This came up in my twitter feed recently. Charmingly 90s-ish, but I did like the point that it’s very difficult to get decent bass out of a mobile device/laptop/whatever, and this probably has consequences for the kind of music people will make with them. Come to think of it, there’s an interesting economic angle. The electronics will only keep getting cheaper, and the software can be free. But some things require a large physical lump that needs transporting and storing awkwardly. It’s a little like Baumol’s cost disease.
Meanwhile, I read the Grauniad interview with Adam Curtis this weekend and it didn’t make me want to see his next after all. This post sums up why. It’s TV thinking – if the edit is right, it doesn’t matter if the logic contains more handwaving than might be ideal.
What were the most successful public policies of the last 30 years? Apparently, the minimum wage, devolution, privatisation, and the Northern Ireland peace process. I suspect they may not use my definition of success, but even on their terms it’s telling that three out of four of them come from the 1997-2001 Labour government.
Finally, some music.
A lot of their other stuff seems terribly dated now but that one holds up.
the minimum wage, devolution, privatisation, and the Northern Ireland peace process. I suspect they may not use my definition of success, but even on their terms it’s telling that three out of four of them come from the 1997-2001 Labour government.
Isn’t this one of those bits where we can vaguely sit back and go ‘fuck yeah, that happened; they were cunts in many respects, but they did actually do that”?
Also, same record: “but the country wouldn’t have me – they said they have a new policy, to protect their economy”. Blue Labour on a fucking plate.
I admit I’m saying this with more than a little fanboyishness, but wouldn’t it be worth seeing Curtis’ doc in full before deciding whether it contains more handwaving than fact?
Bearing in mind his history of producing thought-provoking and solid docs, and all…