Tag: uk

art, musicLeave a comment

Remembering Terry Callier

Mark Cathcart

Today is the 6th anniversary of the passing of Terry Callier. I’ve been meaning to write this in time for the anniversary of his death for at least the past 3-years. After really enjoying his Hidden Conversations album , I put it on my to-do list and here it is. I’ve tried not to just repeat all the other obituaries and rather make this more of a retrospective. I don’t recall precisely when I became aware of Terry, sometime in the late 1990’s. Probably in some activity or performance around the 1998 release of his Timepeace album. My favorite … Continue reading Remembering Terry Callier

art, culture, LifeLeave a comment

How Funk went Swing

Mark Cathcart

My vinyl to digital conversion effort has taken an involuntary pause as my NuWave Phone Converter and pre-amp has failed. Fortunately the makers, PS Audio, are only up in Boulder, so I drove it up there last Friday to drop it off for repair and will go collect it tomorrow. While tidying up some of my more recent conversions, it caused made me reflect on a few trends, and at least, as far as I can remember them happening. I wrote over 10-years ago about the Day that disco died(for me). One question has been answered with the discovery, and … Continue reading How Funk went Swing

banking, Politics, politicsLeave a comment

Retail vs Investment Banking

Mark Cathcart

I’ve no idea what long term this change will make, but was delighted to receive this notification from my UK Bank, first direct, and HSBC subsidiary. Something we are (very) unlikely to see here in the US in the near future. What is says is We wanted to let you know that in line with new regulations introduced after the global financial crisis, later this year HSBC will be changing the way it’s structured in the United Kingdom (UK). The new rules mean all banks with deposits of UKP 25bn or more will have to keep their “retail banking” business seperate … Continue reading Retail vs Investment Banking

Life, Politics, politicsLeave a comment

Politics and the art of deception

Mark Cathcart

Yep, lots of people are rightfully outraged at the election of Donald Trump and what the future holds. They look at his tweets, at was he says, and are super excited that he is going to do all the things he said or tweeted. Meanwhile, back in the UK there is a whole lot of hand wringing going on about #BREXIT and what it means. It started the morning after the vote was announced, when liar, braggart, and Trump confidant Nigel Farage admitted that the £350-million for the UK National Health Service that was one of the flagship reasons for leaving … Continue reading Politics and the art of deception

Life, Politics, politics, taxLeave a comment

Making Britain “Great again”

Mark Cathcart

One of the more visible memes in the “Brexit” campaign, apart from the overt racism and lack of genuine empathy over immigration and the refugees, “make Britain great” and “take back control” was regularly heard and claimed. Much like Trump in America, there is a notion that you can pull up the drawbridge, build a wall and everything will be OK. Well, we are no longer in 1605 or 1776, global trade has stalled and will likely stay that way for the foreseeable future, 150-years of tinkering and artificially manipulating and imposing borders in the Middle East has led to turmoil and the … Continue reading Making Britain “Great again”

politics, tax1 Comment

insidious greed – HSBC

Mark Cathcart

If you’ve not been following along today, it’s well worth reading back through the BBC Business Live News feed on the HSBC Tax Avoidance scandal. It is indeed the perfect example of the sort of insidious greed that is destroying society today. It’s not just the “me” culture that is all around us, but the industry and culture that is behind it. Rather than pay taxes now, there is a whole industry on tax-avoidance. It’s become an accepted practice, mostly illegal, certainly immoral and to deflect interest in their actions, just like with the bully at school, they deflect criticism … Continue reading insidious greed – HSBC

Life, travelLeave a comment

Drive my car

Mark Cathcart

Beep beep’m beep, beep yeah. Having driven a couple of hundred miles back in the UK, it’s remarkable to compare the experience to my now normal Texas drives. I rented a Vauxhall Insignia Sports Tourer, manual shift, of course. Overall a pretty decent car although not comparable to my normal drive, at least a decent size car. First of there is the whole Petrol and refueling thing. You can’t pay at the pump. This makes no sense at all. Second, the pumps have no auto-fill setting, which mean you have to stand and hold it, breathing in the fumes. 3.When … Continue reading Drive my car

Life, Politics, politics2 Comments

Thatchers impact on me

Mark Cathcart

Listening in on BBC Radio London, and watching the social media around Margaret Thatchers death has been difficult. She was polarizing in life, and so in death. Billy Bragg, Morrissey both wrote long pieces on the effect, and impact of what she did. @ragtag aka Karl Roche a former IBM colleague posted a link to Russel Brands piece on Mrs. Thatch. in yesterdays Guardian. Brand makes many good points, especially near the end when he says: The blunt, pathetic reality today is that a little old lady has died, who in the winter of her life had to water roses alone … Continue reading Thatchers impact on me

Life2 Comments

The 1% Olympics

Mark Cathcart

I’m over in the UK for the Olympics and to see my family, there is a definite undercurrent about the overbearing regulations and heavy handed implementation and complaints about LOCOG. The Independent has a great article: Father of Olympic branding: my rules are being abused DJT1million • 3 days ago • parent − I’m not sure that the Olympics are widely loathed to be honest. I think that there is, instead, massive indifference with occasional outbreaks of justifiable fury when the G4S scandal came out or when the money lavished on the Games is set against massive and punitive cuts … Continue reading The 1% Olympics