be realised.

Now, I live just down the road from Abingdon where all the MG sports cars were made. I do mean to explore the town as the weather improves.

[1] https://www.mgcc.co.uk/midget-register/midget-register/history/

Don’t panic

If you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?

Don’t panic. It’s difficult to better the great Douglas Adam’s words. They seem even more pertinent in 2025 than ever. In essence if you think life is wacky now just wait until you get around the next corner. So, save your energy.

POST: if ever there was a day for these two words then it’s 20th January 2025. Reputedly the most depressing day of the year

A35

Daily writing prompt

What makes you feel nostalgic?

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Call me a motorhead if you like. It’s the cars and bikes of my youth. I suppose they are associated with good memories. It’s the freedom of the road. In the 1970s-80s that was still a freedom. Summer jams hadn’t crushed the spirt of motoring.

It’s nice to hark back to the analogue era. Long before digital engine controllers made engines practically untouchable. Looking at the basic BMC “A” series engine. Everything was fixable. No degree in engineering required. A 15-year-old could do it.

Now, the Austin A35 van has been elevated to the hall of fame. Without it how would Wallace and Gromit[1] ever foil their nemesis? It’s iconic shape is unmistakable.

The van we owned as a field car had a former life as a chicken shed. Some friends and I bought it from a schoolteacher who’d put it back together. We raced it around the open fields. The rugged little engine held-up long before the bodywork fell apart.

Shame we didn’t see the value in it. 50-years on they are much valued[2]. But I don’t think I’d spend ten grand on one.

[1] https://www.wallaceandgromit.com/

[2] https://www.carandclassic.com/car/C1777209

World Shifting

A lot of wibble is written on the presumption that the older you get the more conservative you get. Whilst this may be true a number of people it’s by no means a rule. Meanwhile media moguls trade on this prehistoric assumption as much as they possibly can.

Even this simple question on politics is open to challenge. Every year the political landscape shifts. What might seem to be conservative a decade ago can now be painted as lefty liberal. So, do you and I change or does the world change around us? Naturally, both.

Again, put the British tabloids and social media aside. They run a shabby soap opera every day. All is not what it seems. Asked “Which political ideologies do Britons have a positive view of?[1]” the results are surprisingly refreshing. Top of the poll comes – environmentalism.

I guess, I am still a believer in the political “bell curve”. The great majority of people are neither tub thumping red necks or wishy-washy socialist spongers. Certainly, that’s what I’ve always found on the doorstep during elections. Valuing family, friends, community, work and having enough to live on without dreading the next bill, that’s a good start.

Yes, my views on a multitude of complex issues have changed but my values remain liberal. Live and let live. Do no harm (if you can avoid it). Encourage everyone to reach their potential. Look at the world with hope and not despair. Avoid gloom mongers.

And I still get a kick out of the story of the boy and the starfish. If you feel you can’t do anything to change the world and it’s all gets too much, think on these few words:

https://www.mcsuk.org/what-you-can-do/fun-learning/young-people/eco-anxiety-resources/starfish-story/

[1] https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/51086-which-political-ideologies-do-britons-have-a-positive-view-of

Focus

Daily writing prompt

You get to build your perfect space for reading and writing. What’s it like?

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No matter how warm and comfortable, it’s that predicable human factor that’s the difficult one to deal with. Yes, I can say I want natural light, countryside views, just the right temperature and humidity and only pleasant noises. This can all be easily upset.

Distractions are the big one. Love that moment in The Shining when Jack Nicholson sits at his typewriter. Even worse when we all find out what he was typing.

Luckily, my distractions are not that of a towering spooky mountainside hotel. They are social media, my coffee cup, a ring at the door, taking the bins out or some useless attention getting device that should have been switched off ages ago. Even writing these few sentences while I’m supposed to be writing a presentation.

Give me a private space with only a couple of nice distractions. Nothing that goes beep like my German washing machine.