one story town

I look forward to someone - Mike Carlton, Alan Ramsay perhaps, Phillip Adams certainly, doing a similar number to this one on Tony Blair on our own revered leader, when he eventually gets hauled, kicking and screaming, out of Kirribilli.

TBA: this post left sort of open for anything else I find later tonight after I've had a refreshing top-up of Jeremy, Captain Slow and the Hamster.

and so, some time later....

Having had a feed of Top Gear, and while doing the blog rounds, exchanging a few e-mails and perusing last week's BRW* that I'd lent to my boss over the weekend, I've had the concert for Diana on in the background. On the basis that any music is better then any other TV.

This belief might benefit from some revision. On the basis of most of tonight's performances, I reluctantly have to come to the conclusion that many of my rock heroes and faves are just about at the stage where they should give up the leather pants and shiny coats, lay down the guitars and take up the implements of gardening.

Nearly all the performances tonight have been woeful. Even those old journeypersons of rock, Status Quo, were floundering and it's a bloody 12-bar they've been playing since dinosaurs walked the earth, for crying out loud. Not all that long ago (several ice ages, I guess) they could churn this stuff out in their sleep.

Duran Duran (er, actually, never one of my faves or heroes) were way off and poor old Brian Ferry really needs to take a long holiday.

Rod the Mod still puts a bit of effort into it but he's showing his age - except in his face...hmmm, how does that work? Same for Tom Jones. Isn't he about 100?

Don't start me on the rap acts. Offspring no 2 thinks there's some people finding God while Kanye West does whatever it is he does (well, shout, actually). Unlikely.

*The BRW. There's a column by a Leo D'Angelo Fisher (doesn't seem to be available online) on the gap between how senior management of service companies see (and are rewarded for) their copanies' performance, and the actual service delivery. Fisher uses the examples of Connex (who now run the trains in Melbourne) and call centres for servcies such as banking. He points out the well-known shortcomings of such services ("Connex apologises for any inconvenience caused") with the basis on which executives are paid - broad financial indicators. Fisher suggests that "Boards and shareholders could do worse than adopt a code of managerial responsibility."

I'm at a bit of a loss to figure how this comes about. We have a well-developed business environment which focuses on short term financial indicators. As Fisher points out, the effects of poor service take longer to filter through to financial results. In the meantime, all the factors that influence company performance are lined up the other way: institutional shareholders which typically control the voting do not reflect real world issues, and any small shareholder who had experienced bad service gets shouted down at the AGM. The so-called remuneration consultants are in on "the game" (deliberate reference to institutionalised corruption in Queensland in the 70s and 80s there).

If there's any move against a board or levels of remuneration at an AGM you will hear reports of "shock horror" but the proposals still get up and the same old world keeps turning.

The gap between how the world could be, and how it is, hasn't changed.