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Twenty years ago, finance in the UK changed fundamentally with the “Big Bang”, opening up and liberating the previously cosy world of finance in radical ways, leading it to become perhaps the biggest international marketplace. The BBC is marking the occasion with a great overview article about the changes, and the state of the financial market now. With finance dominating so much of the London economy, and the rest of the UK, and also having been a major part (and still is!) of my career, it’s a shame this sector is often viewed as dull, boring and irrelevant by many.

Whilst I’m primarily an IT practitioner, I necessarily need to understand more about the companies I have worked for and supported along the way. Whether Banks or Hedge Funds, the flow of money, and the subtleties and distinctions between classes of product, either fixed income, equity, or the more complicated derivatives, all sounds high and mighty and out of reach. But all have interesting, and simple, underpinnings, and affect every one of us substantially in the products we buy, either savings accounts, ISA’s, insurance policies or direct share dealing (which is really a lot easier, and low-risk and tax effective, than many people think). Spend a little time reading the financial section of your weekend paper (I’ll confess, one of the first extra sections I go for) and anybody can pick up on the jargon, and therefore understand the products on offer better, and work out what’s best for their financial planning.

Whilst Dragons’ Den has an admirable aim, but (I feel) misses the mark, I think it’s still encouraging that finance is getting more serious coverage in the media, if you go looking. Working lunch, which I sometimes manage to catch if I’m fortunate with my timing, is also carrying some Big Bang anniversary coverage – and also has some excellent financial information for anybody interested in learning more about personal financial products and services than the best credit card deal (Although getting rid of debt, particularly ‘expensive’ ones such as credit cards, in invariably the best place to start)

I’m fed up to the back teeth of flying, having done it for protracted periods of time to travel between Glasgow and London over the last few years. Every week, for a period of 6 months, I’d be up at 5am, getting a Taxi out to Glasgow airport about half an hour later (only about 15 minutes away from the airport by car at the time), wizzing through with hand-luggage only and pre-checked in, getting on the plane, down to Gatwick, and in to the centre of London some 4 – 4.5 hours after leaving.

Red-eyes are horrible things though, and the time-delay is only good if everything runs on time. A slight delay and things get knocked for six, especially coming in to the London airports. Heathrow is a place of horror for me. It’s too big, too far from anywhere, expensive to get to, and not a pleasant place to be at the best of times, other than for the worlds best people-watching location. Flying out of airports is awful, and you soon learn the techniques for getting the best boarding time, minimising queuing, and unplugging yourself from any sort of stress. Getting stressed when travelling regularly is unproductive and silly. When things got delayed, I worked out what I’d do if things were cancelled.

Most recently, Virgin Trains west coast mainline has been my route of choice, and I’ll be doing that this coming Monday when I visit London. The tilting Pendolino trains may not get up to full speed for much of the trip, but they are what train travel is all about. Good facilities. Clean. Fast. And seemingly reliable too: Something that has markedly improved in the last five years or so.

Door-to-door, it’s more like 5.5 hours, but it’s an altogether more relaxing experience (especially with an iPod, a book, and a window seat to savour the views), and it’s much much greener. I’ve always had a soft-spot for train travel, and it’s good to see it’s comparable on price (especially if you’re booking quite late). £94.10p return, at peak times, counts as good value, and there are no connection times, or long hauls into town, at the other end to worry about as at the London airports.

As for the current travel restrictions, I’m getting very sceptical about all this. The Register has an interesting article that analyses the feasibility of creating the liquid explosives the media have got all excited about. There is a positive side to it all though in that it’s forcing a re-assessment of the amount of hand luggage, which had just got out of control, with larger and larger cases, plus laptop bags, getting allowed on. More reasons to hate Ryanair come out of it too – Their CEO Michael O’Leary is milking the media attention, presumably because their recent attempt to charge people to put luggage in the hold is unravelling their business model.

I’m sure the train down to London on Monday will be busier than normal. I’m probably not alone in figuring it’s altogether easier to take the train at the moment – and not have to worry about losing your laptop in the luggage system. But, for my money, sitting back on a train a few feet above ground, even at fast speeds, is much safer, environmentally friendly, enjoyable, and – hopefully – more reliable right now than anything else.

Interesting article on the BBC’s website about the cost of living, putting Cardiff at the top of the list, with Glasgow at 80% and London at 73% of average income going out on bills.

I’m not very surprised by this ‘news’ (you can tell it’s the Silly Season) for a couple of reasons: Council tax bills here in Glasgow require a deep breath and a stiff drink when reading. We’re paying over £2000 a year to the council (admittedly, that includes water rates) for a Band E property. But this sum comes as quite a surprise to folk when I tell them, as many people (including, I’ll confess, myself until we started looking at moving up here) think that the rest of the UK is cheap, and that fleeing to the regions is a recipe for saving money.

Ah well, like many statistics, it’s rather flawed. Whilst Londoners may well pay more money out, they’re also earning more (as explained in the article). But also average wages are just that – there are plenty of people above the average, and below the average (by definition), and you have to wonder how big the survey size is (Just look at the small print on cosmetic adverts to see what you can get when you have a small survey size) . So it gets altogether rather muddy, and silly, especially as credit card debt repayment is included in this, and far too many people are just plain foolish with them. Is it any wonder we’re seeing a raft of adverts for getting out of debt right now, hot on the heels of the interest rate rise?

As Disraeli said, There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. Plus a lot of people don’t seem to know how to manage personal finances, and including that in the curriculum would go a long way to solving the dangerous problem of ever increasing levels of debt.

In a slightly surreal turn of events, I recently found myself in a chess tournament in a pub; It’s not where you’d ordinarily find chess games taking place – you’d think the alcohol might interfere a little – but take place it did. I actually didn’t play in the tournament; I left that to my colleagues who were a bit less rusty than I (last time I’d played was at least five years ago), so just helped a few folk warm up by being congenial and trying to remember how the pieces moved. Capturing any of their pieces was a rare treat. You could say I focused on the task of drinking beer. Heck, somebody had to do it

My colleagues didn’t do too badly; they certainly didn’t humiliate themselves, although the quiet Hungarian’s who seemed to feature quite largely in the tournament roundly trounced most of the others. In an attempt at making it more fun, they were all playing 15 minute speed chess. Have to say, even 15 minutes is quite a long game in a pub context. One of the chaps I was with started playing 3 minute chess after the last game, which brought the only furrow to the tournament winners brow that I could spot.

So now I’m back in Glasgow, I’ve been minded to read up a bit more on the game and try and dust off my strategy brain. I certainly enjoyed it as a child (first beating your father at things surely features in every childs recollections; I remember doing just that with my parents rather unique chess set that they still have (A hand-made present from my Uncle if I recall).

So a quick google brings up the following useful references:

• Really basic rules, plus some really basic strategy tips (I can safely say I remember these)
• Novice tips
• 101 Chess tips

I’ve already been comprehensively beaten by my computer, but am eyeing up a few of the online chess sites where you get to play other people over whatever period of time you prefer. UChess and letsplaychess.com two that came up from a query and seemed quite interesting.

Who knows, maybe I’ll be able to hold my own, in a pub tournament, some time in the future

I’ve previously mentioned Psapp, and I am still enjoying their music more than ever. The good news for fans then, is that Psapp have a new album out soon.

They’ve also recently become quite well known, having scribed the theme music to the excellent new US import Grey’s anatomy which follows the also excellent House here on channel 5. Yes, I’m a sucker for medical drama’s, especially as ER has lost all interest to me now, as the plot and characters have become increasingly desperate and frustrating. They’ve also written music for “Nip and Tuck”, not that I’m familiar with that, it’s helped bring them to wider attention.

A little frustratingly, I’ve just seen Psapp are playing The Tron Theatre here in Glasgow later this month. Unfortunately I’m likely to be down south around then, so will probably miss them, although they seem to be scheduled for a date in London not that long after – which may work better for me

Sometimes I wish I was still living in London. Tomorrow sees the March for Free Expression taking place in Trafalgar Square at 2pm. If like me, you can’t attend, you may be interested in the petition.

Freedom of expression, and freedom of speech, are important rights that seem to be under sustained attack by various groups (see here, for example). Some groups seem to be actively seeking out offence, and parading their supposed insult as a justification to further restrict liberties, whilst at the same time using the selfsame rights and liberties to ensure their opinions are heard when it is convenient or expedient for them to do so.

I am not saying people should have a right to deliberately and gratuitously say what they want without retort. Criticism and open debate on matters are important in an open democracy, and with rights come responsibilities; a right to speak doesn’t imply a right to be heard. Yet it is in my view becoming increasingly important that we stand up and defend our historic and hard-won rights, notably to freedom of speech, expression and privacy, in this increasingly edgy – and intolerant – climate.

I’ve written before about rainbows, and how alluring they are, all the more so when you understand how they form.

Frances’ brother, Paul, e-mailed me a link to a dramatic rainbow picture over Ullapool Bay. This reminded me of a few pictures of a beautiful rainbow that appeared out of our back windows last month. A double rainbow in fact. Here’s my favourite picture from the set (others uploaded to flickr):

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The light conditions were rather tricky, as it was twilight, and overcast (as you’d expect!), and the courtyard area is usually quite dark and in shadow anyway, but I quite like the moody result. It could have been better, but I did the best I could. The other pics give a better idea of the double rainbow, but aren’t quite what I was after.

On the subject of pictures, funkypancake.com has some interesting and quirky pictures taken about London (via Roger)

I’m popping down to London for a brief work related visit tomorrow and Thursday. Up at the crack of dawn for a red-eye down. Apologies if I don’t manage to hook up with folk, but it’s primarily for work reasons, and I have to be back in Glasgow to meet my parents who are visiting us this weekend. Frances and I are still hoping to get down to see friends in London in the very near future, but work and buying a house, plus just stopping travelling after a year of upheaval has just meant I wanted to stop polluting the atmosphere for a few months and let the dust settle.

Still, I’ll be in the Blackfriars area (ie. the pub by that name) tomorrow evening enjoying a beer or three with a few colleagues. Give me a ring if you’re in the area and want to pop by

I’m also curious about how London has, or hasn’t, changed since I was last down, with the attacks and so forth. It’s a constant topic of conversation when I mention I lived there for 7-8 years before moving here. I’m sure it’ll be a bit peculiar on the tube, but other than that I’m curious to see if the rudeness and being blanked by strangers as you travel has improved at all

I spent much of the morning listening to Beethoven’s 3rd and 9th symphonies whilst working. I’d downloaded them last month, and wonderful it was too: certainly made for difference to my normal music choice.

Earlier this evening I caught one of the adverts for the BBC’s Prom season which is underway at the moment. It’s a remarkable series of concerts (I look forward to the BBC extending the podcasting experiment and making some available for download sometime!). Of course the Last Night of the Proms is the fantastic climax, which I’ve been lucky enough to attend in Hyde Park several times.

The television advert shows landmarks lighting up in tune with the music, and people around the country enjoying listening to it. As it draws on some national landmarks I was wondering why the BBC don’t look to make the concerts a bit more of a truly national event. Here in Glasgow there’s the Royal Concert Hall, which I’ve been too a few times in the last year, and it’s a wonderful auditorium. With such places, and many orchestras visiting from across the world for what is the biggest classical music festival in the world, it’d be great to use some more of the facilities we have nationally.

I’m not suggesting that they give up on the Albert Hall altogether – far from it! Whilst it’s acoustics aren’t necessarily the best, it has atmosphere in buckets, and that’s almost as important as the sound. I just think that it’d be nice if the BBC could find some way to host some concerts outside of London for at least some of the time. With 70 concerts, I’m sure they wouldn’t miss some of them going on around the country.

It was a horrific day yesterday. The terrorist attacks on London that have killed and injured so many people are truly atrocious for their callousness and indiscriminate nature, timed no doubt to cause the maximum injury. Somehow it seemed all the more stark – hard though that was – given the scenes of jubilation following London’s success in securing the 2012 Olympics.

Yet London is a resilient place. It’s taken a lot of beating over the years, and always came through. The people are a stoic lot who will not be cowed by this base attempt to terrorise them. Whilst I’m sure many will reconsider using the tube, especially over the next few days, I think many will continue to go about their daily lives simply because that is the best thing to do, and the most effective snub an individual can make at the terrorists themselves.

When I lived in London myself, I was always conscious that there was a real threat of just such an atrocity occurring, even before September 11th. There was always a real threat from certain Irish terrorist groups, especially after Manchester and Omagh where civilians were directly targeted. But the threat of terrorism, whilst sometime making me feel more than a little nervous, never got in the way of going about my business. Sure I was nervous when I had to go into Canary Wharfs towers, particularly the iconic 1 Canada Square, but the risks are so slight given the size of the city, it’s almost foolish to be overly concerned about being caught up in something. But such a fear didn’t even cross our minds in our decision to leave London. That was for altogether different, personal, reasons.

So while I’m relieved that everybody I know has escaped unscathed, my thoughts are with those who have been affected by this atrocity.

See also

• A letter to the terrorists, from London :: to the point!