Printing more sterling...

It has been revealed that the Bank of England will print more sterling and use the additional money to purchase financial bonds. One can't help but to draw a comparison with the situation in Zimbabwe whereby government-sanctioned printing of the Zimbabwean dollar assisted in the collapse of the currency.

Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, once said he is dedicated to making monetary policy boring. Such a leap into the unknown doesn't sit well with this aspiration.

The government is taking this action in the knowledge that if the currency plummets in value, it can safely abandon sterling and adopt the euro as the official currency of the UK. Iceland are pursuing the same course of action following the collapse of the króna. It is a useful insurance policy in uncertain economic times. In addition, the UK would enter the eurozone at a low level (since the pound is weak in value) and this would be excellent news for the UK exporters.

In conclusion, I believe the decision to print more GBP could potentially spell the death knell for sterling.

Concerned...

After much speculation, John McCain has selected Sarah Palin as his running mate in the US presidential elections. Sarah is charismatic and talented and I think that McCain has made an excellent choice. However, I'm am puzzled about Sarah Palin's views on certain issues. In particular, she:

1. advocates that US citizens should have the right to bear firearms


2. wants creationism to be taught in science classes


3. doesn't believe in man-made global warming

I don't believe in stating the obvious but:

1. levels of gun ownership are directly related to the levels of death by gunfire


2. creationism isn't science


3. man has made a substantial contribution to global warming

It is evident that there exists a large gap between reality and Sarah Palin's perception of reality - this in itself doesn't cause me a great deal concern.

In selecting his running mate, John McCain makes it clear that he believes such irrationality will be viewed upon as being desirable by a large section of the American electorate.

What does worry me is that I think he may be right.

Money, Stuff and Misplaced Lust

Having come one step closer to securing my dream job (yippee!) I've allowed myself to fantasise for a moment about what to do with the first pay cheque. Unfortunately the fantasy comes to an abrupt halt once I remind myself of all the debts I've accrued. Very unlike me (being a lefty-liberal) to indulge in consumerism... but what the heck... here goes...

• A Cutana Old Softy Hat: £30


• An iPhone: £35 per month


• A pair of Heelys: £49

In reality, the prospect of being able to possess these needless items one day is probably more exciting than actually possessing them... I'm convinced that I'd be better served enjoying the good things that I already have at this moment in time.

Ireland Gets Left Behind

With the expansion of the EU to twenty seven member states, current legislation is no longer workable and it is necessary to streamline the EU constitution to improve decision-making. Unfortunately, in a recent referendum, the Irish people decided to reject a EU reform treaty and, in doing so, have set the progress of the institution back by around five years (my estimation).

I cannot understand why the Irish want to be in Europe but simultaneously want Europe to be dysfunctional - it doesn't tally.

Following the referendum, Sarkozy (the president of the EU) visited Ireland to find out what went wrong and to work out the best way to proceed.

For what it's worth, I believe that the EU should find a way to proceed with the reforms and leave Ireland behind. In effect, this would involve placing Ireland on the bottom rung of a "two tier" system thus preventing it from causing future obstructions. It is only fair that the Irish electorate experience the fall out of their reckless voting. In addition, the 55% of the population who couldn't be bothered to vote don't deserve anything better.

Back Pack

I'm often asked why I carry a rucksack on my person... am I on a perpetual camping trip? Well, here's one for all you guys who have wondered what's contained within. This is great material for stalkers.

- bike lights
- calculator
- cards and a little cash
- contact lenses
- gym kit
- hair gel
- mobile phone
- pen and notebook
- shower gel
- small rodent
- water bottle

I guess this post isn't exactly ground breaking. I'm in the closing stages of writing up my PhD and I hope to have something more interesting to report shortly... fun times ahead methinks.

Rip off Ireland

O2 recently launched the iPhone in Ireland... what a disappointment. If one compares the value of the Irish contract to the UK one, it becomes clear that (once again) the Irish are getting shafted. So, as a conscientious citizen, I wrote to the National Consumer Agency...

Dear Sir/Madam,
I live in the North of Ireland and am moving shortly to the Republic to work. My iPhone contract costs more in Ireland and provides me with much less in terms of value. I have provided an up-to-date comparison of UK and Ireland tariffs below. I think you'll agree that the Irish are getting a very raw deal. I was wondering if there's anything you guys can do to find out why O2 are ripping off their Irish customers?
All the best,
Gareth Maguire

O2 iPhone tariff UK	O2 iPhone tariff Ireland:
£35 (~€44) per month	€45 per month
600 mins	175 mins
500 texts	100 texts
unlimited data	1GB data
YES visual voicemail	NO visual voicemail
YES free voicemail access	NO free voicemail access
YES wifi hotspot access	NO wifi hotspot access

I received the following response:

Dear Mr Maguire,
Thank you for contacting the National Consumer Agency (NCA) with your query and please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to you. According to your email you have a query regarding pricing and value offered by O2.
For a considerable number of years now it has been settled policy that maximum prices are not set for either goods or services. This effectively means that there is no price control in Ireland apart from certain limited areas where price display orders are in force. Government policy in relation to prices is one of encouragement of competition; price transparency; and the promotion of greater price awareness among consumers.
In addition there is a common misconception among consumers that there is a correlation between prices in sterling and prices in euro. That is to say, that the Euro price is a conversion of the Sterling price. This is not the case, the service is priced at so many euro because that is what the retailer/trader believes the Irish market will bear.
In addition, Ireland and the UK are two separate economies. There are a number of factors, which will affect the total price that a consumer must pay for the goods, for example:

• Tax imposed on the goods that has to be passed on to the consumer (i.e. VAT)


• Cost to the retailer (wage rates, insurance, rent for premises etc.)


• Volume of consumers available to purchase the goods (compare the populations of both countries)


• Amount of competitors within the two countries.


• These factors will differ between countries and therefore influence price.

We trust you have found this information useful and if you have any further consumer related queries please do not hesitate to contact us on 1890 432 432.
Yours Sincerely
Sean Conway
National Consumer Agency

I feel that, while Sean's points are all valid, he is missing the point so much that it is hard to know where to start... I have come to the sad realization that O2 (and other multinationals) will charge whatever they feel they can get away with - I respect this and I guess I wouldn't expect anything else! The real problem is that a culture of acceptance has emerged in the Republic of Rip Off and the NCA aught to be countering this. For example, wouldn't the cause have been better served had the NCA contacted O2 to put pressure on them to reduce the UK/Ireland differential rather than emailing me to justify it?!?! I have no qualms in saying that the newly formed NCA are implicit in the problem.

George Bush is AMAZING!!!

Pretty impressive stuff - how to turn a 250 billion dollar surplus into a 250 billion dollar deficit in eight lousy years...

Throw away your iPod and get to know yourself

I spend most of my day connected to some form of electronic device. I'm presently writing up my thesis on a laptop, for example. I train with an electrode strapped around my chest and my eyes glued to a heart rate monitor. I cling on to my mobile phone like a Klingon clings to a roll of Clingfilm. I tend to fall asleep listening to the radio in bed and I'll rarely depart on a journey without having first charged up me iPodsky with a load of Rilly Purty Country Music Ditties.

This is a sorry state of affairs methinks...

It can be attributed to insecurity whereby we are not at ease with our own presence. It is necessary to be connected to some sorta external source or else (God forbid!) we are left alone with our own thoughts. What exactly are we afraid of discovering?

So enough is enough. I've sold my iPod and I'm gonna listen to myself instead. If I find anybody interesting - I'll let you know!

On a completely different (and much brighter) note, George Wa(l/n)ker Bush has only 350 days left in office. He's so stupid, he couldn't find his ass with both hands!

Vote Huckabee!!!

Wouldn't it be really funny if the President of America thought that the world was 6000 years old?

Celebrating success in the chemistry lab

The Tim Softley research group celebrate their most recent publication.

This is my first mobile blog

The lobby at the bottom of the chemistry lab.

Why do people wear clothes in bed?

Why? I just don't understand. What's the point?

SkyTV suck ass

In the funny world of capitalism, a company will offer us a service hoping that we will pay for it because we think it is worth the cost. In general, the consumer is better off for having the opportunity to avail of the service. After all, if we don't want it, we simply keep our money in our pocket.

SkyTV is different...

This company buys up the broadcasting rights to popular sports and entertainment in auctions for unfeasibly large sums. In doing so, they price the free-to-air TV companies out of the market. Subsequently, SkyTV recoup the cost with huge price hkes in subscription charges. For example, recently they upped their annual subscription charge from £800 to £3000 for Oxford Uni's student common rooms.

Bearing in mind that SkyTV produce very little noteworthy content of their own, it is clear to me that the public interest would be best served if SkyTV did not exist and the restricted sports and entertainment were available on free-to-air services.

Yup, they sure do suck ass - slurp slurp.

The biochemist, the physicist and the mathematician

We are in big trouble folks. Here is a movie showing how three elite members of the scientific communitiy choose to spend their weekend off. In my defence, in shooting this film I tried to keep the questions kinda sensible during the interview. This was in itself a challenge when the guy you're chatting to has hair like... well, James's hair. God help us all.

Accordion Band

My sister and I marched at a Parade in Carrickmore as part of today's Easter celebrations. We are members of Pomeroy Accordion Band which has about thirty five members, is over fifty years old and plays Irish traditional music on piano and button keyed accordions. Here's a photo of me and here's another of Suzanne. Fun stuff.

Oxford - a great place to drink too much

As I cycled home last night, I noticed a young woman lying on the pavement. She had drank too much and was distressed. I continued home to fetch some money to put her in a cab. On my return (about two minutes later) a concerned middle aged women and a taxi driver had gathered round. Myself and the middle aged women split the cost of the taxi fare (I only had a couple of quid) and the taxi driver agreed not to turn on his meter since we didn't have enough collectively to cover the cost of the journey.

It struck me that the good Samaritans outnumbered the victim 3 to 1. Maybe this would only happen in Oxford, but either way it can't be a bad thing - encouraging even.

Learning French with a Polish accent

I have completed a course in the French language using three CD box sets by Michel Thomas. It was one of the most rewarding learning experiences of my life. Michel Thomas (Polish) is an amazing fella. He was tortured by the Nazis during WWII, joined the French resistance and worked with American intelligence where he gathered Nazi membership cards which were successfully used as evidence in subsequent war crime tribunals. He then went to America and set up a string of language schools. I can't help thinking that this would be great material for a film.

He passed away in 2005 leaving the aforementioned CD box sets as his legacy so that his incredible teaching methods will never be lost. It is a great priveledge to learn with such a master.

I cannot recommend him enough to anybody considering learning a foreign language. Here's an mp3 audio clip which I think illustrates his brilliance perfectly.

Love is deaf

I've just watched "Walk the Line", a film about the life of Johnny Cash. It details his growing up in Arkansas, dealing with the death of his brother, his drug addiction and his second marriage with June Carter. It climaxes with his famous concert at Folsom state prison. Being a life-long Cash fan, the film stirred some thoughts. Here they are.

Cash was prominent in my childhood. His record label painted a convincing picture of an intimidating and powerful figure in black. There was much to fear. The film, on the other hand, portrays a man broken with guilt. He resented being bench marked against his dead brother and turned to drugs because he couldn't meet this unrealistic expectation. This leads me to my first point: in my experience, people who make an impact generally have a chip on their shoulder. It provides a handle that intices you out of your comfort zone where you will achieve something remarkable.

My second point is to do with the vocal clash between Johnny and his wife, June. Johnny's voice is deep and basal and June's is weak and throaty. Yeouch - what a mismatch. It doesn't sound so good to me but I'm guessing that, to Johnny, it was perfect. We don't choose who we fall in love with, and a good match on paper doesn't mean very much in the mating game - a very irrational sport.

Is "conditionality" a word?

What a remarkable/historic/profound* day in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein has agreed to participate in a new police force. I have noted that Gerry Adams has a solid record in retaining the support of his people during times of controversial change. I admire this skill - I wish I had it.

Having said that, there is a strong imperative driving this change. After all we need a police service that can command the respect of both communities. I guess that there's no dispute about this.

The rhetoric now is about "conditionality". Unfortunately I don't know what "conditionality" means. It seems to me that conflict resolution is all about one side foregoing a condition, thereby shifting the obligation to do the same onto the other side. Progress is slow but inevitable since we eventually run out of conditions that can be used to disguise inaction.

So maybe "conditionality" means running out of excuses not to do anything. That reminds me - I've got a PhD to finish!

*insert some more vague adjectives here

Replace excuses with actions

Every so often, I think it is important to adopt an external view point and look at yourself from a third party perspective. This may contribute to the development of schizophrenia, but more importantly it will help you to gain a bit of direction in your life.

If a third party were to look at me in the laser lab, he would say that I need to enhance my productivity in the mornings. I spoke to a couple of friends about this. They recomended that I draw up a plan in the evening for the next day. This way when I arrive at lab in morning, all I have to do is execute. Easy. You can see the plans in the "Research" section. Day three and counting - so far so good.

Recently I've gained my first kickboxing belt. I spent Sunday rowing with the Star Boat Club in Bedford. It was a great experience and I'll post some photos shortly.

NERD ALERT: have learned the Dvorak keyboard layout and am using it to type this blog. I've gotta admit that I'm a convert, but I don't think it will ever go mainstream.

New week's resolutions

Deadline: get as far as possible with my experiment before end of November. 40 days and counting...

Here is the schedule for the next seven days starting tomorrow (Sunday):

07:00 Get up and run to Godstow before breakfast.
08:30 Get into lab, warm up the lasers and have a coffee (that last bit's very important).
08:45 Work, work, work. Include one hour for lunch and two more ten minute coffee breaks.
19:30 Munchies.
20:30 Go to gym and work out the frustration.
21:30 Chill, watch some television and have yet another coffee.
22:30 Dreamy sleepy nighty snoozey snooze.

Mmm... I guess I've got coffee issues.

I've programmed my mobile phone to remind me what I should be doing during the day. Also, I'm gonna do a review on Wednesday to see what's working and what isn't.

I need to drink 2 liters of water every day. This will help the black rings around my eyes. I can't decide if I look more like a panda or a heroin addict.

Before I finish - start again

After a period despondence, I have decided that a new and fresh approach is called for. Here it is:

Firstly, with regards to my research... I have accepted that my lab work to date has failed. A new plan is required. This plan involves me looking closely at all aspects of my experiment and allowing it to tell me what is going wrong. The aim is to bring myself closer to the science. I have been distracted by the day-to-day running of the equipment to the detriment of properly understanding the nature of the problem. I am a scientist and not a maintenance man.

Secondly, I am going to take a different approach in my hunt for a new career - a career that will largely define who I am. Recently, I've spent a lot of time tailoring my CV to mould myself into the ideal candidate for a particular job. Often, the finished product seems like it is describing somebody else! This cannot be right. I have decided to focus on finding a job that is an organic extension of me. This way I can present myself to an employer in a more honest way. I've enlisted some help from the OU careers service and am taking my CV to them on Wednesday.

I recently read a great book about a guy who was unable to bring about change in his life...

"There was some open space between what he knew and what he tried to believe, but nothing could be done about it, and if you can't fix it, you gotta stand it."

I hope that this doesn't apply to me - no sir!

One up for the therapeutic value of blogging.

Today, I'm realigning a laser

Today was a sad day for me as I finally ran out of Burbury aftershave. It had been a long time in the making. My current spending priorities are: contact lenses, laptop repair and new trainers. Aftershave does not feature on this list. However, I have decided to make a new category for things that are non essential, but are too cool to be without. For example, Burbury aftershave, Tropicana OJ and Starbucks decaf soya latte.

The "frame the name-plate" project (that I talked about previously) is going ahead! I've commissioned an artist to do the work. It will be complete within a fortnight. I should probably explain, the "name-plate" is a piece of the first boat ever owned by my rowing club. It has great historical importance.

This is my week of extreme yoga. I'm trying to get flexible again. Have been to one session already... three more to go.

On Sunday night somebody tried to break into my room. I watched a skinny guy with a baseball cap try to pull my window open for a couple of minutes (he didn't realise that it was bolted in a semi-open position). Then I got bored and shouted at him. That wasn't much fun! If he had hung around for a while, then I would have asked him in for a cup of tea and maybe even a shot of Irish whiskey.

Over the weekend, a team of students and myself organised a party for the housekeeper. This entailed a barbeque, a presentation, an outdoor movie and a bop with a late bar and live DJ. The housekeeper was presented with a calender of guys she knows with their kit off. It went down really well.

Today in lab, I'm realigning a laser. It's hard.

Careers

Recently, I've been thinking about my career. I ask myself... "how do I know if I'm gonna like a job without actually doing it?" With this in mind, I've submitted my CV to an IT consultants firm based in London, Edinburgh and Dublin. I've asked to work with them for a week so that I can see if I like it. It will be interesting to see their response. I'm not sure if IT consultancy is for me, but I can't think of a better way to find out.

Developments

After a scorching hot summer, the weather has finally broken - autumn has introduced itself with a gentle drizzle of warm rain. In a break from my no rowing policy, I have agreed to row in a mixed boat in an upcoming regatta in Oxford (it had to happen sooner or later). Am also getting involved with a canoe trip down the River Wye.

College life is fun at the minute. We're planning a party for a very popular member of staff. She is lively and charismatic so I aim to make the party lively and charismatic.

Have just fully recovered from an equipment failure in lab. This has set back my progress by about two weeks. Apart from this, the work is going smoothly. It is inevitable that over half of my time in lab will be spent fixing and troubleshooting scientific kit. I've only come to accept this recently.

In a strange turn of events, the college development office has expressed a great deal of interest in an idea I had to sell the name of the Common Room for half a million pounds. This is profound stuff and is highly confidential - I don't know what would happen if anyone were to find out!!! Maybe I'd get a few more hits on my website - hint hint...