In celebration of the lovely summer weather we’ve had for the last few days, I thought we would have a rose from our garden. This rose isn’t in flower yet this year, but it won’t be long before it is and some of the others are already in full bloom.
[George] Borrow was a walker of awesome stamina and a linguist of almost inconceivable talent, who is said to have been able to speak twelve languages by the time he was eighteen and to have been competently acquainted with more than forty — including Nahuatl, Tibetan, Armenian and Malo-Russian — over the course of his life. In the winter of 1832—3 the British and Foreign Bible Society invited him at short notice to an interview in London, wanting to see if he could translate the Bible into a number of difficult languages. The society liked what they saw and commissioned Borrow to translate the New Testament into Manchu. What Borrow hadn’t told them was that he did not have any Manchu. No problem. Once the job was landed, he acquired ‘several books in the Manchu-Tartar dialect’, and Amyot’s Manchu-French (French!) dictionary. Then he travelled home (by coach, understandably) and shut himself up with the books. Three weeks later he could ‘translate Manchu with no great difficulty’, and fulfilled the society’s commission.
From Robert Macfarlane; The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot
This is an absolutely classic example of why NHS — no actually not just NHS, but all government — IT projects fail so spectacularly.
There are a couple of telling comments in the report on the NHS decision to quietly close the “Choose and Book” outpatient appointments system.
During a recent investigation … MPs were told by NHS staff that while some GPs liked Choose and Book, many did not, and that not all outpatient appointment slots were available on it, limiting its usefulness.
Whether GPs like it or not, that’s the process they have to use; so get on with it and then get it improved. But not having all the appointments there is inexcusable. And the appointments aren’t there; I’ve recently had the run-around getting an audiology appointment because Choose & Book can’t get their act together. (And to be fair my GP went ballistic because of the inefficiency.)
But then it gets worse …
NHS England said … the new e-referral system would use different technology, but it was unable to say how much the scheme would cost.
(Emphasis mine.)
This is the crux of the matter. If you don’t know how much a project is going to cost, then you do not have a project because you cannot commit funding. There are three prerequisites to running ANY project: a sponsor (ultimate responsibility), a coherent defined and documented set of requirements (the job) and committed funding (ability to pay). Without all three there is no project. Ever.
And government never provide any of the three. They are totally unable to define, specify, cost and manage projects (and they will not take sensible advise from their suppliers). The right level of funding is therefore never committed. And no-one takes overall responsibility.
So things either never happen (because suppliers won’t accept rubbish contracts) or they go tits up (because what is specified either can’t be delivered at the agreed price or isn’t fit for purpose).
So it seems likely that this new project will either be stillborn or will fail within three years. And that is our money — our taxes — down the drain. Again!
Why is there no-one in government, the civil service or parliament with any teeth?
Another photo from the archives this week.
This magnificent palm tree was the centrepiece of St George’s Gardens (behind the Grosvenor Chapel and wedged between South Street and Mount Street in London’s Mayfair) a few years back. Considering this was taken in mid-February after a particularly frozen December, the tree looked in remarkable condition. And judging by the size it has been there quite a few years. A most handsome specimen. I hope it is still there.
OK, so here’s my May list of ten things. This month …
10 Quotes I Like:
It’ll pass, Sir, like other days in the Army.
[Anthony Powell]
The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.
[Flannery O’Connor]
Be careful what you wear to bed at night, you never know who you’ll meet in your dreams.
If we don’t change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are going.
[Chinese Proverb]
Every harlot was a virgin once.
[William Blake, Innocence]
Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.
[Soren Kierkegaard]
The good thing about masturbation is that you don’t have to get dressed up for it.
[Truman Capote]
Life is a disease; sexually transmitted, and invariably fatal.
Don’t ever take a fence down until you know why it was put up.
[GK Chesterton]
Granny grasped her broomstick purposefully. “Million-to-one chances,” she said, “crop up nine times out of ten.”
[Terry Pratchett; Equal Rites]
Now I know I’m getting old. No amend that. I really am well past it!
I’ve been noticing for some time that I’ve not always been hearing everything people say clearly — especially when the person in question is Noreen. So far so normal; we know men never hear anything their wives say! But I was also struggling more and more to hear people talking to me across the table in a noisy restaurant or pub.
A couple of months back, Boots were offering a free, quick hearing test. So I said “yes” and the result was that they said I have noticeable, though not severe, age-related hearing loss. But they would, wouldn’t they! They are in the business of selling expensive hearing aids.
So rather than go their expensive route unnecessarily I went to my GP, who referred me to the local NHS audiology service.
(Our local audiology service is provided by a private company, In Health, as Ealing and Harrow both contract services to “any qualified provider”. They operate out of several local clinics rather than the local hospitals.)
Finally I got to see the audiology people this morning for a much more thorough test — which is all I was expecting to happen. And yes, I do have quite significant drop off in my hearing at middle to high frequencies, which is typical of age-related hearing loss.
Well taht was no real surprise as there is age-related deafness on both sides of my family, as well as my aunt (father’s kid sister) having, I think, had hearing aids since her 40s.
So I have joined the family club with hearing aids!
WHHAAATTTT!!!!
Yes, I have hearing aids!
I really wasn’t expecting that! I was expecting either “you have hearing loss, but it isn’t bad; come for another test in two years” or “yes you need hearing aids, come back in 2 weeks for another appointment and further assessment”. But no, it was “I can do this for you now”.
I’m not sure I really need hearing aids yet, but the advice was that it is better to start with them now, and get used to them, rather than struggle with them later when I really do need them. Exactly the opposite of having glasses.
So I agreed. Because one thing I am determined about is not becoming an awkward old git who denies that they can’t hear, or see, or need help. I remember my parents moaning about their parents being obstinate. And then I watched my parents do exactly the same things my grandparents did! I am determined not to go there. If I do, you have permission to shoot me.
What was amazing about this morning’s appointment was the efficiency of it all — apart from the fact that I was very early and was kept waiting until my appointment time which was tedious but understandable. Then in a 45 minute appointment the young lady tested my hearing quite thoroughly and explained the results. She discussed with me the need for hearing aids. Tried which type fitted me best and she dispensed the hearing aids there and then — setting them up and programming them for me, showing me how they worked, etc.
I find it incredible that such tiny “in the ear” bud-type hearing aids (that’s them on the right, sitting on a 50p piece) can not only contain their tiny battery, and all the audio equipment, but that they are programmable down a thin wire from a PC.
OK the hearing aids are obviously still fairly basic ones, and not adjustable by me, as that’s likely all I need at present. But all this is on the NHS and free of charge. Which I find quite extraordinary. OK yes, that’s maybe how it should be, but I would not have expected at this stage of hearing loss to have qualified for free hearing aids.
When I got home, Noreen was equally incredulous. She has been complaining for a couple of years that I don’t hear what she says to me, but when I told her I had hearing aids, her comment was “Why? You’re not that deaf!”
So there you are … To add to the already old, blind and daft, I’m now deaf as well.
First of all the retailer Sports Direct bans a mother from breastfeeding her child in their Nottingham store.
Then when a group of mothers protest outside their Ealing store (as mothers apparently have been around the country) the staff gratuitously photograph them and call the police.
Now I admit I do not know all the ins and outs of this case, just what has been reported by Ealing Today, but this seems like a disgraceful over-reaction by Sports Direct.