Philosophy Park

On Monday I went down the pub with Bob. We had an excellent lunch. The good food and beer fuelled us for some serious philosophy. In little over a mile we covered the goodness of the human spirit, deregulation and self-accountability as evidenced by examples of (non) signage experiments on the roads, the inadequacies of a computerised workflow system in contrast to the subtlies of a good work team to sort process efficiently, and how on rapid response units with their ear to the ground can deliver a superior public service than the policy wonks in HQ (no surprise on the last one). I think there is a coherent political and personal philosophy running through all this about self accountability and empowerment at an individual or 'street' level. And I like it.

We also chatted about the footie.

Bob is terrific and has a wonderful life affirming spirit. It was a splendid trip. And all that philosophy stood me in the right frame of mind for an evening meeting with DEMOS, which I cover, here

Bob's New Friends

Bob was given a bit of a surprise last week. A mate of his got some prime tickets to the Liverpool-Spurs Carling Cup match. The surprise bit was that he got to meet some of the Liverpool players, and the manager as well. Shame Steven Gerrard wasn't playing and Torres was on the treatment bench, but there was still a pretty good turnout for Bob. Here are a couple of photo opportunities.

Firstly, the manager, Rafael Benitez...

Secondly, Alonso (so Ollie tells me)....

And thirdly, Mr. Babel (again, according to Ollie)Unfortunately, Liverpool lost 4-2 to a resurgent Tottenham under Harry Redknapp.