Martyn Lowe

It’s an adverting agency which has done work for the military.

Way back in  September 1981 I co-wrote a
Greenpeace ( London ) factsheet upon the advertising agencies
which were then being used by the British military.

‘SOME BACKGROUND TO THE LAUNCHING OF A CAMPAIGN
AGAINST ADVERTISING AGENCIES
PROMOTING THE MILITARY AND THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY.’

Thing change and so have some of the contracts.

Here is an example of just how things have changed:

‘British Army seeks digital agency’

Now here is where Young & Rubicam yet again come in to the
picture.

I’m thinking that it’s now about time that some more attention
was paid to what some of these adverting agencies,
are doing for the military in both  Britain and the USA.

That might involve me in a little more research in to just what
they are all up to these days.

Just watch this space . . . . .

This week there has been a lot of reports about inflation, falling sales, and failing economies.
This is both within Britain & various other European countries.

Now the stock market is starting to worry,
and there is a lot of speculation upon cuts to public expenditure.

This comes after a lot of people have been trying to talk us our of the recession.

Well it’s like I was saying: -

There will be no economic miracles within the next couple of years,
and there is no chance of fully coming out of the present economic cycle until 2014.

What is needed is to take a 5 to 10 year economic outlook,
and then match it in with our very pressing ecological needs.

Only then will we start to get some clear thinking upon just where the economy is heading,
and just how we need to refocus all of what is left of our resources.

There are 3 demographical facts which can not be denied:

- There are more single person households than ever before.

- Fewer & fewer people are getting married.

&

- Life expectancy is growing.

Yet only this last fact seems to of come to the notice of those
who manage  or govern pension funds.

Many Superannuation or pension schemes include a so called
‘spouse’s pension’,
such as exists in the UK Local Government Pension Fund.

This can amount to a lot of money which is not available to
single pensioners.

It means that those who get married,
or register their relationships with the state,
can walk away with an extra few thousand a year.

While those who are single may have to struggle in order to
make ends meet.

The ‘spouse’s pension’ is a form of discrimination again all
single pensioners.

Surly it would be better to abolish the ‘spouse’s pension’,
and distribute it equally between all pensioners.

This would be a pension reform that would not involve
increasing contribution rates,
or make for extra costs to the tax payer.

What it would do is ensure more of a prosperous life for ALL
those who reach retirement age.

The alternative to this might mean a lot of bogus marriages in
order to grab the dosh.

In my own case this would mean an almost £5,000 more money
to play with each year.

Anyone fancy a bogus marriage in order to liberate some dosh?

I recently remarked that all the heavy snow this winter would cause a lot of potholes.
It now emerges that it will cost the London Borough of
Islington £1,000,000 to repair them all.

Meanwhile: -

I hear that the UK treasury is planning to change  the age for
free medication for people over 60 within England to that of
the new retirement age for women.

ie.
It will increase in stages over the next 10 years to 65.

The headline cuts in public spending may well be in education
and the National Health Service,
but there are a lot of other age eligibility cuts which are
going to come in over the next few years.

It’s almost as inevitable as slush after snow.

Having a nasty mind might is one thing,
but some times what one might be able to predict as a result of
having a nasty mind can be very dangerous.

Take for example some of the kind of underhand social cuts
which might be undertaken by the UK government as budget
savings,
but which are such that they just look like  changes in the
dates of various eligibility rulings.

This is already happening from this year in terms of the
Freedom Pass,
which will be now kept in line with that of the new state
pension dates for women.

During the next 10 years the state retirement for women is
gradually being increased from 60 to that of men at 65.

My suspicion is that the next move will be a similar change in
the winter fuel allowance,
so that it also gradually moves to being the same as the state
retirement age for women.

Given that there are moves to change the state retirement
year to 67,
then such a change in all the allowances which now kick in a
60 could amount to a major cost saving for the British
Government,
and very few people would work out just what they have done.

Now if such savings might be redirected in to higher pensions,
or an increase in the winter fuel savings,
then great!

Such an increase might help to alleviate the problem of ‘Fuel
poverty’ which many pensions suffer from.

Yet I doubt if this is currently on the political agenda.

If we didn’t all have to bail out the bankers,
and if military expenditure were to be slashed,
then there would be no fuel poverty,
but good pensions for us all.

It’s all a question of the right kind of spending.

I came upon a really nice advertisement this week.

It had the heading:
‘Invest in your future’.

This went on to state that one could earn something in the region of £100,000 by investing in a franchising operation.

The franchise company is Cashgenetator,
and it calls itself:
‘the friendliest buy, sell and loan store in the world’.

In other words its a pawn brokers.

Ah Well …

Yet more proof  to show that the recession must be coming to an end.

I think not!

If you look at the statistics for the  average annual
consumption of meat per person world wide,
then the numbers are rather grim.

On average a German will eat more than 1,000 animals in their lifetime.

That is some
4 cows,
4 calves,
4 sheep,
46 pigs,
37 ducks,
46 turkeys,
12 geese,
&
945 chickens.

So if I were a German then I would of saved over 500 craetures from
being slaughtered since I became Vegetarian in January 1970.

This says nothing about the number of fish which are killed
and eaten by an individual over a lifetime.

I mention these statistics not so much as a personal boast,
but as an example of what we can all do in order to make this a
much better world.

It also shows just how much we can all achieve by taking up a
vegetarian diet.

At school I was taught how to read an ordinance survey map.

The maps I was bought up on showed all the railway lines,
and shipping routes.

We would refer to the Great North Road,
or where a road started or ended.

Road maps were not a mess of meaningless numbers,
but were descriptive of the places marked upon them.

It was also a time in which weather maps showed millibar lines
upon then.

If I  looked at the contour numbers upon a map I see just how
steep the landscape might be.

If I looked at the millibar numbers then I can judge just what the
weather might be doing.

My how things have changed!

We have satellite navigation for those who can not read
ordinance survey maps,
&
Weather maps which remind me of children’s picture books.

I keep  reading about the dumbing down of education in terms
of grammar, spelling, and numeracy,
but that’s only a part of the problem.

This kind of dumbing down would also seem to extend to the
fact that people are being given statistical information in a
very simplistic form.

Now I do understand that some people are unable to read a lot
of information from any form of statistical data,
and that they might not be able to understand a complex
weather map.

Yet that is no reason for dumbing down the information which
is presented to us in the media.

Is it any wonder that the newspaper industry is in decline,
when all they can do is present news stories in such a very
simplistic form?

Call me an intellectual snob if you will,
but I want to read information that is information,
and not a very simplistic version of the truth.

Over the years there have been many efforts to develop
better descriptive signage within libraries.

In the old days this was so simple to achieve,
as there were only a few departments within each library:
Fiction,
Non Fiction,
Reference,
&
Children’s library.

Things change. . . .

Now what really confuses a lot of library uses is that there
would seem to be less and less of a distinction between the
reference and lending areas within most modern library
building.

This is especially true as we often find reference periodicals
with the lending areas,
while in many libraries there are very often no distinct music
or AV ( Audio Vision ) departments.

Is it any wonder that people are both unable to distinguish
between what are the Fiction or Nonfiction areas within most
libraries.*1

This also says nothing about the problems which they might
experience in trying to work out just what are the quiet study
areas.

So here is a quick and useful guide as to just how library areas
might be marketed*2
within the libraries of the future.

- The Reality Zone.
Instead of Nonfiction.

- Pure Fiction.
For all works of fiction.

- The Twilight Zone.
This being a playful reference to any teenage area.

- Kiddies Corner.
or where the children are to be found.

&

- Shhhhooooooooosh !!!!!!!!!!
The quiet zone or study area.

Now what other ideas do you have upon what might be added to
this list?

………….

*1
I have also noted that many people are unable to distinguish
between what is Fiction and Nonfiction.
Thus they will refer to Crime Fiction and True Crime.

*2
‘Marketed’ being both a descriptive and marketing term within
this context.

I spent part of last night looking through my diary,
and doing some sums.

This was in order to work out the exact date at which I will
reach 2/3rds of my life as a vegetarian.

It works out that it will be on July 29th.

The next thing to do is work out just how I’m gonna celebrate
this day.

I’m also thinking that I should look into just how many animals
and fish lives I’ve managed to save over this period.

Once I have this number then I’ll go and produce a pic which
will show all of these creatures together in one place.

Magic!