Doubletake

Hard to believe that anyone could create this headline by accident:

From peterboroughtoday.com, 17 December 2009

The gravy is just as thick 35 years on

While Ed O'Brien of Radiohead is undoubtedly right in his assessment that the money-driven music industry is stifling artists' creativity and the fun that so often adds an edge to it, it's hardly news, is it? Pink Floyd highlighted the same issue 35 years ago in their seminal Wish You Were Here (1975), notably on the track Have A Cigar:

   Come in here, dear boy, have a cigar.
   You're gonna go far, fly high,
   You're never gonna die, you're gonna make it if you try
   They're gonna love you.
   Well I've always had a deep respect, and I mean that most sincerely.
   The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think.
   Oh by the way, which one's Pink?
   And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?
   We call it Riding the Gravy Train.
   We're just knocked out.
   We heard about the sell out.
   You gotta get an album out,
   You owe it to the people. We're so happy we can hardly count.
   Everybody else is just green, have you seen the chart?
   It's a helluva start, it could be made into a monster
   If we all pull together as a team.
   And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?
   We call it Riding the Gravy Train.

The particularly relevant extract is, of course, "We're so happy we can hardly count", the theme song of bloodless, souless, money-grubbing accountants everywhere… The sad, if utterly unsurprising, thing is that the music industry took no notice of Pink Floyd. Accountants have a really boring job: they certainly aren't interested in anyone else enjoying theirs — quite the opposite, in fact: to them it's frivolous and time-equals-money-wasting — but they do have an enormous interest in filling the corporation's coffers. (Though to be fair, it's not often you hear rock 'n' pop stars complaining that their earnings are too high, either.)

So good luck to Ed O'Brien's campaign, but don't hold out for any changes. The love of gravy still rules the entertainment world.

The ultimate inclusivity

Warwick University's Arts Centre takes inclusivity very seriously:

Kamikaze cyclists

Why do so many cyclists think that wearing florescent jackets means they don't need to show front or back lights on their bikes, even on completely unlit country roads well before daylight?

It's a good thing that more people are taking up this climate-friendly form of transport, but cutting out the lights is a carbon-neutral step too far, and one which may well end up in a sudden and messy death.

Goodbye, Cadbury

Cadbury's board of directors has now advised shareholders to accept Kraft's offer for the company.

The offer wasn't solicited, wasn't wanted, is likely to lead to redundancies and the transfer abroad of production — and more than that, Kraft doesn't actually have the money to pay for it: the corporation will have to borrow £7bn ($11.5bn) to finance the deal.

Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and CEO of Kraft Foods, announced: "We have great respect for Cadbury's brands, heritage and people. We believe they will thrive as part of Kraft Foods."

This implies that Cadbury wasn't already thriving (and that Kraft is, which its inability to pay for what it's putting on the sweetshop counter underlines). But Cadbury was doing fine: despite the recession, the company reported a very respectable increase in profits in 2008 and a promising outlook, although there were already plans to close its Keynsham factory as part of a cost-cutting exercise. (Kraft has apparently promised to save the factory, but not in writing; it is notable that Kraft is presently closing some of its own factories.)

Why are corporations — and particularly those that don't actually have the available funds — allowed to make hostile takeover bids? Can no-one control these corporate pit-bulls?

Isn't it about time western governments, particularly those in the UK and USA, did something about corporate greed and obesity? About showing some consideration for employees whose labour goes a long way towards bringing in the profits? Directors of bloated corporations care only about profits and units, whether products, machinery or employees: they're all numbers.

The Cadbury brothers were famous for the treatment of their employees. Right now, they must be spinning in their graves.


UPDATE, 9 February