Keith Wilson’s personal blog

Is Scotland sleepwalking towards independence?

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 09:15:46 +0000

Since the advent of Scottish devolution over ten years ago, I have been a keen observer of the debate over Scottish independence. Although I consider myself to be a Scot (I grew up in Fife and West Lothian), I have lived most of my adult life south of the border and so am in the interesting position of having been able to observe both the Scottish and English sides of this debate. On a recent trip to Scotland, I was struck by how far – and how fast – the national mood seems to be shifting towards independence. Although the majority of Scots are still content for Scotland to remain within the UK – at least for the time being, and with stronger powers for the Scottish parliament – increasing numbers seem to be rallying to the SNP’s cry for independence. In this piece, I have set out some of the reasons why I believe this to be the case, along with a few things that might be done to address it, although no doubt much of this will be controversial. I am, after all, a staunch opponent of Scottish independence, although I am very much in favour of increased autonomy for the country I still call home.

Many supporters of Scottish devolution (myself included) thought that the advent of a Scottish parliament might put an end to calls for independence by giving Scotland greater control over its own affairs. To some extent, this succeeded, but the parliament took some time to get going and was widely perceived to be ineffective and to some extent hamstrung by financial constraints imposed by the UK government in Westminster – a settlement known as the Barnett formula. In 2007, the SNP (or Scottish National Party, for those of you who don’t follow Scottish politics) came to power, taking over from Labour as the natural party of the left (Scotland being more socialist in its outlook than its small-‘c’ conservative neighbour to the south). Although lacking an overall majority in the Scottish parliament, the SNP have nevertheless pursued a relentlessly nationalistic agenda, using every opportunity to promote their flagship policy of Scottish independence. Even relatively small changes, such as renaming the Scottish Executive (the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland) the ‘Scottish government’, and campaigning for an independent ‘Scottish news’ on the BBC (much of the current national stories relate only to England, Wales and occasionally Northern Ireland) have been expressly designed to persuade the electorate of their country’s need and capacity to be governed independently from the rest of the UK.

One of the things I used to (and still do) find disturbing about the Scots is their tendency to vilify the English. Part of this is based upon genuine historical grievances, part upon anecdotal (and sometimes accurate) evidence about the social and political differences between the two countries, but much of it is, I am afraid to say, the result of bigotry and nationalistic fervour. The Scots are a proud race who (quite rightly) like to celebrate their prestigious heritage, part of which (rather less rightly) involves stereotyping and demonising the English who, in many cases – particularly in northern parts of England – have many of the same complaints and grievances against their government as do the Scots. I was hopeful that with the advent of independence, much of this resentment and negativity would be channeled into political resolve to take control of Scotland’s own destiny instead of merely blaming the English for everything that was wrong about the country, as many Scots have been doing for hundreds of years, and to some extent things did improve a little. Unfortunately, with the advent of SNP government, this progress seems to have reversed, and if anything the trend is now accelerating in the opposite direction.

Of course, Scotland may have genuine grievances against the Westminster parliament, part of which they themselves elect and which continues to control the purse strings (although the Scottish parliament does have the ability to raise or lower income tax by up to 3%), as well as many other aspects of government. What is disturbing is that, at every available opportunity, the SNP appears to seek confrontation with Westminster and then uses the resulting clash to promote their nationalist agenda, portraying London as overbearing, remote and antagonistic towards the Scottish agenda. This plays to the Scottish ego by confirming their worst fears (or convictions) about the English, which in turn results in increased antagonism towards Westminster and greater support for Scottish independence as the obvious alternative. “It’s not our fault!”, the SNP cry, “it’s the English that are holding us back! If only we were free of them then everything would be so much better!”

And therein lies the problem. It is far from clear that anything would be better. Even worse, the drive towards independence is being fuelled by nationalistic pride, antagonism, scapegoating and – to some extent at least – bigotry, rather than hard political, economic or cultural arguments. In many cases, the SNP’s objections to Westminster amount to little more than sabre rattling. In others, their rhetoric serves to obscure other more measured responses to the problem, such as increasing the Scottish parliament’s legislative and tax raising powers – proposals that were set out in detail by the recent Calman Commission on Scottish devolution, and which are supported by all of the other main political parties in Scotland.

My concern is that the debate on Scottish independence has been hijacked by nationalists who are prepared to pursue their goal of an independent Scotland at any cost, and on the basis of national pride and, to put it mildly, mistrust of the English, rather than as the result of rational arguments and analysis. This is, in my view, extremely dangerous and wrongheaded, and ill befitting of the nation that begat such luminary thinkers as Adam Smith, David Hume and James Clerk Maxwell. It sets the stage for Scotland sleepwalking into independence on the promise that “everything will be better”, and then waking up to the ugly reality that without the (some might say disproportionate) power and influence wielded by the UK government at both an EU and world level, Scotland may become a bit player, and no better – and quite possibly worse – off than if it were to remain part of the UK.

Far be it from me to claim that the good people of Scotland are being brainwashed into accepting independence against their interests – they are far too smart for that, although no doubt subject to much propaganda designed for exactly that purpose. Nor do I wish to claim that Scotland is incapable of self-governance, as there are many similarly sized countries that do very well due to their considerable talents and resources – two areas in which Scotland is naturally blessed, as a glance through this list will confirm. What I object to is both the means by and reasons for which the SNP are trying to bring this about.

You only need to look at what has happened in Iceland and the Republic of Ireland to see the dangers of being a small state in a globalised economy. The debts of RBS (an entity that was itself created as part of the Act of Union that established the UK) alone would have crippled the Scottish economy for years to come, just as Iceland has been crippled by the failure of its oversized banking sector. Unable to bail out its economy to the tune of billions of (Scottish?) pounds, an independent Scotland would have been forced to go begging cap in hand to the IMF, with all the political and economic consequences that this entails. There is no doubt that Scottish oil and gas reserves in the North Sea are a fraction of what they once were, and in any case, no guarantee that the Crown would hand them over to a Scottish state no questions asked. Speaking of which, such a state would need to establish its own sovereign or president (unless it opted to remain part of the Commonwealth on a similar basis to, say, Australia), not to mention the thorny problem of defence – national spending upon which Scotland gains from considerably.

Make no doubt about it, Scottish independence is a one-way street. Apart from being hugely costly and complex to establish, once created, an independent Scotland would be unable to rejoin the UK except by negotiating new terms of entry – terms that would no doubt be worse than the deal it currently receives. There simply is no ‘suck it and see’ option. Independence is a once in a generation decision for the nation to either throw in its lot with the rest of the UK, as it presently does, perhaps with stronger powers for its national parliament, or to go it alone.

One thing that may prove to be decisive in all of this is the possibility of a Conservative government at the next UK election. Having survived the Thatcher years, which were particularly harsh on Scotland (who can forget the poll tax, which came into force a year earlier in Scotland than it did in England?), and created a strong sense of injustice concerning the handling of North Sea oil revenues which persists to this day, the prospect of another Tory government in Westminster may simply be too much for many Scots to stomach. Their policy of swingeing cuts in public spending is unlikely to go down well in Scotland, and may prove to be the final straw that, combined with a renewed SNP government in Scotland, pushes the country towards independence. Independence would not only have enormous effects north of the border (for obvious reasons), it would irrevocably change the political make up of the UK, virtually guaranteeing Conservative rule for the foreseeable future due to the inevitable reduction in the overall number of Labour MPs (including many of the present cabinet!).

What then can be done to counter the SNP’s campaign of independence at all costs? First, the UK and Scottish governments need to implement the recommendations of the Calman Commission. This would ease many of the current tensions concerning the limitations of Scottish devolution, and crucially give Scotland greater control over raising and spending tax revenues. This would in turn expose many of the SNP’s arguments for what they are: shallow opportunism, since many of the barriers to what they claim to wish to achieve would be removed (though no doubt they would find others to take their place). But there are other less drastic measures that also need to be taken. Firstly, it is important that the positive case for Scotland remaining as part of the UK be made both north and south of the border. Too often this is portrayed in terms of maintaining the status quo – a phrase which tends to suggest English dominance and privilege – rather than putting forward the positive benefits that Scotland, along with the rest of the UK, derive from the union. Scots, as per any other nation, have a right to their own national and cultural identity, but – as I believe is also the case with respect to wider EU integration – the ties and values that bind us are very much stronger than those that divide. As a result, we are stronger and more prosperous as a union than any of our individual nations would be independently, and so sever them at our peril.

Many minor irritations and grievances also need to be addressed. Whilst none of these are individually responsible for persuading people of the need for independence, together they contribute towards the sense of injustice that fuels the nationalist agenda. Things like the BBC weather map, which presents a tilted view of the UK that is biased towards the south, may seem justified on grounds of population, but does an inhabitant of Scotland not have the exactly same need for accurate weather forecasts as someone living in London? Similarly, too many news stories relating to England are featured as national headlines (and are often not identified as such) leading to the erroneous belief that the BBC – and by extension, the establishment and the government – has little interest in Scottish affairs. All too often, the terms ‘British’ and ‘English’ are used as virtual synonyms, except in sporting achievement, where Scottish athletes are identified as ‘British’ when they win, but ‘Scottish’ when they lose (Andy Murray’s progress in international tennis being a case in point). These may seem like trivial complaints compared to the above political issues, but they are as much of an affront to Scottish national pride as the fact that whenever it wants to raise funds the Scottish government has to go begging to the UK treasury rather than being given the means, and the trust, to raise its own finances. All of this is grist to the nationalists’ mill and, I believe, will need to be addressed if the dream of an independent Scotland is not to turn into a nationalistic nightmare.

12 things you can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save the planet

Sat, 9 Jan 2010 07:34:01 +0000

The much hyped Earth Summit in Copenhagen last December was a major disappointment in terms of delivering comprehensive and binding commitments for tackling climate change—a problem that is one of the most serious (and quite possibly the most serious) issues that humanity has ever had to face. In the wake of widespread political failure to take decisive action to tackle this problem, the science of which is now relatively well established, what can we as individuals do to reduce our impact upon the environment? It is easy to feel powerless or overwhelmed in the face of such global issues, but there are things that you can to do reduce personal carbon emissions, and thereby reduce the likelihood (or severity) of dangerous climate change.

I have blogged on this topic before, but here are a some of my favourite energy saving tips that will help to reduce your carbon footprint without requiring any major changes in lifestyle (I plan to list some more demanding steps you can take in a future post). These simple actions will not only help you to save energy and reduce carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions, but will save you money and improve wellbeing too. What’s not to like?! Some (like no. 4) are common sense. Others (e.g. no. 6) are less obvious. Although these changes may seem minor or insignificant, together they can amount to significant savings, especially when you consider the combined effect of millions (billions?) of people all doing the same thing. The important thing is not to wait for others to act but to take responsibility for your own actions, and contribute in whatever ways you can towards finding global solutions to this locally generated problem. Even doing just a few of the following things on a regular basis will make a genuine contribution towards alleviating the problem of climate change. The effects might not be immediately apparent or obvious—especially in the depths of the coldest UK winter for a generation!—but they are there. It is only through patience, persistence and participation that we will solve this problem, and the solution requires everyone to play their part, so don’t put it off any longer. Go green today!

1. Switch to a renewable electricity supplier. Most energy companies offer a ‘green’ tariff that sources some or all of your electricity usage from renewable sources, such as wind or hydroelectric power. Whilst some are better than others, if enough people switch to these plans it will force energy companies to invest in additional clean energy production, as opposed to using carbon-based fuels such as oil and coal. If your electricity supplier doesn’t offer a suitable tariff, or if you find it too expensive, switching supplier is easy and can even be done online via the uSwitch web site which provides price comparison and tariff information. 
2. When boiling the kettle, always use the minimum amount of water required. Kettles, along with irons, ovens, heaters and hairdryers, use a surprising amount of energy (several thousand watts), and the water you save also helps to reduce emissions due to the energy used in pumping it to your tap and processing the resulting waste. 
3. Use energy efficient lightbulbs. Now that old style filament bulbs are banned in the EU, this is a no-brainer. But don’t wait for your existing bulbs to burn out. Replace them with energy saving ones. These only cost a few pounds and it will save you at least that much on your electricity bills. If, like me, your light fittings don’t support energy saving bulbs, buy some occasional or floor standing lamps that do and use those instead. 
4. Switch lights and appliances off when not in use. Get into the habit of switching the lights off whenever you leave a room, even if it’s only for a few minutes. Unplugging mains adapters that are not in use, and switching off the TV, stereo or computer when not in use, rather than using standby or ‘sleep’ mode, will also save energy. Standby power accounts for up to 15% of domestic usage and 1% of global carbon emissions—and that doesn’t include the energy wasted lighting rooms and offices with nobody in them! 
5. Make use of residual heat when cooking, and use a lid. When cooking on the hob, oven or under the grill, switch off the energy a few minutes before the food is ready, rather than waiting until it’s done. That way you make maximum use of the heat that’s already built up in the pan or heating element, which will continue to cook your food even after the power is off. Putting a lid on your saucepans also reduces the amount of heat that is lost or wasted, allowing you to cook more quickly on a lower setting. 
6. Eat less meat and dairy. OK, so a vegan diet isn’t to everyone’s taste, but did you know that methane from farm animals is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions? Eating less meat not only helps reduce these emissions, but it will improve your health, save you money, and frees up land that can be used to grow crops to feed many times more people than if it were used for grazing livestock. If you really can’t live without a portion of meat on your plate at every mealtime, try substituting a healthier alternative such as fish, soya or Quorn—they’re not as bad as they sound! 
7. Line the walls behind your radiators with tinfoil to reduce heat loss. By reflecting lost heat back into the room, this simple tip both saves energy and will help you to keep your house cosy and warm in those chilly winter months. 
8. Reduce the temperature of your water boiler. Everyone knows that they can save energy by reducing the temperature of their central heating or room thermostat, but did you ever think of how much energy you could save heating water? If you have an old-style immersion heater (i.e. hot water tank), you can set the maximum temperature of the water on the boiler—60ºC should be plenty—and you adjust the timer to make sure it only comes on when you need it, e.g. for a couple of hours overnight. For modern ‘combi’-style boilers that heat on demand, set the temperature just above the level required for a hot shower or washing the dishes using only the hot water tap. Otherwise you are paying to heat water that you then cool down again by adding more cold water—pretty stupid, right? 
9. Wash clothes at 30ºC. As the adverts keep telling us, modern laundry detergents are effective at lower temperatures, so there is no need to wash clothes at 40ºC or even 60ºC (unless you need to sterilise them for health reasons; e.g. nappies). Similarly, avoid using the tumble drier for everyday drying as the same effect can be achieved with zero energy use by simply hanging them out to dry, or indoors on a clothes horse. 
10. Keep your fridge and/or freezer well stocked and defrost it regularly. Refrigerating food takes a lot of energy, and much of this is lost every time you open the fridge or freezer door. By keeping your fridge well stocked, you reduce the amount of warm air that enters, thus reducing the amount of energy required to chill it again when you close the door. You can achieve a similar effect by using empty boxes or containers to fill up the space, although these need to be sealed rather than open for obvious reasons. A freezer, or freezer compartment, that is choked with ice also uses a lot more energy than one that has been defrosted since the ice reduces the efficiency of the cooling element. This is a job that just gets worse the longer you leave it, so try to defrost once every few months before the ice builds up. 
11. Recycle. As a bare minimum, you should try to recycle paper, cardboard, glass, metal and plastic containers, which can be saved in separate bags or bins for collection by your local council. If you live in an area that doesn’t have a regular kerbside collection, you can take these to your local supermarket or recycling centre instead, along with any worn out batteries and/or electrical appliances, which they will dispose of safely and for free. 
12. Share a bath or shower. My personal favourite. If you live with a partner (or close friend who is very uninhibited!), why bath or shower separately when you can share? It’s much more fun, and you can relax in the knowledge that the energy and water you’ve saved by sharing a bath or shower even just once a week is contributing towards saving the planet. Whoever said environmentalism should be boring? ;)

I guarantee that by following some or all of these tips, you will be able to cut your energy bills by at least 10%, and for many people it will be considerably more than that. Considering that the average annual UK household energy bill is over £1,000, that’s more than a £100 a year saving! More importantly, you’ll be doing your bit for the environment which, given how little effort it takes to do the above, seems like a small price to pay for safeguarding the future of the planet for our and future generations. Go on, you know it makes sense!

The saga continues...

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 18:26:01 +0000

I wrote in a previous blog entry that my landlord had kindly agreed to let myself and Heike out of our six month contract due to problems with the flat that eventually led to us moving out. Whilst this is true, it seems that there was rather less kindness involved than we had imagined, since no sooner had we moved out than he started demanding that we pay an extra £360 or he would take us to court for the full six months rent, including bills, even though we no longer live there and he had previously agreed to let us out of the contract early without any deductions from our deposit.

Now, two months on after an serious falling out and exchange of letters, we are still trying to recover our initial £750 deposit and the landlord is claiming that we owe him nearly twice this amount (i.e. the original deposit plus an additional £720). The dispute has since been passed on to The Dispute Service, which is an independent body that is supposed to arbitrate such disagreements, and we hope to receive their final decision in about a month’s time. If the decision goes our way then this should pretty much put an end to the issue, although there is nothing to stop the landlord from trying his luck in the small claims court, in which case things could be drawn out for another few months while we go through the legal process.

Apart from the initial shock and amazement that the landlord could be so two-faced and vindictive (he phoned up and starting ranting and raving at me, and again in person when I met him to hand over the keys), the whole episode has been very stressful and time consuming—not to mention the financial aspect. Of course, the final outcome will depend not just upon what was agreed, but what we can give evidence or proof of in writing. Fortunately, we retained copies of all the e-mails and letters that were exchanged with the agent and landlord around the time the agreement was made, and it is pretty clear from this that the landlord has been inconsistent in his demands and is now trying to change his story. I can’t say much more until the matter is resolved, but I hope that it will at least be clear to the independent case examiner (and/or judge if it comes to that) that we did everything that was asked of us by the landlord and agent only to be told that he was then changing the terms of the agreement three days after we had already moved out. I’m no legal expert, but this sort of behaviour is totally ridiculous and unfair, so we should stand at least a chance of getting our money back.

On the plus side, the new place is working out great. It’s warm and dry—unlike the old one, which never got above 15ºC, even with the heating on all day, and was riddled with damp—and we have a nice garden for Heike to potter around in, and a spare room where I can work without disturbance. We even have two bathrooms (one en suite and the other with a toilet and shower) which will be great when we have guests over to stay, as well as being useful for when Heike is getting ready for work at some ungodly hour and I’m still lazing in bed! All in all, I’m very glad that we moved out when we did, although if I had had any idea what kind of a stunt the landlord would try to pull we would have toughed it out for another couple of months before moving out with our full deposit (although no doubt he would have found some lame excuse for trying to keep part of it even then).

I guess the moral of this story is (a) don’t move into somewhere on the promise that additional work being carried out unless you have full confidence in the landlord and agent’s ability to deliver (in this case we had some concerns about them from the start, but that’s another story), and (b) don’t agree to anything without getting all the details down in writing, preferably with signatures from both parties to demonstrate consent. No matter how things might seem at the time, there is always the possibility that the other party might change their mind or fail to honour their side of the bargain, in which case it will be very helpful to have everything in writing should you have to take the matter further. Until now, I’ve always thought of justice as a fairly abstract concept, but when it affects you personally, it suddenly seems very real. As a result, I’m determined to hold the landlord to account, regardless of what he’s now trying to claim or how far we have to take it. Let’s see what happens.

New Year in Prague

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 09:40:58 +0000

Instead of buying each another Christmas presents this year, Heike and I decided to spend a few days in Prague for the New Year. You can see some of the pictures we took here.

We arrived in Prague by train from Leipzig in Germany, where we had been staying with Heike’s parents over Christmas. The amazingly over-the-top art deco Hotel Evropa where we were staying, although not exactly luxurious, gave us a good base from which to explore the city. The architecture and history of Prague is quite amazing, and we were able to find plenty to do. The highlights were probably a visit to Prague cathedral, which is part of the castle complex and contains some of the most beautiful stained glass windows I’d ever seen, the fireworks display on New Year’s Day (they hold it at 6pm on the 1st of January rather than midnight on the 31st December so that children can attend), and the Franz Kafka museum, which gave a spooky and surreal trip into the psyche of the famous Czech author (even though he wrote all his works in German, and was censored for many years during the period of communist rule). We also discovered several Outside the museum is a very amusing sculpture of two men peeing into a Czech Republic-shaped pool. (The funny part was that trace out the text of famous Czech literary works with their piss, and you can even send them text messages, which they will spell out instead!)

We weren’t quite prepared for just how commercialised Prague was. It seemed that every street corner, shop and courtyard was dedicated to the purpose of extracting as many tourist dollars as possible, a lot of it on absolute tat, which somewhat detracted from the Bohemian charm of the place. That said, the atmosphere in the cafés, bars and restaurants was just how I’d imagined, and very conducive to thinking about art, politics and philosophy. (A friend of mine who’d visited there recently said he finds it a good place for having philosophical thoughts, which I can understand completely now having been there.)

Another thing we weren’t at all prepared for is how mad the Czechs are about (or with) fireworks. Not only was everyone and his brother letting the things off left right and centre, many of them were exploding right in the middle of the crowd, or in public streets, which made it feel more like a war zone than a Hogmanay celebration! Nowhere was this more apparent than in Wenceslas (he of Good-King fame, although apparently he was only a duke and not a king as the famous Christmas carol would have us believe) Square where our hotel was located, although thankfully we managed to sustain any direct hits, the likes of which dozens of ambulances were standing by for. (I kid you not.)

All in all it was a good break and a nice place to spend a few days, although I do wish that I’d managed to go there some time ago before the place became so commercialised. If you’re thinking of paying a visit, I’d recommend avoiding the busiest times of the year, as Prague is at its nicest when it’s quiet, as it was early on New Year’s Day. And don’t let anybody tell you that it’s really cheap as we found the prices to be on a par with the rest of Europe, if not a little more expensive, although perhaps that was due to the current weakness of the pound, which was almost at parity with the euro, as well as the time of year. I was also amused and perhaps a little insulted to discover at least one Bureau de Change offering separate rates for English and Scottish pounds despite the fact that they are the same currency! (The Scottish pound was worth slightly less in case you were wondering…)

St Andrews no more

Sun, 4 Jan 2009 09:36:56 +0000

As you probably know, Heike and I moved away from St Andrews to Leamington Spa in Warwickshire some months ago, where I’m now studying for a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Warwick. (Strangely enough, the university itself isn’t in Warwick at all, but on the outskirts of Coventry, hence the reason we’re living in Leamington… it all makes sense really!)

Having very much enjoyed our stay in Scotland, especially during the summer months when we both had time to enjoy the considerable charms of St Andrews and the surrounding area of my home county of Fife, we were somewhat apprehensive at the thought of moving back down South—especially to an area that goes by the wholly uninspiring name of ‘the Midlands’ and is about as far away from the sea as you can possibly get on this small island. Our fears were partially realised when we discovered that the cosy little flat we’d found for ourselves turned out to be something of a nightmare. Ever since moving it, we’ve had to deal with a string of problems that have culminated in our deciding to move house yet again, this time to another flat in Leamington, which will hopefully be a lot better.

The problems started the day we moved in, when it became apparent that the landlord had failed to clean or inspect the place beforehand, despite having assured us that entire flat would be professionally cleaned. In particular, the carpet was absolutely filthy and there were patches of damp on the living room and bathroom walls, not to mention a terrible smell that I would normally associate with a zoo rather than anywhere fit for human habitation. To add insult to injury, since we were delayed due to traffic on the motorway, the landlord—or rather his agent, who also happens to be his daughter and incredibly difficult to get hold of by phone—couldn’t manage to meet us on the day we moved in and so we had to wait until the following day to try and sort things out. Needless to say, it was all very depressing, and the last thing that you want when trying to settle into a place.

After several frantic phone calls and e-mails, the landlord finally agreed to have the carpets cleaned and look at the damp problems, although we soon discovered that these were just the tip of the iceberg. The tiles around the shower area in the bathroom were literally falling off the wall, and water was running behind the bath through cracks in the grouting. This was most likely the cause of the damp problems and smell, although it took us several weeks to convince the landlord to address the problem, which he finally did by retiling part of the bathroom. Unfortunately, he never got around to finishing the job, and other problems with the toilet, taps and windows, along with the totally inadequate heating (I’d be surprised if the temperature ever gets above 15ºC in here) have never been fixed, and so we decided that it was high time we found somewhere else to live.

The good news is, just before Christmas we managed to find a great two-bedroom basement flat close to the centre of town and are moving in next weekend. The extra room will mean that I can set up a proper office/studio where I can work during the day, and there is a garden where Heike can plant things (vegetables, fruit trees and flowers are currently top of the list). Although the rent is considerably more than we’re currently paying, the extra expense will be worth it as we really need the extra space, not to mention somewhere more pleasant to live. Our currently landlord has thankfully allowed us to get out of our six month tenancy agreement (although you might say this was the least he could do), meaning that we can move without too much additional expense, although the extra time and hassle is something that we could both do without.

Aside from the problems with our accommodation, things are going relatively well. I’m very happy with the supervision I’m receiving here at Warwick, and there is plenty going on that is relevant to my research interests (philosophy of mind and perception). Heike is also settling into her new job in the admissions department at Coventry University, who are planning to send her on trips to Africa and the Netherlands where she will be accompanying some visiting students on a sightseeing trip (I can just imagine the sort of things they’ll be getting up to—good thing that they’ll have Heike to keep them in check!).

I can’t say it’s been easy to settle in as we have hardly had time to catch our breath due to all of the above, and we both still miss St Andrews, which was a great place to live and study. However, the new flat will hopefully feel more like home and allow us to start enjoying life again, as well as making the most of what Leamington has to offer. I expect there will probably be another quiet spell on my blog again as I will be without an Internet connection for the next few weeks, but I’ll try to upload some more news and photos soon.

Best wishes to all, and I hope the New Year finds you in good health and spirits wherever you are!

"I did not have sex with that woman"

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 00:28:31 +0100

Did anyone else notice that Bill Clinton’s supposedly ringing endorsement of Barack Obama as the Democratic party’s candidate for President of the United States contained (at least) two carefully worded phrases that, with the benefit of hindsight, might later be construed as being somewhat less than fully supportive of his wife’s erstwhile opponent?

The first was that his wife Hillary, would do everything in her power to elect him. Notice: to elect him, not to get him elected. The latter might include campaigning vigourously to ensure wholehearted support from throughout the party, contributing to his campaign team, etc. etc. The former includes, well, voting for the Democratic party in the upcoming US elections, which I would have thought was pretty much a given. As far as I can make out, this is the only power that a mere mortal can ever have to elect someone — unless of course you are Jeb Bush and in charge of the Florida recount, but that’s a different story…

The second equally well-honed gem was that Obama was “the best man for the job.” Notice: man, not person. To be honest, I’m not sure whether this was supposed to relate to the job of Democratic nominee or President of the United States, but in either case it doesn’t rule out the possibility that there was in fact a better candidate for the job, namely his wife Hillary, who — as the more astute among you may have noticed — is a woman. So, whilst Bill appeared to be commending Barack as the superior candidate, he in fact made no such claim, and should the latter go on to lose the election in November, he can, without fear of contradiction, claim that he thought Hillary would make a better president all along, and that his comments only applied to the male contenders, namely Obama and McCain. (I was going to say masculine, but that could be taken to all three of them, so I’m sticking with the sex rather than the gender.)

Lest you think I’m being overly suspicious and pedantic over what might appear to be a mere turn of phrase, or slip of the tongue, bear in mind that (a) this man used to be a lawyer, and has (allegedly) studied some philosophy, and so is no stranger to the judicious use of language to make a point that can later be construed quite differently, and (b) he has form. Anyone who remembers the whole Lewinsky affair cannot fail to recall the ingenious web of linguistic duplicity that he wove, including such gems as “I did not have sex with that woman”, which sparked a whole debate as to whether an act of fellatio constituted “sex”, and my personal favourite, “that depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is” — an epithet worthy of a linguistics professor. Plus, of course, Clinton is a born politician with a talent — nay, a gift — for using words in a way that allows him to worm his way out of what he initially appeared to be saying only to claim that he in fact meant something quite different all along — a lamentable but apparently necessary part of contemporary public life.

So, whilst it may have appeared that Bill and Hillary were offering Barack Obama their full-throated enthusiastic blessing, the reality is that they were (perhaps unsurprisingly) careful to say nothing that could be used against them in the event of a Republican victory in November. And by saying nothing that was obviously detrimental to their opponent’s (by which I mean Obama’s, not McCain’s) chances of getting elected, they did nothing that could subsequently harm their standing in the ensuing contest for Democratic presidential nominee in the 2012 primaries — a brilliantly produced piece of political theatre indeed!

Normal service has been resumed…

Tue, 5 Aug 2008 10:56:39 +0100

Apologies to anyone who has been trying to access my web site, blog or RSS feeds over the last couple of weeks. Unfortunately, the site was off-line for a few days due hosting problems connected with Apple’s transition from its old .Mac service (pronounced ‘dot-mac’) to MobileMe, a new suite of web applications for Macintosh and iPhone users. For some reason this caused comments to stop working on my site followed by the entire site becoming unavailable due to problems with the www.keithwilson.org domain name I’m using. I was able to implement a temporary fix by having my domain redirect to a copy of my web site hosted at web.me.com, but this only worked for the top-level domain, causing any incoming links such as Google search results and RSS feeds to break. In any case, all the problems have since been resolved and the site should now be functioning as normal.

The timing of the outage was especially annoying as I had just managed to get one of the posts in my philosophy blog into the Philosophers’ Carnival, a bi-weekly collection of blogs for philosophers. Unfortunately, the lack of a working comments feature followed by the site going off-line meant that fewer people were able to read or respond to the post than I might have hoped, but it was nice to have one of my posts included anyway. (Coincidentally, the same edition of Philosophers’ Carnival was hosted by Megan Kime, a friend of a friend, whose blog was also featured.)

As a long time subscriber to Apple’s .Mac service, and an enthusiastic supporter of Apple Macs in general, I was disappointed to see Apple release a product that was so poorly tested, as well as the misleading way that it advertised its ability to ‘push’ e-mail, calendar and contact updates for virtually instant data synchronisation between phones, computers and the web. To be fair, this was partly due to the vast numbers of people signing up for Apple’s new iPhone, with or without MobileMe, but launching both products at the same time just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen—something that Apple itself has since admitted, apologising for the debacle by offering all subscribers an extra month’s free service. Their claims regarding the ‘push’ capabilities have also been scaled back until the company implements fully push-compatible desktop apps, hopefully via a future software update.

All in all, it was a timely reminder (if any were needed) that computers are all well and good when everything works properly, but are a major pain in the a*** when it doesn’t. That said, I’m reasonably happy with MobileMe now that everything is back up and running and look forward to some of the updates (e.g. support for sending large files by e-mail) coming down the pipeline. For that select band of people who own a Mac (or even a PC) and an iPhone, this service is a must, and I hope to be able to count myself amongst their number in the relatively near future (I’m just waiting for my local branch of Carphone Warehouse to receive stock of the 16Gb model, which looks like it will take another month or so—those things are selling like hot cakes!).

I will post some more updates as to what’s been going on here soon, but am currently engrossed in writing my masters dissertation on the philosophy of time-consciousness, which doesn’t leave much time for blogging. Suffice it to say that things are going to plan with my impending relocation to Warwickshire, where I will be starting my PhD at the end of September, which is all very exciting.

Trip to Loch Tay

Mon, 2 Jun 2008 18:38:49 +0100

Just after the end of my exams (well, theoretically, anyway — the actual end wasn’t until the following Monday after we ended up sitting one of the exams for a second time to answer additional questions were left out the original exam due to a departmental mess-up), Heike and I decided to head up to Perthshire for a little bit of R&R after what had been, for me at least, and by association for Heike too, an extremely busy time.

We hadn’t arranged anything in advance and more or less just jumped on a bus with the intention of heading for Loch Tay, which we had heard was nice and not too far away (thanks to Ingi for the recommendation!). We ended up staying the night in the village of Acharn on the banks of the Loch, where we found a small farmhouse bed and breakfast for just £20 each per night, which was half the price of neighbouring Kenmore. It was great to get away from all the stresses and strains of the past few months and to enjoy the peace and tranquility that comes from being in the wide open spaces of a more natural setting.

Although it took longer to get to Loch Tay by public transport than we expected, and we only stayed for one night, we thoroughly enjoyed the visit and did manage to stop off at a few places (Perth, Aberfeldy and Kenmore) along the way. I took some pictures of the Loch and surrounding area, where we went walking along the hillside, although I didn’t get a shot of the local Inn, which was claimed to be the oldest in Scotland (1572, if I remember correctly), where Robert Burns himself, impressed by the local scenery, had penned a verse on the wall in his own hand. Now you don’t get much more authentically Scottish than that!

All in all, it was definitely worth a visit, and highly recommended, especially if you have your own transport, in which case it’s much easier to get to.

The seven signs of ageing

Sat, 31 May 2008 14:18:51 +0100

Having reached the advanced age of 37 just over a month ago (yes, really!), I thought that I might jump-start my somewhat forlorn blog page with a few semi-humorous reflections on the effects of ageing. Those of you lucky enough to have already reached a similar or even more advanced level of decrepitude may recognise some of the following symptoms, whilst for those of you for whom 30 still seems a long way off — beware! it’ll come much sooner than you think! — here’s a little taster of what you’ve still got to look forward to (if you’re lucky!)…

1. Memory loss leading to general confusion
The first sign of ageing is undoubtedly the decline of one’s memory. Where you were previously able to reel off all kinds of facts and figures and had little need to keep for diaries or other such memory aids, you increasingly find yourself forgetting people’s names, even when reminded several times, which gets very embarrassing at parties, as well as other important details, such as your own age, which you now have to mentally double-check, or find yourself walking into rooms only to find that you have no idea why you went there. Whereas your brain used to soak up new information and experiences like a sponge, structured learning becomes increasingly difficult, with every new piece of information that you manage to force into your increasingly congested cranium seeming to squeeze out some of your old knowledge. All of this leads towards a sort of generalised state of confusion as you try to remember whether what that terribly important thing that you meant to do was, why it seemed important, and whether anything really matters anyway, leading me nicely onto my second point…

1. Disenfranchisement
To a younger, more idealistic you, the world seemed so full of opportunities and possibilities, and even though much of what went on in it could be better, there was at least the chance that things could change through personal, political or collective action. Now, having been knocked down a few times when your best endeavours didn’t turn out quite the way you’d hoped, you are content to carve out your own little niche within the world in which you can go about your business with relatively little disturbance from other people and the rest of society, whose aims and overall direction seem increasingly distant from your own. The culture in which you grew up, that once seemed like part of the familiar furniture of the world now either seems alien and strange, or has mutated almost beyond recognition in a manner that leads you to despair for the plight of future generations, including your own (virtual or actual) offspring. The only sensible response to this, short of dropping out of society altogether or joining some kind of cult, seems to be to disown the problems of the world and focus on the individual, and in particular yourself. Rather than seeing yourself as part of the solution, or of the problem for that matter, you start to see the whole goddamn mess as Somebody Else’s Problem and you really wish that they’d sort out soon before things get Really Bad (although with a bit of luck, you’ll be dead by the time that happens — see below). You’re not so much bitter and twisted as tired of banging your head against brick walls, and so acceptance and equanimity becomes the order of the day.

1. Hair loss/gain
Hair is a problem. You either have too much of it or not enough — and typically in all the wrong places. Your previously shapely torso begins to look decidedly woolly and requires regular cosmetic attention, whilst leg and arm hair becomes increasingly verdant even as your official hairline is receding. (I have been fairly lucky on the latter front so far, but there are definite signs of recession — and I’m not talking about the economy.) More alarmingly, your shoulders and back look like they may start to join in on the act, making waxing or laser treatment both seem like increasingly attractive options. Nose and ear-hair trimming will soon become a necessary part of your grooming regime, if it hasn’t done so already, and the purchase or gift of battery- or main-operated hair removal devices goes from being a luxury or a joke to being a thoughtful, if a trifle tactless, Christmas or birthday gift.

1. Expanding waistline
You used to be able to eat whatever you liked without putting on a pound, but sadly those days are behind you. Every superfluous calorie seems to cling to the ever expanding region that you used to call your stomach, but is now merely a belly, and appears to be quietly plotting to take over your entire body with its vast, wobbling mass. Occasional trips to the gym and other attempts to exercise only serve to stave off the inevitable, as once taut flesh becomes saggy and/or increasingly rotund. Every chocolate or sugary dessert, salty snack — which, incidentally, have become virtually irresistible — or pint of beer adds to your girth such that once-comfortable jeans become practically impossible to fasten, and you find yourself loosening your belt another notch to accommodate your wastline after a large meal. (Those of you who think this is funny, laugh while you can — believe me, it will catch up with you in the end!)

1. Chronic health problems
Whereas you used to occasionally get ill then make a full and rapid recovery, health problems increasingly seem to accumulate or linger for an irritatingly long period of time. Merely temporary inconveniences give way to permanent incapacities as time takes its toll on your previously reliable frame. For my own part, repetitive strain injury from too much computer use, tinnitus in both ears — a result of too much loud music coupled with a genetic predisposition towards hearing problems — plus increasingly poor hearing and eyesight, not to mention occasional depression, form part of the everyday landscape of my existence, although I count myself reasonably lucky not to have anything more serious to deal with. For others, acute aches and pains in their joints, bones or backs make everyday tasks difficult or painful, and I am increasingly impressed at the ability of many old people, for whom walking down the road to the local shop presents a real challenge, to go about their daily business with fortitude, patience and dignity. A lesson for us all I think.

1. Prone to emotional episodes
Perhaps it’s just me, but I increasingly find myself becoming dewy-eyed at moments of emotional significance. This could occur during a film, soppy or otherwise, when saying goodbye to friends or colleagues that I am unlikely to see again (although you learn after a while that ‘goodbye’ rarely means for ever), or in one of those ‘self’-moments where you suddenly become aware of the finitude of life, and hence of the preciousness of each and every moment (see? there I go again!). Nostalgia becomes increasingly prevalent, and you enjoy reminiscing with friends about all the good times you had, even though you’ve heard the same stories many times before, and many of them probably weren’t quite as idyllic as they now seem in retrospect. Powerful memories evoked by a sound, sight or smell can sometimes take you by surprise, causing you to stop and think of people and places from long ago, whose significance is known only to yourself, and to those dear to you, and which will finally pass with you to the grave. Savour and enjoy it, my friends, as time is all too brief, as the final of sign of ageing attests…

1. Death
Less a sign of ageing than of its cessation, death is something that must come to us all in the end (NEWSFLASH: you are not indestructible!). However, here I’m not so much talking about the event of your own death, but that of those around you. As you get older, the death of family members, friends, and even well-known TV personalities or local celebrities familiar to you from your youth brings you face to face with the inevitable realisation that at some point, you yourself are going to die. Quite apart from this sobering thought, and the heartache that all of the above brings, you notice that everybody else is starting to look so terribly old. Surely, you think, I can’t have aged that much? There is a sense that someone somewhere is playing an incredibly cruel trick, and that at some point they will jump out from behind a lamppost shrieking ‘Haha, fooled you!’ and everything will go back to ‘normal’, i.e. how you always remember things having been. Unfortunately, however, there is no trick, no lamppost, and no ‘normal’, and you’re just going to have to come to terms with the fact that life is, after all, a limited commodity, and that time will eventually win its battle against everything that is you, consigning your being to that elusive and ephemeral realm: the past. Those who find this thought depressing may console themselves with the fact that it has not done so already, and so there is still a chance to make the best of it.

Well, those are my seven signs of ageing. Fortunately, things may not be as bad as they seem since it is possible to stave off at least some of the above, whilst others may seem a small price to pay for the miracle of continued existence. I have, however, already started thinking about a follow up entry concerning how to combat the seven signs of ageing, so watch this space!

* Actually, this is a lie. The first picture was taken almost exactly two years ago and the second about 18 months later, but hey, who’s counting?

Life in St Andrews

Sun, 7 Oct 2007 17:59:14 +0100

I haven’t had much time for blogging lately so, to cut a long story short, I’ve recently (actually not so recently, but I started writing this ages ago!) moved to St Andrews and started studying for the M.Litt. (that’s ‘Master of Letters’) in philosophy. Just for fun, I thought I’d jot down a quick list of some of the things I like — and a few that I don’t — about the city and the university so far. So, in no particular order, here goes…

Things that I like about St Andrews:
• Everyone is very friendly
• It’s quiet, but not too quiet, if you know what I mean
• It’s by the sea
• It’s in Scotland — home at last!
• Our flat is only five minutes walk from the philosophy department
• The town centre is small enough to walk around in 10 minutes
• It’s very international (although with a predominance of English and Americans, it has to be said)
• Postgraduates can take books out of the library for a whole year! :-p
• The pubs stay open until at least 1am (this is normal throughout most of the civilised world, I know, but after living in England for the last 17 years, it’s a breath of fresh air!)
• Coffee shops are open until 11pm (well, BeanScene and Taste are, anyway)
• There are (unlike some places I could mention) refreshingly few hen parties and stag nights!
• The tap water tastes good (by which I mean of nothing in particular)
• I see at least two people I know every time I leave the house
• There are tons of interesting seminars, workshops and talks to go to
• Everybody shops at Tesco
• The cold

Things that I don’t like about St Andrews:
• Golf
• Did I mention the cold?
• There are so few actual Scots here that I feel like a foreigner :-(
• It’s not very good for shopping (although this could be considered a good point since there is less opportunity to spend money, unless you count Amazon, of course…)
• The departmental library’s eschewal of the use of any kind of modern technology in place of card index files. Oh well, at least they don’t crash very often (?)
• The supermarket isn’t that great and they are often run of stock (damn students…)
• I’m so damn busy I don’t have nearly enough time to all the stuff I’d like

As you can see, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. I’m sure I’ll think of some more soon, but all in all life is pretty good. If only I didn’t have to do any actual work, it would be almost perfect! ;-)