Monday, March 05, 2007

My money

I think my grandfather was right. We should all keep our money under our matress.

A little charge here, a little charge there. It is not all that noticeable week to week. However month-to-month and year-to-year the bank can suck a lot of our hard earned money right out of our accounts.

The Financial Times (FT) reports the Office of Fair Trading is expected to rule next week if penalty charges by banks are unlawful.

If the cap on the price the banks are allowed to charge is quite high the banks will probably not have to pay any compensation. The FT article refers to Credit Suisse which estimates that banks make 1.2 billion a year on penalty charges but the FT says others say it may be up to 5 billion.

Banks are quite concerned about what the compensation bill might be.

Robert Budden a commentator for the FT recounts a story of complaining to the banks while he was a student about a charge he incurred because he went into his overdraft. It was only when his parents threatened to pull their accounts that the banks refunded the charge.

It shows cost can disappear with a little pressure and if more of us complained about unfair charges the banks would have no choice but to listen.

Robert Budden warns if the banks stop charging or charge lower penalty fees they will find somewhere else to make up the lost revenue.

Customers need to follow Budden's advice to keep a watchful eye on banks, complain more then once, be as tough as the bank and remember no fee is set in stone.

Or, you can stuff it under your matress.

Monday, February 26, 2007

Identify with whom?

I feel slightly refreshed.

This new little boost is thanks to Jumana Farouky’s feature in Time magazine entitled: The many faces of Europe. In the article she outlines 5 ways to make multiculturalism something that enriches Europe rather then something that tears it apart.

One issue, which I feel is neglected too often in mainstream media and which is of particular interest to me, is immigration and identity. Jumana Farouky uses good examples to show the importance of respect for all people that are part of the society we live in:

“European governments need to recognize that Islam — like all religions — is an integral part of the European identity, while Muslims should be willing to bend to certain laws that are in place for the common good, with no exceptions.”

When someone immigrates to a new country it is a reciprocal process. The host country should not try to assimilate the person but rather respect their identity and vice versa.

Immigration does not take away from a community’s identity but rather adds to it.
Although, it is contentious I believe there is no authentic culture. Identity and culture change.

We cannot lump all people together of a similar background and list off their characteristics. We must respect that every individual is different.

Jumana Farouky’s arguments are basic. The recognition and respect of difference, treating people equally and that people should not live in poverty for the benefit of all of society.

A country will never lose a part of itself for letting citizens be themselves. It will only be richer.

Friday, February 16, 2007

Mom, what's a tree?

My best memories from my childhood were of the time I spent outdoors camping with my family, going on hikes and learning all about the wonders of nature through the Scout movement.

Through scouting we learned to survive in the great outdoors, to leave a campsite cleaner then when we arrived but most of all we learned to care about our environment and the protection of it.

This is why I was concerned when I read in the Economist of young American's marked decline of interest in the great outdoors.

If young people do not learn about the wonders of nature it will be detrimental not only to their physical health but also to our earth. You cannot care about something you do not know.

As described in the Economist, efforts have been made by the American National Wildlife Federation to encourage parents and children to spend more time outdoors as well as the grassroots campaign, “No Child Left Inside”.

These ventures are encouraging signs but often these types of programs are only taken up by families that are already doing activities in the outdoors with their children.

As was reported by Unicef this past week children in the U.S. are almost at the bottom of the list of 21 of the world’s rich countries in terms of child poverty.

It is easy to say that parents should spend more time outside with their children but more difficult when faced with the reality of working multiple jobs, dealing with deteriorating family relationships and urban concentration of population.

Unfortunately, children are becoming masters of the concrete jungle and nature is miles away from their developing minds.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

A twisted truth

I did not know who Edward L. Bernays was or his importance until we watched Century of Self in my Alternative Voices class.

I found out he is the nephew of Sigmund Freud but he spent much of his life across the ocean in America.

He is one of those responsible for developing public relations, which he explained was propaganda but they could not call it that because of its association with Nazi Germany.

As with propaganda, he would help companies and government play to peoples irrational feelings or what Freud describes as the subconscious where the remnants of our animal instincts are which drives peoples behaviour.

This is very similar to what Naomi Klein describes in her book No Logo where the corporate world attaches an emotional connection to material things, making us believe we are not quite right until we have it.

Government and companies use these psychological techniques to control, in a sense, the minds of the masses. Ann Bernays, Edward's daughter, said her father thought everyone was stupid and would tell them so.

Are we stupid for buying into all of these lies? I think as the public we need to be more critical of our government and companies that are trying to appeal to us. I believe the key is to rid ourselves of desires that we sometimes mistake for needs.

This means not buying in to what is fed to us. It is difficult because our western society has bought into this material culture for so long. The combination of democracy and capitalism has been a powerful weapon shaping our society into the monster it is today.

This leaves us asking who we can trust. It is difficult to discern the good, the bad and the ugly because often things are somewhere in between.

I believe we need to design a political system which involves and truthfully informs all society. Part of this means teaching children at a young age about politics and propaganda.

Why did it take so long for me to find out about Bernays?

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Pre-emptive journalism

In a recent article in the New Statesman John Pilger outlines how he believes the US is setting up a war against Iran.

The US is stuck in a catch 22. They are under tremendous pressure from the oil lobby to wage a war and secure more reserves but if they go through with an attack on Iran the public is not prepared to back it. With election campaigns gathering steam parties need all of the votes they can get.

U.S. citizens are becoming increasingly critical of how money is being spent, especially with 12 billion dollars cash sent to Iraq completely untracked and lost, which garnered a lot of media attention this past week.

A war, in my opinion, is not imminent. The government coffers are overstretched, there is pressure from many fronts to pull out completely of Iraq and I do not believe the US government can fabricate a strong enough story to rally gullible citizens into believing Iran is a large enough threat to warrant an attack. Especially since the the myth of weapons of mass destruction has been thoroughly exposed.

However, John Pilger did not write this article in vain. He has written it because he is playing a role in convincing the public an attack in Iran is wrong. By comparing the United States set up of the war on Iran with the way they set up the war on Iraq Pilger manages to convince the reader that attacking Iran is the wrong choice.

I admire Pilger for his journalistic activism, and hope the evidence he has gathered does not pan out into the crime of war.

Ceci a plusieurs interprétations

Some of the most profound social change comes from the margins. Yet, often the margins are misunderstood until they become part of the mainstream. It is often difficult to believe or trust an idea or a way of thinking until many around us begin to and it becomes socially acceptable.

In the Alternative Voices class at Cardiff University we were presented with this image and asked how it relates to Alternative Voices.




Often we take ideas and thoughts for granted. It is not until someone presents us with an alternative that we see that there may be another way of understanding something.

When these new ideas are presented people react in different ways. What is new can be scary and unbelievable. It takes us out of our comfort zone.

This image is a reminder to have an open mind and to not judge something new to us too quickly. We must try and understand different perspectives on all issues to come to sound conclusions.