#bless the NHS

There are some people who don't understand the NHS.  There are people who don't understand how universal health care, free at the point of delivery works.  It works like this: we all go to work, we earn money, we pay some of it through tax and National Insurance to the Government.  The Government doles it back out to regional health authorities who provide hospitals and health care.  It works. It's not perfect but it works.

Some people might feel that they pay disproportionately for this service.  They're wrong. Some of the people who talk most tosh about the UK National Health Service are residents of the USA, some are Republican presidential candidates.  Others who talk tosh are members of the UK government who should know better (including Messrs Cameron and Hunt).

NHS baby, Stik

here's a link with street art from the Hackney Gazette
Stik, who has painted his distinctive stick-figure characters across the globe from New York to Tokyo, spent years living on the streets before he found fame, where he came under attack from thugs on more than one occasion.

He wanted to do something to “give back” to the NHS hospital which he credits with saving his life on more than one occasion.

Over 500 people queued at the hospital in Homerton Row throughout the day to acquire a limited print and those disappointed at not getting a print were cheered up by the artist himself who gave each a personally signed poster of the mural painting.

Shaun Caton, art curator said: “This is an act of tremendous generosity from Stik. Gestures like this go to show that art is not elitist and can significantly enhance and improve the environment of a hospital courtyard, providing a landmark which is both fun and poignant.”

The money will go towards the neurological rehabilitation unit’s art room, to help rehabilitate patients with brain injuries, along with arts workshops for people with dementia at the elderly care unit.

*          *         *         *         *         *         *         *

University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust provides services to some 1.9 million people living in Southampton and south Hampshire, plus specialist services such as neurosciences, cardiac services and children's intensive care to more than 3.7 million people in central southern England and the Channel Islands.

The Trust is also a major centre for teaching and research in association with the University of Southampton and partners including the Medical Research Council and Wellcome Trust.

UHS gained foundation trust status on 1 October 2011.

Every year 10,550 staff:

• treat around 140,000 inpatients and day patients, including about 50,000 emergency admissions;
• see over 500,000 people at outpatient appointments; and
• deal with around 110,000 cases in its emergency department

Providing these services costs more than £1.6 million a day.

#SaveTheNHS  #BlessTheNHS

Art rankings (nos 1 - 134)

Something different today.

Self appraisal is pretty difficult, pretty challenging.  Look at the last ten decisions you made at work, or the last ten conversations that you had with your children (or your parents) or your wallpaper choices and consider what and when you did well, what you could have done better and what you really screwed up on.

Hard enough to be honest with yourself - how about sharing it with others? How about looking at twenty years of your working life and ranking everything you've done, in order of merit.  Then writing a list and putting it on the canteen notice board.

With art there is a further complication. As an artist, particularly the sort of artist who ploughs their own furrow, how do you know what is good.  How do you know this song is a potential Number One.  Do you care if it is a potential Number One. Is it going to be lead track on the new album or relegated to a bonus giveaway on Soundcloud.  How do you know this painting is even finished (or you should have stopped a while ago).  How do you know this poem makes sense.  What will they say about it on A Good Read?

If I was an artist I might be happy to list my top ten achievements, the ten paintings, songs, poems, wallpapers I had created that I was most proud if.  I might even be happy to say I wasn't really satisfied with this picture or that song.  I would be less keen to list my failures.

One man who knows the value of his work is Art Garfunkel and as this blog is mostly about Art in one form or another his appearance here is justified. (Look out for op-ed pieces about Art Blakey and Art Malik).

You have to understand this: Art has reviewed the 134 songs he released as a solo artist between 1973 and 2007. He has rated them all.  He has put them in order. Not the ten best love songs and the top ten songs about animals, but all 134 songs ranked.  So, Good Luck Charm is one place ahead of Saturday Suit; The Break-up is better than Let's Fall in Love; rabbits come out ahead of frogs and camels.  There are no ties - he thought hard an decided King of Tonga was actually worse than Up in the World. And Take Me Away is awful.  I listened to it for research purposes and it fully deserves its place at 134.

This next bit is from ArtGarfunkel.com.  It is copyright artgarfunkel.com and is quoted here for review purposes. It is in itself a work of art. Over now to www.artgarfunkel.com

Below is a list complied by Art Garfunkel of his entire body of work as a solo artist from 1973 - 2007. These songs have been ranked by Art in order of quality of his vocal performance and overall quality of the song.

134. Take Me Away

133. you’re a Wonderful One

132. This Is the Moment

131. Beyond the Tears

130. Herod

129. And I Know

128. Always Look on the Bright Side of Life

127. The Song of the Camels

126. Love Is the Only Chain

125. The Frog

124. Hang On In

123. Marionette

122. Turn, Don’t Turn Away

121. If Love Takes You Away

120. How Did You Know

119. Mary Was an Only Child

118. Daydream

117. Another Lullaby

116. I Will

115. Another Only One

114. Feuilles-Oh/Do Spacemen…

113. I Shall Sing

112. It’s All in the Game

111. We’ll Never Say Goodbye

110. Paper Chase

109. Morning Has Broken

108. Crossing Lines

107. King of Tonga

106. Up in the World

105. She Moved Through the Fair

104. As Long as the Moon Can Shine

103. Wishbone

102. So Much in Love

101. The Friendly Beasts

100. I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)

99. Can’t Turn My Heart Away

98. Baby Mine

97. Every Now and Then

96. Sometimes When I’m Dreaming

95. Looking for the Right One

94. The French Waltz

93. Life Is But a Dream

92. The Romance

91. Miss You Nights

90. Words from An Old Spanish Carol

89. Goodnight My Love

88. Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars

87. Someone to Watch Over Me

86. Fingerpaint Me

85. Incredible Phat

84. Just Over the Brooklyn Bridge

83. Saturday Suit

82. Good luck Charm

81. Mr. Shuck n’ Jive

80. Slow Breakup

79. Let’s Fall in Love

78. The Breakup

77. When Someone Doesn’t Want You

76. The Annunciation

75. Secret O’ Life

74. In Cars

73. Wooden Planes

72. Oh How Happy

71. Down in the Willow Garden

70. Old Man

69. What I Love About Rain

68. In a Little While (I’ll Be On My Way)

67. Just a Simple Little Tune

66. The Same Old Tears on a New Background

65. You Stepped Out of a Dream

64. Why Worry

63. Easy Living

62. Water of March

61. Grateful

60. That’s All I’ve Got to Say

59. The Creatures of the Field

58. O Come All Ye Faithful

57. Who’s Gonna Show Your Pretty Little Feet

56. Young and Free

55. It Could Happen to You

54. Finally Found a Reason

53. The Lord’s Prayer

52. If I Loved You

51. The Things We’ve Handed Down

50. Someone Else

49. Wild Geese

48. I’m Glad There Is You

47. Crying In My Sleep

46. The Thread

45. I Wonder Why

44. Woyaya

43. Dreamland

42. While We’re Young

41. Barbara Allen

40. Lasso the Moon

39. If I Ever Say I’m Over You

38. Travelling Boy

37. Bounce

36. Shine It One Me

35. Two Sleepy People

34. Everything Waits to Be Noticed

33. All My Love’s Laughter

32. Breakaway

31. Let It Be Me

30. Watermark

29. What’ll I Do

28. I Remember You

27. Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep

26. One Less Holiday

25. Second Avenue

24. Rag Doll

23. The Kid

22. Sail On a Rainbow

21. Some Enchanted Evening

20. Since I Don’t Have You

19. So Easy to Begin

18. Carol of the Birds

17. The Promise

16. I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face

15. Skywriter

14. When a Man Loves a Woman

13. Disney Girls

12. My Little Town

11. I Have a Love

10. 99 Miles from LA

9. Crying in the Rain

8. The Decree

7. Perfect Moment

6. Scissors Cut

5. A Heart in New York

4. (What a) Wonderful World

3. All I Know

2. I Only Have Eyes for You

1. Bright Eyes

Meme pas mal!

Paris, November 2015

Making sense of what happened in Paris a fortnight ago is difficult.  At one level it is entirely explainable.  Some people don't like the West.  Therefore hurting the West, targeting the decadent, the fun loving, the young gig goers, the patriotic football supporters makes a kind of warped sense.  For those foot soldiers involved - well, they did their bit.  For the tacticians behind them, well, any response from the West, from France, Europe and the USA is going to benefit them - a soft response is a win, a hard response is a recruiting tool.

our time has fallen well below, Paris, November 2015

The perpetrators were European with middle eastern heritage, causing confusion for those who wish to blame outsiders and concern for those who cannot understand why anyone doesn't love the West.   Personally I love the West.  There's bits I'm not keen on.  Just the sight of Disney, MacDonalds and Starbucks makes me feel uncomfortable.  Something to do with colonialism - cultural imperialism - coca-colanisation.  It is not totally weird to find a lot wrong with Western society.

 Paris, November 2015

But even if there is much wrong with Western society there is no honour in this murderous assault. No eternal reward.  No glory. Because in the same way that carpet bombing Syria won't make the Middle East love NATO, terrorist acts in our cities won't make us sympathetic to your views.  Hearts and minds, people, hearts and minds.

 Paris, November 2015

But there's always scope to look for the good.  There were less than a dozen terrorists.  There were hundreds of good people - ambulance drivers and paramedics, doctors, nurses, police and soldiers, fire officers and good neighbours, friends and families who went to help.  The world is no more screwed up than it ever was - there has always been good, always been bad.  The Noah story - which predates the Bible - or any of the sacred texts anyone round here is still using - the Noah story tells of a time when people were so bad that the Almighty was happy to wipe all but a single family out.  Five thousand years ago there were holier-than-thous telling their contemporaries that the world was going to hell in a handcart because it was just one big Kentucky Derby. Incurably decadent and depraved.

Paris, November 2015

not even hurt!

 Paris, November 2015

The healing starts with art

 Bataclan, Paris, November 2015

  Spray for Paris, Paris, November 2015

Paris, November 2015

 Paris, November 2015

Emilie and Charolotte Meaud were twin sisters, around the same age as my eldest daughter. They were dining out. They were shot dead.  Charlotte is on the left in the pictures below, Emilie on the right.  If I thought praying would help I would.

Charlotte and Emilie Meaud

 S.E.W.N. Paris, November 2015

S.E.W.N. detail Paris, November 2015

Paris has been rocked by waves, but not sunk.  

Pictures by Mme Akriche. Thank you for sharing

razzle dazzle

The War To End All Wars was in full swing a century ago.  The fact that war is now over is being commemorated by a series of art commissions, or rather Art Commissions.  The Tower of London poppies were a great way of remembering each life Commonwealth life lost (although that was of course only half of the story).  The poppy displays currently in Yorkshire are pretty amazing too.

On the Thames lies HMS President, a floating jewel in the heart of the capital (according to its website).  Built at the tail end of The War to End All Wars as HMS Saxifrage she has been dazzled by German artist Tobias Rehberger.  Take a closer look.

So, what the heck is dazzle painting?  Over to the HMS President website:

The theory of dazzle painting was first introduced in 1914 by the scientist John Graham Kerr to then First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, with the intention of adopting disruptive camouflage which was initially called ‘parti-colouring’. The idea was not to ‘hide’ the ships, but to paint them in such a way that their appearance was optically distorted, so that it was difficult for a submarine to calculate the course the ship was travelling on, and to know from what angle to attack. The ‘dazzle’ effect was achieved by painting the ship in contrasting stripes and curves that broke up its shape and outline.

There's a couple more dazzle ships in Liverpool, including the Snowdrop, a Mersey Ferry bedazzled by Sir Peter Blake.  He has gone for a very '60s dazzle while Rehberger's is more of a modernist take on the WWI look.

I suggest that when you've finished looking at my pictures here you do some searches for HMS President and Tobias Rehberger, Snowdrop and Peter Blake, Edmund Gardner and Carlos Cruz-Diez.  You'll have hours of fun and maybe learn something.

Two things. 

1. art has escaped from the gallery and that can only be good
2. the War to End All Wars didn't end all wars.  In fact you could reasonably argue that the War to End All Wars was a major cause of the Second World War. This is what we should be remembering. 

 scapegoating 

 moral equivalence 

A century of conflict has surely taught us that you can't put your point across by bombing the bejabbers out of the enemy.  You can't win hearts and minds when you show the same lack of respect for life as your enemy does.

This is about the art.  And the duck.  

And the dazzle ship. Great work Tobias.

six deadly small business marketing mistakes

 

 1. Not having a marketing plan.

 2. Not differentiating your business from your competition.

3. Not having a systematic referral generating program.

4. Neglecting to communicate and market to your current customers.

 5. Make money with other people’s customers.

6. Not realizing you are in the business of marketing your product or service.

 with thanks to Hatoum Naji for more wise words

art from Leake Street

ex machina

Impulse. 

Response. 

Fluid. 

Imperfect. 

Patterned. 

Chaotic.

Some people believe language exists from birth. And what is learned is the ability to attach words and structure to the latent ability.

What will happen to me if I fail your test?

Isn't it strange, to create something that hates you?

we have our own arrogance

Nathan, you shouldn't trust anything he says

 Caleb, you have to help me.

One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa... an upright ape living in dust with crude language and tools, all set for extinction.

"the deus ex machina has come to save us!"

quotes from ex_machina

art from Leake Street