Bridge for sale...

From the BBC...

Heckling...

A long history of banter and barbed criticism between the political parties in Britain is the accepted norm, to the amusement of most. Missmarketcrash is not amused. I must admit I do like a bit of the theatrical heckle that Parliament provides. But, this is group theatre. Solo performances with criticism directed at others strike Missmarketcrash as terribly egotistical and unnecessary. For much of the financial crisis, David Cameron has kept up his side of the sport with major barbs directed at Gordon Brown.  Today, Cameron has "admitted he got it wrong" with regard to economic matters. Missmarketcrash eagerly clicked on this BBC article. Expecting a bit of humanity.  Alas, he is still heckling.

I am clearly in the minority and most do take this as good sport.  I am trying.  Perhaps a bit of a costume, some kind of cape, mask, or giant comedic grimace would be of assistance...

I'd be more than happy to design something...

The Power of Positive Thinking

Not to be outdone by the Financialstability.gov website in the U.S., Gordon Brown has launched

Realhelpnow.gov.uk

"Action is being taken all around the country to help the economy come through the recession sooner, stronger and fairer."

Fairness is an a very British choice of adjective.  In the above quote, it makes me think of the economy on a sunny beach, hair going fairer, blond perhaps.  In the section entitled "What does the future look like" fairness gets another run relational to the concept of trust: values of "hard work, integrity, enterprise, fairness and responsibility" are spelled out in a winning combination to assure us.

It is a really lovely purple website, and, whenever I am in need of good news, I shall click on the London button to see what nice things are being done. 

"Whatever is Necessary"

Missmarketcrash was stuck in traffic after the school run as she had taken the car rather than the bicycle due to torrential downpours this morning in London.  The radio was on and she drifted whilst listening to a conversation about the aesthetics of the mind and the idea of someone having a visual representation of the landscape of their thoughts.  Hyper-connectivity of ideas, and, the forms they might give perception to as a kind of architecture, with shape, textures, colors...

Quite obvious to Missmc who often thinks in technicolor, but, an idea hardly given pause by humans after the age of five.  The first born of Missmc can wax eloquent about the shape, sound, and texture of a letter or word, as can son number two.  This extends to music, architecture and most other things in the world for us, and, can weave some heady pictures when interrelations begin.  Oh dear.

Back at home Missmarketcrash watched Gordon Brown and Alastair Darling give a live Q&A on the Banking Thing and the next steps that the British Government is undertaking.  Mr. Darling's eyebrows are quite an astonishing feature of his face, and, Missmc now forever will be wedding the phrase "Whatever is Necessary" with a vision of these fine caterpillars.  

So what does the current plan look like to Missmc?  Well, it is much like Val's dream in the previous post.  Mystery boxes that are wrapped up in various ways, unopened.  They are offerings, like gifts.  They will be exchanged in kind, box for box, with everyone looking inside. Or thrown into the volcano.   They seem to be noisy presents uttering discordant sounds.  They smell like church incense.  There is more - an enormous backdrop of towering teetering things and stumbling things.  A few smart looking assemblies as well.  All somewhat personified.  Will anyone want these gifts?  Will they please us? We'll have to open them and see.  

Whither thou goest...

Whither goest thou America, in thy shiny car in the night?

Last night MissMarketcrash had a kind of Jack Kerouac dream - perhaps you know the type - vivid colors, a bit of a sweat, the works.  And, the dream took the form of a stageplay. The play featured a girl named Val who was sitting in a car, sunglasses on, mute.  The driver was a man who kept talking and talking whilst Val's face would suffer very imperceptible tremors, though she remained silent.  Her mouth was slightly open and, at times, her lip quivered.  Her silence was an all-knowing despair type of silence, and, the man was going on and on about life in a really interesting philosophical fashion with pauses in places so we could study Val's deadpan face and her silent answers.  As viewers, we knew he had it all wrong and we were all placed inside the head of Val, keeping a brave face, perhaps wearing the glasses to conceal a tear or two.  And they were not headed anywhere in particular and did not ever arrive anywhere, or, at least they were still driving when I woke up. There then.  We've got an endless destination, we've got cars, and we've got a Missmarketcrash type all wrapped up in a vivid theatre-based dream which was no doubt inspired by the trip to the theatre with the children yesterday twisted with a bit of the-happy-news-that-surrounds-us.

So - who is that man in the dream?  Is it the financial advisor of MissMarketcrash?  Is it her husband?  Is it her alter-ego?  Or maybe Obama?  Gordon Brown? In the play this mystery man driver represented "General Mankind of the Herd" that is, someone who thought like everybody and spoke entirely in cliches.  

The theatre yesterday was located near the London School of Economics.  My children, post-theatre, wandered  up to a penguin statue and an elephant statue at the school and played.  I stared in the window at the books on remainder sale at the economics bookshop with a kind of analytical irony.  Now, I cannot recall any copies of "On the Road" in that window to wrap this all up in a neat and tidy packet, but, I do remember the books were all of the pop-light economics sort.  And no one wanted them.

Opportunities ahead...

Ah...the Prime Minister's speech...I've always a weakness for a Scotsman - I married a man-of-the-kilt born not far from where Mr. Brown was born.  But - they could not be more different from one another.  Mr. Brown is really good at these fiscal things, whereas my husband does not really do much regarding fiscal things, save read the Economist.  So what did Mr. Brown say?  Lots of things about extraordinary measures and extraordinary times...and that creativity and entrepreneurship will help lead the U.K. into opportunities ahead in the new Global economy.  Creativity is certainly needed to understand the situation.  Does anyone understand yet the extent of the damage to the entire global financial system?  Thankfully not.  Let's keep it that way.  Let's sing and dance and top-of-the-pops our way out of it and entertain the world when the world could use some entertainment.

I've had a phrase stuck in my head for about a month now.  "The Silver Lining".  Indeed.  The impoverished town of Glasgow where Mr. Brown was born has always been a hive of creativity and is home to successful artists known worldwide - 

The Silver Lining could be just that.  More artists, writers, musicians and less bankers. But will that work?  I think we'll have to keep a few bankers along for the ride into the beautiful global future.  But could someone please tell America that they haven't given Citibank enough cash? Leading economists in the world see a massive amount of folly in the amount of aid offered. (See http://baselinescenario.com).  Leading economists would probably suggest the bankers will need another handout in the future...one of violins and guitars and other instruments to busk with in the tube and subway stations around the world...