Blog posts

For several years now there has been debate about the value of what Margaret Hodge (former HE minister) named Mickey Mouse degrees. In the midst of successive governments’ pushes for more vocational qualifications and a decline in applications for many traditional science-based courses, universities began to come up with new programmes. Brewing was perhaps the most notorious, but the University of Plymouth’s Surfing degree also attracted its share of sniggers. ...

We’ve spent the past two days in Chicago. Travelling to Chicago used to mean returning to O’Hare. A flight back to the UK (hopefully direct) and a return to a lifestyle of late night phone calls and tricky planning. That anticipation has still been lingering in the back of my mind each of the last three times we’ve driven here, the approach of the Skyway indicating the approaching departure. Even whilst considering the approaching flight, I’ve always enjoyed the entry into Chicago. Once the smoke stacks, fumes and less than fragrant emanations of Gary, Indiana, are passed the post-industrial landscape of the eastern fringes of Chicago quickly surround us and I enjoy the return to something I can more easily identify as a City. ...

Questions as to how I spend my time are becoming a familiar part of any social event. It’s still something of a mystery to me how full my days seem to be. But I think it’s at least partly the fault of my propensity for getting caught up in projects and often reinventing the wheel. In part inspired by Matt’s first project at the BBC, in part by requests from pab for photos, and by a fair pinch of curiosity, I’ve spent the last day or two putting together a system to allow me to photoblog from my mobile phone. ...

Today’s Morning Edition on NPR featured an interview that in its few minutes reminded me exactly what I’m finding frustrating about US news media. The interview was with Donald H Rumsfeld, former arms trade negotiator, latterly US Defense Secretary. Now, I find any interview with that man frustrating, but today my key problem was with the interviewer: senior NPR news man Juan Williams. When questioned about the prospect of the return of the draft, Rumsfeld qualified his claim that he would “absolutely” rule it out (were it a personal decision) with the statement: I’m not the Government of the United States, I’m just one person. ...

While seated in the USCIS waiting area on Wednesday, in a rare moment of prising myself away from their most informative television narrowcasts, I saw a poster proclaiming their motto: Respect. Integrity. Ingenuity. The irony of those words is palpable. While I’d rather not speak to the second term chosen it would seem that the USCIS need a little tuition on the meaning of the first and last. A Respectful immigration system would, at the very least, keep those immersed in it up to date with accurate information about how their application was going. It would not slow down, speed up, or add paperwork at government whim, but would instead provide clear, useful advice and offer a date on which the review of the case would be completed. Obviously it cannot offer complete security for those making plans (applications may be turned down), but it would do what it could to help those people taking the time and going to the effort of jumping through its hoops. ...

This week, for the first time, we had a prompt response to a request made to the USCIS. Having received notice that our applications had been received on Saturday, I phoned them on Monday to make an appointment to have my fingerprints taken and to supply ‘biometric data’. To my surprise, I was able to get an appointment for just two days later. With Kari in Detroit for the day and the appointment some distance across town, transport looked to be a problem, but thankfully Brandon offered transport and that pressure was relieved. ...

Kari’s entry of today reminded me of something I’ve been meaning to write for a while now. The story of my Social Security number. A Social Security number (SSN) is something of a pre-requisite for life in the US. They become most important when opening a bank account (you can do it without, but not all banks realise this), applying for credit (such as a mortgage) or receiving payment for work. Even though the latter is not an option for a while yet they are an important piece of ID and one we felt I needed to have. ...

Fifteen years ago, Francis Fukuyama declared the end of history, the death of ideology, the victory of market economics, and various similar things. His media appearances since have done little to dispell his image as market-economics-fundamentalist. Now it seems he may be changing his tune. This piece in Sunday’s Observer has him suggesting that perhaps strong government controls are necessary in some places. Hear hear. But in the midst of it all, what really amused me was this piece, situated in the midst of a paragraph talking about countries that he believes to have gotten the market/government balance wrong: ...

The personal touch isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. With our purchase of the house being all but finalised, we’ve been gathering quotes for insurance. That’s a process I’d expected to be very straightforward. Whenever I’ve purchased insurance in the past (admittedly only travel insurance) I’ve phoned an anonymous voice at some freephone call centre, answered a few questions and been informed of the resultant premium their computer generates. Occasionally I’ve helped one of them with the crossword clue they’re struggling over, but that’s been the extent of the ‘relationship’. ...

As Kari has noted on her blog, we’re in the process of buying a house. After looking at more houses than I can remember, we were on the verge of making an offer on another property when we saw this one. We were sitting outside the other house when our realtor handed us the listing, we saw it the following Monday, made an offer that Thursday and had it all signed and sealed on Friday. ...