Sirius Data

I was lucky enough to be at Lords when 13 wickets fell on the Friday. It should be remembered that the Lords crowd clapped loudly & positively for Ricky Ponting when he was giving his after match speech and he had a good banter back. Subsequent booing is being whipped up & exacerbated by inaccurate & semi-wild media comment, which indeed has now got out of hand particularly at the end of the Headingly test. At least some sections had the equanimity to boo Strauss for our appalling performance! That said, Ricky Ponting deserves much respect for the way he has conducted himself. It didn’t help Strauss getting right under their skin and making them a better, more determined, more focused unit by suggesting they have no aura. Might have been true, but this has galvanised them into being a better team.

Weird - keep seeing the numbers 11:11 all the time. One day, when the clocks changed I saw it when it was actually really earlier; then on my computer; then on my mobile; then on the TV & the best one was when I was standing above the microwave clock and it was actually 17.17 but the digital clock looked like 11:11. Odd, but then we are nothing at Sirius if not creative…

No wonder Russia refers to its “pain” as a nation. I do not believe people around the world have any conception they lost around 24-28M of their population - way, way more than any other single nation. Ironic today, that we as Britons bang on about the influx of Poles when they too lost in percentage and numerical terms as many as as any other country after the likes of Russia. The Polish and Russia’s contribution to WWI & II is underestimated in our country. Just serves to show how important history is and how essential it is to teach it correctly in order to dissipate bigotry and enlighten/broaden peoples’ viewpoints today. There are of course many other countries that suffered particularly in % terms relevant to their respective populations e.g. Kingdom of Serbia in WWI & China in WWII. Between Russia & China in WWII they accounted for approximately two thirds of all casualties. The USA’s losses in this period until now including the Vietnam, Korea & Gulf wars I & II plus Afghanistan, Somalia etc are low in comparison but, no less diminished…

Some years ago I read some of the works of two great authors - Robert Bauval & Graham Hancock. It will be interesting to see in the fullness of time how these men are viewed - as great visionaries or, otherwise. Just a shame the likes of Dan Brown have hugely succeeded off the backs of these type of authors. 5f you like Dan Brown - read the authentic versions from these men & the the French journalists who made up the Priory of Zion. Interestingly, their observations of lost civilisations & how the stars were configured at various moments in time mirror prophecies from the Olmec’s, Aztec’s, Mayan Indians & Nostradamus and so forth. Let’s hope 2012 is really about the London Olympics and not a global pole shift - perhaps a “correction” is coming. In the meantime, we better do some good living & some good business - more likely to be untrue than not, but you never know in these turbulent times…

How can Robert Preston, the BBC City Editor, be lauded for the fact he broke the news on Northern Rock & the subsequent ‘run’ on the Bank? No apologies here, but he is such a monumental expletive in the way he presents. Allowing his over exaggerated, grandiose Spitting Image presenting style just serves to illustrate very, very, very, very, very (you really can’t say ‘very’ enough when it comes to this @*&%) sadly that the BBC have completely lost the plot and are now on their knees in the face of polished, professional presentation from Sky. So sad, when the rampant commercialism of Sky & the unabated rise in power of Rupert Murdoch, very much needs independent competition. Sky really is the evolution of what the new world BBC should be. Take a look at the ‘sets’ - if you look even mildly closely the BBC’s is cheap, nasty and even looks dirty with appalling lighting for such an important tenant for The Corporation. WAKE UP BBC - at this rate you are a decade or, two away from extinction! Sirius can offer you some direction for a small fee if you will only listen?!

Senior military officials & some politicians believe we maybe in Afghanistan for decades to come. However, with casualties running at a death a day currently & heaven knows how many serious debilitating injuries how long will it be before the politicians whither under a swing in media direction & popular opinion? All these guerilla type armies have evolved to understand this. They can lose thousands and fight and leave knowing they will keep returning, especially in somewhere like Afghanistan where history shows nobody holds this mountainous terrain for any length of time - Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, the British Army in the 19th Century & latterly Russia who spent ten years with all their military power couldn’t win there & all ultimately withdrew. Why do people keep underestimating the tactics of the Taliban & their like? In recent times, Holywood films like Rambo & recently Charlie Wilson’s War and even Ronald Reagan have lauded the Mujahideen as freedom fighters when they were tackling the might of Russia. Now we are fighting them they are the evil Taliban. Ok, we are making it difficult to set up breeding grounds for terrorism, but then what happens when they start springing up in other countries like Somalia as has happened recently or maybe Darfur is next. I hope Obama’s people are listening to reasonably balanced views from the likes of Imran Khan - he feels the history and understands, at least in some part, the way out…

I noticed recently that The Government are vociferously behind moving the 4th runway at Heathrow ahead. From a personal company perspective it really annoys me how they use business as a crucial reason for it to go ahead. As a business we of course want progress, but not at the expense of living & working in a polluted, concrete jungle. We want to work in a green & pleasant land. Afterall, we work to allow us all to afford to enjoy doing the things we love & like in our surroundings. If our surroundings are poor then we work to try and aspire to get away from them either, by taking holidays or, moving to a better place. Funny then how Geoff Hoon is so aggressive trying to get the 4th Runway through when he was born in Derby & represents Ashfield near to Sherwood Forest & The Peak District National Park. Mr Hoon should recite the words of Jerusalem daily to understand the meaning of the: “dark satanic mills” - perhaps Sherwood Forest could be flattened for it’s wood and an airport built in its place. Surely, the Midlands could do with the business and the emissions?

Great news that Joanna Lumley has the politicians on the run! Did you see the immigration minister Phil Woolas bow his head like a scolded school-boy & agree to all of Joanna Lumley’s requests/demands? She once starred in sapphire & steel & was every bit steely in taking on these wooly, ill informed, ill judged politicians. Good on you Miss Lumley!!

Ever noticed how live spelt backwards is evil or devil is lived? Just a strange observation…

The other day someone was speaking with me and spoke about another person she knew as being “arrogant.” She referred to the person and his arrogance with a mixture of admiration, subservience and awe.

For a very long time I have held a contrary view. If someone is being arrogant towards you then they are displaying negativity towards you and sucking away your positive energy. They are also effectively looking down on you & challenging or, stating to you that they are better than you. In some cases this goes on to manifest itself as bullying. In my view, this is a misuse of power & should not be admired.

On the other hand, I believe confidence is a very admirable quality since if a person is confident they are comfortable in what they have to say and do & are more likely to make everyone else positive, productive & happy around them.

I believe it is arrogance that is hugely significant in MP’s believing that they could get away with blaming the expenses system when it is blindingly obvious to anyone with any morals that what they have been doing is just wrong. Ditto for Bankers…