EclectEcon

This Is Dessert?

At a restaurant in Prenton on the Wirral.

An Uneasy Juxtaposition

A butcher and a transplant storefront (with a photographer's entrance between the two):

in Ayr, Scotland.

Let's Face It: Georgian Architecture Is Boring

The city of Bath in the UK prides itself on the sameness of the architecture of all its buildings. Many refer to Bath as a quintessential example of Georgian architecture; in fact, if you go to the Wikipedia entry for Georgian architecture, one of the photos you will see is of The Royal Crescent in Bath.



But Bath takes things to impressive, ridiculous, boring extremes. Building owners must use only white paint on the window trim [exceptions are permitted for the ground floor of businesses in most places, and some window trim seemed to be more on the creamy side of white than pure white]. Also, the buildings must have either Bath limestone or (more recently) similar limestone exteriors. And the roofs must be slate or slate-coloured. So everything looks alike. Just look at these photos, each one taken in a different location in Bath.







Interesting architecture. I might even say it is fascinating, stupendous, or amusing to have an entire town done up in such similar architecture. And as Tim Worstall recommended, just walking around the streets of Bath is a great experience (well, except maybe on weekend evenings when the younger crowd seem to take over).



There are, of course, a few minor exceptions to the basic rules. First, the backs of the buildings do not have the same degree of sameness as the facads. Also, O'Neill's pub near the Roman Bath has blue trim, not white, on the windows on the upper levels:



When I asked them about it, they said they had special permission because blue is their official colour. But I am skeptical. Flan O'Brien's, just down the street, doesn't have green trim on the upper windows. Also, the O'neill's pub in Mayfair doesn't have blue trim on the windows on the upper floors.

There were a couple of other minor exceptions as well. A brick building near the river,







and a few businesses down a side street:





Lest you receive the wrong impression: I think this insistence on the maintenance of similarity in architecture is admirable, interesting, and worth seeing; but it is still boring. Nevertheless, despite the boredom of the architecture, I had a terrific time in Bath and will almost certainly want to revisit the city.

British Letterboxes: Edward VII

Several people in Bath told me that there had never been any love lost between Queen Victoria and the people of Bath. Supporting evidence of this view is that while I was in Bath, I so no mailboxes with "VR" on them, despite having seen several of them in other towns. I did, however, come across several mailboxes with E-VII-R on them, placed during the reign of Victoria's son, Edward VII, in the early 20th century.

By the time I left England, I still had not seen any mailboxes with ER VIII on them, even though I guess at least one exists.



And from a distance, I continued to mistake these things for mailboxes:







Fortunately, I never tried to mail a letter in one of them.

A Study in Contrasts

In a shop window in the Mayfair District of London:

At the Carnegie Library in Ayr, Scotland:







Notice the padded backrest in the lower model. I confess to having looked for a pistol behind the tank [cf Godfather I].



.



And while we're on the subject of toilets, here is an amusing sign on the public facilities in Newhaven, UK.



.



Addendum: At the Cliffs of Moher in western Ireland:

Disequilibrium, Equilibrium, and Flexible Exchange Rates

Many years ago, while I was talking with an esteemed colleague, I said something about some market's being out of equilibrium. He reacted pretty strongly, saying that if a market appears to be out of equilibrium then I hadn't taken into account all the relevant variables. Good advice.



So what is happening with prices in Canada and the U.S. now that the U.S. price of a Canadian Loonie has risen to about 94cents? Back when the U.S. price of the Canuck Buck was 84 cents, prices of goods seemed to pretty much reflect purchasing power parity, and there wasn't a tonne of cross-border shopping. But now goods from the U.S. are so much cheaper. Manufacturers in Canada are finding it harder to sell their products in the U.S., and many more Canadians are engaging in cross-border shopping. I find it much more attractive, myself, to order things from the U.S. than from Canada.



As an example, consider any item listed at both Amazon.com and Amazon.ca. A year ago, the price spread was off-putting, but not so much as to keep me from ordering things now and then from Amazon.ca, especially since the Amazon.com free shipping offer for large orders does not apply to shipments to Canada. But now, even without free shipping on larger orders, most things are much cheaper when ordered from Amazon.com instead of Amazon.ca. Prices in Canada and the U.S. simply are not adjusting to the shifts in supply and demand that follow from the recent, sizable jump in the U.S. price of the Canadian Loonie.



In a model of purchasing power parity in a flexible exchange rate regime, one would expect that the prices of goods and the prices of currencies would adjust so that the same book would cost the same for me to buy in either Canada or the U.S. But prices and exchange rates simply are not adjusting that quickly. Books still have Canadian prices stamped on them that are maybe 30 - 50 percent higher (nominally) than the U.S. prices.



Of course many other things determine prices and exchange rates (try oil and other resource price swings, inflationary expectations, political uncertainties, etc.), but if the prices stay the way they are, also look for Amazon.ca to have to lower its prices eventually. Also look for Chapters-Indigo to have to lower its prices, too. If they don't, watch for some outlets to close.



But these changes do not happen overnight or instantaneously. Rather, it takes time for customers to adjust to purchasing things from different sources. And it takes time for many merchants to adjust their prices to new market realities.



It is easy for us to draw the graphs and shift the curves, but we are not price searchers in an uncertain world; these movements do not happen automagically and immediately without decision-makers contemplating them and trying to reformulate their own expectations. Retail merchants, though, should be seeing these changes on the horizon and making plans now to deal with them.

Is This Anything Like Cow-Tipping?

But then it isn't even clear to me that cow-tipping actually happens.

The South Downs

One Tuesday in late May while I was in England, I decided to go for a walk on The South Downs, just west of Eastbourne. The Downs stretch a long ways, and there are many trails to take that are gorgeous, with nice views and pleasant breezes. Here is a view of The Downs (those hills in the distance) from my apartment window in Bader Hall at Herstmonceux Castle.



As I was walking up one of the paths to The Downs, I turned around and could see the old Newton Observatory, along with several smaller observatory domes at the Science Centre, all of which are located on the Castle grounds at Herstmonceux. Bader Hall is barely visible as a low brownish brick building to the left in this photo. [You will probably have to click on this photo to see the domes, etc.]







One of my favourite activities when walking is to take a break and fly a small parafoil kite that I carry with me. It has no frame, is sturdy, and it rolls up into a very small package that is easy to carry around. Here it is, in the air over The South Downs.

This type of kite needs a fairly strong and steady wind, but there is something idyllic about sending it up, lying on the grass, and dreaming....



I had been just over this hill when I was flying the kite.

And, of course, there are the usual sheep everywhere.

Bath Tours

When I was in Bath several weeks ago, one thing that made the visit so nice was the tours.



When I first arrived, the proprietress at the B&B where I was staying strongly recommended that I take the Mayor's "free" guided walking tour. She was right. Giles, the guide when I took the tour, was fascinating and knowledgeable. He probably spent way too much time lecturing and not enough time walking and guiding for most people, but I loved his presentation and his wry sense of humour. His tour was so good on Friday evening, that I almost went back to take it again on Saturday evening.

Giles, at the door of Bath Abbey



The next day, I toured the Roman Baths.





The self-paced audio tour that was provided, along with the admission fee, was absolutely fantastic. Being able to listen to as much or as little as you wish, and to do so at your own pace is wonderful [but the added commentary from Bill Bryson really isn't worth the time it takes to listen to it -- self-indulgent and uninformative -- skip it]. It reminded me a bit of the very high quality audio tour at The Royal Pavilion in Brighton.



The Grand Bath and the Temple Bath

Opposites in English English

The Downs are really "ups" — hills. Jacquie told me that historically, the word "down" is a variant of "dune", which seems plausible.



The Fells are really "rises" — plateaus between which the dales have been carved by streams over time.



Both the South Downs, between Eastbourne and Brighton, and the Yorkshire Fells are amazingly spectacular places. I am confident that if there were a god*, these places would be part of heaven.



*note the subjunctive mood, implying a statement contrary to fact, which reveals just how close to atheism my agnosticism really is.

A Hunting Lodge in the Country

Knole is a part of the National Trust in the UK. It is basically a huge country home, built shortly after Hertmonceux Castle was built, for use by members of the royal family. Even though it was near London, moving the royal household there overland must have been quite a chore back when it was first built.





To be honest, I found Knole to be less-than-scintillating. Perhaps the weather influenced my mood, though. It was raining, so walking outside wasn't much fun, and there was no way to sit outside and have tea from their tearoom. And I'm just not turned on by displays of 300 different portraits of royalty and their friends or displays of 17 million different chairs, all in a dark hallway (dark to protect the original upholstery). On their website, they say,

In order to protect Knole's fragile and rare textiles, light of all kinds is carefully controlled. This restricts opening hours of the show rooms – last entry 3:30

but if they really mean that, they should be open in the evenings and closed from 11am until 4pm. More likely, the real reason they close early is that Knole is staffed almost entirely by volunteers, who are more likely to be available for work during the day than in the evenings.



Overall, I'm glad I went, but I'd give it a miss in the future.



Way back when, deer were imported to Knole for the residents and their guests to hunt now and then. It looked to me as if it would be more like target practice than hunting, though, if the deer then were as tame as these:





The whole time I was there, I kept humming the tune I learned back in grade 3 for this little ditty:



The hunter would a-hunting go,

And on his back he carried a bow

All for to shoot the merry little doe,

Among the leaves so green-oh.

Canada's Morphing Labour Force

Canada's manufacturing labour force has declined by over 11% in the past three years. Nevertheless, our unemployment rate is as low as it has been for decades and income per capita has continued to grow. The reason? Growth in high-paying jobs, especially in the oil patch but also in the finance and insurance industries. Steve Poloz has the details:

Nearly 260,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since May 2004, a drop of 11.2%. Manufacturing output has fallen only 0.7% in the same three years, implying that average productivity per worker is up, but that is no consolation for the unemployed. Meanwhile, since May 2004, the non-manufacturing economy has created 1.1 million new jobs – which means that, after taking account of manufacturing job losses, the economy has added 860,000 new jobs.



Some treat non-manufacturing jobs with scepticism, describing them as part-time, low-paying and less value-creating than manufacturing jobs. These concerns are clearly worth examining.



First, consider the part-time/full-time split of the employment growth that has occurred. Of the 860,000 jobs created on net between May 2004 and May 2007, 750,000 are full-time, an increase of 5.8%. Part-time jobs are up 3.8%, so the share of full-time jobs is rising, not falling.



Second, consider the claim that new non-manufacturing jobs do not pay as well as the lost manufacturing jobs. The average manufacturing wage in Canada is about $936 per week, which is good money. Manufacturers of durable goods earn more, $978, while non-durables workers earn $851. What about the new jobs? Construction jobs are up by 187,000, and weekly wages are $919. Jobs in mining and oil and gas are up over 63,000 and pay $1,386 per week. Those two categories alone are roughly enough to replace the high-paying manufacturing jobs that have been lost since May 2004....



Of course, there have been new jobs created in the service sector of the economy as well. Finance and insurance are up by 108,000, at $985 per week. Professional and technical jobs are up 101,000, with an average wage of $978 per week. Education and health care have added 232,000 positions, at pay rates of $700-800 per week. And there are some 250,000 new jobs in retail trade, wholesale trade and the hospitality sector, where there is a wide range of salaries, but most of which would be quite a bit lower than those in the manufacturing sector.



Even a cursory glance at these numbers can explain why Canadian income growth has been strong despite the losses of manufacturing jobs. The claim, made by some, that non-manufacturing jobs are less value-creating....



The bottom line? The Canadian manufacturing sector has a good future, but it will look different from what it does today. The share of total employment in fabrication is declining, as in other countries, and as it has done for the last 50 years. The key is to ensure that both companies and workers have the tools they need to help them adapt to these challenging conditions.

I would add that they also need flexibility to adapt, and an important part of that flexibility comes with freedom from burdensome gubmnt restrictions that impede the flow of resources, especially labour, from declining to growing sectors of the economy.

The UK Office of the European Parliament: Bureaucracy at Work

One of the many field trips that I tagged along on during my brief teaching stint at Herstmonceux Castle was to The UK office of the European Parliament. There we listened to a very bright person tell us why the EU is so good and all that it is doing for the UK.



I.e., that office is a public relations outlet for bureaucrats to explain why their bureaus should be enlarged. Surprise, surprise.



[shades of William Niskanen's theory that the goal of bureaucrats is to maximize the size of their bureaux].



When I left our session there, I strolled through St. James Park, across a footbridge. What a beautiful place! The Chauffeur says this scene reminds her of a fairy-tale castle.

The Burlington Arcade

The Burlington Arcade is a famous shopping arcade in London that runs for a block just north of The Ritz and on the eastern edge of the Mayfair district. It was fun to walk through just because I've seen it in several movies and television shows.

While strolling through the arcade, I saw shirts in various shop windows that really caught my fancy. Finally, I went into one to ask the price: £60 (or about $130 Cdn), which isn't all that unreasonable for high-end men's clothing stores, say, in Yorkville (an upscale clothing district in Trono).

At another shop, I went in to see about getting a new luggage tag for an athletic travel bag I had just purchased. The clerk said that yes, indeed, they had quite a selection to choose from, and showed me the same style of leather luggage tag in about ten different colours.

How much are they?

£29 (i.e. roughly $65 Cdn, or about three times what I had paid for the bag).

Oh, I think I must be shopping in the wrong section of town?

Why is that?

I had in mind something with ASDA prices (ASDA is owned by Wal-Mart).

And so I ended up with this luggage tag from a souvenir store:

EclectEcon:Cameras::Blues Brothers:Police Cars

It all started less than a year ago. I had nice, handy Minolta digital camera that I carried everywhere in my shirt pocket. While wading, I leaned over and dropped it into the Irish Sea.



Then I dropped my first Canon 750 into our hot tub.



Next, a little over a week ago, I was carrying my second Canon 750 in my pocket when, as happened several times before, something bumped the on-off switch, turning the camera on (and, unfortunately, opening and extending the lens away from the camera body). It seems that the heavy bag I was carrying on my shoulder then smashed into the camera in my pocket, destroying the mechanism. Another camera bit the dust.



Results:

1. all my photos from Yorkshire and from the Eastbourne hospital were taken on my cell phone (low resolution).
2. I think I will wait awhile before purchasing yet another piñata digital camera. I really want quality photographs, portability, and convenience, but I guess I have to alter my lifestyle even more in my use of a small digital camera. I had already stopped carrying it in my shirt pocket, having lost two of them into the water from my shirt pocket. But carrying the camera in my pants pocket is how I destroyed the last one.

Maybe I just need to take a bit more time to think about different options at different times. I'm not too good at that, it seems.

The Duke LaCrosse Case

I initially figured, "Yup, rich kids of privilege; athletes. They did it." Obviously, in canceling the remainder of last year's season, the president of Duke agreed with me.



Then I started reading things indicating there were holes in the prosecution's case. Big holes. But I never read much about it; and I never followed the details.



Here is a tidy summary from the NYTimes. I must say, no DNA match looks more like "innocent" than just "not guilty" to me.

Those Folks in California Sure Are Smart

I recently bought a very basic Garmin e-trex GPS locator, which is a really fun toy and great tool for hikers. It gets great reviews, and I will surely be writing more about it in the future.

But this brief posting was spurred by a warning label attached to the front of the toy/tool:

WARNING: This product contains lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects and other reproductive harm.

Why would they word a warning about lead that way? Was it something specific in California legislation that caused them to use that wording? Or was it just written by someone who thinks Californians are deserving butts of other people's humour?







Update: Rebekah writes:

Funny, you're the second person I've read today to comment on that little snot-nosed offspring of prop. 65. From Christian Probasco's article, California Looms, posted @ New West:

Many business and products in California have Proposition 65 warning labels affixed to them, warning the ever-unsuspecting public of the dangers of grocery produce, nail polish, solvents, oil, gasoline, you name it. Businesses which fail to post the proper signage can face fines of $2500 per day. Freelance journalist Donald Melanson noted the following label on his computer’s mouse:



“The cord on this product contains lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling.”

More Observations from the Hospital

• Question: do you have any allergies?
  
  Yes, I'm allergic to chicken liver. One of the physicians caught on and agreed that he was, too.
  
  
• Question: are you presently taking any drugs?
  
  Yes, I take about ten placebos -- vitamin C, a multivitamin, ....

The food at Eastbourne General was the worst I have ever tasted in a hospital. It might have been me, but I don't think so. It was perhaps on a par with the food I remember from having been hospitalized 50 years ago in Michigan, and it was certainly worse than what I remember from University Hospital in London, Ontario, in the late 1970s. I question whether it was very nutritious.

e.g. Breakfast was a choice from one of two cold cereals or white toast, plus juice.

e.g. Supper was an alleged ham sandwich with the thinnest slice of ham I've ever seen, again on white bread, with soup (which I wasn't in the mood for) and ice cream that had been melted and refrozen several times.

blech.

Britain's National Health Service - the NHS: Some Unintended First-Hand Observations

When I arrived at the hospital last Monday morning, I was treated immediately. The on-call urologist explained things to me carefully and performed what seemed like logical tests to identify the problem and speed a diagnosis and treatment plan.



Later that day, I was informed that they (I never quite knew who, I was so doped up) had decided to blast the kidney stone to break it up so it would pass easily, and that I would be discharged until they could bring me in as an out-patient to do the blasting.



Hmmm. That didn't seem like such a great plan to me. First, I was planning to return to Canada the next Wednesday and would need an appointment well before then. Second, I wasn't too eagre to be walking around with this stone if it was likely to cause that much agony time and again.



It turns out that blasting time is a VERY scarce commodity, either because of a shortage of time on the blasting machine or because of a shortage of time with the consulting urologist. However, they managed to squeeze me in the next day for a blasting. I was grateful for that.



As I was being prepped for a preliminary electro-cardiogram on Tuesday afternoon, suddenly a doctor I'd never seen before (he turned out to be the chief/consulting urologist) came rushing into the ward and started ripping off the patches that had just been stuck onto my hairy chest. He said,

No ECG. We just have time on the machine now, and we'll lose it if we don't get down there right now.

So we went barreling through the halls, and they rushed me up onto the table. Then I overheard them say there were two stones: one in the kidney, which was causing no problem at the moment and the other, which they were going after. I raised a bit of a stink that they weren't going after both while I was there, but they said they simply didn't have time to do them both.



Wow. Acute care is fine, but preventive care isn't. The consulting urologist then told me I should get back to Canada as soon as possible. I felt as if he was feeding me a line about several things, mostly just to get me patched up enough to travel and then out of there.



A colleague at the castle complained to me yesterday that he has had kidney pain for several months and that the NHS doctors consistently try to give him a pill and send him away. He says he asks for kidney tests, and they say that he doesn't need them yet because his problem isn't serious enough to warrant them!



He was given the names of some private clinics that would do the tests if he really wanted them, but the tests would cost over $1000. He was quite upset, arguing that his taxes should cover the tests. My reaction: at least you have a private option; in Canada I'm not sure we do.



Overall, I was pleased with the initial treatment and diagnosis. Also, admission and discharge were extremely quick and simple -- no forms to fill out, no endless string of questions about who my insurer is, etc. But I was disappointed with the lack of follow-up and explanation as time went on.



And upon reflection, I am not so sure that this is a completely horrible way to run a "social safety net" kind of health care system. In effect, it says, "We will look after you if the condition is really desperate, but otherwise you're on your own." The incentives are a little screwed up, though, in that some people choose to wait until they're really desperate ("Hey, I paid my taxes and the NHS had better look after me!") rather than pay out of their own pockets for earlier care in the private market. Surely there must be private insurance available to cover the private segment of the market, but I didn't hear anything about it from my colleagues.



For more on health economics and insurance, see Brian Ferguson's blog, A Canadian Econoview. His recent postings here and here are well worth reading.

Light Blogging Explanation

Seven hours after returning from a wonderful weekend hiking in the Yorkshire moors and fells, I had to go to the hospital because of some kidney stones, my first ever experience with such a medical condition. It hasn't been a pleasant few days, but the worst seems to be over now. I'll be cutting short my stay here in the UK and returning to Canada this weekend.

Teen Pregnancies and Abortions Down in Canada

Last month, the Trono Globe and Mail reported that teens are still having as much sex as they ever had, but that teen pregnancies and teen abortions have declined dramatically.

The number of unwanted pregnancies among adolescents and young adults has fallen principally because they are using birth control, said Alex McKay, research co-ordinator at the Sex Information and Education Council of Canada, and author of the study.



"It's due to greater contraceptive use, not teens having less sex," he said.



... The research, published in today's edition of The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, shows that the teen pregnancy rate in Canada fell to 32.1 per 100,000 population in 2003 from 53.9 per 100,000 in 1974.



During the same period, the teen abortion rate increased to 17.1 per 100,000 from 13.9 per 100,000. However, the number of teens having abortions has fallen steadily since 1994.

I have to wonder how much of a role welfare reform played in these trends. If teens knew that raising infants on welfare would not be easy, it must have deterred some of them from becoming pregnant.

Pricing and Risk at a Bed and Breakfast

I just returned from a glorious weekend in Settle, North Yorkshire, where I spent a considerable amount of time walking on the fells/downs. While I was there, I stayed at a small B&B called Burn Lodge. Mrs. Hutchinson, the proprietress served excellent breakfasts, and was even willing to serve me as early as 6am so I could get on early start on my walking jaunts. Also, it was very inexpensive, in part because there is no internet connection and in part because the bathroom is shared with the other guest(s).



But while I was there, there were no other guests. The bathroom was private for my own use (the proprietress lives upstairs). This situation made the room worth more to me than it would have been, had there been other guests in the other guest room on the lower level.



I wondered whether it would be possible for B&Bs to initiate conditional pricing: £24 if there are other guests sharing the bathroom, and £ 29 if you are the only guest using the bathroom. I would certainly be willing to pay more for a private bath (and even more for an en suite), but imagine trying to specify a conditional contract that would set out these prices and conditions. Also, I have to wonder whether such a pricing scheme might actually deter some potential guests from visiting. You'd have to (well, at least I would, given my general chicken-hearted risk aversion) say to yourself, "I'm signing up for a B&B with a shared bathroom, but maybe I'll get lucky..." but I think no matter how much I might try to convince myself of that view, I'd be disappointed if someone else showed up. Maybe what I'll do next time is just rent both rooms; it wouldn't be much more expensive than a single, en suite.



Does anyone know of any B&Bs that have a pricing scale even remotely capturing this effect? The risk to the proprietress is that nobody else will rent the other room; but this risk is most likely unaffected by the pricing scheme. The risk (in a sense) to the guest is that someone will; at least the pricing scheme provides an insurance policy for this risk.



[digression: I used a booking agency to find a B&B where I will be staying in Scotland next weekend, specifying that I wanted a single, en suite, for four nights. The one they gave me has a wash basin in the room; I don't call that "en suite". I'm supposed to use that in the middle of the night???]

A Make-Do Flashlight

The other night I was walking the two-mile stretch back to the castle from a village pub where there had been a live jazz performance. Often the walk is downright glorious when the moon is shining and the stars are out. After all, this is an area that had once been the home for England's Royal Observatory.



But when the moon is not out and/or when there are clouds in the sky, it can be difficult to find one's way along some portions of the road. It is especially difficult along those portions of the road that are completely covered in foliage, which blocks out the ambient light from the (few) farms and the reflected light from the towns 5 - 10 miles away. I realized it might have been nice had I remembered to take along a working flashlight for the walk.



Instead, I turned my camera on to view mode, with a bright photo showing on the screen. Perfect! I held the camera so the viewing screen was facing the direction I was walking, and there was plenty of diffuse light for me to see the laneway. And the battery in the camera lasts a long time and is rechargeable.



Since I carry my camera with me everywhere (okay, not in the shower), I probably won't worry about taking a flashlight with me most places any more. The light from the camera is more than sufficient.

Warning to All Students: Penalty Fare if you Fail!

I watched this sign at Paddington Station in London for awhile to make sure I was not mis-reading it. Every time this segment came up, this is what it said.

Afternoon Tea at Claridge's (The Four Seasons Was Better)

I promise this will (probably!) be my last posting about afternoon tea for quite some time. To be stupid about it, afternoon tea just isn't my cup of tea.



When I first started thinking about going somewhere in London for a proper English afternoon tea, many people recommended Claridge's, saying that The Ritz and The Savoy are over-rated and trading on their past reputations. [note: after seeing this, I'm not so sure they are correct.] With all those recommendations, plus those from the internet (see here for links to them), I went to some effort to make a reservation to take tea at Claridge's and was finally able to arrange to do so for this past Tuesday.



Fortunately, our friend The Chauffeur was working in London at the time and was able to join me.



Claridge's is very popular. When we arrived, there was a queue just to claim reservations. And since we were a bit early, the hostess suggested we freshen up in the washrooms and then our table would be ready.



Claridge's is the type of place where washroom attendants hand you towels and leave their hands out for a tip; it is the type of place that has clothes brushes and numerous other accessories for the use of the patrons. I have been in such places before, but I do not particularly feel comfortable in them.



We were seated against a back wall in a room separate from the one that had the live music.

I didn't really mind all that much, since it was a bit more private, and the violin was waayyyy to schmaltzy for my tastes.



And no, I'm not that fat; I was slouching. Here's a photo taken earlier that afternoon:







The waiter was very good, especially when we were the only table he was serving (but his attention to us waned considerably, yet understandably, as other tables were filled).



The selection of teas is, as advertised, quite broad. The Chauffeur tried the Royal Claridge tea (and I sampled it). It was superb (and it reminded me of the Anniversary Blend at The Four Seasons). I initially tried Sencha something or other that was green tea blended with rice and popcorn; it was pretty blah, so I asked for a pot of Lapsang Souchong, and the waiter happily and quickly obliged.



At Claridge's, unlike the Pump Room, even though there are tea strainers, there is little or no need for them because the tea leaves are tied in little cloth sacks in the pots (sort of like hand-tied tea bags), making pouring the tea quite easy with little muss or fuss.



As I looked around at Claridge's I observed that almost all of the men there had on coats and ties, whereas at the Four Seasons, most men were dressed closer to "smart casual" in their attire.



The waiter poured our initial cups of tea, and even brought extra cups so we could taste each other's teas. But after that, we were pretty much on our own.



Instead of bringing the birdcage contraption that holds all the food, Claridge's presents each course or round of food separately, beginning with the sandwiches. The Chauffeur had not eaten since the previous evening (she said it was in preparation for the tea), and I had had only a light breakfast.



Claridge's provides five sandwiches for their teas — rectangular finger sandwiches a little larger than the ones I had at The Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath. The sandwiches were fresh and tasty, though I thought perhaps there was a bit too much butter on the ham sandwiches. The Chauffeur preferred the smoked salmon; I preferred the chicken. When we had scarfed down the first offering of sandwiches, the waiter promptly had another plateful waiting for us. And after we finished those, he asked if we would like even more (which we declined)! The sandwiches were good, but nowhere near as elegant as the ones at The Four Seasons, where the bread was both thinner and moister (it is quite a feat to get that combination); also, at The Four Seasons some of the sandwiches were on puff pastries or mini-croissants.



After the sandwiches, the waiter brought the scones: two apple scones and two raisin scones, allegedly... My "raisin" scone seemed plain to me; it certainly had no raisins in it. And I could not tell anything apple had ever been near the "apple" scones. They were served with Devon cream and something called Marco Polo jelly, which was okay, but I much prefer strawberry preserves with cream and scones. Also, the scones were very dry and at room temperature. It seems to me that if they are going to serve the scones separately, Claridge's could easily guarantee that the scones are fresh and warm when we get them. These were, in fact, probably the most disappointing of all the scones I had during my tea explorations.



Then the pastries arrived. I guess I'm not much of fancy-schmancy dessert-pastry kind of guy because I was never all that thrilled with the little desserty things that came with afternoon tea at any of the places I tried. Here we had nice pound cake (or sponge) drizzled with a lemon glaze, a chocolate brownie covered with something orange-flavoured, a pistachio-pear parfait that was surprisingly good, and the usual (and excellent) strawberry tart (though the shell seemed like something mass-produced rather than carefully hand-crafted.



Overall the service was very good, though not quite as good as at The Four Seasons. Also the food was not quite as impressive as at The Four Seasons. And the atmosphere was a bit more crowded with people who seemed to be there because that was the place to be.



Conclusion: keeping in mind that I have had only limited experience, if you're going to take a proper English afternoon tea, The Four Seasons would be my recommendation.

Tea at The Pump Room in Bath an enjoyable experience

After my sub-mediocre experience at The Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath, I had mixed feelings about going for afternoon tea at The Pump Room, which is located directly above the Roman Baths in Bath.

So I didn't. After I finished (or actually was worn out by) my tour of the Roman Baths (they say about 2 hours, but I took closer to 4 hours — I highly recommend a visit there), I ended up in the Pump Room, where you can have a glass of the water that comes from the spring that feeds the baths. (It's warm, has a strong mineral taste and a strong sulphur taste, but I have had much worse; it wasn't all that bad).



A piano and string trio was playing, which was very pleasant, and although the restaurant was busy, there was room for me to sit and relax. I decided not to try a full afternoon tea, opting for scones and tea instead. The experience was very good, overall.



The service was a bit delayed at times, but not much, and the delays were both understandable and acceptable, given the large crowd there.



Again, I had Lapsang Souchong tea. And again, I was thrilled with it. Also, at the pump house, the scones were served warm and had a texture that was both lighter and chewier,if that makes any sense. They were extremely good.



I relaxed and took my time, giving my feet a much-needed break after walking on those stones around the baths for what seemed like hours. And the wait staff were courteous, not rushing me at all.



Overall, this was a place worth visiting. I will return, should I ever have the opportunity.

The Attempt by the UCU to De-Legitimize the Existence of Israel

By a Druze student from Israel [h/t to MA]:

As a holder of two degrees from the University of Haifa and a PhD student at the University of London, I traveled to Bournemouth for the meeting of the British University and College Union (UCU) as an Israeli delegate on behalf of the Israeli Council for Academic Freedom.



The discussions at the meeting regarding the imposition of a boycott on Israeli academia took place in a hostile environment while ignoring all the facts we presented regarding freedom of expression and academic freedom at Israeli institutions of higher learning.



Evidence that Israeli lecturers who hold pro-Palestinian views are able to express their positions uninterrupted both in their research work and lectures, as well as in the media, had no effect whatsoever on the discussions.



Even when we presented a list of organizations and research centers that operate in the framework of Israeli universities and boast Israeli-Palestinian or Israeli-Arab cooperation, with the promotion of ties between the peoples their top agenda, it did not make a difference.



... The truth is that it is clear to this group of lecturers that Israeli academia is least at fault for what is happening in our region, certainly when compared to the freedom of expression at our neighbors' academic institutions. After all, the English know full well that the technological, academic, and cultural achievements in the State of Israel stem first and foremost from the freedom of expression and research in every field in Israel.



Therefore, the figures we presented were futile, because all they cared about was their one and only objective: De-legitimizing the State of Israel with no relation to its academia; presenting it as an apartheid state that deprives its minorities of elementary rights such as education and the freedom of expression.

The UCU: a bunch of scary non-scholars.

Afternoon Tea at The Royal Crescent Hotel in Bath sub-mediocre

Last weekend I went to Bath, which is about an hour and a half west of London by train. I had a fabulous time there, about which I will write more later.



One of my first experiences there was to go for afternoon tea at The Royal Crescent Hotel. The setting is quite spectacular, with the Royal Crescent of buildings sitting atop Victoria Park.

The entrance to the hotel is in the middle of the crescent, just to the left of the bush, between the facade that has double columns instead of single columns. Once I entered, I was ushered through that building to another building in the back, where the lounges and dining areas are located.



When I arrived in the dining areas, I just stood there while various wait staff walked around, gossiped, did things on their computer screens, etc. Finally, I had to approach one and identify myself and mention that I was there for tea. The polite young man, said something like, "Oh yes, I've arranged for you to sit out here, but if you wish, I can seat you somewhere else."



"Out here" meant in an enclosed foyer, on a hard chair at a glass-topped table. Not my idea of a setting for posh afternoon tea, so I suggested that I would prefer sitting inside, in the lounge, to which he readily agreed. Soft chairs, tablecloths, carpets — much nicer.



The one positive standout from my visit to The Royal Crescent was that for some inexplicable reason, I decided to try Lapsang Souchong tea, which I really enjoyed. My description will not do it justice: it is peaty and smoky-flavoured. I refer to it as "The LaPhroaig of Teas." (I also like peaty, smoky Scotch Whisky). But that was the highlight.



Overall the service was intolerable. I was ignored much of the time, and when things were brought, I felt as if the wait staff was schlepping stuff in a diner rather than serving tea in a "tony hotel".



Furthermore, the sandwiches were dry and uninteresting. There were only four, each the size of my thumb, and I was not offered a refill.



The scones also were dry and cold. It was as if they had been made in the morning. Again, I was not offered a refill.



Finally, the desserts were just plain awful. Dry, unappetizing, and meagre.



I'm not even glad to have had the experience. I would avoid this place if you are looking for a nice, proper English afternoon tea.



Addendum: When the proprietress of the B&B where I was staying asked how I enjoyed the tea at the Royal Crescent Hotel, I pretty much told her what I have said here. She responded that she had heard similar things from others who, in general, thought that afternoon tea there wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Hidden Truths at Oral Roberts University

Alan Adamson spotted the hidden truths. See the first photo here.

And the British Union for Colleges and Universities (UCU) Doesn't Think This Warrents a Mention?

[h/t to JC] from the Gulf News:

'Cover up or we will cut your throats'



Gaza City: An Islamic group threatened to behead female TV broadcasters if they don't wear strict Islamic dress, frightening reporters and signaling a further shift toward extremism in the Gaza Strip.



The threat to "cut throats from vein to vein" was delivered by the Swords of Truth, a fanatical group that has previously claimed responsibility for bombing Internet cafes and music shops. The new threat was the first time the organization targeted a specific group of people.



On Sunday, around 50 anchors and employees from government-run Palestine TV, mostly women wearing Muslim headscarves, marched from the station's offices in Gaza City toward the office of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas to protest the threat.



Most of the 15 women broadcasters on government-run Palestine TV wear headscarves. But they also wear make-up and Western clothing — not considered strictly observant by extremists.



The Swords of Truth issued the statement Friday in an e-mail to news organizations.



"We will cut throats, and from vein to vein, if needed to protect the spirit and moral of this nation," the statement said. The group also accused the women broadcasters of being "without any ... shame or morals."