perceptions and misperceptions: theatre and the commission July 27, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : financial regulation, life , add a commentThis week I went to see The Transit of Venus by Eric Northey at the 24:7 Theatre Festival in Manchester (UK) (today is the last day of the festival). The play was described as
a very cerebral, intelligent piece of writing, which unfortunately results in an overly highbrow performance which lacks any real emotional engagement on the part of the audience.
It is an intelligent play, but I thought the issues it raises of the relationship between science and religion are more than just cerebral issues. And I am not sue this is just because I live in the USA where evolution sometimes gets to be so controversial. Anyway, I thought the characters were believable (I was most impressed by Nathan Morris).
I saw A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a Filter Theatre Company production, at the Royal Exchange. This was like no production of the play I have seen before – in a good way – it was extremely lively and very very funny, but at the same time the actors sometimes spoke the lines in new ways that made you think. It’s on until 4th August.
Meanwhile the Commission announced that it would be changing the EU’s market abuse rules to deal with manipulation of key benchmarks (and there are proposed new provisions for the proposed regulation and for the proposed directive). No public consultation on this – the deliberations on the main measures are ongoing and have been for some time, and in one sense the changes may seem relatively small. and it allows the Commission to seem to be acting quickly to restore confidence.
another non-profit voting scheme requires facebook (or stayclassy) account July 17, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : life , 1 comment so farAt the end of last month it was Mission:Small Business, now the Classy Awards will only accept votes from people with facebook or Stayclassy accounts.
facebook account required to vote in mission:small business program June 29, 2012
Posted by Bradley in : life , add a commentI received a notification that a small business I have dealt with had applied for support under the Mission: Small Business program run by Chase and Living Social (and they have produced a credit card together also). The deadline to vote is tomorrow, but in order to vote for a business to receive a grant you need to have a facebook account, which I don’t have (JP Morgan was one of the underwriters of the facebook ipo).
Looking at the JP Morgan Chase website it is striking how much CSR is going on. The 2011 Annual Report states:
We also continued our support of communities. We raised $68 billion for not-for-profits and public services. And we hired more than 3,000 military veterans as a proud founding member of the 100,000 Jobs Mission.
The amount of money donated is smaller. The Chairman’s letter states:
In 2011, JPMorgan Chase contributed more than $200 million directly to community organizations and local not-for-profits. Our employees also provided nearly 375,000 hours of volunteer service through our Good Works program in local communities.
That’s considerably less than the billions of dollars of recent derivatives-related losses.
international literacy day September 8, 2011
Posted by Bradley in : life , add a commentOn this international literacy day UNESCO focuses on the links between literacy and peace.
a green and pleasant land July 10, 2011
Posted by Bradley in : life , add a commentHow much pleasanter will the UK be without the News of the World? Perhaps a bit until the Sunday Sun (not a cynical replacement for the News of the World) comes online. It’s a bit greener: this new map of the UK produced by the Center for Ecology and Hydrology is pretty green. And the UK cuts are forcing some new green behaviour: to save money on landfill tax Councils are encouraging residents to separate food waste from other waste. Some councils seem to have a more aggressive attitude than others to policing whether waste is put in the right places.
friday miscellany June 10, 2011
Posted by Bradley in : life , add a commentSimon Jenkins on Grayling’s folly (nb Grayling complains about reactions to the idea); Frank Turner (England Keep My Bones); lobbying as corruption in disguise; European fish week.
vatican’t deal with the 21st century September 15, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : life , comments closedVia the BBC, on reports that said that Cardinal Walter Kasper said that arriving at Heathrow airport was like landing in a “Third World” country:
Vatican sources said …. his “Third World” comment referred to the UK’s multicultural society.
And that is supposed to make it better?
tree house September 7, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : life , comments closed
It seems the neighbours object.
taking advantage of relationships May 24, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : life , comments closedIt’s a pity the Duchess of York couldn’t get this job.
moment of incomprehension February 2, 2010
Posted by Bradley in : life , comments closedAs I’m doing the morning school run this morning I’m listening to a woman on the radio explaining her belief that people (the government) should not be able to take money away from some people to spend on other people, and I drive into a large hole that seems to have opened up in the road since yesterday (well, it’s not entirely new but suddenly much deeper – we have had a lot of rain the last few days). And I think about what it would be like to live in a world where you only got access to the roads you could pay for, or the health care, or the clean water, or the police protection you could pay for ………