A bank you could count on

Since they got their snouts severely bitten by something nasty in the sub-prime trough commercial banks have been finding ways to pass on the punishment for their greedy and imprudent conduct to ordinary people. So many of the nefarious things that they do are ‘industry wide’ moves. They act as an informal cartel. There is, admittedly, cut throat competition - to see who can get the most money from people like you and me. This avaricious and profit-bloated ‘industry’ competes only to the extent of how long standing customers can be cheated of fair rates of interest on their savings, hit with outrageous charges and provided with low quality services. The ‘services’ include: opening hours that suit themselves, lunchtime queues in deliberately understaffed branches, the absence of receipts when making deposits, compulsory use of call centres. No doubt dear reader you could add to this from your own rich, or not now so rich, experience. There is a desperate need for a real alternative operating on near-forgotten principles of service with fairness and responsibility. The great city in which I live once offered such a service in the form of the Birmingham Municipal Bank.

Many citizens lament its loss (and still cherish their ageing passbooks). This is why I have frequently proposed its re-establishment. Following my suggestion, the Council re-acquired the old headquarters building on Broad Street a few years ago. I had something else in mind at the time, but it would have made a great place for a new start for a new Municipal Bank. There are, or were some fine rooms inside as well as the main banking hall. The vaults and strong room and safe deposit boxes were still there when I got shown round three years ago.

The idea would be to offer fair and consistent rates for saving, to encouraging thrift (even explaining what this is to some younger people today) and discouraging the profligacy and living-beyond-means encouraged by the financial industry that is so rampant in today’s society. The mottoes inside reflect virtues of not so long ago that would be worth re-adopting today. For example: "Saving is the Mother of Riches" and "Thrift radiates Happiness". I admit the language is heavily Victorian but the underlying message would be news today - you get wealthy by saving (in a trustworthy institution) and you don’t have to be miserable while you’re doing it!
Alas, the City Council re-sold the building (at a profit) so it’s no longer available. But there are plenty of alternatives, especially as the Council is going to drastically reduce the number of buildings that it occupies. Furthermore, a Birmingham Municipal Bank could keep both money and jobs in the city and be the means through which the oft-suggested ‘Brummie Bonds’ could be issued to allow ordinary folk to support civic projects (the Town Hall restoration would have been a good example) while offering a secure return.

There are flies in this healing ointment. Government legislation in 2000 made the establishment of civic banks more difficult (Municipal Banks still exist in name in a few other local authorities but they offer only very limited services to their own staff). The Government has an exclusive focus on access to credit and such like ‘financial services’. The Treasury was supposed to be considering a ‘Universal Bank’ but this, whatever it meant, seems to have sunk without trace. What I am on about here is saving and fair, and comprehensible rates of interest rather than shifty packages (where loyalty is penalised with craftily cut rates and spurious ‘tracking’). This would all be complementary to existing Credit Unions which perform valuable if small scale services. And while it is true that the commercial banks could attempt to stifle such an initiative with anti-competitive practices, I’m sure that these could be overcome and they would be far better to start mending their ways.

Indeed Birmingham could lead the way again - just as it did in the early days of commercial banking. We are often told that the City should distinguish itself. What better way than by knocking aside the obstacles and putting people first with the re-establishment of our own Municipal Bank?

Twelve Minute Beowulf!

It’s here at last! The ‘executive’ version of Beowulf - much more economical of your time than the Hollywood version! As promised in an earlier posting on this blog, the performance of Shire Productions dramatisation of Beowulf is now available on YouTube in two parts. The heroic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf was adapted and produced by my wife Vivienne Wilkes, who leads Shire Productions ( http://www.shireproductions.co.uk/ ). Filming and production of the video was by Roger Cunningham. The outdoor performances were in the historic setting of Moseley Bog as part of Birmingham's Middle-earth weekend in May.

The adaptation is unique and suitable for production by other groups. If any group is interested in the script, contact vivienne Wilkes through the Shire Productions website. The tale itself is in two parts - when Beowulf was young and fought Grendel and many years later when he engaged in a to-the-death fight with a dragon. Incidentally there is a very good professional Icelandic production (in English) available on DVD - Beowulf and Grendel. Recommended. Meanwhile, if you’ve twelve minutes to spare, I hope you enjoy our own modest efforts! To view the video, go to the YouTube site and in the YouTube search box on the site key in: testmatch beowulf

News on the Web

A bit more on the theme of sites that, in my opinion, are well worth a visit on the web. I suggest having a look at the website of what I consider to be the finest newspaper in the world - the New York Times. The site is at: http://www.nytimes.com/

Lest I be accused of disloyalty, let me say that The Times of London is not the newspaper it once was. It has been sadly degraded under Murdoch control. There has been a coarsening of the writing and there’s a lot of ‘in your face’ sub editing which, alas, fits with the tabloid format. This is even more true of the garishly coloured Sunday Times where half the articles seem to have been written by graduates or dropouts from the Jeremy Clarkson School of Journalism. Our other serious nationals have their merits, notably the positioning of The Guardian and The Independent (though I wish this would alter its single topic front page). Personally, my daily papers are The Birmingham Post (always) and The Daily Telegraph (most days). The Post is essential for Birmingham news and has an outstanding website at: http://www.birminghampost.net/

My usual choice of national daily surprises friends who know my position on the political spectrum. Let me explain. You have to know how to use the Telegraph. You need to use the editorials sparingly if at all although the economic comment can be entertaining, quaintly monetarist as it is. You soon get to know which of the opinion articles are the most poisonous and can chew safely on the remaining occasional mushroom. Have a laugh at the odd slanted report cast in touchingly artless terms attempting to cull Lib-Dem votes. Then have another laugh (as intended this time) at Matt’s cartoons - the best there are. Then you’re left with 80-85% of the paper which has very good reportage and concise writing. That’s the way to do it. And it’s still a broadsheet - and yes, packaging and print size do matter.

Personally I think newspapers should ditch their editorials and opinion pieces and just use blog sites if these individuals want to pontificate - just like you and me! Their sense of self importance, however, will no doubt forbid. My ideal would be national printed BBC type newspaper. Here I mean the BBC as it was before the messing about with hideous and hideously expensive, cod managerialism took hold.

Meanwhile we’re back to the New York Times. What’s so good about it? Writing, journalism and coverage for three things. A reporting staff of 1100 or so is less then there once were but it’s so much better than the competition. So is the writing - informed, serious minded, usually fairly detached and in a style of English (take no note of the occasional irrelevant spelling difference) that has been consistently good for decades and reminds me of how good our own Times once was. It’s polite too - none of the coarseness we often have to endure here. And, I almost forgot, the tone is liberal! Coverage is immense so if it’s international or, for that matter, just European news you are interested in you’ll probably find more in the New York Times than our nationals.

You can sample NYT journalism this in printed form (at the rather high price of £1.30) in issues of The International Herald Tribune (which is the New York Times abroad, with extensive international coverage) available in the City Centre or at Solihull newsagents. The IHT also has a good website at http://www.iht.com/

If you are in the United States (plunging pound permitting) you might also like the size of the paper - almost broadsheet in length but narrower - a bit like a stretched Guardian. So there you have the essence of it - hope you enjoy as much as I do.

Space on the Web!

On my main website at: http://www.michaelwilkes.mycouncillor.org.uk/

I’ve put a number of direct links to other websites. These are concerned mainly with matters of local interest to Hall Green and Birmingham as a whole, helpful organisations and national factors that affect people locally. Beyond this of course our high tech quality of life is enhanced by the wide range of interesting sites on the web. From time to time in this blog I’ll pick out a site or two that interest me in the hope that they may also be of interest you.

The first of these is the US space agency NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory site that, amongst more earthly concerns such as the study of climate, gives the very latest news and pictures from all current NASA missions. Since my main space interest is planetary astronomy, the three I’ll pick out are the Phoenix lander mission to Mars, the Dawn mission to the asteroid belt and my personal favourite the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn.

There are some excellent photos of Martian soil and above all ice studied by the Phoenix lander. The study is important in understanding the geology of mars and in terms of the possibility of micro-organisms past or present and providing information for future missions. The Dawn mission will investigate two of the major asteroids (proto-planets) - minor planets as they used to be known - Vesta and Ceres. It is about three years to first encounter (Vesta) with these previously unseen worlds.

The Cassini mission investigates Saturn, its rings and satellites and has returned both stunning pictures and information especially on its large moon Titan (which has an atmosphere denser than ours and lakes of ethane) and the moon Enceladus from which sub-surface materials including water gush out into space and can be analysed. A landing was made on Titan by the associated European Huygens lander that returned excellent pictures as it descended and from the surface. These and much more on the JPL site at: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/

and the European Space Agency site at: http://www.esa.int/

And there’s a Hall Green connection too! We are lucky enough to have internationally renowned space artist David Hardy amongst our residents. David’s website at: http://www.hardyart.demon.co.uk/

has some wonderful images and imaginings of all the planets (and some interesting images on a DVD of Hall Green too!)

Just as a tailpiece, here’s a tricky space question:
What was the heaviest rocket ever to get off the ground?

Answer:
No, surprisingly, not the great Saturn 5 (the best launch vehicle ever built in my book) which launched the Apollo missions but the ill-fated Soviet rival, the N1. This question is a bit of a trick since (a) while the launch weight of the Saturn was a bit less than the N1 it could put more into orbit and (b) the multi-engined N1 never got more than a minute and a bit into flight before exploding.

The N1 was never tested thoroughly enough and I sometimes wonder if the aggressive Russian leader Vladimir Putin might resuscitate the N1 (if they’ve kept the plans - alas the Americans destroyed the Saturn blueprints on grounds of security, a decision they came to regret in the light of the space shuttle). For more on the N1, Google ‘N1 Rocket’ the Wikipedia reference gives all the gen and there’s a YouTube video of an N1 launch!

Something you can bank on!

Commercial banks’ reported increases in profits extracted from British customers are a disgraceful way to get back money they lost with imprudent investments and reckless lending. They are all up to it. It is another industry wide phenomenon. If there was anything resembling genuine, service based competition it could not be happening. This greedy and anti-social industry competes only to the extent of how long-standing customers can be cheated of fair rates of interest on their savings, hit by outrageous charges and palmed off with low quality services in understaffed branches. There is a desperate need for a real alternative operating on near-forgotten principles of service with fairness and responsibility - principles discarded by today’s banking barrow boys. But wait! I take back that comparison; it’s an insult to the fruit and veg. trade.
The great city of Birmingham once offered a trustworthy banking service in the form of the Municipal Bank. Many citizens lament its loss and still cherish their old passbooks. I would like to see the establishment of a new Municipal Bank offering fair and consistent rates for ordinary savers, encouraging thrift and discouraging the practice of living on tick so rampant in today’s society and, until caught out, so profitable for bloated bankers.
A Municipal Bank could create money and jobs in Birmingham and be the means through which City Bonds could be issued to allow ordinary folk to support civic projects while offering a secure return. It is true that the banks could and probably would attempt to stifle such an initiative with anti-competitive practices. These could be overcome, and perhaps the exodus of customers would lead some banks to start mending their ways. Birmingham could lead the way as it did in the early days of commercial banking. This is why I have been campaigning for the return of a genuine Municipal Bank (they exist in name for very restricted services to council staff in some other authorities) even though the Government has made this even more difficult since 2000.
We have seen and heard enough to be sure that unless they are forced to do so, banks, like many other services, will not reform of their own accord. To get back to services that put ordinary people first, my view is that direct intervention is needed and that there is no better way to start to do this than via a Municipal Bank. It is sometimes asserted that such a move should be opposed because competition from a publicly owned bank would be unfair to the rest. But an effect on the rest is precisely what is needed and long overdue. The rest have not been afraid to be unfair to the public.
Creeping cartelisation is also a feature of other so-called competitive industries - witness the power companies and their outrageous leapfrogging price hikes. Regulators range from inadequate to useless, and toothless consumer groups are simply ignored. Unmitigated ‘competition’, meaning little more than a profit-grabbing free-for-all, is past its sell by date.
Going beyond banks, if such sectors had a publicly owned firm acting as an exemplar, treating people in a fair, respectful, honest and straightforward fashion this would introduce competition that is socially worthwhile. It would offer security and fairness to ordinary people, presently abused by commercial predators pedalling complex and confusing ‘products’ designed to deceive. Commerce should not be a morality free zone, nor need it be if there was confident, principled intervention.

Beowulf in Birmingham

Earlier this year, I thoroughly enjoyed taking part in Shire Productions' dramatisation of the heroic Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf. This was adapted and produced by my wife Vivienne, who leads Shire Productions ( http://www.shireproductions.co.uk/ ) We gave six performances, out of doors in the historic setting of Moseley Bog as part of Birmingham's Middle-earth weekend (here I use JRR Tolkien's preferred spelling) in May.

The adaptation is unique and suitable for production by other groups. For those who know the tale, it is in two parts - when Beowulf was young and fought Grendel and much much later when he was, shall we say, somewhat more mature and fought a dragon. No prizes for guessing which Beowulf I played!

We are hoping at some point in the future to post a short video of our interpretation of Beowulf once technical issues are resolved. More information can be found on this and other productions on the Shire Productions website.

Getting Started!

Welcome to my personal blog! I intend this to be a complement to my website at www.michaelwilkes.mycouncillor.org.uk As well as highly topical local news from my part of the world - and reactions to events, the blog will cover an extended range of items that are of particular interest to me - and hopefully some other people too. See you around!