Does technology offer a solution to my lack of focus?

Ten years ago, I got myself a Fitbit and started walking 10,000 steps each day. And, apart from a brief, food poisoning induced, hiatus in February 2016, I haven’t missed a day since.

The Fitbit kept me on track, reminding me to walk, and congratulating me when I reached my target, which feels like the right sort of motivational tool for someone like me. The calendar on my smartphone reminds me of events to attend, and sometimes I’m even prepared for them.

But my organisational capability has, up until now, relied on my fairly reliable memory. And, whilst it is generally good, I do tend to be easily distracted from carrying out essential tasks. And so, I’m trying out an app-based reminder system, which offers me an e-mail highlighting the tasks to be carried out that day. So far, I would have to say that it hasn’t entirely dealt with my tendencies to prevaricate, but I do have a sense of mild progress.

I’m also working with a shopping list app that Ros can add things to, reminding me to pick them up on my lunchtime walk around the town.

Think of it as less “building a bettter walrus” than “developing a more organised walrus”. Wish me luck!

Creeting St Peter: another year of financial prudence

In my capacity as finance portfolio holder for my beloved Parish Council, over the years I’ve been preparing what I tend to think of as cautious budgets, designed to meet our ongoing spending needs and avoid drastic year on year increases in the precept. That hasn’t always been easy.

When our Clerk resigned a few years back, it proved necessary to employ both a Clerk and a Responsible Finance Officer, increasing our required spend quite significantly. Luckily, I was able to manage the situation thanks to a lengthy period without any professional staff at all - I was, for a while, Chair, Clerk and Responsible Finance Officer and, as a sitting councillor can’t take a salary, the resulting savings came in handy later.

But I had it all covered and then, suddenly, our Responsible Finance Officer retired, meaning that we were, suddenly, underspending on our salaries budget line once again.

As a result, our reserves increased a bit and I was able to freeze the precept. This year, I’ve proposed another standstill budget. Curiously, or at least, it was curious to me until I gained a better understanding of parish council finances, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the band D charge is unchanged. Each year, Mid Suffolk District Council tell us how many qualifying households there are in the parish. If that number increases, the band D charge is reduced slightly, and the reverse is true if the number decreases.

We have increased the hours of our Clerk, who has taken on the role of Responsible Finance Officer, but otherwise our spending remains modest. We do need to pay for grass cutting, dig bin emptying and street lighting - we own our ten street lights but have a maintenance contract with Suffolk County Council - and we have subscriptions to pay to the Suffolk Association of Local Councils and the National Association of Local Councils amongst other things. But most of these are predictable and subject to modest annual increases at or around the rate of inflation, so making budgeting pretty straightforward.

And, as it may be the last budget I draft, I’m pleased that I’ll be leaving the Council with extremely healthy finances. Indeed, it might be said that our most pressing concern is to reduce our reserves somewhat, given that we currently hold reserves representing about 250% of our annual budget. Some of this is earmarked to replace aging play equipment, and some will go towards replacing the street lights in 2046 or thereabouts, but there is some money that really could be spent on village improvements, if it wasn’t for the fact that most of our meagre needs are generously met from the locality funds of our County and District Councillors.

Something for me to reflect upon in the months ahead, perhaps?…

All aboard the Mattapan Trolley!

Those of you who know me modestly well will know that I am an aficionado of public transport, or transit as I guess I should call it when across the pond. I am particularly fond of old trams and, having discovered that Boston’s MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) still runs a few, I decided to go take a look whilst I still had the chance to do so.

The Boston subway system is a bit of a hybrid. The Blue, Orange and Red Lines are familiar in that they look like “proper” underground trains. The Green Line runs underground in downtown Boston but is really a light rail system which uses trams as rolling stock. But, partway down the Red Line at Ashmont, the regular trains stop and are replaced by seventy year-old PCC streetcars to serve the 2.6 mile stretch onwards to Mattapan.

There’s talk of upgrading the line, and thus replacing the streetcars with something more practical and modern (people have no sense of romance…), so I thought that I’d better take a ride whilst I still can.

New Year’s Day was cold, with a stiff breeze making the positively balmy minus four degrees feel more like minus seven but, thanks to Ros, I was properly equipped with a heavy coat, woollen scarf, gloves and fleece-lined beanie hat to cover my head and ears. And, taking advantage of the MBTA commuter rail New Year day ticket (just $10 for as many rides on the extensive suburban rail system as you can bear), I set off from West Natick for Boston’s South Station and the onward Red Line south.

I couldn’t tell you anything about Ashmont, as it was merely an interchange point, and, having found where the Mattapan Line picks up, it wasn’t long before an orange streetcar honed into view and I hopped aboard.

They aren’t exactly designed for comfort, with hard, plastic seats, but you’re never going to be on board for long, so I guess that it doesn’t really matter that much.

This one was car #3238, which has undergone a rebuild, but still has the feel of something older even than I am.

At Mattapan, I took advantage of the opportunity to take a few pictures before heading the local branch of that New England fixture, Dunkin’ Donuts, for a doughnut and a hot coffee.

And I can tell you, I needed the latter…

Adventures with Elsa (other princesses are available)

One of the unexpected side effects of being a grandparent of a five-year-old girl is exposure to the full array of Disney princesses. And yes, I know that Elsa is a queen, not a princess, but you know what I mean, right?

Our granddaughter is seldom happier than when she has a flowing dress to wear or, at least, she has been up until now. There is an emerging “threat” to this comfortable state of affairs.

For she has discovered KPop Demon Hunters, this summer’s unexpected hit. They don’t really fit with the “princess vibe” and it offers a challenge to a culturally challenged grandfather such as myself.

I’d familiarised myself with Frozen, and can do “Let It Go” jokes with the best of them. Moana was easy enough, as who can’t empathise with a giant crab with a magpie-like attraction to everything shiny? And it’s interesting how Disney has produced a series of films with strong female characters over recent years.

A Korean film about a girl band fighting demons masquerading as a boy band is a bit more of a stretch when your musical tastes tend to feature the gamut of late sixteenth/early seventeenth century madrigals (confusingly, the name of the family in Encanto). The tunes seem catchy enough though, and whilst the material might feel a bit more young teenager appropriate, our granddaughter has memorised the lyrics well enough to sing along on car journeys.

Rumi, Mira and Zoey are the members of HUNTR/X (pronounce the / as an “I”), who sing hit songs and secretly fight demons (I admit, the title is a bit of a giveaway). They are, naturally, strong personalities in control of their own careers - their male manager is more comic relief than Svengali.

Please don’t ask me about the plot - I’ve so far managed to avoid watching more than excerpts - but the news that a second film is being planned with much merchandise due to hit high streets soon indicates that the concept has been wildly successful. So, if you haven’t encountered KPop Demon Hunters yet, rest assured you probably will…

There are mixed feelings about this bargain…

When I gave up on The Times a few years ago, I reinvested those freed-up funds into some proper journalism - the Economist and the Washington Post. Quentin Letts had been the trigger for me, but it was probably inevitable - newspaper of record, indeed - although I did think that I was probably getting the better of the deal.

And, despite all of the gloom, I still value my subscriptions. At least, I did until Jeff Bezos decided to place his mark on the Washington Post. Now, regardless of what your preferences in terms of coverage, what most thinking people want is something which reports events and comments upon them as it sees fit. I don’t have to agree with the views expressed, and if they’re well articulated and reflect the facts, I’m content to consider them with a relatively open mind. The important thing is that the reporting and the commentary are distinct from one another.

My disappointment with the Washington Post led me to cancel my annual subscription during the autumn. The immediate response was to offer me a $50 discount on a renewal - a not shabby 42% or thereabouts. I wasn’t tempted, although I wasn’t particularly attracted by the obvious replacement, the New York Times.

And so, on Christmas Eve, my subscription ran out. But a further offer was forthcoming, to renew for a derisory $20 for the first year, and €70 per year thereafter. Now, that’s a lot of money, and $20 is good value for the puzzles alone. And so, I bit.

That does suggest that my principles are a little “fuzzier” than I might like to admit, but it also suggest that the Washington Post either:

• is losing significant numbers of readers, or;
• is willing to lose money to retain its reach, or;
• both

This does not fill one with optimism.

Nonetheless, they’ve persuaded me to stay for at least another year, which reminds me, I’ve got today’s word puzzles to do…

2026 — a year of transition…

So, the fireworks have gone off, and a new year has begun. I gave up making public announcements of resolutions made a long time ago - why broadcast your failures? - and this year is no exception. But I can be fairly sure that some things will happen in the coming year.

First, it’s my firm intention to bring my reign of terror leadership of Creeting St Peter Parish Council to a close in May. Now, I acknowledge that I’ve been trying to do this for a while though, and there may be some resistance - either I’m making the job look harder than it actually is, or my colleagues are perhaps too comfortable as things are - but given that 2027 is a year of transition anyway, it’s probably best that someone who might be around in the next cycle takes the role on.

Second, my rather unexpected time on the national stage of the first tier of local government will come to an end in September. I had never dreamt that being the Chair of a very small Parish Council might have wider repercussions, but with my approaching ineligibility as a parish councillor (yes, it all comes to an end in May 2027), I will feel obliged to pass on my NALC National Assembly seat and thus my place on its Smaller Councils Committee.

I will depart knowing that I’ve made a difference. The financial reporting to National Assembly is hugely improved, and my questioning of reports was part of the process of change. When I’m on form, I’m good at scrutiny, and the outgoing Vice Chair Finance, Peter Davey, was keen to respond. He was gracious enough to give me some credit, although the hard work was done by Peter and the professional team.

I also lobbied for the micro council sector. 40% of parish and town councils have an annual budget of £10,000 or less, and the debate at NALC always seemed to rather overlook the fact that our part of the sector is much more about representation and community than providing services. The recently created Micro Councils Network offers a forum for councillors to discuss the issues that affect us - difficulties with Clerk recruitment, administrative challenges, etc - and to seek advice or best practice. Simplified guidance appropriate to our sector is being produced, something that will be welcomed by many.

But all good things must come to an end. I’m the sort of liberal who believes that power should be shared and passed on, so I’m relaxed about that.

Other than that, much is uncertain. Travel plans are still emerging, as is my professional role. Mind you, I am in the slightly bemusing position of being able to retire, or partially retire, at a time of my choosing, which adds to the palette of possibilities. I do think that I ought to give some thought to a post-work world at some point though.

But, whatever else happens, it will happen with Ros, which is nice…

A dawning realisation that I don’t really fit, but that’s fine

Occasionally, someone revisits the idea that the Liberal Democrats consist of a number of tribes, and writes (usually quite thoughtfully) about how the interaction between the various groups impacts the way that the Party operates. And, as a long-term member whose history includes a variety of roles at every level of the voluntary party, I naturally read them with a degree of informed interest.

This year, the version that caught my attention was from James Baillie. James is a relative newcomer (admittedly, dinosaurs are relative newcomers compared to me these days) but his background as a historian offers a interesting perspective and his use of data opens up sources of evidence that underpin his logic. He identifies six groups;

• Orange Bookers
• Social Conservatives
• HQ Loyalists
• Moderates & Parochialists
• Social Liberals
• Radical Liberals

which feels about right, at least to this observer, although I might have used slightly different language.

And that’s kind of where my problem lies. I don’t sit easily with any of these groups and, in truth, nobody has ever come up with a grouping which I might recognise myself as sitting within.

It is, if you like, the blessing, and the curse, of being a bureaucrat in a political organisation and, despite my occasional attempts to “be something else”, that is my default role - my liberalism is best expressed by maintaining the societal and constitutional guardrails that protect a liberal society and allow others to shape that society. You might reasonably argue that this is an inherently conservative view of the world, and it probably is, but my motivation is to defend freedom by operating the systems that protect individuals from the overmighty state/party hierarchy (delete as appropriate). Rules matter, if you like.

And, in an environment where being part of a group matters more, as various groups within the Party organise and promote slates of candidates for its internal elections, I do feel, just a little bit, that I am something of an anachronism in not having an obviously political agenda or a desire for advancement.

That wasn’t why I didn’t run for election this year. I’m not a policy wonk, which rules out Federal Policy Committee, and I’ve not really got an obvious skillset which makes Federal Conference Committee a serious option. My professional life rules out the Federal Board (and realistically I’m not going to win anyway). I’ve been a member of Federal Council (and what a mistake that was) and Federal International Relations Committee, but feel that, for the time being, I’ve served long enough.

And you know, that's fine. Let someone else have a go and, if the time is right, I can find something that suits me and the Party at some point in the future...