Wednesday 27 July 2022

Threats of drought. Nostalgia for 1976. Mr Rees-Mogg’s food order. The price of Springsteen tickets. French diplomacy.

The sun has come back today, but with gentler, more British temperatures in the low 20°s. Over the last few days my water barrel in the garden has refilled itself to about one third. I suspect we need a bit more rain if it is to be completely refilled and I am going to be able to water my plants in pots if the threatened drought comes to pass. The news media are harking back to 1976 and water restrictions we had then. One of my principle memories of that time is of a young Frenchman arriving at the school where I was teaching. He was going to be our French “assistant”, giving French conversation practice to small groups of our pupils. He arrived on the day the drought broke and would not believe the stories of almost two months of unbroken sunshine in the UK. But now, 40+ years later, the weathermen are talking about drought again. As for me, I had a pleasant cycle ride to Uppermill and back. 


Further to my reporting the other day that a lorry-load of luxury food items destined for a certain Mr Rees-Mogg’s summer party had supposedly got stuck in cross Channel queues - a report I suspected at the time of being invented - today I found this in The London Economic: 


“GB News parody account suspended after Rees-Mogg story goes viral

The tweet claimed that supplies for Rees-Mogg's summer soirée had been victim of the traffic chaos at Dover.


By Joe Mellor 2022-07-26 09.28


A tweet by a spoof news account went viral after a made-up story about arch Brexiteer Jacob Ree-Mogg was shared by thousands of people.

The parody account claimed that a lorry carrying £20,000 of oysters and champagne to Jacob Rees-Mogg’s mansion was among the vehicles stuck in traffic.


Maybe people wanted it to be true too much and it was all over social media yesterday.

Alas for any of the anti-Mogg brigade, of which there are many, it was a ruse.

The account has now gone, but we will keep an eye on any lavish Rees-Mogg deliveries that do get caught in any traffic chaos.”


Sometimes social media is really good.


My brother-in-law, an ardent Marillion fan who recently travelled to faraway places such as Montreal, Canada, to see his favourite band, sent me a link the other day to information about the price of tickets to see Bruce Springsteen in the UK next year. Tickets were priced at £600 in some cases. Tickets were selling out rapidly and ticketmaster was putting prices up according to demand. Then today I read this in the Guardian: 


“If you want to see Bruce Springsteen play in the US, it may cost you. Some of the tickets for the Boss’s forthcoming tour are going for over $4,000 (£3,300) on Ticketmaster – prices that have triggered a backlash and angry headlines. Do you get hand-fed gold-coated caviar and have your feet massaged by a supermodel for that money? Not exactly. The reason the tickets cost so much is because of “dynamic pricing”. Ticketmaster has said most Springsteen tickets cost under $200, but 11% are part of a variable pricing strategy where the cost adjusts according to demand. Think Uber’s surge pricing – but for concert tickets.

While people are understandably outraged by Ticketmaster’s antics, dynamic pricing isn’t unusual. We’re all used to the fluctuating prices of hotel rooms and aeroplane tickets, for example. What is newer, however, is the extent to which dynamic pricing is being used. According to a 2018 Deloitte and Salesforce report, 40% of brands that use artificial intelligence to personalise customer experience have adjusted pricing and promotions in real time. A recent McKinsey report, meanwhile, notes that Amazon “reprices millions of items as frequently as every few minutes”.”


We live in a world gone mad where money seems to rule! Why am I not surprised. However, the article about Springsteen tickets gave me a link to this nugget about Finland:


“In Finland, speeding fines are linked to salary. The Finns run a “day fine” system that is calculated on the basis of an offender’s daily disposable income – generally their daily salary divided by two.”


However, that bit of proof that progressive pricing can be good dated from 2018. Things may have changed since then. I wonder of those speeding fines rulings still apply.


I mentioned French conversation earlier. Phil found me a story about a French ambassador to the UK at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, a certain Monsieur Paul Cambon, a much decorated gentleman by the looks of things:



“Underpinning Cambon’s exalted sense of self was the belief - shared by many of the senior ambassadors - that one did not merely represent France, one personified it. Though he was ambassador in London from 1898 until 1920, Cambon spoke not a word of English. During his meetings with Edward Grey (who spoke no French) he insisted that every utterance be translated into French, including easily recognised words, such ‘yes’. He firmly believed, like many members of the French élite, that French was the only language capable of articulating rational thought and he objected to the foundation of French schools in Britain on the eccentric grounds that French people raised in Britain tended to end up mentally retarded.”


Brilliant! You could not make it up! Oddly enough it’s  a similar philosophy to that held by Brits who think all you have to do is speak loudly and clearly in English, wherever you go. 


Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone! 

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