Buddy, Can You Spare A Dime..or A Gold Token if You’ve Got One

Facebook is running out of money. So the 21^st Century's very own hula-hoop craze comes to an end...

But the thin-air economy is moving East. 100,000 Chinese are employed simply to play virtual reality games so the tokens and virtual cash they win can be sold on e-bay...it's a $1.4 billion dollar industry, apparently.

Anything happening?

The political interwebs seem strangely quiet today. Surely something must be happening ?

I suppose one can always look back on more momentous times

Dubuyah's last hurrah?

In the West Wing, Barlet pardoned Toby Zeigler as more or less his last act as president. Lenin has picked up on a video which has a hint as to who Bush might pardon - the tech wizard who stole him an election.It's got to be one of those exercises in paranoid conspiracy which periodically overtake the Left...Hasn't it? Lenin's not committing himself to believing it and neither am I.

Well, not unless Obama has a completely non-Santos moment tomorrow I'm not, anyway.

Update. Even Karl Rove (official Spawn of The Devil by Appointment to Dubuyah)says it's an Obama landslide. Which, come to think of it, Matt Santos never got.

& the Huffington Post (via here) helpful reminds us that only 2 years ago a Obama-McCain contest was going to break 28-510 for the Republicans in terms of electoral college votes according to pollsters. Go look at the scary map...

Why Bother Blogging?

Because, if I practice really, really, really hard , I might one day to be able to write something a tenth as good as this.

What Are Banks for (part 3)?

They're there, or should be there, to direct capital to the most efficient enterprises, allow economic development and facilitate home ownership in sensible circumstances.

What we now have in the UK, it seems, is a system for re-founding the very banking system that almost collapsed and ruined us all only a few weeks ago. UK Financial Investments Limited – run by a banker – will hold the government's interests in banks, and press them to make profits 'sustainably', whist still lending. The idea is that we'll get everything back to normal quite quickly and then the government will sell its shares on the refloated open market. Richard Murphy is going bonkers, and even Peston raises a discreet eyebrow. It's the economics of, ahem, optimism to put it mildly: putting public money at risk by steering policy to re-create the problem that caused all the hoo-ha in the first place.

It won't work. We're Swedish now, and we're going to be for a long time. We need to direct investment in different parts of the economy, perhaps partly through a Green New Deal, which leaves this country better off because it is less exposed to the vagaries of finance capital. But steadfast in their conviction that the City is a Good Thing, Brown and Darling boldly set off towards another disaster...

 

OK, Just Run That Passed Me Again, But Slowly This Time...

Esquire has news of a swing to Obama amongst a surprising demographic.

Erich Gliebe, Chair of the neo-Nazi National Alliance spells it out:
"I give Obama credit, he seems to have stuck to his guns as far as pulling the troops out of Iraq. He’s a very intelligent man, an excellent speaker and has charisma. John McCain offers none of that. Perhaps the best thing for the white race is to have a black president. My only problem with Obama is perhaps he’s not black enough."

Via AVPS

What Shall We Do About Auntie?

Lord Reith is dead: the concept of the BBC as 'Auntie', the universal bringer of news, entertainment and child minding is never going to return. The American version of public service broadcasting is a underfunded, semi-elitist dead end. So what do we want the BBC, or public sector broadcasting more generally, to actually be?

At the moment, it seems to me, we're trapped in a political game which, in the long-run, is a no win game for the Left. We may have doubts about the Beeb but each time it is attacked we have to rally to its defense because the alternative seems to be simply kowtowing to Murdoch and the Mail.

The BBC strives for universality - just think what they try to do:

* Keep the Little Britain crowd (i.e. the consumers of offensive pap) happy;
* Satisfy the tastes of 'Middle England' for endless costume drama;
* Attract the Youtube generation back to TV through 'edgy'(god help us...) material;
* Slip the occasional world beating programme of genuine substance into the mix (if the Beeb was the Vatican I'm sure they would have canonised David Attenborough by now...);
* Plus, of course, to fight against CNN and the American networks on the news front (let's face it, there''s no worthwhile domestic competition outside the print media);
* Keep up their end in specialist coverage where they face a variety of niche rivals- for instance, Sky in terms of Sport, or the cartoon channels in terms of children's programming.

Oh - and also to run the most impressive website in the world.

It may be the most enduring and best loved symbol of Britain as a columnist in the Observer argues today - but, seriously now, if it didn't currently exist would anyone from the left , or anywhere else, propose creating such a structure?

So here are a couple of random thoughts about the shape of a possible future Beeb.

1.The BBC's news operation is its core - but it is especially poor at that field's idea fixee , 24 hr rolling news: BBC 24 is an embarrassment. Nor, because of a history of government bullying, is it quick at getting the news out - since the Kelly affair everything is checked three times before publication. Where it is really strong is in being authoritative, and in broadening the news into current affairs discussion and analysis. This much we should defend.

2. I do think it retains a cultural role - but one that should be nearer that of the Arts Council in stimulating and promoting cultural endeavor than as the overarching production house. This would also have to encompass the training of a sufficient cadre of cultural producers and technicians to allow the industry to thrive - which means it would still make some programmes, just fewer and better ones. & , again like the Arts Council, it should have a duty to ensure access for new and under represented kinds of work, as well as work of excellence.

Because I really don't think the Beeb can go on like it is for much longer, Ross & Brand or no Ross and Brand.